Wen Nan and Grandma Chen had finished their meal but hadn’t waited for him. Seeing Grandma Chen walk to the door several times, Wen Nan got up and said, “Auntie, I’ll go to the army gate to see why my brother hasn’t come back yet.”

Grandma Chen wanted to say no, but Wen Nan continued, “It’s just a short distance from home to the army. I can run there quickly.”

Without waiting for Grandma Chen to speak, she ran out under the moonlight. At this time, the families in the family quarters had finished their meals and were resting. The road was quiet, with only a few people around. Wen Nan, panting, ran to the three-way intersection. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two women walking side-by-side towards Xingjia Village on the stone bridge. One had shoulder-length hair, and the other had her hair tied up. From their backs, they looked like Lin Meizhen and the other woman from the other night.

In the silent night, she heard the woman with short hair say, “If it weren’t for my mother begging me, I wouldn’t do this kind of thing!!”

It turned out that the woman with short hair was Lin Meizhen’s younger sister. From her tone, she seemed particularly angry.

Wen Nan ran along the road to the army gate. She saw the army gate, with a red five-pointed star engraved on it. There were guards with guns standing guard in the guard post outside. Wen Nan walked over and whispered, “Excuse me, has Chief Chen come out yet?”

The guard looked straight ahead, his voice firm, “Not yet.”

“Thank you.”

Wen Nan stepped aside, looking into the army. There was a long road stretching into the distance, with towering trees on both sides. Two bright light bulbs were lit at the army gate. She quietly waited there for Chen Xu to come out.

After an unknown amount of time, steady footsteps finally came from inside the gate.

They were fast, sounding like someone running.

Wen Nan looked up and saw Chen Xu, dressed in his military uniform, running out of the army. Under the dim light, the man’s forehead was covered with a layer of fine sweat, rolling down his sharp jawline, past his prominent Adam’s apple, and into his collar. His slightly raised arms showed well-defined muscles, looking firm and strong. She waved to Chen Xu, a smile on her face, “Brother.”

That crisp, sweet voice echoed in the night.

Chen Xu paused, looking towards the sound. Wen Nan was standing under a tree, wearing a navy blue short jacket. She smiled, her eyes curved, her pupils bright and beautiful, and the dimples on her cheeks looked like they were coated in honey, intoxicatingly sweet.

She trotted to Chen Xu’s side and asked curiously, “Why are you back so late today?”

Chen Xu moved slightly to the side, creating some distance between them. He had only known Wen Nan for a day and a half, and he wasn’t quite used to this suddenly appearing younger sister calling him “brother” repeatedly.

He cleared his throat and walked with her, “There was something going on in the regiment today, so I came back a bit late.”

In fact, he had stayed behind to see Zhao Yingchang and the man surnamed Chen in the regimental headquarters. He had indirectly asked the man if he knew Wen Guo from the Huayang County army in Xiping City, but the man didn’t recognize him.

The road was quiet, with no one else around except the two of them.

Wen Nan looked at the dark dirt road ahead, pursed her lips, then looked up at Chen Xu, who was a person’s distance away. The man was tall, and standing next to him, she only reached his chest. Thinking about how Xiaomai was even shorter than her, she wondered how she had lived at home all these years?

Perhaps it was similar to her life in the new century.

Both living in families that favored sons over daughters, constantly enduring the repression and pain brought by their families.

Chen Xu noticed Wen Nan’s gaze, turned to look at her, his eyebrows slightly raised, “What’s wrong? Is there something you want to tell me?”

Wen Nan didn’t expect him to see through her thoughts so easily.

She didn’t intend to hide it, and said frankly, “I asked Xiaomai to find me a job, and I’ll start tomorrow morning.”

Chen Xu was slightly stunned and asked, “What kind of job did you find?”

Wen Nan smiled, “Cutting grass for the cows.”

Chen Xu: …

He looked at Wen Nan’s slender arms and legs, then scanned her slender neck and face. From her appearance, it was clear that she hadn’t done any farm work at her aunt’s house. When he called the Xishui Village Commune, he had also inquired about Wen Nan’s situation. She hadn’t worked in the fields to earn work points. Cutting grass for cows required working in prickly grass piles and under the midday sun, which she probably wouldn’t be able to handle.

Chen Xu was silent for a while before saying, “Don’t rush to find a job. If you want to work, when I have a vacation, I’ll help you move your household registration and look for a less strenuous job for you.”

Wen Nan looked up at Chen Xu with a smile in her eyes, “It’s okay, I can do this job.”

In this era, regardless of the job, those with local household registration were prioritized. Her household registration was still in Yunmin City, and the introduction letter was valid for three months. She only needed to move her household registration within those three months. As for a less strenuous job, she didn’t want to trouble Chief Chen any further. She already owed him a great favor, and she needed to know her limits.

