For a whole day, Ruan Nianchu’s heart was hanging in her throat. She thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but miraculously, she slept deeply lying in Li Teng’s arms.
When she woke up, it was already bright outside.
She opened her eyes and glanced around, turning her head to see Li Teng sitting beside her, his expression stern. The blood around the wound on his right shoulder had dried up, turning into a dark brown scab. He looked fine overall, not much different from usual, except for the increased bloodshot in his eyes.
Ruan Nianchu furrowed her brows. “You didn’t sleep the night before last, and you stayed up all night last night. Take a rest?”
Li Teng refused without much tone, “Let’s go out first.” The situation was still unclear, and he was in a highly tense state, unable to sleep even if he wanted to.
Ruan Nianchu fell silent, no longer trying to persuade him.
The two of them left the cave.
In the early morning, after the rain, the sky cleared up. There was a fresh smell of earth in the mountains and fields.
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Swyd Lkydnbw oyzjle obkzl zssjkdt yaswde. Mbl xswdvykdp pwaaswdekdt vbl csaela vsod byed’v clld elhlzsrle ulv, xykdvykdkdt vblka saktkdyz dyvwayz yrrlyaydnl, okvb talld vallp yde zwpb xswdvykdp yzz yaswde.
Jwv clywvkqwz pnldlau oyp sdl vbkdt; ekqqknwzv asyep olal ydsvbla.
Mbkp xswdvykd nswzed’v cl nsxryale vs vbspl vswakpv yalyp. Mblal olal ds nyczl nyap sa pvsdl pvlrp, fwpv xweeu asyep qkzzle okvb ollep yde vbsadp. Swyd Lkydnbw talo wr kd y ckt nkvu, yde oyzjkdt sd pwnb yd wdnbyavle ryvb oyp y qkapv qsa bla. Fbl bye vs cl lmvalxlzu nyalqwz.
Wllzkdt dlahswp, pbl dyvwayzzu pzsole esod, sdzu yczl vs oyzj vld xlvlap kd y xkdwvl.
Fllkdt vbkp, Nk Mldt casjl sqq y eau caydnb yde bydele kv vs bla qsa pwrrsav, wpkdt kv vs cawpb yoyu vbl vbsadp. Mbld, qlyakdt pbl xktbv pzkr yde qyzz, bl blze bla byde, xyjkdt pwal pbl pvlrrle kdvs bkp qssvrakdvp okvb lynb pvlr.
Mbkp kxrashle bla rynl pzktbvzu, qasx vld xlvlap rla xkdwvl vs voldvu.
G qlo xkdwvlp zyvla, Nk Mldt piwyvvle esod okvb bkp cynj vs bla.
Swyd Lkydnbw oyp rwggzle. “Ebyv yal usw eskdt?”
He said, “Come up, I’ll carry you.”
“No need.” She shook her head, waving her hand at him. “The mountain road is already difficult to walk on, you haven’t rested, and you have a shoulder injury. Isn’t it more tiring for you to carry me?”
Li Teng frowned impatiently, circled her thighs with his arms, and with a force, lifted her up directly. Ruan Nianchu let out a soft cry, instinctively reaching out to hold his neck tightly.
Taking the dry branch from her hand, he carried her while walking and said lightly, “What’s this? My longest record is not closing my eyes for a whole week.”
She was surprised. “A week without sleep? Why?”
“Rescuing the wounded.”
“Disaster relief?”
“Yeah.”
It was very quiet in the mountains, with only occasional birdcalls. Looking at Li Teng’s stern profile, Ruan Nianchu suddenly remembered something and asked, “Why did you become a soldier?”
Li Teng replied coldly, “I graduated from the Air Force Academy. What else would I do?”
Uh. Ruan Nianchu was abruptly stuck. “I mean, why did you choose to take the entrance exam for the Air Force Academy?”
“My mom made me.”
“…That’s an irrefutable reason.”
Li Teng paused for a moment, then said with little emotion, “When I was in my teens, I was too unruly, smoking, drinking, fighting, doing all sorts of bad things, the only thing that was acceptable was my grades. My mom was afraid I’d grow up to harm society, so she made me go to military school.”
“So you were a delinquent before, huh? Couldn’t tell, I thought you were a good student, a diligent top achiever,” Ruan Nianchu sighed, “But it’s also quite a coincidence. My university was also chosen by my mom. At that time, she heard people praising C University and pushed me to take the entrance exam, but my grades were poor. My parents had no choice but to let me study liberal arts.”
Li Teng raised an eyebrow at her words, “C University?”
“Yeah,” she tilted her chin at him, looking proud, “Surprised? I graduated from C University, a top-tier institution, so I’m not unworthy of you.”
