Chapter 208: The Beauty Trap That Spring
“…”
“…”
After a moment of silence, they spoke again at the same time:
"How long has the pain been going on? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"You just said you like me?"
“…”
“…”
"I did."
"It's not that serious."
The third round of quick answer.
After exchanging a glance, Zhu Yingning was first amused by the strange and inappropriate tacit understanding between them. She hummed a few short and wordless sounds from her nose, and her brows were twisted into knots. As she laughed, she saw that Xu Sirui was also trying hard to hold back his laughter. So, as if his funny bone was poked, her anger dissipated, and her funny mood prevailed. Her laughter gradually became unrestrained and casual.
The two of them laughed face to face for a long time. In the middle of the laughter, she lost her balance and knocked her forehead against his chest. When the laughter died down, Zhu Yingning cleared her throat, stood up straight, looked him in the eye, and said frankly, "Yes, Xu Sirui, I like you. You asked me if you made my heart flutter again, and I can answer you, yes."
After a pause, he changed the subject, "But..."
Before Xu Sirui could digest her confession and feel happy about it, the word "but" made him nervous. He knew that in Chinese, the "but" always serves as a prelude to the main point. Although he didn't really want to hear her final judgment, he still calmed himself and whispered, "...Well, go ahead."
"But I haven't decided whether I want to be with you or not."
It's not easy to express this idea, because in many people's minds, if we like each other and you like me, the next logical step after confessing our feelings is to be together. Why hesitate? Why hesitate?
But she is not someone else. She just has her own concerns and is worried about falling in the same place again.
Because she had the experience of being in love once, she knew more clearly what she wanted in a relationship and the threshold she could endure in a relationship. Because she liked him, if he hurt her again in the same situation, she might not be able to bear it.
She had to protect herself in advance.
Zhu Yingning continued, speaking frankly, "I understand and accept everything you said. I know from your perspective, what you did wasn't wrong. But I'm sorry... I also have my own perspective. In my definition, running away is running away. I haven't figured this out yet. Even if I were with you now, I'd still struggle with it every day, not understanding whether my choice was right or wrong. I feel like this is unfair to both of us."
"I like you, but liking you can't solve everything."
"Maybe one day in the future I'll figure it out, maybe I'll always stick to this principle. Maybe in the future I'll agree to you, maybe never. Even if that happens, are you going to stick with me?"
As she spoke, her voice became increasingly low, so low that Xu Sirui suspected she was about to persuade him to give up, saying things like, "You shouldn't waste time with me," "You're a good person," "You deserve a new relationship," and so on. He took a deep breath, intercepting her approaching "Nice Guy" card in advance: "This doesn't count as wasting time for me."
She looked at him intently.
Xu Sirui couldn't help but reach out and touch her head. The touch was as soft and smooth as ever. He used his fingertips to hook the hair in front of her forehead. This action completely exposed her eyes. The short, dense eyelashes above her eyelids were thick and distinct. "No matter what our relationship is, every minute and every second with you is a happy one for me. As long as we are happy, it doesn't count as a waste of time."
"Honestly..." He smiled bitterly, his eyes moist. "Don't think that I just said something nice, like you can be selfish to me, but when I really heard you say that, I still couldn't help but feel sad."
"Then you should take care of yourself and try not to be sad." She also reached out and patted his head.
Xu Sirui burst into laughter and said, "Are you talking like a human? I'm not a robot."
He sniffed and forced a smile. "Alright... Although I'm deeply hurt, my rationality still holds true to what I said just now. I just want to know that you like me. As for whether you want to be with me, whether you continue to hesitate, hesitate and then agree to me, or hesitate and then reject me, I will find a way to accept it myself. However, while you hesitate..."
He lowered his head slightly to match her height, and placed his hair in her palm. His voice softened, and with a strong nasal tone, it sounded like a coquettish plea, like the whispers of lovers: "Can I continue to accompany you like this?"
The lowered posture forced him to raise his eyelids when he looked at her, making his eyebrows and eyes appear even more beautiful, with a sense of laziness, as if tempered by the flowing spring water. The two buttons of his shirt were undone on his chest, revealing his collarbone, which was filled with warm light, like a flowing sunset.
