Chapter 235: Joy
Yan Bei walked away, looking back every three steps. Those who knew understood he was reluctant to leave, while those who didn’t might think the two were parting in life and death.
Thinking of this, Su Ning couldn’t help but smile with narrowed eyes, a sweetness in her heart that was cloyingly sweet.
Entering the yard, she stomped her feet hard on the veranda to shake off the snow from her body before pushing open the door and entering the pharmacy.
Jin Hua and Wu Meng, the mother and daughter, were sitting by the stove warming their hands and talking.
“Su Su…”
“Ning Ning is back?”
“It’s me, Big Aunt, Sister Wu Meng.”
“You must be freezing, come quick and warm up by the fire!”
As she spoke, Jin Hua pushed the stove in front of her toward the direction of her voice with her foot. Just hearing the howling wind outside made it clear how cold it was.
After she sat down, Wu Meng directly took her hands in her own warm palms to warm them.
“Later the village will slaughter a pig for meat distribution and have a large pot pig slaughter feast. Big Aunt and Sister Wu Meng should come watch the excitement too?”
“Slaughtering a pig for meat distribution is great, good news, but we mother and daughter will wait until next year.”
They hadn’t gotten their household registration settled, had no work points, so they couldn’t get meat, let alone have the nerve to go eat the pig slaughter feast without going to work.
Wouldn’t that just cause trouble for her and the brigade leader? If others talked about it, even a great thing would turn sour.
Besides, with her daughter’s current situation…
Jin Hua sighed inwardly. As a mother, her eyes might be blind but her heart was not. These days, besides Ning Ning and the Zhang Family girl, she had a deep-seated resistance and fear toward others, especially strangers.
“Yes, next time…”
Hearing her mother’s words, Wu Meng nodded in agreement almost instantly.
Su Ning, who had also noticed Wu Meng’s poor mental state, had no intention of persuading them further upon hearing their refusal.
Things like this could only be resolved by time and by oneself, slowly forgetting or letting go to achieve true healing.
……
Yan Bei, who had parted from Su Ning at the health clinic, had a smile tugging at his lips, the cold glint in his eyes shattered, making his usually aloof and unapproachable face appear a few degrees warmer.
Like an immortal descended from a painting, now tinged with the fireworks of the mortal world, no longer so unattainable.
“This guy is really handsome!”
“He is handsome, but what’s the use of just being good-looking?”
“True, with his status, he’s not even as good as the mud-legged folks in the village.”
She said that, but her gaze, like her companion’s, kept chasing that figure until it completely disappeared from sight, unwilling to look away.
The three female educated youth had just received the good news from the village about slaughtering a pig for meat distribution and were eager to go watch the excitement.
The weather was too cold; besides the three of them, no one else at the Educated Youth Point wanted to run out to watch the pig slaughtering, preferring to wait for the bell and go directly to the threshing ground to line up for meat.
The three didn’t mind the cold, linking arms and chatting and laughing, just in time to catch sight of this scene of a ‘snowscape beauty turning back with a smile’.
All little girls around twenty, seeing such a handsome man, how could their hearts not flutter with spring feelings for a while.
Not to mention before, when they saw him, that aura alone was enough to make people keep their distance; they really hadn’t looked closely at that face.
If only such a handsome man had no issues with his status?
Anyway, they had no hope of returning to the city; if they had to marry…
“Xu Qian? What are you thinking?”
“Nothing, nothing.”
After more than a year of labor, even with all the snow cream, her face was tanned rough and spotty, no longer fair.
So even now, with some embarrassment, her dark yellow skin made it not so obvious.
Xu Qian withdrew her gaze, not daring to think further about the absurd thought that suddenly popped into her head.
“Let’s hurry, or by the time we get there the pig might already be slaughtered!”
“Oh, right, almost forgot the serious matter. Let’s go quick!”
……
At this moment, Yan Bei had no idea that a stumbling block had appeared on the road of love between him and Su Ning; he was rushing home excitedly.
They say kids have no December; as long as there’s fun, they can withstand the scorching summer sun and the wind and snow of midwinter.
All along the way, children were playing in the snow, having snowball fights, full of joyful laughter.
The infectious laughter of innocent joy made one unable to help but smile along.
Yan Bei was no exception, especially as his thoughts wandered to imagining his future child with Ning Ning being the same…
The soft light in his eyes could drown a person alive.
“Yan, Xiao, Qi!”
