Looking at the starving Dabao, Su Meier felt that her cooking skills would probably ruin the fish she had worked so hard to catch. After thinking it over, she decided it would be better to take them home and let her mother cook them instead.
On the way back, Dabao tugged at her sleeve.
“Auntie, since we’re already out, why don’t we stop by and see my dad?”
Su Meier hesitated. Meet the original owner’s eldest brother?
She crouched down and gently rubbed his head.
“Dabao, your father is probably busy right now. We shouldn’t disturb him.
Let’s go home and eat first, okay? Your dad will come back for dinner later, and we can eat fish together tonight.”
She shook the two fish in her hand.
At the mention of food, Dabao’s stomach growled in cooperation. Between eating and finding his father, he ultimately chose to head home first.
The aunt and nephew walked cheerfully through the mountain fields when they unexpectedly ran into three people coming from the opposite direction.
Su Meier looked at them curiously. Weren’t they coming from the fields?
Judging by their clothes, they didn’t look like farm workers. They looked more like college students.
Right—these must be the educated youths sent down to Dali Village.
The man leading the group wore a blue short-sleeved shirt and black trousers. Compared to the other two, he was exceptionally tall.
His slightly messy hair did little to hide his handsome features. His eyes were clear and cold, his brow sharp and well-defined, and the slight upward tilt of his eyes gave him an air of effortless distance.
What a waste.
With looks and temperament like that, he was obviously a city man. It was a shame for someone like him to be doing hard labor in such a remote village.
The other two wore grayish-white shirts and simple trousers. Compared to him, they seemed much easier to approach.
Especially the one with the crew cut. He looked lively enough and was probably talking about her right now.
“Brother Song, look! Isn’t that Captain Su’s daughter?” the crew-cut youth, Shen Jianyang, exclaimed as he recognized the pair ahead.
The man in blue glanced at them indifferently.
“Mhm.”
Sharp-eyed Shen Jianyang spotted the two fish in Su Meier’s hands and immediately licked his lips.
The next second, he strode toward her.
The bespectacled man beside him watched in confusion.
“Little Sister Su, did you catch those two fish?”
His eyes were fixed on the fish she carried.
This place was practically vegetarian paradise. He felt like he was turning green from eating vegetables every day. Now that he finally saw some meat, how could he walk away?
Ever since coming to the countryside, he occasionally bought chickens from villagers. But now there weren’t many chickens left, and most villagers refused to sell them, wanting to keep them for eggs.
Su Meier stared at him, stunned by his bluntness, and tightened her grip on the fish.
“Y-Yes.”
Her voice was soft and gentle, carrying an unconscious sweetness that matched her lovely appearance.
Shen Jianyang thought he had frightened her with his eagerness, so he lowered his voice.
“Little Sister Su, are you selling those fish?”
What?
Su Meier looked up at him in surprise.
Seeing her expression, Shen Jianyang’s face reddened.
“We can trade for something else too!”
As he spoke, he pulled several White Rabbit Cream Candies from his pocket.
Su Meier’s gaze immediately fell on the candies.
Her eyes filled with nostalgia.
Waaah…
She wanted to go home.
She wanted to lie on her six-foot princess bed, eat snacks, watch television, and relax—not stand here fishing in the countryside.
When she got back, she was definitely quitting that terrible job.
Never again would she work herself to death.
She had only graduated a year ago. She was just a twenty-two-year-old baby herself. Staying at home for a while wasn’t a problem.
Besides, her parents could more than afford to support her. Her father was a shareholder in a publicly listed company, and the annual dividends alone were enough for the whole family to live comfortably.
One wrong step led to another.
If she hadn’t started working, maybe none of this absurd situation would have happened.
“I don’t have many snacks, but Brother Song has tons! He never eats them. There are more snacks in his room than clothes. You can have as many as you want!”
Shen Jianyang spoke excitedly, completely ignoring the fact that the snacks weren’t actually his.
His words snapped Su Meier out of her thoughts.
