Chapter 23
twenty three,
Although Guan Yue spoke impulsively, she genuinely felt that it was the right thing to do afterward. What if Jinlan really got caught? Cheng Lingjun was implicated because of her, and she should protect Cheng Lingjun!
“But…” Cheng Lingjun hesitated before speaking.
Guan Yue immediately asked, "What's wrong?"
"Hmm..." Cheng Lingjun said tactfully, "I'm afraid someone will see us."
Yes, we still need to be mindful of other people's reputations!
Guan Yue waved her hand. "Don't worry, I'll just follow you from a distance. If anyone sees us, I'll take a detour. And you, don't tell them you know I'm behind you, understand?"
"Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you? Actually, I haven't been out much, so I should be fine."
“No trouble at all,” Guan Yue said, afraid that Cheng Lingjun would refuse. “Even if you don’t think about yourself, you should think about your son, Li Guang. I don’t have much to do every day, so I’ll just take this opportunity to relax.”
Seeing that Guan Yue was determined to do this, Cheng Lingjun had no choice but to agree, but told her not to force herself and that she could just take him once or twice occasionally, and that he would be more careful on his own.
Guan Yue readily agreed, but in reality, that wasn't her intention. She was definitely going to keep a close eye on things, because who knew what those hooligans and scoundrels might do?
Guan Yue completely forgot that she used to be one of those hooligans, but now she's reformed and become a bodyguard.
Cheng Lingjun also began to live a life where she had to carry guards when she went out.
He thought that even if Guan Yue would see him off, she would only see him off for a short distance. He didn't expect her to follow him the whole way. Even when they arrived at a crowded place, he could still feel Guan Yue behind him.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
Li Guang, holding Cheng Lingjun's hand, asked.
"Nothing," Cheng Lingjun said, bowing his head as he escorted Li Guang to Lady Liu's house. "Why do you ask that?"
Li Guang looked up and asked, "I saw Dad turn around several times already. Is there something behind him?"
As Li Guang spoke, he turned around, but Cheng Lingjun immediately stopped him, saying somewhat awkwardly, "It's nothing, let's go, don't be late."
As she spoke, Cheng Lingjun grabbed Li Guang's hand and hurried towards Liu Niangzi's house, not daring to look back afterward.
Once there is one, there will be two, and once there is two, there will be three. When Cheng Lingjun took Li Guang to the private school, Guan Yue followed. When Cheng Lingjun went to the river, Guan Yue followed. When Cheng Lingjun went to find the village chief, Guan Yue still followed.
The village chief was no ordinary person; she naturally noticed Cheng Lingjun's unease and asked, "Which hooligan was following you?"
"Little... hooligan?" Cheng Lingjun hesitated for a moment. The person the village chief was talking about should probably be Guan Yue, right?
Rui Xi said, "It's the one that lives across from your house."
Cheng Lingjun was somewhat startled, "She...she didn't either, we're not..."
Rui Xi had a look on her face that said, "I didn't ask about your business. I was just asking if she's with you now?"
Cheng Lingjun said guiltily, "I guess so. How did you know, Village Chief?"
Rui Xi countered, "Why is she following you?"
"Well, she just thinks I'm dangerous, but it's only occasional," Cheng Lingjun told Rui Xi about Guan Yue's encounter with Jin Lan, emphasizing, "She only follows me when she's going the same way, and she hasn't done anything indecent..."
Rui Xi looked at him, her eyes holding something that Cheng Lingjun couldn't understand but also found unsettling. She said, "Really? But I think I've seen her following you a few times. I don't think that's a coincidence."
Although Rui Xi had a question, Cheng Lingjun felt that she was already certain, and for a moment he didn't know what to say to clarify his relationship with Guan Yue—even though they really didn't have any relationship.
Cheng Lingjun was speechless, but Village Chief Rui, being a shrewd old man, didn't say much. He simply said, "It's alright. She followed quite far. I doubt anyone but me could tell she was following you. That little hooligan is quite cautious."
"Is that so... Hehe," Cheng Lingjun smiled, but thought to himself, "Since no one else can tell, how did you figure it out, village chief? And why do you have to ask him? What's going on here? I feel like there's something more to the village chief's words."
And the village chief insists on calling Guan Yue a little hooligan, even though she calls Guan Yue by her name too, and it's not that she dislikes Guan Yue...
Cheng Lingjun glanced at the village chief, who also looked at him. Their eyes met, then they looked away in tacit agreement.
Rui Xi lowered her head and continued rubbing the rice stalks in her hands, asking, "So what are you doing here?"
“Actually, that’s exactly why I came here,” Cheng Lingjun said in a low voice.
"Hmm?" Rui Xi looked up, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "Tell Guan Yue to stop following you? But didn't you say..."
Wasn't Guan Yue supposed to be protecting him?
Or perhaps Guan Yue had finally annoyed him? Well, not everyone likes having a tagalong. Cheng Lingjun was probably still afraid of Guan Yue, and Jin Lan was Guan Yue's former good-for-nothing friend. Anyone would be scared to be dragged into this kind of trouble by Guan Yue, and Cheng Lingjun was no exception…
Rui Xi was thinking when Cheng Lingjun quickly waved his hand: "No, no, I wanted to ask the village chief to help Jin Lan to behave herself, even if it's just to warn her a few words."
Rui Xi's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Why didn't Guan Yue tell me this herself? Did she ask you to tell me?"
