I didn’t tell Cheng Xia what I had seen. He just thought I was suddenly in a bad mood, so the next day he drove me home.

After getting home, I was too lazy to think about anything and collapsed on the bed for another bout of earth-shattering sleep.

Although my feelings had been somewhat hurt.

By Monday, because of the vacation and all that sleep, my mental state was more than just a little bit better. I went to work in high spirits, and several female colleagues asked if I’d switched skincare products.

Love really isn’t a necessity for human beings—sleep, food, and rest are.

My good complexion came to an abrupt halt when the leader called me into the office.

“You remember the Jiaolong Village resettlement project with Zhao Yu, right?”

“I remember.”

Coal mines were discovered in Jiaolong Village and mining began, so the original villagers were all relocated and resettled. Zhao Yu was the chief engineer and project manager.

“The project has run into some problems now. The company needs someone to go help him out. Will you consider it?”

In an instant I felt my scalp go numb. “Me? But I’m already writing the construction plan for that university town renovation project.”

“This is the head office’s decision. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.” He said, his eyes complex, carrying a hint of pity mixed with envy. “Of course you can refuse, but if you complete this, you’ll be promoted to at least deputy director.”

What he meant was, this was giving me an opportunity.

But everyone in the company knew why the Jiaolong Village project had stalled.

Halfway through construction, villagers suddenly showed up with shovels—a massive crowd of them surrounded the construction site, saying they absolutely wouldn’t allow construction to continue. Zhao Yu had a quick temper. He came out and had barely said two sentences when someone smacked him on the head with a shovel.

Concussion. He was still in the hospital even now.

They say poor mountains and bad waters breed troublesome people. It’s an unpleasant saying, but not untrue.

Jiaolong Village was too remote. Many villagers there had received little education. When they hardened their resolve, they’d dare do anything ruthless. Zhao Yu was quite experienced, but if the police hadn’t arrived in time and fired warning shots into the air, there would definitely have been deaths that day.

Now he was sick, so the remaining work would fall to me. How was I supposed to handle this?

Even if I did well, there wouldn’t be much benefit. Moreover, this wasn’t something I could just grit my teeth and push through.

Previously, no matter how difficult things were, we used construction crews the company was accustomed to working with. But now it was impossible to bring a construction crew that far. I’d have to hire local workers and transportation teams.

But regarding that area, I basically knew absolutely nothing.

Furthermore, village relocation was a massive project—public facilities needed to be built, hundreds of people needed to be resettled.

In short, this project for me was like Bandit Soldier A trying to assassinate Sun Wukong!

You ask who Bandit Soldier A is?

Monsters who get crushed to death don’t deserve names.

That night, I looked at the project documents and researched materials until three in the morning.

My phone was clenched in my hand until it was slick with sweat. Several times I had almost dialed out. I wanted to ask Old Feng what exactly he meant, whether because of a petty dispute, he really wanted to destroy me.

But what relationship did we have? What right did I have to question him?

Unless I was willing to go all out and sleep with him. But I wasn’t willing, yet I still wanted him to look after me everywhere—this was ultimately impossible.

Sooner or later I’d have to climb up on my own.

At daybreak, I walked to my grandmother’s room.

Old people sleep less. She was watching TV while preparing sesame paste to eat. I took it over and prepared it properly for her.

“What’s wrong, Xue’er?”

I said, “There’s a thankless job looking for me. I’m wondering whether to do it.”

My grandmother pursed her lips and said, “Silly child, when do we get to pick and choose our work? We common folk just have to work steadily and properly.”

I was amused by her simple philosophy and her toothless mouth.

“But this project will take four or five years. I’ll be away from here most of the time. You’ll have to stay by yourself, old lady.”

Now she was a bit unhappy and said, “Then can I go with you? I can still cook for you.”

“It’s the grasslands—even colder than our Northeast. I bought the apartment so you could enjoy your retirement.” I said.

She said, “That’s nothing. Anyway, I’m not deaf or senile. You should follow your work unit’s arrangements!”

I looked at her aged face. This was the most important person in my life. I’d been away for six years, and she had missed me for six years, lived six years of hardship.

