Perhaps the disdain in her tone was too obvious, because Chen Chuan glanced at her again. “This is the only vehicle.”
“This car of yours… how long have you been driving it?”
“Seven or eight years.”
“…”
It was honestly unbelievable that something this wrecked after seven or eight years still hadn’t been scrapped.
Yu Ning was even worried the piece of junk might break down halfway.
She clicked her tongue. Seeing that he had gotten in, she could only pull open the passenger door and climb inside.
After fastening her seat belt, the truck drove out of the open-air parking lot. She couldn’t help asking curiously, “You usually use this to pick up guests? Don’t they give you bad reviews?”
“You’re going to give a bad review?” The man’s hands paused on the steering wheel.
Yu Ning looked around the interior of the truck.
There were no unnecessary decorations whatsoever—not even a hanging charm.
Nor was there the slightest sign that a woman had ever sat in it.
This truck was just like its owner.
Equally rough.
Fortunately, there weren’t any strange smells inside. She gave a soft snort. “For someone as beautiful and kind-hearted as me, I wouldn’t go out of my way to leave a bad review. But…”
“I saw that your guesthouse has a pretty high rating. Don’t tell me it’s fake?”
She asked sincerely, but Chen Chuan answered casually, and very coldly, “It isn’t.”
Yu Ning sighed with emotion. “Your junk truck not getting any bad reviews is practically a fantasy.”
“We don’t shuttle guests.”
“You don’t shuttle guests? Why not?”
Chen Chuan turned his head. With just one glance, a bright, richly beautiful oval face came into view. Her face was full of confusion and incomprehension.
And a trace of genuine curiosity.
He withdrew his gaze and looked straight ahead. “This is a truck. The guesthouse doesn’t offer shuttle service.”
Yu Ning raised her brows, her eyes holding a lively, flamboyant smile. “Then I’m the first?”
“Doesn’t count.”
He had driven guests who were in a hurry before.
But he didn’t explain any further.
“…”
Yu Ning waited half a minute, but still didn’t hear him say why it didn’t count. When she turned to look at him again, he still had that cold, natural expression, his brows and eyes sharp and bright.
It was exhausting.
Trying to chat with him felt harder than when she was in sales, trying to negotiate a partnership with some big CEO.
Fine. If he wasn’t going to play along, then forget it.
She stretched out her legs, found a comfortable posture against the seatback, and put her sunglasses back on. The warm, lively tone from earlier had faded by two degrees.
“How far is it from here to Jidong Town?”
Chen Chuan seemed to hear something different in her tone. Subconsciously, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Seeing her looking lazy, as if she wanted to rest, he replied mildly, “Two hours.”
Two hours?
Yu Ning was stunned. Her fair, slender fingers immediately pulled her sunglasses down. “That far?”
“Mm.”
“…”
Trying to pry even two more words out of his mouth was harder than climbing to heaven.
Perhaps it was because she had spent too long in the workplace, but she really had never met anyone this taciturn.
She glanced at the time on her phone. It was already four.
By the time they reached the town, it would probably be after six.
She pushed her sunglasses back up and decided to sleep.
Jidong Town was considered one of the more remote towns in Mingshan City. The mountain roads were rugged, passing through Jinan Town. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a river named Bifeng running through it.
The local customs were simple, the scenery pleasant, and there was no sense of commercialization.
Online, people said it was a niche, secluded place to retire.
Yu Ning swayed and swayed in this broken truck, slowly falling asleep. When she woke again, dusk had already settled along the ridgeline to the west.
The setting sun was like blood, spilling over the layered peaks, staining large swathes of rosy clouds across the deep blue sky.
Amid this breathtaking landscape painting, the shabby truck traveling along the winding road looked utterly out of place.
Yu Ning took off her sunglasses and, by chance, saw the man in the driver’s seat gilded with a thin layer of gold by the sunlight. Her gaze fell straight onto him.
The scenery was nice.
The man in the car was nice too.
If this man knew how to play along a little, and was a little easier to flirt with, that would be even nicer.
She let out a heavy sigh and rolled down the window. The crisp, comfortable mountain breeze slowly poured into the car, scattering her languid voice a little.
“How much longer?”
Chen Chuan kept his eyes forward. “About an hour.”
Only an hour had passed?
So slow.
She had only just sighed inwardly when the truck suddenly made a “ka” sound, then stalled and stopped.
She froze at once, turning to look at the man in the driver’s seat. “What does this mean?”
Chen Chuan frowned, his jawline taut. “Wait in the car.”
With that, he pushed open the door and got out, opening the hood to check the situation.
Through the windshield, Yu Ning watched him bury his head and fiddle around for a few minutes. Then she simply unfastened her seat belt, pushed open the door, and walked over to his side.
“What’s going on?”
“Probably a fuel pump failure.”
Yu Ning was dumbfounded.
What kind of rotten luck was this?
She said this broken car might quit, and it really did quit.
Out here in the middle of nowhere…
What now?
She subconsciously took two steps back and sized the man up from head to toe.
If he had ill intentions, in a direct confrontation, she definitely wouldn’t be his match.
Chen Chuan had originally wanted to make a call, but then remembered his phone was out of battery. Turning his head, he saw Yu Ning scanning him up and down like an X-ray machine.
Those fox-like eyes were full of aggression, as if she were appraising prey.
For some reason, he frowned. “Do you have a power bank?”
“Yes.” Yu Ning pulled herself out of her thoughts and lifted her head. “But I don’t have a cable for your phone. I can do wireless charging.”
His was Android, hers was Apple.
Troublesome.
Chen Chuan pressed the tip of his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “Your phone. Lend it to me to make a call. The truck has to be towed back to Jinan Town for repairs.”
This was the longest sentence he had said to her in the hour they had known each other.
Yu Ning teased, “Oh, so your mouth suddenly works now? You can say this many words?”
Chen Chuan pressed his lips together, his brows deeply furrowed.
In a good mood, Yu Ning returned to the passenger side, picked up her phone from the seat, unlocked it, and handed it to him.
Chen Chuan entered a number on the dial pad and called. Soon, a male voice came from the other end. “Hello.”
“Binzi, drive the tow truck over to Longshan.”
“Brother Chuan? Is this your number? You went to the Jinghai urban area?”
“Someone else’s. Cut the crap and get over here. The truck stalled.”
After hanging up, he returned the phone to Yu Ning.
Yu Ning took it. “How long will it take for the tow truck to get here?”
“Jinan Town is about twenty minutes from here.” Chen Chuan hesitated for two seconds, then asked one more question. “Can you drive?”
“Yes.”
“You get into the driver’s seat and steer. I’ll push the truck to the side. It’s not safe in the middle of the road.”
Yu Ning’s good mood for the day was about to be completely ruined by this man. Speechless, she shot him a glance.
Seeing her reluctance, Chen Chuan said without batting an eye, “Or you push?”
“Does Boss Chen’s life dictionary not contain the words ‘treating a lady tenderly’?” Yu Ning laughed from anger, crossing her arms as she asked with forced patience.
“No.”
Chen Chuan answered crisply, then walked straight to the back of the truck, ready to push.
Yu Ning wasn’t annoyed. A smile rippled in her eyes as she brushed back the hair the wind had blown into disarray. “I can tell. Boss Chen definitely has never had a girlfriend. Then I won’t argue with an old bachelor like you.”
Chen “Old Bachelor” Chuan: “…”
This woman’s mouth really wasn’t the type to suffer a loss.