“But Yingying has waited for you all these years, until she’s practically an old maid. You can still find a young girl at thirty, but a thirty-year-old woman is going to end up having to settle for a second-hand marriage!”
Mother Jiang cast a glance toward the person lying on the bed inside the room. However, Chu Yanhan blocked the view so thoroughly that she still couldn’t see a thing!
“Mom, are you still thinking about using her dad as your family’s cash cow? I’ve told you many times, Niu Wanshan is way too daring; sooner or later he’s going to mess up big time. Our family needs to stay as far away from him as possible!”
Ever since Niu Wanshan became a section chief, he had made no small effort to use his authority to haul goods back home, while Niu Yingying went around telling everyone she was Chu Yanhan’s fiancée.
Everyone in the residential compound knew that Chu Yanhan had already climbed to the rank of battalion commander, so while they wanted to expose Niu Wanshan, they didn’t dare!
Mother Jiang had also caught wind of the rumors recently, but she stubbornly believed that Niu Wanshan wouldn’t fall.
As Chu Yanhan escorted his mother to the guesthouse entrance, she stopped him. “What? Are you really going to walk back with me? Are you seriously just going to leave this girl here all by herself?”
Chu Yanhan was momentarily at a loss for words. “So, does that mean you’ve accepted your daughter-in-law?”
Mother Jiang figured that all these years, her son hadn’t shown interest in any woman other than Niu Yingying. Perhaps he was just messing around; the girl was so young anyway, so once the two of them got tired of each other, they would break up sooner or later!
After shutting the door, Chu Yanhan felt his spirits lift. Since his mother had clearly accepted Jiang Nuo just now, only one task remained: launch a relentless charm offensive until he completely claimed her as his own!
The next morning, when Jiang Nuo woke up, it was already close to noon.
Opening her eyes to find the entire room devoid of the man’s figure, panic instantly set in!
The mere thought of the night before she was sold to old man Gao—when her parents had tricked her into drinking water laced with something, and how she woke up tightly bound with a rag shoved in her mouth to keep her from screaming—made her heart race.
She was terrified of being deceived again. Chu Yanhan’s mother clearly disliked her; could the man have taken advantage of the gap to slip away? Did he want to back out of taking responsibility?
Feverishly scrambling into her clothes, brushing her teeth, and washing her face, she rushed out the door to look for Chu Yanhan.
Right at that moment, a tall figure was striding down the hallway from afar. Upon spotting her, the man’s expression noticeably softened!
“Where are you going? You must be starving, right? I went to the cafeteria to buy some good food for you.”
Carrying two aluminum lunch boxes, Chu Yanhan wore a mysterious, pleased smile as he walked back into the room.
Having been too busy panicking and searching for him, Jiang Nuo hadn’t felt an ounce of hunger until now. “What good food?”
Opening the lunch boxes, Chu Yanhan revealed four fine-flour steamed buns in one, and braised pork with vermicelli, cabbage, and tofu in the other.
“Like it?” Chu Yanhan watched her, the corners of his mouth curling upward uncontrollably.
Last night, he had heard Jiang Nuo mutter in her sleep countless times, constantly crying out for doufu (tofu). The man had naturally assumed the young girl was craving some intimacy!
Blushing deeply, Jiang Nuo did indeed love eating tofu, and she hadn’t expected Chu Yanhan to be so observant.
Picking up a fine-flour bun, she broke off half of it, tore off a tiny piece with her fingers, and popped it into her mouth. The buns here were huge; after half of one, she was already too full for more.
Carefully picking up a piece of tender white tofu with his chopsticks, Chu Yanhan brought it right to Jiang Nuo’s lips. “Be a good girl and eat a little more.”
“In case we’ve already made a baby in your belly, you’ll need the extra nutrition!”
Jiang Nuo nearly spat out the mouthful of bun she had just chewed. They had only been together for a single night—how could she possibly be pregnant already? “Don’t scare people! How on earth is a baby made that easily?”
