Song Jiyun felt dazed at first, and it took her a moment to regain her composure.
"It’s so high; what if I can’t catch it?"
She couldn’t help but hesitate.
Yuan Yunzhong was growing impatient and urged, "Hurry up!"
Song Jiyun inexplicably thought of the three branches he had thrown on the ground.
She proposed, "Why don’t you just take me down?"
Yuan Yunzhong looked at her intently and slowly said, "If you’re not jumping, get down by yourself!"
Song Jiyun looked at the straight trunk, steeled her heart, and simply closed her eyes and jumped.
The sound of the wind swept past her ears.
She crashed into a warm embrace. Although she staggered a bit, the arms holding her were very steady.
Song Jiyun’s suspended heart finally settled, she took a long breath and opened her eyes.
She was met by Yuan Yunzhong’s slightly uplifted eyes and glossy apricot eyes that burst into her view.
He looked at her with deep eyes and lightly raised eyebrows and asked, "How long are you going to hold me?"
Song Jiyun then realized she was still clinging to Yuan Yunzhong’s neck.
"Oh!" She said nonchalantly as she jumped down from his arms and muttered "Thank you". 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
Yuan Yunzhong kept a straight face, nodded, turned away, hooked the corner of his lips, and strode forward.
Song Jiyun pursed her lips and followed.
The forest was dense; some areas had paths, others didn’t.
She followed Yuan Yunzhong through the forest. Besides the rustling of leaves and branches, the sound of breaking twigs beneath their feet made the dark, silent night somewhat eerie.
Song Jiyun couldn’t help but touch her own arm, she jogged a few steps and caught up closely behind Yuan Yunzhong.
But Yuan Yunzhong, with his broad shoulders and long legs, took strides equal to two of hers.
She was quickly left behind and had to jog a few more steps to continue following him.
Yuan Yunzhong casually broke off a branch as he walked in front of her.
After a while, something crashed into the forest, eliciting several cries of owls.
Song Jiyun’s scalp tingled, and her steps grew heavier.
She simply bent over to support her knees and stopped, taking deep breaths.
Yuan Yunzhong’s pace seemed to slow down as well.
Song Jiyun didn’t notice; she only felt her feet hurt, her legs ached, and wondered if she had blisters on her feet.
But after resting for a bit, she gritted her teeth and caught up with Yuan Yunzhong.
Unexpectedly, Yuan Yunzhong stopped, crouched in front of her, and said, "Get on!"
"What?!" Song Jiyun was still a bit dazed.
Yuan Yunzhong then patted his shoulder and impatiently said, "I’ll carry you!"
"Ah?!" Song Jiyun was astonished, quickly waved her hands, and said, "No, no need!"
Yuan Yunzhong glanced back at her with disdain and said, "With your speed, how long will you take? Don’t forget that people are chasing us!"
Song Jiyun realized he made sense, didn’t insist any further, thanked him, and then lay on Yuan Yunzhong’s back, placing her hands properly on his shoulders.
Yuan Yunzhong said no more, stood up firmly, and walked briskly, clearly faster than before.
Had he been accommodating her earlier?
Song Jiyun was puzzled.
But she didn’t ponder it much.
It was her first time being carried on someone’s back since she was an adult.
This made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.
However, when she was actually on Yuan Yunzhong’s back, she found his shoulders broad and his arms strong, just like when her father used to carry her as a child, giving a feeling of warmth, solidity, and reliability.
She couldn’t help but look around.
Perhaps because she was on Yuan Yunzhong’s back, her view was higher than usual.
In the distance were continuous mountains, and nearby were layers upon layers of foliage, hazy, seemingly endless at a glance.
Song Jiyun thought about Yuan Yunzhong getting "lost" and said, "Young Master Yuan, are we heading back to town?"
Yuan Yunzhong grunted a "Mm."
Song Jiyun carefully surveyed their surroundings again.
The wind was blowing head-on.
In summer it is generally a south wind.
And returning to town should be to the east.
The more Song Jiyun looked, the more she felt something was off and said, "Young Master Yuan, this doesn’t seem like the way back to town?"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Yunzhong looked up at the sparse night sky full of stars and said, "See that? The brightest star in the sky is the Amethyst. It’s directly north. The right-angle direction from it is due east. We just need to follow it!"
Song Jiyun knew that the Amethyst was the Big Dipper Star.
But she looked for a long time and couldn’t determine which star was the brightest.
She asked Yuan Yunzhong, "There are several stars that seem quite bright; which one exactly is the Amethyst?"
"Look more closely! Which star could be brighter than the Amethyst?"
In her previous life, the city where Song Jiyun had lived could barely see stars, and she was not an astronomy enthusiast. Her knowledge of astronomy was limited to textbooks and lacked practical experience.
She had never identified the Big Dipper Star among the myriad stars.
She could only say, "I’m afraid we might be going the wrong way?"
Yuan Yunzhong replied with no room for doubt, "We won’t go the wrong way!"
He said it with such certainty that she didn’t feel it right to fuss any further.
She looked at the twinkling stars in the navy blue night sky and found them quite beautiful.
But Yuan Yunzhong’s pace had obviously slowed.
Song Jiyun asked with concern, "What’s wrong?"
"It’s nothing!" Yuan Yunzhong said nonchalantly, but jostled Song Jiyun on his back, "A bit heavy!"
Song Jiyun, feeling indignant, poked his well-toned back.
The spot where she poked stiffened.
Song Jiyun looked around as if nothing had happened.
Moonlight stretched their shadows long; she had politely placed her hand on his shoulder, yet in the shadows, she appeared to be lying next to his neck as if coquettishly nuzzling up to him. She gently shook her head as "she" gently rubbed "his" neck.
Song Jiyun suppressed a laugh and stealthily stretched out her hand to shape a pair of cat ears next to "his" head.
Yuan Yunzhong still moved with agile steps.
Song Jiyun silently laughed and shaped a little bird.
The little bird pecked at the topknot on top of the head, hopping left and right, as lively as if it wanted to nest on the topknot.
Song Jiyun suddenly felt a weightlessness, as if she was going to fall.
She quickly clutched his shoulders and asked, "What happened?"
"Nothing!" Yuan Yunzhong said briefly, jostled her, and then repositioned her on his back, "Stepped on a small stone."
That tone, why did it sound somewhat through gritted teeth?
Song Jiyun felt a bit guilty and stayed quietly on his shoulders for a while, then looked up and was startled.
There was a large ditch in front, pitch black, neither knowing how deep it was nor what was inside.
She jumped off Yuan Yunzhong’s back and said, "How could this be?"
Yuan Yunzhong casually kicked a stone into the ditch next to them.
It took a while before they heard the sound of the stone hitting the bottom of the ditch.
Yuan Yunzhong’s face looked somewhat uneasy.
Song Jiyun poked his arm and half-jokingly said, "Didn’t you say it would be alright?"
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