Chapter 17: Wild Fruit Trees

The girl sat on the ground, staring at her phone.

Who is she chatting with?

She didn't hear his question just now, is that right?

The boy on the sofa stared at the girl, and at one point, he asked, "Did you hear that?"

Xia Cun turned around half a beat late at his questioning sound, her eyes a little dazed, as if it took her a long time to remember that he had just spoken to her, and then shook her head: "It was so noisy, I didn't hear clearly."

He Shizhao fell silent.

The noise of the helicopters circling overhead bothered him, as if it were designed to interrupt the question, as if he shouldn't have asked it in the first place.

Maybe this is an unimportant question for her.

He frowned, picked up the notebook beside him, placed it on his knees and began to type on the keyboard, without saying a word, letting his thoughts sink into memories.

He had seen this situation when He Shiyan took him to Xia Lan's house for the first time—

A girl sitting on the floor with her homework spread out on the sofa.

He had never seen such a crowded place, not because the space was small, but because there were too many things. No wonder his brother told him to be mentally prepared on the way here.

He was prepared and even imagined some dark, damp and broken rooms he had seen in social news, but in fact, the crowding was completely different from what he had imagined.

It was afternoon, sunlight streaming in through the window, and the living room looked like a hollow block of cheese. The cabinets were painted mint green and lake blue, the beaded curtains shimmered, and the sofas, cushions, and carpets all had vibrant patterns: stripes, florals, and polka dots intertwined, yet it hardly felt cluttered.

The restaurant's mosaic tiles, dried baby's breath, hand-painted stoneware jars, and graffiti-covered walls, all the elements and colors impacted him, and he felt like he was walking into a strange fairy tale.

What surprised him the most was the girl who was sitting on the floor and writing her homework on the sofa.

Wouldn't the paper get punctured by the pen tip if she did her homework like this? Wouldn't she get scolded for doing her homework like this? Didn't her brother say she was almost ten years old, so shouldn't she be as sensible as him?

He Shizhao didn't know when his gaze fell back on Xia Cun. If she wasn't staring at her phone waiting, she would be almost the same as when she was a child.

Is she Peter Pan?

When He Shiyan and Butler Lin went up to the third-floor deck together, what they saw was his younger brother staring at the girl.

Reality and memory overlapped, and he realized his brother was still shocked by the girl's spontaneity and freedom. He thought about what he'd said yesterday about them being different. Maybe. But if they were truly different, why were they attracted to the same qualities?

That woman Xia Lan really teaches her children strangely.

The two brothers' eyes met first, and then Xia Cun realized that someone had arrived.

He Shiyan and Steward Lin were followed by several crew members. Some of them went to the open deck to lay anti-slip nets, while the other two wore goggles and helmets and held signal flags to set up a cordon.

He Shizhao frowned slightly, looked at the two adults standing together, and silently asked what was going on.

He Shiyan explained to him: "Someone from the Jiang family contacted me just now and said that a helicopter needs to stop here."

After he finished speaking, Xia Cun suddenly looked at He Shiyan.

Unexpectedly, He Shiyan was also looking at her, as if he was looking for some obvious signs on her face. In the end, He Shiyan said nothing, but simply called the two teenagers off the third deck.

The signalman waved the signal flag, and the silver-white helicopter approached the yacht again in response to the signal. It was more methodical and measured than before, lowering the fuselage inch by inch.

The air waves stirred up by the tail rotor and rotor created white ripples on the sea surface. As the wheels touched the ground, the air and the hull vibrated in the sea breeze.

Xia Cun sat on the gangway, holding her shoulder bag and feeling the exaggerated vibration. It seemed as if even her internal organs were numb, as if she herself was a piece of vibrating metal.

Was she starting to lose the distinction between reality and fantasy again?

Is it true that Jiang Song is just imagining things?

As the propellers slowed, the whirring of the rotors gradually faded, and the noise on the deck melted away in the sea breeze. A feeling of near-weightlessness emerged, and my head felt a little dizzy.

