Niu Er didn't catch the hidden meaning in An Jing's words, He only saw An Jing's mischievous smile, which made his scalp tingle, and he wanted to leave quickly.
"You must be possessed by a ghost," Niu Er glared at An Jing fiercely again. He turned his head and looked at Xiao Changyi, "Changyi, are you leaving or not? If you don't leave, I'm going to."
Xiao Changyi remained silent.
"Forget it, I'm done with you!" In a huff, Niu Er slung the carrying pole onto his shoulder, picked up the firewood, and left.
An Jing crossed her arms and pointed with her chin in the direction Niu Er had left, playfully saying, "Your companion has left, aren't you going too?"
Xiao Changyi didn't respond to her question, instead, he looked down at her injured right foot and asked indifferently, "Does it hurt?"
An Jing was taken aback at first, then she smiled, "It hurts."
Xiao Changyi immediately turned his back to her, crouched down in front of her, and said, "I'll carry you down."
An Jing was stunned again. She looked at the long path down the mountain and thought, limping down, it would probably be dark before she reached the bottom. "Are you sure?"
Xiao Changyi didn't say anything but remained crouched in front of her, his meaning quite clear.
An Jing didn't immediately climb onto Xiao Changyi's back, instead, she picked up the wood-chopping knife that Lin Anjing had dropped on the ground earlier. As for the half bundle of wood Lin Anjing had chopped, An Jing didn't plan to take it.
With the wood-chopping knife in hand, An Jing climbed onto Xiao Changyi's back without any shyness.
Xiao Changyi took the bamboo basket that was set aside; aside from the thick hemp rope that had pulled An Jing up earlier, there was nothing else in it.
He had actually just come up the mountain when he heard An Jing's cries for help and came over to see what was happening, and then he ran into Niu Er, who had also heard the cries for help.
"Hold this," said Xiao Changyi, passing the bamboo basket back to her.
Knowing that it would be difficult for Xiao Changyi to carry her with items in his hands, An Jing obediently took the bamboo basket from Xiao Changyi and even tossed the wood-chopping knife into it.
Fearing she might fall off Xiao Changyi's back, An Jing wrapped one arm around his neck.
"Does this count as skin-to-skin contact?" An Jing teased with a laugh.
Xiao Changyi, who had just straightened himself, paused slightly but said nothing, and intended to pick up the half bundle of wood Lin Anjing had chopped to take down the mountain.
An Jing quickly said, "I don't want that wood." It wasn't because she was worried about adding to Xiao Changyi's burden, but because Lin Anjing had accidentally fallen into a trap and died because of that wood; she found it creepy and didn't want it.
Seeing how readily An Jing dismissed the wood, as if the half bundle meant nothing to her, Xiao Changyi then retracted his hand and carried An Jing down the mountain.
Xiao Changyi's back was broad, and An Jing, lying on it, didn't feel any jolts; in fact, a thought rose in her heart that it wouldn't be so bad being carried by this man for life.
"If I just let you carry me like this and decide to cling to you, what will you do..." An Jing sighed in a pitiful voice, actually intending to tease, to flirt with Xiao Changyi.
She found that teasing Xiao Changyi was pleasing to both body and mind.
Xiao Changyi remained silent.
"Or, why don't you just marry me?" An Jing continued to tease Xiao Changyi, her words growing more and more bold.
"Okay."
An Jing didn't expect Xiao Changyi to speak, and certainly not to agree with a single word. Her heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly laughed, "I'm just joking, don't take it seriously."
Xiao Changyi fell silent again.
"...You really are a man of few words." But, she quite liked that. She didn't like men who talked too much.
Xiao Changyi continued to stay silent.
An Jing looked up at the sky, then remembered something, "Right, Niu Er called you Changyi. What's your surname?"
"Xiao."
An Jing recalled such a person from Lin Anjing's memory and exclaimed in surprise, "You're Xiao Changyi, the one who came back alive from the battlefield!"
She had thought there was something familiar about him—that's because they were of the same kind, both former soldiers.
Xiao Changyi was silent for a moment before he said indifferently, "We have met on the road recently." He paused, "Several times."
"Hehe..." An Jing laughed awkwardly several times, "I was too self-conscious before, always walking with my head down, how would I know who I had run into. The only reason I knew you came back alive is because I overheard others talking about it when I went to wash clothes by the river."
Xiao Changyi remained silent again.
An Jing seemed to be used to it and continued on her own, "No wonder that Niu Er doesn't like you."
It wasn't just Niu Er who disliked Xiao Changyi; in fact, many people in the village did not like him, they just did not show it openly.
When Xiao Changyi was born, his mother had a difficult labor. Though she didn't die, she suffered greatly, and as soon as Xiao Changyi was born, Xiao Changyi's grandfather died; on Xiao Changyi's fifth birthday, Xiao Changyi's father fell and, despite it being a minor fall, he died too. Later, a fortune teller said that Xiao Changyi's fate harbored evil spirits, which would kill all his elders and siblings if he stayed at home.
So, Xiao Changyi was discarded by his mother, thrown right onto the mountain they were standing on now.
It was villagers who found him and brought Xiao Changyi back, but Xiao Changyi's mother refused to keep him, fearing he might cause her and her other children's deaths.
In ancient times, people were more superstitious. With Xiao Changyi being cursed according to the fortune teller, no one in the village dared to take him in, and there were even quite a few who supported the idea of leaving Xiao Changyi on the mountain to starve.
Just as Xiao Changyi was about to be abandoned in the mountains again, an old hunter in the village couldn't stand it any longer and built a thatched hut for Xiao Changyi to live in.
The old hunter actually had a heavy burden to bear at home, but as long as he had food to eat, he would share some with Xiao Changyi, who grew up with the help of the old hunter.
The old hunter died when Xiao Changyi was thirteen years old, and at that age, even without the hunter's help, Xiao Changyi could survive; unexpectedly, when Xiao Changyi was sixteen, Xiao Changyi's mother found him and asked him to take the place of the Xiao family members in military service.
After that, Xiao Changyi went to serve in the military, a tenure of eight years, until he returned two months ago.
Generally, farmer men who went to serve in the military hardly ever came back alive, and Xiao Changyi was the first to return, making him the subject of much talk among the villagers.
An Jing did feel some sympathy for Xiao Changyi, but compared to sympathy, she was more curious, "Is the battlefield fun?"
Although she had experienced modern gunfire and bullets, she had never witnessed the ancient battlefields of spears and iron horses.
Xiao Changyi looked back strangely at an excited An Jing, but did not speak.
An Jing then realized she might have acted too unlike the women of this era and was incredibly surprised at how unguarded she was around Xiao Changyi, a man.
As a modern special forces soldier, her vigilance was always very high.
An Jing's chin rested on Xiao Changyi's shoulder, and she carefully examined Xiao Changyi's handsome profile for a long time before admitting to herself, All right, the more she looked, the more pleasing she found this man.
"Wait!" Suddenly, An Jing caught sight of many Niu Jin Grass plants along the mountain path, her eyes instantly lighting up, and she immediately asked Xiao Changyi to stop. "Let me down."
Você também pode gostar
Comentário de parágrafo
O comentário de parágrafo agora está disponível na Web! Passe o mouse sobre qualquer parágrafo e clique no ícone para adicionar seu comentário.
Além disso, você sempre pode desativá-lo/ativá-lo em Configurações.
Entendi