Chapter 154: Arriving
Under the sparse moonlight and stars, a burst of autumn rain in the latter half of the night suddenly turned the sky cool.
Having tossed and turned all night, Su Ning let out a long sigh with dark circles under her eyes like a panda’s, and simply got up in the dark.
She changed into long clothes and pants, braided her braids in hand, and came under the eaves.
“Damn guy.”
She darkly cursed the person who made her so conflicted and troubled, tied the last loop of hair rope, and gazed at the continuous fine rain with a truly complicated expression on her face.
Just last night in that instant of heart palpitations, she suddenly understood intuitively something.
Before Yan Bei had even noticed, she had already developed a special good feeling toward him, which wrapped around her bit by bit, and by the time she realized it, it had gathered and transformed into like.
Like, huh…
If she told him they were just dating without marriage as the goal, would that count as hooligan?
The corners of her mouth pulled into a faint bitter smile; with a father like that, she was truly cowardly and resistant toward marriage.
“Let nature take its course.”
She shook her head to shake off these complicated thoughts, not wanting to let her mind be disturbed further by things that hadn’t happened yet.
After brushing her teeth and washing her face, and simply applying some snow cream, Su Ning flashed into the space.
After finishing the chores in Peach Blossom Spring, she went to the small thatched hut named Herbal Hut to continue studying the pharmacopoeia and try making new prescriptions.
Through making without regard for wasting medicinal materials and constant attempts, she finally discovered the true use of the spring water after it became thick like milk.
The medicinal materials in the medicine garden irrigated with spring water would have their medicinal properties greatly enhanced, far better than ordinary ones outside by an unknown number of times.
Perhaps this was also why she always made mutant versions different from the prescriptions, with stronger functionality and better medicinal properties—the ultimate reason.
Now she could already refine the prescriptions on the first two pages of the pharmacopoeia, but as for the later ones, with the increasing difficulty of the formulas, these recent attempts all ended in failure.
Smelling the faint herbal fragrance at the tip of her nose, the somewhat restless little emotions instantly dissipated, and she gradually immersed herself in drug manufacturing.
……
The fine rain had stopped with the break of dawn, but the sky was still overcast.
Twigs and leaf tips were adorned with crystal-clear water droplets, rustling down with the wind.
Su Ning, who reasonably arranged her time, had already exited the space and was busy making breakfast in the kitchen.
She didn’t know if it was because Peach Blossom Spring was like spring all year round, always maintaining a neither cold nor hot temperature, so when she just came out and was hit by the cold wind, she instantly got goosebumps all over and had to return to the room to find a light jacket.
This apricot yellow knit jacket was still a gift sent by Grandpa Fu and the others during the Mid-Autumn Festival, made by Auntie Hehua.
From Ying Ying that little girl’s letter, she learned that she also had one in a different color of the same style, specially begged Auntie Hehua to make sister outfits.
Thinking of this, she lowered her head to look at the delicate and cute little flowers hooked out at the cuffs and collar, and couldn’t help but reveal a warm smile in her eyes.
“Su Ning, good morning.”
“Good morning.”
This jacket suited her very well, not only bright and vibrant but also adding a touch of playful cuteness.
Suddenly bursting into his sight, it immediately made Yan Bei feel amazed.
“Didn’t rest well?” “Didn’t sleep well?”
The moment their gazes met, both couldn’t help but speak at the same time, and what they said was very similar.
A smile climbed onto his cheeks, Yan Bei nodded slightly, thinking of that dream where someone was obsessed with him all night, the smile immediately became a bit awkward, and his ears quickly flushed with a vivid red.
“Ahem, I’m a bit arousal and not used to it yet.”
He cleared his throat, and only after the burning heat in his ears subsided did Yan Bei continue, “What about you, why didn’t you sleep well?”
She gave him a look, letting him figure it out himself, and Su Ning continued to focus on her own tasks.
‘What does this mean? Could it be… related to me?’
He clenched his fist against his nose to cover the corners of his mouth that he could barely suppress, Yan Bei approached with light steps, his eyes warm with soft light.
“Let me help, what do you need me to do?”
“Grandpa Yan and Grandma Yan are probably almost here soon; after such a long train ride, I don’t know if they’re uncomfortable anywhere. I want to prepare some easily digestible noodles in advance, keep them warm in the stove for them to eat anytime.”
“Su Ning, thank you.”
Thinking so thoughtfully and doing it so warmly and sweetly.