With the sudden explosive shout, a whooshing sound of something breaking through the air came from behind his head.
Yan Bei instantly schooled his expression, reacting swiftly by turning sideways and looking back.
“Splat——”
A huge snowball smashed down, shattering into several snow chunks on the ground.
Failing to land the sneak attack made Fu Jiaming’s already sullen face even uglier. Hmph, he didn’t believe it!
He bent down and rapidly grabbed the snowballs he had prepared earlier and neatly stacked, throwing them at him one after another.
With the stance of not stopping until he hit him.
Yan Bei, who had just gotten good news and was in a great mood, raised an eyebrow. Seeing him like this sparked a rare interest in teaching someone a lesson.
His figure flickered as he quickly dodged the snowballs all aimed at his face, while closing in on Fu Jiaming.
“Don’t come over!”
“Heh~”
They say Luo Shuangshuang is both unskilled and loves to play; by his own account, he was both cowardly and cheap-handed.
The two were like back in their childhood years ago, chasing each other in the flying snow until one buried the other’s entire head in the thick accumulated snow.
That year, Shanghai City rarely had heavy snow, and all the kids in the courtyard were thrilled, of course including them.
“Hahaha!”
“Stimulus~”
Shaking off the snow from his head, Fu Jiaming shivered violently from the icy chill creeping in from the back of his neck, pointing at the person also fallen in the snow and laughing and cursing.
“Yan Xiao Qi, you’re still so sneaky!”
“Not as much as you.”
Who knew which dog stuffed a big handful of snow into his pants.
Yan Bei shot him an annoyed glance, stood up, and continued striding home.
“Hey, wait for me! Why walk so fast? You haven’t told me what Old Master Tong said yet!”
“Isn’t it all your doing!”
If he didn’t walk faster, it wouldn’t just be his underwear getting wet; if someone saw, they might think…
“Hahaha, it’s so cold, taking it out would be freezing. Peeing your pants is understandable~”
“Shut up.”
“Hahaha!”
Luckily, this grove was just a few steps from the foot of the mountain. Not to mention Fu Jiaming had chosen a good ambush spot; if this fool hadn’t shouted while sneaking, he might actually have succeeded.
Having long heard the two fooling around, and rarely seeing her grandson happy, Zhao Panpan didn’t stop them.
Men are boys until death. If the old man and his old buddies did the same, she wouldn’t find it strange.
But still worried about catching cold from rolling in the snow, she prepared a large bowl of ginger soup for each of these two rascals.
Seeing them enter the house, change clothes, and come out, she handed each a large bowl.
“Drink it while it’s hot, you two rascals!”
“Thanks, Grandma.” “Thanks, Grandma Yan!”
Gulping down the large bowl of ginger soup, their throats burned spicy, but their stomachs felt waves of warmth.
“Refreshing!”
Sighing contentedly, Fu Jiaming grinned happily at the old lady looking at them both with kind eyes: Grandma Yan’s ginger soup was truly exceptional.
Ah, still that technique, that flavor!
Sneaking a peek at the whole chunk of ginger at the bottom of the bowl, he couldn’t help but grin even wider.
“Grandma, where’s Grandpa?”
“Him? He insisted on going with Old Liu to the bamboo grove up the hill to catch some little thing.”
It was all because he refused to admit old age; seeing the bamboo chicken Jiaming caught made his heart and hands itch.
A bag of old bones still not settling down; he’d only behave after breaking a leg!
Speaking of this, Zhao Panpan was a bit annoyed. The old and the young, the old and the young—it really wasn’t just talk; the older he got, the more childish.
“What, Xiao Qi, do you have business with your grandpa?”
“Yeah, I want to tell you two some good news.”
“What good news? Could it be…”
Her eyes lit up, Zhao Panpan excitedly gripped his hand, “Could it be Ning Yatou agreed not to get engaged but marry directly?!”
“Pfft~ cough cough cough~”
Yan Bei wiped the sprayed ginger soup, looking at her with a helpless smile.
He wished, but Ning Ning probably wouldn’t agree so quickly. Even agreeing to an engagement was surprise enough for him.
“The teacher called; after the New Year, the official documents will come down, and I can return to the research institute.”
Though different from what he expected, it was undoubtedly great news.
Zhao Panpan’s eyes welled up with excitement; her Xiao Qi finally wouldn’t have to do these dirty and tiring jobs anymore.
“Good, good, good! Wonderful, that’s great!”
