Chapter 66: Something Happened to Gou Ya

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Something Happened to Gou Ya

Zhang Jiahua withdrew his gaze and smiled bitterly. "Your mom won’t accept this."

Tuantuan turned into an angry little spitfire. "So, are you just here to show off?"

"No, no." Zhang Jiahua hated his own clumsy tongue. "I wanted to give it to you."

A bicycle suddenly cut in, blocking the space between Zhang Jiahua and Tuantuan.

"Brother Jiahua, Tuantuan is too young to eat this," Zhang Ci Hao interrupted.

The two men’s gazes met in midair, invisible sparks flying between them.

Tuantuan didn’t understand the undercurrents between the adults. She stood up and placed her bowl back on the stone table.

"Uncle Zhang, let’s go."

Zhang Ci Hao offered a smile in Tuantuan’s direction. Without waiting for her to bounce back on her stubby little legs, he strode into the Knowledge Youth Institute, scooped her up into his arms, and secured her on the back seat of the bike.

Zhang Jiahua’s expression darkened. Almost masochistically, he watched this picture-perfect father-daughter moment play out right before his eyes.

The ever-considerate Tuantuan naturally wouldn’t ignore her own father. She just didn’t want to chat with him; she wasn’t being impolite. Once she made sure she was sitting securely on the bike and ready to go, Tuantuan generously flashed Zhang Jiahua a bright smile. "Bye-bye, Daddy!"

Zhang Jiahua’s gloomy expression instantly cleared up like a sunny day. He broke into a radiant smile and waved back at her.

Perplexed, Zhang Ci Hao sped up his pedaling.

On the back seat, Tuantuan opened her mouth wide. WOW, WOW! She was gulping down the wind.

"Tuantuan, close your mouth, or you’ll get a tummy ache."

It was as if Uncle Zhang had eyes in the back of his head. Tuantuan begrudgingly shut her mouth.

Meanwhile, Deng Yuyuan wasn’t in such a wonderful mood.

After Meng Deyin realized she hadn’t gone out, he swapped shifts with the male youth on duty for the day. He had learned to strictly maintain the proper boundaries between men and women, yet he tirelessly sought every opportunity to show off his merits.

In just one morning, he had filled the water vat in the courtyard, chopped firewood and moved it to the small room by the stove, fed the chickens and ducks, and swept the yard. He even found time to cook a hearty lunch with meat and vegetables, and was now standing outside her door, calling Deng Yuyuan to come out and eat.

He was practically more diligent than Gou Ya.

Wait a minute—Deng Yuyuan suddenly realized something. She opened her door and asked Meng Deyin, "Where did Gou Ya go?"

"Gou Ya?" Meng Deyin didn’t want to miss this chance to prove his reliability, but he genuinely had no recollection of the little girl. "She probably went out," he said.

State the obvious. Deng Yuyuan rolled her eyes at him, though Meng Deyin only found her eye-rolling cute and playful.

"You eat lunch first. I’ll ask the neighbors for you," Meng Deyin offered.

"Forget it, I’ll go myself." She thought that if she waited for Meng Deyin to find out, she would be waiting until the end of time.

Deng Yuyuan headed straight to the neighbor’s house to ask around. Everyone chimed in, piecing together the clues, and quickly deduced that Gou Ya had gone to find the village chief.

Deng Yuyuan breathed a sigh of relief. Gou Ya had clearly run into some trouble, but at least she was physically fine. She wondered why Gou Ya had gone to see the village chief. Still pondering this, she thanked the neighbors and made her way back to the Knowledge Youth Institute.

"Have some steamed cornbread to pad your stomach first." Meng Deyin appeared out of nowhere like a ghost, holding a plate. He nearly scared Deng Yuyuan half to death.

"Thank you. I’m going back to eat lunch."

Meng Deyin walked side by side with Deng Yuyuan. The distance wasn’t long, and the silence between them wasn’t awkward, but Meng Deyin had no intention of letting this perfect opportunity for alone time slip by.

"Where did Gou Ya go?" he asked, having racked his brain for a suitable topic.

