Chapter 144: Chapter 142: He Won’t Retaliate, Will He?

The commune Wang Xinxin worked at was the largest in their area, and it was responsible for quite a lot on a daily basis.

She was mainly in charge of agricultural matters, including things related to planting crops.

After all, this was Wang Xinxin’s area of expertise. They had recruited her specifically to help improve the local soil conditions.

The hope was to open up a large enough plot of arable land to become self-sufficient.

However, the Northwest was still too remote, so some seeds had to be allocated and sent over by the higher-ups.

Their commune didn’t have a truck, so they had to borrow one from the nearby military barracks to haul back the seeds and fertilizer.

As it happened, Chen Zhengnian had nothing to do today, so he acted as the driver.

After he helped the commune bring the supplies back, it was Wang Xinxin who went to receive them.

Just then, Chen Zhengnian opened his door and accidentally scraped Wang Xinxin.

Wang Xinxin fell to the ground, and the things in her hands scattered everywhere.

The young woman landed hard on her bottom and was wincing in pain.

She looked up and saw it was the man her cousin-in-law disliked.

The anger in her heart instantly flared up.

Chen Zhengnian reached out a hand, wanting to pull Wang Xinxin up from the ground.

But Wang Xinxin stood up on her own and dusted off her hands.

“Don’t trouble yourself, I can get up on my own. I just hope you’ll look down once in a while in the future, instead of always looking up.”

Her words were a veiled jab at his arrogant cousin.

Chen Zhengnian’s brows furrowed slightly, a clear sign of his displeasure.

“Have I offended you before?”

He couldn’t recall ever meeting her, let alone having any conflict with her.

Wang Xinxin sneered, looking him up and down without answering.

She turned to leave, but Chen Zhengnian stepped forward and grabbed her arm.

“Make yourself clear.”

“Please, have some self-respect. Don’t make a scene at the commune entrance. I’m a decent young woman.”

Wang Xinxin struggled, but Chen Zhengnian didn’t let go.

The people nearby saw the two of them grappling. Someone wanted to step in but was held back by others.

After being told of Chen Zhengnian’s identity, the person immediately backed down. Who would dare to offend such a high-ranking official?

“I don’t like being wrongly accused. First of all, I don’t know you. Second, I have no quarrel with you. Don’t you think you’re going too far with your words?”

“You’re too young to be speaking so harshly.”

Chen Zhengnian didn’t actually want to do anything to Wang Xinxin; he just wanted to teach her a lesson.

He had a good temper, so he could let it slide.

But if she went elsewhere in the future and ran into a real troublemaker, they wouldn’t let her off so easily.

Wang Xinxin frowned at the man before her.

To be honest, Chen Zhengnian was quite handsome, with a cold expression, sharp brows, and bright eyes.

He also had a very good bearing.

It was just that his words made her feel like she was talking to her own father.

“If you don’t let me go, I’m going to scream for help. I’ll tell everyone you’re molesting a decent girl.”

At Wang Xinxin’s words, Chen Zhengnian immediately let go. He bent down, picked up her things from the ground, and handed them to her.

Wang Xinxin thought Chen Zhengnian was about to say something else, but to her surprise, he just turned and left.

His departing figure looked rather sharp and decisive.

Wang Xinxin was still holding the bag of seeds in her arms. Before she could react, her colleagues from the commune immediately crowded around her.

“Xinxin, you’ve got some nerve! Do you know who that is? How dare you speak to him like that.”

“Yeah, I heard he’s even more formidable than your cousin.”

The Northwest region had a rather unique geographical position, so there were two military barracks stationed along the border defense line.

One was Lu Xiao’s barracks. Lu Xiao was the infamous Cold-faced Yama.

He was sharp-witted and uncompromisingly upright. He handled matters with clean efficiency and had always been a favorite among his superiors.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been promoted so quickly.

As for Chen Zhengnian, his family had been involved with the military for three generations, so he was more or less following in his ancestors’ footsteps.

However, he had also worked his way up from the bottom, reaching his current position step by step, which was also very impressive.

Neither of these two men was someone to be trifled with or offended.

That was why everyone thought Wang Xinxin had some serious nerve to dare speak to him like that just now.

Hearing everyone praise Chen Zhengnian as if he were a god, Wang Xinxin felt a flicker of fear.

’So what if he’s capable? In her heart, her cousin was the most capable one.’

She just couldn’t stand the things his cousin had done.

’If she had gotten back a little later that day, and something had happened to the baby in my cousin-in-law’s belly, my cousin would have gone insane.’

’Based on the fact that his family could raise someone as black-hearted and conscienceless as his cousin, she refused to believe he could be a good person.’

Everyone exchanged glances but didn’t say anything more.

Wang Xinxin had her cousin to protect her, so she could get away with saying such things. They, on the other hand, had no one.

On her way home that evening, Wang Xinxin was still mulling it over. She was now belatedly starting to feel a little afraid that Chen Zhengnian would retaliate against her.

But what she feared more was bringing unnecessary trouble to her family.

“Xinxin, what’s wrong? Did someone at the commune bully you today? You seem distracted.”

It was Su Tang who noticed something was off with Wang Xinxin. Seeing her picking at her food with tiny bites, not eating with her usual appetite, she figured something must have happened.

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at Wang Xinxin.

“Yeah, Xinxin, what’s wrong? Did someone bully you? If they did, just tell your cousin to deal with them,” Mrs. Lu added.

At first, Wang Xinxin shook her head, wanting to say it was nothing. But then, thinking about how she had antagonized Chen Zhengnian today, she nodded.

“So what on earth happened? Look at you, child. Shaking your head one moment and nodding the next, you’re confusing me.”

Hearing Mrs. Lu’s words, Wang Xinxin sighed and finally said, “I ran into Chen Zhengnian at the commune today, and I got into a conflict with him.”

Wang Xinxin put down her chopsticks, saying this with some embarrassment.

“Everyone at my commune says he’s a big shot. I’m not scared for myself, but I’m afraid of dragging our family into it.”

“He won’t really retaliate against us, will he?”

Wang Xinxin’s face was filled with worry. Su Tang glanced at Lu Xiao, then smiled.

“What era do you think this is? The old days? Where someone could have you killed with a single word?”

’Besides, if he really wanted to do something to them, did he think Lu Xiao was just a decoration here?’

Hearing her cousin-in-law’s words, Wang Xinxin was still troubled.

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Of course it’s okay. Your cousin-in-law said it’s fine, so it’s definitely fine. Even if you don’t believe it, I have to believe your cousin-in-law.”

Lu Xiao said with a slight raise of his eyebrow, his words completely turning things on their head.

’If something like this really happened, it would obviously be more effective for him to step in, wouldn’t it?’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep