Song Tan's Notes

Liang An's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, but Xu Cheng, who was working with him, could hear it clearly.

At this moment, separated by a row of melon trellises, she also looked at the girl opposite her—she was indeed from the same workplace, and even somewhat familiar with her.

But she showed no intention of defending the other party. Instead, she quietly found a spot where the melon leaves were sparse and looked at what was in front of her.

Under Liang An's gaze, the girl holding the large melon frowned: "What do you mean? You think I picked too many? That's hilarious! If you can't afford to give them away, then don't. I only picked one, and you're already whining."

As she spoke, she looked Liang An up and down again:
"I remember you. Aren't you the one who partnered with Xu Cheng? Why are you ignoring your partner and coming here to seek attention?"

She glanced up at the melon trellis across the street and immediately smiled, "Xu Cheng, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your date."

Xu Cheng's face immediately turned red.

Liang An frowned even more, but he didn't say anything else, only repeating the same sentence again: "There are too many melons, let me help you carry them."

The area planted with melons is not small, but although everyone is scattered, picking melons is not the main purpose at this moment. They chat, talk, and stroll around, and are soon attracted by the girl's sharp voice.

Soon, many pairs of ears perked up around them, their figures half-revealed through the shadowy green leaves and vines.

They're not girls from the same workplace, so they might not be very familiar with each other.

But Liang An's self-introduction in the cafeteria really left a deep impression on everyone.

Soon, someone started whispering, "It can't be about taking the melons, can it?"

More and more people joined in the fun.

The girl in the long dress also showed signs of impatience and frustration in her eyes.

She pulled the melon in her hand closer to her, then said loudly:

"You told us to pick melons, and I've only picked one so far. You security guards are already treating me like a thief. You think you're so great just because you're security guards? Do you think this land belongs to you? If you can't handle it, then don't play!"

With that, he turned around and walked directly out along the furrow.

Liang An, however, was not in a hurry.

To be honest, young people are quite thin-skinned. Unless they act unreasonably and cause trouble, they are still quite inferior to the uncles, aunts, and old ladies in the village.

Despite the seemingly good atmosphere in Yunqiao Village, when people are helping out with chores, if the villagers aren't keeping a close eye on things, some will still steal.

Even if they don't steal sheep, people will just pluck one from the tree and stuff it in their mouths; they're all from the same village. What can the shopkeeper say if he sees this?

Therefore, their job as security guards is to be the first line of defense.

No matter how rigid or strict it may seem, if a loophole cannot be opened, it simply cannot be opened.

At that moment, he strode directly to the side of the girl in the long dress, and shouted to the opposite side, "Xu Cheng, sorry, please wait a moment."

He then reached out to the girl in the long skirt again: "Is it hard to carry? Let me help you."

The other person was almost furious: "It's just one melon, what's so hard about taking it?"

The other party's meaning was obvious.

The girl in the long dress pursed her lips.

She did pick an extra one, but it was only one extra in total, was it really necessary?
As for the price of a hundred or so yuan each... Oh dear, let's not even talk about whether this melon is worth a hundred or so yuan or not. Even if it really is, so what?
Today, games are giving out prizes of tens of thousands of yuan, so why would they care about a hundred or two hundred?
Thinking about this made her even angrier.

Because she couldn't find a suitable partner, and she kept making the wrong bets in the previous prize quiz, she only won two or three hundred yuan today, and she was the only one who won.

The more she thought this way, the more self-righteous she became.

But no matter what emotional changes she experienced, Liang An quietly stayed by her side.

Even though they were almost out of the melon patch, the other person still refused to back down an inch, stubbornly sticking out his hand in front of her.

The girl in the long skirt finally stopped in her tracks.

She said, embarrassed and annoyed, "Are you crazy?! I just picked a melon, is it really necessary to follow me like a pervert?"

Liang An remained unmoved, his expression still serious: "Sorry, I told you, I can help you get it."

He is physically disabled, but not in terms of ability.

When it comes to surveillance and tailing, others are much more discreet than she is.

Putting everything else aside, just by looking at the weight of that long skirt, he knew there must be two inside.

Their spectacle attracted more and more people. Even as people were about to leave the melon patch, more and more people gathered around, quietly eating melons, as if the melons in those two rows of furrows were growing densely and innumerably.

Liang An glanced around and discovered that Xu Cheng, who was as shy and timid as a dew-covered lotus flower, had also quietly followed him to the edge of the field. Her eyes were fixed on him, and she looked quite nervous.

This left Liang An momentarily bewildered:

Is the allure of gossip really that great?

