Although the snow came quickly and suddenly, it didn't last long. In just one morning, the wind stopped, the snow stopped, and the warm sunlight shone down again, causing the temperature to rise considerably.
However, the entanglement between Lu Chen and Tang Ning did not come to an end with the cessation of the snowstorm. On the contrary, even the closeness and warmth accumulated over the past few days seemed to have been suddenly paused, and came to an abrupt end.
Throughout the meal, Tang Ning remained silent. The old square table was so quiet that Lu Chen felt quite uncomfortable, but he had no idea how to start the conversation.
Seeing that the meal was finished, Lu Chen, whose eyesight had improved to see more clearly, got up with Tang Ning. He was about to help her when Tang Ning didn't give him a chance. She quickly cleaned up the table and went to the kitchen.
Lu Chen was left standing by the table, his eyes slightly lowered. After a long while, a slight smile appeared on his lips.
He was still indulging in his own fantasies, torn between his previous desire to get revenge on Tang Ning and his involuntary attraction to her, even considering whether to accept Tang Ning, who had been with Xu Sinian for five years...
He didn't even consider that even if he were to ask Tang Ning to get back together now, would she really agree?
After meeting her, Tang Ning's double standards towards him and Xu Sinian, as well as the things she said to him in the small courtyard in the north of the city, should have made him realize that it was not a question of whether he was willing or not to accept it, because the choice had always been in Tang Ning's hands.
No matter how much he thinks, it's all in vain if she doesn't agree.
The only difference is that when he was in Haicheng, his intentions were impure; he was hypocritical and single-mindedly wanted to make Tang Ning regret her past choices. But now, he is...
Thinking of this, Lu Chen clenched his fists unconsciously.
Unseen by Tang Ning and Lu Chen, a group of furtive people, led by two men of different heights, quietly slipped into Dayu Village and, avoiding the villagers' sight, stealthily made their way into Aunt Han's courtyard.
Just as he hid by the wall outside the yard, the tall man saw Tang Ning coming out of the kitchen and immediately greeted him with a look of surprise. The man, who was sitting next to him, was bored and had an above-average appearance, but was ruined by huge eye bags and dark circles under his eyes. He quickly looked into the yard.
After the man beside him saw Tang Ning, he lowered his voice, "That's her, Brother Tiger. What do you think? Pretty good quality, right? She and her husband accidentally washed ashore in the river a few days ago, and no one has come looking for them since, so they must have no background. And her husband is just a blind pretty boy; he can't even see where he's going, so he's nothing to be afraid of. So, Brother Tiger, isn't this interesting? I knew you had this kind of taste, so almost as soon as I saw a stunning beauty like this, I immediately went to tell you..."
At this moment, the lecherous man, whom the tall man called Tiger, stared at Tang Ning for a moment, his cheeks flushed, his breathing became more and more rapid, and he didn't even notice when the toothpick he was holding in his mouth fell out.
"She...she...well, Han Laowu, when did you become so savvy? Haha..."
Overjoyed, the man was about to burst into laughter when he noticed that Tang Ning in the courtyard had turned around curiously upon hearing the commotion.
Before, just seeing her profile made them think that this beauty was as beautiful as a fairy descended from heaven. Now that Tang Ning's face was directly in front of them, the stunning beauty that hit them head-on made all the men squatting by the wall gasp. Even the two tall and thin men were no exception.
Once he came to his senses, the tall, thin man immediately lowered his eyes, quickly concealing the resentment and anger in them.
This bitch dared to hurt him. Since she's unwilling to serve him, then let her serve Li Hu, that lecherous glutton, instead. I've heard that he's always been unrestrained in that kind of thing, bringing all sorts of dirty and smelly things to bed. People in town say he's probably sick in that area, otherwise he wouldn't be such a healthy person now, so thin.
Moreover, he and the leper owed him a considerable sum of gambling debts, and he and his pack of vicious dogs had beaten them countless times.
He deliberately didn't tell Li Hu that the little vixen had a gun, just to collect some interest first.
After thinking this maliciously to himself, the tall, thin man continued to look at Tiger with a fawning expression.
"Brother Tiger, what about the accounts between me and Lai Li..."
Han Laowu asked this tentatively.
Almost simultaneously, Tang Ning, perhaps noticing nothing amiss, carried the basin into the house, causing Li Hu to feel a sudden sense of loss. Hearing the tall, thin man's rough, unpleasant voice, he waved his hand dismissively and impatiently, "Alright, alright, I'll waive the interest this time!"
It was just interest, and Han Laowu's resentment intensified. But soon, this resentment turned into a strong sense of schadenfreude. He should say it was good that he hadn't told Li Hu and his gang that the woman had a gun.
