This topic quickly comes to a pleasant conclusion.
“Do you have a thirty-minute time limit to descend the mountain?” Wu Chun suddenly asked.
“Yes, what’s wrong?”
Just as Xu Shi Yao finished speaking, Wu Chun couldn’t wait and grabbed Xu Shi Yao’s hand, running down the mountain while shouting, “Come with me to take a look at my land.”
This piece of land currently hasn’t undergone any improvements; it’s just a piece of abandoned land. Coincidentally, it’s the rainy season, and it’s covered in weeds. The area of the land is probably about as large as a classroom that can accommodate sixty people.
“With such a large piece of land, perhaps it can only support a batch of silkworms. Despite studying all these years, facing real-world application still makes me a bit nervous.”
Beneath the moonlight, Xu Shi Yao stood by Wu Chun’s side, gently taking Wu Chun’s hand and softly asking, “How can I help you?”
This question struck a chord with Wu Chun.
Apart from himself, it seemed that Xu Shi Yao couldn’t interact with anything earthly; everything would simply pass through him.
“Well…” Wu Chun pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, “Your role is of great significance!”
“Oh? What is it?”
“It’s just helping me relax and relieve fatigue after a tiring day! What a significant task.”
As Wu Chun spoke, he moved around to stand in front of Xu Shi Yao, his hands crossed over his chest, his gaze fixed on Xu Shi Yao with a curious look.
“Your boyfriend is lazy, he never takes care of himself. So, when it comes to taking care of your boyfriend in the future, we’ll have to rely on someone other than our Xu Shi Yao.”
Wu Chun’s tone while imitating the village chief’s speech, that air, carried a somewhat similar demeanor.
Seeing this, Xu Shi Yao couldn’t help but chuckle softly. He took a step forward, embracing Wu Chun and whispered, “Alright! But I can also do one thing for my Wu Chun.”
“What?” Wu Chun was nestled in Xu Shi Yao’s embrace and asked in a muffled voice.
“Guarding for you.”
“Guarding here?”
Xu Shi Yao nodded, adding, “At night, you can just go ahead and sleep.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The first time dealing with these things does require some hands-on effort, but…
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“P mjc mbwf yjmx tfgf ktfc atf alwf lr jybea ab gec bea,” We Vtl Tjb gfqilfv.
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But if this project were to truly begin, he would always have to guard it.
“I want to do something for you,” Xu Shi Yao continued to persuade as he noticed Wu Chun’s hesitation. “Even though right now you’ve only given me a brief overview of your plans, I know that actually carrying them out won’t be an easy task. Just as you’ve mentioned, the beginning of anything is difficult, and the first time doing something new will always have unexpected challenges. Dealing with the daytime is already painful enough for you, so let me handle the nights. You need your sleep.”
The last sentence, in fact, pricked at Wu Chun’s heart a bit.
He does need to sleep.
That’s just how humans are, unable to overcome the neatly arranged biological rhythms, without even having the means to resist.
The time when Wu Chun and Xu Shi Yao could meet was only at night. And when night fell, Wu Chun’s own physical capabilities wouldn’t allow him to persevere for too long. Once or twice might be alright, but with multiple repetitions, Wu Chun’s body would definitely give out warning signs.
And, just as Xu Shi Yao had said, things always sound easy in words but become difficult in practice. Once all the plans start unfolding step by step, they would consume all of Wu Chun’s available time.
If he really took over the village chief position next year, aside from the planned matters, all the small and big affairs of the village residents would come pressing down on him.
No matter how much Wu Chun resists, human endurance has its limits. Wu Chun didn’t know how much energy he would have left in the evening, to enjoy his time alone with Xu Shi Yao, once all those responsibilities piled up.
At times, Wu Chun would wonder why they gave him the ability to connect with Xu Shi Yao, but not a bit more. Wu Chun didn’t ask for much, he just wanted to be a little less physically tired at night, so he could spend more time with Xu Shi Yao.
“I definitely want to build a house next to that pine tree,” Wu Chun said, hugging Xu Shi Yao’s neck. “That way, I can be here all night. When that time comes, you’ll have to wake me up before sunrise. I want to watch you enter that tree.”
Xu Shi Yao smiled gently, his forehead touching Wu Chun’s as he whispered, “Alright.”
Just then, a shout came from behind Wu Chun, “Hey, Xiao Chun, who are you talking to so late at night?”
