The man’s voice was low and slightly hoarse, carrying a trace of restraint that was difficult to detect.
Nan Qianqian was pulled back to her senses by his voice and immediately looked up.
The morning light fell over the top of his head, the pale golden glow reflecting across that handsome face.
Although his complexion was somewhat pale, exhaustion filled his brows, and a faint shadow of stubble covered his chin…
Nan Qianqian still felt that the man looked unbelievably handsome at this moment.
Those “sickly beauties” so often described in novels probably weren’t much more than this!
But then Nan Qianqian thought about it again.
There was probably still a difference.
After all, apart from his face having a somewhat sickly appearance, the man in front of her had such a strong and powerful build that he looked like the type who could “battle all night” without any problem.
~~
“Nan Qianqian, have you no shame? Hugging and cuddling with a man in broad daylight.”
Chen Feng angrily scolded her as he looked at Nan Qianqian being steadied in Fu Nanxun’s arms.
Fortunately, he had managed to stop himself in time.
Otherwise, he would have crashed into Fu Nanxun’s arms together with Nan Qianqian.
He absolutely did not want that!
A faint blush colored Nan Qianqian’s fair face.
She really had been thinking too much just now.
Hearing Chen Feng’s voice behind her, Nan Qianqian suddenly wanted nothing more than to beat him to death.
She stepped away.
The warmth left behind by the man’s large hand when he had steadied her seemed to still linger around her waist.
Turning to look at Chen Feng, Nan Qianqian’s pink lips curved upward before she said lightly, “You’re an educated youth from the city. Shouldn’t you at least have some manners when you speak? Your mouth smells this foul—did you eat too much shit? Or did Educated Youth Chen get hungry while picking up dog shit to earn work points and secretly eat some, which is why your mouth smells so bad?”
After saying that, Nan Qianqian couldn’t help rolling her eyes.
With a mouth that foul, who knew how much “shit” this guy had eaten to end up like this!
“You… As the daughter of the village Party secretary, behaving like this means you’re corrupting the atmosphere of Jishan Village.”
Chen Feng’s face turned livid.
Nan Qianqian had truly infuriated him.
Looking at the two people opposite him, one tall and handsome, the other delicate and beautiful, he suddenly found the sight extremely irritating.
He couldn’t help wondering why Nan Qianqian had suddenly become even prettier than before.
It wasn’t that she had been ugly in the past.
She had just looked rustic and stupid.
Chen Feng couldn’t help looking at Nan Qianqian again.
He still remembered that not long ago, she had told him that if her father tried to marry her to Fu Nanxun, she would never agree even if it killed her.
She had also told him that she only liked him and would marry no one else in this lifetime.
A few days ago, she had even smashed her head against the wall because she wanted to reject the marriage.
So why was she acting like this now?
He couldn’t understand it at all.
“Heh. I’m with my fiancé, and somehow that counts as corrupting public morals? What kind of logic is that?”
Nan Qianqian felt incredibly guilty as she said those words.
Her eyes even secretly darted toward the man beside her several times, her heart practically rising into her throat.
She was afraid that the man disliked her so much that he would directly expose her lie.
Hearing Nan Qianqian’s words, Fu Nanxun narrowed his long eyes slightly, their depths impossible to read.
He shifted his aching leg a little.
It had hurt all night again, leaving him unable to sleep.
Then first thing this morning, the village Party secretary had come over to talk to him about marrying Nan Qianqian.
He hadn’t agreed.
He truly couldn’t understand what this woman was thinking.
He had heard plenty about her and Chen Feng.
And hadn’t she always disliked him?
She had even declared that she would rather die than marry him.
So why, ever since they first met, had she come pestering him every single day?
Someone who had refused to marry him had suddenly changed her mind.
Who knew what she was scheming?
But regardless of what it was, he had no interest in playing along with her.
The only reason he had come here was because he had heard someone outside saying that Chen Feng and Nan Qianqian were arguing, and that Chen Feng even looked like he was about to hit her.
For some inexplicable reason, he had dragged his injured leg out of the house as quickly as he could and come looking for them.
But once he arrived, he immediately felt annoyed with himself.
What did any of this have to do with him?
He really must have lost his senses from not sleeping all night.
After waiting for a while, Nan Qianqian became somewhat confused.
She hadn’t heard a response from the man beside her, but Chen Feng across from them had already become anxious.
“Nonsense! You clearly said that Fu Nanxun brings misfortune to his father and mother and is nothing but a jinx. You also said his leg is crippled and will never recover for the rest of his life, and that you would absolutely never marry him. You said the person you liked was me. Everyone in the village knows that!”
Chen Feng’s voice was extremely loud.
Nan Qianqian didn’t know whether the people working in the fields had heard him, but the man beside her had definitely heard every single word clearly.
A sudden chill filled the air.
Nan Qianqian couldn’t help shrinking her neck.
She was genuinely afraid that the man might strangle her to death.
She secretly glanced at him.
His expression was gloomy, and those dark eyes were staring at her with an unreadable look.
Nan Qianqian couldn’t help swallowing.
Then she quietly turned her head away and looked elsewhere.
Her expression remained calm.
But inwardly, ten thousand horses were already stampeding through her heart!
