Ren Jun drove, with Xue Rui in the passenger seat.

Lin Ruoxi and the old woman sat in the back. Da Huang was at Lin Ruoxi’s feet, nuzzling his head insistently against her slender calves. After a moment, he jumped up and lay across her lap.

Xue Rui was a little envious. He glanced at Da Huang and asked,

"Da Huang, how about we switch places? If you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as a yes."

"Switch places?" Lin Ruoxi was flustered. This was her first time in a sedan like this.

’What does he mean, switch places? Does Xue Rui want to sit in the back?’

’And how is Da Huang supposed to talk?’

"He means he wants to sit on your lap," Ren Jun sneered.

’Her grandmother is right here, and he’s joking so brazenly.’

"You need to be safe. You have to wear a seatbelt in the back too." Xue Rui, looking completely serious, walked around to the back of the car.

Although he could have easily grabbed the seatbelt just by reaching, Xue Rui insisted on leaning his whole body over, getting extremely close to Lin Ruoxi. They were so close their breaths mingled.

Lin Ruoxi’s body went stiff, and she didn’t dare to move. Even with the air conditioning on, she could feel her cheeks burning.

"For fuck’s sake! Stop dragging it out!" Ren Jun saw everything clearly in the rearview mirror.

Xue Rui’s movements were like a slow-motion scene from a TV drama, angering him so much that he slapped the steering wheel.

"Don’t be jealous. An old-timer like you will find a divorcée with a kid on the matchmaking market sooner or later." Xue Rui added another cutting remark.

"Don’t look down on me. I’ve got plenty of girls chasing after me, you know," Ren Jun shot Xue Rui a glare.

"Then just say yes to one of them. It’ll save my grandma from nagging all the time." Xue Rui didn’t actually doubt Ren Jun.

"I..." Ren Jun didn’t know how to respond.

Ren Jun was still young, not bad-looking, and he’d made a lot of money trading Tibetan Mastiffs. It was true that plenty of young women were after him.

However, most of them were factory girls who had dropped out of middle school. They weren’t very educated, just pretty.

But after playing the field for so many years, Ren Jun just wanted to find someone gentle, virtuous, and family-oriented. Preferably with a higher level of education. After all, he had over a decade of schooling himself and couldn’t bring himself to be with someone with too little education.

Lin Ruoxi was practically Ren Jun’s dream girl. She was frugal, a great cook, and most importantly, her walls were covered in academic awards.

But Lin Ruoxi was too exceptional. Plus, Ren Jun was much older than her. Even if she wasn’t the girl Xue Rui had his eyes on, he felt he wasn’t good enough for her.

’In fact, he felt that Xue Rui wasn’t good enough for her either.’

Lin Ruoxi also fastened the seatbelt for the old woman, and the car slowly started to move.

When they reached the entrance to the village, Xue Rui had Ren Jun stop the car.

He got out and picked a few more apples, clutching a dirt-stained ten-yuan bill in his hand.

He casually tossed one to Ren Jun.

"You find money just by picking an apple?" Ren Jun was amazed by Xue Rui’s good luck.

"I’m just lucky," Xue Rui said brazenly.

Lin Ruoxi opened her mouth, about to say something, but she saw Xue Rui meet her gaze in the rearview mirror.

She knew that was the ten yuan Xue Rui had left there yesterday, which he had now "found" again today.

"Do you think I went too far?" Xue Rui asked.

Lin Ruoxi stammered, "Uncle Li... it’s not easy for him to earn money, and his son still needs to get married."

At this, Xue Rui took a hard bite of his apple, somewhat regretting he’d only picked a few.

"Zhang Guihua was planning to take you as a child bride, and you’re still defending them?" Xue Rui sighed.

Lin Ruoxi was too kind. She’d pretend it never happened when she was the one being wronged, but she couldn’t bear to see others suffer.

"One hundred thousand yuan is a bit steep, but I’ve looked into it. The water on your family’s land is excellent. In a few years, it’ll be worth at least one thousand per mu. We didn’t really take much advantage of them."

