Chapter 60

Lu Chen didn’t stop walking and continued to look ahead, explaining softly, “Let him do whatever he wants.”

Zhou Tong was momentarily taken aback, but thinking about Lu Chen’s temperament, he realized that he probably wasn’t curious about Dong Qingcheng’s intentions.

Still, Zhou Tong couldn’t help but remind him.

“No matter what, Brother Lu, you should be careful.”

Lu Chen finally stopped walking and glanced at him, then nodded.

“Mm, I know.”

Soon, the two reached the intersection and said their goodbyes.

After parting ways with Zhou Tong, the only one still with Lu Chen was Dong Qingcheng. As always, Lu Chen chose to ignore him.

As they neared the brigade, Lu Chen’s pace unconsciously quickened.

They had left the county early in the morning, so when Lu Chen returned to the brigade, it was still early, not yet noon.

In the past few days while he was away, several fields in the brigade had already started harvesting grain. A group of people were busy in the fields, cutting and threshing rice.

Usually, if Lu Chen had been around, he would have been an expert at threshing rice. His presence would have certainly sped up the process.

While no one had noticed it when he was there, now that he was gone, everyone realized just how efficient things were when Lu Chen was around.

At this moment, someone in the field spotted him and couldn’t help but shout in surprise.

“Hey, Lu Chen! You’re finally back!”

As soon as the voice rang out, everyone turned to look. Seeing that it was indeed Lu Chen, their expressions varied—some were surprised, some were shocked, and others even sneered with jealousy.

After all, the news about Lu Chen going to the county to learn how to operate a tractor had spread in the past few days. Once people knew about it, their reactions were mixed. Some even voiced discontent towards the brigade leader, asking why the young men from their families, who were just as capable, hadn’t been chosen to go instead.

How the brigade leader responded to these complaints was unknown, but after that, no one caused any more trouble.

Lu Chen, as usual, nodded quietly in response to the greetings, then quickly disappeared from sight.

However, after he left, the others noticed something unusual. There was someone else with him, and that person was wearing a military uniform!

Wow! Lu Chen had really impressed everyone. He went to the county and came back with a soldier?

But as they watched the two of them enter without exchanging any words, people started to wonder if they even knew each other, or if they just happened to cross paths.

After all, who in the brigade would be familiar with someone from the military?

Could he be going to see Dou Zhengrong?

The curiosity began to grow, and people couldn’t help but feel a little anxious.

Meanwhile, after a week, Lu Chen finally arrived back home. The front door was closed, and he hesitated for a moment before choosing to knock.

It was broad daylight, and if he just climbed over the wall, there was a risk someone might see him. It would be troublesome if that became a habit.

He knocked a few times, and finally, a voice responded from inside.

“Who is it?”

It was Meng Yinyin’s voice.

Hearing her voice, a smile involuntarily appeared on Lu Chen’s face.

But he couldn’t shake the feeling that her tone sounded a little unhappy, even impatient, as if she were in the middle of something and hadn’t finished it yet.

Realizing this, Lu Chen immediately spoke up.

“It’s me, Lu Chen.”

After he spoke, there was a brief silence, and then suddenly, a clattering sound echoed from inside the house, like something had fallen.

Hearing that noise, Lu Chen’s heart skipped a beat, fearing that Meng Yinyin had hurt herself somehow.

Furrowing his brow, he raised his voice and called out to her, urging her not to worry. He couldn’t resist the urge to climb the wall and check on her, but just as he reached the wall, he heard the gate open, followed by Meng Yinyin’s excited voice.

“You’re back!”

Lu Chen quickly rushed to the front gate, relieved to see her standing there, fully intact.

However, as he looked at her, his gaze froze at the sight of her face, which was covered in dirt, looking like a little cat.

“Yinyin, your face…?”

Meng Yinyin had hurried out of the kitchen as soon as she heard Lu Chen’s voice, without taking the time to check her reflection. Now, she had no idea how messy her face had become.

“What’s wrong with my face?” she asked, looking puzzled, and then instinctively wiped her cheek, inadvertently spreading the dirt even more, making her face even dirtier.

Lu Chen sighed helplessly when he saw this.

“Don’t move. You’ve got dirt on your face. Go wash it off with water later.”

Dirt!

Meng Yinyin was momentarily stunned, then looked down at her hands. Sure enough, they were covered in black, most likely from the stove.

Realizing this, she quickly gasped and hurriedly covered her face, not wanting Lu Chen to see her like this.

She had planned to look her best when Lu Chen returned and cook him a nice meal, but now this was the image he had to see!

Ah, how embarrassing!

Her face turned bright red with shame. Lu Chen, knowing how much she cared about her appearance, couldn’t help but say something without thinking.

“You still look beautiful like this.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, both he and Meng Yinyin froze in surprise.

After a moment of shock, Meng Yinyin’s expression turned suspicious.

When did Lu Chen become so sweet with his words? Had he met someone in the county who taught him how to talk like that?

If it was a man, it must have been someone smooth-talking. But if it was a woman…

The thought made Meng Yinyin feel a little jealous.

In the end, she pouted and shot him a glare before walking into the yard, grumbling to herself.

Lu Chen was confused but quickly followed her.

