Time Travel: My Comfortable Life After Going to the Countryside

The next morning, after the three of them finished breakfast, Wang Dazhu suddenly said he had something to do and disappeared in a flash.

Liu Xiangyang and Zhao Xiaoman walked towards the classroom. When they were almost at the door, Zhao Xiaoman reached out and shook his hand, then let go.

The classroom door was open, and Lin Xue was already seated. She was wearing a white polyester shirt today, with one button undone at the collar, and her hair was down. When she saw Liu Xiangyang come in, her eyes lit up, and she waved to him.

Good morning, Liu Xiangyang.

Liu Xiangyang smiled and nodded: "Good morning, Lin Xue."

Zhao Xiaoman gave a soft "humph" and pulled Liu Xiangyang toward her seat.

Lin Xue's lips curled up slightly, and her expressive eyes stared as Liu Xiangyang walked past her.

The two had barely sat down when heavy footsteps sounded outside the door. Wang Dazhu rushed in, panting, his face flushed. As soon as he entered the classroom, he shouted at the top of his lungs:

Breaking news! Breaking news! That bad guy Zhou Zhiming has escaped!

The classroom erupted in chaos.

"What?"

"They ran away?"

"Impossible, right?"

Surrounded by a group of people, Wang Dazhu was panting, but his face was full of excitement: "It's true! The security department is searching everywhere, even the police have come! I heard from the security team that they discovered he was missing this morning; the window was open, but he was gone!"

Someone asked, "Didn't they say they wouldn't execute him anymore? He's supposed to be sentenced to five years of labor reform, why is he still running away?"

Another chimed in, "Exactly! Why not just go and work on a farm for a few years and be done with it?"

"What do you know?" Wang Dazhu said with a smug look. "Is labor reform so easy? Working on a farm is exhausting; it's better to run away."

"Where would he run to? This area is all mountains, is he going to run in and become a savage?"

"They might really have gone into the mountains; as long as we can't catch them, that's fine."

"Can't catch them? The police are here, how could they not catch them?"

The classroom was in complete chaos, with all sorts of arguments going on.

Zhao Xiaoman turned to look at Liu Xiangyang and asked softly, "Xiangyang, what do you think?"

Liu Xiangyang leaned back in his chair and said slowly, "What else can we do? Just let it be."

Zhao Xiaoman was stunned for a moment.

Liu Xiangyang continued, "Trust the organization; they'll definitely catch him and punish him severely."

Zhao Xiaoman looked at him and felt that he had spoken too casually, but she didn't think much of it and turned back to listen to Wang Dazhu and the others arguing.

Lin Xue sat in the front row, glanced back at Liu Xiangyang, her gaze lingered on his face for a second, and then turned back.

Liu Xiangyang leaned back in his chair, his face expressionless, thinking to himself: Catch him back? Catch what? How? Catch the air? He twitched his lips and opened his lecture notes to read.

The bell rang for the end of the last class in the morning, and people began to leave the classroom.

Just as Liu Xiangyang stood up, Sun Famiao waved to him from the podium: "Xiangyang, come here for a moment."

Liu Xiangyang glanced at Zhao Xiaoman, who understood and pulled Wang Dazhu outside, saying, "We'll go to the cafeteria to get you food first, hurry up!"

Wang Dazhu kept turning back as he walked, calling out, "Xiangyang, hurry up! If you're late, the meat will be gone!"

Liu Xiangyang waved his hand and walked to the podium.

Sun Famiao took a sip of his tea, smacked his lips, and lowered his voice: "Director Qin called."

"Your acupuncture last week was very effective." Sun Famiao put down his teacup. "Normally when I give him acupuncture, it can keep him from feeling pain for a day or two, but Secretary Wang said that after you gave Director Qin the acupuncture last week, Director Qin didn't complain of pain for three or four days."

Sun Famiao looked at him, his eyes filled with joy and other emotions, and said, "You're really something, kid!"

Liu Xiangyang smiled and said, "It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, Teacher Sun."

