"No need. I'll do it. You're pregnant. It's not convenient for you."
"Come on. If I'm not convenient, can't I ask your elder brother to do it? I'll just give instructions on the side. It won't taste too bad."
"Right. Let elder brother cook. I'll take you to have a rest."
Zhou Huaian had been waiting for this moment ever since he came. But if it had to be in this way, he would rather not have Lin Wanning accompany him.
What he didn't know was that it was because of what the eldest sister - in - law said that Lin Wanning was in a complete mess, which made her lose her composure.
Sitting in the yard, Lin Wanning didn't feel the pain in her hand anymore. But Zhou Huaian kept asking her if it hurt and pulled a chair to sit right next to her.
This made Lin Wanning's ears turn red. Zhou Huaian even specially fetched a box from the car and silently stuffed it into Lin Wanning's hands.
Lin Wanning looked at Zhou Huaian in a daze. Seeing Lin Wanning's clear eyes like a spring, Zhou Huaian was really afraid that he would kiss her uncontrollably.
Moreover, this was Lin Wanning's natal home. He couldn't just act on his impulses when doing things.
He tried hard to restrain the love in his heart. "This is chocolate. I asked a friend to buy it from abroad. It just arrived yesterday. If I hadn't been waiting for it, I would have come to see you yesterday."
"Chocolate?" Lin Wanning's eyes were full of shock. She had loved sweets since childhood, and she knew that Zhou Huaian had remembered this preference of hers for a lifetime.
What surprised her was not the chocolate Zhou Huaian gave her, but his thoughtfulness. How could he be so considerate?
"Thank you." Lin Wanning naturally took out a piece, peeled off the gold foil paper, and held the chocolate to Zhou Huaian's lips. "You should try it too. It's delicious."
"You haven't tasted it yet. How do you know it's delicious? You eat it. There's only this one box." Zhou Huaian looked at Lin Wanning with full of doting in his eyes. Only he himself knew how much he liked her.
Lin Wanning was sitting right opposite him. How could she not feel his surging love that was about to overflow? She pursed her lips to hold back a smile and stuffed the chocolate directly into Zhou Huaian's mouth.
"If I tell you to eat it, you should eat it. When I say it's delicious, it is."
She was overbearing and unreasonable, but Zhou Huaian just liked it.
Just as they were being sweet, they heard Song Chunlan's voice from the yard. "Secretary, go and have a look. It's the Lin family I told you about. They eat big fish and meat every day. It's okay if they're just being wasteful. We can just assume that they didn't get completely raided during the house - raid.
"But picking things from our collective on the mountain, isn't that a bit too much? And that team leader. I don't know if he's taken some benefits or what. He's always partial to her."
Lin Wanning was speechless. "Why does Song Chunlan keep her eyes on my family? We're all sent down here. How can she be like this?"
Song Chunlan held her head high and looked down her nose at Lin Wanning. "It's her. Today she not only got a sack of chestnuts, but also got American ginseng from the mountain. She said she got it from the forest farm, but who knows for sure?"
Zhou Huaian frowned as he listened, and he always felt that this person looked a bit familiar.
The team leader was originally in his office. Suddenly being dragged here desperately by Song Chunlan, he was really annoyed. He always felt that Song Chunlan was making a mountain out of a molehill.
But he also happened to have something to discuss with the secretary, so he came along to take a look.
When he saw the whole sack of chestnuts on the ground, he thought he was seeing things wrong. Weren't the chestnuts on the mountain already picked? How could there be so many?
He looked at Lin Wanning in disbelief. "Did you pick these from the back mountain?"
"Yes. These chestnuts were all picked outside the protected area. My father is in poor health, and my family is penniless now. I just thought I could get some chestnuts and sell them at the market."
As Lin Wanning said this, she deliberately rolled up her sleeves and wiped away non - existent tears.
Seeing this, the team leader quickly pulled the secretary aside. "What are you doing? This little girl went up the mountain early in the morning to pick chestnuts by herself. Her father is not well. And I've already found out about the American ginseng. Even though her family is so poor, she didn't sell the ginseng for money.
"She'd rather go deep into the mountains to get some worthless chestnuts. As cadres, we'd better just leave it alone."
The secretary frowned slightly. He didn't know all these details. But actually he didn't come here to punish anyone. He just thought it was very dangerous to go deep into the mountains.
"I didn't come here to punish the kid. It's just that Song Chunlan was crying and shouting at the commune entrance, saying that you were embezzling.
"I just thought that in a production team, there's not much to embezzle. But the main reason I came to see you today is to discuss the construction of a school here."
"That's good, that's good. I thought you were here to criticize this good kid."
The team leader and the secretary were smiling as they discussed. Then they walked up to Lin Wanning again.
The secretary calmly told Lin Wanning, "I can guess that you got these things in the deep mountains. But you should know that these deep mountains are not within the protected area.
"It's very dangerous. It's normal for wolves to appear. Even the locals here dare not go there. As an outsider, you'd better not risk your life just to get something to eat."
Lin Wanning pretended to be touched as she wiped away her tears. Her voice even trembled a little. "Thank you for the organization's concern. I'll try not to take such risks in the future."
The secretary and the team leader looked at Lin Wanning with satisfaction. Anyway, they both thought from the bottom of their hearts that this kid was really good and pleasing to the eye.
"By the way, kid, what's your educational background? Our commune is going to build a primary school. Do you want to come and take the exam?"
Song Chunlan, who was standing on the side, was almost furious. "Secretary, don't you even check these things? And what about that ginseng? Should we just believe what she says about where she dug it?
"If in the future we go up the mountain to dig things, do we just need to say a few words?"
Hearing Song Chunlan's words, the secretary's brows were almost knitted into a rope. "What are you doing? Can't you just see others being good?
"We're locals. Don't you think we know if there's American ginseng here? Are you really so jealous of others?"
"Secretary, it's okay. We're all sent down here. Auntie is just worried that we'll go astray. It's okay. I'll definitely be more careful. By the way, Secretary and Team Leader, we've cooked braised pork and mutton stewed with radishes for lunch today. Please stay and have a taste."
Lin Wanning was all smiles. Then she turned to Song Chunlan and said, "Do you want to stay and eat too? I guess you must not have anything to eat at home. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so eager to know where I got the food."