Invite him
It was a dry and quiet winter day, with a gentle mountain breeze and the sun shining brightly.
Zuo Xiao broke off a slice of orange and put it in his mouth. The sweet and refreshing taste instantly filled his mouth.
She quickly finished half the orange. When she was still craving more, Zhuang Yu'an turned around and asked, "Want another one?" as if there was a camera behind his head.
Zuo Xiao nodded, and saw him take out another orange. He raised his hand and said, "Let me peel it." Zhuang Yu'an handed the orange over without saying a word.
After they shared the second orange, Zhuang Yu'an, like a magician, pulled out a 1.5-liter thermos, then a rectangular metal box with a handle. Zuo Xiao stared at his bag in surprise, puzzled as to how it could hold so much stuff.
Zhuang Yu'an squatted down, put the things on the ground, opened the lid of the box, and turned out to be a set of portable tea set.
He sat on the floor and fiddled with it for a while. The metal box turned into a tea table, with a teapot and three cups on it, looking quite presentable. He then took out a bag of tea leaves and began to brew tea right there.
The lingering aroma of tea filled Zuo Xiao's nose. He took a deep breath and was watching intently when he suddenly heard him ask, "Do you think this is pretentious?"
"Ah?" She didn't react for a moment and looked up at him, "What are you pretending for?"
His deep black eyes were filled with a smile, with a hint of embarrassment. "I saw someone online saying that making tea outdoors is... quite pretentious."
"How could that be!" Zuo Xiao laughed in surprise, "I didn't expect you to care about such nonsense."
"I like drinking tea outdoors," he said as he poured tea. "But before I stuffed all this gear into my backpack, I hesitated..." The corners of his lips rose noticeably, and he continued, "I was worried you'd think I was pretending."
"Hahaha..." Zuo Xiao laughed so hard that he fell forward and backward. After finally stopping his laughter, he said, "There was a time when I really thought you were quite pretentious."
Zhuang Yu'an was slightly startled, handed her the teacup, and asked, "Is it because I criticized your novel?"
"Right," Zuo Xiao said. "At the time, you said what I wrote was cultural dregs and electronic garbage, and that my aesthetic tastes and values were terrible. You also said that life is short and asked me to cherish my best years... Humph! After I went back, I thought, that guy must have claimed to have elegant tastes, but he is actually hopeless—"
"Pretentious." Zhuang Yu'an said it for her without changing his expression, "That's what you called me at the time."
Zuo Xiao raised his eyebrows and chin in accusation, "You were so pretentious back then! Not just the words you said, but also the deep and arrogant expression you wore when you spoke... Do you know what kind of character portrait I had of you back then?"
Zhuang Yu'an shook his head, and Zuo Xiao curled his lips and said, "I only listen to classical music. My favorite directors are Tarkovsky, Bergman, or Fellini. I always have Walden by my bedside. When I'm on a business trip or taking the high-speed train, I always hold Principles, Navarre's Codex, or Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, always in the original English... This is how I imagine you in my mind."
Zhuang Yu'an's smile was a little awkward. "I have actually read the books you mentioned. And to maintain my English proficiency, I try to read the original versions of many books... But I don't know any of the directors you mentioned. Are they very famous?"
"It's a niche genre, but it's very famous among a certain group of people. It's okay, it's not important." Zuo Xiao smiled and asked, "What kind of movies do you usually watch?"
Zhuang Yu'an thought about it carefully and answered: "Detective Chinatown, Your Name, La La Land, Wolf Warrior..."
"Damn! You're still watching Wolf Warrior?!"
"Yeah." Zhuang Yu'an said calmly, "It's good to watch with Jing. I haven't watched many movies myself."
"Don't like watching it?" Zuo Xiao was really puzzled. Is there anyone in the world who doesn't like movies?
"It's not that I don't like it," Zhuang Yu'an explained. "I was very busy when I was in school, and even more so after starting my own business. Watching a movie requires a long, continuous period of time, and going to the cinema is even more troublesome. I prefer reading or listening to music. Even if it's only five minutes, I can get an immersive experience."
"No wonder you have so many CDs and vinyl records at home..." Zuo Xiao thought of the entire wall of records in his study and suddenly found it funny. He said casually, "I'm more surprised that your taste is quite diverse. You have Kanye, Shengxiang, Wu Bai, and Lei Guangxia at the same time. I can't figure out how these people got together..." He didn't realize that these words exposed the fact that he had secretly visited the study and looked through other people's belongings without the other person's knowledge.
The mountain wind blew the treetops, and the fallen leaves rustled down.
