Chapter 31 You’ve liked me for so long...
During the brief eye contact, Tao Siyun saw his slightly red face deep in Xu Ji's eyes.
Her face was a little hot. She lay on his back, rubbing her toes against his coat, gently kicking the cold zipper, and looking away calmly.
"I'm cold..."
Xu Ji held her up with one hand, lifted her up on his body, and walked forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
"Tao Siyun, why are you always lost?"
"Mengmeng led the way. She took me to buy some sausages, and on the way back, we ended up in the woods."
Xu Ji let out a dull low laugh.
Although the Alaskan didn't know what was going on, it still wagged its tail and barked twice in front of its owner, trying to increase its presence as if to seek credit.
"Taosyun, make a wish."
"Hmm? Why?"
"During Torch Festival, if you make a wish to the God of Fire, he will bless you and ward off disasters."
"You are a graduate of a prestigious university, and you don't believe in ghosts and gods or Buddha. How could you believe this?" Tao Siyun felt quite surprised.
"Well, I believe it starting today."
"Why?"
"Because I just tried it, and it works."
Tao Siyun smiled, thinking he was teasing her. "How can it be so fast?"
Xu Ji also laughed, "If you don't believe me, try it."
"……oh."
His back is very broad, Tao Siyun thought.
You may find yourself walking on a road that seems to have no clear direction, but as you keep walking, you will slowly find the exit.
…
The previous game has ended and now it has entered the second stage. More than a hundred people have been divided into several groups and started a song chain.
After the place became lively, Boss Liang found a few people to take over hosting the game. After sitting down for a few minutes, he was pestered by Yuan Xiao, who was holding up his mobile phone to record the video.
"Boss Liang, why are you hiding here alone and not playing with us?"
"I'm so tired, I need to take a break."
"Oh, how about you join the photo?"
"No."
"Just sign one in, sign one in. This is the last stop. Just think of it as a perfect ending to our two-week trip, okay?"
"Here—" Liang Jin pursed his lips and pointed at two figures not far away, "I think it's much more meaningful for you to take a picture of that couple than to take a picture of me."
Yuan Xiao said "Hmm?" in confusion and followed his gaze.
Yuan Xiao blinked rapidly, a look of shock and disbelief filling his eyes as he nearly exclaimed, "What the hell is going on?"
Liang Jin folded his arms and glanced at her with interest: "I think it's obvious enough, can you still not see it?"
"I see it, but I don't quite understand it."
"What's there to understand?"
"How should I put it? It's just..." Yuan Xiao looked confused and didn't react for a moment. He said blankly, "I only saw the answer, but didn't see the solution process. I don't understand."
"Oh, that's what you're talking about!" Boss Liang patted her shoulder and said, "Then I guess you'll never see the process, because the result is already in front of you."
“…”
"Are you hungry?"
"A little bit." Tao Siyun hugged her legs with her chin resting on her knees. She was wearing Xu Ji's windproof jacket and sitting in front of the fire to keep warm. Alaska lay comfortably beside her.
"Wait." Xu Ji casually threw the torch into the fire. Sparks flew and it soon burned, forming a red flame.
“…”
"Teacher Yuan," Boss Liang couldn't help but remind her, "Stop looking. If you don't turn the fish over, it's going to burn."
“…”
Yuan Xiao coughed unnaturally and quickly withdrew his gaze from all directions.
At this time, Xu Ji walked towards them quickly.
"Is there anything left to eat?"
"Yes, yes, it's being roasted right now. Just wait a few minutes and it'll be ready soon." Liang Jin looked at him with a smile and joked, "Give the clothes to your girlfriend. She must be cold. Come over and roast some."
Xu Ji curled his lips slightly, stood aside with his hands in his pockets, and said, "It's okay, no need."
***
Tao Siyun sighed silently in her heart. If her shoes had not been wet and unable to be worn, she probably would not have been blocked here by Zhang Yuhao.
"Senior, where did you go just now?"
"I didn't go anywhere, just walked around."