Full of confidence in himself, Chu Yanhan replied, “You already know what I’m capable of!”
“But I never wanted to marry you in the first place. Saying things like that puts me in such an awkward spot.”
“Fine. Since you didn’t want a sham marriage earlier, let’s make a pact: a month from now, if you’re pregnant, I’ll definitely marry you, never let you down, and take responsibility all the way.”
As a half-baked barefoot doctor herself, Jiang Nuo had seen plenty of women in the village who struggled to conceive. Having practiced medicine alongside her grandfather, she had prescribed every herbal remedy under the sun, yet none of them could cure that affliction.
Ever since her grandfather—the only person in the family who protected her—passed away, Jiang Nuo had dropped out of high school to farm. In the freezing depths of winter, she had to wash clothes for a family of four in icy water that could freeze a person to the bone; her menstrual cycle had been irregular for ages, let alone the possibility of pregnancy!
Besides, in all her eighteen years, she had never heard of anyone getting pregnant on the very first try. Smiling, she nodded along, happy to play along and stall him. “I agree to your proposal, but don’t forget about getting me that job you promised!”
Through these past few days of interaction, Jiang Nuo had realized that aside from being a bit older, Chu Yanhan was actually quite attentive and very good at taking care of people!
Even so, she was only eighteen and had zero interest in playing the dutiful wife and mother or spending her days tethered to a husband just yet; she was far too desperate to build a career of her own.
“I’ve already spoken to the military unit about the job. Your qualifications are exceptional, so you’re guaranteed to get selected.”
At that thought, Chu Yanhan hurriedly rinsed out the lunch boxes, dashed back inside, and set about packing their belongings. He was far too eager to take the young girl back to the military residential compound—and hopefully find the right moment to tease and bully her properly once again!
With all their luggage gathered in his hands, the man turned to look at the young girl. “Nuo’nuo, we’re good to go! I’m taking you to the military region today!”
Though Chu Yanhan kept calling her that, Jiang Nuo still wasn’t used to it. Fortunately, once they reached the military region and she gained the means to break away from him, she wouldn’t bother arguing with him over a nickname anymore.
Boarding the train bound for the military region and getting all their luggage securely stowed away, Chu Yanhan finally settled down right beside Jiang Nuo.
His hand trembled slightly as the rocking motion of the train caused his fingers to brush against Jiang Nuo’s hand, prompting him to casually fake an accidental grasp and hold on.
Jiang Nuo tried to inch away from him, but she couldn’t budge an inch—the man’s grip was simply too strong.
“Move again, and I’ll kiss you!” Chu Yanhan’s voice murmured right beside her ear. Compared to getting kissed, she figured letting him hold her hand for a bit was the lesser of two evils.
Her cheeks flushed bright red as she glared angrily at Chu Yanhan.
She already knew the man was shameless, but she hadn’t expected him to be this thick-skinned in a crowded public setting.
An older aunt sitting across the aisle took in the entire scene with sharp eyes.
“Hey, soldier boy! Where did you kidnap this young girl from? Can’t you see she’s completely unwilling?”
Chu Yanhan made no move to explain himself, effectively letting the surrounding passengers jump to conclusions and label him a human trafficker.
Someone hurried over to the train’s security office and reported everything happening in their carriage from start to finish.
Before long, a pair of railway security officers dressed in uniform walked over.
“Excuse me, comrade, we’ve received reports from passengers suspecting you of human trafficking. Please show us your identification documents!”
The onlookers nearby immediately leaned in to watch the show. “I knew it! Even if this soldier doesn’t look half-bad, that young girl with him looks all of eighteen or nineteen—she clearly isn’t here of her own free will.”
“Exactly! Just wait till they haul him off to face a firing squad. Laying hands on a girl this young, absolutely despicable.”
The surrounding crowd waited with bated breath for the drama to unfold, having found their long train ride terribly dull and boring until now.