He could clearly tell that Xu Cheng was genuinely introverted and not the type to enjoy joining in the fun.

The thought flashed through his mind, and he had already followed them to the edge of the furrow.

Without the tall melon trellis, there was a lush green eggplant field in front of us, and the view suddenly opened up.

Looking behind me, there were dozens of people huddled together in the furrow, clearly not pretending at all.

Even though the girl was usually quite thick-skinned, she couldn't help but feel increasingly embarrassed and annoyed: "Stop following me!"

She glared at Liang An fiercely: "Isn't that disgusting? You pervert."

The other party, however, remained as steady as an ancient tree stump, sticking to just one sentence:

"Let me carry the melon for you."

The girl held her breath again.

She paused, then suddenly a cold smile appeared on her lips, her eyebrows raised sharply: "If you're so capable, come and take it yourself."

He then hugged the melon to his chest and strode forward along the furrow, intending to walk directly through the eggplant field.

Liang An's hand was still outstretched, and he opened his mouth as if to speak, but then paused and closed it again.

The girl, filled with anger and an overbearing aura, quickly strode through the eggplant patch. After taking a few heavy steps, she suddenly stopped and couldn't help but look down at her legs.

The long skirt was perfectly safe, but she insisted on holding it up to carry the melon.

Now one leg is fully exposed at the calf, and the other leg is exposed at the thigh.

City dwellers rarely venture into vegetable gardens, so they wouldn't know—

Eggplants don't produce illusory flowers, but their thorns are quite real!
The sepals, receptacle, stem, and leaf veins are almost entirely covered with fine, fuzzy, and slightly hard thorns.

It looks unremarkable, like fluff, but once you actually tie it up, you'll know how delicious it is.

The only smooth part of the entire plant was the plump eggplant.

And now, the other party is walking through the vegetable garden without any protection...

Tsk.

Liang An was secretly enjoying the show.

You know, although he didn't wander around the vegetable garden much, he could see the vegetable pickers fully armed, with long sleeves and trousers tucked into the vegetable garden when he worked the night shift.

Now that there's mosquito repellent cream, there's no need to be so vigilant against mosquitoes, so he was curious about it. The other person then rubbed an eggplant leaf across his arm.

From then on, Liang An remembered this: he was skilled in physical training, but not invincible.

Now, when a girl in a long skirt stands in an eggplant field, her legs feel like they've been scratched by hundreds of caterpillars. The stinging pain is minor, but it's everywhere!

Looking at Liang An, he was calmly following behind, pointing to the eggplant patch:
"Although you're a guest from afar, I still need to remind you not to wander off. Firstly, running around will cause you to come into contact with more leaves, which will hurt more, and secondly..."

He then pointed to the surveillance cameras erected high in the field: "These vegetables are clearly priced, and we need to pay a high price in compensation. Since the farm was established, there have been several disputes, the most serious of which resulted in someone still in jail."

Although Grandma Zhou's poisoning attempt failed and the punishment wasn't severe due to her advanced age, it's clear that she can no longer live a free and easy life.

So... let's talk about whether you've been to jail or not? Even detention counts!
These words were clearly another blow to the girl who was suffering physically.

She stood there, caught in a dilemma.

In the melon field behind, men and women crowded together to watch the spectacle, and some even took out their mobile phones.

Then there's Xu Cheng from the same workplace, who's usually quiet like a rabbit, but now she's staring at me with shining eyes. How humiliating!
Meanwhile, the security guard beside her was reminding her, "Actually, your skirt is long enough; you can just let the hem down."

Put it down? Is she stupid enough not to know how to put it down? This isn't...

The girl gritted her teeth and slammed the large melon in her hand at Liang An: "Didn't you want to take it? You take it!"

The melon flashed past him, and Liang An swiftly reached out and caught it securely in his hand.

Looking at it again, I still felt a little sorry for it: it wasn't ripe yet, and the sweet aroma hadn't even come out.

Looking at the girl again, she indeed reached out and lowered her skirt, smoothed out the fluffy tulle, and with her other hand she held the two melons that were covered by the skirt, and continued to walk forward as if nothing had happened.

But as soon as she moved, another security guard squeezed out from the melon patch behind her and strode after her.

The girl immediately became even angrier: "I've already given you the melon, what more do you want?"

However, the other party innocently said:

“We welcome all guests who want to get close to nature, but those who don’t follow the rules can easily cause financial losses for our boss. Just in case, ma’am, let me take you to the bus.”

The other person's eyes widened immediately.

……

Meanwhile, Liang An returned to the crowd with the melon in his hand, and seeing everyone still excitedly chatting away, he couldn't help but smile wryly.

