A few days later, Dai Ning prepared to depart.
She sent the two large trucks loaded with supplies ahead, then said goodbye to her grandfather.
Old Master Ji stroked his granddaughter’s soft, curly hair, reluctant to let her leave.
“This is much better. Our Ningning is so pretty. Don’t copy those delinquent students. You look adorable like this.”
When she had been little, she had been so cute that she could practically kill people with adorableness. Compared to her thin and scrawny twin brother, Ji Mojue, she had been extraordinarily beautiful.
Even after all these years, Old Master Ji still doted on Dai Ning the most.
A trace of bitterness rose in Dai Ning’s heart.
She wanted to spend more time with her grandfather. No matter how powerful the plot might be, Grandpa was the only person who had never hated or abandoned her.
But time waited for no one.
To save her grandfather from his tragic fate, she had no choice but to leave.
Dai Ning waved and said sweetly, “I’ll be back very soon!”
The old man stood at the entrance and watched his granddaughter’s car disappear into the distance.
Dai Ning sat in the car chewing bubble gum when Uncle Qian, who was driving, suddenly said, “Eldest Miss, your good friend is waving at you.”
It had been far too long. Dai Ning thought for a moment and only remembered who this “good friend” was after quite some time.
When she was seventeen, she had indeed had a close friend.
The girl came from a comfortably well-off family. She was slightly chubby but sweet-tongued, and her name was Chen Xiaoli. Dai Ning might have treated everyone else badly, but she had been exceptionally generous toward Chen Xiaoli.
Unfortunately, the girl was an ungrateful wretch through and through.
Several years later, Chen Xiaoli had gone around slandering Dai Ning, telling everyone how cruel and malicious she was. She seemed to have even become good friends with the female lead, though Dai Ning had no idea what eventually happened to her.
A hint of amusement appeared in Dai Ning’s eyes.
“Stop the car.”
She wanted to see what Chen Xiaoli was planning to do.
The car had already travelled a short distance. When Chen Xiaoli realised that Dai Ning had no intention of getting out, she had no choice but to chase after it herself, panting heavily.
She pulled open the car door and began complaining as usual.
“Dai Ning, didn’t we agree to go see the exhibition yester—”
Her voice abruptly stopped.
Chen Xiaoli froze, staring at the girl before her in disbelief.
The exquisitely beautiful girl, as delicate as a porcelain doll, curved her eyes into a smile.
“See what?”
Chen Xiaoli’s mind descended into chaos.
She could not believe this was Ji Dai Ning!
How—how had she suddenly become so beautiful?
Suppressing the sour jealousy in her heart, she complained even more resentfully, “The exhibition!”
Dai Ning had originally agreed to go to the exhibition with her. Usually, the eldest miss of the Ji family paid for all such activities. Since Dai Ning had not gone, Chen Xiaoli could not bear to spend her own money and had naturally stayed home as well.
Dai Ning propped up her chin.
“Oh. I forgot.”
Chen Xiaoli instinctively wanted to lose her temper, but when she looked into those bright, crystal-clear eyes, she found herself unable to say anything.
She had the strange premonition that if she fell out with Dai Ning now, their “friendship” would be over.
“Where are you going?”
Dai Ning looked at her and found the situation rather amusing.
“I’m going to Xinghua Village for a holiday.”
Chen Xiaoli’s thoughts immediately began turning.
Although she had no idea where Xinghua Village was, anywhere the eldest miss went had to be a wonderful place.
Her eyes darted around.
“I know you’ve been in a bad mood lately. I’ll come with you. I can take care of you too.”
Dai Ning nearly laughed aloud.
“You’re coming to take care of me?”
With the experience she had accumulated over the following years, Chen Xiaoli’s shallow thoughts were far too easy to read. Everything was written plainly across her face.
“That’s right.”
Dai Ning said, “All right. But won’t your parents worry?”
“I’ll call them.”
Dai Ning did not stop her.
She watched Chen Xiaoli climb excitedly into the car.
Chen Xiaoli’s parents also loved taking advantage of others. Over the years, Chen Xiaoli had received benefits worth several hundred thousand yuan from Dai Ning. Her parents could not have been more eager for their daughter to maintain a friendship with the eldest miss, and even praised Chen Xiaoli for being clever.
Holding back her laughter, Dai Ning said, “Let’s go.”
They travelled by car for a day and a half, stopping overnight at a hotel along the way.
As their surroundings grew increasingly remote, they transferred to a motorised tricycle and continued onwards.
Chen Xiaoli finally sensed that something was wrong.
“Where exactly are we going?”
Dai Ning pulled out a packet of sunflower seeds and began cracking them open.
She was petty by nature. She shared them with Uncle Qian and Xiao Zhang, but deliberately gave none to Chen Xiaoli.
“Xinghua Village.”
Chen Xiaoli grew restless, but she forced herself to remain patient.
She comforted herself with the thought that the eldest miss would never willingly subject herself to hardship. There had to be a hidden paradise waiting for them.
Then, in the afternoon, rain suddenly began to fall.
