Transmigration: Flirted with My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 397 - 396: No Regrets Right?

Chapter 397: Chapter 396: No Regrets Right?

"Uncle, move to the left!"

"Swoosh——"

Li Dahe instinctively lifted his leg, barely taking a step to the left, when a large bucket of snow brushed past his face and poured over the woman.

He turned back, facing Sie Yufei’s carefree smiling face.

"Ha, uncle, no regrets about bringing me home?"

Li Dahe looked at Sie Yufei, suddenly cursed under his breath, took a quick leap forward, and kicked him into a snowbank.

"Ah? Sss..."

Sie Yufei felt wronged, wondering why he got kicked while he was trying to rescue someone.

But then he heard a sizzling sound from his legs and looked down to see his pants had somehow caught fire; luckily, Uncle Team Leader kicked him in time, otherwise, he would have turned into a human torch.

Sie Yufei patted his charred cotton pants, not feeling particularly painful, and continued to grin at Li Dahe: "Uncle, I’m okay."

Li Dahe’s heart skipped a beat, he hurriedly rushed over and tore open Sie Yufei’s pants.

Luckily, there were no burns, just a book-page-sized patch of skin on his calf that had blistered.

Sie Yufei: "Sss—"

Li Dahe: "Only now you remember it hurts?"

"No, just feels like it should hurt."

Sie Yufei looked innocent, "Uncle, it’s too cold, I can’t feel anything."

In the winter nights of the Northeast, his pants torn half away, the numbing Northwest wind instantly made his lower body unable to feel anything except cold.

Li Dahe checked around with a flashlight, saw it was just blistered, didn’t say anything else, took off his cotton jacket and covered his legs, saying, "Stay put, don’t show off."

Sie Yufei saw him wearing only a patched sweater and a shawl, wanting to give the jacket back to him, but before he could pick up the jacket, Li Dahe had already gone to the woman who had pounced on him.

"Brother Sie, just sit, don’t bother." Li Xiaohai said as he took off his jacket, followed Li Dahe’s steps, draped his own jacket over him, then pulled him backward by the arm.

"Dad, don’t go over there." Li Xiaohai said as he tugged.

He had clearly seen just now, this person was trying to kill his dad!

Li Xiaohai’s teeth were nearly clenched to breaking, he was eager to kick that person suffering painfully on the ground a couple more times.

"Dad, why save someone like this? Dying ten thousand times wouldn’t be too many!"

Li Dahe frowned and waved his hand at him to shut up; he shone his flashlight on the person’s face.

Her hair was scorched to ashes, half her face bloody and muddled, most of the skin on her face was burnt, and the other half—

"Dayue!"

Li Dahe finally recognized who this deranged woman was.

He had even held her when she was a little girl.

...

After not seeing any more firelight in normal mode with the telescope, Lin Nianhe switched to thermal mode and only saw a few small red dots left, then she finally sighed relief, letting down the telescope.

Wang Hong didn’t know when she had arrived, looking up at her asking, "How is it? Still burning?"

"It should be out." Lin Nianhe said, jumping down from the wall.

Her hands were somewhat stiff from the cold, and accidentally knocked the telescope against the corner of the wall, the lens immediately shattered.

Wang Hong: "...!"

Lin Nianhe: "Oops."

This telescope had already appeared within many people’s view, it absolutely couldn’t be left behind, now in the dark nobody could tell, but during the daytime... Well, it’s broken anyway, Lin Nianhe wasn’t distressed, she still had a box full of these.

But Wang Hong felt extremely distressed, groping to pick up two pieces and trying to fit them together: "Can it still be used if glued?"

"I guess it can’t be helped anymore." Lin Nianhe saw Wang Hong’s expression full of heartache and comforted her, "It’s okay Aunt Wang, when I return to Beijing, I’ll get it fixed and just change the lenses."

"Ah... good as long as it can be fixed. We can’t let this good item go to waste," Wang Hong said, and vigorously rubbed Lin Nianhe’s cold cheeks, "Quickly go back to the room. I had someone heat up your kang, and there is hot water in the thermos. Hurry and have some."

