Chapter 20 Chapter 20

I wonder if Fang Chiye felt my random glance.

Su Rui was sitting in front of the stove, roasting her chastity with her yellow face. On the bench opposite her was Fang Chiye's military uniform, just separating the two of them.

The sweet potatoes thrown into the stove were already emitting a fragrant aroma. Su Rui used a small stick to pull them out and pushed them behind the bench: "They should be cooked now. You can eat them."

Fang Chiye was facing the wooden door all the time. The door was unlocked and a wooden stick was used as a latch. It could be opened with a strong push from the outside.

He picked up the sweet potato and didn't feel the heat on his hands. Behind his ears he could hear the rustling sound of a little girl peeling the sweet potato and the slight sound of swallowing.

Heavy rain pounded on the roof, strong winds blew through the window slits, and the air was filled with the smell of medicinal wine.

Su Rui was wearing a large coat, and the cold wind was blowing under the hem of her coat. She leaned in front of the stove and swallowed the last bite of sweet potato: "Why are you there?"

Fang Chiye said: "The soldier on duty found a stranger wandering around, and I just happened to be here to take a look."

After saying that, he stood up and walked to the window, blocking the gap where the wind was blowing in with a rag: "Still cold?"

"It won't be cold without wind." Su Rui said honestly, "Are you cold? Come over to the stove."

Fang Chiye smiled and said, "Forget it. I'd better stay away and not scare the little girl."

Su Rui pursed her lips. The old clothes that looked empty on her body looked tight on Fang Chiye. Su Rui thought, it takes up a lot of fabric. If it weren't for the army meals, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to buy a new set of clothes in a year with just the cloth coupons.

Fang Chiye seemed to have eyes on the back of his head: "What are you looking at?"

Suri said, "I came here to see if there was enough whitener."

Fang Chiye asked in a different way: "Why are you staring at me?"

Su Rui leaned back and said, "You seem very tall. Are you about 1.85 meters tall?"

Fang Chiye laughed again: "It can be higher."

Su Rui said: "1.86 meters?"

Fang Chiye said: "1.88...point five."

Su Rui smiled and said, "So tall, 1.88...5 meters."

Fang Chiye coughed and said, "I'm used to being meticulous."

Su Rui said: "That's right, he is the leader."

Knowing that the little girl was laughing at him, Fang Chiye also smiled and said, "Does Officer Su have any ideas?"

Su Rui liked to hear him call her "Little Cadre Su" in a gentle tone. She knew very well that "Little Cadre Su" and "Captain Fang" could not be compared, but she still liked to hear Fang Chiye call her that.

The sound of rain showed no sign of stopping. Fang Chiye sat back in his chair and said, "I heard that you were almost married to a widower and a fool?"

Su Rui said "Oh", hugged her knees and lowered her head, looking like she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Fang Chiye paused and said, "No matter how small a person is, he is still an official. Once you become an official, no one will touch you casually. Director Zhao doesn't seem like someone who would tolerate such a thing."

Su Rui whispered, "It's in the past. Besides, I have a date now."

Fang Chiye said calmly: "How are you getting along?"

Su Rui said: "Sometimes I think he is very nice, and sometimes I think he is very strange. Anyway, he is mysterious."

Fang Chiye asked: "So you plan to marry him?"

Su Rui said: "Look around first, and if it's not suitable, then kick it out. Also, the betrothal gift can't be too high, or else it will be kicked out."

Fang Chiye had a complicated expression as he turned his back to her. After a few seconds, he said calmly, "Let's find out more first."

Su Rui couldn't just listen to him talking about his own affairs. She also wanted to understand Fang Chiye, so she took the opportunity to ask, "Are you secretly in love with someone else?"

Fang Chiye said: "It's not a secret crush, I just want to care more for some unknown reason."

Suri: “I haven’t seen the photo yet.”

Fang Chiye said: "There's nothing good about her. She should look similar to your girlfriend."

Su Rui exclaimed: "How do you know what my partner looks like?"

Fang Chiye thought, that painting was actually drawn by him. He avoided the point and said, "Grandma Axi said so."

Su Rui believed it without a doubt: "Then she is right." Thinking that Fang Chiye's crush was actually a female King Kong, Su Rui felt that she had discovered the secret plot of the book, and was excited and regretful. A person like Fang Chiye should be matched with someone better.

If Fang Chiye turned around, he would definitely see Su Rui looking at him with an expression of a brother in distress.

"You said there are strangers on the mountain. Could they be enemies again?"