As they passed the three-way intersection, Wen Nan’s arm suddenly tightened, and her body was pulled to the side by a strong force. Half of her body crashed heavily into a hard chest. The man’s chest was as hard as a stone. Wen Nan felt her bones ache. Before she could figure out what was happening, she heard Chen Xu’s low, cold voice, “Walk this way, there’s a snake over there.”

The weather was warming up, and snakes were coming out, especially near the waist-high grass by the river.

Wen Nan was still dazed, but when she heard about the snake, goosebumps appeared on her body. She instantly felt the soft, cold snake’s body coiling around her legs. Her back felt cold, and the hand holding her arm had let go. Wen Nan, like a startled cat, jumped to the other side of Chen Xu, grabbing his arm tightly, her face pale with fright, her voice trembling, “Snake, snake, where is it??”

Her eyes darted around, and finally she saw a snake, as thick as a baby’s arm, slithering by the road where she was about to step. The snake’s head was slightly raised, its tongue flicking out.

Wen Nan: !!!

If she had stepped on it, the snake’s teeth might have bitten through her flesh.

“Is this snake poisonous?”

Wen Nan’s back was covered in cold sweat, and she looked up at Chen Xu tremblingly.

The man’s body was tense. The moment Wen Nan touched him, his muscles tightened. Her two hands, soft and cold, with a little sweat in her palms, were gripping his arm. He could even feel several fingernails digging into his flesh.

It didn’t hurt.

It was a little itchy.

Chen Xu cleared his throat, walked a distance away, and pulled his arm from Wen Nan’s grasp. His face was a little unnatural, “It’s not poisonous, but it hurts a bit if you get bitten.”

Wen Nan: …

It wasn’t a little bit painful.

It was extremely painful, okay?

The weight in her hands was gone. Wen Nan looked at Chen Xu beside her. The man’s arm had some red marks, and there were several fingernail imprints on his wheat-colored skin.

Wen Nan: …

She lowered her head in embarrassment, looked at her own palm, and changed the subject, “Chen… Brother, have you ever been bitten by a snake?”

Chen Xu nodded, “Yes, on this road.”

He gestured towards the grass in the distance, “I was taking a shortcut through that patch of grass, and my leg got bitten.”

Wen Nan looked at the waist-high grass swaying in the night wind, thinking that countless snakes might be hiding inside. When walking back, she kept to the middle of the road, not daring to walk near the grass on either side. Chen Xu was squeezed so that one foot stepped into the grass. The man broke a thick branch from a tree by the road and handed it to her, “If you’re scared, use the stick to beat the grass, and the snake will run away when it hears the noise.”

Wen Nan thought of an idiom—to beat the grass to startle the snake.

She took the stick, beating the grass as she walked. When she got home, she leaned the stick against the door, intending to use it to scare away snakes when cutting grass for the cows tomorrow.

Grandma Chen hadn’t gone to sleep yet. She was sitting in the yard and was relieved to see them return.

She asked Chen Xu, “Why did you come back so late today?”

Chen Xu said, “Something came up in the regiment. It’s late, Grandma, go to sleep.”

As soon as the man finished speaking, Wen Nan followed, “Yes, Auntie, go to sleep. I’ll heat up the food for Brother.”

Grandma Chen couldn’t stay up any longer, so she told them to rest early after they were done. She got up and went back to her room, closing the door. Wen Nan went to the kitchen, took out the mixed corn flour, added some firewood to the stove, washed her hands, and went to the cutting board by the window to roll out noodles. The corn flour had been left for a while and was quite soft. She sprinkled some dry flour, pressed it with the rolling pin, and rolled it around. She heard the sound of water from the yard, looked up, and glanced out of the window.

An old-fashioned light bulb was lit under the eaves of the yard, casting a warm, dim light.

Chen Xu was squatting by the well, washing his hands and face, then lowered his head to scoop up water and roughly wash his hair. His hair was short and sharp, and the roots looked very stiff. When he squatted down, his military green trousers wrapped his long, strong legs. After washing his hair, the man stood up, grabbed a towel from the rope, and wiped his hair. His collar was wet from the cold water, and his military green short-sleeved shirt became two different shades of color.

It was still quite cool in the evening in April.

This person was really resistant to the cold, washing his hair with ice water from the well without fear of catching a cold.

Wen Nan finished rolling out the noodles, cut them into strips, prepared to put them in the pot, and turned around. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw Chief Chen outside the window pulling off his military short-sleeved shirt. The man’s skin was wheat-colored, and his chest under his Adam’s apple was hard and firm. She remembered that on the road, half of her shoulder had hit his chest, hard as a stone.

Wen Nan blinked, her gaze still fixed on the man’s chest.

Before she could recover, she saw Chen Xu quickly put on his military short-sleeved shirt again and looked towards the kitchen window.

Previously, there were only he, Chen Zhou, and Grandma at home. He and Chen Zhou were used to washing their hair and taking off their short-sleeved shirts to rinse with well water after returning home. Wen Nan had just arrived yesterday, and he had momentarily overlooked her.

Chen Xu cleared his throat, “Sorry, I’ll pay attention next time.”