Chapter 27 Awkward Chat

Su Yuncheng hurried to the gate just in time to see Lin Nianhe chatting with the usually grim Uncle Liu, the gatekeeper.

"Uncle, are you serious? Don't trick me, I'm young and impressionable."

"Heh, why don't you believe me, young lady! Here, let me tell you in detail... Just the other day, there was a fight in the alley behind the health clinic, two groups clashing, and when brought in for questioning, turns out, it was two factions from the black market scrapping..."

Su Yuncheng: "..."

He had arrived immediately after receiving the message, it took him no more than five minutes. How did she get so chatty with Uncle Liu in such a short time?

Catching Su Yuncheng with the corner of her eye, Lin Nianhe took advantage of Uncle Liu taking a drink of water and cut in with a smile: "Uncle, my brother is here, let me talk to him first."

"Ah, sure, you talk about what matters," Uncle Liu waved his hand and glanced at Su Yuncheng, uncharacteristically not keeping a stern face to cause trouble.

Su Yuncheng nodded at Uncle Liu and then turned to Lin Nianhe asking, "Coming over so early, is there an emergency?"

"There is something," Lin Nianhe said. "Can we talk here?"

Su Yuncheng nodded: "Go ahead."

Lin Nianhe succinctly recounted yesterday's events, then looked at Su Yuncheng with hopeful eyes and asked: "Brother Yuncheng, this counts as trafficking women, right?"

Su Yuncheng frowned slightly, pondering for a moment before replying: "Kidnapping, assault, forcibly arranging marriage without the woman's consent, those are grounds for opening an investigation."

"That's a relief," Lin Nianhe breathed out and smiled.

Sunlight sprinkled on her face, her pretty little face so white it seemed to glow. Perhaps feeling a bit hot from rushing over, there was a pink tinge on her cheeks.

Su Yuncheng looked at her and was momentarily dazed.

Perceiving his gaze, Lin Nianhe's relaxed mood tensed up again.

Tsk, she was so focused on helping Aunt Wang, she had forgotten about her childhood friend's enduring affection!

She cleared her throat and looking down said softly: "Then Brother Yuncheng, I'll go back first to tell Aunt Wang the news; for the reporting, she can come by herself, right?"

Su Yuncheng snapped out of it, a flicker in his eyes: "Is her daughter seriously injured?"

"Yes, it's quite bad. She hit her head and her body is covered in bruises, probably won't be able to get out of bed for three or four days."

"In that case, wait for me a moment. I'll go back with you. If she wants to report it, I can take a statement directly. It'll also save her the trouble of leaving her child behind to come to town."

Su Yuncheng's reasoning was impeccable, leaving Lin Nianhe with no excuse to refuse.

While Su Yuncheng went to get his bicycle, Lin Nianhe chatted with Uncle Liu for a bit, learning a bit more about the town.

Seeing this, Su Yuncheng thought —

So the little missy likes to chat that much.

Su Yuncheng felt, with a long road ahead, he shouldn't let her stew in silence; he should also chat with her.

After pondering for quite a while, he finally found a topic: "Nianhe, does your injury still hurt?"

Lin Nianhe: "What? What injury?"

It took her a moment to realize Su Yuncheng was referring to her face.

Tugging at the corners of her mouth, Lin Nianhe answered: "Half an hour after getting hurt, I unfortunately recovered."

Su Yuncheng: "Hmm... impressive."

Lin Nianhe: "..."

"Do you find it comfortable living in the village?"

"It's all pretty good."

"How's your health?"

"Good."

"Do you have enough money?"

"Yes."

"Did you have breakfast?"

"Yes."

"What did you eat?"

"... Congee."

For the first time, Su Yuncheng realized how difficult making conversation could be.

Really didn't know what to talk about with girls.

Lin Nianhe for the first time realized that even a conversation with a handsome guy could be annoying.

She really wanted him to shut up and stop asking questions.

