Chapter 20: Secret

As if waking up from a long deep blue dream, Xia Cun returned to the ground.

After all, a helicopter is not Aladdin's magic carpet.

The fuel will run out, the magic will fail, and it will land.

The persistent buzzing sound in her ears slowly faded away, and a man who had meticulously groomed himself appeared before her, and fantasy and reality made a blurry and rapid transition.

She looked up at the man approaching and heard Jiang Song's voice coming from behind her instead of being wrapped in the headphones.

"Mizuno Yuya?"

His tone was doubtful, and it was obvious that he had no idea that Shinji Mizuno would appear here.

Shinji Mizuno stopped approaching, glanced at his watch, and said his first words to the two of them since they met: "If you come back any later, I'll have to go fish you out of the sea."

They flew over the sea until they ran out of fuel and were forced to return to the helicopter base, and Mr. Mizuno knew exactly when the fuel would run out.

Xia Cun stared at Shinji Mizuno seriously.

She thought that perhaps part of Jiang Song's confidence came from being like him: meticulous, perceptive, and calm, like an indestructible fortress.

He must have come to help Jiang Song, or to deal with the aftermath for Jiang Song and her.

"What do you think?" Jiang Song walked to the girl's side and asked knowingly.

"Mr. Mizuno."

"Does it look good?"

"nice."

She answered frankly, her expression and tone serious. Jiang Song was actually a little surprised to hear such an answer, perhaps because she had never praised He Shiyan in such a way.

After a pause, he suddenly turned around and asked Mr. Mizuno half-seriously, "Mizuno-san, can you change your hairstyle to a buzz cut?"

Shinji Mizuno simply responded calmly, "Sorry, there's no reason for me to accept this suggestion."

His tantrum failed, and the boy looked regretful. Then, Mizuno Shinji turned to the girl who had been staring at him and politely greeted her, "Long time no see, Xia-san."

Xia Cun thought carefully for a moment and replied, "It doesn't seem to have been too long."

It wasn't too long, but for Shinji Mizuno, every day related to Jiang Song felt long.

Jiang Song was prone to impulsiveness and erratic behavior, often making two diametrically opposed decisions within a matter of minutes. This also meant his days as an assistant were incredibly long, so long that in the five years he'd been Jiang Song's assistant, he'd felt like he'd gone from 27 to 47.

At this rate, Jiang Song could accomplish in one vacation what took others four. So, the ten days that seemed like a short time to others were already too long for him.

Mizuno Shinji thought so, but his expression did not change at all. He just asked the girl, "What do you want to eat for dinner? Do you want to eat outside or go back to the villa?"

"Ah, you're so biased, Mizuno-san. Why don't you ask me?"

Jiang Song's stinginess seemed to be kicking in again. Mr. Mizuno remained calm as always: "As far as I know, you don't like dinner."

“…”

"Besides," Mizuno finally smiled, a rare gesture, very politely, "I just invited Xia-san, I didn't mean to have dinner with you."

After hearing this, Jiang Song was stunned for a moment, then asked unhappily, "Why? She was obviously with me."

The air pressure dropped, but Mizuno Shinji didn't seem nervous. Instead, he subtly suppressed the boy with a dignified attitude and corrected him, "She is our guest first. You can think of it as me inviting her to dinner on behalf of your mother."

He answered in Chinese, obviously intending to speak to Xia Cun. Xia Cun blinked when he mentioned Jiang Song's mother, Ms. Tian Zhong.

"I want to eat outside."

She answered simply, and the other two looked at her.

Mizuno Shinji nodded slightly, indicating his understanding. Jiang Song seemed even more displeased, but Mizuno didn't give him any room to vent his anger. He added, "As for you, I think the gentleman will talk to you later about what happened on the boat. Please be prepared."

After saying that, Jiang Song looked even more annoyed, but he just vented his anger by complaining that he was so annoyed.

Mizuno pretended not to hear, looked in a certain direction, and said, "The car arranged by Miss Emma has arrived. You can go back first."

Jiang Song said nothing, lowering his eyes to look at Xia Cun. Seeing that she said nothing, he walked away silently. Xia Cun turned his eyes away and followed him unconsciously until Mizuno Shinji's voice sounded again: "Are you worried that he will be angry with you?"

She looked away, shook her head at him, and asked him, "Will he be scolded?"

"No." Mizuno gave a firm answer, "No one will scold him."

"Then why is he unhappy?"

"Because he's a child who hasn't grown up yet, has no sense of responsibility, and always thinks the world will always indulge him."

He said a long Chinese sentence, the wording was harsh, not at all moderate. Maybe he hadn't said that sentence rigorously enough, at least he would scold him.

After saying that, Mizuno withdrew his gaze from the boy, turned to look at the girl, and asked her, "What about you, Xiaoxia?"

Xia Cun looked at him with some confusion.

Shinji Mizuno changed the subject: "Let's go, I think we can talk about a lot of things during dinner."

-

"Ah!" The next morning, Ban Li stared at Xia Cun who appeared in the villa restaurant and asked in amazement, "When did you come back?"

Xia Cun rubbed his itchy eyes and answered him: "Last night."

"What about the others? Are they back too?"

"It's just me and classmate Jiang Song."

Ban Li was choked by this answer and spoke for a long time: "So, then you are like before..."

He didn't finish because the answer was undoubtedly yes, and he didn't know how to react. Fortunately, Xia Cun quickly left the restaurant with a sandwich and milk.