Zhuang Jing walked down the mountain slowly. She had tried to slow down as much as possible, but the mountain was only a few hundred meters high. After nearly an hour, even if she had to climb, she would have to return.
From a distance, she could hear the sound of clear, melodious laughter carried on the wind, faint and unclear. She held her breath, slowed her pace, and listened.
As the distance shortened, Zuo Xiao's voice could finally be heard clearly: "Those two looked at the puppy, their faces turning green!"
Just then, as she turned a corner, she was greeted by a sight that lifted her spirits. Zuo Xiaozheng and his brother sat opposite each other, sipping tea and chatting, their eyes sparkling with interest.
While she was stunned, Zuo Xiao noticed her and waved with a smile. Her brother also turned around and said with a smile, "Come and have some tea."
Zhuang Jinghao's heart was pounding wildly. He was both excited and a little guilty, afraid of being seen through. He sat down cross-legged and asked in a dissembling way, "What are you talking about? I heard you laughing from so far away."
"I'm telling you..." Zuo Xiao chuckled, "One year I went camping in the mountains with my friends. We were so careless that we didn't leave anyone to guard the campsite. When we came back, the whole place was empty, not even the tents were left."
"Ah? What happened next?"
"My friend said not to panic, because you couldn't lose anything in her care, haha! She brought a little dog with her, about this small..." She gestured with her hands, "A dachshund or something, I forgot. Anyway, she said the dog was specially trained and had a very good nose. Then a bunch of us followed the little guy, and after walking for half an hour, we arrived at a house at the foot of the mountain. The little guy stood still at the door, barking at the inside, and my friend said the thing must be inside."
"Wow!" Zhuang Jing was so entranced by the sound that she forgot to drink from the teacup in her hand. "And then? Is it really in there?"
"Yes!" Zuo Xiao smiled brightly. "At first, the couple desperately denied it and wouldn't let us in. But then the puppy rushed into the house while they weren't paying attention, and within half a minute, it ran out with my friend's hat in its mouth. The couple's faces turned green!"
"That's fantastic!" Zhuang Jing was so happy she put down her cup and applauded. Zuo Xiao continued, "Later, we counted the items and found nothing was missing. After we got home, someone made a banner for the puppy that read 'Chinese Divine Dog,' but my friend insisted that her dog was a purebred imported breed, not a local dog. Hahaha!"
The two of them burst into laughter. Zhuang Jinghao suddenly remembered something: "Oh, you haven't been to Jinghao's Home yet, right? Let's find some time to go there, okay?" Zuo Xiao agreed.
"Do your feet hurt?" Zhuang Yu'an asked again on the way down the mountain.
Zhuang Jinghao pricked up her ears, hoping to hear a positive response from Zuo Xiao, so that she could say, "Brother, carry her!" However, what Zuo Xiao actually said was, "It doesn't hurt."
She secretly felt regretful, but then she thought: Isn't there a big event planned for that evening? Suddenly, she perked up again and couldn't help humming a song.
At night, the three of them finished their dinner at the hot spring hotel and walked back to their residence along the cobblestone path.
Zhuang Jinghao had booked a private courtyard with a private hot spring. The courtyard was surrounded by a wall of bamboo and wood as thick as a forearm, with trees and shrubs of varying heights planted along the base to protect the courtyard's privacy.
Pushing open the door, I was greeted by a quaint, elegant square courtyard, with a wooden house at its farthest point. A red maple tree in the corner stood out, its soft, ambient lighting illuminating it like a flaming flame in the winter night, its broad shadows falling on the courtyard wall. A few feet away, a hot spring pool, roughly five or six square meters in size, surrounded by large and small rocks, shimmered with wisps of white mist in the crisp air.
Zuo Xiao took a shower after Zhuang Jinghao. When she came out, she had changed into a bikini, a thick white bathrobe, and her long hair was tied into a bun.
At this time, Zhuang Jinghao, who was also wearing a bathrobe, opened the door and came in. He sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed, "What should I do? My brother doesn't want to take a hot spring bath... Oh, he seems a little shy..."
Zuo Xiao laughed: "Is this true?"
Zhuang Jinghao rumpled the hem of her bathrobe with both hands and sighed, "I don't think it's necessary either! We went swimming together before, didn't we? There were even more people there then!"
She was genuinely troubled. Back when she'd booked the hot spring hotel, she'd told her brother her plan: soaking in the hot springs with Zuo Xiao would not only quickly bring them closer, but also show off his physique—Zuo Xiao liked muscular men, a fact she'd already told her brother. When her brother didn't comment on her plan, she automatically took it as "no problem, I'll go along." She'd never imagined he'd actually change his mind at the last minute!