Fang Chiye said: "They are probably vagrants. There is a kidnapping and murder gang in Hezheng. After the crackdown began last month, they were frightened and began to roam to other provinces. As far as I know, two of them are still being hunted. Suhua Township is one of their escape routes."

Su Rui tightened her clothes and said worriedly, "I hope it's not them. Our Xiaoba Village has finally gotten better, and we can't let anything go wrong."

As soon as the words fell, a thunderclap broke through the air.

The wind blew the wooden door so hard that it hit the door frame. I thought someone was banging on the door.

Fang Chiye whispered, "Don't be afraid." Then he stood up and went to the door to check, and it was indeed the wind that caused it.

Su Rui felt that she was okay at catching petty thieves, but she was a bit overwhelmed when it came to professional killers. Especially tonight, it felt like a psychopathic killer with a steel saw could rush in at any moment.

She tried to dry her clothes, and when she felt her trousers were dry, she turned around and put them on. After putting them on, she boldly reached out and touched Fang Chiye's military uniform, which was also dry.

She walked over to Fang Chiye and handed him the uniform: "Put it on. There is not enough firewood. It will be cold in the middle of the night."

Fang Chiye took the military uniform but didn't put it on in a hurry. Seeing Su Rui's pale face, he said to her, "You take a nap."

Su Rui was not very sleepy, and she heard Fang Chiye say, "I'll watch over the first half of the night, and you watch over the second half."

"Okay." Su Rui came to the narrow wooden bed and touched the straw underneath. It was a little damp, but still suitable for sleeping.

She forced herself to close her eyes, listened to the sound of wind and rain, and fell asleep unknowingly.

It was a little cold at first, but later on my whole body felt warm.

In the morning, she suddenly opened her eyes and sat up to find that she was covered with Fang Chiye's military uniform and the stove was moved to the side of the small bed to keep her warm.

Fang Chiye had been sitting by the door the entire night. He must have just closed his eyes, and his body was still in a posture ready to attack at any time.

...Anyone who meets him is unlucky.

Su Rui walked over, and within two steps, Fang Chiye opened his eyes and turned his head, his eyes clear.

“The rain has stopped.”

“The rain has stopped.”

The two spoke in unison and smiled at each other.

"How's your foot?" Fang Chiye saw Su Rui walking slowly and thought her ankle was not healed yet.

"It's all right."

Su Rui took medicinal wine yesterday and slept by the stove all night. She didn't feel any pain except that she walked slower. If Fang Chiye hadn't asked her, she would have forgotten it.

The two of them packed up briefly, and after Su Rui checked the whitening agent, they went down the mountain together.

When they encountered a muddy patch after rain, Fang Chiye squatted down while walking in front. Su Rui was no longer reserved and just lay down, while Fang Chiye carried her through the mud.

Su Rui put her arms around his neck loosely and said gloomily, "It turns out there is no stream here."

"When they built the dam, they diverted a river branch to drain water. It seems to have an impact on the mountain. I will discuss this with them later. We cannot destroy the ecology of the mountain."

When Fang Chiye and other experts were conducting soil research, they discovered that the Taoshan ecology of Xiaoba Village was artificially distorted, and that Shitou Mountain should not have had such lush vegetation and nutritious soil.

He knew that it was the women of Xiaoba Village who had been repairing the entire mountain with their hands and backpacks for years. The experts were shocked at the time. This was a miracle created by the working people and the best example of man conquering nature. He knew the difficulties and felt their own experience.

The working people have their own front lines, where they also shed blood and sweat.

There were birds hovering behind the two of them, and their clear chirping sounds were pleasant to the ears.

The road behind was not easy to walk on either, so Fang Chiye simply carried Su Rui to a secluded place at the foot of the mountain and put her down: "Can you walk back by yourself?"

Su Rui blushed and said, "Thank you, Captain Fang. I can go home."

Fang Chiye said: "You don't have to go up the mountain recently. I will send people to patrol."

Suri said, "But we still need to apply medicine to the peach trees."

Fang Chiye said: "Just carry on with your daily work as normal. If you have anything, you can call me. Can you remember my number?"

Su Rui said crisply, "Yes!"

Fang Chiye gave the next phone number and specifically told Su Rui, "It's a military line. Call back if you have any questions."

Su Rui understood that even if she had never eaten pork, she had seen a pig walk away. The military hotline was answered and monitored by soldiers from the telephone operator team, so it was impossible to just call and chat casually.

Su Rui was about to leave when Fang Chiye called her back, "Wait a minute."

Su Rui turned her head and a bright smile appeared on her pretty face.

Fang Chiye didn't know why she was so happy. He thought for a moment and said, "If someone forces you to marry, you can beat them."

