Sorry, My Beloved Is The Motherland - Chapter 10.1 - Promoting is Better Than Dating

“I… I didn’t participate…”

Muren Chena was somewhat incoherent, trying to retract his accidental admission.

Not only had he participated, but he had also thrown down all the competitors one by one.

This was the rule of the grasslands: only the bravest men were qualified to pursue the most beautiful, intelligent, and talented girls. The competition was always fierce, and if you lost, you could only watch as the victor pursued the girl you had your heart set on.

Muren Chena had won, but he hadn’t taken any action.

—In his heart, no one was worthy of Ning Fu.

She was like the purest white moonflower on the grassland, not to be disturbed by a swarm of pursuing bees.

He inexplicably felt a sense of mission.

Unfortunately, it was inevitable that among the other young men of the Livestock Station, some harbored a fervent and eager heart, daring to secretly give Ning Fu the dried beef he had made.

Muren Chena’s lips moved, struggling to find the right words, while inside he was thinking a thousand times over about going back and giving those meat thieves a good thrashing.

Seeing him so flustered that he was almost sweating, Ning Fu finally showed mercy and changed the subject.

“Weren’t you scared just now?”

Even though he was born and raised on the grasslands, he was only 20 years old. It was rare for someone to remain absolutely calm and composed in the face of the fearsome reputation of grassland wolves.

Muren Chena breathed a sigh of relief that Ning Fu had shifted the topic away from “wrestling and dried beef” to “I saw wolves when I was a child.”

In his halting Mandarin, he told Ning Fu a story.

T/N: “Halting Mandarin” refers to speech that is hesitant or not fluent, often characterized by pauses, mispronunciations, or difficulty in finding the right words.

Muren Chena wasn’t born an orphan. His father died while hunting wolves when he was 7 years old.

Not long after, his mother fell seriously ill. He braved the snow to find a barefoot doctor and encountered a wolf on the way.

T/N: A “barefoot doctor” refers to a type of healthcare provider in rural China who received basic medical training and provided primary care and health education to villagers.

It was a she-wolf that had been wandering the wilderness for many days.

Hunters had killed her cubs, and she, like a lone avenger, had left her pack. There had even been warnings issued about this wolf in the settlement, as a mother wolf who has lost her young is the most dangerous.

On a snowy night, seven-year-old Muren Chena stood alone, facing off against the mother wolf who had lost her cubs.

They both seemed equally desperate.

In the end, the mother wolf miraculously left without harming a single hair on Muren Chena.

And when Muren Chena returned home with the doctor, he had also forever lost his mother.

Over a decade had passed, and he grew more convinced that his mother had traded her life for his that night. In this world, when one life is saved, it is destined that another life will be lost. Muren Chena believed that this conservation is a rule of the Changsheng Tian.

T/N: Changsheng Tian – deity of eternal life. In this context, can be understood as ‘Heavenly/Natural Order’. ‘Tian’ means ‘heaven’ or ‘sky’.

“Today, the wolf pack didn’t harm us either,” Muren Chena said. “The Changsheng Tian has already blessed me, so this time, the blessing was fulfilled upon you.”

Ning Fu snapped back to reality and responded with a nonchalant “Oh.”

Her gaze lingered on Muren Chena, taking a closer look at him.

She realized that the young man before her was actually an important character from the original book.

In the book, Liang Huixue gets into university, leading to a brief separation from the male lead, Gao Han.

Years later, when CEO Gao Han wanted to expand his business into military supplies, Muren Chena, a revolutionary comrade from their youth in the countryside, just happened to be the commanding officer of that military unit.

Gao Han discovered that the other party was from Tula Gaqi, and back then, Liang Huixue had the title of “Flower of the Grasslands,” the dream girl of many young men in Tula Gaqi. When the cooperation didn’t go smoothly, he had no choice but to bring out Liang Huixue, who had been staying at home, hoping that the other party would consider the “old feelings” that existed only in his imagination and help him secure the contract.

At the same time, he was insanely jealous.

In some romance novels, the flame of a CEO’s dark transformation doesn’t diminish with age.

Under the torment of possessiveness and fragile pride, Gao Han hurt Liang Huixue once again. Their love-hate entanglement reached the climax of the entire book.

