Chapter 032

After Lin Xiaohan finished speaking, Gu Yuzhu’s face went from pale to mortified.

His words cut like knives. He didn’t hold back at all, not even because she was a girl. Feeling completely humiliated, Gu Yuzhu’s eyes welled up with tears.

Seeing this, Han Ting naturally stepped in to defend her.

He frowned at Lin Xiaohan and said,
“Lin Xiaohan, as a man, can’t you at least show a bit of decency? You raising chickens affected other people’s sleep—she just complained a little, and you call that bullying? What kind of man are you?”

Lin Xiaohan sneered,
“Decency? Look at you, all righteous and gentlemanly—weren’t you the one fooling around with Su Yun in the woods last night?
If the village officials found out about that, I wonder if you’d still be standing here pretending to be a hero.
Oh wait, maybe you wouldn’t care with your thick skin.
But I’m not so sure Su Yun would…”

As soon as he said that, even before Han Ting could react, Su Yun’s face flushed bright red.

The others all caught on to what he meant and turned to glance at Su Yun.

Han Ting opened his mouth to say something, but Su Yun quickly reached out to stop him.

Of course she felt humiliated by what Lin Xiaohan said,
but more than that, she was afraid—afraid that if he exposed what happened, it would stir up real trouble for both her and Han Ting.

Lin Xiaohan wasn’t the kind of person with a moral compass—when he got upset, there was no telling what he might do.

Han Ting fell silent, and Gu Yuzhu, though still riled up, lost the fire to argue.

She wanted to start again, but Li Qiao tugged her sleeve and silently shook his head, giving her a warning look.

Seeing that no one else spoke, Lin Xiaohan gave a final cold laugh and turned back into the dorm.

He went back into the dorm to grab his schoolbag, then walked straight out of the courtyard again.

Chu Xia had been staying quietly in the corner of the yard and only came out once she saw Lin Xiaohan leave. She slung her bag over her shoulders and followed him out.

As the two of them disappeared beyond the courtyard fence, Li Qiao let out a slow breath and turned to Gu Yuzhu, saying, “We’d best not mess with someone as sinister as Lin Xiaohan. Otherwise, I honestly think he might really raise chickens right next to your bed.”

With Lin Xiaohan gone, Gu Yuzhu immediately puffed up again, “He wouldn’t dare!”

Chen Sisi chimed in, “I actually think he really would do something like that.”

Gu Yuzhu, full of fire, said, “Then I’ll chop up his chickens!”

Li Qiao looked at her seriously. “And if you really did that, aren’t you afraid he’d stand over your bed with a knife at night? Would you even be able to sleep?”

Just imagining that scene was creepy enough.

A chill ran down Gu Yuzhu’s back. She smacked Li Qiao and said, “Why are all of you so timid? There are ten of us. You’re telling me we’d all be afraid of one guy?”

Li Qiao replied, “It’s not about being timid. It’s just not worth arguing with someone like him. He’s full of bad ideas—who knows what he’s capable of if you get on his bad side?”

Gu Yuzhu let out a frustrated sigh. “Why are we so unlucky? Just being sent down here to suffer is bad enough, and now we have to deal with a guy like him too!”

Over on the other side, Su Yun didn’t want to hear anything more about Lin Xiaohan and had already turned around to head back to the dorm.

Everyone was in a rush to finish breakfast and get to work, so the rest didn’t linger. They quickly washed up and headed into the kitchen to cook and eat.

As for Han Ting and Su Yun, the rest of the eight sent-down youths already knew about their relationship.

The two of them had been flirting not long after arriving, so it wasn’t surprising they’d gotten together. Everyone just tactfully kept quiet about it, partly out of respect for Han Ting.

But Su Yun herself was still feeling anxious.

She’d done what she did last night in hopes of solidifying her relationship with Han Ting, to gain some peace of mind.

But she never expected Lin Xiaohan to stumble upon them—and to so brazenly say it out loud.

If he could say it in front of everyone today, what’s to stop him from talking about it elsewhere tomorrow?

As they walked to work, Su Yun, clearly worried, asked Han Ting, “How did he even see us? What are we going to do?”

Han Ting didn’t seem particularly worried. He comforted her, saying, “He said he saw us—so what? What proof does he have? What proof does he have that it was even us? He’s got a mouth, but so do we. I could just as easily say he made it all up to slander us. As long as we get someone to vouch that we were in the dorm last night, it’s his word against ours.”

Su Yun thought over what Han Ting said and gradually relaxed.

That’s true. Lin Xiaohan didn’t catch them in the act, and no one else saw them either.

With no evidence, could he really make it stick?

Su Yun let out a relieved breath and gave Han Ting a nod.