Wu Chun was taken aback, and the hand that was hooking around Xu Shi Yao’s neck immediately let go.
However, Xu Shi Yao’s hands still remained around his waist.
“Don’t panic, she can’t see me,” Xu Shi Yao reassured.
Wu Chun always seemed to overlook this fact. He turned around, smiled, and replied, “I’m just talking to myself.”
“Oh my, I thought you had found the child from the Wang family!”
The grandmother’s tone held a sense of urgency, and Wu Chun had a bad premonition.
“What happened to the child from the Wang family?” Wu Chun asked immediately.
“He went out to play this afternoon and hasn’t returned home by evening. Almost half the village is out looking for him. Didn’t your grandfather tell you?”
“I came out early tonight, so I haven’t heard about it from my grandfather. Here’s what we’ll do, Grandma. I’ll search with you. We need to find the child quickly; it’s not safe for a child to be outside so late.”
As Wu Chun spoke, he glanced at Xu Shi Yao. With someone else present, Wu Chun couldn’t speak directly to Xu Shi Yao.
Fortunately, Xu Shi Yao could understand his meaning.
“You go ahead, I’ll return to the mountain first, and then I’ll also take a look. Let’s meet by the tree later,” Xu Shi Yao said.
Wu Chun gave Xu Shi-Yo’s hand a firm squeeze, as if responding to him.
“Grandma, let’s go.”
Wu Chun left with grandmother. As they walked, the grandmother continued speaking, her voice tinged with worry, “This season has heavy rainfall, and the weather is hot. There are many ponds of all sizes in the village. What do you think about this child…”
Even if she didn’t say the rest of her sentence, Wu Chun could understand what she meant.
Wu Chun had the same concern, but given the situation at hand, he could only offer comfort, “Don’t think too much, Grandma. Perhaps he just went out to play and got lost on the way back.”
…..
Wu Chun and the group of people from the village almost searched the entire village, but the child’s whereabouts remained elusive.
It was deep into the night, and all those who had come out to search were gathered in front of the village. The mother of the lost child was sitting on the ground, crying in anguish.
Perhaps at this moment, everyone had a shared conclusion in their hearts, but no one said it out loud. It was as if speaking the words would extinguish any hope of finding the child again.
“Wu Chun, it’s very late. You should go back first. Your grandfather might be waiting for you at home. We’ll take care of things here,” the village chief pulled Wu Chun aside and whispered.
Wu Chun glanced at the scene before him and finally nodded.
After all, he had just returned. Despite gaining a lot of experience over the four years, in the eyes of these people, he was still a kid. That’s also why he asked the village chief for a year’s time.
Another reason was that Wu Chun was concerned about Xu Shi-yao. When they parted, they agreed to meet by the pine tree, so no matter how late it was, he knew Xu Shi Yao would be there waiting.
Sure enough, when Wu Chun reached Shili Mountain, at the base of the mountain, he spotted Xu Shi Yao’s figure. Xu Shi Yao was pacing back and forth at the foot of the mountain, and from the looks of it, something didn’t seem right.
Wu Chun’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately ran over.
“How is it, Xu Shi Yao?”
Upon seeing Wu Chun, Xu Shi Yao appeared momentarily stunned. He then pressed his lips together and hesitated before speaking, “Someone has died!”
“What?” Wu Chun exclaimed, “How do you know?”
“The presence of death is heavy when someone has just passed away. I can sense it. I went to the east side of the village earlier, and the further east I went, the more pronounced the sense of heaviness became. But standing here, I could hardly sense it. Do you know why?”
Wu Chun shook his head; he might know, but he didn’t want to say.
Humans always seem to be inexplicable about certain things, as if not uttering them aloud would somehow undo their occurrence.
Wu Chun watched as Xu Shi Yao exhaled slowly, and after hesitating for a moment, he spoke slowly, “It means that the one who died was a child.”
Or maybe it was said aloud after all.
Wu Chun stumbled backward.
Seeing this, Xu Shi Yao hurried forward.
“I’m fine,” Wu Chun waved his hand, somewhat dazed, and asked, “Xu Shi Yao, did you say that the feeling of heaviness becomes stronger the further east in the village?”
“Yes,” Xu Shi Yao nodded.
“If I’m not mistaken,” Wu Chun said, looking up at Xu Shi Yao, his voice trembling slightly, “to the east is the village’s largest well.”
A Soybean:
Suddenly appeared!!!
UM WHAT?? I was simply enjoying my morning read and then this!?