She didn't know how long she had slept, but Yang Niannian heard someone telling her to "pull her feet back." Before she woke up, someone kicked her ankle. She woke up suddenly and opened her eyes to see a chin with a distinct frontal bone. She was startled and quickly sat up straight.

Seeing a small wet spot on Qin Aonan's shoulder, Yang Niannian was so embarrassed that she almost made a train tunnel out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I just accidentally fell asleep."

Qin Aonan saw her bright face full of panic, his heart beat violently a few times, and looked away uncomfortably, "No, it's okay, the clothes will be fine after washing."

As soon as he said this, he felt that it sounded like he was disrespecting someone, so he quickly added, "My sweat is much dirtier than this."

Why is it like he is saying that someone's saliva is dirty? Qin Aonan, who had never been in contact with women before, found that the more he explained, the more confused he became. He was even more uncomfortable than Yang Niannian, so he simply shut his mouth and said nothing.

Yang Niannian also noticed that Qin Aonan was not angry, and she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to say something to ease the awkwardness, the woman sitting opposite her spoke.

"This is a train, a public place. Even if you are a couple, you should be careful about the impact, right?"

Only then did Yang Niannian realize that the person sitting opposite her had changed. It was a man before, but now it was a woman. The man must have got off the car and the woman got on. It was also this woman who kicked her just now.

The woman was wearing a short-sleeved shirt with floral patterns and grey pants. She had short hair that went past her ears and thick eyebrows and big eyes, which was the look that the older generation liked in this era. However, her skin was a little dark, probably from working in the fields all year round.

At this time, the woman was looking at Yang Niannian with disgust, as if someone owed her millions.

It was Yang Niannian who fell asleep and her feet were in the way. Plus, as she believed in the principle of less trouble is better when travelling far away, she did not argue with the woman but just explained.

"He and I are not a couple."

Qin Aonan also nodded.

The woman pouted and talked to Yang Niannian and Qin Aonan, "Why are you so clingy if you're not a couple?"

Yang Niannian explained, "I just fell asleep accidentally and my head fell on his shoulder."

The woman curled her lips and rolled her eyes in disbelief. Yang Niannian was too lazy to argue with her. Her stomach suddenly started to growl. Seeing that everyone else was eating their steamed buns, she looked at Qin Aonan and asked.

"What time is it?"

When Qin Aonan was helping her put things away, she noticed that Qin Aonan was wearing a watch on his hand.

"Twelve thirty-five."

No wonder she was hungry, it turned out that it was already noon. Yang Niannian wanted to get some scallion pancakes to eat, but suddenly she realized that the scallion pancake in her arms was gone. She was about to bend down to look for it on the ground when the bag of scallion pancakes suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Are you looking for this? I saw you almost dropped something when you fell asleep just now, so I caught it."

"Thanks."

Yang Niannian's eyes lit up and she quickly took it. When she opened the bag, the aroma of scallion pancakes wafted over. The woman opposite couldn't help swallowing. In this age of material scarcity, it was good enough to fill the stomach. If it wasn't a festival, who would have such good conditions to eat scallion pancakes?

Taking out a scallion pancake and taking a bite, Yang Niannian suddenly thought of something and turned her head to look at Qin Aonan, "Did you bring any food?"

Qin Aonan shook his head slightly embarrassedly, "No."

Yang Niannian took out a pancake and handed it to him, "Try it, it's the scallion pancake my mom made."

In that day and age, scallion pancakes were a delicacy. Qin Aonan felt embarrassed to eat such an expensive thing and was about to wave his hand to refuse, but Yang Niannian had already put the pancake in his hand.

"You're welcome. The weather is so hot that it will go bad if you don't eat it."

The biscuits were already in his hands, and Qin Aonan couldn't refuse, so he had to start eating. After finishing the biscuits, he took out fifty cents and gave it to Yang Niannian, as if he was buying it for her, but Yang Niannian didn't want it.

Seeing the two people, one delivering cakes and the other giving money, the woman opposite thought it was flirting and very ambiguous. She rolled her eyes with an expression of disapproval.

After eating the pancake, Yang Niannian kept looking out the window and didn't say anything. Qin Aonan glanced at her profile inadvertently and was distracted. When he realized that he had been staring at her for a long time, his face suddenly turned red.

I have been in the army for many years, and I am surrounded by men. I rarely meet girls. It is rare to see a pretty girl like Yang Niannian.

His heart was pounding as he watched, and he really wanted to ask Yang Niannian where she was getting off the train and where this little girl was going. However, he had never had any contact with girls before, so he didn't know how to talk to her. He didn't feel comfortable asking until the train pulled into the station and arrived in Haicheng.

After this farewell, I’m afraid we’ll never see each other again in this life!

Yang Niannian also followed the bustling crowd off the train. Because she didn't greet Lu Shishen in advance, Lu Shishen did not come to the station to pick her up. After coming out of the train station, she asked for a long time before finally finding a ox cart going to the vicinity of the military unit.

The ox cart was moving slowly and bumpy. The driver was a man in his sixties who looked very friendly. He knew there were troops over there and guessed that Yang Niannian was a family member accompanying the troops, so he asked kindly.

"Little girl, are you a family member following the army? Why is there no one here to pick you up?" The old man spoke with a strong Haicheng accent, but fortunately I could understand what he meant.

"My husband is quite busy, so he told me to just take a ride to the vicinity of the military base and he would pick me up there."

Yang Niannian was a little wary of going out alone. Although the old man looked kind, she still didn't tell the whole truth.

The old man did not doubt him and introduced the nearby terrain to Yang Niannian along the way. Before she arrived at the army, she had a general understanding of the geographical environment here. The ox cart bumped around for more than an hour, and just when Yang Niannian's bones were about to fall apart, they finally arrived at the village where the old man was.

I glanced at the sky and estimated that it was almost four o'clock.

There was still about one kilometer away from the troops, so Yang Niannian did not dare to delay and said goodbye to the old man and hurried on the road.

When they were almost at the army station, there was a long, winding river on the side of the road. Yang Niannian glanced at it casually and saw a dozen children ranging from five or six years old to more than ten years old bathing in the river, with no adults watching them.

She thought this was a very dangerous situation and was about to shout to a few children to stay away from the river, when she suddenly saw one of the little boys miss his step and fall into the water. The children next to him seemed to be scared silly, and they just stood there staring at the child splashing in the water, and no one even went to call for help from adults.

It all happened so suddenly that Yang Niannian had no time to think about it. She dropped her luggage and ran over and dived into the water.