Looking at Xu Cheng, who was still staring at him with bright eyes, he had a sudden thought: Is she going to continue watching the drama unfold?
“I’m sorry,” he said, “although the boss gave us an extra day off today, it’s still our job, and we can’t just ignore it…”

"That's great!" Little White Rabbit Xu Cheng had changed from her previous shy demeanor. Although she was still blushing and her voice was still soft, she was looking at him very seriously.

Liang An's heart skipped a beat again.

He couldn't help but feel a little smug: Had his decisive, firm, and powerful response finally won over the girl in front of him?
But then the other person asked, "Do you often encounter this situation when you work in the village?"

amount……

This question immediately stumped Liang An.

How should he answer?
To say that would seem like the village's atmosphere is bad, and his working environment isn't great either.

But if you say no, well, how should I put it? Whenever there's a large-scale tidying up or cleaning, the security guards have to keep a close eye on things; it's unavoidable, it's just human nature.

Although they can guarantee that not a single cherry tomato has been eaten so far, this answer...

Looking into the girl's earnest, questioning eyes, he hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

"It's alright. There aren't any major problems in daily life; it's just something you grab whenever you want. The owner is from the village, and we don't like to argue with people from the same village, so we have to do things for her in advance."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Xu Cheng nervously, only to see the girl's eyes crinkle slightly as she sincerely praised, "That's wonderful!"

what?
This left Liang An speechless again. What's so good about it? Is it the job? His answer? Or is it the village?
Xu Cheng glanced at him again and said, "I never argue with people. I can't win any arguments. I envy people like you who are proactive and not afraid of getting beaten up."

Looking at Liang An's physique, he is tall and sturdy, and you can see that his forearm lines are exceptionally smooth when he stretches out his arms.

With another exertion, the muscles tensed slightly.

To be honest, she is actually a very timid person. Sometimes she wants to say something when she sees injustice, but she is afraid of being beaten.

She wouldn't dare utter a sound if that tall, strong, and unkempt man yelled at her.

If only I could grow up to look like Liang An!

She then looked at Liang An's feet: "You were transferred to the kitchen to learn, is there something wrong with your legs?"

The other person had mentioned a leg injury, but she didn't know what kind of injury it was or how serious it was.

Liang An thought for a moment and then asked her, "Are you scared? If you're not scared, I'll let you take a look."

Huh? Xu Cheng was taken aback, then realized what he meant and stared at his trouser leg:

"I don't know, I've never actually seen one in real life. If you're scared in the worst-case scenario, please don't misunderstand, I don't mean to hate or resist, it's just that I'm timid and not prepared..."

She gets terrified whenever she sees a video of a doctor cleaning up a bloody wound.

Liang An nodded: "I understand."

In those TV dramas, it's often portrayed that when the female lead sees the other person's wound, she's too scared to react, and the male lead is immediately heartbroken.

In fact, even for those of them who are well-trained and have good willpower, seeing unfamiliar, blurry flesh and blood and imagining the suffering involved would still make them jump in horror.

Ordinary people would find it even more difficult to react.

Whether one truly accepts it or not remains to be seen; it will depend on years of adaptation.

He pulled up his trouser leg, revealing a well-maintained and shiny medical titanium alloy prosthesis underneath.

The end of the wound was trapped within the stent, so it wasn't visible. But even just looking at it with the naked eye, Xu Cheng frowned slightly:
"Are you alright running around with your feet in the mud or on hard concrete surfaces?"

At the same time, she felt a little guilty: "If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have pushed myself so hard when you were running."

Although the other person did not ultimately make it into the top three, thinking about how he was covered in sweat while running hard, I still felt quite bad.

After a pause, Xu Cheng asked again, "My company is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Do you have time to come to the city center?"

This time, it was Liang An's turn to remain silent.

He sighed: Men sometimes use their vulnerability to gain sympathy, and with sympathy, girls are willing to give their feelings.

But seeing Xu Cheng's quiet gaze, he suddenly grinned as well:
"I'm not so desperate as to rely on that, am I?"

Xu Cheng was taken aback, then found herself both amused and exasperated: "No, I just think you're really good at dealing with people who try to take advantage of others..."

She really, really loves this ability.

You know, given her personality, she often encounters people who are impossible to argue with, impossible to fight back, who don't take her rejections seriously, and who then come back to complain about her.

I said I didn't care, and silently refused, and I did refuse, but I couldn't argue with them, and inside I was really torn apart.

Just now, Liang An only said one sentence, and silently followed the notorious opportunist in the company, and made the other party give up easily.
She was so envious!

I felt incredibly safe. (End of Chapter)