Though she didn’t say anything, her face practically screamed:
I want them. I really want them. I desperately want them!
Seeing her interest, Shen Jianyang gritted his teeth.
“Wait here!”
He immediately turned and ran back to the man in blue.
“Brother Song, you never eat those snacks anyway. Instead of letting them expire, how about giving me some?”
Song Cili’s expression remained calm.
“Where did you get the nerve to ask that?”
“Brother, please! Little Sister Su only wants snacks. Have pity on my body—it’s been surviving on vegetables for days.
At this rate, I won’t even be able to keep my muscles!”
He looked pitifully desperate.
“How about this? She has two fish. We can each take one. Whatever extra snacks you give her, I’ll count them as borrowed from you!”
Song Cili looked past Shen Jianyang’s shoulder and glanced at the fish in Su Meier’s hands.
After a moment of thought, he nodded.
“I happen to have a whole tin of White Rabbit Cream Candies. Give that to her too.”
His voice was cool and detached, as if discussing something completely insignificant.
Shen Jianyang was so excited he nearly hugged him.
But remembering Song Cili’s chilly gaze, he forcefully restrained himself.
“Deal! From now on, I’ll help you get rid of all your snacks!”
He had already set his sights on Song Cili’s entire snack collection.
Turning back to Su Meier, he smiled.
“Little Sister Su, would you trade these two fish for a tin of White Rabbit Cream Candies?”
The moment he mentioned candy, little Su Dabao began tugging frantically at Su Meier’s sleeve.
“Auntie! Auntie! Candy! I want candy!”
Su Meier rescued her sleeve from his grasp.
If he kept pulling, even her only patch-free shirt would soon need a patch.
“Alright, alright. Look at how greedy you are.”
Dabao immediately turned to Shen Jianyang with sparkling eyes that clearly asked:
Where’s the candy?
Seeing that he was even greedier than she was, Su Meier unwrapped one of the candies Shen Jianyang had already given her and popped it into Dabao’s mouth.
Then she unwrapped another and placed it into her own mouth.
As the familiar sweetness spread across her tongue, she felt much of the bitterness and frustration of the past few days melt away.
“Here.”
She handed the two fish to Shen Jianyang.
Shen Jianyang thought to himself that White Rabbit Cream Candy was practically a luxury item that money alone couldn’t buy.
Even he couldn’t bear to eat much of it.
Brother Song was truly generous, willing to give away an entire tin.
Compared to him, Shen Jianyang felt like a complete pauper.
“The tin Brother Song promised is still in his room. We’re heading back to the educated youth residence now. Why don’t you wait here for us?”
After all, she was a young woman. It wouldn’t be appropriate for her to walk there with three men and risk inviting gossip.
But Su Meier was a woman from the twenty-first century.
To her, this wasn’t a big deal.
“No need. I’ll go with you.”
She was unfamiliar with this place anyway and needed to learn her surroundings.
This was the perfect opportunity to find out where the educated youth residence was.
Her boldness caused the other two men to look at her in surprise.
Feeling self-conscious under their gazes, Su Meier lowered her head.
“The sun is blazing. I’m not doing anything else anyway. It’s only a short walk.”
Afraid they might misunderstand, she added:
“Don’t worry. I’ll wait outside.”
This old era was absurdly conservative.
Shen Jianyang felt that something about her words sounded strange.
Shouldn’t she be the one worried around three grown men?
Why was she the one telling them not to worry?
Everything felt completely backwards.
Just as he was about to speak again, the man in blue finally spoke.
“Miss Su, are you really not afraid of gossip?”
Perhaps because her reputation was already in tatters after being dumped by that never-before-seen ex-boyfriend, she no longer cared much.
Besides, she wasn’t doing anything improper.
She was only going to collect some candy.
Her conscience was clear.
What was there to fear?
“I’m not afraid. I’ll follow behind from a distance. I won’t walk together with you.”
After a moment’s thought, she added that although she didn’t care much about her own reputation, she should at least consider the reputations of these educated young men.