Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Getting Acquainted

Tricked by Jiang Xia, Li Chengze worked his tail off, constantly chasing after An Ning up ahead.

However, the cornstalks blocked his view, so he couldn’t clearly see which one was An Ning. He only saw a red headscarf moving continuously in front of him, so he desperately chased after it.

He hadn’t been working for long before he was drenched in sweat.

A man who loved to be clean, he felt like he had just taken a bath in his own perspiration.

But that wasn’t even the hardest part.

The hardest part was the salty sweat running over the cuts on his arms and face from the corn leaves, stinging like alcohol on an open wound.

Li Chengze wasn’t very strong to begin with. Picking corn made his arms ache, and his palms were rubbed raw and swollen.

A grown man, he felt so wronged he was on the verge of tears.

’I want to sit on the ground and cry.’

No one yet knew of Li Chengze’s inner turmoil. Everyone else was focused on their work.

The autumn harvest is more important than anything—at least, that’s certainly how it is in the countryside.

On the verge of tears and full of resentment, Li Chengze finally emerged from the cornfield and reached the edge of the plot.

He gasped for breath, feeling that the air out here was so much better than inside the field.

Just as he was panting, about ten meters away, a figure in a red headscarf emerged from the cornfield.

The moment Li Chengze saw her, his eyes turned red with fury.

He charged over and started shouting.

"What is the meaning of this? Why did you make me do such pointless work!"

"Do you have any idea how important my hands are? Do you know how precious my time is?"

"Picking corn is not something a person like me should be doing!"

"If you don’t want me to question you, just say so! Just admit you’re a fraud!"

"I refuse to believe someone so skilled at farm work could be a mechanical genius!"

The woman in the red headscarf stared at the frantic Li Chengze. She yanked off her headscarf and said, "Who are you?"

"Are you crazy? What’s with the act?"

"Li Chengze, I’m An Ning."

Li Chengze experienced a moment of ultimate public humiliation. The person opposite him who had taken off the headscarf was an older woman missing a front tooth, and a familiar voice came from behind him.

"I’m s-sorry, I didn’t know—"

"So not knowing gives you the right to curse people out?"

"Acting like you’re so high and mighty. You think you don’t eat or shit like the rest of us?"

The woman huffed, turned around, put her headscarf back on, and went back to picking corn.

Li Chengze didn’t dare to talk back after being scolded. He turned, intending to launch into another tirade, but after meeting the real An Ning’s eyes, the words caught in his throat.

"Um... you’re An Ning, right?"

An Ning nodded.

"Li Chengze, to you, picking corn might be insignificant, but this is our entire year’s harvest. Our family depends on this corn for everything, big and small."

"This is our food, our clothes, the few mouthfuls of meat we get to eat all year."

"There’s nothing wrong with being knowledgeable, but if you look down on us, it just means your knowledge is empty."

After speaking, An Ning gave Li Chengze one last look.

"You want to test me, I understand. You can find a place to wait. I have to work. You can come ask your questions when I’m on a break."

An Ning went back into the field.

By now, quite a few people were standing at the edge of the field, watching Li Chengze with unreadable expressions.

Li Chengze felt as if he’d been stripped naked and left standing in a crowded square, with nowhere to hide.

Jiang Xia ambled out again at some point. This time, he wasn’t wearing a towel to cover his face and appeared openly before Li Chengze.

"Isn’t this the little crybaby from our childhood? What are you doing here, trying to make a scene?"

Li Chengze whipped his head around, staring at Jiang Xia in disbelief.

"Jiang... Jiang—"

"So excited to see me?"

It was a tone unique to Jiang Xia—lazy and flippant, yet tinged with a noble, arrogant air that somehow suited him perfectly.

"What are you doing here?"

Li Chengze was genuinely shocked.

Who was Jiang Xia?

He was a presence in their Beijing social circles who had effortlessly crushed everyone else since childhood.

This domination was evident in all aspects: physical strength, intelligence, and emotional intelligence.

Rumor had it that Jiang Xia’s biological father was filled with regret, but Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Xia had vanished from Beijing again.

To think he had returned to the countryside.

"My family’s here. Where else would I go?"

"Besides, it’s the harvest season. I’ve got to work. If you don’t work, you don’t eat."

Jiang Xia said it with such sincerity that Li Chengze felt embarrassed for him.

’You can’t afford to eat? Is he kidding?’

’Grandpa Jiang’s fortune is enough to feed you for several lifetimes.’

But Li Chengze didn’t dare say it out loud. He just stood to the side with a forced smile and said, "Yes, you’re right."

Acting as if they were old friends, Jiang Xia came forward and slung an arm around Li Chengze’s shoulder.

"See? I’m right, aren’t I? So what are you waiting for? Come on, I’ll take you to work."

Jiang Xia dragged the reluctant but terrified—or rather, completely powerless—Li Chengze back into the cornfield.

And they worked for the entire afternoon.

When the bell signaling the end of the workday rang, Li Chengze was so moved he cried.

Seeing Li Chengze’s reaction, Jiang Xia teased, "No need to get so emotional. If you haven’t had enough, there’s always tomorrow."

Sure enough, Jiang Xia saw terror and regret in Li Chengze’s eyes. He turned away with a triumphant smirk.

’So naive!’

When Li Chengze emerged from the cornfield looking like he had lost the will to live, Director Jin and Master Zhang found him.

The two of them stared at Li Chengze, whose white shirt was now a nondescript color, his head covered in bits of stalk and leaves.

"Mr. Li, you’ve been working all afternoon?"

Director Jin was baffled. He truly hadn’t expected Li Chengze to last this long.

In his mind, Li Chengze would last half an hour at most, maybe an hour.

"Haha... work is... good."

Li Chengze didn’t dare say anything else. The memory of Jiang Xia’s fearsome reputation was carved deep into his mind.

Director Jin and Master Zhang exchanged a look but didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, they took Li Chengze to the An family’s home.

After arriving at the An family’s home, Li Chengze saw An Ning’s face clearly for the first time.

An Ning had removed her red headscarf and had just washed her face. A few stray strands of hair stuck to her skin, and on them clung crystal-clear droplets of water.

Li Chengze’s first thought was, ’She’s so young.’

So young that his suspicions flared up again.

An Ning saw Li Chengze too. She draped her towel over the clothesline and walked over, carrying a small stool.

Li Chengze instinctively took a step back.

"What are you doing? A gentleman uses his words, not his fists!"

Seeing An Ning holding the stool, Director Jin and Master Zhang, who were standing to the sides, couldn’t bear to watch.

"You’re a poor judge of character. I don’t need a stool to deal with you."

An Ning placed the stool on the ground with a CLANG.

"Sit!"