TFRLTOP Chapter 33 Part 1

Chapter 33 — The Rustic Wife of the Educated Youth

◎ The Village Belle, Hungry Hungry, Food Food ◎

“Chen Chanjun!” Yan Junsheng called out.

“Huh?” Ming Ming was still riding the high of excitement. She waved at him casually and carefully turned the tractor around.

“Look! I can drive a tractor now!” she said, thrilled.

She hopped down from the tractor, walked up to Yan Junsheng, and with a dramatic wave of her hand declared, “Starting tomorrow, I’ll drive this tractor and manage all ten-plus acres of our fields!”

“The biggest difference between people and animals is that people know how to use tools!”

Yan Junsheng chuckled inwardly. She actually had a decent grasp of philosophy—but that didn’t stop him from pouring cold water on her. “You think people don’t want to use tractors for plowing? There are dozens of families in the village, hundreds of acres in total, and only three tractors. We have to take care of them. If the harvest is good this year, maybe next year we can buy a few more. For now, it’s just practice.”

He went on lecturing her. “This tractor is communal property, not ours. Using public resources for private use is a serious no-no.”

Ming Ming pouted. Ugh, such a boring old cadre.

“Geez, you’re such a buzzkill.” Her eyes flickered mischievously as she came up with a way to shut him up. “I came all this way just to pick you up, you know.”

Let’s see you resist me now.

Yan Junsheng pointed at the tractor. “Does that look like it’s got room for two people?”

Ming Ming: “……”

She kept her head down and obediently listened to his scolding, fiddling with some foxtail grass she’d plucked. In no time, she’d woven it into a little flower.

Yan Junsheng saw her like that and knew she probably wasn’t listening at all. Why waste his breath? He sighed and bent down.

Quick as a flash, Ming Ming stuck the grass flower behind his ear while his head was lowered.

His body stiffened. He straightened up, and that little flower, woven from weeds, somehow softened his cold, stern appearance.

“Village flower, hungry hungry, food food,” Ming Ming asked pitifully, “can we go home now?”

Their eyes met. Yan Junsheng’s face didn’t move a muscle.

Ming Ming pressed her lips together, holding her breath, blinking at him with exaggerated sincerity.

Three seconds later, she broke.

“Hahahahahahahahahahaha!”

She knew she was in the wrong, but she just couldn’t help it!

Sorry, but the sight of that cold, stone-faced man with a flower behind his ear was just too much.

The veins on Yan Junsheng’s forehead twitched. He had bent down to grab their things so they could head home, but now he put everything back down again.

His eyes locked on her. His Adam’s apple bobbed. Silently, he rolled up his sleeves.

Ming Ming sensed danger instantly. She hadn’t even managed to pull back her toothy grin before she turned tail and bolted.

This time, Yan Junsheng was the quick one. He lunged forward, grabbed the back of her collar, spun her around, and tackled her into the field.

The weeds framed her neck and hair with a messy kind of beauty. Her laughter still lingered on her face, making her look even brighter than the flowers.

Yan Junsheng stared down at her.

Ming Ming started spouting nonsense. “You know what people are gonna say if we head back? That we hooked up out in the fields.”

“We’re legally married. How’s that ‘hooking up’?”

“It’s called ‘doing it in the wild’!”

“This is called letting the sky be our roof and the earth our bed.”

They clashed word for word, neither willing to back down. Seizing the chance, Ming Ming flipped him over, straddled him, and pinned his shoulders down so he couldn’t move.

Triumphant, she smirked. “What now, huh?”

Yan Junsheng wasn’t about to lose. He reached up and started tickling her.

Ming Ming squirmed and laughed uncontrollably, thrashing around to escape. She leaned too far back by accident, putting all her weight on him.

“Ugh.” Pain flickered across his face. Ming Ming froze for a second, then scrambled off him in a panic and ran.

Yan Junsheng pushed himself up from the ground, scowling, and took off after her. “Chen Chanjun, get back here!”

Ming Ming ignored him, dashed to the tractor, started it up, and sped off.

She was feeling pretty smug about her clever escape—until, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a figure. She turned her head, and there he was, keeping pace with the tractor, face expressionless, staring right at her.

Ming Ming: “……”

So the tractor was this slow, huh.

“Get down,” Yan Junsheng ordered.

Ming Ming: Damn it. Rookie mistake.

She stopped the tractor reluctantly, followed him back to pick up the tools and baskets they’d left behind, and loaded everything onto the tractor.

Standing beside the tractor, she gave him a gentleman’s bow. “After you.”

Yan Junsheng ignored the gesture, put both hands around her waist, and hefted her straight up onto the seat. She yelped in surprise as her feet left the ground. By the time she sat steady, he was already in front, starting up the tractor.

He jerked his chin. “Drive. I’ll walk beside you.”

The setting sun stretched its shadows across the ground, the black smoke of the tractor rising with its steady rumble.

Yan Junsheng walked alongside Ming Ming, taking in the curling smoke from village chimneys, the birds flitting through the fields only to be chased off by scarecrows. Everything was so ordinary—and that ordinary peace filled his heart.

Maybe… the trip home could last a little longer.

Suddenly, Mingming turned her head and asked, “What’s for dinner tonight?”