It was still dark at this time and everything was pitch black. He heard some noise coming from his parents' room and waited for a while until they left before he got up.

He didn't turn on the light and came to the door of Yang Jinxia's room in the dark. He pushed it gently and the door opened with a slight creak.

When he turned on the lights in the room, he found it a little messy. His mother had cleaned it up specially, but there were too many things in the room and there was no other place to put them, so he could only tidy it up a little.

Chen Xu walked to the bed and looked at Yang Jinxia lying there. She looked very different from usual while sleeping, with an unusual quietness.

Her breathing was light and her hair was not messy at all, as if she had been sleeping in this position until now.

Chen Xu wondered what kind of dream she was having right now. He looked at her face and whispered, "Do you trust me so much?"

At this moment, she was breathing lightly, her face was pale, and she looked bloodless, appearing particularly fragile.

"I don't know where you get your confidence from. We haven't had much contact, but are you so sure that I won't hurt you?"

Chen Xu sighed softly, "You are too much of a gambler. What if you trust the wrong person?"

Yang Jinxia always does things that are beyond his expectations. In this dream, the two of them had met no more than ten times, but she dared to come to his house alone to spend the night.

What is she thinking?

"Wake up." Chen Xu gently pushed her shoulder. He could feel her body suddenly tense up. Her long eyelashes trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes. There seemed to be lingering anxiety and fear in her eyes.

Yang Jinxia looked at his face, her eyes regained their spirit, and she relaxed with a smile on her face. "Good morning." She sat up and turned her head to look out the window. Seeing that it was still dark outside, she tilted her head to look at him. "You came to my room so early, are you planning to do anything bad to me?"

Chen Xu said, "Let's go for a run."

"No way, you woke me up in the middle of the night just to go running?"

"It's past five o'clock now, which is already early morning. I'll go change my clothes and wait for you in the living room." After Chen Xu finished speaking, he left, closing the door when he left.

Ten minutes later, Yang Jinxia changed her clothes and came out, and the two went downstairs to jog together.

…………

“No…I can’t do that anymore…”

Yang Jinxia ran for a while before she was too tired and stopped. She held her waist with one hand and held onto a telephone pole with the other, gasping for breath.

Chen Xu stood beside her, glanced at his watch, and said, "It's only been thirteen minutes, and you can't run anymore?"

Yang Jinxia shook her hands and just gasped.

Chen Xu smiled and said, "I can see that you don't exercise enough. Come out for a run with me more often and get some exercise."

"Huh... I won't do it..." Yang Jinxia finally managed to catch her breath.

Chen Xu praised, "Look, you have a good foundation. If you practice well, you will be able to improve your physical fitness soon."

"No. I'll just walk, you run."

Seeing that she refused to do anything, Chen Xu stopped trying to persuade her. After arriving at the park, he ran around in circles by himself.

Until dawn.

Chen Xu didn't know how many laps he had run before he finally stopped.

Yang Jinxia sat on a wooden chair by the road, holding a bottle of sports drink in her hand. When he came over, she handed it to him and said, "You ran for more than an hour."

"Yeah." Chen Xu took the drink, unscrewed it and took a sip. He wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.

Yang Jinxia asked again, "Do you run like this every day?"

"yes."

"Can your body bear it?"

…………

After breakfast, they went home.

"Pack your luggage, I'll take you somewhere." As soon as he got home, Chen Xu said to Yang Jinxia.

"Where are you going?"

"You'll know when you get there." Chen Xu had already packed his things last night, leaving only a backpack.

Yang Jinxia also packed up quickly and picked up the suitcase she brought with her.

Chen Xu said goodbye to his parents and went downstairs with Yang Jinxia.

The car booked online was already waiting there. I got in and drove straight to Chen Xu's hometown.

The journey wasn't far, about thirty minutes. When the car drove into the rural road and the surroundings became more and more remote, Yang Jinxia asked, "Are we going to your hometown?"

"Well, to my grandma's."

"grandmother?"

"My parents were originally from the same village. After they got married, my grandfather moved to the county town. The house we live in now is the house left by my grandfather. The house in my hometown is too old to be lived in. Every time I go back, I stay with my grandmother."

"So that's how it is."

Suddenly, a group of people beating drums and gongs appeared in front of us, and the car had to stop.

Yang Jinxia asked curiously, "What is this for?"

"To welcome the gods."

Chen Xu explained, "In our area, the two most lively days are Qingming Festival, when almost every family will come back to visit the graves. The other is Lantern Festival, when every family will come back to participate in welcoming the gods. Almost every village will do this. Some wealthy places will also organize some performances such as dragon dancing. It is even more lively than the Chinese New Year."

Yang Jinxia stuck her head out of the car window and looked at the welcoming procession with great interest.

It took a while for the team to pass by and the car continued to drive.

Finally, we arrived at Chen Xu's hometown. The village was still the same, but there were cars parked everywhere on the roadside. It was very different from the usual deserted scene.

The ground was littered with red confetti left behind by firecrackers, and the air was filled with the smell of burning gunpowder.

There were many children on the road, setting off fireworks and firecrackers, making banging sounds.

"Just stop at the intersection ahead."

Chen Xu said to the driver, and after the car stopped, he took Yang Jinxia out, took their luggage, and came to the door of his grandmother's house.

You can hear people chatting inside from outside the door, and as soon as you enter the room, the room is almost full of people.

Yang Jinxia followed him in, looking at the people in the room, she seemed very curious, and followed Chen Xu to call out one by one, "big uncle, second uncle, little uncle, and aunt", then big aunt, second aunt, little aunt, uncle, etc. There were also aunts, uncles, etc. There were too many people, and she couldn't recognize them all.

Then, there are all kinds of cousins.

After finally greeting everyone, Chen Xu took her upstairs.

"We'll stay here tonight." Chen Xu pushed open a door and said.

Yang Jinxia said, "We?"

"Well, as you can see, there are so many people downstairs, there are no extra rooms."

(End of this chapter)