Chapter 3 Meeting He Nan

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Outside it was bitterly cold, and Shen Mianmian, dressed in thin clothing, suddenly found herself not knowing where to go. Shen Jianhua had gone to collect his wages and wouldn't return until evening; she would have to endure the freezing outdoors for at least four hours.

Her current physical condition couldn't withstand it.

After a moment's thought, Shen Mianmian decided to seek out the village head. Zhou Lanfang wasn't afraid of anyone, but she was somewhat wary of the village head; in her eyes, the village head was no small official.

In immense pain and coupled with the cold, Shen Mianmian felt somewhat dizzy. 'Bang,' she suddenly bumped into something, a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Tears instantly sprang to her eyes. At the doorstep of the village head's house, unexpectedly, there was a parked car.

"Are you all right?"

The car door opened, and a man with a tall and firm posture climbed out from the driver's seat. His voice was deep and chilly, like an ice blade, and his profound gaze was piercingly cold. Shen Mianmian instinctively took a step back, and her tears immediately ceased.

She took a moment to recover and then shook her head slightly, "I'm fine."

"Looking for the village head?" The man sized her up for a moment, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly. The young girl in front of him was thinly dressed, wearing only a flimsy robe with sleeves that were a bit too short, revealing arms mottled with bruises.

"Mm," Shen Mianmian nodded blankly.

"He's not at home," the man said indifferently.

After glancing at the locked wooden door, Shen Mianmian turned to leave but uncontrollably shivered from the cold.

"Cold?" The man's eyebrows lifted slightly. Without waiting for Shen Mianmian to reply, he walked to the passenger side, opened the door, and said, "Sit in the car and wait."

Perhaps it was indeed too cold, Shen Mianmian obediently walked towards the man and sat in the car. The car from the eighties didn't have air conditioning, but inside the small, enclosed space, it was much warmer than outside. Her body gradually warmed up, and her thoughts became clearer; suddenly regaining her senses, she realized she was sitting in the car with an adult man she had only seen a few times before.

At this moment, the man was sitting in the driver's seat, looking down at a newspaper he had taken out from somewhere. Shen Mianmian's gaze involuntarily fell on his face. He was handsome, with features carved like a statue, reminiscent of a character stepping out of an anime, emanating an air of integrity.

He seemed to find something in the newspaper that mildly displeased him, his brow furrowed slightly, and his eyes carried a hint of chill, radiating a domineering presence that made Shen Mianmian feel nervous.

"He Nan..." she began to speak, but as the man turned his gaze to her, her tongue tied, and the words at the tip of her tongue changed to, "Comrade He...?"

Seemingly pleased by her words, his eyebrows gradually relaxed, and a hint of amusement twinkled in his eyes. He raised his eyebrows slightly and made a sound in his throat, "Hmm?"

It really was him.

Shen Mianmian's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She was only fifteen years old, and calling a man several years her senior 'comrade' felt like a child trying to talk big.

But thinking about his identity, Shen Mianmian couldn't help but find it somewhat incredible. On the first day of her rebirth, she had an interaction with He Nan.

He Nan, a person nearly everyone in the village knew, from Beijing, came to Licheng two years ago.

It was said that he was from a formidable family, a genuine third-generation soldier. He had joined the military at a young age and served for five years.

The village head had three sons; the second son was a comrade-in-arms with He Nan, who later died in an accident on duty. Not long after He Nan was discharged, he would come to the village about once a month to visit the village head.