Just now, no matter how hard she tried to persuade him, he refused to give in, saying things like, "I didn't expect the pool to be so small," and "She might think I was being too presumptuous."
Zuo Xiao thought for a moment and said, "If he feels uncomfortable, he can wait until we're done bathing."
Zhuang Jinghao had originally considered asking Zuo Xiao to personally persuade them, but hearing what she said immediately gave her a bad feeling. Her brow furrowed as a plan came to mind. She sighed and said, "Damn it... I haven't been to a hot spring with my brother in years..."
She raised her eyes to look at Zuo Xiao, hoping that she would take the initiative to say "Then I will go and persuade him", but unexpectedly she said: "How about you two go first, it's okay for me to be late."
Zhuang Jinghao almost spat out a mouthful of blood, his face flushed red, and he stammered, "Then, then how boring it must be for you to be alone..." Then, risking exposing his intentions, he said, "Xiaoxiao, baby, why don't you go and talk him down? You're not embarrassed, so why should he, a grown man, be embarrassed?"
Uh… Zuo Xiao’s mouth twitched twice, and he thought to himself: It’s not like I’m not embarrassed…
In fact, until nightfall, she hadn't felt awkward about soaking in the hot springs with the Zhuang siblings. But just now, looking at the misty pool of just a few square meters in the night sky, she suddenly felt a sense of unease. Was she really going to soak in the pool with Zhuang Yu'an? Wouldn't it be a little too close, with legs touching each other...
Yet, meeting Zhuang Jinghao's innocent eyes, she couldn't bring herself to say, "I'd be embarrassed too." It was perfectly natural for Zhuang Yu'an to be shy; after all, he was conservative, old-fashioned, and still a virgin. But she, on the other hand, boasted of having seen it all, even acting like a master to Zhuang Jinghao. Wouldn't it sound guilty, flustered, and guilty if she said she was embarrassed at this moment?
When she thought of this, she acted nonchalant and said, "Okay, I'll talk to him."
"That's great!" Zhuang Jing jumped up from the bed happily, took her hand and walked out.
Zuo Xiao felt a surge of regret as she walked. She had only acted impulsively in the moment, but now that she had come to her senses, she felt that inviting Zhuang Yu'an to join her in the hot springs was incredibly awkward, especially since he had already clearly expressed his embarrassment... How should she bring it up?
While she was nervous, Zhuang Jinghao knocked on the door. Zuo Xiao took a deep breath. She was already being held captive, so she had no choice but to go in.
The door opened, and Zhuang Yu'an appeared in front of him in a bathrobe, his hair still wet. His handsome features exuded a sense of relaxation rarely seen in ordinary times, but not much. This man seemed to be born without the adjectives such as casual and lazy.
"Um..." She felt her throat dry and itchy, cleared her throat, and said calmly, "Let's go to the hot spring together."
Zhuang Yu'an was obviously stunned and didn't say a word for a while.
In the suffocating silence, Zuo Xiao felt her cheeks heat up. She had made such a direct invitation, but the other party hadn't responded, making her seem like she was just trying to get involved. How embarrassing! Then she felt annoyed: This rotten piece of wood hadn't appreciated her kindness, leaving her out in the cold. How annoying!
Zuo Xiao pursed his rosy lips unhappily, raised his chin, and said with a somewhat aggressive and playful tone:
"I often go to hot springs with my friends. You won't think too much of it, will you?"
Zhuang Jinghao was stunned watching from the sidelines. She hadn't expected Zuo Xiao to be so direct and sharp. And what kind of death-defying question was this? How could anyone answer it?! She glanced at her brother, who was also bewildered, clearly unsure of how to respond.
In a hurry, she pulled Zuo Xiao and ran away: "We'll go over first, brother, come over later!"
The two of them went into the water and both sighed with comfort, and the awkwardness they had just felt was swept away.
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Insects were chirping and occasionally there were a few distant crows calling, which made the surroundings even more quiet and empty.
Zuo Xiao was immersed in the hot spring water from her collarbone down. Her racing heart sent signals of extreme pleasure to her brain, stimulating her scalp to a slight tingling sensation. She closed her eyes and let out a long, soft sigh from the depths of her throat.
The gentle sound of water echoed in his ears, and his skin felt the gentle waves. Zuo Xiao opened his eyes and saw Zhuang Jinghao stirring the hot spring water with his hands, causing ripples and shattering the moonlight across the pool.
At this moment, she heard the rustling sound of pebbles being trampled behind her head. She turned her head subconsciously and saw a man walking slowly towards her, his body as tall as a peak, his majestic shoulders supporting a half moon.
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