Ning Yuan stared, dumbfounded, at the scene below the tree.
The man who leaped and weaved through the pack of beasts with agile, ferocious movements was more like an apex predator than a real animal.
The knife in his hand struck vital points with every blow. His movements were cold, precise, vicious, and clean—a perfect example of the violent aesthetics of a dismemberer.
When it was all over, the ground was littered with blood and animal carcasses. The man suddenly raised his head, his gaze precisely locking onto Ning Yuan in the tree.
He wasn’t wearing his glasses. His refined, handsome face was splattered with blood, and his dark, gloomy eyes reflected the dim moonlight.
“Come down,” he said flatly, looking at her.
The man below the tree didn’t seem human. He was like a deadly weapon tempered in countless pools of blood, striking terror into one’s heart.
Ning Yuan’s mind was completely blank. She subconsciously obeyed and let go. By the time she realized her mistake, she was already plummeting downward.
Whoosh!
The next moment, just as she thought her backside was about to be split in two, she was caught steadily in someone’s arms.
The man’s body heat washed over her, a mix of earthy scents and the metallic tang of beast blood. It was so aggressive, invading her every pore and sense.
She was completely stiff and stammered, “Th-thank…”
The man suddenly loosened his grip, setting her on the ground. He looked down at the girl who was trembling like a rabbit, staring at him with red-rimmed eyes.
Rong Zhaonan narrowed his long, slender eyes. “What, are you afraid of me?”
Ning Yuan had just found her footing, but she couldn’t help but tremble under his gaze. “I… I’m not.”
How could she not be afraid?
With such terrifying skills, if he wanted to kill the people who bullied him, he could surely do it without a trace.
Yet this man had silently endured his demotion in the village for several years, becoming a ‘Village Doctor’ that anyone could push around.
Why was he so forbearing? She didn’t know.
But she knew that people in this world who were both highly capable and incredibly patient must have grand ambitions, and they were likely terrifying.
“Then why are you trembling?” he asked in a low, haunting voice, looking down at her.
Ning Yuan gave a dry laugh. “I was scared. After all… I almost died.”
She had only followed him up the mountain. She hadn’t even seen what he was up to, let alone discovered any secrets he was hiding. Please, just let her go!
The way he was staring at her, his face covered in blood, he really looked like he was about to kill her to silence her and dispose of the body. Who wouldn’t be scared?
Rong Zhaonan raised an eyebrow and slowly, deliberately, reached out to touch her fair neck. “Yes, you almost died.”
For a split second, Ning Yuan felt as if a wild beast had her by the throat. She almost shoved him away and ran, but thankfully, reason stopped her legs.
The next moment, a thin, green snake appeared in Rong Zhaonan’s hand. He raised an eyebrow. “Can’t you see it?”
Ning Yuan and the little green snake were suddenly staring at each other, nose to nose. The snake’s tongue flicked out and licked her face.
Her nerves, which had been stretched taut for hours, finally snapped.
Ning Yuan’s eyes rolled back, and she fell backward. “Ah—!!!”
Rong Zhaonan watched as the girl’s nerves gave out and she fainted, catching her body as she fell.
She wanted to tail him with this little bit of skill?
Wasn’t she afraid he’d eat her up, skin, flesh, and bone?
Rong Zhaonan narrowed his eyes, lifted Ning Yuan, and walked toward the side of the mountain.
The girl in his arms was soft, slender, and light. He could hoist her up with no effort.
He thought expressionlessly—
This little spy was truly unprofessional. He had noticed her tailing him and had been watching from a nearby tree when she was being chased by the wild boars.
He had thought a life-or-death situation would force her to reveal her true abilities, or at least let him see if she was hiding a gun.
But in the end, she had just shrieked and howled while being chased. Aside from being a bit agile and quick to react, she had leaped three feet into the air and onto a tree like a rabbit.
He really hadn’t found anything else unusual about her.
He didn’t know if the enemies from across the strait were getting sloppier, or if this particular little spy was just a dud.
…
Ning Yuan was awakened by the aroma of roasting meat.
She shot up with a start, murmuring groggily, “Meat… Who’s barbecuing meat…”
She opened her eyes and saw a large, glistening pork chop and a pork knuckle roasting over a fire, emitting a savory, charred fragrance.
There was even the scent of cumin and pepper. Her stomach instantly began to growl in protest.
“You’re awake?” a cool, magnetic male voice suddenly sounded.
Only then did Ning Yuan clearly see that besides the fragrant pork, a tall, quiet figure was sitting by the fire.
She was fully awake now. Had she fainted earlier?!
“Have something to eat. You’re a little hypoglycemic,” Rong Zhaonan said, suddenly handing her a skewer of roasted meat.
