Construction team
Although it had been autumn for a long time, there was no chill in the air by the sea. Yue Lang had rolled up his sleeves to his forearms. After chopping a couple of times with the axe, he would stop, wipe the sweat from his brow, stand with his hands on his hips for a while, and then continue working hard.
Sunlight streamed down from behind him, casting shadows of varying heights among the trees. A figure shifted his position from time to time. Accompanied by the rustling of leaves, the cracking sound of a tree trunk snapping came from beside him. Ignoring the sweat dripping from his forehead, the boy straightened up and waved to the girl sitting in the shadows beside him.
"Miss Yan, this one is done!"
He finished shouting those two sentences after pausing three times, and with his last bit of strength, he leaned against the tree and walked step by step toward the girl.
"Very good, you rest, I'll take care of the rest."
Seeing that he was about to fall, Meng Yan scooped him into his arms without thinking, and with a gentle twist, tossed him into the shade of a tree.
Before he could even react to what was happening, Yue Lang collapsed to the ground: "?"
With practiced ease, Yue Lang picked up Meng Yan's water bottle, took a few gulps, and his eyes gradually regained their clarity. He then looked up to search for the girl's whereabouts.
With a few sharp "snap" sounds, each swing of the axe produced two more planks on the ground, neatly shaped and uniformly sized, as if each plank had been carefully cut.
The girl wielding the axe was quite at ease, controlling the direction of the wood with her feet, barely looking at it. With each strike, a crisp sound rang out, and dozens of pieces of wood lay at her feet. She then leisurely tidied the strands of hair that were hanging down in front of her, casually tucking them behind her head.
Amidst the fallen leaves and broken branches, she stood motionless, letting the wind tousle her clothes and hair, as she wielded the axe.
Is splitting into small pieces really that much easier than cutting down the tree trunk?
Yue Lang lay half-reclined under the tree, catching his breath. In his blurry yet blinding vision, Meng Yan seemed not to have moved, but he could hear the continuous sound of breaking wood.
Or is it that Meng Yan's talent lies in this, and that wielding a knife, throwing an axe, throwing a needle, and shooting a crossbow are all trivial matters for her, even less difficult than eating?
Forget it, I don't want to think about these tiring things. Back when he was writing and copying talismans with great effort, he never thought that these hands would one day be used for chopping wood and catching rabbits.
Amidst the crackling sounds, Yue Lang unconsciously closed his eyes. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, something poked his face a few times. Memories of his unfortunate days in the forest flooded back, and he snapped his eyes open.
Meng Yan was looking down at him, feeling a mixture of amusement and curiosity. Only a barely perceptible trace of concern for his life or death vanished the moment he opened his eyes.
Yue Lang was taken aback, not because of the other person's indifference, but because he saw her smile suddenly appear before his eyes, a smile that was clearly not there when she first opened her eyes.
The wind, the trees, the fallen leaves—they were insignificant to him. He gazed into Meng Yan's smiling eyes and thought, "She's so happy."
A gust of wind suddenly rose, scattering the already messy strands of hair, which then tangled together in the breeze. Meng Yan and Yue Lang turned to look, and the next moment, they dropped what they were holding and sat down together to start untangling their hair.
The simple act of sitting still and curling their fingers proved quite difficult for the two of them. Their exposed arms would occasionally bump into each other during the movement, and the warmth of the other person would come like a dragonfly skimming the water, only to quickly leave, leaving a strange sensation on their skin.
"If you can't take it apart, just chop it with a knife." Meng Yan let go of Yue Lang's hand and said succinctly.
"Don't rush, Miss Yan." He wasn't in a hurry at first, but as soon as Meng Yan said that, he sped up his movements. "As the saying goes, hard work pays off. I don't think we're heartless. Let's give it another try."
The person in front of him sat back down, his shoulder was being leaned on, and their four hands bumped together again.
"How about I cut off my hair and give it to you as a gift?" Meng Yan moved closer to Yue Lang.
Yue Lang looked up and met her gaze. He opened his mouth, but in the end, he could only comfort her by tapping her shoulder, "You rest first, Miss Yan. I'll take care of it. Slow and steady wins the race. Trust me."
As Meng Yan knelt down in front of him for the third time to offer his enthusiastic advice, Yue Lang let out a long sigh of relief, and the inseparable bond between the two, which had almost been broken, finally dissipated.
"What did I tell you?" Yue Lang cupped his hand to fill the gap between the two of them, grabbed at it, and mysteriously placed it in front of Meng Yan.
The other person moved closer cooperatively, wanting to see what tricks he was up to.
Suddenly, Yue Lang opened his hand and gently blew a gust of wind that landed on her eyelashes, causing Meng Yan to take a few steps back and blink. She realized she had been tricked and glared angrily at the troublemaker, who then laughed and pulled her up from the ground.
"If we don't leave now, we'll get roasted in the sun."
Yue Lang picked up the broken pieces of wood from the ground, gathered them in his arms, and then got up to look for Meng Yan.
She gestured with her chin toward the distant village, picked up the axe Yue Lang had left behind, and strode forward to clear a path for him.
.
Smoke rose from the eaves, and the aroma of food filled every street in the village. Amidst the puzzled gazes of the villagers, the two strolled leisurely into the depths of the village.
"Yan Yan is back! Come and eat some fish!"
Perhaps because they were of similar age, Xiaoling was particularly kind to Meng Yan, and opened the door to greet her as soon as she saw her standing at the street corner.
Not wanting her to wait any longer, Meng Yan quickened his pace, his black clothes flashing like a shadow as he swept across the entire street in an instant.
Another dark figure followed behind the first, taller but not as fast.
"Brother Yue Lang, look how slow you are!" Xiao Ling called out.
