The Jiaolong Village project was more orderly than I’d imagined.

Every day I got up at six to go jogging, ate breakfast, arrived at the office at nine to start signing various documents, calculating various work progress reports, then reporting to Zhao Yu. In the afternoon I’d walk around the construction site to check the progress of each project.

I even had days off.

I went exploring on the grasslands with Ha Rina. They were already Sinicized herders—raising cattle and sheep, also farming—but they still maintained some purely ecological habits.

For instance, they still rode horses, still hunted, only they used a modified air rifle that could only shoot field mice or rabbits.

Ha Rina took me to drink the most authentic salty milk tea, to the biggest horse ranch, to see newborn foals. In early summer, beside the deep blue lake, on the adjacent grassland bloomed countless swaying flowers, like an oil painting that existed only in dreams.

Ha Rina rode her horse, leading her family’s dozen or so big dogs, passing by majestically, herding the scattered flocks of sheep together.

Strangely, in the internet cafe she was just a gaudily dressed beauty. But when she mounted a horse, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

However, she didn’t like these things. The big dogs needed her to cook cornmeal and meat soup to feed them. The sheep required her to clean out the rank sheep pen. The grassland was beautiful, but countless mosquitoes formed clouds, biting people until they were furious.

She sighed and said, “I originally wanted to go to the city to work, but my grandparents are old. If I leave, what will they do? So I can only guard this crappy internet cafe! Crappy internet cafe!”

At this point, she angrily yanked at the chive tops, as if the chives were her mortal enemy.

Her grandmother couldn’t understand and kept urging me to drink tea.

I’m someone who by no means could be called warm-hearted, but I don’t know why—toward Ha Rina, my heart always softened.

I said, “So what will you do in the future? Have you thought about it?”

“What can I do? When I’m old enough, I’ll just marry Qinglong. Anyway, he’s always out driving his truck. I can still live at my home.”

I looked at her flower-like face and sighed.

She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever met. If she’d been born into a family that could afford to let her study art, she might have become a hugely popular star.

But reality was that her beauty could only bloom in this tiny village, then wither in a truck driver’s household.

I said, “As long as you’ve thought it through.”

After pausing, I added, “If—I’m saying if—one day you want to study… I’ll pay your tuition.”

She froze for a moment and said, “What could I study? I only went to first year of middle school before I stopped.”

I said, “Quite a lot. Mechanical and electrical repair, petrochemical industry—adult self-study exams. They’re not difficult.”

She obviously hadn’t thought about these things. She just looked at me strangely. “Aren’t those all things men study?”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I studied civil engineering!”

She didn’t speak again, just lowered her head and picked chives with all her might. Suddenly she said, “Is your boyfriend very impressive?”

“Why do you ask?”

She thought for a moment and said, “He looks very wealthy… like someone from a TV drama.”

Cheng Xia really was like that.

In the adult world, everyone has their own hardships. At least among the people I knew, most had a kind of loose, exhausted air about them.

But Cheng Xia was always clean and fresh, his skin taut. Even after staying up late, his eyes were bright and clear, as if he’d taken a dozen beauty lights shining on him from across the way, making him full of spirit.

“It’s not just about having money…”

Having a very good family, receiving the best education, having a solid safety net all along—even if experiencing some hardships, they still preserved that childlike vitality for him.

However, these things I didn’t want to tell Ha Rina.

“Qinglong is also great. He’s handsome and always spends money on me… but I feel your boyfriend is especially high-class.” Ha Rina sighed wistfully. “I’m not coveting your boyfriend. I just think he’s very like… very like someone from a story.”

I understood.

He really was like the prince that the girl in stories obtains after going through countless trials and tribulations.

But dear girl, that’s a scam.

The grand hoax that fairy tales have been fabricating for girls for millennia: if you’re beautiful, kind, well-behaved, and strong, you’ll get your prince.

The prince isn’t a doll prepared just for you. He’ll argue, make a fuss, go crazy, and will also bare his fangs at you at any time when your back is turned.

—

After Cheng Xia returned, we kept fighting.

I supervised him seeing doctors. He obediently took medicine and went to see a psychologist once a week.

The effects were sometimes good, sometimes bad.

When it was good, he joked easily and cheerfully in video calls, telling me to relax and work well, that he’d visit me whenever he had vacation.

“Not good” could be triggered at any time.

Because I didn’t answer the phone once, he could go crazy and make forty-some consecutive calls.