Zhu Yingning's heart leaped, and she exclaimed, "This is a despicable, shameless beauty trap." For a moment, she even wondered if those seemingly enlightened words he had just said were actually a retreat to advance. However, after hesitating for a long time, she still couldn't say anything harsh to that face or make any dark assumptions. She could only silently pull her hand back and try to keep a serious face: "...Whatever you want."
Xu Sirui knew the importance of quitting while things were going well, so he immediately changed the subject: "Then let's go back and eat."
She nodded, worried that leaving Wu Bo for too long would arouse her suspicion, so she took the lead and walked a few steps outside. Suddenly, she remembered that he had just said that he had a stomachache. She turned around and saw that Xu Sirui seemed to be covering his stomach with his hand. When he saw her looking at him, he took his hand back as if nothing had happened.
"Does your stomach still hurt?" she asked.
It was a rare occasion for her to get together with her friends. Xu Sirui was worried that if he told her it was still painful, she would make a big fuss and take him to the hospital. He didn't want to spoil her fun and ruin her chance to get together with her friends because of such a small matter. He shook his head and said, "It doesn't hurt anymore."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously: "Then what were you doing just now..." She made a gesture of covering her stomach.
Xu Sirui said seriously, "Because I'm a weak person, I have to be careful not to catch a cold in my stomach."
"...Are you done yet, Xu Sirui?" The solemn expression on her face instantly turned into a helpless laugh.
The two of them then walked towards the dining table, chatting and laughing.
After sitting down again, Zhu Yingning lowered his head and fiddled with his mobile phone for a while, then looked up to chat with other people around him.
As the dinner table clapped glasses, Xu Sirui tried his best to smile, even though his stomach was aching. It wasn't a severe pain, just a constant, dull ache that stretched like a straight line from one end to the other.
He took a deep breath calmly and put down his chopsticks.
In the second half of the dinner, Zhu Yingning suddenly stood up and said she wanted to go to the bathroom again.
Everyone was drunk, and even Wu Bo didn't ask why she went to the bathroom again. Xu Sirui glanced at her, and as if she had received a signal from his eyes, she tapped his shoulder with her index finger and said, "Sit down and don't follow my lead."
He himself thought it sounded perverted to always follow her to the bathroom, so he didn't move.
About two or three minutes later, Zhu Yingning came back, holding a bag in her left hand and a glass of warm water from the waiter in her right hand.
She placed the warm water in front of Xu Sirui. He looked at her in confusion and raised his eyebrows.
The next second he knew what was going on, because Zhu Yingning took out an unopened box of stomach medicine from the bag, opened the package, pulled his left hand, poured the medicine into his palm, and whispered to him to take the medicine first.
He stared at her blankly: "Did you just call someone to run errands?"
She neither said yes nor no, but just gently urged him to take the medicine quickly.
Xu Sirui then stupidly put the medicine into his mouth, picked up the water cup, took a sip, and swallowed the stomach medicine with the water. The water was warm, just right for his mouth.
At the dinner table, a high school classmate asked Zhu Yingning if she had applied to join the Party during college. He mentioned that his younger sister, a freshman, was interested in becoming a civil servant and hoped she could offer some advice. She turned to talk to him, but after a few words, she felt someone grab her hand, which was dangling from the table. A quick glance revealed it was Xu Sirui.
She glared at him covertly, trying to pull her hand back as she spoke, but she couldn't. She couldn't move too much, fearing the others would notice. Just as she was considering tickling his palm, a wicked way to get him to let go, his fingers slipped between hers, interlocking with hers for a brief squeeze before releasing them.
She glanced over and saw him sniffing quietly again.
Oh...what's there to cry about over such a small thing?
She sighed in her heart, but when she turned around to talk to her classmates, a faint smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of her mouth.
**
The target users of the business games developed by Xu Sirui are mostly young people in their teens and twenties, most of whom are college students and those who have just graduated. The hot summer months of July and August are the time when college students have vacation. Firstly, more people have time to play games, and secondly, the pork can be stored in the refrigerator when taken home, and family members can help cook it, unlike when they are staying in school dormitories, where they have to cook secretly. Therefore, the purchase of pork soared to the peak throughout the summer vacation.
