Gu Yan closed the box, clutching it tightly in his hand as if grasping his only hope toward an unknown future.
Moonlight fell upon his gaunt face, and even his perpetually somber eyes seemed to ignite with a trace of unwavering determination.
Meng Jiao’s assistance was like a sudden warm breeze piercing through the darkness. For some reason, this young girl who had just arrived in Blue Bay Village was always so kind to him.
Yet there was no pity in her eyes.
He also wondered why she acted this way.
For so many years, everyone had treated him like a mad dog, an existence akin to the plague.
The weather was fine that day, and several girls around Meng Jiao’s age were playing hopscotch under the locust tree.
The leader was the youngest daughter of the village party secretary, named Sun Xiaofeng, who usually held a domineering presence among the village children.
She had long noticed Meng Jiao—this fair-skinned, soft-spoken girl from the city—and felt a vague resentment, believing Meng Jiao had stolen her spotlight.
Seeing Meng Jiao and Xiao Cao passing by with baskets on their backs, Sun Xiaofeng’s eyes shifted cunningly. She led two companions to block their path.
“Hey, city girl, you’re Meng Jiao, right?”
Sun Xiaofeng lifted her chin, her tone aggressive.
Meng Jiao stopped and nodded. “Yes, that’s me. Is something wrong?”
“I heard your father was sent to our poor village because he made a mistake?”
Sun Xiaofeng said loudly on purpose, and the other girls burst into laughter.
Xiao Cao shrank back fearfully, murmuring in defense, “That’s not true… Jiaojiao’s father came to support our development…”
“Shut up!” Sun Xiaofeng glared at Xiao Cao before turning back to Meng Jiao.
“City girls are so delicate. Even cutting pigweed takes forever, and you’re always hanging around that little lunatic Gu Yan. Aren’t you afraid of bad luck?”
“Yeah, he’s so dirty!” another girl chimed in.
Meng Jiao frowned. She didn’t want trouble, but she wasn’t afraid of it either.
She looked calmly at Sun Xiaofeng. “My father came in response to the call, not because he made a mistake. How fast I cut pigweed is my business, and who I talk to doesn’t seem to concern you.”
“How is it none of my business?!”
Seeing Meng Jiao dare to talk back, Sun Xiaofeng grew even angrier. She stepped forward, reaching out to shove Meng Jiao’s shoulder.
“Say that again, I dare you!”
Meng Jiao hadn’t expected her to resort to physical force. Instinctively, she tried to step back, already calculating how to handle these girls.
Though not particularly strong, she was no pushover.
However, before Sun Xiaofeng’s hand could touch Meng Jiao, a thin yet surprisingly powerful hand shot out from the side, abruptly seizing Sun Xiaofeng’s wrist.
Everyone froze.
Meng Jiao turned in surprise and saw that the person standing slightly in front of her was none other than Gu Yan.
No one knew when he had appeared. He still wore his faded old clothes, his face pale, but his dark eyes were now icy cold as they fixed on Sun Xiaofeng.
His grip on Sun Xiaofeng’s wrist was clearly strong. She cried out in pain, her face contorted.
“Let go! Gu Yan, you little lunatic! Let me go!” Sun Xiaofeng struggled frantically, both startled and terrified.
Gu Yan pressed his lips together, silent, only tightening his grip further. The coldness in his eyes left Sun Xiaofeng and the other girls too frightened to move.
“You… you let her go!”
A girl nearby mustered her courage to shout, though her voice trembled slightly.
Gu Yan didn’t even lift an eyelid, his gaze fixed solely on Sun Xiaofeng’s face. The message was clear: no apology, no leaving.
Sun Xiaofeng’s wrist throbbed with pain, and she was utterly terrified by Gu Yan’s fierce expression. She had never seen him like this before.
Usually when they gossiped about him behind his back, he would always lower his head and hurry away. Why today…
Seeing how Gu Yan shielded Meng Jiao, she felt both wronged and frightened. Finally, with a sob in her voice, she cried out to Meng Jiao, “I’m… I’m sorry! Alright? Now make him let me go!”
Meng Jiao snapped out of her shock. Looking at Gu Yan’s profile and his tightly clenched hand, a complex feeling welled up inside her— surprised that he had stood up for her.
She gently tugged at the corner of Gu Yan’s clothes and whispered, “Gu Yan, forget it. Let her go.”
Gu Yan’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly before he abruptly released Sun Xiaofeng’s hand.
Clutching her reddened wrist, Sun Xiaofeng shot Gu Yan a fearful glance, burst into loud sobs, and fled with her friends without looking back.
Under the locust tree, only Meng Jiao, Xiao Cao, and Gu Yan remained.
The air grew eerily quiet.
Xiao Cao stared at Gu Yan, too frightened to even breathe loudly.
Meng Jiao looked at Gu Yan, opening her mouth to say something—perhaps thank you, or are you okay…
But before she could speak, Gu Yan seemed to have exhausted all his courage. He glanced at her hastily, his eyes filled with panic and embarrassment.
Then, without a word, he turned and strode away, his steps quick and urgent as if something were chasing him. He soon disappeared around the corner.
Watching his nearly fleeing figure, Meng Jiao swallowed the “thank you” on her lips.
She lowered her head, gazing at the spot where Gu Yan had stood, feeling both amused and warm inside.
This Gu Yan was really a strange and contradictory guy.
But today, he seemed kind of cool.
“Jiaojiao sister, Gu Yan… he was so scary just now, but also… really impressive.”
Xiao Cao patted her chest, still shaken by what had happened.
Meng Jiao smiled and took Xiao Cao’s hand. “Let’s go home. Don’t tell anyone about what happened today, okay?”
She understood perfectly how much courage it had taken for Gu Yan to step forward today.
His reputation as the “little madman” wasn’t unfounded among the village children, yet today he had broken his silence for her, facing the mockery and harassment head-on.
This favor, Meng Jiao would remember.
Having been thoroughly humiliated at the village entrance under the big locust tree and even reduced to tears by the usually silent Gu Yan, Sun Xiaofeng found the incident utterly unbearable.
After returning home, the more she thought about it, the more aggrieved and resentful she became.
Not daring to confront Gu Yan—that little madman—directly, she placed all the blame squarely on Meng Jiao.
“It’s all that Meng Jiao’s fault! That jinx! If it weren’t for her, why would Gu Yan have gone crazy?!”
Sun Xiaofeng stormed around the house, slamming things and thoroughly annoying Sun Zhishu’s wife, who was sewing shoe soles.
“Enough, enough, you little ancestor! Calm down! She’s just a girl from the city, why bother with her?” Sun Zhishu’s wife tried to soothe her.
“I don’t care! She made me lose face, and I’ll make sure she can’t stay in this village!”
Sun Xiaofeng said angrily, her eyes darting around as a mischievous idea formed in her mind.
Over the next few days, Meng Jiao began to sense that something was amiss.
First, when she went to the river to wash clothes and had just found a spot, Sun Xiaofeng and a few of her close friends squeezed over, deliberately muddying the water while making sarcastic remarks.
“Oh, city folks are so particular about cleanliness! What a pity this river water can’t wash away the bad luck clinging to certain people!”