Chapter 11.3

Because of what Lin Xiaoxia said at lunch the other day, Meng Yinyin already had a poor impression of both Lin Xiaoxia and Song Yue. She especially disliked the occasional glances Song Yue threw her way, which made her feel uncomfortable.

It was like being stared at by a snake—cold, slimy, and deeply unsettling.

Whenever she turned to look at him, however, he always maintained his polite and gentle expression, smiling faintly at her.

Meng Yinyin wanted to convince herself it was all in her head. But could it really be a mistake if it happened more than once or twice?

She preferred to trust her instincts.

So the moment she saw Song Yue, Meng Yinyin immediately lowered her head, pretending not to notice him, and quickened her pace toward Lu Chen.

But after only a few steps, Song Yue’s voice rang out beside her, loud and clear.

“Educated Youth Meng.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Meng Yinyin kept her head down and marched forward, mentally chanting, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you.

To her dismay, the path she needed to take had a fork in the road, and Song Yue was conveniently standing at the junction. He blocked her way, forcing her to stop.

Meng Yinyin: “…” Ahhhhh, I’m so angry!

Silently cursing Song Yue in her mind, she finally put on a fake look of confusion and raised her head to face him.

“Educated Youth Song, what brings you here? Haha, what a coincidence.”

Song Yue seemed completely unfazed by her earlier attempt to ignore him. With his usual gentle smile, he echoed, “Yes, what a coincidence.”

Meng Yinyin: “…”

Her forced smile gradually disappeared. Losing her patience, she stared at him with a blank expression.

“What do you want?”

Seeing her expression shift and the blatant annoyance in her eyes, Song Yue didn’t get angry. Instead, his smile deepened as if he found her reaction amusing.

Only when he noticed the growing wariness and displeasure in her expression did he finally rein in his smile. In a helpless tone, he said, “Educated Youth Meng, is there some kind of misunderstanding between us? You don’t seem to have a very good impression of me.”

Hearing this, Meng Yinyin’s wariness didn’t waver. She replied bluntly, “No, Educated Youth Song. You’re overthinking it. I haven’t spoken to you much, so there’s no reason for me to have a bad impression of you.”

Of course, everything she said was a lie.

Based on his and Lin Xiaoxia’s behavior, where they were clearly in relationships, but he suddenly became indifferent to the girl, she looked down on Song Yue! Especially since his change in attitude coincided with her arrival at the Educated Youth point. Even though she didn’t have any good impression or fondness for Song Yue, she ended up being wrongly blamed because of him.

Given all this, she didn’t even give Song Yue a glare, so how could she possibly get along with him?

Hah, let him keep dreaming!

However, Meng Yinyin knew how to seize opportunities and act accordingly. The bamboo forest was a bit far from the brigade, and if something were to happen, shouting at the top of her lungs would probably not bring anyone over in time. So, all she could do was angrily curse Song Yue in her heart.

“Really?” Song Yue continued smiling, his expression unreadable.

“Do you have something to say? If not, I’m going back to work!”

His unbothered expression made Meng Yinyin roll her eyes in frustration. “Otherwise, I’ll get a zero for my work points today!”

She wasn’t sure which of her words made Song Yue laugh, but he finally couldn’t hold it in and let out a chuckle.

Meng Yinyin’s eyes widened, with a shocked expression as if to say “Is this guy crazy?”

But taking advantage of Song Yue laughing, Meng Yinyin seized the chance, swiftly sidestepped him, and ran off as if chased by wolves.

But just after running a few steps, she suddenly hit something and her head collided with it. She was about to fall backward from the impact when a hand reached out from in front and tightly grabbed her waist, pulling her back.

The next second, Meng Yinyin felt her cheek pressed against something hard yet elastic. Oddly enough, it felt quite comfortable.

She instinctively opened her eyes and saw that it was Lu Chen’s, um, chest.

Meng Yinyin: “…..”

She quickly realized what she had bumped into and her face turned hot. Her gaze faltered, and she instinctively tried to pull back.

But at that moment, Lu Chen’s attention was strangely not on Meng Yinyin. After she stood up, his eyes locked on Song Yue in the distance.

Both men were tall, but Song Yue’s build was much slimmer than Lu Chen’s, and the coldness in Song Yue’s gaze was nothing compared to Lu Chen’s.

After a few seconds of staring, Song Yue spoke first, casually saying to Meng Yinyin.

“Educated Youth Meng, I’m heading back. See you at lunch.”

Without waiting for her reply, he turned and left decisively, not even saying a word to Lu Chen or asking how Meng Yinyin and he were so familiar with each other. Instead, he chose to completely ignore Lu Chen.

Lu Chen had faced such dismissive behavior before, but none had made him so angry as this. His face darkened as he stared at Song Yue’s retreating figure.

“Why are you here?”

Finally, Meng Yinyin’s voice brought Lu Chen back to his senses.

He turned his gaze to her, quickly scanning her up and down to make sure she wasn’t hurt, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. Then, he explained, “You haven’t been back in a while.”

That’s why he came to check on her, out of concern.