The semi-free-range wild boar rearing cycle is approximately eight months. If the second batch of piglets is introduced after the first batch is sold, there will be a significant production gap in between. To solve this problem, Zhu Yingning learned from other companies during a previous visit and adopted a batch and pen rearing strategy to manage the cooperative's farm. The entire farm is divided into four pens: A, B, C, and D. The first batch of pigs is introduced to Pen A. After two months of rearing, the second batch of pigs is introduced to Pen B, and so on. As a result, their production interval has been successfully shortened from eight months to two months.
If they had a larger venue, the interval could be even shorter. Unfortunately, the village cooperative is limited in size, and two months is the shortest period they can currently achieve after discussion.
This resulted in the pigs in pen B not being able to follow up immediately after the pigs in pen A were sold out during the peak summer vacation period - after all, they would have to wait another two months before they could be marketed.
At this time, Zhu Yingning had to be thankful that he had made up his mind to invite the company to move in. The company's farm was larger in scale and could effectively fill their production gaps, forming a complete and uninterrupted sales chain.
At the end of the summer vacation, after looking at the accounts calculated by Wen Wenxu, Zhu Yingning was in a good mood, not only because the village made money and the farmers had a livelihood security, but also because she finally had money to share with Xu Sirui. Otherwise, because of his previous help, she always felt that she owed him a favor. The actual profit perfectly made up for her sense of indebtedness.
Before National Day, Xu Sirui asked her if she would return to Beijing. It was autumn, and she was busy with village affairs when she received a call from Liu Guifang, asking her to go home for National Day. After some thought, she decided not to go to Beijing.
"good."
Xu Sirui's voice sounded calm on the other end of the line, but Zhu Yingning felt a sudden premonition and warned him, "... Go back to Beijing and spend time with your mother and your aunt. Don't come to see me."
No one spoke over there.
Although no one spoke, she could imagine Xu Sirui's defiant expression at this moment, and said worriedly: "Did you hear that? I really don't have time to entertain you. I have to take care of my own village affairs during the National Day holiday. Our village's ancestral hall is being renovated and renovated recently, and there is also medical insurance. Many elderly people in the village don't know how to pay for medical insurance. Anyway, I'm very busy, so don't come over."
Xu Sirui agreed reluctantly.
Although no one came, during the National Day holiday, Zhu Yingning received money from Xu Sirui. When he said the money was for building an ancestral hall for their village, she was really amused. She felt a mixture of emotions and didn't know what to think: "No...Xu Sirui, do you know that ancestral halls are built by donations from the villagers with the same surname? Why are you, an outsider, joining in the fun?"
Xu Sirui shamelessly said, "How can I be an outsider? I lived with you for a while, and I am also a part of your village."
“…”
She couldn't hold it in, and laughed and sighed, "Oh, I really admire you. Keep the money safe. It's not like your money came from the wind."
The man then argued with her, saying that if he couldn't donate in his own name, he would donate in hers. He said the money had to be donated anyway. Zhu Yingning transferred the money back to his bank account, and he transferred it back to hers, giving her the illusion of a new-age red envelope (hongbao) exchange.
She was afraid that if she made a few more calls back and forth, something might happen to her account, so she had to collect the money first.
Of course, it's useless to use it.
She was thinking about how to return the money to him, or maybe wait until they meet face to face next time. She didn't believe that she would not be able to persuade him when they met.
At that time, they had no idea that the next meeting, which sounded so simple, would not happen at the end of 2019.
Because the epidemic broke out.
**
On December 8, 2019, when the first case of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan fell ill, no one took it seriously.
Not to mention Zhu Yingning and others who were far away in Province G. At that time, they were still busy formulating a sales plan for the last batch of pork before the New Year, intending to put a perfect end to 2019.
Not only her, but other village cadres were also busy with various practical matters. Except for the children on winter vacation who occasionally watched online videos and said unclear words such as "pneumonia" and "cold", no one paid attention to the news that was making a lot of noise on the Internet.
The real realization of its seriousness and urgency came in January 2020 when news came that Wuhan had decided to lock down the city.
Documents from above were sent down to various places like snowflakes. Nucleic acid testing points were built, medical personnel were stationed there, health codes were gradually formed and popularized in various places, important transportation hubs were restricted in flow, and the country encouraged people to celebrate the New Year at home.
