Chapter 235: Let Me Tell You Quietly ④
After Huang Yan released her mouth, a row of tooth marks appeared on Zhang Haiyang’s hand. The indentations of the marks were bluish-purple, and two of them had even bled.
Huang Yan glared fiercely at Zhang Haiyang. Although Zhang Haiyang’s hand was in pain, he looked at Huang Yan with indulgence. He chuckled helplessly, “I… I didn’t do it on purpose.” He could still feel the round, soft warmth in his palm. Zhang Haiyang’s face felt hot, and his heart pounded like thunder.
Huang Yan’s lip was scraped when Zhang Haiyang bumped into her. Her face was also flushed red. She huffed, turned her head, and ignored Zhang Haiyang.
Nie Qiu covered her mouth and secretly smiled. She sat up and looked at Li Kai and Zhang Haiyang, “You two are still not sleeping this late, coming to my tent to eavesdrop?”
“Ah? No, no, no…” Hearing Nie Qiu’s words, Zhang Haiyang quickly waved his hands, repeatedly saying “no.”
Li Kai calmed his mind. They had indeed been eavesdropping, so he felt a slight flush and awkwardness. “Zhang Haiyang and I saw a very beautiful place on the mountain this afternoon and wanted to invite you two to come with us. It’s really… incredibly beautiful!”
Zhang Haiyang nodded and said to Nie Qiu and Huang Yan, “It’s a small lake inside the mountain. The lake water is very clean, you can even see the stones at the bottom. I saw there’s a bit of moon tonight, it will definitely look great. The lake is surrounded by neat trees, and behind it, there are sugarcane fields. There’s also an area planted with oranges. We can go steal some oranges to eat…”
Huang Yan was a little moved and looked at Nie Qiu with anticipation.
Nie Qiu glanced at Li Kai, then at Zhang Haiyang. After a moment of silence, she nodded.
Li Kai and Zhang Haiyang both smiled happily. Huang Yan zipped up her tent and said she needed to get dressed with Nie Qiu, while Zhang Haiyang and Li Kai waited outside.
As Nie Qiu put on her clothes, she pondered. The reason she hesitated earlier was because of Li Kai and Zhang Haiyang. She wasn’t as naive as Huang Yan. Although she wasn’t married, she had dated boyfriends. She had been with Yang Zihao for ten years, so she could be considered knowledgeable about boys.
When Yang Zihao pursued her, he was in his youth, impulsive, but had a certain degree of self-control. However, adolescent boys were different. If they were impulsive, they would disregard the consequences. She couldn’t help but wonder if Zhang Haiyang and Li Kai were asking them to go out for another purpose. As their girlfriends, everything seemed to be justifiable in their eyes.
Of course, this wasn’t a moral issue, but rather the recklessness of youth. It was like Adam and Eve, who were created from a rib by God and knew nothing, and because they didn’t know, they ate the forbidden fruit.
However, the expectant looks from Zhang Haiyang and Li Kai made Nie Qiu believe that they genuinely just wanted to share a beautiful place they had found.
Nie Qiu and Huang Yan put on two extra layers of clothing and walked out of the tent. Zhang Haiyang immediately stepped forward and happily took Huang Yan’s hand. Li Kai extended his hand, which he had specifically warmed, and smiled at Nie Qiu.
Nie Qiu extended her hand, letting Li Kai hold it. The four of them quietly left the camp, following a small country path, passing a few terraced fields, and heading up the mountain.
Along the way, common wildflowers and weeds of the countryside swayed by the roadside. Occasionally, the chirping of unknown insects could be heard. Winter had arrived, and compared to summer, there were far fewer insect sounds in winter. However, the occasional sound was still quite eerie. Huang Yan shivered from the cold, muttering, “I knew I shouldn’t have come. It’s cold and I’m hungry, and there are so many strange noises.”
Zhang Haiyang patted Huang Yan’s shoulder, “Don’t be scared, we’re here!”
Huang Yan glared at him, “Which of your eyes saw me being scared?”
