Chapter 625: Chance Encounter

On first hearing the news that Fu Yan Cheng was injured, Chuxue panicked a little; when the person on the other end of the phone just now had called her "sister-in-law," she hadn't even reacted.

It wasn't until she was riding her bicycle out of the village that she thought of it.

Gripping the handlebar with one hand, she raised the other and gave herself a smack on the forehead, a flicker of awkwardness crossing her face.

She and Fu Yan Cheng weren't married yet, so being called sister-in-law now really was a bit early, and it made her feel rather embarrassed.

With the matter weighing on her mind, her feet unconsciously sped up the pedaling.

She soon arrived at the commune health clinic and saw Seventh Grandfather sitting there playing chess with someone again: "Seventh Grandfather."

Liu Laoqi looked up and saw Chuxue at once: "What brings you back again?"

Chuxue propped her bicycle against him: "Seventh Grandfather, I have an urgent matter and need to go back to the city. I'll leave the bike here with you for now; my dad will come pick it up later."

Liu Laoqi didn't press for details, waving his hand: "No need for him to come all the way just for that. I'll ride it back to him when I head home tonight."

Chuxue didn't stand on ceremony with Liu Laoqi either: "Alright, then thank you very much, Seventh Grandfather. Next time I'm back I'll bring you something good to eat."

Liu Laoqi beamed at her words: "That'll do, then. Seventh Grandfather will be waiting."

Leaving the health clinic, Chuxue jogged toward the main road outside. The morning bus to the city had already left, so now she could only get to the road and see if she could flag down a passing vehicle for a lift.

When she jogged to the intersection, there wasn't a single vehicle in sight—not even a single ox cart.

Remembering that every village's autumn harvest was wrapping up, she understood at once.

She didn't want to wait, so she figured she'd walk while keeping an eye out for a ride.

Half an hour passed, and she still hadn't run into a single vehicle. She couldn't help getting anxious, and her pace quickened considerably.

Just as she was thinking she might have to walk all the way back to the city today, she heard a vehicle coming her way and quickly looked back.

In the distance she saw a jeep heading toward her; it was going so fast that a trail of dust kicked up behind it.

She couldn't be bothered with shyness anymore, and threw her arm out to flag it down.

But the vehicle showed no sign of slowing at all. As it passed her, it actually sped up, leaving her with a mouthful of dirt, so angry she wanted to curse someone out.

She covered her mouth and nose with her arm and quickly stepped back toward the roadside.

What she hadn't expected was that after the vehicle had gone quite a distance, it reversed and came back.

Just as Chuxue looked over, the person sitting in the back seat leaned out: "Chuxue."

Chuxue looked up and saw who was sitting in the car: "Sister-in-law Gu."

The person in the car was none other than Li Xiaoya, the daughter-in-law of Deputy Factory Director Gu of the Steel Rolling Mill: "Yes, it's me."

Saying so, she pushed open the car door: "Get on quick.

I'm really sorry. I was shaken down once on the road before, so I haven't dared let strangers hitch a ride easily—that's why I didn't stop."

Hearing her explanation, Chuxue looked surprised: "There was such a thing?"

Li Xiaoya waited until Chuxue was in the car and the door was shut before saying: "You bet. Gave someone a lift out of kindness, and when she got out, the woman fell to the ground and insisted the car had moved before she'd steadied herself, that's why she got hurt.

Not wanting to get tangled up with them, and not wanting to delay our trip either, I had no choice but to pay her ten yuan to settle it."

Chuxue figured it was a case of once bitten, twice shy, and didn't want to dwell on it, so she asked: "Where are you headed?"

Li Xiaoya then said: "My sister-in-law's mother-in-law is from around Changping. Yesterday we got her call—her mother-in-law's mother had gone up on the roof yesterday to bring in the drying vegetables, slipped off the ladder, and broken her leg. She asked us to help drive her mother-in-law back to Changping.

We set off before dawn this morning and didn't expect to run into you on the road."

The two of them chatted on and off: "How is it, are you settling in at the factory?"

Chuxue smiled and nodded: "Mm, the coworkers are all pretty good to me."

"Originally, when you first arrived at the factory, I wanted to invite you over for a meal. But then my father-in-law said you'd just gotten there, and he was afraid that if we rashly invited you home and someone with ill intent saw it, rumors would spread, so we had to drop it."

Chuxue didn't think Li Xiaoya was lying; on the contrary, she felt Director Gu really was looking out for her: "Thank you for thinking of me."

Li Xiaoya laughed: "It's almost three months now, and with today's ready-made excuse, come over for a meal next weekend. If anyone asks, just say we ran into each other on the road and hit it off."

She naturally wouldn't refuse someone else's kindness: "Alright."