"The village chief’s house," Deng Yuyuan replied. "I don’t know what she’s doing there, either."

SNAP!

Deng Yuyuan wondered what that sound was and turned her head in confusion.

Meng Deyin smoothly forced a stiff smile and kicked away the broken twig under his foot. He wondered what kind of charm the village chief’s family possessed. The little one had run off with Zhang Ci Hao, and now the older one had gone looking for the village chief too.

Meng Deyin decided it was absolutely necessary to write another letter home. He needed to tell them that their previous teachings were useless and that they had to come up with a new strategy to win back Deng Yuyuan’s heart. Right, and he also needed advice on how to get along with children—specifically, how to teach them independence so they wouldn’t cling to adults all day long.

[He is fantasizing about his married life with you again.]

Deng Yuyuan was baffled. "You can hear his inner thoughts?"

[No, but every time his condition acts up, he gets this exact same deadpan look.]

Driven by intense curiosity, Deng Yuyuan turned her head to glance at Meng Deyin. He still had the same serious, gloomy deadpan face. There was no difference at all.

[A woman who has never been truly married wouldn’t understand.]

She realized she shouldn’t have bothered engaging with the AI game customer service. Silently, she put a little more distance between herself and Meng Deyin.

It was useless; Meng Deyin silently closed the gap again.

Fortunately, once they were back inside the Knowledge Youth Institute, Meng Deyin had learned to restrain himself in front of the other youths. The youths clamored to ask about Gou Ya’s whereabouts, and Deng Yuyuan calmly replied that she had gone to find the village chief.

"Then you shouldn’t go out this afternoon, or maybe you should go check on her at the village chief’s house," Tian Tian suggested, taking a sip of soup and praising Meng Deyin’s increasingly excellent cooking skills.

Deng Yuyuan knew that if there was truly an urgent matter, the village chief would come to the Knowledge Youth Institute to find them.

"I’m not going out this afternoon," Deng Yuyuan said, unhurriedly taking a sip of her egg and winter melon soup. "I won’t be going out for a while. I’m organizing some review materials and making extra copies so we can all use them together."

"R-really?" Tian Tian couldn’t believe it. Deng Yuyuan had the best grades among them in the past. "But won’t that affect your own..."

"There’s more than one spot for university admission. Rather than going to college alone, I’d much rather we all go together," Deng Yuyuan said with a faint smile.

"Great! Words can’t express my gratitude. If you ever need anything, just look for me! I promise I’ll only use them for my own review and will never leak them to outsiders!"

Tian Tian patted her chest confidently. The other youths followed suit, making their own solemn vows.

A heavy knock sounded from outside the Knowledge Youth Institute. Everyone immediately thought of Gou Ya. They stood up in unison and headed out to the courtyard to open the door.

"Go to the village chief’s house! Gou Ya is making a huge fuss—oh my goodness, she wants to sever her guardianship ties with her uncle!" Aunt Liu stood outside, her voice laced with anxiety.

"Is Gou Ya alright?" Deng Yuyuan asked.

Aunt Liu shook her head, then nodded. "With the village chief there, everyone is definitely sitting down and talking things out properly. A few of you need to hurry over. Gou Ya is from the younger generation; logically and morally, she shouldn’t be arguing with her uncle like this. By herself over there, no matter how much sense she makes, she’ll still be seen as the one at fault."

"You all hurry over. I’ll go fetch Gou Ya’s great-uncle." Aunt Liu lowered her voice. "Xiao Yuan, don’t panic. You’re the one who is genuinely raising Gou Ya, so your words hold weight. Everything will be fine for sure, but it would be best if you could use this opportunity to make a clean break with Gou Ya’s scumbag uncle and his family."

Gou Ya’s great-uncle? Tian Tian stepped forward. "Aunt Liu, I’ll go with you." She was one of the village’s point recorders, so she had dealt with the elders before and had enough of a relationship with them to put in a good word.

Deng Yuyuan didn’t hesitate; she sprinted straight toward the village chief’s house, leaving everyone else in her dust.