The ground became wet, muddy, and slippery.
Worse still, they were about to enter the mountains.
Chen Xiaoli became somewhat frightened.
But she had already come all this way. She could not possibly return without receiving any benefits!
They sat together on the motorised tricycle, but Dai Ning was the only one with a soft cushion.
Uncle Qian was the first to get down.
“Please wait here, Eldest Miss. I’ll be right back.”
Dai Ning hummed happily, swinging her slender legs in the air.
Raindrops landed on her smooth, delicate calves.
The young man beside her, Xiao Zhang, said, “Eldest Miss, don’t do that. You’ll catch a chill.”
Dai Ning gave an obedient hum, patted Xiao Zhang on the head, and pulled her legs back.
Xiao Zhang’s face instantly turned bright red.
Chen Xiaoli was becoming increasingly anxious. She looked around, but no matter how she examined their surroundings, this place resembled an isolated, impoverished mountain region.
She took out her phone and discovered there was not even any signal.
“We’re going into the mountains?”
“Yes.”
Chen Xiaoli was deeply suspicious.
How were they supposed to get inside?
The path was so slippery that even walking would be difficult!
Before long, Uncle Qian returned with two mountain villagers who had been waiting for them in advance.
They carried an exquisitely crafted sedan chair. A canopy had been fixed above it to provide shade from the sun and protection from the rain.
“Please sit, Eldest Miss.”
Chen Xiaoli watched helplessly as Dai Ning sat down in the chair.
She could not help asking, “What about me?”
Dai Ning burst into laughter.
Her appearance was sweet, and her voice was as clear and crisp as a bell.
“You get to walk.”
Uncle Qian said, “My apologies. We only prepared one for Eldest Miss. Miss Chen may also choose to return.”
To be honest, Uncle Qian had never liked Chen Xiaoli.
Despite her young age, the girl was already full of schemes. The eldest miss might appear arrogant and overbearing, but she had suffered quite a few losses because of Chen Xiaoli.
Xiao Zhang’s full name was Zhang Yongfeng.
He was honest, loyal, and strongly built, with bulging muscles.
He jumped off the tricycle and picked up the eldest miss’s spare shoes. He did not see anything wrong with making Chen Xiaoli walk.
He was walking too, after all.
Besides, only someone as beautiful and delicate as the eldest miss looked as though she was utterly incapable of walking such a road.
Chen Xiaoli gritted her teeth, feeling deeply wronged, and followed behind them.
After walking for more than an hour, her trousers were covered in splashes of mud.
She bitterly regretted coming and desperately wanted to return. But when she looked back at the road they had travelled, she saw jagged cliffs and a mountain path that twisted and turned endlessly.
Despair filled her heart.
She could only grit her teeth and continue onwards.
In contrast, Dai Ning sat comfortably in the small sedan chair, eating snacks. Zhang Yongfeng occasionally said something to amuse her.
Whenever she was pleased, she stuffed a piece of milk candy into his mouth.
To Chen Xiaoli, it looked exactly like someone rewarding a dog.
Yet Zhang Yongfeng did not notice anything strange at all. The tips of his ears remained red the entire time.
Chen Xiaoli stared despairingly at the endless road ahead.
How was this some hidden paradise?
It was clearly a barren mountain filled with dangerous waters!
Did the country truly still have a place this poor and miserable?
The Xinghua Village described in the novel really was both impoverished and backward.
Just how bad was it?
The villagers were so poor that they could not even afford to buy wives.
As a result, the only way to continue their family lines was for a household with a daughter of marriageable age to pair her with another household’s eligible son.
The villagers had farmed the land for generations, but because of the isolated terrain, their standard of living was not even comparable to rural life in the 1960s.
Since this was a male-oriented novel, perhaps such an impoverished setting had been deliberately created to increase the satisfaction of the protagonist’s rise.
There were no government subsidies in such a backward place. The village appeared completely isolated from the outside world, waiting for the future male protagonist to save it.
A few days earlier, several men wearing dress shirts had arrived in the village.
Their clothing had been so white and clean.
They had carried countless sealed crates into the village chief’s home and discussed something with him.
The villagers craned their necks and peered around, speculating that something important was about to happen.
It was currently the busiest period of the farming season. Yet unexpectedly, the village chief’s family had stopped harvesting their rice and had instead hurried to clean the newly built concrete house.
All those beautiful crates were carried into that house.
The village chief’s family was the first in the village to construct a flat-roofed concrete home. Everyone else lived in tiled houses.
His family had not even had the chance to move into the new building, yet now it seemed they were giving it to someone else.
The villagers were extremely curious and cornered the village chief’s second daughter.
“Erniu, what’s your father doing? Your family’s house is so nice. Who’s moving into it?”
Erniu sniffled.
“My pa says some rich young miss is coming to stay at our house. My brother and sister are both going to help move her things later.”
Erniu’s cheeks had been tanned a dark red by the sun.
“Pa says the young miss’s family is really rich. We have to spread carpets across the cement floor. I’ve seen her carpets. They feel so soft.”
