Chapter Two The Young Man

  Just now, things happened too suddenly, Qiao Lian'ou's mind was confused, and she didn't notice the boy who saved her until she came to her senses this time. She took a closer look and found that the boy was Song Xiaoshan, a very healthy and slightly handsome young man with a rustic simplicity.

  Thinking of this, Qiao Lian'ou's face turned a little red. Cough... why is her face red? Because, because Song Xiaoshan and Qiao Lian'ou had secretly liked each other since they were young. Calculating it out, they should be childhood sweethearts who grew up together without any suspicions. However, the kind of beautiful feelings that developed between them seemed to have started a bit too early. But it's clear that Song Xiaoshan treats her very well, could it be that he has already started liking her?

  Qiao Lian'ou was lost in thought as she slowly approached Song Xiaoshan.

  "Hurry up and change out of those wet clothes, wearing them on your body is bad for you, it's easy to get rheumatism."

  Song Xiaoshan apparently did not notice Qiao Lianou's abnormality and greeted her with concern.

  "Oh, thank you. How about you? And what about my second sister, Qian Hua?" Qian Ou asked while glancing at Song Xiao Shan. Song Xiao Shan was around thirteen or fourteen years old, tall and slender, with a clear facial outline, bright eyes, and particularly well-shaped lips that curled up slightly at the corners, making him look especially handsome.

  "Hmm, they've all left and your sister has gone home too. I was afraid that you would lose something, so I'm waiting for you here."

  Qiao Lian'ou smiled in her heart. What was there to see? Just an old dress and a pair of ordinary trousers that couldn't be any more ordinary. Who wouldn't dare steal them?

  Song Xiaoshan saw Qiao Lian'ou looking at him as if he was a stranger, and politely said something like "thank you", then mysteriously smiled again, leaving Song feeling confused for a moment. What's wrong with this girl? How did she change into this state after running around in circles? He said:

  "What are you looking at? You've seen me before, I think your mom scared you silly. But to be honest, your mom was a bit too harsh just now, she hit you with the stick and even pushed you into the river, I've seen people being cruel but not this cruel."

  Song Xiaoshan kept muttering to himself. Qiao Lianou listened to this and calmed down, starting to recall why she almost drowned. This matter, Qiao Lianou had always remembered.

  Originally, Qin Ying had cooked the meal and was looking for Qiao Lian'ou and Er Mei Qiao Lian Hua to eat. After searching around the village, she heard that Qiao Lian'ou had followed a large group of people to the river to take a bath. When Qin Ying heard this, she became anxious and angry, grabbed a yellow willow branch from the woodpile and ran towards the riverbank. Seeing Qiao Lian'ou soaking in the water, darkened by the sun, her anger flared up and she wanted to hit Qiao Lian'ou. Qiao Lian'ou was frightened and quickly got out of the water and ran towards the shore. Qin Ying, with a burst of rage, grabbed Qiao Lian'ou and threw him into the water, saying "Today you're going to die!" And that's how it happened.

  "Huh? No way! The water in this area isn't that deep, and you know how to swim. How could you have almost drowned?"

  Song Xiaoshan suddenly asked.

  "I don't know, that place was so deep just now, it scared me to death."

  "Oh, I see. Probably the floodwaters rose a few days ago and washed away a section of the road over there. The water was rushing and swirling, yeah, that's probably what happened. We'll have to be more careful next time." Song Xiaoshan urged Qiao Lian'ou, "Hurry up and change your clothes, what are you standing there for?"

  "Hmm, change clothes, where to change? This place..." Jiaoluo felt a bit embarrassed. The riverbank had water on one side and sand and stones on the other, with a young man standing in front of her. How could she change? Wasn't it impossible to change in front of him? At that time, social norms were not so open yet.

  Qiao Lian Ou stood still on the spot.

  "I said you're acting strange today? Isn't there a big rock over there? Hurry up and change behind the rock! You do it like that every day, why are you pretending not to know today?"

  Qiao Lian'ou raised her head and took a look, indeed, there were countless large and small stones in the riverbank. It turned out that every time she bathed with a group of men and women before, they would change clothes in these places. It seems that Ye Xiaozu is really not famous for nothing, not even a bit of elegance.

  But then again, what's the point of being a lady? It's all about suppressing oneself to please men, killing one's own nature and living unhappily. I used to be a lady every day to please that man I deeply loved, but in the end, how did it turn out? Wasn't I still dumped? And he even said something like "I left you because you have no personality" - what cruel words!

  Qiao Lian'ou thought of some people and things that had happened to her, gritted her teeth, sighed, and thought, "Forget it, I'm not going to be a lady this lifetime. Life is short, all I want is to live freely once, men? Love whoever you want!"

  Thinking of this, Qiao Lian'ou picked up the dry clothes on the ground and ran to the back of a large round stone not far away.

  "Don't look!" He squatted down and shouted a sentence to Song Xiaoshan.

  "Who's looking, I'll go ahead and wait for you." Song Xiaoshan didn't even turn his head, and walked straight forward. After leaving the riverbank, he entered the cornfield. Once through the cornfield, he could reach home.

  Qiao Lian'ou took off the short-sleeved shirt she was wearing, looked at her own chest with a hint of embarrassment, and sighed. She was still pretending to be shy, but that thing had only just begun to show some signs of development. Her body was thin, but her skin was smooth, although the color wasn't great.

  Qiao Lianou changed into a new set of clothes, carefully putting the fish-shaped stone that had been in her palm all along into her clothing package. She stood up, put on plastic sandals, and took the clothes and pants she had taken off to wash by the river.

  When squatting down to wash clothes, I noticed that the water in the river was very clear. The sunlight shone on the surface of the water, and the sand and stones at the bottom of the river could be seen clearly. Those clever little fish, about half an inch long, swam happily in groups in the water, as if they had taken this river water as their most beautiful paradise.

  Qiao Lian'ou felt a surge of excitement when she saw the water.

  As I grew up, with the development of the economy, the water in this river also changed, becoming murky and unsightly, with fewer fish, and some even disappearing. The upper reaches of the river have many quartz sand factories, which directly discharge yellowish wastewater into the river. The river has been dug with many large and small pits by sand miners, making it look extremely ugly. Not to mention swimming, even people washing clothes by the riverbank have almost disappeared, because the water is white and has a faint stench. At that time, the water was at its best, without any pollution, and villagers' homes did not yet have tap water, so every household used buckets to fetch water from the river for cooking.

  Qiao Lian'ou grew up, if she wanted to swim, she could only go to the swimming pool, but the swimming pool was crowded like cooking dumplings, where can she swim freely? Moreover, the water was dirty and couldn't be compared with the water in this river.

  Now reborn in childhood, although the economy is still underdeveloped, but the environment has not been polluted yet, and can still enjoy the most natural and refreshing swimming, it's really great!

  Thinking of this, Qiao Lianyou smiled happily. After being happy for a while, worries came again, and she muttered to herself, I don't know if Dad is still there... If Dad is not there, what's the point of rebirth? If Dad is still there, everything would be too wonderful!

  When Qiao Lianyu's father, Qiao Zhenxuan, passed away, Qiao Lianyu was only 11 years old. Now, Qiao Lianyu can't determine how old she is, it seems that she needs to go back and take a look at the calendar, or ask her mother.

  Qiao Lianou left the water's edge and walked along a path on the riverbank towards home, with a heavy heart, some anticipation, and some tension.