Finally, the sea seemed to return to silence.

Xia Cun stood up by holding the handrail and turned back to the deck.

The helicopter was quietly parked on the anti-slip net, with its cabin bathed in sunlight, like a giant seabird resting.

The hatch door made a "click" sound, and a young man leaned over and stepped out of the hatch. He landed in a beautiful posture. Although his whole body seemed to sway in the wind when his toes touched the ground, his hands were firmly holding the hatch door.

The wind blew his T-shirt and hair. He turned around and raised his thumb towards the cabin, then caught a heavy backpack thrown from inside.

Xia Cun stood at the gangway, watching him from afar.

Steward Lin and the crew had already stepped forward, attempting to take his backpack, but he remained in his hands. Several young men downstairs also heard the news and climbed onto the third-floor deck, stepping over Xia Cun to meet him. Soon, he was once again surrounded by the crowd, just like he had always been.

Xia Cun suddenly recalled the scene when she first saw Jiang Song, the real Jiang Song, not the campus prince in rumors and photos.

It was the first weekend of the semester, and she was going to the flower shop to buy a bouquet of flowers. She was walking on the sidewalk, seemingly lost in thought, when an apple rolled to her feet. She bent down to pick it up, and following the direction the apple had rolled from, she saw more scattered and rolling apples, as well as a crowd of onlookers.

She followed the apples to the crime scene, wedged into the crowd, and found the rumored campus prince standing strangely among a field of pink apples, as if he were an apple tree and the apples fell from him.

So cute. He'll even be surrounded by apples.

"Good! Jiang Song! You dare to come back!" Lu Xu's voice rang out on the deck, mixed with the boy's feigned anger, "What's wrong with you?"

"You are amazing, falling from the sky." Zhou Yun seemed a little sarcastic, but actually it was more like a warm joke.

That's it, all the accusations against Jiang Song were just pretense. He apologized repeatedly, probably just for show, and said to them with half-closed eyes: "Gome Gome"

Lu Xu asked again: "But Mr. Mizuno was about to disband everyone, why did you come back?"

"H-I'm so tired. Let's talk later." He complained slightly, avoiding further questioning. He didn't stop until he reached the gangway, stopping in front of Xia Cun and He Shizhao, who was standing not far behind her.

Several other people were stuck at the back and asked him, "What's wrong?"

"Suddenly I remembered I brought a lot of delicious snacks."

It was indeed sudden enough.

He stood at the gangway, opened the backpack he was carrying on one shoulder, and casually pointed the opening at Xia Cun.

Xia Cun was originally staring at his face. She wanted to tell whether Jiang Song in front of her was the same person as Hayate who had just been talking to her. It was not until he handed her the bag that she turned her cat-like eyes and looked into the bag.

My backpack was crammed full of puffed snacks. It turns out that even things that look heavy might not be that heavy after all.

"Pocky, Jagariko, うまい棒, Choco Pie..." Jiang Song held the bag with both hands and suddenly read out a long list like a dish, and then said, "どうぞ (please)."

Xia Cun looked up at him again, and reached into his bag blindly, choosing between the puffed food packaging and the paper box packaging.

The last thing I took out was a box of Matcha flavored Pocky. The difference from the Matcha flavored ones I bought at the convenience store before was that the packaging of this box of biscuits was in Japanese.

"Thanks."

She suddenly became very polite, but Jiang Song didn't say anything.

"Wow Jiang Song, you're back so why did you bring a gift?" Lu Xu said stupidly, casually took out a box of Koala cookies and said, "Okay, okay, let's go downstairs and divide it up. Brother He and the others are still waiting for you downstairs."

Jiang Song seemed to have heard it and casually carried his open bag down the gangway.

Finally, everyone gathered in the leisure area on the main deck, including the three young men who had just arrived and Chestnut, who had rarely appeared since boarding the ship.

