She felt a pang of regret, but after lying down, she couldn't fall asleep again.

It is said that the darkness amplifies people's fears.

Jiang Xi's leaf bed was closest to the cave entrance. When she slept facing the entrance, she could only keep her eyes open, afraid that something would come in if she closed them. When she faced away from the entrance, the terror of being blocked by a black bear last time was still vivid in her mind, and she always felt that some animal was watching her from behind.

She tossed and turned in fear, unable to fall asleep.

Because the noise was too loud and frequent, Yan Zheng's impatient voice rang out: "If you keep moving around, you'll be sent to keep watch at the cave entrance."

Jiang Xi calmed down, held her breath and forced herself to relax, trying to think of pleasant things, her family in the other world, and her grandmother, and eventually fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke up in the morning, Yan Zheng was not in Ye Zi's bed, the fire was not lit, and the cave was empty, with only her left.

Jiang Xi suddenly sat up in bed, her mind instantly clearing, with only one thought in her mind.

He left, leaving me behind.

She ran out of the cave without even putting on her shoes, only to see a clothes rack made of vines hanging at the entrance, where Yan Zheng's black down jacket and other clothes were drying in the sun.

Jiang Xi breathed a sigh of relief and pulled aside her clothes to see a person standing in the river about ten meters away.

The morning sun was shining brightly as Yan Zheng stood in the water washing up. The water flowed up to his calves, and the sunlight shone on his strong, powerful muscles. His chest and abdominal muscles shimmered with phosphorescence along with the water's surface, and his thigh muscles bulged outwards.

Jiang Xi froze, her heart suddenly racing. She had to admit that her figure was still great after all these years.

Yan Zheng was very popular when he was in school. He had handsome eyebrows and eyes that were both heroic and deep. When he stood on the stage in his fencing uniform, he looked heroic and sunny.

Back then, Yan Zheng taught her to swim. Years of exercise had given him a well-proportioned and strong physique, though he was slightly thinner than he is now and didn't possess the muscularity and power he has now.

If Yan Zheng was a boy before, then he is now a truly mature and aggressive man. When he glares at Jiang Xi with anger, he makes her feel an irresistible pressure and fear.

Taking advantage of the fact that she hadn't been discovered, Jiang Xi fanned herself, cursed herself for being so cowardly, and hurriedly fled back to the cave.

He looked down at his clothes again. His white undershirt was stained with grass juice and mud, turning it into camouflage. His pants weren't much better; they were snagged so badly they were almost like woolen trousers, and below the knees they were tattered and in a terrible state. He was quite a sorry sight.

The two of them now have so few clothes that you can count them on one hand, and most importantly, they're all too thick.

Aside from this base layer, which I can wear right now, I rarely need the other sweaters and fleece pants. After I take a shower, I'll only be able to wear the sweater, and I don't even have a spare pair of underwear.

Yan Zheng's outfit was even worse; he only had a pair of pants, a sweater, and a short-sleeved shirt.

The down jackets we have are not only clothes, but also blankets for the night. The temperature is low here at night, so taking apart the down jackets is absolutely not an option.

Sigh, how am I going to live like this from now on?

Hearing Yan Zheng's footsteps outside the cave, she quickly closed her eyes and lay down, pretending that she was still asleep.

Yan Zheng picked up his half-dry underwear from the clothes rack, put it on, and carried the pot into the cave.

"Stop pretending, I saw you just now. Get up and eat."

Jiang Xi sat up, then noticed that he was only wearing underwear. She quickly looked away and explained, "I didn't see anything just now."

Yan Zheng chuckled dismissively, "It's not like I haven't seen it before."

He then placed the pot on the campfire. The pot was mostly filled with water, and fresh fish pieces were placed in the water.

These words sounded flippant, and Jiang Xi thought to herself, "Can looking at it now be the same as looking at it back then?" Back then, although the two of them had only held hands, they were still in a proper romantic relationship.

Although Jiang Xi thought this way, she wisely kept it to herself, got up, and went over to put firewood into the campfire.

Looking at the fish in the pot, she asked curiously, "How did you catch this fish?"

"Use a sword."

Jiang Xi exclaimed in surprise, "You fencers can also fish?"

Yan Zheng said calmly, "The requirements for fencing are agility, precision, and speed."

"It's not hard to stick a fish in your mouth."

Jiang Xi nodded: "Next time, let's make a spear. This sword was a gift from Professor Yan. I'd be heartbroken if it broke here."

Yan Zheng's expression froze upon hearing this, and he said in a slightly deep voice, "It doesn't matter, I'm not practicing anymore anyway."

Jiang Xi brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and casually asked as she handed him firewood, "If you don't care, why are you still carrying it?" Unexpectedly, his expression suddenly darkened, and he said without any mercy, "Jiang Xi, you don't need to test me again and again, trying to help me recall the past."

