Huo Jingyuan’s gaze was as cold as frost. He glanced lightly at Jiang Ye, and as she moved closer to him, he spoke slowly, “Although I have never hit a woman, if you take another step closer to me, I might break my own rule.”
Hearing Huo Jingyuan’s cold voice, Jiang Ye immediately stopped in her tracks. She looked at him with a pitiful expression and said, “What’s so great about Wen Ci? In the village, she might have already been…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Huo Jingyuan acted.
Hitting a woman is an extremely unmanly thing to do.
But Huo Jingyuan couldn’t tolerate it. Jiang Ye was slandering his wife right in front of him. If he could endure that, he wouldn’t be a real man.
Jiang Ye was slapped. She stared wide-eyed at Huo Jingyuan, then covered her right cheek with her hand. “You… you actually hit me?”
In her impression, Huo Jingyuan was a polite and dignified leader. She never imagined that this towering, upright man would actually hit a woman!
Huo Jingyuan let out a light laugh. “You slander my wife right in front of me, and you expect me to be magnanimous?”
Meanwhile.
Wen Ci noticed that it was getting late, and the temperature was gradually dropping. She hadn’t dressed warmly when she went out, and with the cold wind blowing, she decided to head back and snuggle up to a certain “big heater.”
“Then I’ll wait for the little ones at home tomorrow.”
Xiang Qin handed over the kerosene lamp in her hand. “Wen Ci, it’s dark on the road. Take this lamp so you can see clearly on your way back.”
Wen Ci declined. “No need.”
Her vision was sharp enough to see clearly even in the dark.
The children waved at Wen Ci and called out obediently, “Goodbye, pretty sister~”
“See you tomorrow.”
On her way home, Wen Ci felt the cold wind and quickened her pace. There were no streetlights in the northwest region, but the sky above was filled with twinkling stars.
In later years, pollution was severe, and stars were virtually invisible in the cities. Only in the countryside, where the air was clean, could one see the stars shimmering.
As Wen Ci approached the courtyard, she noticed the iron gate was wide open. She frowned, remembering that she had closed the gate before leaving, though she hadn’t locked it.
Suddenly, faint sobbing reached her ears.
Jiang Ye was covering her face, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. She screamed hysterically, “Why did you hit me? I was telling the truth! Wen Ci is just a prized catch for old men in the village. She’s just…”
“Want another slap?”
Wen Ci walked in slowly. Under the light from the house, she could see the slap mark on Jiang Ye’s face. From the few words exchanged, she understood the purpose of Jiang Ye’s visit.
To drive a wedge between her and Huo Jingyuan.
However, what Jiang Ye said was indeed true. In the impoverished mountain village, the original host had been a prized catch for old men. When she was eighteen, her adoptive parents had tried more than once to sell her off to an old man as a wife.
But the original host was lucky. Police had been stationed in the village to catch hooligans.
In the 1980s, the crime of hooliganism was taken extremely seriously. Once caught, there was no room for excuses—punishment was severe. So, the original host had narrowly escaped.
“You’re back?”
Huo Jingyuan’s gaze fell on Wen Ci, and the coldness in his eyes softened slightly. He spoke in a calm voice, “Aren’t you leaving? Planning to stay here?”
“Can I?”
Huo Jingyuan: “…”
He had never seen someone so shameless.
Jiang Ye’s eyelids drooped slightly, and her gaze at Wen Ci carried a hint of jealousy. Even if she couldn’t have a man as outstanding as Huo Jingyuan, Wen Ci shouldn’t have him either!
The howling cold wind blew past, lifting Jiang Ye’s skirt slightly. She shivered, goosebumps covering her body as a chill spread from her heart to her entire being.
Wen Ci thought for a moment, then turned back into the house to fetch a coat for Jiang Ye. She spoke slowly, “Whatever your purpose is for coming to the northwest, as a teacher, you should focus on nurturing the flowers of our motherland. Use your knowledge to show the children the vast world outside.”
Most children who grew up in the northwest military region followed in their fathers’ footsteps and joined the military when they came of age. But the world outside was vast and boundless.
She hoped the children could go out and see the world.
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