He paused and explained, "The security office is there to protect the people, and this is also their responsibility."

Su Rui said in surprise, "Really?"

Fang Chiye nodded.

Su Rui seemed to have received a reassurance pill, and the burden on her heart suddenly eased. She knew Fang Chiye was a man of his word, and if he said he could manage it, then he would definitely manage it.

After the two of them left, Su Rui walked home slowly. On the way, she couldn't help thinking that she had a prejudice against Fang Chiye at first, but in fact, he was a very nice person.

When she got home, she saw her father and Su Hongpei standing in the yard, discussing something.

Su Hongpei ran over to Su Rui after she found her back and said, "It's so frustrating. It looked like the sky was leaking yesterday. You were in the mountains and my father and I wanted to go up to look for you."

Su Li took off his hat and saw that the girl had come down in one piece. He didn't say anything more, but pointed to the main room and said, "Go wash your face."

"Okay." Su Rui packed herself up. Su Chang'e and Su Yuqin were still asleep. Su Hongpei pulled her into the west room, and she took out a registered letter mysteriously and said, "It's from your boyfriend."

Su Rui actually didn't like the fact that she had a partner, and she didn't have much sense of identity. She received a registered letter and found it was bulging. After tearing it open, there was no letter, but only a ruffled Dacron false collar with a dragonfly embroidered on the sky-blue fabric.

"This is the first time I've seen a collar more beautiful than the one you made." Su Hongpei was delighted: "It must be a gift from Comrade Ye. Don't worry about anything else. After all, you are a working person, so you should have decent clothes."

Su Rui felt her hands were burned. Last time, she lied in front of Guo's father and son and Fang Chiye, saying that Ye Chi sent her a fake collar. She didn't know if it was a coincidence, but this time he really sent her a fake collar, and it was the most fashionable and beautiful one on the market.

Thinking about Fang Chiye last night and Ye Chifang who was far away, Su Rui received so much kindness at once that she couldn't describe her feelings at the moment.

Since you feel it's too hot, you can't accept other people's gifts for free.

Su Rui was thinking about how to return the favor. She had no idea what the prisoner needed, and she had no idea how many people Ye Chifang had begged for this fake collar.

And there is Fang Chiye, who stayed up all night yesterday to take care of herself, so she has to give him a gift to show her gratitude.

***

Su Hongpei looked at Su Rui's absent-minded face and stayed with her in a daze for a while.

When the hens in the chicken coop started to cluck, Su Rui jumped up and ran to collect the eggs, leaving her elder sister laughing in the room.

After she packed the eggs and before she went into the house, she heard two coughs from outside the yard.

"Auntie Sun." Su Rui walked over and said, "Why are you up so early?"

Aunt Sun is also a widow. She has not remarried at the age of fifty and remains single until now.

She was a pitiful person and in poor health, but she did not have a good reputation in the village.

The reason was simple: she liked to take advantage of others. She would borrow some soy sauce from one house, some salt from another, and some firewood from a young man, and she would never ask for it back.

The villagers were indifferent to her, but Su Rui, who had a hot temper, was surprisingly patient with her. It was strange that Su Rui took advantage of her and accepted it and did not look for her.

Aunt Sun came over early in the morning, and Su Rui knew that she must have come to borrow something again.

As expected, Aunt Sun narrowed her cloudy eyes and said with a wry smile, "My dear, I have run out of salt at home. Can I borrow two small spoons from you? The bean rice in the pot is still hot, just waiting for two spoons of salt to go with it."

Su Rui said nothing more. She turned to the stove and poured half a can of salt. She took out some toilet paper and handed it to her: "You don't have to return it. Go back quickly."

Aunt Sun knew that Su Rui would definitely say that she didn't need to return it, so she thanked her again and again and left with the salt that was worth less than two cents.

Su Hongpei stood at the door and watched. She sighed and said, "Why do you have to be so nice to her? Just let her climb up the roof and tear off the tiles."

Su Rui smiled and said, "Big sister, I was right about him. It's just a little bit salty. I'll make it up to my family later."

Su Hongpei said: "It's not a matter of salt. I'm just afraid that she will bully you. Now that you are a village cadre, it will be difficult to ask her to give back your cadre status."

"If you don't want it, then forget it." Su Rui shook the egg and said, "Egg drop soup for breakfast?"

Su Hongpei said, "You go inside and take a rest. I'll do it. If mom sees me beating the eggs, she won't scold me."

"Okay. I'll take a nap." Su Rui gave the egg to Su Hongpei and went straight into the house.

