Old Peter kept his eyes on his nose, his nose on his heart, wishing he could hear nothing at all.

Annie, meanwhile, had practically flattened herself against the wall like a poster.

Lu Sui’s gaze swept around the room before he finally picked up the phone beside him and walked toward the garden outside the restaurant.

Wu Mangmang was currently on her way to the airport, her phone flickering on and off in her hands—that annoying call still hadn’t been made.

Last time Lu Sui had told her not to apologize first after an argument.

But she really, really wanted to apologize. Wu Mangmang forcefully restrained the hand in her heart that wanted to press the call button.

But men can’t be spoiled too much. If she gave in this time, she probably would never be able to stand up again in the future.

Besides, this was her job. Lu Sui knew very well that she had applied for this project team long ago; only the departure time had been finalized recently.

Before Wu Mangmang could fully prepare herself mentally, she heard the sound of a text message notification.

“Remember to call.”

Just five short words, but they sounded as beautiful as heavenly music.

Wu Mangmang quickly replied, “I definitely will. Remember to miss me. Love you, muah muah.”

Online, “love you, muah muah” was really just ordinary casual conversation, but for Mr. Lu, who wasn’t familiar with internet slang at all, these five words inexplicably struck the softest part of his heart.

“What does ‘muah muah’ mean?” Lu Sui texted back.

“It means mua~~,” Wu Mangmang replied.

She had originally thought Lu Sui would definitely wait until she got off the plane to call or text, but she hadn’t expected Mr. Lu to be so quick on the uptake—he’d gotten over his anger in such a short time.

Opening Weibo, Wu Mangmang posted a text update under her new account “Busy and Flustered”: “When you like someone, you can’t bear to stay angry with them for too long.”

Lu Sui was the first to “like” it.

Wu Mangmang smiled inwardly. Lu Sui must have set up “special attention” for her account.

Although this moment was full of sweetness, reality was truly harsh.

Even though Wu Mangmang had mentally prepared herself for difficult conditions, she hadn’t expected them to be as harsh as what lay before her.

The ancient tomb complex had been discovered in a particularly remote mountainous area. At the current pace of development, if it weren’t so remote, it would have been discovered long ago.

The remoteness of this mountainous area far exceeded Wu Mangmang’s expectations. They had to get off the plane in the provincial capital, transfer to a car to reach the prefecture-level city, then take a minibus to the county seat, then transfer to another vehicle to reach the town, then hire a van to get to the village—but the van could only go halfway, and they had to walk the rest of the way into the ravine.

They didn’t reach the village closest to the ancient tomb complex until the second day.

Huangtu Village had only been connected to electricity for less than half a year. There was no cell phone signal, and while the village was planning to install telephone lines, infrastructure construction always takes time, so making phone calls required going to the nearby market town.

Wu Mangmang finally experienced firsthand what it meant to have “communication basically by shouting, security basically by dogs.”

Regarding the lack of cell phone signal, Wu Mangmang’s preparation was clearly insufficient—she was the type of person who thought the entire world was already covered by WiFi.

So Wu Mangmang and Lu Sui had basically been out of contact for more than a day.

As soon as the project team arrived locally, they immediately began setting up camp, prioritizing efficiency in everything.

It was now summer, also the rainy season, which greatly affected archaeological work. The biggest fear was heavy rain.

This ancient tomb complex had been discovered when villagers were building houses and digging foundations. The northwestern corner of the tomb complex had already been damaged, and if heavy rain came, rainwater flowing into the tomb complex would cause significant damage.

A preliminary team of archaeologists had already been working there. Now Wu Mangmang and her team’s arrival constituted rescue excavation.

Due to the nature of this work, Wu Mangmang basically had no possibility of finding two hours to go to town to make phone calls.

After finishing work at ten o’clock in the evening, Wu Mangmang also had no possibility of taking a shower—she could only hastily wipe her face and wash her feet before going to bed.

Fortunately, Miss Wu had brought two large packages of face masks. After washing her face, she could just stick one on her face and turn off the lights to sleep. In the second before falling asleep, Wu Mangmang was still thinking that she hoped Lu Sui would still recognize her when she returned to the city.

It had been four days since arriving at Huangtu Village, and Wu Mangmang and Lu Sui had been out of contact for more than four days.

After finishing work in the evening, Wu Mangmang sat with several senior classmates around a fire roasting sausages, listening to the “sizzling” aroma of sausage oil dripping onto the fire while gnawing on steamed buns and complaining about this godforsaken place.

These sausages were made from pigs slaughtered during Chinese New Year last year by the villagers of Huangtu Village. The ecological pork was particularly fragrant, but they couldn’t keep eating only preserved meat, could they?

Huangtu Village didn’t sell fresh pork—you had to wait for market days (even-numbered days) to go to the nearby town to buy it.

