“What’s wrong…” Ning Yuan shuddered, a chill running down her spine as she subconsciously looked at Rong Zhaonan.
He was clearly tall, thin, scholarly, and gentle, yet she felt an overwhelming sense of oppression from him.
At that moment, the man released his hold on her. He lowered his head, letting his bangs fall over his glasses and obscure his eyes. “I’ll help you pack your luggage. Did your things scatter?”
I can also check what’s in her luggage. Last night, she hid something.
As soon as she started taking off her clothes last night, I had no choice but to retreat.
I just held her for a moment. She doesn’t have much muscle, not like someone who’s been trained.
The man before her had reverted to his cold, dull, and ‘honest’ appearance.
Ning Yuan was taken aback. That chilling feeling, like a blade scraping against her skin, must have been her imagination.
“Thank you, sorry to trouble you!” She could only lower her head, looking awkwardly at her luggage scattered all over the ground.
Her battered suitcase had burst open during her fight with Wang Jianhua.
Some of her things had even rolled into the ditch. The two of them went to gather them up together.
Fortunately, there wasn’t much, and after a short while, Ning Yuan had picked up most of it.
But…
“Here.” A long, slender hand held out two old, white bras.
Ning Yuan’s face instantly flushed as red as a hibiscus flower. Oh, good heavens…
She frantically snatched the bras, not even bothering to pat the grass off before stuffing them haphazardly into the suitcase.
But the next moment, that same hand casually handed her a small pair of panties. “Your Underpants fell by the ditch too.”
A phrase from her future life came to Ning Yuan’s mind—social death!
She quickly grabbed them again, her head bowed as she scanned the area for any other stray underpants or underwear…
“There are no more,” the man’s cool, detached voice sounded from above her.
Only then did Ning Yuan breathe a sigh of relief. She slung her bedding over her back and quickly fastened her suitcase. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Rong Zhaonan looked at the girl with her head bowed, her fair ears completely red.
She gets shy this easily, and she still dares to approach me? She’s not cut out to be a spy.
He raised an eyebrow slightly and took the suitcase from her hand. “Give it to me.”
Her hands were suddenly empty as he picked up the suitcase and walked ahead.
She hurried to follow him. “This is too much trouble for you.”
Staring at his back, Ning Yuan couldn’t help but mutter, this man is really tall. At least 1.86 meters?
She wasn’t even 1.6 meters tall… Standing next to him gave her the immediate sense of being a shorty.
One after the other, they entered the small, dilapidated tiled hut next to the Cowshed.
This place was originally used to store straw for the cows. After Rong Zhaonan was sent down, it became his living quarters.
The wind blew in from all four sides, which were barely patched up with newspaper. A bed was fashioned from two broken door panels of unknown origin, propped up on a wooden frame.
There were also two doorless five-drawer cabinets that held his spare clothes and belongings, with a small bag of coarse rice stored inside.
A large water vat stood in the corner.
A salvaged, rickety old table was propped up with a stone, accompanied by two barely intact stools, an oil lamp, an old washbasin, and an enamel mug.
Basically, a single glance was enough to see all his worldly possessions.
Last night, Ning Yuan hadn’t had time to notice the environment of the cowshed hut. Now, seeing it, her brow twitched—
This young man couldn’t have time-traveled from before the liberation, could he? He was the poorest person in the entire village.
Outside, the stench of fermenting cow dung wafted in.
Unlike her, a person reborn, he didn’t know that society would undergo earth-shattering changes in the future.
With what state of mind did this man, who came from such a good background, face an environment he might have to endure for the rest of his life?
“What, you still want to move in?” Rong Zhaonan asked indifferently, adjusting his large black-framed glasses as he noted her pale face.
The conditions here were far worse than at the Educated Youth Spot.
The Educated Youth Spot was a newly built small tiled house in the village. Although everyone was poor and had few possessions, it was definitely much better than this dilapidated cowshed hut.
Ning Yuan gritted her teeth. “I’m moving in. If you’re going to put on a show, you have to go all the way. We’re a ‘married couple’.”
With a bit of tidying up, it’ll get better. I’d rather do this than go back to the Educated Youth Spot and live with people like Tang Zhenzhen and Wang Jianhua.