Yet something that wonderful was going to be placed on the floor for the young miss to step on.
Xinghua Village only had a few dozen households. The gossip spread throughout the entire village that same day.
A precious young miss from the city was coming to their village!
It was said that everyone who helped carry her belongings would receive at least two hundred yuan.
Two hundred yuan!
Even if the people of Xinghua Village sold one hundred jin of rice, they would not earn two hundred yuan.
Regardless of whether the rumour was true, men, women, the elderly, and children all rushed over that afternoon, competing for the chance to move the young miss’s things.
As some villagers passed Widow Du’s home, one of them kindly called out, “Your Tianniu can go too. They’ll pay extra if she carries more.”
Du Yuexiang shook her head.
“Tiantian is frail. Forget it.”
Inside the house, Ji Tian was sewing clothes.
She could not help frowning.
She had transmigrated into this novel almost half a month ago. At first, she had despaired over the village’s poverty and backwardness.
Who could have imagined that such a miserable place was home to a man who would become an extraordinary figure several years later?
The eighteen-year-old Zhao Yu.
In the latter half of the novel, anyone who encountered Zhao Yu would respectfully address him as Master Zhao.
Ji Tian had never been the type to wallow in self-pity.
She believed that transmigrating to the side of a future big shot was the will of heaven and immediately became full of fighting spirit.
Once she firmly attached herself to Zhao Yu, how could she possibly lack a good life in the future?
She did not know that her true identity was Ji Tian, the illegitimate daughter of the Ji family.
At present, she used her mother’s surname and was called Du Tian.
Du Tian put down the clothes in her hands and began to think.
In the novel, had such a precious young miss ever arrived during Zhao Yu’s youth?
Did this have anything to do with the history of how Zhao Yu eventually made his fortune?
It was a male-oriented novel, after all, and the events from before the protagonist’s rise had never been explained in much detail.
Du Tian calmed herself and decided to investigate what was happening.
She deliberately changed into her best outfit, a pale pink dress.
Du Tian had long since noticed that she was different from the other village girls.
She had delicate, attractive features and a fresh appearance. Her mother was also refined and gentle.
Unfortunately, being refined and gentle did not make life easy for a mother and daughter in the countryside.
As she walked past the ridges between the fields, she immediately noticed a figure harvesting rice.
The young man had rolled his trouser legs up high. He was barefoot, and his forehead was covered in sweat.
A rainstorm had only just passed, but the blazing sun was already shining overhead.
His skin had been tanned the colour of wheat. His exposed arms and legs were firm and powerful.
He was young and hardworking, and his movements were swift and efficient. Everywhere he passed, the harvested rice accumulated in neat piles.
Everyone else had gone to help move the young miss’s belongings.
He had not.
Du Tian secretly sighed in relief and called gently, “Brother Zhao Yu.”
The young man looked up.
His features were handsome and refined. A fresh, shallow cut from a rice stalk marked his cheek, and exhaustion showed on his face.
He wiped away his sweat.
“Tianniu, what is it?”
“Just call me Du Tian.”
She truly could not grow accustomed to the unsophisticated forms of address used by the people of Xinghua Village.
They called boys “so-and-so’s boy” and girls “so-and-so’s girl.”
Seeing that he had no intention of going to help carry the luggage, Du Tian handed him the water bottle she had brought.
“It’s nothing. I came to bring you some water. Go ahead and drink.”
“Thank you.”
Zhao Yu did not refuse. He truly was desperately thirsty.
The mountains were like a silent prison, trapping him inside.
There were five people in his family. His father was paralysed, and his mother had fallen ill after years of overwork.
His younger brother was twelve this year and attended the village middle school. After returning home, the boy had to help care for their parents and younger sister.
As for the youngest sister, she was only six.
The burden of the entire family rested on the young man’s shoulders.
Even though he was intelligent and ambitious, his family was far too fragile.
If he left, he did not know whether the others could survive for even half a month.
After harvesting rice for the entire morning, Zhao Yu finally had some water to drink.
Du Tian watched his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed, then simply sat down on the ridge.
“I’ll stay and talk to you for a while.”
Zhao Yu lowered his eyes without expressing an opinion and continued working with all his strength.
Naturally, he had also heard that helping the young miss carry her possessions could earn him money.
However, two hundred yuan was not a long-term solution.
The other households still had strong labourers left behind even after sending people to move the luggage. His family only had him.
It would be better to finish harvesting the rice and dry the grain.
Once his family had enough food stored away, he could leave to search for work with greater peace of mind.
He did not listen to anything Du Tian said.
To a hungry person, a beautiful girl could not compare to a fragrant steamed bun.
The afternoon would grow even hotter.
He had to make the most of the remaining time and work quickly.
Zhao Yu remained silent.
A noisy commotion drifted over from the distance. The people harvesting rice nearby straightened their backs one after another and looked towards the main road.
“How lively! Is that the young girl from the big city?”
Du Tian paused.
Zhao Yu also raised his head and looked over.
Leave a Reply