So the project team would send someone to town every week to purchase fresh pork and daily necessities.

Wu Mangmang tentatively raised her hand, “Could I go with Ma Jun?”

Ma Jun was tall and sturdy, the fastest at walking mountain paths, so he was always the one who went shopping.

Wu Mangmang’s excuse about buying meat was obviously just that—an excuse. She actually wanted to call Lu Sui and look for cell phone signal along the way.

They’d been out of contact for too long. She didn’t know how angry Lu Sui might be with her. Wu Mangmang felt particularly guilty, and also somewhat afraid—this would mean she’d have to spend a lot of time coaxing Lu Sui, and she might not even be able to coax him back.

“Missing home?” asked Yang Li, the project team leader.

Wu Mangmang nodded embarrassedly.

“We’re too busy right now. The weather forecast says there might be heavy rain, so we need to hurry. How about you go with Ma Jun to buy meat next week instead?” Yang Li said.

With things put that way, Wu Mangmang naturally couldn’t say anything more. She embarrassedly said, “Sorry.”

After dinner, Wu Mangmang pulled Ma Jun aside. “Senior Brother Ma, when you go to town tomorrow, could you help me make a phone call?”

“Of course,” Ma Jun immediately agreed. He had a good impression of Wu Mangmang—he hadn’t expected such a delicate and pretty girl to go these few days without a single word of complaint about hardship or fatigue.

Wu Mangmang handed Ma Jun a piece of paper with Lu Sui’s phone number written on it. “This is my boyfriend’s number. Just help me tell him that there’s no cell phone signal here, so I can’t call him.”

Wu Mangmang made a gesture of pressing her palms together. “Please, please.”

Ma Jun pocketed the phone number, saying “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get the message to him,” while thinking to himself, “How do all the good girls get taken by pigs so early?”

The next afternoon, what came back from town with Ma Jun wasn’t just fresh pork and daily necessities, but also a person—or rather, a group of people.

But Wu Mangmang could only see the one walking at the front.

Wu Mangmang dropped the small brush in her hand and ran over quickly, throwing herself into Lu Sui’s arms.

She couldn’t say a word, just started crying non-stop.

“Her boyfriend?” Yang Li asked Ma Jun beside her.

Ma Jun nodded. “Mangmang asked me to call her boyfriend, but it turned out her boyfriend was already in town. We came back together.”

Yang Li sighed enviously. “Dating is so nice. He came all this way from so far away. When I’m gone for half a year, my husband doesn’t react at all.”

Ma Jun didn’t dare respond to this, just laughed awkwardly.

When Wu Mangmang lifted her head from Lu Sui’s chest, her face was such a mess it was unbearable to look at.

The work she was doing actually didn’t require much technical skill—she just squatted on the ground with a small brush, carefully cleaning the antiques buried in the soil.

This ancient tomb complex showed signs of grave robbery, with many items already damaged, requiring very careful cleaning.

Due to the nature of this work, when the wind blew, Wu Mangmang’s hair and face would get covered with dirt. Every day she looked dusty and grimy, and this time was no exception.

Tears had carved two small channels down her face, making her look quite comical.

“How did you get here?!” Wu Mangmang’s tone was both surprised and happy, then she very boldly wiped her face with the back of her hand.

Lu Sui said nonchalantly, “Your phone wasn’t working, so naturally I had to come.”

As expected!

“It’s not that I wasn’t calling you—there’s no signal here. You have to go to town to make calls. I couldn’t get away, but I actually asked Senior Brother Ma to call you.” Wu Mangmang quickly explained.

Lu Sui made a sound of acknowledgment and took out a handkerchief to wipe Wu Mangmang’s face. “It’s only been a few days—how did you get as dirty as a monkey?”

Counting the days, they’d only been separated for five days, but for both of them it had felt like years.

The journey from the city to Huangtu Village normally took two days. Wu Mangmang calculated that Lu Sui had probably set out after just one day of not hearing from her.

She couldn’t think too deeply about this—the more she thought about it, the more moved and emotional she became. Wu Mangmang hugged Lu Sui’s waist and wouldn’t let go, truly afraid she was dreaming.

It was already getting close to dark, so Lu Sui and his bodyguards naturally couldn’t set out again.

The village housing had already been requisitioned by the project team, and Wu Mangmang was already sharing a room with Yang Li and several other women. Lu Sui naturally couldn’t expect to hold his beauty in his arms that night, and his group would have to squeeze in with Ma Jun and the others.

Fortunately it was summer, so it wasn’t cold outdoors. Late at night, Wu Mangmang leaned against Lu Sui’s embrace while Lu Sui leaned against a haystack behind him.

Wu Mangmang looked up at the Big Dipper and asked Lu Sui, “Isn’t this kind of experience interesting?”