But what could I do? I just didn’t want to admit defeat. I wanted to take a chance.

I hugged her. The old person’s scent was warm and comforting. I said, “Grandma, let me go take this chance. After this time, we’ll have the mortgage paid off, and I’ll buy a car too.”

Grandma stroked the back of my head and said, “Alright, you go ahead if you’ve thought it through. Grandma won’t hold you back.”

Over the next few days, I went to the job market to find a caregiver—nothing much, just to keep the old lady company.

I also formed a simple team at the company. Bao Long and a female technician from Hailan were willing to go with me.

Bao Long needed money—his daughter wasn’t doing well in school, and tutoring classes were like money incinerators.

Hailan had just graduated, quiet and gentle, still at that stage of naive fantasies about construction sites.

Better than having no one.

Then I created a group chat with people from that area and packed my luggage.

After everything was ready, I realized I’d forgotten one thing:

Notifying Cheng Xia—

I went to Cheng Xia’s place.

He hadn’t gotten off work yet. I efficiently cleaned up for him a bit, then went to the market to buy ingredients and prepared hot pot.

While waiting for him, I accidentally fell asleep on the sofa.

When I woke up, the night was dark blue and there was a blanket over me.

Cheng Xia sat by the window reading. Ever since his student days, he had always been very serious about reading, focused to the point where it seemed like nothing else existed in the world.

I coughed and said, “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were sleeping so soundly.”

He put down his book and smiled gently at me.

This scene was too beautiful, so beautiful my heart ached slightly.

“What made you think of coming to see me today?” He reheated the hot pot while asking me.

I’d been so busy lately I hadn’t even replied much to his WeChat messages.

“What else could it be? I missed you.”

“Oh, I thought you’d forgotten you had a boyfriend.” He laughed, seeming in a good mood.

We sat facing each other across the steaming hot pot. I calculated how to tell him I was going on a business trip to work on a project.

“I’ve been thinking about how to tell you,” he said.

“Huh?”

“The lease on this place is ending. I’m planning to rent a place near your home,” he said.

“But won’t that be too far from your work? And that area near my place is all large units… isn’t it unnecessary for just you?” I said.

“The distance is fine, I have a car anyway.” Across the steaming hot pot, he smiled. “Or would you like to be my landlord? I’ll pay normal rent, just give me a guest bedroom.”

“What rent, are you crazy? You can live however you want!” I said. “What’s wrong? Are you short on money?”

“No, I just feel we see each other too little. This way, when you come home we can have dinner together at home, watch movies together, and I can help take care of Grandma too,” he said.

I froze.

If it weren’t for the fact that I was leaving… the scene he described was really, truly too beautiful.

“I’ve planned a lot,” he said. “If I rent next to you, I plan to sign a long-term lease and fix up the place nicely. I’ll plant hydrangeas and magnolias in the courtyard. Next spring, we can drink tea while appreciating the flowers.”

“Also, this summer we should try to combine our annual leave. I’ll take you snorkeling in Thailand—it’s quite interesting. And if things go smoothly, in autumn I want to get a puppy. Don’t you like Samoyeds? I’ll raise it and you can pet it. We can take it everywhere to play…”

He suddenly talked a lot, and finally with bright eyes said, “I have so many things I want to do with you. Just thinking about it puts me in a good mood.”

I didn’t dare look directly into his eyes and mumbled, “But, how should I put this, um, I might have to go work on a project, in the grasslands.”

“For how many months?”

“If it’s fast, three years. If it’s slow, well…”

“When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow.”

It was going to rain. Wind blew through the coral trees outside, making a rustling sound.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Cheng Xia put down his chopsticks. He even turned off the hot pot burner.

“Don’t go,” he said quietly. “You said you wouldn’t leave me again.”

“But I have no choice with work! It’s fine, I’ll come back once a month.” I said.

“I said don’t go.”

“Stop acting like a child…”

“You’re the one acting like a child.” He looked at me. Under the overhead light, that jade-like face actually had a trace of something sinister. “Don’t go, or I don’t know what I’ll do.”