Romance
"Please use your expertise to help me collect data on the children."
Ye Yuanyin didn't want to have too much connection with him.
She didn't want to get to know him too deeply, nor did she want to get too involved in his life. She was even more afraid that a humble and passive person would suffer many unexpected injuries. So she clearly refused, "I'm sorry, I can't do that."
"Why?"
"If you can't do it, you can't do it."
Chen Yan looked at her defiant expression and asked in disbelief, "Are you still in adolescence?"
Unexpectedly, she nodded.
He laughed, being speechless for the first time, and thought it was a good experience.
But Chen Di'an is a person who cannot be rejected and is domineering in nature. Although he looks cold and noble on the outside, when he wants to accomplish something, he will do anything to achieve it.
"Of course you have the right to refuse, but considering that I paid your tuition, you can reconsider it."
"It was obviously your father who helped me..."
"It's not him, it's me." The tuition for a master's degree in art therapy was high, and when Ye Yuanyin was cornered by You Jing, Chen Di'an, at his father's behest, lent a hand and helped pay the tuition. "If you don't believe me, check your bank statements."
*
The next day, Ye Yuanyin officially took up her post. Although she was unwilling to cooperate, she had no choice under Shen Ji'an's strong leadership.
Their first stop was Jiutao Village Primary School, the only school in the village, where Dian Dian was going to conduct research.
The AI healing project was a project that the county took over from the province. Long Yan confidently asked Secretary Lin of the county party committee to do a pilot project. It seemed that the success or failure of Jiutao Village depended on this one move. Therefore, no matter where he went, the entire village committee team followed him.
Dian Dian was used to these scenes of welcoming and seeing off people, and he took the opportunity to learn about the situation of the children in the village.
Ye Yuanyin felt very uncomfortable, and this discomfort reached its peak when he met the village primary school teacher.
More than ten years have passed, and the village primary school is still the same.
There is a row of flat, low houses and four connected classrooms. The blackboard is made of two rectangular cement boards, each one meter long. Teacher Hu is teaching a class.
He used chalk to write on it in one hand and a rag to wipe it in the other. It was really cramped. After writing, he had to wipe it off, and the dust was all over the classroom.
There are twelve desks in the classroom, four in each row, for a total of three rows.
The table in the middle row with a broken leg had a few stone slabs under its legs, so it was not a tight fit and it shook like a convulsion when I wrote on it.
Teacher Hu was forty-five, his face creased with age and frost, making him look ten years older than his actual age. He had been both Ye Yuanyin's Chinese and math teachers, and he pointed to the second table against the wall with a beaming expression.
"That table isn't for just anyone to sit at now. Ah Yin used to sit there when she was little. She was like the golden phoenix that flew out of our place."
Ye Yuanyin staggered as if unable to stand due to the smile on her face. She thought awkwardly, what kind of phoenix am I? It would be better not to go out this time.
A group of people came out of the classroom. The unmelted snow at the door covered the cracks in the stone. Fruits and vegetables were planted in the yard. A clothesline was stretched diagonally, with several patched cotton jackets hung across it, blocking out most of the light in the classroom.
Ye Yuan, ignorant as a child, had always imagined the village primary school to be a paradise. When he first left home and gathered with his fellow villagers, every blade of grass and tree was full of life, and everything seemed new to him. Now, returning and looking around, he realized how dilapidated and run-down it had become.
Looking at the few students in the four classrooms, Chen Dian asked Teacher Hu, "Are there only these twenty or so children in this school?"
Teacher Hu mistakenly thought that the boss from the city was looking down on the village for being so shabby, so he shyly said, "Several children have asked for leave. It just snowed, and the mountain roads are difficult to walk on."
Village Party Secretary Long Yan explained, "Jiutao Village is a typical mountain village. A few years ago, following the town's call, almost everyone moved down the mountain. But there are still a dozen or so families who, due to various constraints, prefer not to move down and live up there. It's fine on weekdays, but when it snows, the road goes straight up and down, impossible to go up or down. We call it 'unreachable.'"
"How many other children live up there?"
"Four."
"There are also children with personalities—children who are not too 'lively'?"
Long Yan said: "Of course there is."
"Would it be convenient for me to go over and take a look?"
This new young man is really decisive and efficient.
Long Yan originally thought that this was the only itinerary for the morning, but when he heard that he had other arrangements, he couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.
"Well... the town's working group will come for an inspection tomorrow, and our village's information hasn't been completed yet. I'm afraid these people won't be able to get away."
"You go ahead and get busy with everyone else. Xiaoye can just accompany me for a walk." Chen Yan said, "We've 'cooperated' before in Ancheng. She's very capable."
Hearing his niece being praised, Long Yan's face suddenly lit up. "Okay. The mountain road is not easy to walk on, so you must be careful."
Before Ye Yuanyin could answer, a man rushed out from the side and shouted, "I'm going too!" Everyone looked and found that it was Zheng Youshan.
After all, neighbors are kindhearted, and upon hearing that Grandma Wang had passed away, Zheng Youshan was so shocked that he left his vegetable stall in Ancheng and returned home. He even hired a small assistant in the city to help take care of the business for two days.
This morning, when he woke up, he was squatting in the corner brushing his teeth with a ceramic cup. Seeing a group of people surrounding Jin Yan'an like stars surrounding the moon, he felt a little unhappy. When he heard that Ye Yuanyin was going to accompany him to climb the "Ghost Difficulty Climbing" again, a man and a woman alone, he became even more worried.
