You are all bad women! Don't come over!

Shen Mochen walked ahead by himself, while Cai Yuncui, head bowed and shoulders hunched, followed closely behind, never straying too far from him.

But contrary to the mood when they had set out, the atmosphere on the return was quite oppressive; neither of them said a word as if the air itself were solidifying, so oppressive and silent that it was suffocating.

Breaking this silence were several shaggy wild dogs from the countryside. They appeared from nowhere, ran up to Shen Mochen, and started barking incessantly.

Shen Mochen, already annoyed, picked up a stone and hurled it at one of them. Then, the shaggy dogs yelped and ran off.

"Isn't this little Cui? How come you didn't say anything about coming back!" an old man came walking from a distance, laughing heartily.

He looked to be in his seventies, leaning on a cane, with a glint of shrewdness in his eyes.

"Uncle San..."

Cai Yuncui raised her head and greeted him softly.

Uncle San nodded and then turned to look at Shen Mochen who was standing aside, "And who might this be?"

Shen Mochen didn't respond, and Cai Yuncui also awkwardly didn't know how to introduce him.

Uncle San frowned slightly, but although he thought the young man's clothes seemed high-end, he didn't take much notice of this dusty-faced fellow and just smiled, "Are you back to see your grandmother?"

"Mhm..."

Cai Yuncui nodded gently.

"I heard you retired?"

"Mhm."

"So which unit have you been assigned to? I've heard that for someone who's served as long as you, you could at least become a minor official in the city!"

"I'm working as... a teacher."

Cai Yuncui said with her head down, the last two words barely audible like a mosquito's buzz.
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She was ashamed; she hadn't been a good teacher. Especially after what had happened with her student just now, being stripped bare in front of him, she felt she had let down her profession.

"You actually became a regular teacher?"

Uncle San's face showed shock, his beard trembling.

Cai Yuncui nodded in silence.

"You... you're out of your mind!" Uncle San stamped the ground with his cane, shouting angrily.

"I didn't believe it when I heard it from others; I never thought you would actually be so foolish! For so many years, you were the only one to come out of our village, and we were counting on you to climb up the ranks, make a fortune, and take care of the folks back home, but you end up just being a lousy teacher?"

Uncle San raised his cane, pointing it at Cai Yuncui's nose as he scolded her, and Cai Yuncui's head hung even lower. She glanced around; Shen Mochen hadn't waited for her and had already walked far ahead.

She couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed, but then again, slightly relieved. After all, the way she was getting scolded was too embarrassing, really something she wouldn't want to be seen in.

"Although you've indeed helped the village by fixing roads and providing electricity over these years, and we're all very grateful for that, we've also taken care of you when you were young, right? Do we owe you anything? Others can go to the city and become high-ranking officials, all prestigious and respected. Look at you, what help could you be to the villagers in the future? Our Xiaoyu has been working in the factory for years, and she keeps talking about you. Every day she says Sister Yuncui will eventually pull some strings to get her into a government agency so she can have an easier life and enjoy some good fortune. And now, what's become of you, how can you face her?"

Uncle's powerful voice was a loud rebuke; he was so agitated that his voice carried far, so much so that Shen Mochen, who was already far away, couldn't help frowning.

So annoying, this damned old man, just yapping non-stop.

Shen Mochen quickened his pace, not wanting to hear any more of that unpleasant voice.

When he got back to Cai Yuncui's house, Shen Mochen didn't even bother with his grandma, went straight into Cai Yuncui's small bedroom, leaned on the bed, and played with his phone.

The signal in the countryside was really weak, barely able to get on the internet. Shen Mochen, who used to be focused solely on studying, hadn't even downloaded a single offline game, so after scrolling through his phone, apart from a few risqué videos from Liu Bo, there was nothing interesting.

Shen Mochen turned off his phone, feeling even more annoyed, then turned on the flashlight and started rummaging through Cai Yuncui's room. But there was nothing fun in her room, only some textbooks and homework from her schooldays.

Shen Mochen first flipped through her homework. The handwriting was pretty and looked earnest, but it was a mix of rights and wrongs, with a success rate that was simply too painful to watch.

The Jishi Association's homework was quite simple, about as difficult as that crap from the community primary schools. And yet, Cai Yuncui still made many mistakes; she was really a fool, as dumb as a pig. It was lucky she had the stroke of fate to awaken a superpower; otherwise, Shen Mochen couldn't bear to imagine her future.

After putting the homework back, Shen Mochen opened the Jishi Association textbooks. The Jishi Association used similar content across countries, mainly using the local public textbooks, but given its religious nature, they also included ideological education and distributed their own textbooks.

These textbooks would typically be approved by local governments, so there wouldn't be any problems. Under normal circumstances, Shen Mochen wouldn't be interested in this irrelevant ideological education, but he was in a bad mood today, with nothing else to do, so he reluctantly opened them, just to amuse himself as if reading fairy tales to pass the time.

Shen Mochen went to the hall, idly flipping through the books by daylight, and finally, Cai Yuncui came back.

But even upon her return, she didn't greet Shen Mochen, just saw that he was home and started to cook.

About another half an hour later, Cai Yuncui hesitantly made her way to the hall at the back of the house, head down, staring at her toes, and softly said, "Xiaochen, dinner's ready."

Shen Mochen looked up at her, got up, and went to the front room to eat.

After eating, he continued reading. Along the way, he received a call from Du Ziqi and told the other party he was now in the countryside before hanging up. Cai Yuncui stayed close to Shen Mochen, not too close, nor too far, sitting silently with her head down.

Not long after, a loud and rich male voice rang out from the front room.

The old lady ran to the back hall with a smile on her face, grabbing Cai Yuncui's hand, "Hurry, hurry, Boss Wang is here!"

Shen Mochen looked up, and Cai Yuncui was also turning her head to look at him.

However, as their gazes met, they both looked away at the same time, Shen Mochen went back to his reading, while Cai Yuncui was dragged to the front room by her grandma to meet the big boss who had specifically come from the city for the blind date.

What a bore, Shen Mochen thought to himself.

To be having a matchmaking session at such a young age, country folk really lack vision. In Yu Huai City, she's working at First Middle School, where she'll have plenty of chances to meet all sorts of high officials in the future!

While Shen Mochen kept reading, he remembered Cai Yuncui standing shyly in front of him, like a fawn, and suddenly he felt unable to continue.

The matchmaking seemed to be going unpleasantly. Shen Mochen heard the old lady yelling, then the man's attempts at calming... In the end, it seemed the match didn't conclude on a happy note.

Cai Yuncui ran back to the backyard with red eyes, burst into the small dark room, and sobbed into her pillow while her grandmother followed, cursing under her breath.