She was embarrassed to say that she slept well last night in the cabin knowing that Fang Chiye was watching over her. She tossed and turned on the kang and was still dreaming until breakfast was ready.

In the dream, Fang Chiye's vest was flesh-colored, and his abdominal muscles were fully exposed. With thunder and rain, he walked closer and closer, and finally stuck in front of her, and his hot big hands lifted the empty hem of her clothes...

Su Rui's heart was pounding so much that she screamed, sat up from her dream and slapped herself!

People are helping you with good intentions, but you are still acting in your dreams!

Su Hongpei was standing at the door holding a bowl of rice. Seeing this, she quickly put down the bowl and walked over to touch Su Rui's head.

Seeing her sleeping with disheveled hair and a burning face, he thought it was because of what happened just now, so he quickly said, "It's just a little salt. You can give it to me later if you want. I don't blame you. Why hurt yourself for such a small thing?"

Su Rui covered her face and tried to find a hole to crawl into.

In her dream, Fang Chiye's abdominal muscles were so nice to touch that the touch seemed to be still in her palms, making her heart and soul flutter.

In the morning, there was a regular meeting in Xiaoba Village. Su Rui arrived at the Women's Committee with half of her face swollen.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. I fell on my face while patrolling the mountains last night." Facing her colleagues and leaders who were asking her questions, Su Rui had to change the subject.

"This is the newspaper that the reporter sent last time." After the regular meeting, Sister Zhao called Su Rui over and pointed to the photo of a piece of fermented bean curd at the bottom of the newspaper and said, "Quick, Comrade Su, you're on the newspaper."

Su Rui didn't expect that she would really be fooled. She picked up the newspaper and her eyes were almost stuck to it before she found herself in it - her eyes were half closed, and the corners of her lips were neither smiling nor not smiling... her whole face looked a little distorted.

Sister Zhao said regretfully: "She mainly took pictures of the militia comrades in the back training. Your photo is a bit blurry. It would be better if it was clearer."

Su Rui said, "This is good." If you don't look carefully, you can't recognize it's her. Her face is weird and her smile is strange. Fortunately, she is not the protagonist of the photo.

No, if you didn't do it on purpose, why did you call her? Did you do it on purpose to embarrass her?

Su Rui thought about it and thought that probably wouldn’t happen... They are very professional, maybe they just want to see this kind of original expression?

Sister Zhao gave the newspaper to Su Rui as a souvenir. Su Rui put it in her pocket, feeling half happy and half worried, and went to the mountains to build roads.

On the other side, Fang Chiye was flipping through the newspaper and accidentally saw a familiar little face. He took a closer look and found that it was Su Rui.

Although she was half-smiling, one could sense the girl's joy through the newspaper, and she even curled up the corners of her lips like in the photo.

"Hey, it's hot." Qin Shan came in holding four or five big meat buns, and said while moving them back and forth, "Put them on me quickly, my hands are hot." As he said that, he was about to put the big meat buns on the newspaper.

Fang Chiye quickly drew a card, folded it in front of Qin Shan, and put it in the locked drawer.

Qin Shan came over and said, "Does this convey an important idea?"

Fang Chiye said: "No."

Qin Shan put down the big meat bun, curiously flipped through the newspaper underneath, and asked in confusion: "Then why did you put it away?"

Fang Chiye himself did not expect such an action, and responded casually: "No reason."

Qin Shan finally managed to grab a freshly made meat bun, took a bite, and saw Fang Chiye leaving. He pulled the drawer but it didn't move.

This guy has locked the drawer since the last time a reporter came, and also severely reprimanded the cadre who told the reporter about his private affairs.

Qin Shan thought about it and still felt that there was something wrong with the newspaper. He went to the next office and asked for the same newspaper, but he found nothing after flipping through it.

Finally, I looked at the page and saw Comrade Su Rui with a sly smile in a small corner that you would never find if you didn't look carefully.

Do you want to save all of this?

......It looks like Fang Chiye is going to get into trouble.

***

The mountains were filled with fresh rain vapor, not much wind, and felt slightly humid.

Su Rui, with her bangs wet with sweat and sticking to her forehead, came out of the warehouse holding a bag of cement. After throwing it on the ground, she pounded her waist and said to Aunt Song, "No, I'm going to drink some water."

Aunt Song came up to her and saw that she was sweating profusely. She quickly wiped Su Rui's face and pointed to her water bottle and said, "There's mung bean soup in it. Have some."

In autumn, Su Rui stopped eating or drinking cold food to avoid harming her body.

Her father is not caring and her elder sister is not nice either, so she has to treasure herself more.