Zhang Haiyang smiled helplessly, knowing that Huang Yan was still angry about what had happened earlier. Since he had already apologized, bringing it up again would only make Huang Yan angrier, based on his understanding of her. So, he wisely chose not to mention it.
After walking for about twenty minutes, the four of them finally crossed a small mountain pass. Standing at the pass, they saw the lake shimmering faintly, reflecting the moonlight. Li Kai and Zhang Haiyang spontaneously took off their jackets, folded them, and placed them on the ground for Nie Qiu and Huang Yan to sit on.
Zhang Haiyang said with a smile, “You two sit here for a while. Li Kai and I will go break off some sugarcane, wash a few stalks in the lake, and then we’ll sit by the lake at the pass and eat them. I heard that freshly broken sugarcane tastes much better than the sugarcane sold in the city.”
Huang Yan unceremoniously sat on Zhang Haiyang’s clothes. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about Zhang Haiyang, but she was still angry and wanted to tease him a bit more.
Nie Qiu, on the other hand, looked at the wool sweater Li Kai was wearing and frowned, asking, “Put your clothes back on. We’ll just walk around the lake, let’s not break other people’s sugarcane.”
Li Kai smiled, “Don’t worry, I’m not cold. Zhang Haiyang and I will be back after we get the sugarcane. There are also oranges over there. We’ll get the sugarcane and pick some oranges, then we’ll sit here together, watching the lakeside night view and eating.” With that, he beckoned Zhang Haiyang and headed towards the sugarcane field.
Before Nie Qiu could even speak to stop them, the two of them tiptoed away.
Huang Yan sat on the ground, pulling at the grass, staring blankly at the lake. Nie Qiu picked up Li Kai’s clothes from the ground and said to Huang Yan, “Huang Yan, it’s too cold at night. Let’s go take their clothes to them! So they don’t catch a cold.”
“I don’t care if he dies!” Huang Yan frowned, frowned again, and threw a handful of grass forward. She said with distress and discomfort, “Nie Qiu, you don’t know, that guy… he… his hand… the way his hand grabbed me… I feel so uncomfortable now, so uncomfortable, so uncomfortable.”
They were boyfriend and girlfriend, but Huang Yan still felt uncomfortable. While girls might have some fantasies about kissing, many were resistant to physical contact in intimate areas. Huang Yan was one of them.
Nie Qiu didn’t know how to comfort her after hearing Huang Yan’s words. “Just pretend you’re coming with me, okay? It’s so dark, I’m a little scared to go to the sugarcane field alone.”
Huang Yan sat for a while longer before reluctantly standing up. She picked up Zhang Haiyang’s jacket from the ground, brushed off the dirt and grass stains, and said to Nie Qiu, “Let’s go! Let’s go find them.”
Zhang Haiyang broke off four stalks of sugarcane and looked at Li Kai, asking, “A Kai, are you done? Did the wild flowers we picked this afternoon wilt?”
“Some have wilted, some haven’t. I’ll arrange the flowers in a bit, you go pick some oranges,” Li Kai said while arranging the small flowers on the ground.
“Are you sure Nie Qiu and Huang Yan will come?” Zhang Haiyang asked after hearing Li Kai. He went to the nearby orange grove, climbed a tree, and picked a few good oranges, putting them in his sweater. “I just… I did that earlier, and I don’t think Huang Yan will come…”
“Don’t worry, if I say they’ll come, they will definitely come.” Li Kai arranged the names Nie Qiu and Huang Yan with small light blue forget-me-nots among the hibiscus flowers, and then used unknown small leaves to spell out his and Zhang Haiyang’s names in the hibiscus pile. After carefully arranging the hibiscus, he used small flowers he had picked from somewhere to create a border, meticulously arranging them. “I’ve known for a while that Nie Qiu is someone who appears cold but has a warm heart. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have spoken to guide the whole class in their studies after I said a few words. In this cold weather, we took off our clothes for them, and Nie Qiu will definitely make Huang Yan accompany her to find us. You know, last time we went to the haunted house, Nie Qiu was a bit scared of those things, so she would definitely ask Huang Yan to accompany her.”
