Country Love: Xie Dajiao, 37, is pregnant!

Her body tensed, and she suppressed the urge to scream, feeling both scared and panicked.

After being stuck in the room for a long time, I became more and more frightened. Finally, I couldn't bear it any longer and could only carefully hold onto the wall and grab the stair railing, taking one step at a time, and shakily walk downstairs.

As he reached the corner of the stairs, a faint light appeared below. Lin Chen was squatting by the coffee table, rummaging through a drawer for candles with a lighter, the flame flickering.

He muttered to himself:

"Let's use fewer candles with Big Foot, because when we really need them, we'll be all gone..."

"Brother Chen..." Chen Yannan called out softly, her voice trembling noticeably.

Lin Chen looked up at her, the firelight reflecting off his face, and Chen Yannan was immediately filled with a sense of security.

"Are you scared? Don't be afraid, the power went out because of the thunder. The power won't be back on for a while. Don't move, I'll just light a candle."

Finally, he found three thick candles that were half-used. Why thick? Because thinner ones have less wax.

Lin Chen lit the candles one by one and placed them in several key locations.

The warm yellow candlelight flickered gently, illuminating the dark room and casting long shadows of the two people. The fear dissipated considerably, replaced by a sense of quiet and tenderness.

Lin Chen handed Chen Yannan a bottle of room temperature beverage, then sat down on the sofa and patted the seat next to him.

"Sit down for a bit, standing is tiring. It'll probably be dark tonight anyway, and we've got nothing else to do, so let's chat for a bit."

Chen Yannan hesitated for a long time before slowly walking over and sitting down, deliberately moving away from him to keep her distance, and placing her hands properly on her knees.

The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, with raindrops pattering against the glass and thunder rumbling in waves.

The two chatted idly by candlelight. Lin Chen told her gossip about Ivory Mountain, saying that Xie Guangkun could beatbox, which Chen Yannan clearly didn't believe.

"Don't be ridiculous, how could Uncle Guangkun possibly do that?"

"Look at you, you still don't believe me..."

Lin Chen lay on the sofa, propping his head up with one hand, and said:

"Seriously, I bumped into him the other day, and he was doing beatboxing, acting all professional, making all sorts of 'poof' sounds. But when I got closer, I realized there was a green fly flying into his mouth."

Chen Yannan couldn't help but lower her head and laugh as she listened, her shoulders trembling slightly. Finally, she burst into laughter, and her initial restraint gradually dissipated.

"Oh, you're so mean."

She chatted with Lin Chen about her past, saying that when she graduated from Lin University and was interning, she spent her days sitting in the office filling out forms and organizing ledgers. It was incredibly boring, and she had to be mindful of other people's moods every day. Her life was depressing and stifling.

"At that time, I just wanted to find a stable place."

Chen Yannan hugged her knees, her gaze fixed on the flickering candlelight, and spoke softly:

"Our Xiangyashan is really great. Life moves slowly, and the people are simple and honest. It's much more comfortable than the city. I really love it here."

Lin Chen turned his head to look at her:

"If you like it, stay longer. No one will kick you out. The village needs someone like you who knows the business. Do a good job and don't feel pressured."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud clap of thunder erupted outside, so loud it seemed to shake the windows.

Chen Yannan trembled with fright and instinctively dodged to the side, bumping solidly into Lin Chen's arm. Lin Chen, caught off guard, ended up lying on her lap.

Just as she was about to get up to apologize and move away, Lin Chen gently grabbed her wrist.

"Don't be afraid, it's just a normal thunderstorm, nothing to worry about."

His voice was low, and his warm breath brushed against her chin, sending shivers down her spine.

Chen Yannan dared not move a muscle. Her heart was pounding so fast it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. Luckily, her chest was thick enough to keep it from bursting out.

Even through the thin pajamas, the heat of his palms was intense, burning straight into my heart. All I could smell was his clean scent, mixed with a faint hint of tobacco, making me dizzy.

She struggled internally, her reason telling her again and again that this was wrong, that she couldn't cross the line, that Xiaomei was a very good person, and that she couldn't let her down. But her body wouldn't listen, unwilling to break free, clinging to this moment of warmth and security.

This was the first time in her life she had been so close to a man, dressed so lightly, and the first time she had experienced this kind of captivating sense of security.

The room was eerily quiet, with only the sounds of wind, rain, and faint thunder, as well as the increasingly rapid breathing of the two people. Their shadows on the wall were pressed tightly together, inseparable.

After a long stalemate, Chen Yannan's throat tightened, and she whispered:

"Brother Chen...I...I'm alright now."

Lin Chen slowly released his hand, but did not look away. He just stared at her with deep eyes, hiding emotions he could not suppress.

Chen Yannan mustered her courage and looked down, just as her eyes met his.

