Chapter 3: Returning the Token

After finishing his training, Gu Qingan began packing his luggage. He had already bought a ticket for the evening train.

This time he went back not only to see his family, but also to break off his engagement with Ling Yao. He didn’t like Ling Yao and didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with someone he didn’t love.

Thinking of Ling Yao, he couldn’t help but frown. He had already told Ling Yao before joining the army that he didn’t like her and asked her not to take the engagement seriously, but Ling Yao wouldn’t listen at all. She kept saying things like “arranged marriage by parents and matchmakers”.

Now it was a new era, advocating for freedom of marriage, and such feudal dregs should have been abolished long ago.

“Knock, knock, knock!” A knock on the door sounded.

Gu Qingan stopped packing and went to open the door. A pretty girl stood outside, “Comrade Xu, why are you here?”

Xu Juanjuan smiled shyly and handed a lunchbox in her arms to Gu Qingan, “My brother said you were going back to your hometown, I made some snacks for you to eat on the road.” She had liked him since the first time she saw him.

“Thank you! I’ve already prepared some food.” Gu Qingan smiled and refused. He knew Xu Juanjuan liked him, and he had some feelings for her too, but he was still engaged.

“Brother Gu, do you hate me?” Xu Juanjuan’s eyes instantly turned red.

“No… No, how could I hate you? I’ll take it, don’t cry.” Gu Qingan reached out to take the lunchbox.

Xu Juanjuan wiped her eyes and gave Gu Qingan a bright smile, “Brother Gu, I wish you a smooth journey, I’ll go back now.”

“Okay.” Gu Qingan watched Xu Juanjuan leave, looked at the lunchbox in his hand and shook his head with a smile. This time he went back, no matter what, he had to break off the engagement with Ling Yao. Whether she made a fuss or cried, he wouldn’t be soft-hearted.

Hearing the news that Gu Qingan was coming back, the Gu family was very happy, especially Gu LiLi.

She heard that this time her brother was coming back to break off the engagement with Ling Yao, that ugly monster. She had disliked Ling Yao for a long time.

How could someone as ugly and fat as Ling Yao be worthy of her brother? Her brother was now a platoon leader, even if he didn’t marry a girl from an official family, he should at least marry a city girl.

Humming a song, she went to Ling Yao’s house. Seeing Ling Yao carrying a backpack about to go out, Gu LiLi stepped forward to stop her, and said with a proud look,

“Ling Yao, my brother is coming back soon, do you know why he’s coming back this time? He’s coming back to break off the engagement with you. I advise you to be sensible and don’t affect my brother’s future.”

Ling Yao looked at Gu LiLi coldly. In her previous life, Gu LiLi, relying on being Gu Qingan’s sister, had bullied her a lot. She even joined forces with Zhou Yu to secretly plot against her, causing her miscarriage and imprisonment. Gu LiLi was partly responsible.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Facing Ling Yao’s icy gaze, Gu LiLi suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe, and involuntarily took two steps back.

“Even if all the men in the world died and only your brother was left, I wouldn’t even look at him twice.” As she spoke, Ling Yao took out the token from the time the two families got engaged and threw it to Gu LiLi, “Take it, no need to send it back.”

Gu LiLi hadn’t recovered yet, and Ling Yao had already turned and left. She was going to the mountains. In her previous life, it was on this day that she saved Zhou Yu in the mountains and brought her home. This time, she would just watch coldly.

“Ling Yao, don’t regret it.” Gu LiLi came to her senses, bent down to pick up the silver bracelet on the ground, wiped off the dust on it and put it on her wrist.

Her brother was so excellent, he was already a platoon leader at a young age, his future prospects were bound to be limitless. Ling Yao was just acting impulsively now, she would definitely regret it later.

But it wouldn’t matter if she regretted it, her brother wouldn’t be soft-hearted.

Taking a glance at the silver bracelet on her wrist, Gu LiLi hummed a song and walked home. When her brother came back, she would tell him the good news. He would be very happy.

Ling Yao carried her backpack and walked up the mountain, following her memory to the place where she met Zhou Yu.

She found the trap where Zhou Yu had fallen in the past. Ling Yao placed the pre-prepared snare trap into the trap, then covered it with a layer of weeds.

After doing all this, Ling Yao walked to a large tree not far away and sat down, waiting for the prey to come.

After waiting for a while, a cry for help came from afar.

Ling Yao looked in the direction of the sound and saw Zhou Yu, her hair disheveled and her clothes covered in dirt, stumbling towards this direction.

Finally, she came. Zhou Yu, I won’t save you again in this life. I will only watch you fall into the abyss.

Soon, a scream was heard. Ling Yao curled her lips. She knew Zhou Yu had fallen into the trap.

As soon as Zhou Yu fell into the trap, her foot was caught by the snare trap, and blood flowed instantly. However, she dared not scream loudly, because those two men would find her.

She endured the pain and forcefully covered her mouth to prevent herself from making a sound.

Ling Yao saw two men running towards this direction, pretending to be picking herbs on purpose.

“Hey, did you see a girl?” The two men stopped in front of Ling Yao.

Ling Yao deliberately glanced at the trap not far away, then shook her head in panic, “I didn’t see, I don’t know.”

Then, she ran away in a panic. She knew these two men were human traffickers. In her previous life, Zhou Yu had told her that her father was a gambler.

He lost money and couldn’t repay it, so he sold her to human traffickers. In her previous life, she was kind-hearted and deliberately lured the human traffickers away to save Zhou Yu.

This time, she would only respect other people’s fate.

The two men also discovered the trap. They walked to the edge of the trap and looked down. They saw Zhou Yu curled up in the trap.

Zhou Yu knew she had been discovered and no longer resisted. She let the two human traffickers pull her out of the trap. Now her foot was caught in the snare trap, even if she resisted, it would be useless.

Ling Yao watched from a distance. Seeing Zhou Yu being taken away by the two human traffickers, a sneer appeared on her lips.

If it weren’t for the fact that murder was against the law, she would never have let Zhou Yu off so easily.

Withdrawing her gaze, Ling Yao walked towards the mountains. She remembered that the day after she saved Zhou Yu in her previous life, Uncle Liu in the village dug up a hundred-year-old wild ginseng in the mountains and sold it for several thousand yuan.

Since she had been reborn, she naturally wouldn’t let this opportunity go to anyone else.

Ling Yao moved through the forest, her senses becoming abnormally sharp. Suddenly, she smelled a familiar scent, the fragrance of ginseng.

 This scent was all too familiar to Ling Yao, like the call of an old friend.

 Since she was a child, she had an extraordinary sensitivity to the smell of herbs. Just by smelling it, she could accurately identify it.

Following the alluring scent, Ling Yao walked forward quickly. Sure enough, before long, she saw a wild ginseng behind a large tree.

Taking off the backpack behind her, Ling Yao took out the digging tools she had prepared in advance and began to dig the ginseng carefully.

She first used a hoe to dig up the surrounding soil, revealing the main root of the ginseng.

 Then, she carefully used a small shovel to dig away the soil around the main root bit by bit, until the entire ginseng was exposed.

Finally, she used a thin rope to tie the main root and rootlets of the ginseng together and put it in the backpack.