54: Chapter 54 The night before I went to the capital, she knocked on my door in the middle of the night.

5:00 PM.

After finishing today's classes for the children, Lin Waner hummed a little tune and pushed open the courtyard gate.

She saw Su Che under the eaves, packing an old military backpack.

Inside were a few changes of clothes, a toiletry bag, and some scattered electronic components she didn't understand.

"Su Che, you..."

Lin Waner's voice trembled slightly; she had a bad premonition.

"Are you leaving?"

Su Che stopped what he was doing, looked up, and watched her.

"Yeah."

He nodded.

"Going to the capital."

"General Zhang just called; I'm leaving tomorrow."

Su Che's heart was far from calm, but he spoke casually.

Lin Waner didn't say anything.

She walked over, crouched down, and silently took out the messily folded clothes, refolding them carefully one by one before placing them back into the backpack.

Her hands were shaking violently.

"For... for how long?"

"I don't know." Su Che looked at the top of her fuzzy head, feeling a bitter pang of reluctance, yet he also felt the desire to go to the capital to further explore his grandfather's secrets.

"Maybe a short time, or maybe... a very long time."

"Oh."

Lin Waner responded softly and said nothing more.

The atmosphere became somewhat oppressive.

It was so quiet that only the "shasha" sound of the backpack zipper being slowly pulled could be heard.

...

Night.

It was getting late.

Su Che lay on the simple cot in the workshop, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

His mind was filled with the image of Lin Waner's red eyes from that afternoon.

Damn it.

It felt like a life-and-death separation.

Just as his mind was wandering.

"Creak—"

The workshop door was gently pushed open, leaving a crack.

A slender figure wrapped in pink, fuzzy pajamas squeezed through the gap like a startled little rabbit.

It was Lin Waner.

She didn't turn on the light, using only the faint moonlight from the window as she walked barefoot, step by step, to the bedside.

"Su Che."

Her voice was light and soft, carrying a hint of a tremor.

"I... I'm cold."

With a "thud," Su Che sat up abruptly from the bed.

He looked at the girl before him.

A button on her pajamas had come undone at some point, revealing a small patch of snowy-white skin and a deep cleavage.

With her nervous breathing, those sizable mounds rose and fell.

A faint milky scent, mixed with the fragrance of shampoo, drifted into Su Che's nostrils.

Su Che watched this scene, smelling the virginal scent on Lin Waner.

He felt the blood throughout his body begin to boil with heat.

He threw back the blanket.

"Get in."

Lin Waner bit her lip and obediently climbed onto the bed.

The blanket fell.

It shut out the chill of the winter night.

And it also shut out the last bit of reserve between the two young people.

Su Che flipped over, pinning her beneath him.

This time, he showed no hesitation or clumsiness.

Their lips met.

...

A long time passed.

The wind died down, and the rain ceased.

Lin Waner curled up in Su Che's arms like a lazy kitten, drawing circles on his firm chest with her finger.

Her face was as red as a ripe apple.

"Su Che."

"Hmm?"

"Going to the capital this time, I might be able to find out more about my grandfather's secrets," Su Che said softly, stroking her smooth back.

"Waner, do you... want to come with me?"

Lin Waner's body trembled slightly.

She looked up into Su Che's eyes.

"I... I want to go."

There was a hint of hesitation and struggle in her voice.

"But... what about the children in the village? If I leave, who will teach them?"

On one side was the man she deeply loved.

On the other side were the children she had spent two years with day and night, whom she already saw as her own.

Both were equally dear to her.

Su Che smiled.

He reached out and tapped her petite nose.

"Silly girl."

"Now that the village has nuclear power and fiber optic internet, and water is no longer a worry, the conditions are much better than before."

"The state and the county will definitely treat this place as a key support target; the conditions at the village primary school will only get better and better."

"You can't possibly teach them for a lifetime, can you?"

As Su Che spoke, he reached for his phone on the nightstand.

He scrolled through his contacts and found a number.

"Besides, Director Yang from the County Education Bureau still owes me a big favor from before the New Year."

"Asking him to arrange for a reliable teacher to come here is a trivial matter."

After saying that, he pressed the dial button.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up.

"Hello? Who is it?" A drowsy, bureaucratic male voice came from the other end.

"Director Yang, it's Su Che."

Immediately, the sound of frantic movement came from the other end, as if someone were scrambling out of bed to get dressed.

A few seconds later, Director Yang's voice rang out again, this time filled with absolute enthusiasm.

"Oh! It's Engineer Su! You... you haven't rested yet this late?"

"Is something wrong?" Su Che got straight to the point.

"I'm short a teacher here at Su Family Village Primary School."

"I want the best, the most responsible kind."

"I want to see someone here tomorrow."

"No problem! No problem!" Director Yang thumped his chest loudly on the other end.

"Rest assured, Engineer Su! I'll hold a meeting overnight to study this! No! I'll personally go to the best primary school in the city right now, knock on doors one by one, and poach someone for you!"

"I guarantee that by tomorrow morning, the top teacher in the whole county will be delivered to the village entrance!"

He hung up the phone.

Su Che tossed the phone aside and looked at the stunned Lin Waner in his arms, grinning.

"Now, are there any more problems?"

Lin Waner looked at him, looking at this man who could always easily solve any difficult problem in a way she couldn't understand.

She shook her head and buried her face deeper into his chest.

...

The next morning, the eighteenth day of the first lunar month.

The sky had just begun to brighten.

A dull and massive roar approached from the distance, breaking the morning silence of Su Family Village.

A Z-20 helicopter painted in military green camouflage slowly descended over the threshing floor at the village entrance.

The massive airflow stirred up by the rotors blew ice fragments into the air, dancing everywhere.

General Zhang had arrived.