Guns... tonight, I wonder if these guys, especially Li Hu, will even be alive.
Who cares? Both sides are his enemies. He'll fight to the death to take them down one by one.
Thinking this to himself, Han Laowu's smile grew even more ingratiating and obsequious. "Hey, thank you, Brother Tiger, thank you, Brother Tiger. Well, Lai Li and I will be leaving now. No matter what, we're all from Dayu Village. This woman has seen us before. If the village chief finds out, Lai Li and I are afraid we won't be able to stay in Dayu Village anymore..."
Listening to Han Laowu's continued sob story in his ear, Li Hu, whose mind was completely captivated by Tang Ning, didn't say a word this time, only casually waving his hand.
Han Laowu immediately gave Han Laili a wink, and the two of them quietly left the small group of six or seven people.
Once they were a little further away, standing beside a haystack, Han Laowu spat on the ground with a "Pah!" sound, "What is that?!"
Seeing this, the bald-headed man immediately asked worriedly, "What should we do now, Fifth Brother..."
"What do you mean, what to do? We'll just have to deal with it. Regardless of whether anything happens tonight, we can't stay in Lantau Village. If Li Laohu's family catches us, we're dead. I heard he has a brother-in-law who works at the town's police station, so we have to escape."
"Escape? Where are you going to escape to, Fifth Brother!"
Upon hearing the word "escape," the bald-headed man immediately lost his composure and looked longingly at the tall, thin man.
"Anyway, you and my family are all dead long ago. A true man should roam the world. Let's go to Haicheng and give it a shot!"
Han Laowu clenched his fists, his eyes gleaming with ambition.
Almost simultaneously, Tang Ning, who already knew what kind of trouble was going on outside through 54088, naturally overheard the conversation between these two scoundrels. Yes, she had noticed it long ago; Han Laowu had a narrow, bald forehead and prominent cheekbones, and just by looking at his face, she could tell he was a treacherous and vengeful villain. This was also the main reason why she had chosen to hit his thigh but not kill him.
Because he won't let it go easily.
And here comes another opportunity for her.
These two are actually quite smart; they told others to die but didn't get involved themselves, and they ran away quickly. However, since they're going to Haicheng, we'll probably have a chance to run into them again in the future.
At that time...
A cold glint quickly appeared in Tang Ning's eyes.
Despite knowing that someone was lurking outside the courtyard wall with ill intentions, Tang Ning continued to do her own thing as usual.
Soon, it got dark.
Lu Chen, who had gone to bed early, was hoping that Tang Ning would go to bed a little earlier, so that they could at least spend more time together. Maybe he could find an opportunity to say something to her, instead of being in silence like they were now.
Unfortunately, Lu Chen was destined to be disappointed. He lay quietly on the bed for an unknown amount of time without seeing Tang Ning. It wasn't until he was feeling somewhat drowsy that he finally heard the sound of the door opening.
Soon, Tang Ning quietly lay down beside him, which startled Lu Chen awake. His fingers instinctively tightened around the sheets beside him.
The room was dark and quiet, as if there were no other sounds except for the two of them breathing.
Before Tang Ning appeared, Lu Chen had already imagined countless ways to start the story. In the pitch black, he opened his mouth, but unfortunately, he couldn't utter a single syllable.
Because at this moment his mind was completely blank, he had completely forgotten what he was supposed to say.
Lu Chen knew Tang Ning wasn't asleep because her breathing was different, but the fact that she wasn't asleep made it even harder for him to speak.
The two remained silent, neither speaking, until a strange noise suddenly came from outside. They both held their breath, waiting for another sound to come from outside.
They already understood that their courtyard had welcomed its "guests" again tonight.
"land……"
Tang Ning lowered her voice and was about to say something when she felt a warm, large hand gently cover her mouth.
"Shh, don't talk, where's your gun?"
Upon hearing the seriousness in Lu Chen's voice and knowing that the situation was urgent, Tang Ning immediately pulled out a small pistol from under the covers and shoved it into his hand.
Lu Chen subtly moved his wrist, just as he concealed the gun in his sleeve, when a loud bang was heard, and the door was kicked open from the outside.
The light from outside suddenly poured in, but because of the backlighting, Tang Ning couldn't see what the person looked like at all. She only saw that his right leg was shaking incessantly, and he had a nonchalant attitude.
Who are you?
Lu Chen immediately took Tang Ning's hand and stood under the bed, asking this question with a cold face.
"Who is it? Hahaha, of course, it's the person who can make your little beauty happy to the heavens!"
