Watching the car discreetly drive away, Jian Dan turned around with her shoulders slumped, only to be met with a face that held a mixture of expectation and disappointment. Jian Dan was taken aback; it was Cheng Jia.
As far as she knew, Cheng Chao hadn't specifically sought out Cheng Jia during this long period, so she was naturally unaware of what was going on behind the scenes.
On the surface, she didn't specifically seek out Cheng Jia. She would just secretly send him food from time to time, or have Lin Dongfang deliver things to her. She would give him the things, but she wouldn't show her face.
They both knew each other's identities, but because of Cheng Chao's awkwardness, Jian Dan let him have his way. After all, he was the person she was closest to, so he still had some privileges.
However, it still feels a bit awkward that they know each other's identities without having formally acknowledged each other.
After a moment's hesitation, she awkwardly greeted him.
"uncle,"
Cheng Jia opened his mouth, but then suddenly shut it up as if he had thought of something. He nodded haphazardly, turned around and ran straight back to the cowshed.
"Huh?"
Seeing that flustered figure, Jian Dan was momentarily stunned. Had she called the wrong person?
Seeing that he hadn't come out for a while, he scratched his head, turned around, and walked towards his house.
I spent the night on the mountain, feeling both frightened and exhausted. I was covered in sweat and completely worn out.
Upon entering the room, I first put water in the pot and lit a fire. This kang (heated brick bed) is too hot to stand on. Even though it's only been a day, I need to warm myself up to feel comfortable. Then I closed the door and windows and went straight into my space to thoroughly wash myself several times before I felt completely relaxed. I then threw myself into the already warm bed and slept soundly for days.
However, despite his good intentions, he failed to achieve his goal.
She felt like she had just fallen asleep when she heard a loud banging on the door. She groggily pulled back the covers, her eyes filled with confusion, thinking she was dreaming.
Unexpectedly, just three seconds after I lay down, the door rang again.
Then came a few dogs who came to join in the fun, and their babyish "woof woof woof".
Her last shred of hope was shattered, and she could only struggle to her feet, her hair a messy tangle, slipping on her shoes, and utterly dejected.
"Coming, coming! Who is it?"
The knocking paused, and Mingzhu's relieved voice came from outside the door.
"Simple, you're back?"
She gave a simple, forceful greeting, ran her hand through her hair, and took the baby, who looked like a live fish, from Mingzhu's arms.
"Uh, you're back. How did you know?"
Mingzhu shook her arm and pointed at her with her finger.
"What can I say to you? Every time you go up the mountain, something bad happens. What's going on?"
When I heard about it yesterday, I was terrified.
Let me check if you're injured.
He then circled around the simple garment several times, checking it thoroughly to make sure not even a scratch was on the skin, before finally letting her go. But he wasn't one to mince words.
"If you ask me, why don't you take a break for a while? You've been spending all your time in this mountain lately."
The last few words were whispered in her ear.
"Yes, their horoscopes don't match,"
I simply grabbed the child's little hand and slapped her lightly.
"Get out of here, what nonsense are you talking about?"
However, I'm not going into the mountains anytime soon, really, really. Don't make it sound like I'm always telling the truth.
"What did you think? I told you to be careful every time we went up the mountain, and look how many times this has happened?"
Yes, these are all good things. Tell me, how worrying is this?
You're going to scare me to death sooner or later.
"hey-hey!"
I walked to the shady spot by the window and door, put the child down briefly, and let him play while holding onto a small stool. I also got one for Mingzhu.
"Sit here and cool off, why come out in this blazing sun?"
Wait a minute, I picked some more fruit, I'll get it for you.
When she first went up the mountain yesterday, she was very relaxed. She saw some wild strawberries and actually dug some up. Later, as she went further in, she dug for ginseng and then encountered wolves. She simply threw them into her spatial storage, which wasn't exactly a lie. Now she's taking them out.
"Zhouzhou, come and eat something delicious!"
Little Huizhou stretched out his little hands and toddled along, making anxious "ah ah" sounds, as if afraid that his share would be eaten.
Mingzhu reached out and caught her son, wiped his mouth, then took a strawberry, removed the stem, and put it in his mouth.
These strawberries that grow naturally on the mountain are not very big. The largest ones are about the size of a thumb, and the smallest ones are even smaller. They are troublesome for adults to eat, but they are just the right size for a child this size to eat one in one bite.
Mingzhu thought she had picked a red one, but two seconds later, she saw her son's face scrunched up like a bun from the sourness, strawberry juice dripping down his chin, and two words of gibberish that the adults couldn't understand coming out of his mouth.
"Huh? What's going on?"
After a moment of stunned silence, the unscrupulous mother slammed her hand on the table and burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, look, look at his expression, it's so funny, haha, his little face is twitching!"
As she spoke, she slammed her hand on the table a few times, startling the child who was holding onto it. Strawberry juice mixed with saliva dripped down the child's clothes, leaving a pink stain.
Simple and speechless, she pulled the child over, used the hot water from the tub to wash the child's face, and then gave him some water to rinse his mouth.
Do you still want some strawberries?
The child shook his head vigorously, saying, "I won't eat anymore, it's too scary!"
The child was still shaken, and when he looked back at the strawberry, his eyes were filled with bitterness and resentment.
Looking at her unscrupulous mother, Jian Dan really didn't know what to say. She was already quite eccentric, but Zhu Zhu was just as bad.
"Little Zhouzhou, come on, let's go inside and get some treats, we won't give any to Mommy, okay?"
I went back inside and got an orange for the child, and the two adults finally got a moment of peace.
“Sister Zhuzhu, Hu Lai just saw my uncle at the village entrance, but he seemed very nervous. I greeted him and scared him away.”
Jian Dan has limited contact with the village. In the first two years after he was sent to the countryside, he often went to Uncle Liu's house, but recently he has become more low-key. He has even less contact with other people besides the educated youth, and many news items are not timely. Most of the information he gets comes from Mingzhu, Tan Yajun, or other educated youth.
She had just returned and was wondering what had happened in the village that made Cheng Jia so cautious, like a frightened bird. She couldn't figure it out. Since Mingzhu was coming over, she decided to ask her directly. After all, there was nothing she couldn't talk about with Mingzhu except for the spatial dimension.
Mingzhu frowned, thought for a moment,
"That's not quite right, hey!"
Yesterday, you weren't here. People from above came down to do some kind of ideological inspection, to check if these people's reform was effective. It was a huge operation, and you didn't see it at all. The kids were so scared they didn't dare go out.
Our village is alright. They came for a while, and just as they pulled the two people out to criticize them, someone said that a military vehicle seemed to be coming from the village entrance. As a result, the two of them got scared and ran away.
However, the deterrent effect was achieved; didn't you notice how unusually quiet the village is today?
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