1235 I Want to Make You Stay 113 (1/2)
The man grabbed her and asked, ”Don't you want the corpse anymore?”
”We can't bring it along with us right now, anyway. Let's just leave it here for now. I'll send someone to bring the corpse away after we go back. However, I can't tell where we are now.” An Xiaoning untied the rope and put it away.
”You can't tell and yet you were so eager to run away. I'll take you out of this place,” he drawled.
An Xiaoning trusted him completely since he had entered from this very exit and, hence, should be aware of which route they should take to leave.
”Alright, I'll go with you.”
The man removed his hat and placed it on her head.
”You may wear it instead, I'm fine…” An Xiaoning said in surprise.
”Put it on if you don't want to fall ill.”
”Aren't you going to be caught in the rain, then?” She removed the hat and tiptoed to put it back onto his head. She then took off her jacket and said, ”We can both stay dry like this. Let's go, it's already so dark.”
The man remained quiet, and the two of them quickly left.
An Xiaoning followed him blindly, her shoes getting covered in mud.
Time crawled by. She decided to break the silence and ease her boredom. ”How much do you get paid for working in the military?”
”It's enough to get by.”
An Xiaoning knew that military personnel were not paid much. But of course, the value of money was subjective. For example, a salary of eight thousand dollars a month was considered a good amount to the average citizen. However, to An Xiaoning, even 80 thousand dollars would be considered peanuts.
She had no idea what he meant exactly by ”enough to get by.”
”How old are you?” she asked.
”How old do you think I am?”
”About 26 years old?”
”I'm the same age as you.”
He would never give her an exact answer to all her questions.
”Are you married yet, then?”
”I'm not.”
His cold replies killed An Xiaoning's desire to continue chatting with him. Thus, she decided to stop talking, lest he finds her to be a nosy parker.
Five minutes later, he asked, ”How about you?”
”What… about me?”
”Are you married yet?”
”Not now, but I was thrice-married. I have a seven-year-old son too.”
”…”
He fell silent upon hearing her answer.
An Xiaoning hurriedly caught up with him and said, ”Wait a minute, I need to use the toilet.”
He stood still and cupped her face in his hands. He then moved her head to shine the headlamp around.
At last, he shifted his gaze onto a tree nearby and pointed at it. ”Go there, I'll wait for you here.”