Is it so great to be rich? Does having money mean you can snatch love away?
His father, Zheng Baoshu, was anxious. He thought that the snowy and muddy roads would be very inconvenient to travel. He only had this one son. If anything dangerous happened, wouldn't his wife be furious with him? So he scolded him fiercely, "Why are you making such a fuss? Go home!"
"Who's causing the trouble?" Zheng Youshan pleaded with Long Yan. "Uncle Long, that road is not easy to travel. It's not safe for the two of them to go. Besides, you know my uncle's temper. He'll get into a fight if he doesn't agree with anything. I'll stay with him."
Seeing Long Yan nodded, the three of them set off immediately.
In order to prevent Ye Yuanyin and Shen Ji'an from talking, Zheng Youshan tried his best and even read her an impromptu poem:
"There is a lot of pottery clay in Jiutao Village.
Bringing in clay to make tiles,
Digging hard, the tomb was found.
The black pottery craftsmanship is famous.
Ah Yin, what do you think of my poem?
"Very good." Ye Yuanyin praised him politely.
Zheng Youshan just felt that he was really happy in his heart.
——In fact, Zheng Youshan didn’t know that even if he didn’t interrupt, the two of them wouldn’t be able to say a few words because they were not familiar with each other.
The higher you go up the mountain, the thicker the clouds and mist become.
In April in the mountains, the snow covered the blooming flowers. When I looked up, the sky was gloomy, as if the curtain had been drawn and the sky was filled with cotton wool.
This was also Ye Yuanyin's first time to "Gui Nanpan". After finishing primary school in the village, she went to the middle school in the town. After finishing junior high school in the town, she went to the key high school in the county. Just like the scholars in ancient times, she migrated all the way for fame.
She looked back and saw Chen Dian observing the surrounding terrain.
Jiutao Village is a typical plateau mountainous terrain. Because the cultivated land area is uneven and mostly terraced, the main economic crops grown are rice and potatoes.
"Ayin...how about, how about——" Zheng Youshan hesitated and finally asked with all his courage: "How about I give up the vegetable stall and come back!"
After saying that, she looked around shyly, and there was no one around her.
Ye Yuanyin had already walked to Yan Dian'an's side. His heart was alarmed and he slowed down his pace to listen to what the two people were talking about.
Ye Yuanyin asked, "Does everything look new?"
He was not stingy with his praise, "The scenery is beautiful."
"Where there's no overdevelopment, the natural landscape is good." She walked beside him and said matter-of-factly.
He got straight to the point, "How many children on the mountain are like Zhizhi?"
"Everyone has their own difficulties, and some are even worse." Ye Yuanyin looked at the gray sky and said, "Same to you, sir."
Zheng Youshan interrupted, "Especially the child named Xiao Ruan, the granddaughter of a famous leader on the mountain, and her mental state is very bad."
"The leader on the mountain?"
"Yes, the one who took the lead in opposing the relocation to the foot of the mountain was an educated troublemaker."
Chen Dian smiled proudly. On his way to where he is today, he had met dozens if not a hundred partners or employees who had different ideas from him. Many of them graduated from top universities or Ivy League schools. However, for KZ Technology to develop to this day, no matter how capable a person was, they all had to obey the overall interests of the company's development.
He wouldn't say that every decision he made was correct, but he would never be controlled by fear when making a decision.
So I intuitively thought, "Such samples would be more valuable to analyze."
There was no road ahead, and the three of them stopped.
Chendi'an looked up and saw the only way up the mountain standing before him. The man-made steps were piled up layer by layer and were more than ten meters long.
The most important thing is that last night's snow, carved by wind and frost, formed a layer of hard ice on the steep steps within the soft snow. The ice was crystal clear and sparkled with majesty that made it difficult to climb.
Suddenly, someone on the mountain shouted, "Everyone down there, get out! Get out! Get out!"
Ye Yuanyin raised her head to look upwards out of curiosity, but before she could react, everything went dark before her eyes. Chen Yan grabbed her arm and pulled her hard into his arms.
The next second, a large pot of boiling hot water poured down from the top of the mountain, like a torrent that had been opened, rolling down the steps.
Zheng Youshan squatted on the ground, clasping his arms tightly around his head. He waited until Shan Shang's ferocious ice-breaking maneuvers were complete before releasing his arms.
It wouldn't matter if he didn't look at it, but once he did, he was furious. At this moment, the girl he liked was hiding in Shen Ji'an's arms, and his hands were still covering her head.
"Damn it, let go! Hands..."
The following word was only pronounced one syllable, and Chen Dian had already let go of her in a measured way.
Zheng Youshan didn't dare to act rashly. As if a reliable old driver had stepped on the brakes, he quickly turned the steering wheel and said, "Damn it, bring it on... Those on the mountain, are you still going to water it?"
On the top of the mountain, a man's head was vaguely visible, and a voice came from above: "Damn, there really is someone down there."
The valley echoed: "There really are people - there really are people - there really are people - people, people, people -"
Ye Yuanyin's funny bone was inexplicably touched. When she smiled, she seemed more dazzling than the mountains and trees after the snow. Zheng Youshan was stunned and laughed along with her.
Chen Yan turned around and saw the two of them like this, with a smile on his face, he glanced at her slowly.
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