As public officials, Zhu Yingning and Shen Fei even had their spring break canceled because their village has a serious aging population. The average age of the elderly is over 70, and they are all susceptible to the new coronavirus and have underlying diseases. Any infection would be like walking through the gates of hell.
The first difficulty they encountered was doing ideological work among the masses.
If the matter is not made more serious, no one in the village will take it seriously. Although we have publicized the need to wear masks when going out several times, the effect is still minimal. Many elderly people are not used to wearing them. They say that their faces smell of disinfectant, and it is hot and stuffy, and people can't breathe when wearing them.
But if the situation is portrayed too seriously, it will cause panic. Wang Shengju said that the most important thing right now is to avoid causing panic among the people. Because the villagers have low levels of education, if they were told that the disease could kill people, especially the elderly, they would be frightened to death, which would make their epidemic prevention work even more difficult.
How to say it in a way that will attract public attention without causing panic is a headache.
Zhu Yingning could only take Chen Fei and Wen Wenxu with them to go door to door to persuade the villagers, telling them not to go to crowded places and to avoid contact with people who hadn't yet been tested. If they had to come into contact, they had to wear masks, otherwise they would infect their grandson and let him suffer. They said that this disease would cause fever in children, and everyone knew that a child's fever must be taken seriously, otherwise the child would become stupid and damaged, and what would happen to them in the future? They also said that this disease would scratch the throat, and the child would be unable to bear the pain and would definitely cry non-stop. You would feel sad for them, wouldn't you?
Fortunately, most of the elderly have been taking care of their grandchildren for a long time and have feelings for their grandchildren. When it comes to children, everyone finally listens to advice. However, there are still some stubborn people who often go to the chess and card room in town to play cards with strangers from nowhere.
Another difficulty is supplies.
Most people in the village have small plots of land and raise chickens and ducks, so they don't have to worry about food, but they do have to worry about medicine. There is no pharmacy in the village, so people can only go to the hospital in town to get medicine. But if an epidemic breaks out, what good will the hospital's medicine do?
Although there were no cases in the village yet, in order to be prepared, Zhu Yingning and Wang Shengju actively contacted the volunteer team outside and asked them to help purchase some medicine and send it over.
While they were busy, Liu Guifang called Zhu Yingning and asked her if she would go home for the New Year. She said no, and explained in detail the various precautions for epidemic prevention to Liu Guifang over the phone. Finally, she said, "Mom, give the phone to Brother Xiang. I need to tell him something."
Zhu Jixiang answered the phone, and Zhu Yingning told him that he should prepare some commonly used COVID-19 medicines at home while they could still be bought. He should prepare some for his own family first. If there was spare capacity, he could ask other people in the village to prepare some as well. They were all elderly people and it was not easy for them.
Because he often surfs the Internet, Zhu Jixiang also knows the seriousness of the situation and should say, "I know."
After hanging up the phone, the news that followed was that Wuhan was officially locked down. That day was January 23, the day before New Year's Eve.
That year's Spring Festival, she spent it in the dormitory with Shen Fei and Wen Wenxu. The three of them sat together and cooked three dishes and a soup, which was their New Year's Eve dinner.
After midnight, her phone kept ringing, with countless New Year's greetings and messages of concern popping up. She picked up her phone and replied one by one. When she got back to Xu Sirui, she saw his message: "I wanted to send you something, but the express delivery has stopped. I can only wait until it resumes. Do you have enough medicine and masks? Let me know if you need anything."
Her heart warmed slightly as she replied, "It's all enough. Have you stockpiled enough for yourself?"
Xu Sirui sent a photo.
He was having New Year's Eve dinner at his grandparents' house. The two elderly people were hoarders and had already stocked up a cabinet full of masks and medicine. The photo not only shows the cabinet, but also the smiling faces of Zhou Tianlan and Zhou Tianqing, who were trying to steal the spotlight.
She smiled back and was about to say something else when she heard a hesitant, faint knock on the door, followed by a child's thin voice: "Sister Xiaozhu...are you home?"
She exchanged glances with Wen Wenxu and Shen Fei, then walked to open the door in surprise.
The door opened, and outside stood a child. He was Lu Yigui's grandson, still in elementary school. There was a runny nose on his face, and he timidly whispered, "My grandma seems to be sick."
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The author has something to say: Two in one today.
I estimate that it will take another ten or twenty chapters to complete it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
