Zi Xi was a little dizzy and vaguely saw the crowd at the village entrance suddenly disperse and a dark figure running against the flow of people towards them.
The man ran extremely fast, like a lynx spotting its prey, and was in front of the tractor in the blink of an eye.
"The madman is here!! Let's get out of here!"
Master Wang's voice suddenly changed tone.
Before Lin Zixi could react, the truck bed was violently shaken by a brute force.
To her horror, she saw a pale face pressed against the edge of the barrier. It was a young man in his early twenties with a pair of frighteningly bright eyes beneath his messy black hair, staring intently at her bleeding forehead.
"Ji Yanchen! What's wrong with you now, you madman!"
Master Wang picked up the crank handle and pretended to hit someone.
The young man nimbly took two steps back, but still stared intently at Zi Xi.
He was wearing an ill-fitting cotton-padded jacket, the cuffs of which were worn shiny, and his bare wrists were covered with scars of varying depths.
What startled Zi Xi the most was his gaze. It wasn't the simple honesty or wariness common among country folk, but rather a kind of wild, focused intensity, as if she were prey that had suddenly appeared in the snow.
"Blood will freeze."
The young man suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse as if he hadn't spoken in a long time.
Master Wang started the tractor while cursing, but the young man suddenly pulled something out of his pocket and threw it into Zi Xi's arms. It was half a frozen, rock-hard roasted sweet potato.
"unlucky!"
Master Wang slammed on the gas pedal, and the tractor spewed black smoke as it rushed into the village.
When Zi Xi turned around, she saw that the young man named Ji Yanchen was still standing in the same spot, his tall and thin figure gradually becoming a black dot in the snow.
That's the male lead, Ji Yanchen. He looks like a wild beast.
Captain Li Youcai was waiting for them at the threshing ground.
This man in his forties had the robust physique typical of a farmer, yet his face carried the refined air of a scholar.
He looked through the letters of introduction one by one, and his brows furrowed noticeably when he saw Lin Zixi's file.
"Lin...Zixi? Your father is Lin Peiyuan?"
The threshing ground suddenly fell silent.
Zi Xi felt countless gazes piercing her back like needles. She straightened her back and spoke more steadily than she had expected: "Yes, he passed away last year."
A murmur arose from the crowd.
"I heard he hanged himself in the cowshed..."
"Even the capitalist's daughter is here for renovations..."
These words pierced Zi Xi's ears like shards of ice, but Zi Xi was not a native of this world, so how could she be hurt by these idle gossips?
"Revolution doesn't distinguish between first and last; once you're here, you're a member."
“Lin, the educated youth, lives there. The rest of you, come with me.”
Li Youcai coughed and pointed to a low, mud-brick house in the distance.
The house stood alone at the end of the village, about a hundred meters away from the nearest house.
The thatched roof was blown about by the wind, and the plastic sheeting nailed to the windows rattled loudly.
Zi Xi dragged her luggage to the door and found that the lock on the lock ring was an exquisite brass lock, which seemed out of place in this remote and impoverished place.
The key won't turn when inserted.
Just as she was worrying, she heard the crunching sound of snow being trampled behind her.
Ji Yanchen had followed us there at some point and was now standing three steps away, holding a broken enamel bowl filled with some dark, pasty substance.
Seeing Zixi turn around, he quickly put the bowl on the ground and retreated into the shadows by the wall.
"The lock is rusty, you need to do it like this."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
