"Brother Xin Hua, it sounds like soone’s over there." Tian Sisi’s ears were sharp, being the first to hear the noise, while Tian Xinhua had heard it even earlier, also lifting his head to look in the direction of the sounds.
"What noise? I didn’t hear anything!" Zhong Ani scouted around but couldn’t hear a sound.
"Because your ears are just for show!" Tian Sisi teased her.
Gradually, the noise beca louder, and everyone could hear it. It was indeed soone moaning, intermittently, faintly.
"Let’s go over and have a look; if soone is hurt, we can also help," Zhong Anping stood up and suggested, receiving consensus from everyone.
They headed towards the bushes from where the noises were coming. As they approached, the sounds grew louder and clearer. Tian Sisi cursed her luck, how shaless for soone to be having a tryst in the wild on the first day of the New Year, and they just happened to stumble upon it.
But she couldn’t really say they shouldn’t go over to check; people in this era were truly innocent, not like teenagers from her previous life who were already masters of love affairs.
"Ah Nan, An i, Juying, you girls stay back and don’t go there, we few will go and check it out." Tian Xinhua had also clearly heard that the sounds were off and, though a pure young man himself, his three years in Beijing exposed him to all walks of life, giving him so understanding of matters between n and won.
Tian Xinhua’s handso face turned red as he quickly held Tian Sisi back; he couldn’t allow Ah Nan to see such dirty things. Although Tian Sisi was very curious to see which pair of wild lovebirds it was, she obediently nodded and stayed back with Zhong Ani and the others.
Zhong Anping and Zhong Ankang also realized at this mont that sothing was off. Their faces turned red, and they had the intention not to look, but the curiosity of youth prevailed over all else. They pulled their sisters far back and snuck forward silently themselves.
Tian Sisi chuckled secretly, not expecting the seemingly proper Zhong Anping to be such a mischief-maker; thinking about it, if Zhong Anping were truly a by-the-book person, he wouldn’t have beco one of the first to beco an entrepreneur in the previous life.
"Sisi, what’s wrong with my brothers? Acting all sneaky, like they are up to no good," Zhong Ani said impatiently as she kicked a stone far away.
Isn’t that exactly what they are doing, up to no good? Tian Sisi pretended not to understand and shook her head, indicating she didn’t know either.
"Brother, who’s the daredevil that actually ca here to have an affair, not afraid of being seen?" Zhong Ankang was sowhat excited; the young man often heard the village n tell dirty jokes while working, familiar yet unfamiliar with the matters between n and won.
At this mont, the couple in the bushes was taking a break from their encounter, the woman lying in the man’s embrace, and chuckled, "How could your Black Tiger bear to let you out?"
"Don’t ntion that tigress, brings down the mood, co on, let’s hurry up and do our business." The man grasped the woman and resud their activity, completely unaware they had been seen by a group of young n.
Tian Xinhua, holding back his embarrassnt, took his cara from around his neck and snapped a few photos of the two inside, luckily at the mont, they were fully engaged in their business and had not considered that there would be people coming up the mountain on the first day of the New Year, so they didn’t notice the noise from outside.
The friends gestured to each other and quietly retreated. When they got to the outskirts, Tang Qiubai asked with a blushing face, "Xinhua, why did you even take pictures of those disgusting people?"
"Keep it, you never know when it might co in handy. This Gao Yuzhu is a troubleso piece of work, don’t be fooled by his current pretense, who knows when he might stir up trouble again."
Tian Xinhua was simply acting on instinct, taught by Mr. Yun that one must grasp every move of their enemy, even if it’s just an insignificant detail, for it could prove extrely useful in the future.
Fortunately, Ah Nan had taken the trouble to bring a cara, or else he wouldn’t have known how to obtain evidence! Not to ntion, the photos taken today indeed proved to be of great use later on, but of course, this is a story for another ti and will be ntioned later.
"Xinhua makes a good point, we must indeed be cautious with soone like Gao Yuzhu," Zhong Anping regained his usual composure and highly approved of Tian Xinhua’s approach.
"In my opinion, we should have made a scene just now, let everyone in the village see what kind of morality Gao Yuzhu possesses."
Zhong Ankang was sowhat dissatisfied; he resented Gao Yuzhu more than Tian Xinhua did, as Gao, during his ti as the village accountant, had been particularly oppressive to his family, often underreporting or omitting their work points.
"Let’s not make a fuss, we still need to consider the reputation of both the Tian Family and the Zhong Family. If we really caused a scene, it wouldn’t look good for either side."
Once Tian Xinhua spoke his piece, Zhong Ankang kept quiet too. He understood Tian Xinhua’s concerns. The woman involved with Gao Yuzhu was from Zhongjia Bay, her na was Zhong Yuehua, technically a distant relative of the Zhong Anping’s family, to whom he should address her as a cousin once removed.
Zhong Yuehua’s family was well-off, and she had married a widower from a neighboring village. After ten years of marriage and no children, the villagers speculated that the fault lay with her husband. Most of the year, Zhong Yuehua lived at her parent’s ho, and rumors circulated about her ambiguous relations with several n from the village.
However, Zhong Yuehua did maintain a kind of professional integrity and never two-tid, typically choosing to associate with bachelors. Thus, the villagers turned a blind eye towards her, pretending ignorance.
It was unexpected this ti that Zhong Yuehua would break the rules and beco entangled with Gao Yuzhu, and one could only wonder what sort of scene Tian Chunfang would make if she knew!
Tian Xinhua and the others quickly returned to the original spot and then urged Tian Sisi and her companions down the mountain. Zhong Ani was still pondering the recent events and asked Zhong Anping, "Big brother, who was that?"
"No one, we heard wrong; it was just the sound of the wind blowing the tree leaves," Zhong Anping calmly lied, and had it not been for Tian Sisi, who was well aware of the truth, she might have believed him.
"Oh, I didn’t know the wind could make the leaves sound like people. That’s really strange," said the naïve Zhong Ani, fully trusting her brother without a hint of suspicion.
Tian Sisi found it amusing but didn’t expose Zhong Anping’s lie. She followed Tian Xinhua down the mountain slowly. Soon they reached the foot of the mountain, and Sisi suggested that they rest at the He Family’s ho and eat sothing, but Zhong Anping declined, saying it would be inappropriate to visit soone’s ho on the first day of the New Year.
Tian Sisi took the cara from around Tian Xinhua’s neck and checked it, having just finished the roll of film. Considering there was still ti, she decided to go develop the photos in the darkroom.
To her surprise, Tian Xinhua hurriedly snatched the cara away, his face reddening as he said, "Ah Nan, let develop the photos this ti. You should rest, climbing the mountain must have been tiring."
Though Tian Sisi found Tian Xinhua’s behavior odd, she didn’t pry further or insist on developing the photos herself. She simply asked Tian Xinhua to make extra copies for her to send to Mr. Yun.
Tian Xinhua smiled and agreed, feeling a secret sigh of relief. Thankfully, Ah Nan hadn’t insisted on developing them herself; otherwise, what would he do if Ah Nan saw those inappropriate photos later on?
Reviews
All reviews (0)