Xue Rui explained.

"How... how do you know it’ll go up in the future?" Lin Ruoxi asked in a small voice.

"Haven’t you seen more and more people growing watermelons? They’ve already driven up the land prices," Xue Rui said offhandedly. He couldn’t very well say he’d been reborn, could he?

As for how he knew about land prices, it was because in the future, Qiu Mengze would lose over a million yuan growing watermelons and come to him to borrow money.

「...」

The car drove steadily along the highway. Lin Ruoxi gazed out the window, admiring the passing scenery.

"Xiaorui, you were too impulsive. It’s a good thing the people in this village are reasonable, or neither of us would’ve made it out of there," Ren Jun said, a little shaken.

Hua Village had a convenient location, fertile land, and a generally higher-than-average income.

The villagers also interacted frequently with the outside world, so their level of civility was noticeably higher.

If it had been one of those poor mountain villages where everyone is of one mind and has a huge network of relatives, Xue Rui’s actions would have angered the whole community, and they would have been chased out and beaten.

"What era are we in? It’s not as scary as you think," Xue Rui said, waving his hand dismissively.

"You’re still too young. You don’t understand how formidable a village tyrant can be," Ren Jun lamented.

"So what if there is? If Hua Village has a tyrant, what do you think his surname would be?"

Xue Rui spread his hands, looking unconcerned.

"Hiss... That actually makes a damn lot of sense."

Ren Jun’s eyelid twitched. ’If there were a village tyrant? Who would it be?’ He subconsciously thought of Village Chief Hua...

Xue Rui had considered everything so thoroughly. Even in the scenario he’d imagined, Xue Rui had a countermeasure.

"Um... when I went to your house to get the car today, Xue Xiaying went with me to rent a suit. She even helped me with my tie," Ren Jun said with a few light coughs.

"My aunt? What are you getting at?" Xue Rui suddenly felt that his uncle had ulterior motives.

"I said a friend of mine was getting married, and she happened to be going out too, so she helped me pick out some clothes on the way. She also did my hair for me."

"She’s really beautiful, and so gentle..." A look of longing flickered in Ren Jun’s eyes.

He imagined it: he’d come home from work, and Xue Xiaying would be there, cooking. He would walk up and gently hug her from behind...

Xue Rui sensed where this was going and interrupted, "She’s several years older than you."

Ren Jun waved his hand dismissively. "Age isn’t an issue. They say an older wife brings you riches."

"She’s a proper university graduate. You two won’t have anything to talk about."

"But we had a great chat this morning."

"I object to this marriage. You two are relatives," Xue Rui said, his face darkening.

"What? She and I are relatives?"

Ren Jun was baffled, and something didn’t seem right. If he were related to the Xue family, how could his own sister have married into it in the first place?

"Xue Xiaying is my aunt, and you’re my uncle. Close relatives can’t get married," Xue Rui said with a grin.

"Xiaorui, you need to get your head checked. I’ll ask your other uncle later if he knows anyone at the hospital," Ren Jun said irritably.

"Is that any way to ask for a favor?" Xue Rui returned with a cold smirk.

’Why would Ren Jun bring this up with him? Wasn’t it because he wanted him to be his wingman?’

"Brother Rui, I was wrong," Ren Jun said, quickly lowering his head.

"Don’t. I’m not worthy," Xue Rui said, his tone still cold.

From the back seat, Lin Ruoxi covered her mouth and chuckled, gently fiddling with Da Huang’s ears.

She thought the two of them seemed less like an uncle and nephew and more like friends of the same age.

Da Huang seemed to like it when Lin Ruoxi laughed, sticking out his tongue to lick her chin.

Xue Rui and Ren Jun bickered the whole way, only stopping their nonsense when a traffic cop on the side of the road signaled for them to pull over.

"What’s going on? Am I cursed to keep running into these guys lately?"

Ren Jun scratched his head. He was a little nervous, running through a mental checklist of everything he might have done wrong, but he still couldn’t figure out why he was being stopped.