They're just a bunch of cannon fodder, they didn't even bother to change their lines, but maybe the author just wanted to be lazy.
Tang Ning silently complained to herself.
Lu Chen squinted and subtly counted the heads standing at the door. His heart sank. A gun can only hold a maximum of six bullets, and Tang Ning had already used one. Now there were seven heads, and he didn't know if there were any others outside.
Thinking of this, Lu Chen's heart tightened, and he continued to stall, "Do you know Han Laowu and Han Laili?"
So what if we know each other?
The man standing at the door probably thought that Lu Chen was just wasting time by talking so much nonsense. To him, he and his beautiful young wife were nothing more than two pieces of meat on his chopping board, which he could chop however he wanted.
He boldly walked in, his eyes, gleaming with malevolence, never leaving Tang Ning's fair face.
"Do you have a grudge against me?"
Lu Chen asked instinctively, "Otherwise, why would these two trick you into coming here to die?"
Lu Chen's words startled the man who had already walked up to him, who then burst into laughter. His laughter drew laughter from the group outside, and the secluded and quiet courtyard was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
"Hahaha, he said we're here to die, hahaha..."
As he laughed, Li Hu, the leader, suddenly raised his chin slightly, his eyes filled with threat and mockery. He raised his hand and lightly slapped Lu Chen's cheek, making a loud slapping sound. "I'm giving you a heads-up now, so you won't go around saying I, Brother Hu, have no code of honor. I'm here to play with your wife today, right under your blind nose, not to deliver myself..."
Before Li Hu could finish speaking, a cold, hard object pressed against his temple. Then he heard Lu Chen ask in a very soft voice, "Didn't you come to deliver something? Hmm?"
As soon as Lu Chen finished speaking, his thumb had already pressed the safety button on the gun.
Li Hu, whose brother-in-law was a policeman, understood this voice all too well. It meant that the gun pointed at him could go off at any moment, and then he...
Upon realizing this, the man lost all his previous arrogance. His already sallow face turned deathly pale. In his mind, he had already cursed those two bastards, Han Laowu and his ancestors for eighteen generations. Those two scoundrels hadn't told him that they had such a thing in their hands. He was doomed.
However, Li Hu, who had always lived in the streets, was extremely flexible and adaptable. As soon as Lu Chen pushed him out of the room, he stiffened up and started to cry.
"Hero, spare my life! Hero, spare my life! I was blind and didn't recognize your greatness. I'm not human, I'm just an animal. Please have mercy on me! I have a ninety-year-old mother and an infant child at home. Please, hero, treat me like a fart, let me go, spare me this time..."
This person must have learned a set of begging lines from somewhere, but they sounded like a song, with highs and lows, full of rhythm and cadence.
Lu Chen frowned as he listened, but his hand remained firmly pressed against his temple.
There's no way I can stay in Lantau Village anymore. The old village chief kept his word, but it hasn't been long, and he's already letting those two scoundrels from the village cause trouble again. Now they've even brought in this pack of wolves. It's simply...
"Ningning, go back to your room first and tidy up your things a bit..."
"careful!"
No one could have imagined that Li Hu, whose head seemed to go limp the moment a gun was pressed against him, would suddenly rush over while Lu Chen was distracted talking to her. He grabbed Lu Chen's hand holding the gun with both hands, desperately trying to break free while shouting at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, attack together! The gun in this guy's hand is most likely fake, but if it is real, and he breaks free, none of us will survive!"
Under the man's highly inflammatory roar, a group of henchmen who had been terrified by the real thing actually rushed forward, grabbing whatever weapons were at hand and throwing them at Lu Chen.
One of them even viciously smashed a long bench over Lu Chen's head, making a dull thud.
"Lu Chen!"
Before Tang Ning could react, chaos had erupted before her eyes. Six or seven people quickly surrounded Lu Chen, and the muffled thuds of punches and kicks grew louder and louder until—
"Bang!"
Gunshots rang out suddenly.
The group of people surrounding them seemed to be startled and retreated to the side in unison, looking at Lu Chen and Li Hu who were still standing there motionless with fear. Then they ran away like madmen, as if they were afraid that if they ran too far away, the bullets would fall on them.
Just then, a thick stream of blood began to flow down Lu Chen's forehead.
Tang Ning stared wide-eyed in disbelief. She had just run to his side with a deathly pale face and hadn't said anything when she saw Li Hu, who had been fighting with Lu Chen for the item, suddenly fall straight backward with his eyes wide open. He twitched twice and then stopped moving.
Upon seeing this, Lu Chen staggered and suddenly knelt on one knee. Tang Ning immediately helped him up.