As he turned to close the gate behind him, he instinctively glanced back and, sure enough, spotted Dong Qingcheng standing not far from his home.

Earlier, Lu Chen had chosen to ignore Dong Qingcheng, but now, standing at the door to his and Meng Yinyin’s home, his gaze toward him unconsciously became defensive and hostile, like a wild animal guarding its territory from intruders.

After confirming that Dong Qingcheng had understood the meaning of his glance, Lu Chen turned around without hesitation and closed the door, completely blocking Dong Qingcheng’s view.

Seeing this, Dong Qingcheng couldn’t help but laugh out loud, then thoughtfully stroked his chin.

He felt like he had finally figured out Lu Chen’s weakness.

It was that female comrade.

In the yard.

As soon as Meng Yinyin entered, she rushed straight to the kitchen.

Today was the fifth day she had been practicing cooking. Unfortunately, whether it was due to her lack of natural talent in cooking or because cooking was truly difficult, after several days of practice, she had only managed to make dishes that weren’t too bad.

She calculated the time and thought Lu Chen wouldn’t return until tomorrow, so she was rushing to practice today. But to her surprise, he came back today.

The food in her pot had likely burnt because she had been busy opening the door for Lu Chen.

When Meng Yinyin lifted the lid, she nearly burst into tears.

Her cooking was already average at best, and now it had burnt. When would she ever be able to make Lu Chen a loving lunch or dinner and win him over?

For a moment, Meng Yinyin felt like the road ahead was long, and she couldn’t see any hope.

When Lu Chen entered the yard, he naturally smelled the burnt scent and finally understood what Meng Yinyin had been doing before he arrived. He quickly set down his luggage and headed to the kitchen.

As soon as he entered, he saw Meng Yinyin with a long face, staring at the pot. He immediately knew this meal was a disaster.

Sure enough, when he got closer, he saw that the stewed potato soup in the pot had already dried up, and the potatoes near the bottom were burnt black.

When Meng Yinyin noticed Lu Chen’s presence, she instinctively covered the pot and, in a flustered manner, explained, “The pot isn’t burnt!”

Lu Chen helplessly took the spatula from her hand and said, “I brought you a gift from the city, it’s in my bag. Go take a look, okay?”

He didn’t continue the topic of the burnt food but cleverly changed the subject to something that Meng Yinyin was more interested in.

As expected, the moment Meng Yinyin heard that Lu Chen had brought her a gift, she was immediately drawn in.

“Really? I’ll go look!”

Everyone loves receiving gifts, and Meng Yinyin was no exception. Moreover, she hadn’t been to the city in a long time, so she was even more curious about what Lu Chen had brought her.

Thus, Lu Chen effortlessly took control of the situation in the kitchen as Meng Yinyin left to check out her gift.

Once she left, he lifted the lid of the pot and gazed at the burnt food inside. It looked utterly unappetizing, but as he stared at it, tenderness filled his eyes.

It was something she made.

Then Lu Chen began to think of ways to save the meal.

Meanwhile, Meng Yinyin found the gift Lu Chen had brought her in his bag. It was easy to find because he had wrapped it in a small, cute bag. When she opened it, she found two hairpins inside.

Meng Yinyin immediately fell in love with the cute hairpins and put them in her hair.

Before, she had quite a few hairpins at home, but when the family’s situation had suddenly changed, she had only packed the bigger things and had completely forgotten about the hairpins. While not wearing one wasn’t a big deal, who wouldn’t want to be a little princess with every detail, like neat hair?

So these two hairpins were exactly what Lu Chen had given her, and they hit the mark perfectly.

Happy, Meng Yinyin returned to the room and looked at herself in the mirror. The hairpins suited her perfectly. She couldn’t help but smile, and all her previous complaints about Lu Chen vanished.

Okay, since he gave her such a thoughtful gift, she wouldn’t hold a grudge about whether he had learned to be slick-tongued from someone in the county.

Soon, Lu Chen had managed to salvage the pot of stewed potatoes and called Meng Yinyin to eat.

As she replied, “Okay,” she suddenly remembered that Yu Xiaoyu would probably finish work soon, so she immediately ran to the front door to open it.

Now that Lu Chen was home, she wasn’t afraid of Song Yue anymore!

But as soon as she opened the door, she saw a strange man standing outside, arms crossed, looking at her with a perplexing expression.

Meng Yinyin was startled and instinctively wanted to retreat, but then she realized that Lu Chen was right behind her. She boldly asked, “Who are you looking for?”

Dong Qingcheng had only glanced at Meng Yinyin from a distance earlier, but now that he was standing so close, he realized just how beautiful she was. He raised his eyebrows and thought to himself that Lu Chen had good taste.

“I’m looking for you. You must be Meng Yinyin, the Educated Youth Meng, right?”

Looking for her?

Meng Yinyin blinked, her wariness deepening.

“I don’t know you. Why are you looking for me?”

But seeing his military uniform, he probably wasn’t a bad person.

Because of her older brother, Meng Yinyin had always respected and liked soldiers, but she had never seen this man before. Now he was saying he was looking for her—how could she not be suspicious?

Dong Qingcheng didn’t play coy and directly spoke, “Educated Youth Meng, I’d like to talk to you about your partner, Lu Chen’s background.”