After drinking a few sips of boiled water, Su Rui put her hands on her hips and looked at the construction site where people were working overtime, hoping that the day when the road would be open to traffic would come sooner.

The route to Yiwang Village has been planned. Just as the Bound-Foot Old Lady Detective Team said, twelve houses were demolished to make room for the construction of a cement road.

They also built houses in the north end, and I heard that they were all brick houses made of good stone. No matter whether the previous house was made of yellow mud and straw or green bricks and red tiles, everyone moved into a brick house, which was better than the previous one anyway, and everyone cooperated.

Today, she heard that there might be power lines being pulled, and Su Rui became even more jealous.

While they were resting, two shoulder poles came from a distance, followed by Guo Jiarong.

The Guos did a good job on the surface, and every now and then they would come over to deliver food and drink to the workers. Today, everyone gathered around to see that they delivered juicy dried cucumbers and boiled potatoes.

Su Rui was neither thirsty nor hungry, so she sat aside to rest.

After a while, all the workers had taken their food. Guo Jiarong came over with two cucumbers in his hands and stood in front of Su Rui and handed them to her.

Su Rui said no and waved her hands.

Guo Jiarong seemed to have taken the wrong medicine, and suddenly said: "Now that you have climbed up the ladder, you look down on others?"

Su Rui looked up in surprise, looking at his expression, which looked like he was suppressing some emotion: "What do you mean?"

Guo Jiarong said: "If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself."

Su Rui stood up and said, "If you have something to say, just say it. It's not like a man to be sour."

Guo Jiarong sneered and said, "I am also doing this for your reputation. If you insist on knowing, I will shout loudly."

Su Rui retorted, "My reputation? What does my reputation have to do with you? Anyway, you have no reputation at all in my eyes."

Guo Jiarong said: "What kind of reputation do men need? Women like you, who have secret meetings with others in the middle of the night and even let others carry them down the mountain, would have been put into a pig cage in the past—"

"Guo Jiarong!" A scolding made the noisy Guo Jiarong shut up immediately.

Chen Haiyan happened to be on patrol with his men when he saw people arguing there. He walked over and listened to what was said and got angry: "Your father is the captain, how can you still say such feudal remnant words?"

Guo Jiarong pointed at Su Rui with red eyes: "She is the one who is not faithful to her husband!"

Chen Haiyan angrily said, "Shut up! Is it appropriate to criticize a lesbian who has nothing to do with you? Who are you and what position do you have to criticize?"

Auntie Song pulled Su Rui aside and shouted, "Guo Jiarong is always hanging around Comrade Su Rui. He has been rejected by Su Rui more than once or twice. The two of them have no relationship at all, but he still went up to slander her. I think he is just relying on his father being the captain to deliberately harass women."

Chen Haiyan turned to look at the others. Dahua Niang, Wanzi Niang and others all confirmed: "He has been harassing me for a long time, probably about two years."

Suri said, "Yes, he always harassed me for various reasons. Not only did he harass me at work, he also harassed me at home. I told his father several times, but his father didn't care at all."

Chen Haiyan was extremely angry. He never thought that there would be such people who bully men and women in the army, and they were from the family of grassroots cadres.

Guo Jiarong has been in a bad mood at home recently. He doesn't know what's wrong with his father. He keeps complaining at home all day and doesn't care about his basic work. He has to take over the daily work of Qingnan Village.

I couldn't sleep early in the morning and wanted to talk to Su Rui. But when I walked to the foot of Taoshan Mountain, I saw Su Rui being carried by a man in military uniform.

What did he say? Suri must hook up with someone!

He was so angry that he came here to question her on the pretext of sending her dried cucumbers, but he was interrupted by Chen Haiyan after he had said just two sentences.

Chen Haiyan is from Xiaoba Village, so he will naturally side with Su Rui.

Guo Jiarong was so angry that he glared at the group of people surrounding Su Rui. He knew he was no match for them today and could only leave silently.

Su Rui watched him leave indignantly, and she only thought about offending this narrow-minded person. She didn't know what would happen next.

She was in a bad mood, and many aunts and sisters came to comfort her.

Su Rui's mood improved a little and she continued to mix the cement.

Chen Haiyan was ordered to patrol, and when he was handing over the task, he told his comrades who were taking over the shift about this incident.

Who would have known that the news would be passed around and eventually reach Fang Chiye's ears.

Thinking that he was the person involved that night, he was careful in every way to avoid misunderstandings from others, but who knew he was still misunderstood.

Upon learning that Guo Jiarong had been harassing Su Rui for a long time, Fang Chiye knocked on the table and frowned.