His legs were practically sparking with excitement, but because of the things he was carrying, Yue Lang couldn't walk too fast. He could only say aggrievedly, "I'm in a hurry too, but there's no use in being in a hurry!"
With a few clangs, the wooden planks lay scattered on the ground. Xiaoling, hearing the noise, turned around from the kitchen, her hand holding the plate pausing for a moment. "You really chopped the wood back? I thought you were joking."
She put down the plate and prepared to go back inside, but Meng Yan stopped her, saying, "You eat first, we have things to do, we'll eat after we're done."
"What's the rush? Does it have to be around mealtime?"
Yue Lang thought so too; he had only just put down the piece of wood and taken a short break.
"Everyone is eating during mealtimes, so there's no need to worry about disturbing the peace and quiet."
It wasn't until the ear-piercing scraping of the wooden planks continued that Yue Lang and Xiao Ling realized her intention.
Who would do carpentry in the middle of the day?!
Without a saw, Meng Yan could only use an axe instead. The dull axe blade seemed to come alive in her hands, and she managed to cut several slits and create a flat surface on the wooden strip.
A white, calloused hand, a rusty iron axe, and a sharply angled wooden block—three seemingly unrelated still objects appearing together—stunned Xiaoling into silence.
"Brother Yue Lang, is Yan Yan a carpenter? But even ordinary carpenters can't do this kind of delicate work, right?"
"Sort of. She's the kind of carpenter who's quite particular, and she's not limited to just wood. She usually puts a lot of effort into making small gadgets, but I didn't expect her to be so adept at handling large blocks of wood." Yue Lang stared intently at Meng Yan, trying to explain to Xiao Ling with a mix of gestures and words.
"Oh, so in your family, Yan Yan is mainly responsible for earning money, and you just freeload off him?" Xiao Ling looked Yue Lang up and down, but couldn't figure out what he could actually do.
"Hmm." He replied casually, but then suddenly changed his mind after seeing Meng Yan finish grinding another piece of wood. "No, I didn't. We're not in that kind of relationship."
"Friends, like-minded, helping each other, inseparable, oh wait..." Yue Lang noticed Meng Yan's movements and was worried that she might get hurt, so he couldn't help but focus his attention on her, and his mouth gradually became incoherent.
Following his gaze, Xiaoling reached out to block his view, but he gently pushed her away without expression.
Xiaoling: "..."
"Yan Yan is busy. Why don't you eat something first, and then you two can take turns?"
"I don't know how," Yue Lang said frankly, pointing to the wooden block on the ground.
When they were first brought home, they were all different sizes, but now they all look exactly the same. Even if you gave him a saw, he couldn't make them.
"Then why do you still say you're not a freeloader? Oh, you only denied that you and Yan Yan aren't from the same family, but you didn't mention daily expenses. I misunderstood."
Unsure what the girl was thinking, Yue Lang felt that if he let her continue, he would become less human. He quickly defended himself: "Yan Yan works with mechanisms, the click-clack kind, while I draw talismans, the swish kind."
Fearing she wouldn't believe him, he immediately took out a talisman and flicked it in the air. A wisp of fire immediately leaped onto his fingertip and wouldn't go out no matter how much he shook it.
"I never knew you were a Taoist priest!"
"What's wrong with the Taoist priest?" Meng Yan had somehow finished dealing with the piece of wood beside him, and recognized two familiar words from the crisp, clear voice.
Yue Lang was initially delighted to see her arrive, but then asked in confusion, "Yes, what's wrong with the Taoist priest?"
It's no wonder he and Meng Yan cared, but when Xiao Ling mentioned the word "Taoist priest," her tone seemed much heavier than usual.
"Do you remember the empty house you were looking for?"
...
"Are you really not afraid?"
The bright red couplet on the door has faded, and half of it has been torn off by the wind. Only the character "家" (home) remains, hanging empty above the main entrance, seemingly about to fall. The wooden door is made of excellent materials and is finely crafted. Holes that ordinary people wouldn't deliberately carve are preserved on this door.
The homeowner is either a thoughtful person who specially hired a carpenter to carve according to the design, or they made it themselves, striving for perfection in every detail.
However, this door is far inferior to other doors in the village in terms of both materials and workmanship. Despite the ravages of time and weather, it remains firmly attached to the frame, which speaks volumes about its unusual nature and that of its owner.
Yue Lang held his right hand above the door, tilting his head as he waited for Meng Yan's reply.
"Knock it on, I guess you're half a colleague."
"Will you come with me or should I?" he countered, his hand already knocking on the brass ring on the door, the echoing sound reaching inside.
"What do you think?" Meng Yan stroked the scratches on the doorpost, tapped it twice, and leaned closer to listen to the sound.
Yue Lang stood with his arms crossed, glanced at the gold paint on the bronze ring, and chuckled, "Unlike my colleagues. Judging by the color of this paint, hardly anyone comes here all year round. Do you really expect us to live on air and dew?"
"Besides, which Taoist priest doesn't want a good reputation? Why would they rush to bring bad luck upon themselves?"
“That’s true, that’s how it is in business.” Meng Yan withdrew his hand from the doorpost. “That’s why he quit.”
"who?"
Meng Yan raised an eyebrow. A faint rustling sound came from behind the door and disappeared in a flash. If it weren't for the slight movement at the corner of her mouth, Yue Lang would have thought he had misheard.
After glancing at Meng Yan, Yue Lang knocked on the door again. "Is anyone home? We are travelers passing through this area. We noticed that these houses look similar and guess that they belong to the same family. We have taken the liberty of staying here for a while. We are willing to compensate you with money for any inconvenience caused."
"There are no rooms available, you should leave."
The low, husky voice came from behind the door, blocked by the door, but still powerfully reached the ears of the two people.
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