During video calls at night, if I didn’t hide well enough my desire to hang up early, the next day I’d receive his lengthy essays.

He was sick. His dependence on me wasn’t love—it was more like the madness of a drowning person grasping for something.

But forcing myself to chat, I didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t someone good at chatting, and my daily life was quite monotonous.

Still wanting to talk to each other, wanting to touch, but the topics were gone. We could only sit there feeling this exhaustion, with awkwardness and boredom spreading from it.

I knew that even the most magnificent love couldn’t withstand this kind of drain, so I…

Started using my spare time to visit various villages for inspiration, taking all kinds of photos, then having him make me a book list, crazily reading architecture books.

I also made the same demands of him—to take photos, read books, experience more of the world.

This way, when we opened video calls, we had many topics to discuss instead of awkward silence.

This was my way of loving him.

Clumsy but earnest.

—

The next day, Qinglong came to my office.

We’d signed our transport contract to his transport team. After learning I was the construction site supervisor, this kid became much more respectful toward me, calling me “sister” at every turn.

This time he came to my side sheepishly and said quietly, “Sister, um, Manager Zhao seems pretty angry. Could you help us plead our case?”

After asking, I learned that this time they’d been late delivering building materials, delaying construction.

And this was already the third time this month.

Zhao Yu flew into a rage, pointing at their manager’s nose with a string of three-character expletives. “Can you do this or not! If not, get lost! I’m not supporting freeloaders here!”

“That’s not how it is at all. When we were transporting, several big trucks just stopped in the middle of the road, blocking it and refusing to move. From morning till afternoon—what could we do?”

As soon as I heard, I knew this wasn’t bad luck, but pure man-made disaster.

Construction projects have large transport needs. Many fleets wanted to grab this job. If they couldn’t get the contract, they’d use underhanded tactics to drive away the fleet that won the bid.

Setting up roadblocks was nothing new.

Actually, for us, using any fleet was the same.

My suggestion was if this fleet didn’t work out, just switch to another one.

But Zhao Yu disagreed.

First, Qinglong’s fleet was one she’d investigated. It had the best cost-performance ratio. Switching would definitely cost more money.

Second, the fleet manager had cried in Zhao Yu’s office all afternoon. His personality was rather spineless—any local could kick him. He only gave us this ultra-low price because he truly couldn’t make ends meet.

Zhao Yu was someone who couldn’t stand seeing honest people get bullied.

No choice—when the leader has requirements, I have to handle it.

I followed that manager and went as Party A’s representative to the troublemaking fleet.

It was in a county town fifty kilometers away, a fairly large yard with several rows of big trucks parked.

I’d just gotten out of the car when I heard dog barking. Several giant dogs ran over.

My heart sank.

I could tell—leading them was a Tibetan mastiff, imposing and tall, clearly purebred. He didn’t even bark, just curled his lips and emitted a low growl. Then there were two German shepherds, ears erect, bodies massive, growling as they approached me.

Rough estimate—these dogs must cost over 100,000 yuan.

In my experience, people who kept so many fierce dogs weren’t easy to deal with.

A man walked out of the building and shouted at the dogs to stop, asking, “Who are you looking for?”

The manager quickly bowed obsequiously. “Brother Lang! Where’s your father? I’m Old Zhang from Weisheng. This is Manager Ren from the client company.”

The man looked at me with an unfriendly expression. He was actually quite handsome, a bit like a young Aaron Kwok, but his eyes were too fierce, with a kind of gloomy oppressive feeling.

“Oh!” He put his hands in his pockets and smiled. “Just tell me whatever you need.”

The manager looked at me awkwardly.

Of course not—this kind of second-generation heir put on quite an imposing air, but how many could really make decisions for their father?

And I was at least Party A! How could… wait, why were those mastiffs baring their teeth again?

“Young man, I’m the person in charge of the Wuleji Village project.” I’ve always known when to yield, so I quickly smiled apologetically. “There are some business matters to discuss with your Manager Teng. Could you contact him please?”

The man sneered, but said something unexpected.

“Ren Dongxue, Manager Ren, I know you.”

Huh?

I’d just returned to China not long ago and had only done projects in the south. Yet in a small Inner Mongolian county town, a transport company’s second-generation heir said he knew me?

Before I could respond, the answer came. From the office building behind the man, someone walked out.

This really was an old acquaintance, a familiar person—I just didn’t know if they counted as a friend.

“Manager Ren, long time no see.” The other person revealed a brilliant smile.