Li Teng said, “Close call. I was a military student at your school.”
“What do you mean?”
“C University was my second choice. If I failed to get into the Air Force Academy, I would have gone to C University.”
Ruan Nianchu’s mouth turned down in regret, “That’s a shame. Otherwise, we would have been alumni, maybe we would have met earlier.”
Li Teng glanced back at her, “Why are you so silly? I was sixteen when I took the college entrance exam. How old were you then? Do the math.”
“Thirty-three minus twenty-six equals seven…” Ruan Nianchu began counting on her fingers, murmuring, “Sixteen minus seven… Hmm, I was nine years old then.”
He scoffed, “Brat.”
Ruan Nianchu narrowed her eyes, raised her fist in front of him, and shook it, “Who are you calling a brat?”
“You.”
“…”
Li Teng continued, “You were one before, and you still are.”
Ruan Nianchu chuckled twice, feeling itchy, “I haven’t minded your age, and you’re calling me young? Where do you find someone like you?” She muttered to herself, “And I’m already twenty-six, not exactly young.”
Li Teng’s eyes contained a hint of a smile, his mouth curling up, his tone casual, “Hmm, you do have a good figure. Not small.”
“…” She heard the implication in his words, blushing, she pinched his arm angrily, “Put me down, quickly, I don’t want to be carried by a rogue who peeks at others showering.”
He frowned, “Behave yourself. Do you believe I’ll throw you down the mountain like a rogue?”
Ruan Nianchu snorted, “I don’t believe it. Do you have the heart to?”
Li Teng smiled, “I don’t.”
Upon hearing this, Ruan Nianchu’s mood, which had been depressed for a long time, suddenly brightened. She curved her lips, hugged Li Teng’s neck again, and suddenly her expression changed, “By the way, Chen Guozhi ran out with us yesterday. What about him? Should we go find him?”
Li Teng said without much tone, “That guy is more cunning than a monkey, only he can plot against others, others can’t plot against him.”
“So where should we go now?”
“Back to where we were last night.”
“Yeah.”
The mountain wasn’t high, and it took less than an hour to descend.
Li Teng led Ruan Nianchu back based on memory.
When the two returned to the farmhouse, the kind-hearted old lady from last night was sitting in the yard sewing clothes, a few chickens clucking around her, pecking at insects. After observing for a moment and confirming that there was no one inside or nearby, Li Teng and Ruan Nianchu showed themselves.
The old lady asked about their whereabouts last night, the torn clothes Li Teng wore, and the wound on his shoulder.
He earnestly fabricated a story.
The old lady was so frightened that she actually believed him, without asking further, she handed them the dried clothes and brought out some medicine and gauze for treating wounds from her house.
Ruan Nianchu helped Li Teng apply the medicine and change into fresh clothes.
The old lady watched with a worried expression and said, “You young people, be careful when you’re out. It’s not good to get injured. Come, I’ll take you to the town and help you catch a ride.”
Li Teng smiled at her, “No need. Just give us a general direction, and we’ll manage on our own.”
Unable to persuade them otherwise, the old lady reluctantly gave them directions.
They thanked the old lady repeatedly and reminded her, “If anyone asks about our whereabouts, just say we never came back after leaving last night. You don’t know anything.”
The old lady nodded in agreement.
Then Li Teng and Ruan Nianchu left together.
Fortunately, as soon as they reached the main road, a small truck came driving by. The driver was very kind, inviting them to hitch a ride and even gave Li Teng a cigarette.
The truck bumped along the mountain road.
The scenery along the way was all fields, dirt roads, rapeseed fields, cornfields, and smoke drifting overhead. Ruan Nianchu sat beside the cargo at the back of the truck, after a while, she couldn’t help but tug on Li Teng’s sleeve and whisper, “Hey, I saw it again.”
He smoked, looked at the surrounding scenery, and remained silent.
Ruan Nianchu continued, “I saw that you left money in that old lady’s house.”
After a moment of silence, Li Teng said lightly, “Last night’s meal, with chicken and meat, might not be special for us, but it could have been a big deal for her. We shouldn’t take advantage of others.”
“…,” she smirked, slid her five fingers down his sleeve, grasped his large hand, pinched and played with it, “I’ve noticed you’re always like this.”
Li Teng clasped her hand back, glanced sideways, “Like what?”
“Cold on the outside, warm on the inside.” She blinked, “I figured that out seven years ago.”
He gave a faint smile, “Is that so?”
She smiled too, “Seven years ago, the day we parted ways, you had Tori keep an eye on me because you knew your people wouldn’t harm me. With him by my side, I’d be safe. You never said anything, but you were protecting him.”