Ning Fu hadn’t realized that Muren Chena was also a “character in the book” mainly because this young man was hardly mentioned in the early part of the story, making his presence quite low.

By the time his role appeared in the latter part of the original book, the name “Ning Fu” had long disappeared.

Ning Fu had no intention of getting involved in the subsequent plot.

She had no interest in the endless cycle of “you love me – I hate you – you hurt me – I love you” between Gao Han and Liang Huixue, and she certainly didn’t plan to become a part of it.

Ning Fu looked at Muren Chena with a new perspective.

Muren Chena was used to provoke Gao Han, while her existence was meant to provoke Liang Huixue. —In a way, they were both tools.

This realization made Ning Fu feel a bit more affinity towards him.

In the world described by that book, behind all the love and hate, whether within or beyond logic, not only Ning Fu but everyone else, too, were flesh-and-blood, living beings.

Every “tool” had their own real stories, experiences, and futures.

To keep the sheep closer on the way back, Ning Fu didn’t turn off the [Animal Affinity] aura.

As a result, they encountered quite a few animals trying to get close along the way.

—Three rabbits, two foxes, and even a silly snake that should have been hibernating.

Muren Chena was visibly excited. If Ning Fu hadn’t emphasized the urgency of their task, he might have wanted to hang all these animals attracted by the affinity aura on the horse as trophies.

“That’s good fur,” he repeatedly told Ning Fu. “You don’t come across many foxes in a whole winter. If you catch one, you can make a fur hat. It looks nice and can be traded for soap.”

Ning Fu couldn’t be bothered to question how he knew about the soap and strictly forbade him, “No hunting.”

—Are you kidding? She and Muren Chena were teammates now. If they started killing, her Animal Affinity aura might turn into “Animal Slayer”!

Muren Chena fell silent, riding behind Ning Fu. His rather handsome, dark face showed no expression, but Ning Fu inexplicably read a hint of grievance in it.

He seemed afraid of making Ning Fu angry and stammered as he tried to compliment her, “You… you’re very impressive.”

He paused, seemingly racking his brain for a more suitable and fitting adjective. After a few seconds, he said, “Very remarkable.”

Ning Fu guessed it was due to the system’s cheat. She removed the [Heroine of the Grasslands] title and asked, “How about now?”

Muren Chena was taken aback. Following Ning Fu’s words, he carefully scrutinized her again.

The two of them rode on horseback as the wind and snow gradually subsided. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the clouds, illuminating Ning Fu’s face, yet it was not gentler than her own features.

Muren Chena also felt that something had subtly changed.

Just like when they encountered the wolf pack, his only thought was to protect the sheep and protect Ning Fu.

The sheep were collective property, and Ning Fu was his comrade and ally.

For this thought, he could bleed, get injured, and face any fear.

But at this moment… it was as if a soft goose feather gently brushed across his heart.

His heart felt a warm surge.

Muren Chena couldn’t describe this feeling and awkwardly picked up the water bottle, handing it to Ning Fu.

“Drink more hot water.”

He had kept it warm in his chest the whole time.

Muren Chena watched her tilt her head back to drink, revealing her slender neck. Above the deep blue collar of her sweater was a small patch of milky white skin.

He hurriedly averted his eyes.

As dawn approached, the two of them finally trudged through the snow back to the Livestock Station’s camp.

Notes: “Halting Mandarin” refers to speech that is hesitant or not fluent, often characterized by pauses, mispronunciations, or difficulty in finding the right words.

Notes – The term originated during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) when the Chinese government sought to address the shortage of medical professionals in rural areas. Barefoot doctors were often farmers who received short-term medical training and then returned to their communities to offer essential medical services, such as treating common illnesses, performing minor surgeries, and promoting public health practices. The name “barefoot doctor” comes from the fact that these practitioners often worked in the fields alongside their patients and were sometimes literally barefoot.

The “rule of the Eternal Heaven” refers to a belief system in the traditional spiritual and cultural practices of the Mongolian people and other nomadic cultures of the Central Asian steppes. The Eternal Heaven, or “Tengri”, is considered a supreme deity or force that governs the universe, life, and natural order. This belief system emphasizes the interconnectedness of life and the balance of nature, where every action has a corresponding reaction, and life and death are part of a continuous cycle.