Su Qing never imagined she’d run into a pair of illicit lovers in the mountains today!

She recognized the woman. It was Tan Qingjuan, one of the Educated Youths in the village, who seemed to be twenty-four or twenty-five this year. Su Qing, however, had no good impression of her. Tan Qingjuan wasn’t pretty. In fact, you could say her looks ranked dead last among everyone in Lihua Village and the Educated Youth station. Because of this, Tan Qingjuan had always been quite insecure. But whenever she saw this body’s previous owner, she would become incredibly arrogant and treat her rudely, ordering her around.

The reason for this was actually quite ridiculous. Tan Qingjuan felt that this body’s previous owner was the only person in all of Lihua Village uglier than she was—the one person she could feel superior to in terms of looks. That’s why she acted with such a sense of superiority around her.

By now, only two female Educated Youths and one male one remained at the Lihua Village Educated Youth station. The others had either gotten into a university or had families who used connections to get them back to the city. These last three had neither the connections to return to the city nor the grades to pass the college entrance exams. Unwilling to settle for marrying a local villager, they simply remained at the station.

Tan Qingjuan was one of them.

As for the man, Su Qing had never seen him before; he didn’t seem to be from Lihua Village. She sized him up. He looked to be in his early twenties, of average height, with tanned skin. But his features—thick brows and large eyes—were quite in line with the beauty standards of the era.

Su Qing had no real interest in why Tan Qingjuan was with a man from another village. She was just annoyed that she had stumbled right into them.

Su Qing felt completely helpless about stumbling upon the secret couple. She had been here first. The green mist emanating from the large tree beside her was particularly dense, so she had sat down beneath it to absorb the mist and heal her body. She hadn’t expected it to be so comfortable that she’d accidentally dozed off.

Then, as she slept, the sound of voices from nearby woke her up.

Fortunately, there was a large patch of waist-high weeds next to her. Since she was sitting and leaning against the tree, the weeds completely concealed her form. Unless someone deliberately walked right up to the patch, they wouldn’t notice her.

Tan Qingjuan and the man were standing by a tree not far off. Su Qing couldn’t leave even if she wanted to. If she made a single move, they would definitely spot her. Her superpower was too weak right now; the couple was outside the range of the mist she could control. She couldn’t even use it to knock them unconscious. With no other choice, Su Qing was forced to eavesdrop.

"Fushan, I heard you went to a matchmaking meeting," Tan Qingjuan said, looking at Liang Fushan with a wronged expression. "And that you met with several girls?"

"Xiao Juan, I was just humoring my family," Liang Fushan said quickly. "You know I’ve reached marrying age. Everyone at home is anxious for me to find a wife."

"Humoring them?" Tan Qingjuan bit her lip. "From what I heard, you’ve already taken a liking to one of the girls."

Liang Fushan’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly asked, "Who’s spreading that? Who did you hear it from?"

"Never mind who I heard it from." Tan Qingjuan looked Liang Fushan in the eye. "Just tell me, is it true or not?"

"Of course not, Xiao Juan. Don’t you know where my heart lies?"

"How would I know where your heart is? Since your family is in such a hurry for you to get married, when are you going to tell them about us?" Tan Qingjuan was skeptical. ’As the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire,’ she thought. ’If Liang Fushan really hasn’t taken a liking to any of the girls, why would a rumor like this even start?’

To be honest, Tan Qingjuan was deeply insecure about her looks. Getting together with Liang Fushan had been completely unexpected. She came from a large family, and her parents paid her no attention, so she naturally had no connections to get back to the city. Her grades weren’t good either, so she failed the college entrance exams and had no choice but to stay in Lihua Village.

The reason their relationship was a secret was that Liang Fushan had told her his family wouldn’t approve of him dating an Educated Youth. He said they could go public once he’d persuaded his parents. Otherwise, if his family found out unexpectedly, they would surely force the two of them to break up.

Tan Qingjuan really liked Liang Fushan and couldn’t bear the thought of breaking up, so she had agreed. The two of them had been dating in secret ever since.

"I’ve told you before, my family has a poor impression of Educated Youths," Liang Fushan said gently. "I’m still working hard to change their minds. If I tell them now, they’ll definitely object."

"So, so I’m just supposed to stay hidden forever?" Tan Qingjuan felt wronged. "What if you really do fall for another girl? What will I do then? Fushan, I’ve already given myself to you. You can’t betray me."

"How could I? Of course I won’t betray you," Liang Fushan said, taking a step closer to Tan Qingjuan.

"Really?" Tan Qingjuan pursed her lips, looking at Liang Fushan.

"Of course," Liang Fushan said with a smile that made Tan Qingjuan’s heart flutter.

A glint flashed in Liang Fushan’s eyes as he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. Already mesmerized by his smile, Tan Qingjuan was lost in his kiss, losing all track of time. By the time she came to her senses, her shirt was gone, and Liang Fushan’s head was buried in the crook of her neck.

"Fushan..."

It was nearly dusk, and the mountain wind was a little chilly. A shiver ran through Tan Qingjuan, and her hands instinctively wrapped around the back of Liang Fushan’s neck...

Su Qing squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her hands over her ears, but the sounds still faintly reached her. ’Why is my hearing so good?!’ Su Qing lamented silently.

’What god did I offend to deserve being forced to listen in on such a steamy scene?’

’Seriously.’

’In her past life, she’d died a virgin, not even having seen the movie, so to speak. Now, she was getting the live, uncensored version.’

’Ugh, my eyes are tainted, my ears are tainted,’ Su Qing thought, unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes. ’I really should have checked my horoscope this morning.’

After what felt like an eternity, the lovers finally quieted down and left, still whispering sweet nothings to each other. Su Qing took a deep breath, feeling as if the very air she inhaled was foul. She scrambled to her feet and hurried away in the opposite direction.

Since it was almost evening, Su Qing didn’t linger on the mountain. She gathered some wild vegetables and mushrooms, came across a patch of black nightshade and picked some of that too, then shouldered her basket and headed down the mountain.

But who would have thought she’d run into Tan Qingjuan at the foot of the mountain.

Tan Qingjuan narrowed her eyes, tilting her chin up to look down at Su Qing. "You were up on the mountain?"