The moment their eyes met, neither of them looked away. All restraint and forbearance crumbled at that moment, and the little thoughts in their hearts could no longer be hidden.

After a long pause, Lin Chen lowered his voice and asked bluntly:

"Yan Nan, do you... like me a little too?"

One sentence directly exposed the secrets she had kept hidden for so many days and nights.

Chen Yannan's face instantly turned bright red, and her eyes welled up with tears. She wanted to shake her head, to deny it, to hide her thoughts, but her lips trembled for a long time, and she couldn't utter a single word.

My heart was filled with a mix of panic, guilt, sweetness, and bitterness.

"Brother Chen, I know this is wrong..."

Her voice choked with emotion, filled with deep conflict and helplessness:

"Xiaomei is such a good person, I shouldn't have had feelings for you. Let me go back to my room. Once everything in the orchard is settled, I'll leave, I'll stay far away..."

He said he was leaving, but his body didn't move an inch; a classic case of saying one thing and meaning another.

Lin Chen raised his hand, his fingers gently brushing against her face, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Chen Yannan trembled, instinctively wanting to dodge, but in the end she forced herself to hold back. Her bottom line and moral shackles crumbled and shattered little by little.

"I've been enduring it all along."

Lin Chen's voice was deep and particularly frank:

"I've never forgotten how flustered and gentle you were when you first arrived."

That one sentence completely shattered all of Chen Yannan's defenses.

The emotions that had been bottled up for so long suddenly burst forth, and tears streamed down my face. It wasn't resentment, but the relief of finally getting a response after enduring so much, and the indulgence of knowing I was wrong but willingly succumbing to it.

She quickly wiped away her tears, looked at him with a flustered yet determined gaze, a resolute air of a moth drawn to a flame.

"Brother Chen, I won't cause trouble, and I won't bother you."

Her voice was soft, but every word was sincere:

"I don't want anything, I don't want any title or status. You don't need to make things difficult for me. Just keep it a secret from Sister Xiaomei. It's just the two of us who know about this. I'll never tell anyone for the rest of my life. I just... can't help liking you."

She lived a dignified and proud life, never vying for anything, but she had kept this feeling of attraction hidden for too long, and she simply couldn't hold on any longer.

Even if it's something that can't be brought to light, even if it's wrong, she wants to indulge herself this once.

Lin Chen sat up and pulled her into his arms.

Chen Yannan made a symbolic struggle, but her strength was pitifully weak; it was more like a self-comforting struggle, trying to convince herself that she wasn't ungrateful.

The next second, she completely melted into his arms, all her stubbornness, restraint, and defensiveness vanishing completely.

When Lin Chen lowered his head to kiss her, she kept her eyes tightly closed, tears still clinging to her eyelashes, her fingers gripping his clothes tightly, trembling with nervousness.

Lin Chen lifted her up. Now that he had more energy, his 110-pound weight was no problem. He carried her from the living room to the stairs and then to the guest room on the second floor.

The whole journey was marked by restrained panic and a knowing yet deliberate descent into depravity.

She murmured softly over and over again:

"Don't do that, it's not good..."

My conscience was constantly tug-of-war, tormenting me, but my body was incredibly honest, craving his warmth, his gentleness, and this sense of security I had never experienced before.

This wasn't a momentary impulse; it was the affection she had kept hidden in her heart day after day, which finally burst forth and was completely unleashed on this stormy night.

……

The rain outside was pouring down like crazy, as if there was a huge hole in the sky, pounding and making a loud crackling sound all over the world.

The scallion rows in Zhao Si's vegetable garden were the first to suffer. The scallions were deeply rooted, with their half-foot-long roots firmly gripping the soil. The wind and rain lashed down at an angle, and the scallion leaves on the outermost row were pulled so that they bent into bows close to the ground, snapping with a crack at the top.

With a muffled thud, the entire plant was uprooted, its white, fibrous roots covered in a clump of wet mud. It splattered onto the chive patch, splashing mud all over the green chive leaves, which dripped down from the tips.

Yutian's mother rushed out in the heavy rain, but Liu Ying stopped her and persuaded her not to worry about the scallions.

The water in the furrows had long since overflowed the ridges, with a layer of white foam floating on the surface. As the water flowed, it crashed against the clods of earth on the back of the ridges, breaking into tiny white flakes with a gurgling sound, scattering all over the furrows.

The old stone mill at the base of Wang Xiaomeng's house was filled with soup mixed with ash and dregs in the mill groove. It dripped down the edge of the mill, each drop spreading out in a white circle. Around the mill eye, there was also a ring of soaked white paste, mixed with mud, dripping down.

The old tree not far from Big Foot Supermarket was being torn apart by the wind, its branches swaying wildly and its leaves flapping loudly. But no one had time to care about it now, as everyone was busy closing their windows, afraid that rainwater would seep into their houses.