Before Su Yuncheng could speak again, Lin Nianhe quickly made up an excuse in an attempt to end the awkward conversation: "Brother Yuncheng, I ride slowly, why don't you go ahead?"

"Slow?"

Su Yuncheng, who had always maintained his manners and looked straight ahead, finally had a reason to turn his head and glance at her.

Watching her struggle to pedal the bicycle on tiptoe, the corners of his mouth lifted unconsciously.

He turned the handlebars slightly towards her side and reached out to take hold of her bike's handlebars, instructing her: "Lift your feet, don't grip the handles too tightly, just sit steady."

Lin Nianhe was taken aback, but obediently raised her feet and loosely held onto the handlebars.

The stubborn old bicycle that wouldn't behave in her hands instantly became docile and cute under his control, following him faithfully.

Lin Nianhe found that ever since she arrived in this world, she often found herself being led around.

Looking at her own slender arms, Lin Nianhe decided that she would start strength training that evening.

She was determined to tame the temperamental bike.

It was a matter of dignity; she couldn't be sloppy!

As she mulled over her training regimen in her mind, her big eyes wandering, she didn't notice Su Yuncheng casting glances her way from time to time.

She looked even paler than two days before, frail as if a gust of wind could blow her over.

After some consideration, Su Yuncheng asked her: "Do you know how to feed pigs?"

"Huh?" This question was difficult to answer, so Lin Nianhe directly responded with a question, "Do you think I should know how?"

Su Yuncheng frowned.

Originally, when choosing a place for Lin Nianhe to be sent to the countryside, he had toured all the teams under Lan County in secret as Mr. Lin had asked, and selected Ten Miles Team as the most down-to-earth and simple team.

Ten Miles Team was good in all respects, with high grain yield so no one would starve, and the team leader was a sincere person with few chaotic issues in the village.

The only drawback was that Ten Miles Team had no school.

Otherwise, it would have been easy to pull some strings and have her work as a teacher, which would have been much less strenuous.

Feeding pigs wasn't exactly difficult, but to say it was simple...

Su Yuncheng glanced at Lin Nianhe's clean white shirt and abandoned the thought.

Her response seemed to indicate a strong distaste for the pigpen environment.

Unaware of Su Yuncheng's rapid thoughts in that instant, Lin Nianhe thought for a while and then said with a smile, "Brother Yuncheng, you don't need to worry about me. I'll do as much farm work as I can handle without exhausting myself."

Her words made it clear, but Su Yuncheng hadn't completely dismissed the idea of finding her different work.

He simply said, "When there's a suitable opportunity, I'll figure something out for you."

Lin Nianhe flashed a brilliant smile, but sighed to herself.

It was all about owing favors.

Fortunately, Su Yuncheng had finally stopped making awkward conversation.

He seemed preoccupied, his brooding brows never completely relaxing.

It wasn't until they reached the entrance of the village that Su Yuncheng called out to her, "Nianhe, you can ride on your own now."

"Ah? Oh." Having rested for a while, Lin Nianhe immediately grasped the handlebars and tiptoed to pedal once more.

A faint smile crossed Su Yuncheng's eyes. Once she was riding steadily, he let go and moved aside, creating some distance between them.

He slowed down and followed Lin Nianhe straight to Li Dahe's house.

Ever since Lin Nianhe left, Li Dahe had been as anxious as if ants were crawling in his heart, stepping outside every few minutes, nervous enough to lose a couple of strands of hair.

That little bastard hadn't wrecked his bike, had he...

After circling the area dozens of times, he had just poured a glass of water when he heard the sound of a bicycle bell outside.

Accompanying the sound was a crisp call, "Uncle Team Leader."

Li Dahe hastily slipped on his shoes and ran outside in a fluster.

He stared intently at his beloved bicycle, mentally checking each and every screw before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, it wasn't just the bike bell that remained of his bicycle.

Lin Nianhe saw his relief-as-after-surviving-a-calamity expression and understood very clearly—

He wasn't worried about her at all.