Meng Yinyin had gotten used to Lu Chen’s half-spoken words, and it was as if he had a special ability to make her guess the rest of what he meant. So, once she figured out that he was worried about her, a satisfied smile appeared on her face, even though she couldn’t help but pretend to be angry with him.

“Hmph, if it weren’t for you asking me to come get this, I wouldn’t have run into him! It’s all your fault!”

She grumbled as she angrily shoved the bamboo strips into Lu Chen’s arms.

Lu Chen didn’t get mad. He accepted them with a good-natured smile. As he lowered his gaze, he thought, so she also dislikes that man.

That man, Song Yue, had been an Educated Youth sent to the countryside a few years ago. He had a good reputation among the brigade leaders and other villagers.

But Lu Chen had never interacted with him. He had only occasionally seen Song Yue surrounded by a group of Educated Youth, laughing and talking to them, drawing nods of agreement from everyone.

However, perhaps due to his background, Lu Chen was sensitive to people’s emotions. He sensed that Song Yue wasn’t as gentle and harmless as he appeared. Lu Chen had once caught him looking at a fellow Educated Youth with a mocking glance, and that educated youth was the one who supported him the most before.

This made it clear that Song Yue was not as kind as he seemed.

However, the matters of the Educated Youth were none of his business. In fact, apart from his own concerns, Lu Chen didn’t need to worry about anyone else’s problems. So, despite seeing Song Yue’s hypocritical behavior, he never bothered to tell anyone or pay attention to it.

But he didn’t expect that he would see the scene of Song Yue stopping Meng Yinyin near the sparsely populated bamboo forest.

The moment he saw Meng Yinyin blocked by Song Yue, a surge of anger and fear rose in his chest. Without thinking, he rushed over to push Song Yue away.

Fortunately, Meng Yinyin quickly evaded him and ran off, and nothing serious happened, so Lu Chen finally relaxed.

After venting her frustration on him, Meng Yinyin didn’t wait for a response and started complaining on her own.

“Do you think he has a problem with his brain? I barely said anything to him, and he runs over asking if I have a problem with him. Forget whether I have an issue with him, why should he care?”

“Running out in broad daylight to scare people! If my brother were here, I’d have him beat him up for scaring me like this!”

Meng Yinyin said angrily, but suddenly heard Lu Chen speak up.

“I can.”

Meng Yinyin was taken aback. “Huh?”

Seeing the confusion in her eyes, Lu Chen, rarely unable to communicate his point, looked at her seriously and said in a deep voice.

“Next time he bullies you, I’ll beat him up.”

His tone was sincere and serious, as if making a promise.

Meng Yinyin was stunned, captivated by the determination in his eyes, and she dazedly responded, “Oh.”

Was he saying he would protect her?

Since the incident at home, when she had been separated from her parents and brother, this was the first time someone had said something like that to her. She had to admit, the emotions she felt in that moment were complicated—touched, happy, and a hint of bittersweetness and grievance.

These past two weeks, she had been living in constant fear, and this was the first time someone had said they would protect her.

Oh, it seemed he was even better than she had imagined.

…

Because Lu Chen promised to help her beat up Song Yue, Meng Yinyin’s mood was good the whole morning. Though she didn’t actually think Song Yue would have another chance to scare her, it didn’t stop her from feeling happy because of Lu Chen’s words.

Touched by what he said, when she returned to the Educated Youth point at noon, Meng Yinyin, unusually, didn’t take a nap. Instead, she rummaged through her treasured box and finally found a piece of coth!

Well… the cloth seemed a bit short. No matter how she looked at it, it didn’t seem enough to make a whole outfit.

Meng Yinyin stared at the small piece of cloth, just slightly bigger than her hand. After three seconds, she finally sighed in defeat.

She had been thinking of making Lu Chen a piece of clothing with her own hands! Not only could she express her gratitude, but it would also let him see how capable she was. When he saw how beautiful she was and that she could make clothes, wouldn’t he be totally smitten with her?

Meng Yinyin thought she was really clever! Just imagining Lu Chen’s tearful reaction when he received the clothes she made with her own hands, she couldn’t help but chuckle to herself.

Although she didn’t know how to sew, seeing how simple the cloth jacket Lu Chen wore was—just two pieces of fabric sewn together—Meng Yinyin thought it couldn’t be that hard.

But alas, her plan to make clothes was foiled by the lack of fabric.

When Yu Xiaoyu saw her holding the small scrap of cloth, she asked what was wrong. After hearing that Meng Yinyin wanted to make clothes but didn’t have enough fabric, Yu Xiaoyu said, “That’s easy. Just buy more fabric! The supply and marketing cooperative in the town has plenty of fabric. I saw it last time. There’s definitely enough for you to make a beautiful dress. You can just take your money and go buy it.”

Meng Yinyin’s eyes lit up. Right, she could buy more fabric! Her snowflake cream was almost gone too, so she could go buy both at the same time!

Meanwhile, in the Wang family’s house in the town…

After the wedding, the whole family finally had some time to relax.

Mother Wang looked at her eldest son and daughter-in-law sitting happily on the couch, then glanced at her younger son, sitting alone, and frowned. Suddenly, she remembered Meng Yinyin.