Like pouring out a pile of building blocks, Jiang Song dumped a variety of snacks onto the coffee table. Then, as if noticing He Shiyan's gaze, he turned around and asked him, "Brother-san, do you want to eat?"

He called him brother without any burden, but He Shiyan refused with a smile.

"Please, why would Brother He eat these things?" Zhuo Manyi said while sitting on the sofa on the side.

It was rare for her to have a problem with Jiang Song. She hadn't gone up with the others to greet him just now. Now she couldn't help but say, "Shouldn't you explain to us why you left us without a word?"

He casually opened the bag of delicious sticks and said as he ate, "What a hassle, I'll just pretend I'm allergic to mangoes."

His tone was nonchalant and his attitude was bad, and he obviously had no intention of explaining the matter.

Zhuo Manyi was furious when she heard this, but she just turned her head away angrily. Her friend whispered to comfort her.

Xia Cun's gaze still lingered on Jiang Song. She thought of a metaphor Xia Lan had once used on her.

She accompanied Xiaolan to watch a long movie. After the movie, Xiaolan commented that she was like a wild fruit tree that had just been grafted in spring, always restless.

And now, Jiang Song is also a wild fruit tree like this.

Why?

"Oni-san, is there a room for me to rest?"

He Shiyan didn't know when he had a younger brother, but he could only adjust his glasses and said with a smile, "It just so happens that I'm leaving after lunch. I'm already arranging for someone to clean the cabin. I can rest in a while."

Jiang Song sat down obediently and opened another delicious stick to eat.

Then, as if realizing something, he stared in one direction and asked, "Who is he?"

Zhou Yun was speechless: "The one who fought with you at the beginning of the school year."

"Ah, it's him. Long time no see." There was no anger in his voice. It seemed that he had not only forgotten this person, but also forgotten the fight he had had.

“…”

So Jiang Song also fights with others? Does he also quarrel with others?

As Xia Cun was thinking, a phone call suddenly came.

She looked at the name flashing on the screen, her breathing slightly stagnant, and then she returned to the cabin with her phone.

It was not until there was a knock on the door that Xia Cun hung up the phone and went to answer it.

Like a gust of wind blowing into the cabin, or like an agile leopard, the boy slipped into her cabin, then fell behind the door like flowing water and looked down at her.

Their eyes met, and the ceiling light in the narrow entrance was dim.

Jiang Song is so beautiful, with natural eyebrows, bright eyes, a straight nose, and clear lips. Even his moles are so cute. Xia Cun blinked expressionlessly and noticed that his lips were moving.

"Who is it? "

It took her a moment to react before she heard his voice and replied, "My aunt."

Jiang Song remained silent. The girl looked up at him, and they were both silent for a few moments. Then he said with regret, "I'm in a bad mood."

"Why?"

"Yeah, why did Xia Cun lie to me?"

This was the first time Xia Cun heard him call her classmate Xia Cun.

She blinked and said cunningly: "I don't have it, it's my aunt."

Jiang Song raised the corner of his mouth suddenly, as if he had caught her handle, but he just said: "I didn't say that you lied to me about this matter."

“…”

That's what happened on the deck just now.

"I was doing my homework alone."

"oh."

"……oh."

"What about that night?" He suddenly jumped to the topic and looked at her half-heartedly, as if everything he had said before was unimportant and only this matter was the most important. "Why did you lock me up in the open garden that night?"

So angry.

The author has something to say:

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Who still remembers the open air garden?

It’s dreamy again, the Peter Pan girl and the boy who will be surrounded by apples [hug]

Two restless wild fruit trees

Oh my god, how come Xiao He is the only one injured (>_<)

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I quietly dug up a new pre-collection a week ago. I want to praise the five friends who quietly collected it. They are so caring! Now I need to say: If you still want to read some youth pure love stories, you can collect "The Chain of Broken Love" and the Western fantasy version of "Witch Likes Bread". It contains cute (^_^)v