Sun Famiao stared at him for two seconds, then shook his head: "Secretary Wang said that Director Qin is free tomorrow morning and will come over for another acupuncture session. You should get ready."

Liu Xiangyang nodded: "Okay, I'll definitely do a good job for him tomorrow."

Sun Famiao picked up his teacup and patted him on the shoulder: "It's alright, go eat."

-

At the corner of the corridor, Lin Xue stood against the wall, holding a lecture note in her hand, as if waiting for someone.

She had actually followed the crowd out of the classroom long ago, but when she got to the stairwell, she turned back. She didn't know what she was thinking; she just inexplicably went back and hid behind the corner.

The sound drifted over intermittently from a few steps away, not very clear, but a few words got into my ears—

"Director Qin," "The effect is very good," "Come for another treatment tomorrow morning."

Lin Xue's heart skipped a beat.

Director Qin?

She recalled that last week, Sun Famiao had also led Liu Xiangyang out of the classroom. She happened to see Liu Xiangyang and Sun Famiao coming out of the cadre building, with an elderly man in a Zhongshan suit next to them. The man's demeanor was clearly not that of an ordinary person. She glanced at him a few more times and felt that he looked familiar, but she didn't think much of it.

Later, while reading the newspaper, she inadvertently saw a photo of a leader from the foreign affairs department of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee, surnamed Qin, attending some event. She stared at the photo for several seconds and suddenly remembered the person she had seen that day—wasn't that him? Lin Xue clenched her handbook tightly.

After Sun Famiao left, Liu Xiangyang turned around and went back to the classroom to retrieve the notebook he had left on the table.

The classroom was empty except for him. He picked up his notebook and was about to leave when someone gently tapped him on the back.

"Xiangyang, classmate."

Liu Xiangyang turned around and saw Lin Xue standing behind him, holding the lecture notes in her hand and smiling.

"I forgot your coat this morning," she winked. "I'll bring it to you tomorrow, no problem." She then winked at him again.

Liu Xiangyang looked at her, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Just for this? So you waited for me all this time just to say you'd return the clothes tomorrow?"

Lin Xue was taken aback by his words, but quickly recovered, her eyes darting around as she smiled and said, "Of course not, it's mainly to express my gratitude. I'll treat you to lunch."

Liu Xiangyang stared into her eyes for several seconds.

His gaze slowly slid from her eyes to the tip of her nose, then to her lips, before finally returning to her. The whole process was unhurried, as if he were examining something interesting.

Lin Xue's heart skipped a beat when he stared at her, and her face flushed uncontrollably. She wanted to avoid his gaze, but felt that doing so would be admitting defeat, so she stubbornly kept looking at him.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Her ears began to burn, and her eyelashes trembled slightly.

"Xiangyang," her voice was a little softer than before, "is there something on my face? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Liu Xiangyang's lips slowly curled up into a smile.

"have."

Lin Xue was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously wanted to raise her hand to touch her face.

Liu Xiangyang didn't let her move. He reached out and gently rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

"It's a little red here."

Lin Xue froze, her face turning even redder.

Liu Xiangyang withdrew his hand, and looking at her, the smile in his eyes deepened.

"Lin Xue, you're so beautiful, wouldn't it be a waste not to take a few more glances?"

Lin Xue blinked, the slight embarrassment and annoyance of being teased she hadn't even had time to rise before she was stunned by those words. Her lips involuntarily curled upwards, her eyes brightening.

"Really? You think I'm pretty?"

Liu Xiangyang nodded.

Lin Xue's smile deepened, but then she frowned slightly, her tone tinged with resentment: "Then why didn't you pay much attention to me before?"

Liu Xiangyang looked at her, not in a hurry to answer. He took half a step forward, getting a little closer to her.

Lin Xue instinctively wanted to back away, but she held back and stood there, her heart pounding.

Liu Xiangyang looked down at her, his voice lower than before: "I like women who take the initiative."

He paused. "Are you?"