She was doomed.
This man was definitely angry.
But she was truly innocent!
Whether Chen Feng’s words were true or not was one thing.
Even if they were true, the original owner had been the one who said them.
She hadn’t participated in a single word of it!
But now she truly had no way to explain herself.
She was definitely going to have to shoulder the blame left behind by the original owner!
Her only hope was that Fu Nanxun would let her argue her case later.
Because according to the original owner’s memories, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance that she really had said those things.
But in the current situation, Nan Qianqian could only shamelessly deny everything and change the subject.
“Chen Feng, stop talking nonsense. I clearly never said any of that. Could it be because I just told you that we have nothing to do with each other from now on and asked you to return the money and ration coupons you owe me, so now you’re deliberately framing me?”
Nan Qianqian instantly put on an aggrieved expression.
Her eyes reddened, and a faint layer of moisture appeared in her dark pupils.
She looked unbelievably pitiful.
“R-return what money? What ration coupons?”
Chen Feng was immediately stunned by Nan Qianqian’s words.
“You still won’t admit it? The one hundred yuan you borrowed from me, along with the grain coupons and meat coupons. You even wrote me an IOU back then, so don’t even think about denying it.”
Chen Feng’s family wasn’t well-off either.
Ever since coming to the countryside, he had relied entirely on that mouth of his to deceive the village girls.
If he wasn’t tricking them into giving him food, then he was tricking them into giving him drinks.
As a grown man, he was so weak that the work points he earned each day weren’t even as many as those earned by the women.
The original owner had been tricked by him into lending him one hundred yuan.
In the 1970s, one hundred yuan was no small amount.
Some families didn’t even earn that much over an entire year.
And that wasn’t even counting the grain coupons and meat coupons.
Having money alone wasn’t enough.
You still needed ration coupons to buy things.
Originally, when the original owner gave those things to him, she had never intended to make him repay them.
Unfortunately, Chen Feng cared far too much about saving face.
He insisted on pretending to be a refined gentleman and wrote her an IOU.
Seeing how insistent he was, the original owner had only become even more convinced that this man was someone she could rely on.
In the end, she accepted the IOU, went home, and casually tossed it into some drawer in her room.
“Didn’t you give those to me?”
Chen Feng couldn’t help swallowing.
What was wrong with Nan Qianqian?
Back then, he had indeed been the one to ask to borrow the money and coupons.
But she had repeatedly told him that he didn’t need to repay them.
So why was she suddenly demanding the money back now?
Nan Qianqian let out a soft scoff before saying, “How could I possibly have given them to you? That was one hundred yuan, five grain coupons, and five cloth coupons. We aren’t related in any way, so why would I give you all that?
“Besides, I still have the IOU you wrote back then. You even said you would repay me within a month. It’s already been three months. Not only have you failed to repay me, you’re now shameless enough to claim that I gave everything to you. You really have some nerve.”
The moment Nan Qianqian finished speaking, the people who had come out of the fields to watch the excitement couldn’t help being shocked.
They thought to themselves that Nan Qianqian really was wealthy.
She had simply lent out one hundred yuan and ration coupons just like that.
Some of their families didn’t even have that much after working for an entire year.
Most importantly, Chen Feng wasn’t even admitting it now.
Judging by his expression, he clearly didn’t want to repay her.
But they didn’t know the actual situation.
After all, everyone in the village—even the children—knew that Nan Qianqian liked Chen Feng.
No one knew why the two of them had suddenly fallen out.
Some guessed that perhaps Nan Qianqian had suddenly come to her senses.
After all, whether it was height or appearance, Fu Nanxun completely left Chen Feng several streets behind.
But no one dared casually speak up for either side.
If they guessed wrong and the two of them reconciled later, then they would end up becoming the villains.
“I didn’t.”
At this moment, Chen Feng wanted nothing more than to strangle himself.
When he had first come to the countryside, he barely had a few yuan in his pocket.
Even that money had been borrowed by his mother from relatives.
The kind where she borrowed five yuan and had to repay six, otherwise no one would lend it to her.
Later, Nan Qianqian fell for him and started hovering around him every day.
If she wasn’t bringing him food, she was bringing him drinks, and she even fought to help him with his work.
How could he possibly refuse such a good thing?
Later, when the money in his pocket ran out, he had only casually mentioned it once.
Who would have expected Nan Qianqian to be so generous?
She immediately took out one hundred yuan, along with ration coupons.
Not only did she give them to him, but she repeatedly told him that he didn’t need to repay her.
At the time, he had been so shocked that his head heated up, and he stubbornly insisted on writing her an IOU.
But so much time had already passed.
Why was this damned woman suddenly demanding repayment now?
His pockets were cleaner than his face!
Where was he supposed to get the money?
Nan Qianqian almost laughed at the scumbag’s response.
Did he really think saying “I didn’t” meant he didn’t have to repay her?
Where in the world did such a wonderful deal exist?
The original owner might not have wanted him to repay it.
But that didn’t mean she didn’t!
That was a lot of money.
Wouldn’t it be better to use it herself?
Before Nan Qianqian could answer, the man who had only spoken a single sentence since arriving suddenly opened his mouth.
“Try not paying her back.”