Yan Bei took the vegetable basket she handed over, thanked her in a hoarse voice, and to avoid letting her see his discomposure, he didn’t wait for a reply and went straight out of the kitchen to wash vegetables at the water pool outside.
……
Gu City, Yong County county town.
After getting off the train and changing to a new batch of escorts, Yan Changrong and Zhao Panpan supported each other, blending into the sent down team, heads bowed silently just like everyone else.
Even upon learning that the train’s endpoint was actually Xiangnan Gu City, the excitement in their hearts and faint guesses were just exchanged with a glance before both suppressed it firmly.
Upon arriving at the county town under Gu City’s jurisdiction, then to Hongqi Commune’s First Production Brigade, after listening to the lecture and doing self-criticism, facing the unfamiliar environment and the crowd opposite with wary and disgusted eyes, the couple didn’t say a single extra word.
“That’s how it is, understand?”
“Brigade Leader, we know.”
Su Qingshan went through all the previous procedures perfunctorily, successfully sending off the two escorts, then turned around with a cold hard face to look at them.
“With you two accepting reform, there are six people in total; that side can’t accommodate anymore, so you two follow the one who was just sent down to live in the dilapidated house at the foot of the back mountain, come with me.”
After several days on the train with multiple transfers, plus poor food and sleep while ill, Yan Changrong’s steps were weak, his face pale and covered in cold sweat.
Zhao Panpan wanted to help but was petite and had little strength herself, so she could only grit her teeth and support as best she could, not letting the old man fall.
From the village entrance to the end of the village, along the way many villagers going to work in the fields frequently looked over, as well as children following behind out of curiosity like watching a spectacle.
Fortunately, although people pointed and gossiped as expected, there were no overly extreme actions.
Whether due to the deterrence of the Brigade Leader walking ahead, or the brigade villagers not being particular about that, in any case, the temporary peace let both breathe a sigh of relief; they really couldn’t take more torment.
“Old man, how are you?”
“Rest assured, I can hold on.”
They exchanged a few quiet words, and Yan Changrong patted the back of her hand.
After walking for about ten minutes, seeing they were getting farther from the village’s homestead land center, the noisy children behind had dispersed, but the Brigade Leader showed no sign of stopping, so the two could only keep following closely behind him.
“Here we are, this is it; you two rest for now, and go to the cattle shed to work this afternoon.”
Su Qingshan pointed to the dilapidated house at the foot of the mountain that had been simply cleaned up, gave a couple of instructions, then turned and left with hands behind his back.
In broad daylight, he couldn’t say much either; moreover, once he left, the little one hiding in the dark could act more easily.
As if casually glancing at a certain spot, a hint of smile rippled in Su Qingshan’s eyes, and he quickened his pace to leave; there was still a lot to do in the fields, he was very busy!
Once Su Qingshan disappeared down the mountain path, leaving only the two of them, Yan Changrong finally let go of his pretense, staggered, and sat down on the ground together with his wife.
“Old man!”
“Grandpa Yan!”
Along with Zhao Panpan’s exclamation, the two were slightly startled and abruptly looked up at the person trotting toward them.
“Ning Ning?” “Ning Yatou, how is it you?”
“Grandpa Yan, Grandma Yan.”
Coming before the two, she first helped Zhao Panpan support the person up, then Su Ning smiled and simply greeted, “Grandpa Yan, you’re ill?”
“No problem; with the medicine you had someone send, two more doses and it’ll be completely cured.”
Waving his hand, Yan Changrong clearly looked unwell, with some blue and purple injury marks on his face and hands, but seeing his favorite junior in the current situation, he only felt his back not sore, legs not aching, and head not dizzy!
Thinking of the young man who sent the things, then their sent down place coinciding so luckily with where Xiao Qi was, and now this person suddenly appearing here…
The shrewd old Yan Changrong naturally knew that all this was probably her secretly arranging and preparing in advance through connections.
“Ning Ning, thank you.”
“Yeah, Ning Yatou, thank you; if not for you finding someone to help send those things, the old man wouldn’t have made it on the train!”
Zhao Panpan’s eyes welled with tears, full of gratitude, and couldn’t help but grip her hand tightly.
“Let’s not talk about this first; come with me, I’ll check the injuries on you.”
“This…”
“Yan Bei will be back at noon; we must heal the injuries before that, otherwise he’ll be heartbroken seeing them?”
“Xiao Qi is here too?”
“What?!”
Close close close, delete delete delete, it really broke my defense.