“Lu Chen…”
The next second, she suddenly felt a hand grip her sleeve tightly, and a voice trembled as she gasped for breath, "We're...only a few bullets left. Once these people...react, or gather more people...we might not be able to leave even if we want to. Let's go!"
As he spoke, Lu Chen forced himself to stand up, gripped Tang Ning's hand tightly, and ignored the thin layer of snow still piled up outside. Because the temperature dropped at night, many places on the road were covered with thin ice that was easy to slip on, and the two of them plunged into the dark and cold night.
The village paths were so dark that, apart from the cold moon overhead, nothing else could be seen clearly. Occasionally, you would even break the thin ice covering puddles and splash muddy water all over your legs, which was icy cold.
Apart from the cold, Tang Ning was fine in every other way.
Lu Chen's head spun more and more as he walked, and his steps became increasingly unsteady. He was almost leaning on Tang Ning to move forward, but he couldn't find any sense of balance at all.
"It's alright, Lu Chen, it's alright. Let's go to a nearby town and find a doctor. Everything will be fine... Ah!"
Because the smell of blood emanating from the man beside her was getting stronger, Tang Ning comforted him with a heavy nose. But as if things weren't going to go wrong, just as she was pulling Lu Chen up a small hill, Tang Ning suddenly slipped on a layer of ice and tumbled down the hillside with Lu Chen.
Even Tang Ning didn't know how long they had been rolling around. She only felt a stinging pain all over her face and hands. In the end, she could only hold the person beneath her tightly and couldn't think of any other better way.
After about ten meters, the two stopped rolling around. When they opened their eyes, Tang Ning was on top of Lu Chen.
Under the moonlight, the man's face was covered in blood, his eyes were slightly closed, and his lips were so white they were almost transparent, which made Tang Ning immediately anxious.
"Lu Chen, how are you? It's all my fault, Lu Chen, please don't die, please don't let anything happen to you, Lu Chen, Lu Chen..."
Unfortunately, no matter how much she called out, the man in front of her did not respond.
Tang Ning's eyes immediately turned red, and tears quickly fell from her eyes one by one.
In fact, Lu Chen wanted to open his eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, his upper and lower eyelids seemed to be covered with glue, and he couldn't open them no matter what.
He could hear Tang Ning's cries and her sobs, but he couldn't even respond to her.
He desperately wanted to reach out and wipe away her tears, to tell her not to cry, that he would be alright. He tried to move, but in the end, he couldn't even lift his hand.
Lu Chen, who had never felt so helpless before, also reddened his eyes, and a tear rolled down his cheek.
At the same time, Tang Ning, who had shed a few tears, knew that this couldn't go on. If they continued to cry like this, Lu Chen would either bleed to death or they would freeze to death.
Thinking of this, Tang Ning turned her head and glanced at the small hill they had rolled down. Because of the remaining snow, the path up was very slippery.
After reading it, she raised her sleeve, forcefully wiped away her tears, grabbed one of Lu Chen's arms, gritted her teeth, and carried him on her back. Then, with one hand on his arm and the other hand holding onto the wild grass on the slope, she began to climb up the hillside.
The hillside was really slippery, and she was really too weak.
She carried Lu Chen, sliding down again and again, then climbing back up, over and over again. Even Tang Ning herself probably lost count of how many times she climbed, until her fingers bled. Yet, she kept encouraging herself and Lu Chen, "It'll be alright, it's simple, I'll climb up. Lu Chen, I'll take you to a doctor, it'll be alright, you'll be alright..."
Hearing Tang Ning's resolute voice, Lu Chen's blurred gaze never left her profile.
My eyes grew hotter and hotter, and my heart grew hotter and hotter. In that instant, all the jumbled thoughts in my mind suddenly became clear.
Yes, even if she was unfair, even if she really fell in love with another man, even if she was with someone else for five years, even if she might have genuinely wanted to abandon him five years ago.
Lu Chen still loves Tang Ning, loves her madly, to the point that he doesn't even know what to do with himself.
He still wanted to be with her, ever since he first saw her again.
He didn't even want to think about the unbearable things he had experienced five years ago, didn't want to think about how Tang Ning had followed Xu Sinian for five whole years, didn't want to think about how heavy and cold the snow was that night, he didn't want to think about anything. Because he couldn't lie to himself at all, he couldn't lie to himself that he loved her, as much as he hated her.
For the past five years since he left Haicheng, the last person he thought of when he closed his eyes each day was Tang Ning, and the first person that appeared in his mind when he opened his eyes in the morning was still Tang Ning.
He loved her, and that love never stopped.
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