He was wearing a thin, white worker’s tank top, his long legs encased in loose, dark green military pants, which made his waist seem narrower and his shoulders broader.
He looked like a tall, elegant, and cool poplar tree.
But she knew he was a blade. When his deep eyes stared at her, they even reminded her of the dark muzzle of a gun.
Ning Yuan lowered her eyes to avoid his gaze and took the roasted meat he offered. She coughed lightly. “Thank you. I do have low blood pressure and hypoglycemia.”
But as she looked down, she saw the faded, military-green jacket covering her, which was stained with patches of blood.
Ning Yuan shivered. Was this the wild boars’ blood?
“These few wild boars will be enough to eat for a long time, but they’re hard to preserve,” Rong Zhaonan said leisurely, taking a sip of water from his military canteen.
As he moved, the firelight seemed to plate his well-defined, powerful shoulders and arms in a layer of flowing gold.
Not to mention, the sharp contours of his brows and eyes held a stern, dangerous beauty in the firelight.
It made her afraid to look directly at him.
Amitābha, lusting after a man at a time like this was not a good idea!
Focus on the meat!
“That’s no problem… I know how to smoke bacon!” Ning Yuan immediately lowered her head to eat the roasted meat, speaking earnestly.
This roasted wild pork was absolutely divine, with an exceptional flavor. The tender pork chop was fatty but not greasy, its crispy, fragrant oil melting in her mouth. And the pork knuckle had crispy skin and tender meat.
They wouldn’t be short of meat for a while. They might even be able to find a way to sell some.
“That could work,” Rong Zhaonan said casually.
But the next moment, his tone suddenly shifted. “Why were you following me?”
Ning Yuan’s hand, holding the meat, paused. She glanced at him, her eyes darting around. “I wasn’t…”
“I want the truth,” Rong Zhaonan said flatly, raising his eyes. “I, for one, hate it when people lie to me.”
As he spoke, he flicked his wrist, and the knife he had been using to carve the meat cleanly plunged into a large chunk, slicing off a piece.
A cold sweat broke out on Ning Yuan’s nose. Suddenly, the meat in her mouth didn’t taste so good anymore.
He hadn’t said anything threatening, and his tone was gentle.
But she… felt a chill run down her spine, as if she would become that sliced-off piece of meat if she wasn’t honest.
Ning Yuan suddenly felt wronged and baffled. Wasn’t the whole ordeal she’d gone through today because she was worried about him?
“It’s because you’ve been sneaking out in the middle of the night these past few days and not telling me what you’re up to,” she said irritably.
What was he doing, putting on this interrogator act?
“You haven’t gotten your job back yet, and so many people are watching you now. If you have something you need to handle alone at night that’s inconvenient for me to know, you could at least give me a heads-up!” The more Ning Yuan spoke, the angrier she became.
“We’re forced to be a ‘husband and wife’ temporarily. We both have our own privacy and secrets, I can understand that!”
But right now, they were the most conspicuous pair in the village. Since things weren’t great for either of them, shouldn’t they be more careful and keep each other in the loop?
“I don’t care what you do, but at least if you get caught, we need to have our stories straight and cover for each other, right?”
“We’re still a married couple. What if the Red Armbands suddenly come looking for someone or investigating something and find you missing in the middle of the night!” Ning Yuan glared at him.
She wasn’t some idle village gossip with nothing better to do than pry into others’ private lives. In this era, even the gossips had to work in the fields for work points!
They were a single unit as “husband and wife.” If he got caught, she would suffer the consequences too!
“Husband and wife…” Rong Zhaonan looked at the petite, fuming girl, her large eyes glaring at him with anger.
The word made a strange light flash in his eyes. He lowered his long lashes. “Sorry for making you worry.”
Whether she had followed him to spy or was genuinely just worried he would drag her down…
At least, the reason she gave now was unassailable.
“You’re right. We are ‘husband and wife’ now. I should have given you a heads-up,” Rong Zhaonan said flatly.
He pointed to the roasted meat by the fire and the pile of things next to it. “Now you see it. This is why I’ve been coming into the mountains in the middle of the night recently.”
Ning Yuan looked and only then noticed that besides the mountain-like piles of wild boar meat, there was also a muntjac deer and a wild pheasant…
“You were hunting?” Ning Yuan was stunned.
No wonder he had a homemade bow and two Trailblazer Knives earlier. It turned out he was coming into the mountains to hunt at night to avoid being seen.
Rong Zhaonan simply said while basting the meat, “The grain rations aren’t enough to fill my stomach.”
Ning Yuan fell silent. No wonder when he took off his shirt, the muscles on his body didn’t look like they could be maintained on the meager work point rations.
He was not at all the silent, forbearing man he appeared to be in front of everyone.
Rather, he was the type to find a way around the rules, one who would never let himself go hungry.