"When we were playing games, I thought you were there and I looked for you for a long time..."
Tao Siyun avoided his scorching gaze, stared at the shoes that were drying by the fire, and said "oh" softly.
Zhang Yuhao looked a little embarrassed and said cautiously, "I, I said I like you, did you hear me?"
Tao Siyun's heart skipped a beat. The first scene that came to her mind was the scene not long ago... She and Xu Ji were speechless in the woods, and they were extremely embarrassed for a few minutes...
Faced with such frank love, Tao Siyun shook his head against his will and said, "I didn't hear it."
"Then let me say it again, okay?" Zhang Yuhao squatted in front of her, his expression serious. "Tao Siyun, I like you. Do you hear me now?"
“…”
The boy, who was less than twenty years old, looked at her with bold yet shy eyes, nervous and expectant.
"I heard it." Tao Siyun drew circles on the ground with a burnt branch in his hand. After a moment of silence, he said, "But... I already have a boyfriend."
One sentence made the two men change their expressions at the same time.
"Senior, please don't lie to me. I asked Teacher Yuan before, and she clearly said you were single."
"..." Tao Siyun's long-awaited excuse was ruthlessly exposed. His head was buzzing, but he quickly returned to normal. He continued to make up stories without blushing or beating his heart: "I'm not lying to you. I was single an hour ago, but now... I'm not."
"I don't believe it."
"Really? Didn't you ask me where I was when I was playing games? I was in the woods with my crush. I confessed my love to him, and then we got together. Later, I heard your confession..."
The boy's eyes widened, thinking he had misheard. His emotions were extremely complicated. He said in disbelief, "Senior, I... just a few minutes later, and you're with someone else?"
"...Yeah." Tao Siyun nodded again against his will.
Zhang Yuhao was silent for a while with red eyes. Holding on to the last bit of hope, he asked stubbornly and unwillingly: "What if I told you that I like you earlier? Would you have been so…"
"No... This isn't a question of who confessed first. Besides, even if you confessed earlier, it wasn't earlier than me. I've had a crush on him for eight years. Back then, you weren't even twelve years old, you hadn't even graduated from elementary school, and I was already in high school..."
Tao Siyun felt that he had tried too hard this time. As he continued to make up stories, he lost confidence. His stories became more and more outrageous, and his voice gradually became weaker. In the end, he could not continue.
"So you're rejecting me, just because of my age?"
"Well, actually it's not just because of age. Mainly because I like him and he likes me. You're still young, and you'll meet someone better in the future..."
Zhang Yuhao's disappointment was clearly visible to Tao Siyun. After thinking for a while, he suddenly raised his head and said with determination, "Senior sister, it doesn't matter even if you have a boyfriend. I don't care. In the future, I will try my best not to like you so much."
“…”
Xu Ji listened silently for a while, then walked over as if nothing had happened.
***
Yuan Xiao, holding a skewer in one hand and a beer in the other, watched the show from a distance. After eating, he tossed the skewers with satisfaction, raised his half-drunk beer, and said to the man next to him, "Let's toast, Mr. Liang, to our brave classmate Zhang Yuhao."
Liang Jin picked up the can on the table and gently touched it to hers. "Teacher Yuan, is that a sympathetic expression?"
"No, but there's nothing to sympathize with. A boy who hasn't experienced heartbreak will never grow up. You'll just have to get used to it slowly."
"I didn't expect you to be so good at comforting people." Boss Liang smiled. "Your friend just rejected that young man. Why don't you go and try to persuade him now?"
Hearing this, Yuan Xiao raised his index finger and shook it, saying in a tone that said, "You don't understand this, do you?" "Boys have strong self-esteem. It's not a big deal. It will be fine in a few days."
Liang Jin looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
Yuan Xiao immediately realized something and quickly explained, "Don't get me wrong, my brother is about the same age. He's been dating since junior high and has broken up at least eight times. I know a lot about boys his age."
