By mid-morning, the winter sun had climbed high enough to melt the thin frost on the dirt road. Ruan Yue carried a basket on her arm, heading toward the production team's supply shed to exchange her last handful of work points for flour.
The shed was a squat brick building with a faded red slogan painted across it — "Work Hard, Produce More, Live Better!" The line outside was short; most people had collected their rations earlier in the week.
She was halfway there when she saw him.
Tall, broad-shouldered, in a faded gray military coat with the collar turned up. His posture was straight, his steps measured.
Shen Wenxiu.
Even without the system feeding her memories, she would've recognized him anywhere. He was the novel's male lead — reborn from a lifetime of betrayal and loss, returning to his youth in 1983 determined to change his fate. In his last life, Ruan Yue had schemed against him, cost him his position in the factory, and spread rumors that broke his engagement with the heroine.
In this life… he was already watching her like a wolf watching a snake.
His gaze landed on her the moment she stepped into view. It wasn't curiosity. It wasn't even suspicion. It was certainty — the kind that said I know what you are, and I'll never let you near me again.
Ruan Yue's stomach sank.
> Warning: Male lead's hostility level — 87%.
Great. Eighty-seven percent. Was that even fixable?
They met in front of the shed. She tried to step around him, but he didn't move.
"Ruan Yue," he said flatly. His voice was low and steady, but it carried the edge of a blade.
She lifted a brow. "Shen Wenxiu."
"You're unusually quiet these days," he said, eyes narrowing. "Not picking fights? Not chasing after me like a debt collector? Makes me wonder what you're plotting."
Her first instinct was to snap back. In her old life, she never let anyone talk to her like that. But here, she needed survival points more than pride.
So she smiled — slowly, thinly. "Maybe I've realized there's better uses for my energy than arguing with people who don't matter."
His eyes sharpened. "Good. Then keep it that way."
He stepped past her, the faint scent of tobacco and cold air trailing in his wake. She exhaled only when he was gone.
> Ding! Minor threat avoided. Hostility level — 85%.
Two points down. Barely anything.
But Ruan Yue wasn't in a rush. If the system wanted her to stop the heroine from marrying him, fine — she'd just keep him as far away from Zhao Xiuxiu as possible.
Even if it meant becoming the wall between them.
And if Shen Wenxiu wanted to glare at her like she was the devil herself?
Well. She'd survived worse looks.
For now.