Lu Sui’s response was: “Wu Mangmang, what’s that weird smell all over you?”

The smell of not bathing for several days.

Wu Mangmang got angry and stopped talking, but she couldn’t bear to give Lu Sui the cold shoulder, so she had to swallow her temper. “When are you leaving?”

“I cleared five days to come out. I can stay with you one more day,” Lu Sui said.

Better than nothing.

The next day, Wu Mangmang happily led Lu Sui to help her brush soil, watching the usually immaculate Mr. Lu covered in dust and dirt—it was really quite amusing.

But the most amusing thing was when Wu Mangmang returned to the village after work that evening and saw all her clothes hanging throughout the courtyard.

“You washed these?” Wu Mangmang hugged Lu Sui tightly.

“I couldn’t very well make the bodyguards wash them, could I?” Lu Sui countered.

Wu Mangmang cupped Lu Sui’s hands and dramatically kissed them. “My heart breaks for you—such artist-level hands actually washing clothes for me.”

Lu Sui poked Wu Mangmang’s forehead with his finger, pushing her away. “These two months, can you take care of yourself? I’m really worried.”

“Of course,” Wu Mangmang said. “I thought it all through beforehand—I even brought disposable underwear. The project team isn’t heartless either. We hired the landlord’s wife to help with laundry. They can earn money and we can save time.”

“So I washed these for nothing?” Lu Sui asked, frowning.

“How could it be for nothing? You washed away all the gloom in my heart,” Wu Mangmang said, hugging Lu Sui and kissing him repeatedly.

That evening, Wu Mangmang cupped her face in her hands and watched Lu Sui pack various things for her while listening to him nag about various precautions.

Mr. Lu had brought her many things.

Intestinal cleansing capsules to prevent constipation from adjusting to the local water and soil—really very thoughtful. Wu Mangmang rolled her eyes at Lu Sui inwardly. Even though they were boyfriend and girlfriend, such things didn’t need to be considered so thoroughly, right? He was even managing her bowel movements.

Besides the intestinal cleansing capsules, there were various medicines: insect repellent, eye drops, liquid bandages, vitamin supplements, and even antioxidant skincare products.

And of course, a large package of winged white angels.

Plus various small snacks.

Sometimes listening to someone nag was such happiness.

Unfortunately, the sweet time lasted only a few dozen hours.

In the end, a thousand words could only be condensed into one sentence: “Take care of yourself.” Lu Sui kissed Wu Mangmang’s forehead.

Wu Mangmang counted on her fingers and said to Lu Sui, “Don’t come next time. The road is long, and your coming here will affect my work progress. Plus the village is too small—it can barely fit just the project team, and if you come, it’s a whole group of people.”

Lu Sui pinched Wu Mangmang’s cheek hard. “Wu Mangmang, you really have a conscience, don’t you?”

Wu Mangmang certainly had a conscience. The night after Lu Sui left, she kept leaning against the haystack counting stars.

Coming to this place to suffer was her own willing choice—for her career.

But seeing Lu Sui’s body covered in red mosquito bite marks, Wu Mangmang felt inexplicably heartbroken.

Lu Sui’s body temperature was high, so staying beside Wu Mangmang made him a human mosquito zapper.

“Slap.” Wu Mangmang smacked her calf, getting a handful of blood.

Who knew how many people this mosquito had bitten? Now without the human mosquito zapper, Wu Mangmang had to feed the mosquitoes herself.

The work was tedious but not without motivation, and they had basically settled into a routine. Wu Mangmang felt that going to town to make phone calls was really inconvenient, but her longing couldn’t help but overflow, so she asked Ma Jun to bring back a stack of letter paper.

The letter paper from town had no fancy decorations at all—just white with red lines, very plain. Wu Mangmang had never used such paper before.

Actually, Wu Mangmang had never used any of the other pink or green letter papers either. In school, she had only been on the receiving end of love letters, and with Weibo and WeChat being so popular, who still wrote by hand?

Even emails Wu Mangmang only used for work.

After washing her face and feet in the evening, Wu Mangmang would sit on the doorstep with a mosquito coil lit by her feet, using the headlamp flashlight for illumination, writing letters to Lu Sui with a hard wooden board as a writing surface.

Wu Mangmang had long been accustomed to Weibo’s writing mode of no more than 140 characters, so now she bit her pen and struggled continuously.

Yang Li came and sat down beside Wu Mangmang. “I really envy you young people—so passionate. You can’t even stay awake but you still write love letters by flashlight.”

Wu Mangmang thought to herself: You don’t know how difficult Mr. Lu is to deal with.

“But your boyfriend is really good to you, even washing your clothes,” Yang Li patted Wu Mangmang’s shoulder. “You really can’t tell from the surface.”