Cheng Lingjun said, "No, no, no, it was my own idea. She is actually quite afraid of troubling others, especially since you, the village chief, have helped her several times. She is even more afraid to come to you."
Cheng Lingjun lowered her eyes and said, "She is busy taking care of her vegetables and livestock, and she is also worried about Jinlan coming to bother her. She seems to be fine, but how could there be no problem at all? If Jinlan really appears again, I'm afraid she won't be able to sleep well. So I think it would be best to keep Jinlan away from her. Then she can do her own thing in peace and won't have to follow me around every day."
Rui Xi looked at him, "...You're quite good to her."
Cheng Lingjun coughed twice, "You misunderstood... It's a troublesome thing that she always follows my father and me around. It's just that we're troubling the village chief."
After speaking, Cheng Lingjun took out a small cloth bag from her sleeve. When she opened it, she saw that it was an embroidered piece with a simple picture on it—a cat playing with a butterfly. The calico cat and the pale yellow butterfly were lifelike and full of life.
“This is…” Rui Xi said.
“I don’t have anything to give the village chief. This is a small piece of embroidery I made in my spare time. It should be suitable for making clothes for the children or a small trinket,” Cheng Lingjun said, handing the item over, but Rui Xi did not accept it.
"This has nothing to do with you, why bother?" Rui Xi said calmly. "Take it back. I know it wasn't easy for you to make this, you used it to supplement your household income."
"That's too much trouble for the village chief," Cheng Lingjun said anxiously. "It's just some insignificant little thing, and we've troubled the village chief to take care of it for so long. We really don't have anything worth showing off..."
"Alright, alright," Rui Xi sighed. "My family doesn't need you. If you really want to repay me, just have that little hooligan come and thank me. Xiao Cheng, don't... just let her be. Maybe she'll give up on her own after a while."
She almost blurted out the word "paying out of pocket," but quickly swallowed it back.
Cheng Lingjun said, "But what about that sworn sisterhood—"
Rui Xi's eyes were full of "She still wants to help that scoundrel after all," which made Cheng Lingjun feel a little embarrassed, but he still forced himself to say, "Village Chief..."
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t help,” Rui Xi said with a look of disappointment. “Don’t worry, Jin Lan and the others definitely won’t bother you again.”
Cheng Lingjun's face immediately lit up. "Thank you so much!"
“You really are…” Rui Xi shook her head, not knowing what to say. Why did she always feel that there was something between these two people?
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Cheng Lingjun took his leave. Once Cheng Lingjun had disappeared, Rui Xi turned around and found the small cloth bag that Cheng Lingjun had shown her was still on the chair he had sat on.
Rui Xi held the small cloth bag, speechless, but pondering the relationship between the two. Logically speaking, Cheng Lingjun and Guan Yue were close in age and could be a good match, but Cheng Lingjun was a divorced man with a child, and Guan Yue had never been married. Would she be willing to marry him?
But what could Guan Yue possibly be unwilling about? Wasn't she a little hooligan herself?
But the scoundrel doesn't seem to be a scoundrel anymore; he looks to be on the right path. If he can really stick to it and not go astray, he'll be considered a decent young man in Dahuai Village. There will probably be no shortage of unmarried men introducing him to her then. Cheng Lingjun will…
Rui Xi went through these messy matters in her mind several times, but finally gave up. She wouldn't get involved in these matters between men and women so casually. Getting involved without understanding would only cause trouble. Putting aside the difference in their social status, they first had to be interested in each other. She thought the hooligan looked pretty dazed, probably because he had amnesia or was mentally impaired.
Cheng Lingjun went home, and Guan Yue followed. Seeing that no one was around, she couldn't help but ask, "What did you go to the village chief's house for?"
Cheng Lingjun's usual schedule is very fixed. Sometimes he will go to other places, such as asking villagers who are going to town to help him buy or sell some things, or taking Li Guang for a walk after dropping him off. But these occasions are not frequent. Guan Yue only discovered this after following him. It turns out that Cheng Lingjun doesn't have many friends.
Today, they actually went to Village Chief Rui's house and stayed for a while. Guan Yue was a little worried, so she couldn't help but ask.
Cheng Lingjun hesitated for a moment, which Guan Yue noticed. She quickly said, "If you don't want to say, you don't have to. I was just asking casually."
It was just a visit to the village chief; if anything happened, it wouldn't be her place to interfere. Although Guan Yue was curious, she didn't show it on her face and waved her hand, saying, "I'll go back first. You go ahead with your work."
Cheng Lingjun called out to her, "It's nothing serious, I just want to ask her for advice."
"Oh?" Guan Yue asked, "What is it?"
Cheng Lingjun smiled and said, "Didn't you give me some sweet potato noodles a couple of days ago? I tried it, and it's exactly as you said, so I thought I'd ask the village chief about it."
So that's what it was about. Guan Yue had almost forgotten about her sweet potatoes. She had been so engrossed in farming and raising chickens these past few days that she had almost forgotten about the sweet potatoes she had left in the corner. However, when Guan Yue heard that Cheng Lingjun had asked the village chief, she looked somewhat surprised. "You asked the village chief? But I already asked him before. He said it was useless and told me to throw it away. Don't you know that too?"
Oh no, he really forgot.
Cheng Lingjun said calmly, "The village chief has seen sweet potatoes, but he doesn't know about sweet potato flour. I was afraid that my test would be inaccurate, so I wanted the village chief, who has more experience and knowledge than me, to try it so that there would be no mistakes."
Guan Yue suddenly realized, "You're so meticulous."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
