67: Chapter 67 Will You Cry or Not?

Everyone looked toward the sound, only to realize it was just a piece of wood in the campfire snapping from the heat.

Boss Zhao quickly got up to check, discovering that the field mice roasting over the coals were thoroughly cooked, glistening with oil, and giving off an incredibly intense aroma!

Guo Jianjun, with great tacit understanding, brought over some salt and sprinkled it evenly over them.

Boss Zhao picked up the plumpest roasted field mouse and handed it to Zhao the Second: "Here, you found gold today and earned the most out of all of us, so you get the first skewer!"

Zhao the Second took it without standing on ceremony. Not caring that it might burn his mouth, he blew on the steaming mouse meat a couple of times and started eating in large mouthfuls.

Boss Zhao picked up another golden, crispy roasted field mouse and handed it to Zheng Jing: "Come on, you're the runner-up, this one's for you!"

Zheng Jing hurriedly shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, no!"

Guo Jianjun leaned over, his face full of confusion: "Such delicious stuff, and you won't eat it?"

Zheng Jing quietly took a step back and smiled bitterly: "I'm not afraid of poisonous creatures like snakes, centipedes, or scorpions, but mice are the one thing I can't stand. Just thinking about their fur and long, thin tails gives me goosebumps. I really can't bring myself to eat this kind of game."

Hearing this, Boss Zhao didn't try to persuade him further and happily took the skewer back: "Heh, if you won't eat it, that's perfect. Then your share belongs to me; I love this stuff."

Zheng Jing nodded repeatedly: "No problem, no problem, it's all yours!"

Except for Zheng Jing, the group quickly finished off the roasted field mice, all of them eating until their mouths were glistening with grease, still wanting more!

Since they weren't as tired as usual today, the group couldn't fall asleep right away, so they decided to sit around the fire, drink some tea, and chat idly.

As time passed, the night deepened, and the wind in the mountains grew a bit colder.

Everyone tidied up their teacups, extinguished the campfire, and after confirming there were no safety issues, they planned to return to the car to rest and sleep.

Not long after returning to the car, Zhao the Second suddenly exclaimed in surprise: "Huh? That's strange, there's actually a signal in this desolate mountain!"

As soon as he said this, the other three became interested and took out their phones. Sure enough, there was a signal, though it was much weaker than in normal places.

But it was enough!

In the past, when Gold Panning deep in the mountains, there was no signal all year round, and everyone had long accepted that entering these abandoned mines for Gold Panning meant being cut off from the world. Today, having rarely encountered a network connection, the group instantly lost all sleepiness and took out their phones to pass the time.

For a while, the screens of several phones inside the car flickered on and off, their various glows mixing and reflecting, looking just like the ambient lights of a DJ booth in a nightclub.

Zheng Jing unconsciously scrolled to the call history page, his gaze landing on Lin Ran's phone number that he had saved yesterday.

For some reason, his heart stirred. Acting on a whim, he copied the number, then opened WeChat and tried to send a friend request using the phone number.

He secretly wondered if this number was her WeChat.

The friend request had just been sent when the other party accepted it instantly.

Zheng Jing casually sent a smiley face emoji and followed up by typing: "Hello Lü Dongbin, this is Zheng Jing. Are you feeling any better today?"

Without waiting long, Lin Ran sent a crying-laughing emoji with the text reply: "It's nothing serious, I've mostly recovered."

Zheng Jing replied with an OK gesture: "That's good. Make sure to get plenty of rest."

Lin Ran replied instantly: "Thanks for your concern."

Looking at these four words, Zheng Jing didn't know how to reply for a moment.

He had dated Liu Meng before, so he wasn't a novice when it came to romance. Facing Lin Ran's stunning and beautiful appearance, it would be a lie to say he didn't feel a flicker of excitement in his heart.

However, he was also very clear-headed. He couldn't even keep Liu Meng, who had ordinary circumstances; the gap between him and Lin Ran was even greater!

Even though he now had a cheat, it wasn't the kind of cool, domineering, overpowered system. It was hard to say what the future held, but at the very least, the chasm between them couldn't be bridged in a short time.

From a realistic perspective, the two of them basically wouldn't have a future!

Thinking of this, Zheng Jing simply stopped replying to the message, turned off his phone screen, closed his eyes to rest, and tried to drift off to sleep.

At this moment, Guo Jianjun, who was beside the driver's seat, was also holding his phone and chatting heatedly with his wife, Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei: "Wife, guess what I'm doing right now?"

Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei replied quickly, "There's actually a signal today?"

Then, another slightly complaining message came through: "What else could you be doing? Just Gold Panning, right? Some people only have money in their eyes, leaving their wife and child completely behind."

Guo Jianjun smiled helplessly and typed to soothe her: "Hehe, isn't that just because I want to earn more money to give you and the child a better life?"

Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei said dismissively: "Well, don't act like Yu the Great, passing your own door three times without entering. You've even returned to Hezheng, yet you don't know to come home and see me and our son. The two of us think about you every day."

Guo Jianjun replied casually: "It's not that, it's just that you weren't feeling well during your period, and it wouldn't have been convenient for me to go back."

Unexpectedly, this sentence immediately angered Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei, and a message was thrown back: "So in your eyes, besides that kind of thing, you don't have me and the child in your heart at all, and you don't miss us one bit, right?"

Seeing this, Guo Jianjun hurriedly apologized and kept typing to coax her: "I miss you, how could I not? It was your husband who misspoke. Once I strike it big this time, I'll come back and buy you that bag you were looking at."

Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei's tone finally softened: "That's more like it."

Immediately after, she sent another message: "By the way, how is Kuizi doing now? Is his injury serious?"

Guo Jianjun replied: "It's not a big problem; he'll recover after a few days of rest. If you have time, you can also call and check on Uncle and the others."

Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei agreed.

Guo Jianjun had intended to message Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei to say goodnight, but a joke he had seen online suddenly popped into his head. Feeling playful, he typed and sent it to tease her: "Wife, let me ask you a question: do you actually know how to 'cry'?"

When Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei saw the message, she replied, confused: "Of course I do. Who doesn't know how to cry? When I feel sad or upset, I naturally shed tears."

Guo Jianjun sent a cheeky emoji and continued to press her: "That's not what I mean. I'm asking you, do you actually—know how to 'cry'?"

Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei stared at the text for a few seconds before she realized what he meant.

She immediately replied, expressionless: "Oh, you mean that? Well, I don't know either, because you can't 'actually'..."

"Damn!"

Guo Jianjun instantly lost the urge to chat: "Forget it, forget it. I'm not chatting with you anymore. Going to sleep."

"Hehehe, if you can't, you can't. I didn't say anything about you, why are you getting so worked up?" Cousin-in-law Li Lanwei added, twisting the knife.

"Get lost, I'm going to sleep."

After sending the message, Guo Jianjun turned off his phone screen, closed his eyes in a huff, and forced himself to sleep!

The night passed without incident, with snores rising and falling inside the car.

And what Zheng Jing didn't know was that far away in the provincial capital of Rong City, someone was suffering from insomnia tonight.