She found Tom outside the greenhouse and sat with him to have breakfast.

The morning sea breeze carries a natural smell of sea salt, and even the sandwiches seem a little salty.

It tasted bad. Her throat was itchy, her eyes were itchy, her ears were itchy, and if Tom couldn't eat salty food, she would have given him the sandwich.

She had a hard time eating, and at the same time, the questions that Shinji Mizuno had asked her during dinner last night were still circling in her mind.

"Xiao Xia, do you think he is right to do this?"

"You also think it's too much to throw everyone off like this, right?"

"Are you also very indulgent towards him?"

"Are you also at fault in this matter?"

…

Was it Mr. Mizuno who asked her this, or was it the person behind him who asked her this?

The phone was so quiet, no one was talking to her anymore.

Miao Wen didn’t, and Ren Yi didn’t.

Haruka didn't either.

What about Xiaolan? Maybe she already knows about this. Will Mr. Mizuno tell her?

But she wouldn't be angry with her for such a thing, after all, she was always too lacking in energy to care about anything.

It's so itchy. My eyes are so sore and swollen.

"Meow."

Tom suddenly bumped into her. She knew he had been waiting for her for a long time, so she had to force the last bite of sandwich into her mouth and picked him up to rub it. At this time, Shinji Mizuno returned to the garden after his morning run.

He was wearing a gray quick-drying shirt and sneakers, and his hair was stuck to his forehead due to sweat, looking relaxed and casual, a rare sight.

When he saw the girl, he said good morning to her and then sat down on the flower bed beside her very naturally.

Xia Cun turned his head and saw Mizuno wiping his sweat with a towel.

"Why do you want to go running outside?" she asked him, as if she was very curious about him.

"It's only when you run outdoors that you can really move forward, compared to running on a treadmill, right?"

Xia Cun seemed to understand, but Mizuno then asked her, "You looked unhappy just now. Was it because of what I said last night?"

"Um."

Mizuno couldn't help but chuckle and said, "As expected, Xiaoxia is a frank person."

Is she?

She lowered her head and touched Tom, saying, "I'm not."

Because she would never tell Jiang Song that she was following him.

Mizuno seemed to know what she was talking about and suddenly said, "Xia-san, everyone has secrets." Xia Cun looked up at him. Mizuno's expression was sincere and he continued, "You just kept a secret, but that doesn't mean you are not honest at other times."

"Do you have a secret, too?"

"Of course." He paused, "But it will soon be no secret."

He seemed to have a relieved smile on his face, but then his watch rang. He lowered his head to turn off an alarm, then returned to his usual demeanor and said in the same businesslike tone as last night, "I have to go to work. Goodbye."

Xia Cun watched him walk away, imagining the secrets belonging to Shinji Mizuno and others.

What is Mr. Mizuno's secret? Does Jiang Song have a secret too?

She didn't know, she only knew Xiaolan's secret and Xiaoyi's secret.

Her eyes were itchy. Xia Cun wanted to rub them again, but she was already rubbing Tom, and her hands were dirty, so she could only blink and squeeze out a line of hot tears. Only then did she realize that she might have a cold, so she ruthlessly left Tom and returned to the villa with red eyes.

She rummaged through the medicine box, took some medicine, and returned to her room with a dizzy head.

Could it be that it wasn't a cold, but the aftereffects of hovering in the air for too long yesterday? She huddled back under the covers, suddenly missing her room.

Her room was like a little bakery, without the bread, but with warm colors and everything fluffy and lovely.

It was Xia Lan who decorated the room like that. She was certainly not a messy maximalist. On the contrary, she was romantic to an unimaginable degree.

In fact, Xia Lan's decision to embark on the path of comic creation was a deviation in her life path. If she had not become unexpectedly famous, she would probably have become an interior designer after graduation. Of course, she herself thought that she was more likely to apply for the position of art director or set designer of a film crew.

She would decorate the room in a complicated and dreamy way, and would also find fabrics with various patterns to make clothes for Xia Cun. Many of Xia Cun's colorful and strange clothes were made by her.

Sometimes Xia Cun would think that maybe her dreamy and unrealistic mind was because of Xia Lan.

She liked Xia Lan, so she hated everyone who walked into her home. Of course, she also knew that it was not her home, but Xia Lan's home.

She likes Xia Lan, so she hates Xia Lan's secret.

"How can I get rid of her?"

"I really want to get rid of her."

"I actually wanted to get rid of my own sister's daughter."

"Why am I in so much pain?"

Broken words rose from the depths of his heart, squeezing out blurry tears. Xia Cun sent a message to Xia Lan, and after a long time, he wrote three words: "I want to go home."

"Why? Don't you like Jiang Song anymore?"

Xia Lan had actually woken up and replied to this voice message. Xia Cun repeatedly edited it, as if he didn't know what to say, until Xia Lan sent a second voice message.

"Xia Zhesheng, you can't escape reality. If you do something wrong, you need to face it."

Sure enough, Mr. Mizuno told her.

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The author has something to say: Yes, the aesthetic point of Xia's existence appeared just like this (

Be like Mizuno Shinji, Naya?

-

I will update the post later tomorrow, but I don’t know if I can finish it. I’ve had rhinitis recently and I’m not in good shape [holding my chin]. I haven’t revised the previous chapter yet, so I might as well write it all in one go and talk about it after I finish it!