Rong Zhaonan watched her put down her luggage, her resolve to stay firm. He narrowed his eyes.
This little spy is quite persistent.
Just now, he had discreetly felt through her luggage but hadn’t found what she had hidden last night.
Ning Yuan placed her suitcase next to the five-drawer cabinet and looked up at the leaky roof, where the sky was visible. She wanted to sigh.
The rural south was humid and rainy. If it rained outside, it would drizzle inside. How did this person live!
“We… have to find a way to fix the roof,” Ning Yuan muttered.
Rong Zhaonan glanced at the roof and gave a noncommittal “Mm.”
Ning Yuan turned to unpack her things.
She set out her enamel mug, strung up a hemp rope to hang her towel, and put away her clothes.
When she carried her bedding over to the bed, she froze—
The bed, made of two broken door panels, was the only one!
She looked around. There was nowhere else to sleep in the dark room.
Rong Zhaonan watched her with amusement, waiting to see what she would do.
Ning Yuan’s delicate brows furrowed. Then, under his gaze, she walked over and pushed his pillow and bedding further inward.
Then, she placed her own bedding on the outer door panel.
“What, you’re going to sleep with me?” Rong Zhaonan raised an eyebrow.
Just a moment ago, she had looked at him like a rabbit seeing a wolf.
Now the rabbit had grown bold enough to sleep in the same den as the wolf?
She gave an awkward smile. “I’ll have to impose on you for now, Doctor Rong. Let’s make do. I’ll ask the village team later if there are any other options.”
Rong Zhaonan looked at her. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll actually do something?”
So the little spy plans to use a honey trap. She’s making quite a sacrifice.
Ning Yuan had no idea she was being regarded as a “little spy” with ulterior motives.
She lifted her eyes and smiled. “Doctor Rong, if you were the same kind of person as Wang Jianhua, you wouldn’t have restrained yourself with such difficulty last night.”
She wasn’t a fool. Having lived for decades in her past life, she had at least that much confidence in her judgment of people.
Besides, he came from a high-ranking family compound and later became a major leader, yet his reputation in his private life had always been excellent.
Rong Zhaonan paused, a slight curl on his lips. “Heh… you trust people easily.”
The girl before him looked at him earnestly, her large, black grape-like eyes filled with trust.
This woman is quite the actress.
Are we that familiar? She acts as if she knows my character so well. It seems she’s done her homework.
Is she after my family background, or is it because I used to work for a special unit?
Ning Yuan had no idea what he was thinking. After she finished tidying up, she said to Rong Zhaonan, “Doctor Rong, you can get back to your work. I’m going to the village team to get the certificate and Letter of Introduction for our marriage.”
Rong Zhaonan gave a noncommittal “Mm.”
She speaks of something as major as marriage so casually. It seems she came prepared.
Ning Yuan put her documents into an old army-green satchel and turned to leave.
Just as she reached the door, she seemed to remember something. She turned back, took out two biscuits and two pieces of Great White Rabbit Milk Candy, and placed them in Rong Zhaonan’s hand.
She smiled at him gratefully, her big eyes curving into little moons. “Doctor Rong, thank you for saving me again this morning!”
Rong Zhaonan looked at the biscuits and White Rabbit candy in his hand, then at her big eyes.
These were snacks even rarer and more precious than grain. In his youth, he had never lacked for them.
Now, after several years of reform through labor, let alone milk candy and biscuits, he hadn’t tasted even a bit of brown sugar.
Even though everyone here grew sugarcane, a Reform Through Labor Element like him wasn’t entitled to any.
Ning Yuan waved and hurried away.
Rong Zhaonan didn’t stand on ceremony. He slowly and methodically ate the biscuits.
Then, he unwrapped a piece of White Rabbit candy and placed the milky-white sweet in his mouth.
The sweet, milky flavor steeped on the tip of his tongue. For some reason, it smelled a bit like Ning Yuan.
He glanced at Ning Yuan’s small floral pillow on the bed, licked the crumbs from the corner of his elegant lips.
Tsk, the little spy smells pretty good.
Rong Zhaonan stood up, walked to the bed, picked up Ning Yuan’s pillow, and began to feel every inch of it with his hands.