"Alright."

Lin Nianhe sniffled, and arm in arm with Wen Lan and Wang Shumei, they went back inside.

For as long as she stood against the wall, they had stayed with her, her holding the binoculars, and they both ready to catch her if she fell from the walltop.

Lin Nianhe was right, an hour later, the men who went to fight the fire returned.

That night, besides the elderly, pregnant women, and children, who all were mentally exhausted, no one in the Ten Miles Team could sleep.

Hearing the noises outside, they immediately ran out from the rooms on the eastern side to find out where the fire was.

Li Dahe’s face was blackened with smoke, only the center of his forehead had two slightly paler vertical lines.

He said, "Victory Team caught fire... everything burned, and no one survived."

As his words ended, everyone in the Ten Miles Team fell silent.

Li Dahe, exhausted, waved his hand, "Everyone rest."

He didn’t have much time to grieve and remember; as the first to discover the fire, he had to report to the commune and cooperate with the police station to write reports. Village affairs temporarily fell on the shoulders of Wang Hong and Accountant Zhao.

A village, two nights, gone.

It was a big deal; the police station was busy, so was the commune.

Wong Xiao was so anxious he got sores in his mouth; he boldly reported upwards, getting scolded while desperately figuring out what to do next. Besides the villagers’ ashes, the Victory Team still had several dozen acres of farmland that needed sorting out before spring planting, and it couldn’t be left fallow.

Outside was busy beyond measure, and the village school was no exception.

Last night, when Principal Wu heard about the fire, without grabbing clothes or worrying about money, she had first secured the mimeograph machine that Lin Nianhe had begrudgingly lent her on a cart, then moved all the books from the classrooms to the cellar.

No one knew how she had managed all this by herself, but, today, it took all the teachers together half an hour to move the books back.

Some students didn’t understand, asking the teacher, "Teacher, isn’t it said when there’s a fire, you have to run immediately? Why didn’t the Principal listen?"

Lin Nianhe answered her, "Because the Principal worries that if without books, you won’t have anything to read in the future."

"Are books more important than life?"

Lin Nianhe looked towards Principal Wu’s cabin, where Principal Wu was lying down, having caught a cold.

She was silent for a long while, gravely answering, "What’s important is not the books, but the future."

The student was young, didn’t understand her meaning, tilted her head pondering for a while, and still didn’t grasp it.

"Nianhe? Nianhe."

Sister Lirong’s calling brought Lin Nianhe’s wandering thoughts back.

Lin Nianhe turned her head and saw her, apologetically smiling, "Sorry Sister Lirong, these past few days have been hectic, I haven’t hosted you well."

"Why mention such things, it’s not like I’m going to critique you," Zheng Lirong patted her shoulder, "I have the train at noon, I’ll be leaving soon. Just send me the Head Flower when it’s ready, I know what to do."

"Okay, it should be around five or six days. When it’s time, I’ll send Wu Genmao to deliver it to you," Lin Nianhe hinted.

Zheng Lirong instantly understood, nodded in agreement: "Then I’ll wait for your message."

"Alright, I still have classes to teach, I can’t see you off, take care on the road, and call the Team Office when you arrive."

"No need to see me off, I’ll walk myself."

Before leaving, Zheng Lirong gave Lin Nianhe a pack of medicine, intended for Principal Wu; she had obtained it from the hospital in the provincial city, originally kept for her two children to use but fitting for Principal Wu’s cold.

Principal Wu had a cold, no need for antibiotics, Lin Nianhe took the medicine to find her, turned her back, and discreetly swapped the medicine in the paper bag.

"Principal Mom... You being disobedient like this, do you want me to have Aunt Wang come over and supervise you to understand the true meaning of ’rest well’?"

Lin Nianhe saw what Principal Wu was doing and instantly her face sterned.

Principal Wu was sitting on the kang, covered with a cotton coat, holding an iron pen, and carving on wax paper.