chapter 1
chapter 1
“Please, save my grandpa. Please…”
“Uncle, please take him to town in your ox cart. I have money. I’ll pay you!”
“Auntie, I’ll kowtow to you. Please save him.”
I knelt on the ground and slammed my forehead down again and again before the villagers gathered around me.
Grandpa’s legs had been crushed beneath the neighboring farmer’s land compactor while they were harvesting corn.
The man in his sixties lay barely breathing on the ridge between fields. A horrifying pool of blood spread beneath him.
By the time someone fetched me, a dark mass of villagers had already gathered. It was strange how they had all arrived together after the accident, then formed a silent ring as if by agreement.
I knelt beside Grandpa beneath their naked, unsettling stares.
“So this is the heroine. She really is beautiful.”
“Little Qiuyu is pretty enough to have all those male leads fighting over her.”
“No wonder my darling falls so hard for her when he grows up! This mama approves!”
“A redemption romance where you pick your favorite guy, angst first and sweetness later. Delicious!”
Only my sobs echoed across the field. No one had opened their mouth.
And yet, countless voices were chattering all around me.
I did not understand what they were talking about. I only wiped at my tears and begged the villagers to save Grandpa. No ambulance could reach our hollow in the mountains. Without an adult’s help, he would not survive the day.
The people I had known all my life watched my desperate pleas with cold eyes. A few showed faint pity, and the strange voices returned.
[The heroine is so pitiful. Shouldn’t we help her?]
[No! If we help her, how is young Song Hansheng supposed to make his entrance? He’s my favorite male lead in a redemption romance!]
[Ahhh, he’s here! My precious little Hansheng is here!]
A sharp squeal of brakes split the air.
Curled in on myself, I raised my head with sudden hope.
A middle-aged man in a suit stepped out of the car, frowning as he strode over to inspect the scene. I recognized him. He had visited our mountain school that morning to hand out exercise books. Our teacher said his name was Song Qishan, a well-known philanthropist and businessman from the city.
His driver lifted my unconscious grandfather from the ground and carried him to the spacious back seat.
Then a polished leather shoe pressed down on my dirt-smeared hand.
I looked up into the bright eyes of a boy whose face was full of impatience and disgust.
“Hey, quit crying. You’re filthy. Get in the car!”
His voice was lovely. His words were not.
The luxury car had already started moving. I scrubbed the tears from my face and scrambled after it on hands and knees.
Behind me, the crowd erupted in delighted cheers.
[I witnessed my darling meet his future wife with my own eyes. I can die happy now!]
[Why is little Hansheng so mean? The heroine looks scared of him.]
[What do you know? The young master has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. He’ll be so gentle with her when he grows up!]
[Little boys are all like that. He only bullies a girl because he wants her attention.]