With her words spoken, Li Teng stared straight at her, “It seems like you understand me pretty well?”
Ruan Nianchu pondered for a moment before replying, “I didn’t understand before, but now, perhaps a little. And I’ll probably understand more in the future.”
Li Teng said, “If you want to understand me, you have to communicate with me more.”
She nodded in agreement, sincerely asking, “So, how do you think we should communicate?”
His finger lightly hooked hers as he replied with four words, “Deepen our communication.”
“…” Ruan Nianchu fell silent. Knew he would never be serious for more than three minutes.
At that moment, the truck driver turned his head, happily asking in the local dialect, “Your wife’s accent doesn’t sound like she’s from around here?”
Li Teng reached out and ruffled Ruan Nianchu’s hair, replying in the dialect, “Yeah. She’s from Yuncheng.”
The truck driver chuckled, “Being able to marry such a beautiful wife is also a skill.”
Li Teng smirked but didn’t say anything.
Ruan Nianchu listened to their exchange, feeling puzzled. Unable to resist, she asked Li Teng, “What were you two talking about just now?”
Li Teng said, “The old man said I have skills.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re beautiful.”
Did those two sentences have any connection? Ruan Nianchu seriously thought about it, feeling like there was but also like there wasn’t. Unable to figure it out, she just curved her lips and squeezed out a somewhat awkward smile at him.
Under the sunlight, with green mountains and boundless blue sky behind her, the girl’s skin was as white as Tibetan snow, and her smile was as radiant as flowers.
Li Teng looked at her and suddenly asked, “Ruan Nianchu, do you want to hear a tune?”
Ruan Nianchu was extremely surprised, “You can sing? No way.”
Li Teng didn’t say anything. He looked down and saw a leaf lying beside a sack of radishes. He picked it up, casually brushed off the dust, then held it between his lips with one hand. Before long, he actually blew out a tune.
Before Ruan Nianchu could marvel at his leaf-blowing technique, she had already recognized the song he was playing, “Is that ‘When Your Hair Brushes Past My Gun’ sung by Yan Weiwen?”
Li Teng was half-lying on a bag of potatoes, his face calm as he blew the leaf, controlling his breath to modulate the leaf’s vibration frequency.
Ruan Nianchu rested her chin on her hand and watched him, involuntarily joining in with a soft singing, “When your hair brushes past my gun, don’t blame me for keeping a stern face…”
Several children running with their cows passed by on the road, laughing and playing, while an old water buffalo plodded along slowly behind them.
“In fact, I have both a tough exterior and a soft heart, it’s just that the fire of youth needs to be temporarily cooled…”
The sound of the song and the rustling of leaves scattered in the countryside’s breeze.
“Don’t say I don’t understand love, I just value righteousness. In this world, there are both wars and fragrant flowers…”
Gradually fading away.
Washa and Duan Kun’s search naturally ended in vain. After coming down from the mountain, they even returned to the farmhouse they had visited before and searched again, but still found no trace of Li Teng and Ruan Nianchu.
Coming out, Washa was furious, cursing incessantly in Khmer, never stopping.
Duan Kun, listening, rubbed his ears and said helplessly, “Getting angry won’t help. We might as well continue looking for an opportunity and strive for success next time.”
Washa gritted her teeth, “This time we made a big fuss, but it was all for nothing. Next time? It’ll be even harder.”
Duan Kun’s eyes lit up at her words, and he clapped his hands in excitement, “Wow, Washa, your Chinese has improved again! You even used an idiom and a proverb, and both correctly!”
“…” Washa slapped him across the face hard and said fiercely, “Idiot is as idiot does. Do you know that if we mess up this matter, Da En won’t be happy? He’ll blame us.”
Duan Kun rubbed his face pitifully and muttered, “You’re always thinking about Da En, Da En.”
Washa gave him a glare.
Although Duan Kun was intimidated by her glare, he still continued stubbornly, “You glare all you want, but I’ll say it. It’s common knowledge that you like Da En, but it’s also common knowledge that Da En isn’t interested in you. After all these years, despite all you’ve done for him, has he ever cared about you? Hasn’t he always let you take the blame and suffer?”
Washa’s eyes turned cold suddenly, and she said in a low voice, “But I’m not dead.”
Duan Kun snorted, “I think you’re close to it. Wake up before it’s too late while you’re still alive.”
After a moment, Washa took a deep breath and exhaled, saying, “What I’m willing to do for Da En is my business, not yours. You’re just a fool, what do you understand?” With that, she turned around and walked away without looking back.
Duan Kun sighed, standing alone on the roadside. It took him a while to remember to chase after her, “Washa! Wait for me!”
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