"Oh, no wonder you sound like someone who's experienced this. So this is all the experience you gained from counseling your brother."
"Well, a beating is just asking for it. It's not considered experience. All sisters with younger brothers are like this."
Liang Jin's sympathy didn't seem acted. "They say that a sister and brother are usually like a master and a loyal servant. But your brother, this little servant, is too pitiful. It's pitiful enough for a child to suffer a broken heart, and now he has to be beaten by you when he gets home. Is he really not going to have any psychological problems?"
"At first I would resist, but after being beaten many times I gradually got used to it."
“…”
***
Compared to Zhang Yuhao, whom he had just rejected, the person Tao Siyun didn't want to face now was Xu Ji.
She had no way of describing the strange atmosphere when the three of them looked into each other's eyes, but the only thing she was certain of was that she felt even more socially devastated than when she heard the confession in the woods.
After realizing that Xu Ji had been eavesdropping behind her for a long time, her first reaction was: It's over.
Xu Ji heard everything.
Why come now, not earlier or later...
Tao Siyun lowered his head, rested his forehead on his knees, clenched the branch in his hand, and did not dare to look at his expression at all.
She really didn't want to face this outcome.
In the quiet night, only the occasional crackling sound of burning firewood could be heard.
The two sat in front of the fire, each in silence for nearly ten minutes. Xu Ji finally spoke slowly -
"Tao Siyun, did you just destroy my innocence?"
“…”
Tao Siyun never expected that he could actually say such words. His face turned red, and the skin on his ears and neck also turned completely red. He looked at him stupidly, and couldn't say a word of rebuttal for a long time.
Anyway, I really regret it now...
Xu Ji's black hair looked very nice under the orange-yellow firelight, and he looked less cold than usual. Even the corners of his eyes and eyebrows seemed to be stained with a lot of emotions, but his lips were pale and looked very cold.
When carrying her back, Xu Ji took off his coat and placed it on her lower back. Now he was only wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, which was made of a single layer of fabric and was very thin.
Tao Siyun was just about to take off her coat and return it to him when she heard Xu Ji call her "Dorothy" which was rare.
The night was very cold, and the man's voice was neither cold nor hot, with an unserious accent, as he slowly exhaled a puff of white air.
The collision of cold and hot made Tao Siyun's heart skip a beat.
This long-lost name made her feel as if she was in another world, as if she was suddenly back in that English class in high school.
That's how he called her back then, even the tone was exactly the same.
Compared to her current uneasiness, Xu Ji could be said to be extremely excessive, "Xiao Shulin confessed that he had a crush on me for eight years... Have you liked me for that long?"
“…”
"No, no, I just lied to him!"
"Can I know how many times you have ruined my innocence?"
Tao Siyun felt even more ashamed, covering his face with his hands, wishing he could find a hole to crawl into. "I didn't mention anyone by name, so please don't take it personally..."
"Okay, I'm not going to take it personally, but it seemed like you and I were the only two people in the grove just now."
Tao Siyun opened his mouth, pointed at the dog on the ground, and added, "And Mengmeng."
Xu Ji glanced at her and scoffed, "You confessed your love to a dog?"
Might as well confess to a dog!
Tao Siyun was speechless, his nails digging deep into his palms, and he was completely at a loss. "Why are you like this? I already told him I lied to him."
She buried her head, but this look made Xu Ji want to tease her again.
Xu Ji stared at her with a teasing look, and slowly began to calculate the bill, "Okay, if it's convenient, please settle the bill now. I'll give you a discount. It's 500 for carrying you and 20 for holding me, a total of 520. Is that okay with you?"
“…”
Tao Siyun's face flushed red. Not only did he eavesdrop on other people's conversations, but he was also so shameless!
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Xu Ji followed her gaze and saw a big word "fire" written on the ground at some point.
"You lack fire in your five elements?"
Tao Siyun didn't even raise his head. After a long while, he said sullenly, "We're short of money."
Xu Ji curled his lips and chuckled: "What, you still want to default on your debt now?"
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