“Well, with skills as amazing as yours, you can certainly live off the mountain. You just have to make sure no one finds out,” Ning Yuan coughed lightly.
Rong Zhaonan glanced at her. “I used to be a scout in the army, you should know that.”
Ning Yuan nodded subconsciously. “Yes, I know. I just didn’t expect your skills to be as good as special forces.”
She remembered seeing his resume on TV decades later, which mentioned he had served in the army and won numerous merits.
It was just a little hard to connect the cold, stern big shot on TV decades later with the young man before her.
“Special forces… You know about special forces?” Rong Zhaonan handed her another skewer of meat.
China didn’t really have formally established special forces units at this time.
The “special forces” she mentioned likely referred to the foreign special units that carried out special reconnaissance, “decapitation” strikes, and assault missions.
And the word “privacy” wasn’t something ordinary people used now; it sounded more like something an educated person from abroad would say.
Ning Yuan, a Little Educated Youth from the provincial capital, knew things like someone who had studied abroad, huh…
A dark glint flashed in Rong Zhaonan’s eyes.
Ning Yuan’s hand paused as she took the skewer. She smiled. “Ah, I read in a book that there are soldiers like that abroad. They’re all kings among soldiers and can sometimes be as effective as an entire division. They’re amazing.”
Sure enough, the traces of a lifetime of habits weren’t so easily erased.
Even though she was being very careful, she would still occasionally let slip words that didn’t belong to this era.
Ning Yuan couldn’t help but mutter to herself. She took a bite of meat and smoothly changed the subject. “Where did you hide the meat from your hunts these past few days? It’s so hot, didn’t it spoil?”
Hopefully, Rong Zhaonan hadn’t noticed anything.
Rong Zhaonan didn’t seem to dwell on it. He looked at the pile of animal carcasses, his brow furrowing slightly. “It didn’t spoil. I gave the meat to Grandma Xia and Grandpa Tang…”
He paused and looked at Ning Yuan. “I didn’t deliberately not bring it home to share with you. It’s just that Grandma Xia and Grandpa Tang’s situation is special. They have even fewer rations than I do…”
No matter what, for the past few days, it could be said that Ning Yuan had been the one providing for him by getting food from the river.
Ning Yuan shook her head, cutting him off. “You hunted this. Who you share it with is your freedom. You don’t need to explain so much to me. We’re not a real couple, I won’t get angry.”
Hearing her words, Rong Zhaonan felt a strange sense of displeasure for some reason.
His brow furrowed slightly. “Don’t worry. In the future, I won’t be the one letting you go to the river for fish alone.”
But Ning Yuan’s eyes curved into a smile. “I catch shrimp and fish so I don’t starve. Sharing it with you was my own choice.”
After all, if she didn’t, how could she make the current Rong Dalao indebted to her?
Rong Zhaonan looked at her clear, black grape-like eyes and was silent for a moment before suddenly asking casually, “You just said we’re not a real couple, so you don’t care who I share my things with. What if we were a real couple?”
“Then, I would be angry. Because no matter what, since we’re a couple, our little family must be your first priority,” Ning Yuan said decisively.
She looked at the night sky. “Especially in times of material scarcity and limited resources. If you’re not willing to prioritize your family first, discuss how to allocate resources with your wife, and respect your wife, then why get married at all?”
Too many men earned money outside, leaving the family and children to their wives, and then felt that the money they earned was their own.
But in reality, every cent he earned contained his wife’s contribution from behind the scenes, allowing him to not worry about family and children. Every cent had his wife’s half in it.
But when it came to the men, it all became—”You’re useless, I’m the one supporting you.”
Ning Yuan snorted coldly. “If a person wants to do whatever they want with their money and resources, then they shouldn’t get married. Once you start a family, you should be responsible for your other half and your children, shouldn’t you?”
Rong Zhaonan looked at the young girl before him. For some reason, he could see a sense of coldness and world-weariness on her youthful, tender, round face.
This was the first time he had ever heard such words.
In this day and age, wasn’t it all about having a wife, kids, and a warm bed, with the man of the house being the absolute authority?
No matter how loudly the slogan “women hold up half the sky” was shouted, in reality, it was still the men who were in charge.
But for some reason, he found himself unable to refute Ning Yuan’s words.
“Your way of thinking is very ‘advanced,’ but it might affect your prospects of finding a partner in the future,” Rong Zhaonan said flatly, sprinkling some salt on the meat.
Ning Yuan looked at him strangely. “Why must I find a partner? Will I die if I don’t?”
“You won’t die, but how can you get by without a man?” Rong Zhaonan raised an eyebrow.
Then, he heard a truly earth-shattering sentence—
“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. Men shouldn’t overestimate themselves,” Ning Yuan said bluntly.