Although the temperature in the north is very low, Le Tong, who was born and raised in the south, doesn’t find it particularly cold here.
She recalled a joke she saw on Weibo a while back that said the cold in the north is a physical attack, while the cold in the south is a magical attack. A southern netizen had quipped that northerners rely on heating to keep warm, whereas southerners can only rely on shivering.
At that ti, Le Tong didn’t have much feeling about this joke, but when she found herself reluctant to get out of the warm kang every morning, she couldn’t help but agree with the netizen’s words.
Le Tong stretched lazily under the covers, and the little one curled up in her arms also moved.
"Little Baby, ti to get up."
Le Tong patted the little one’s warm cheeks and lowered her head to plant a kiss on her forehead.
Ever since that one night when this little girl snuggled into Le Tong’s bed to listen to a bedti story, the clever little girl has insisted on sticking to Le Tong’s bed every night instead of returning to her parents to sleep.
And Le Tong, in fact, is lonely too.
Of course, this loneliness refers to a spiritual loneliness.
I believe everyone has had similar experiences, where everyone around you is laughing and joking, but you sit quietly on the side, seemingly unable to integrate into that lively world. It’s like water and oil; no matter how you stir and mix them, they just can’t blend together.
Zhang Yi and his wife treated her like a younger sister, but that kinship was a natural friendliness and closeness that ca from the body. They did their best to ensure that Le Tong could eat well and stay warm, but they couldn’t understand her distress and frustrations, so naturally, they couldn’t help solve them.
In this isolated small town, Le Tong deliberately led a life detached from the world. Zhang Yi saw her often typing on her notebook and had ntioned a few tis about getting broadband installed, but Le Tong stopped him every ti.
"Brother, no need to install it. This is pretty good."
Given that she told herself to leave everything about R City behind, she didn’t want to give herself any retreat or a way to know any news from there.
"Won’t Yuan’er find you?"
Luo Yuanyuan often ca to visit Le Tong’s little nook, and later, after Luo Yifan helped out, gradually Zhang Yi beca more familiar with Luo Yuanyuan.
"I told her I’m going to stay with my aunt for a few months to relax, and I’ll contact her after settling down."
Although Luo Yuanyuan didn’t quite believe Le Tong’s excuse, she roughly understood that once her friend made a decision, not even ten oxen could pull her back, so she didn’t put up much resistance at the ti.
Zhang Yi thought that soone like Le Tong, used to the tropolitan lifestyle, would surely find many inconveniences and discomforts in such a remote rural place, but seeing her so insistent, he couldn’t force her any further.
Looking at Wenwen, who clung to Le Tong and didn’t want to get down, Zhang Yi spoke again.
"Well... okay, that little girl Wenwen is quite clingy. She’s sticking to you all day long. Wouldn’t it be annoying? Maybe I should ask your sister-in-law to send her to her grandma’s for a few days so you can have so peace."
At the ti, Le Tong had only told the Zhang Yi couple that she had resigned from work and wanted to find a secluded place to stay for a while. So Zhang Yi didn’t know the real reason for Le Tong leaving and only thought she wanted so leisure ti. His daughter was at an age eager to learn and was chattering around her nonstop, likely, really bothering her.
Wenwen was seriously inspecting the buttons on Le Tong’s coat, and upon hearing her father’s words about sending her to her grandma’s, she imdiately grabbed Le Tong’s shirt tightly and turned to glare at Zhang Yi with a look full of hostility, shouting loudly.
"No... not going to grandma’s... want Sister!"
Le Tong quickly patted the girl’s back, coaxing, "Not going, not going, Wenwen, be good, your dad is just saying it."
Wenwen gave Zhang Yi an oblique glance, "Dad is bad!"
After speaking, she turned her head away, no longer acknowledging Zhang Yi, and sulkily buried herself in Le Tong’s arms to play with the buttons.
Zhang Yi raised his hand in a gesture of surrender, and just at that mont, soone called him from outside the yard, prompting him to turn and walk out.
Lowering her head, Le Tong looked at Wenwen’s pitiful and aggrieved little face, and for so reason, she suddenly thought of Ji Baby, the little imp far away in R City who always loved to act spoiled towards her.
Thinking of that clever little guy, the brightness in Le Tong’s eyes couldn’t help but dim.
She shook her head, then let out a long sigh, stopping herself from thinking further.
No matter how adorable Ji Baby was, he had nothing to do with her.
Although she had to admit that even though she didn’t spend much ti with Ji Baby, her fondness for him and her desire to be close to him were far stronger than with Wenwen, who she had known for several months.
But the fact that Ji Baby was Mr. Demon Ji’s son ant that she and Ji Baby couldn’t continue any further interactions.
"Tongtong..."
Zhang Yi, who had agreed to go patrolling the mountain with a group of locals, returned, pushing open the door, and ca in with a newspaper in his hand.
"Brother, weren’t you going to check the mountain? Why did you co back? Was the snow too heavy to go up the mountain?"
Le Tong looked up at Zhang Yi’s sowhat tense face, blinked, "Brother, did sothing happen?"
Zhang Yi was an honest man, and whatever was going on couldn’t be hidden on his face.
"Take a look at this..."
Zhang Yi handed the newspaper to Le Tong. As she accepted it with a face full of confusion, he reached over to hold Wenwen, who was lying on Le Tong’s lap.
Wenwen struggled, unwilling to leave Le Tong’s embrace. With her making a fuss, Zhang Yi had no choice but to lift her up directly and walk out, closing the door and leaving the large space all to Le Tong.
Feeling perplexed, Le Tong unfolded the nationally top-selling evening paper and habitually flipped it directly to the front page.
When her eyes t with the very familiar large portrait on the front page, her pupils suddenly dilated!
And the large characters above the very familiar portrait further shocked her into a state of disarray!
[Missing Person Notice!]
Oh, my!
As an ordinary civilian, how did Le Tong deserve to, in just one month, first make the front page headline of R City Daily, and then the front page headline of the nation’s top-selling evening paper!
Could it be that her life was reaching its peak today, and from now on, her life was steppi...
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