“Giving up means giving up. I don’t like you always bringing up the past; it just makes me think you’re hypocritical and ridiculous.”

Jiang Xi stared at him, stunned. She hadn't expected to touch a nerve again. She suppressed the soreness in her throat and said calmly, "I'm hypocritical? It's just a breakup, and you hate me like this."

As if thinking of something, his fingertips began to tremble, and his voice carried a hint of hostility and an almost imperceptible hoarseness: "Heh, it's just a breakup."

"Jiang Xi, do you think it's so easy for me to wear a green hat?"

A green hat? Jiang Xi's brain went blank for a moment.

Yan Zheng met her already reddened eyes, and he suddenly clenched his fist.

She's still acting, still pretending.

He stood up, clenched his teeth, raised his head to compose himself, his hard jawline taut with anger, his bloodshot eyes looking down at her, and said in a deep voice, "There's no need for these tricks between us."

His chest felt like it was blocked by something, painful and stabbing. He paused for a moment before speaking: "I said I would take you out, and I won't go back on my word."

After saying that, he didn't look at her again, picked up the axe from the ground, and walked out of the cave.

Jiang Xi wiped the coldness off her face with her fingertips, her thumb digging into her index fingernail to ease her helplessness and anger.

That night four years ago.

Outside the window, the wind and snow raged. She huddled in the stairwell of the dormitory building, crouching in a corner, and heard him on the phone say, "Jiang Xi, I don't need you to control my life."

Her voice trembled and became hysterical: "It's all because of you that things have turned out this way."

Let's break up.

She wanted to say something, but his next words silenced her.

The twenty-one-year-old Yan Zheng spoke those words extremely calmly and slowly, with a hint of static in his voice: "Jiang Xi, I'm twenty now, I don't need your candy anymore."

The heavy snow, the unreachable phone calls, the people who had been disappearing from time to time over the past six months—it turns out that everything was foreshadowed.

She couldn't remember what else happened that night besides the cold. She only remembered curling up into a ball, tears welling up in her eyes but unable to cry, and sitting alone in a corner all night.

As dawn broke and the sky began to lighten, she received a call from Professor Yan, Yan Zheng's father.

Besides telling her that Yan Zheng needed to be hospitalized, the most important thing was what the haggard, middle-aged man said on the phone.

“Jiang Xi, I’m begging you, his illness has been getting worse and worse these past two years. The doctor said that if this continues, he will have to give up fencing. I know that I haven’t fulfilled my responsibilities as a father all these years. I’ve been too harsh on him.”

"I'm begging you, please, just leave it at that and don't provoke him anymore."

"That's fine. I'll tell him personally when he wakes up that you shouldn't contact him anymore."

——

Jiang Xi felt an uncontrollable rage rising within her. She had done too few good deeds in her past life, which was why she had to meet this person in this life and suffer such humiliation.

She grew angrier the more she thought about it, grabbed a wooden stick, and rushed out of the cave.

Yan Zheng was chopping firewood at the door.

Without thinking, Jiang Xi lashed out at Yan Zheng on the back with a stick.

Enraged, Yan Zheng turned around and grabbed the stick from her hand, saying in a fit of shame and anger, "Are you crazy?"

Jiang Xi's chest burned with anger: "I think you've gone mad. What did I do to offend you? You were the one who broke up with me, and now you're trying to turn the tables on me."

"I've revised my thesis twenty times and I've never been this angry. Did I lose my mind to let you bully me in this godforsaken place?"

"Let's talk this out today. What have I done to wrong you that makes you hate me so much?"

Jiang Xi blurted out her thoughts like beans spilling out.

Upon hearing these words, Yan Zheng's expression froze, his imposing manner subsided, and his voice became hoarse: "When did I bring that up?"

Taking a step closer, with an undeniable air of authority, she asked again, "When did I bring up breaking up?"

Seeing that he wasn't in a good mood, Jiang Xi simply answered his question, "The night before you went to the hospital."

Yan Zheng looked at her, his eyes scanning her face as if trying to discern something: "What else did I say?"

"without."

"That's all." Jiang Xi thought of something, but didn't say it aloud.

Yan Zheng lowered his head, wiped his face with both hands, looked down at her, his probing gaze lingering on her face for a moment, his voice weak and hoarse: "So back then, we parted ways without even meeting."

After saying that, he waved his hand, pulled off his pants and clothes from the vines, and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Jiang Xixin felt a sudden tightness in her chest as she sensed the unusual oppression emanating from him.

"Looking for firewood."

Seeing that he hadn't gone far, Jiang Xi's heart finally settled down a little.

Jiang Xi hadn't expected him to react this way. He was the one who said these things, and he had personally experienced them, so why did Yan Zheng's reaction make her feel uneasy?

She was a little sleepy, so she casually tidied her messy hair with her hands and lit the campfire.