CHAPTER 89: CHAPTER 89 DEEP AFFECTION

Gu Junming frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, I’ll think of a way to help you. I’ll send you a message when the time comes."

"I want to go with you. Although my family is not wealthy, we have some savings, and we have a relative in the city. Staying for a few months shouldn’t be too difficult. Just let me know when you leave, and I’ll follow you. Or are you worried that if we’re together all the time, you’ll be enchanted by me?" She didn’t wait for Gu Junming’s reply before turning around and leaving.

Joking aside, waiting around could mean waiting ten years or more with no answer, and Su Miao didn’t believe him.

Watching her walk away, Gu Junming couldn’t help but feel disgusted. In his impression, the village girls were all nice. Who knew there would be someone so selfish and shameless.

Although the matter with this woman wasn’t exactly troublesome, her recent actions made him very uncomfortable.

As he was thinking, he looked up and saw Sun Chan standing at the door, watching him with a faint smile.

Gu Junming quickly walked over: "You heard everything? Su Miao doesn’t want anything with me; she just wants a chance to get into the city."

Sun Chan smiled and said, "I know, I’m not angry."

She had just laid on the kang bed when she heard the commotion outside. She quickly came out to see Su Miao there, immediately alert, but after listening to their conversation, she was relieved.

If Gu Junming was interested in someone like Su Miao, there’d be no need for her to be with him anymore.

Gu Junming said, "My family does owe her a favor, which should be repaid."

"I understand. I don’t like owing favors either," Sun Chan smiled.

"Since we’re settling the matters of Sun Lijuan and Su Miao this time, why not add your name to the mix? After all, we owe people one favor already," Gu Junming thought it wouldn’t be right not to help Sun Chan find a job.

But Sun Chan refused: "Forget it, for those two, even if there’s a bit of backdoor, they do have some education. Strictly speaking, it’s not excessive. But I don’t even have an elementary school diploma. If someone catches wind of this, it would be terrible. Don’t worry about me. I can work and survive on my own."

Gu Junming was moved and held her hand: "Thank you for understanding me."

Sun Chan’s ears turned red, making Gu Junming feel a warmth in his heart, and he held her hand a bit tighter.

"Sun Chan... little girl..."

Feeling flustered, Sun Chan shyly pushed him away and quickly returned to her own room.

She looked at the moonlight outside, thinking about the things that had happened in the past few days. No matter if it was herself, Wang Dan, Sun Lijuan, or Su Miao, these village girls all wanted to go to the city. But living in the city wasn’t easy.

With only a little savings now, the future was really uncertain, and she too wanted to be someone in the city. But she didn’t want to rely on Gu Junming, so she felt uneasy. Plus, the kang bed was very warm, making her think about what kind of business to start. She tossed and turned until the latter half of the night before she finally fell asleep.

She wasn’t the only one who had an uneasy night. Su Miao also felt embarrassed after being flatly rejected today.

After learning about her plans, Ding Qiuyue said nothing. It’s natural for people to want to move to the city. Besides, Gu Junming did owe her a favor.

But her father, Su Minjian, disagreed with her going to the city: "I’m the village chief. No matter who you marry, I can look after you. But what can you do in the city? All these years, you’ve rarely even washed a bowl!"

Su Miao argued defiantly, "Is it wrong for me to want to be like my aunt and live in the city?"

"But your aunt has an education."

"I went to middle school too, Dad. I’m not convinced. Why should I marry some country boy and live my whole life like that?"

Ding Qiuyue also tried to persuade, so Su Minjian said reluctantly, "Fine, but I’ll only give you three months. If you can’t find a stable job, you’ll come back and marry. You’ll be twenty-one after this year, and if you keep delaying, you really won’t be able to get married! You think you’re a big deal, but it’s your mom who’s reluctant to let you marry. Keeping you at home is becoming a grudge!"

Su Miao grudgingly agreed, determined to make it big in the city and prove her worth to everyone who looked down on her. With such thoughts, she drifted off to sleep.

Early the next morning, Sun Chan got up to help Wang Shufen with breakfast.

The flour at home was running low, so Sun Chan mixed it with cornmeal and sorghum flour to make bread. She cooked some eggs in the big pot for the elders and children, along with leftovers from last night, making for a hearty breakfast.

When breakfast was ready, Gu Junming returned with several large bundles of firewood. It would be enough to last them for quite a while.

Everyone gathered around the table. Father Wang took a bite of the bread first, and only then did everyone else start eating.

Sun Chan was quite nervous—what if it didn’t taste good? When she looked up and saw Gu Junming smiling, she bashfully lowered her head again.

Father Wang then said, "You two eat up and then be on your way. We only have a little over an acre of land. We can manage it ourselves."

Gu Junming smiled and said, "Dad, since there’s not much work, leave it all to me. Trust your own son; I won’t tire myself out."

Everyone laughed.

Gu Junming then mentioned Su Miao’s desire to move to the city: "Once I handle this, our debt to them will be repaid. Her father is the village chief. If we help her, there should be no problem with any big or small matters in the village."

"As long as it doesn’t trouble you," Father Wang said indifferently.

Wang Shufen felt a little embarrassed: "It’s all our fault. If it weren’t for Kangkang, we wouldn’t have put you in this difficult position."

"It’s nothing. We’re family, no need for formalities."

Mrs. Wang, however, had many concerns: "If something happens to her, if she meets bad people in the city and learns bad things, the Su family won’t forgive us..."

"I’m thinking of getting her a job at a kindergarten. There she’ll meet fewer people. If she still manages to go astray there, it would be her own lack of moral integrity," Gu Junming said, considering the issue.

He could tell that Su Miao was no easy character and didn’t want her having too many opportunities to interact with people.

Mrs. Wang nodded in agreement, and the matter was settled.

After breakfast, everyone went out to work. This area was alkaline soil, which didn’t yield good harvests, but the Wang Family still planted a small plot of rice. Sun Chan was an experienced farmhand, working meticulously, and soon had a large section of rice cut and piled by the field. Father Wang and Mrs. Wang borrowed a cart to take the rice to the village committee for processing.

Seeing Sun Chan working so hard, barely straightening her back, Gu Junming felt a pang in his heart and went over to take the sickle from her hand.