Yang Li was nearly forty. In the archaeology field, she’d seen quite a few big bosses. Wu Mangmang’s boyfriend was clearly a big shot with an imposing presence, even traveling with bodyguards, yet he still personally washed Wu Mangmang’s clothes, including her underwear.

“Sister Yang, you don’t know him. He seems nice on the surface, but he’s very fierce privately,” Wu Mangmang complained sweetly.

Yang Li raised an eyebrow. “I’m not trying to steal him from you. Why are you being modest?”

This comment made Wu Mangmang’s face immediately turn red.

The one-yuan-twenty letter took a full two weeks to reach Lu Sui.

When Old Peter handed the letter to Lu Sui, he didn’t react at first. Mr. Lu had probably never received a one-yuan-twenty letter in his entire life.

The thin letter paper was only one page. After reading it, Lu Sui’s face turned dark.

Half of the page was Wu Mangmang praising our country’s postal system.

She said that when she used to shop online, she thought express delivery was all Chinese women’s favorite, but now she understood that while small mountain villages don’t have express delivery, postal workers diligently ride bicycles every day to deliver and collect mail—they’re the most reliable friends of the broad masses. Now whenever she sees green, she feels very warm.

“I originally wanted to write more, but it seems like writing too much would exceed the weight limit, and a one-yuan-twenty stamp wouldn’t be enough.”

At the end, Wu Mangmang mentioned Yang Li and other colleagues’ praise for Lu Sui, then wrote: “You absolutely must not come again. After the comparison, they’re all dissatisfied with their own husbands. This affects social stability and is detrimental to social harmony.”

“Don’t worry about me, bye bye.”

Returning to his study, Lu Sui picked up his pen and replied to Wu Mangmang with just one sentence: “Your handwriting is really ugly. You should practice. I’m enclosing a calligraphy practice book.”

Before Wu Mangmang received this letter, Lu Sui was receiving a shit-yellow letter every day.

Wu Mangmang’s letters became more and more fluent, telling Lu Sui about every trivial matter.

For example, the intestinal cleansing capsules were very effective, and the pimples that had appeared on her face in the first few days had disappeared.

Another example: today while squatting and brushing soil, she brushed up half an earthworm, and she had learned not to scream.

Yet another example: she never wanted to eat steamed buns again, and asked Lu Sui never to mention the word “steamed buns” in front of her in the future.

Of course there were also happy things, like how the high school student from neighboring Aunt Wang’s family had come home and picked a bunch of wildflowers from the mountain to give her. The wildflowers were particularly beautiful—she’d never seen them before.

…

Two weeks later, Wu Mangmang received the first letter Lu Sui had written to her, and she expressed anger.

But Lu Sui’s calligraphy was truly beautiful, just not very legible. Wu Mangmang had to guess to figure out what he’d written.

Comparing it to her own handwriting, Wu Mangmang felt it was indeed a bit shabby, but she didn’t have time to practice calligraphy.

So Wu Mangmang wrote back to Lu Sui: “Write properly, write in regular script, don’t show off.”

Some people’s days pass like years, others like seconds. In the blink of an eye, Wu Mangmang had been at Huangtu Village for a month and a half.

“Why didn’t Mangmang come?” Ning Zheng asked Lu Sui. “You won’t even let her out for my birthday?”

Knowing Lu Sui was feeling annoyed, when the brothers usually gathered, Ning Zheng could understand Lu Sui not bringing Wu Mangmang out, but he couldn’t hide her forever without letting anyone see her, could he?

Lu Sui glanced sideways at Ning Zheng. “She’s not here.”

“Broke up again?” Lu Lin came over with ill intent, smiling.

Ning Zheng immediately became interested. “She doesn’t reply to WeChat messages, and her Weibo hasn’t been updated for more than a month.”

This was definitely Miss Wu’s breakup status.

Not just Ning Zheng—even Shen Ting, Jiang Baoliang, and Wang Yuan, who had been chatting nearby, turned over.

“We’re doing fine, thank you,” Lu Sui said lightly.

Despite his words, everyone could see Lu Sui’s mood was low.

During the evening card games, Lu Sui was on a killing spree. Ning Zheng couldn’t help but mock: “They say if you’re lucky in gambling, you’re definitely unlucky in love.”

Lu Sui looked at the nine-dot tile he’d just drawn and remembered the scene of Wu Mangmang following Lu Qingqing to apologize to him.

“I’m done playing.” Lu Sui pushed his tiles away and stood up. “You all continue.”

“What’s the situation?” Ning Zheng asked Lu Lin.

Lu Lin shrugged. “Menopause, I guess.”

When Lu Sui returned to the Lu residence, it was already past eleven at night.

“Has the letter arrived yet?” Lu Sui asked Old Peter, who had come out to greet him.