Han Ting smiled at her. “Don’t worry. No matter what happens, I’ve got your back.”

Su Yun finally felt completely reassured and smiled back at him.

On the road from the sent-down youth compound to the school—

Chu Xia walked beside Lin Xiaohan and said, “You’re really amazing. All ten of them couldn’t out-argue you. You shut them all up.”

Lin Xiaohan gave her a sidelong glance but didn’t respond.

Chu Xia thought for a moment, then said, a little worried, “It felt good to let it all out, sure. But now that they know we’re raising chickens, and you had that argument with them… do you think they might try to get back at us? Like maybe go after our chicks when we’re not home?”

Lin Xiaohan sounded completely unconcerned. “They wouldn’t dare mess with my chickens. As for yours… that I can’t guarantee.”

Chu Xia looked at him, considered for a moment, and said, “In that case, I’m not worried either.”

Lin Xiaohan turned to look at her. “Why not?”

Chu Xia curved her eyes in a playful smile and said, “Because… they probably can’t tell which chickens are yours and which are mine.”

Lin Xiaohan: “…”

She really knew how to freeload.

He looked away and kept walking, muttering, “Then I’d better go back and put name tags on all my chickens. Hang one around each neck that says they belong to me.”

Wow. That felt unnecessarily harsh.

Chu Xia could tell he was half-joking, so after a short pause, she caught up and added, “Then I’ll just copy your handwriting and put tags with your name on my chicks too.”

Lin Xiaohan: “…”

She really was getting bolder around him.

He glanced at her and said bluntly, “Why don’t you just wear a tag around your neck with my name on it? Then you can tell everyone you’re mine. That way, they’ll think twice before touching your stuff.”

Honestly… Chu Xia thought that last part wasn’t a bad idea.

She ignored the first half completely and looked at him with sparkling eyes. “Really? I can do that?”

Lin Xiaohan: “…”

She really asked that out loud?

She had the nerve to pull that “I like you” move in front of Han Ting last night, using him to her advantage—and he hadn’t even called her out for it yet.

Meeting her hopeful gaze, Lin Xiaohan gave a cold answer: “No. You. Can’t.”

Chu Xia: “…”

Totally expected.

Fine then, if not, so be it.

She didn’t push the topic any further.

After a few more steps, she mumbled almost to herself, “If only the school had dorms…”

Lin Xiaohan glanced at her and responded, “You want to move out of the educated youth dormitory?”

Chu Xia nodded. “If there were another place to live, I definitely wouldn’t want to stay with them.”

If their relationship were polite and harmonious, that’d be one thing.
But ever since she and Han Ting started cooking separately from the group, there had been countless arguments of all sizes. The conflicts between them and the others only kept piling up.

With all that accumulated tension and resentment, it was natural for them to constantly rub each other the wrong way. Living under the same roof meant there was no way to avoid crossing paths—any trivial matter could easily spark another round of conflict.

If things went on like this, the friction would only get worse.

If she could move out of the educated youth point, they wouldn’t have to see each other every day. Each would live their own life, no more entanglements—naturally, that’d mean fewer troubles.
And she wouldn’t have to constantly worry about her things being messed with anymore.

That was what Chu Xia was thinking when Lin Xiaohan suddenly asked,
“You just don’t want to see Han Ting and Su Yun flirting with each other, do you?”

He said it as if it didn’t matter to him, but deep down, maybe he did care.

Chu Xia was momentarily stunned, then instinctively replied, “Huh?”

After that slip, she quickly explained, “What happens between them has nothing to do with me. I just genuinely want a peaceful life. Don’t you think the two of us are kind of out of place at the dormitory?”

Lin Xiaohan gave a short laugh. “They’re the ones who are out of place. Why would it be me?”

Chu Xia: “…”

Forget it—moving out wasn’t going to be easy, and she didn’t press the topic any further.

Anything involving housing wasn’t a small matter. It wasn’t something that could be resolved easily.

In times like these, being sent down to such an impoverished and unfamiliar village, where they didn’t know anyone and hadn’t contributed anything yet, the fact that the production team had arranged decent housing for them was already very generous.

They couldn’t just trouble the team with something like this just because of internal squabbles among classmates.

Even if they truly wanted to move out, they’d have to figure it out on their own.

Chu Xia said no more.

Then Lin Xiaohan unexpectedly added, “There’s no time now with classes every day—let’s talk about it during summer break.”

The sudden statement made Chu Xia pause in surprise.

She looked at him and, after a moment, asked, “What do you mean? You want to move out too, to have a quieter life?”

Lin Xiaohan replied, “I just want them to have a quieter life. Let’s call it an act of kindness.”Chu Xia: “…”