Dinner was an interlude.

As Xia Xiaolan’s boyfriend, Zhou Cheng’s behavior in front of Yang Yonghong was nothing short of perfect.

He wasn’t deliberately trying to impress anyone.

Free from the constraints of their military training instructor and student roles, his affection for Xia Xiaolan was obvious to anyone with eyes. His gaze remained fixed on Xia Xiaolan. When she ordered candied yams during dinner, Yang Yonghong picked up a piece with her chopsticks, pulling long strands of sugar that reminded her of how Zhou Cheng looked at Xia Xiaolan!

Yang Yonghong crunched on the yams, no longer worried about Xiaolan.

By the looks of it, Zhou Cheng was the one who couldn’t live without Xiaolan.

Yang Yonghong had seen plenty of married couples in her village and knew that in every relationship, one person usually held more sway.

In rural Ji Bei Province, most households were dominated by men.

The Yang family used to be the same, with Yang Yonghong’s father calling the shots.

Of course, that was ancient history. After Yang Yonghong got into Hua Qing University, her influence at home grew increasingly stronger… Yang Yonghong pondered this – who held power had nothing to do with gender, it depended on capability.

But Instructor Zhou was quite capable too.

Yet he remained incredibly attentive to Xiaolan, which only proved that Instructor Zhou truly loved her.

Any notion of male pride meant nothing compared to Xiaolan.

Yang Yonghong was delighted for Xia Xiaolan. When happy, her appetite increased, and she devoured three bowls of rice!

She didn’t feel embarrassed doing this in front of Zhou Cheng.

There was no need to hide who she was – if Zhou Cheng and Xiaolan were going to be together long-term, he’d find out eventually. Besides, the food was genuinely delicious. Yang Yonghong realized she hadn’t eaten many good meals in her life. She usually couldn’t afford meat dishes at school, and among the few memorable meals she’d had, most were because of Xia Xiaolan.

Thinking about this, blood rushed to her head:

“Zhou Cheng, let me toast you!”

Drinking was normal – Yang Yonghong couldn’t even sit steady when her father first dipped chopsticks in alcohol and fed it to her.

With three bowls of rice in her stomach, Yang Yonghong felt contentedly drowsy but insisted on toasting Zhou Cheng.

Zhou Cheng found this girl interesting – completely unpretentious, no wonder she and Xiaolan got along so well.

He respected self-reliant, self-respecting people:

“Xiaolan calls you Big Sis, so I’ll call you Sister too. Big Sister, I should be the one toasting you!”

They kept deferring to each other, each drinking several cups.

Xia Xiaolan watched speechlessly as Yang Yonghong, bleary-eyed, nearly slid under the table: “Instructor Zhou, Xiaolan is a good girl, don’t let her down… if you’re not good to her, plenty of others would…”

She couldn’t even speak straight.

Yang Yonghong was too big for Xia Xiaolan to support.

“Zhou Cheng, help me out here.”

Before Zhou Cheng could touch her, Yang Yonghong straightened up and pushed Xia Xiaolan away: “Don’t worry about me, I can get back on my own!”

Alternating between drunk and lucid, she stumbled along as Xia Xiaolan finally managed to get back to her lodging. Big Sister Yang lived quite roughly – she refused Xia Xiaolan’s offer to help wash her face, closed the door, and fell onto the bed, snoring loudly.

Xia Xiaolan was both annoyed and amused. She went out and asked Zhou Cheng:

“Why did you drink with her?”

Zhou Cheng looked innocent, “That’s unfair – I didn’t want to drink, she insisted.”

Yang Yonghong’s drinking was mixed with joy and worry – happiness for Xia Xiaolan, but concern about Yang Jie and her family’s poverty.

Xia Xiaolan understood, lowering her head with a sigh:

“Big Sis has it tough. Zhou Cheng, seeing her reminds me of myself – she’s someone who won’t turn back even after hitting a wall.”

Nobody can choose which family they’re born into.

Yang Yonghong’s hardships weren’t because her parents were lazy, but due to the overall rural environment. Yang’s parents couldn’t change much, though they were already quite forward-thinking by rural standards, insisting on sending their children to school. With all children in school, the family had no labor force, making them increasingly poor… Yang Yonghong had to lift an entire family out of poverty, an even harder task than Xia Xiaolan’s.

The only advantage over Xia Xiaolan was that judging from Yang Jie, the Yang family weren’t toxic people!

Zhou Cheng saw her lost in thought and couldn’t help touching her face:

“I can see you admire Yang. Everyone’s life will improve eventually.”

His life with Xiaolan would get better too.

Hard-working people won’t fare too poorly – sometimes the rewards come late, but they always come!

Just two days after Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng arrived in Peng City from Hu City, Jiang Yan showed up.

Xia Xiaolan declined Zhou Cheng’s offer to come along and borrowed Little Wang’s car to pick up Jiang Yan at the airport.

Seeing only her, Jiang Yan’s expression soured.

“Get in. Are you disappointed not to see Zhou Cheng? He is in Peng City, but only after we talk will I decide whether you get to see my man.”

Xia Xiaolan emphasized the words “my man.”

Jiang Yan remained unmoved. After getting in the car, she pointed out Xia Xiaolan’s pettiness:

“You’re using such thoughts to distort my friendship with Zhou Cheng. Xia Xiaolan, do you know why I don’t like you? Your mindset is too narrow, you only see flesh.”

Zhou Cheng was an eagle destined to soar the skies – was Xia Xiaolan trying to drag this sky-bound eagle down to earth, turning him into a caged bird for display? Jiang Yan pressed her lips together, hating the thought so much she wanted to strangle the delicate Xia Xiaolan!

Xia Xiaolan chuckled, glancing at her sideways:

“Don’t talk to me about friendship. My mindset might be narrow, but I know the importance of honesty. You want to see Brother Pan, and I can arrange that! But where is this crucial material you claim to have?”

Xia Xiaolan’s familiar way of referring to Pan Baohua.

Zhou Cheng trusted Xia Xiaolan so much that he even let her handle matters concerning Third Brother.

Jiang Yan couldn’t describe her feelings.

In just two short years, Xia Xiaolan had appeared in Zhou Cheng’s life.

Given Zhou Cheng’s personality, how could he take to Xia Xiaolan? Jiang Yan couldn’t understand.

She believed she knew Zhou Cheng and Third Brother Pan very well.

Why would they trust Xia Xiaolan?

Someone so slippery couldn’t be trusted to watch your back in battle.

“When I see Third Brother, I’ll naturally give him the materials.”

Never mind, she shouldn’t waste energy trying to figure out Xia Xiaolan – not worth it.

Jiang Yan sat straight-backed, deciding to ignore Xia Xiaolan.

Xia Xiaolan suddenly slammed on the brakes.

Jiang Yan lurched forward – if not for the seatbelt, she would have hit the windshield.

Xia Xiaolan did it deliberately, drawing Jiang Yan’s glare.

But Xia Xiaolan didn’t give her a chance to react, quickly saying: “Jiang Yan, I’m not your driver. Even as the Young Miss of the Jiang family, you can’t afford to hire me as one. Didn’t you hear what I said? Without seeing the materials, I won’t let you meet Third Brother Pan… Don’t glare at me like that. Your Jiang family did despicable things first – it’s only natural that Third Brother Pan doesn’t trust you!”