The people of Miaojiang Tianshui Village didn’t pay much attention to them and wouldn’t interfere in their affairs.
Not long after Aunt Cui sent them back, she left, so there was no one to remind them to mind their behavior. He Sui’an still retained some modern thoughts in her mind, so she didn’t care much.
They all acted on instinct.
Most importantly, although Miaojiang Tianshui Village was located in a remote area and seemed to manage affairs in an old-fashioned way, the local customs were even more open than those of the martial arts world.
After the kiss ended, He Sui’an’s face was as red as if it had been dyed.
Qi Buyan buried his head in front of her, trying to calm his breathing. Somehow, the more they kissed, the more he seemed to lose control of his body.
A small blue butterfly appeared near his ear, standing out distinctly against his fair skin, hidden by his long hair.
He Sui’an didn’t notice.
Qi Buyan’s fingers unconsciously played with the ends of He Sui’an’s lightly scented hair, twisting until they couldn’t twist any more before slowly letting go.
The boy’s clothes had silver ornaments that occasionally pressed against He Sui’an’s exposed skin, not causing much pain but feeling cool and comfortable, though they easily left red marks.
Today was the day they were supposed to go down to the back mountain of Tianshui Village, and it was time to leave.
He Sui’an originally planned to take a nap to gather energy for the trip, so before sleeping, she told Qi Buyan to wake her at a certain time. She didn’t expect him to wake her with a kiss.
She took a moment to push Qi Buyan and whispered, “We should go down the mountain now.”
“Okay.”
He habitually pinched He Sui’an’s soft, red earlobe. She pulled his hand away; it tickled.
Qi Buyan stood up.
During the kiss, the belt at his waist had loosened a bit from her unconscious movements. Qi Buyan raised his hand to fasten it back with a “click,” and the silver ornaments attached to it jingled.
When Qi Buyan stood up, He Sui’an also sat up and bent down to put on her shoes.
The red and blue dress she was wearing had gotten wrinkled from her restless nap, but from a distance, it wouldn’t be noticeable. Others probably wouldn’t pay much attention to such minor details.
He Sui’an leaned over and asked Qi Buyan to braid her hair.
During the twelve years they had lived together, she had rarely done her own hair; he always did it for her. Over time, she became less adept at doing her hair and needed Qi Buyan to handle it.
Additionally, Qi Buyan knew what size dress He Sui’an needed better than she did, just like she knew his waist size. The reason was that He Sui’an inexplicably liked to hug Qi Buyan’s waist.
Hugging him, she roughly knew his size.
She thought about this and glanced at Qi Buyan’s waist again. His waist wasn’t as slender as a girl’s but was narrow and firm, with noticeable muscle lines, even though they ate the same food…
Well, there will always be some subtle differences between male and female body shapes.
Half an hour later, they went down the mountain.
The mountain behind Miaojiang Tianshui Village was rarely visited, but that’s exactly where they were headed.
There was an elderly man with graying hair living in seclusion on the back mountain. He wasn’t from Miaojiang Tianshui Village, but he had lived there for decades, and for some reason, the villagers didn’t drive him away.
He Sui’an met the old man by chance—falling clumsily down the back mountain in a particularly embarrassing manner. Qi Buyan went to find her and met him too.
The old man took a liking to Qi Buyan and wanted to teach him martial arts, with He Sui’an included as an afterthought.
There was no helping it.
She really wasn’t suited for it.
As the saying goes, diligence can make up for lack of talent, but there are some things that diligence simply can’t compensate for.
The three of them agreed to meet once a year, for a period of seven days. Outside of those seven days, they wouldn’t see the old man.
At this moment, He Sui’an held Qi Buyan’s hand. He walked ahead, casually pushing aside waist-high weeds, stepping into the back mountain, while the old man lay on a large rock, gnawing on a wild chicken leg.
The old man licked the oil off his fingers and glanced at them nonchalantly.
He Sui’an nodded to him.
“Old Senior.”
The old man’s gaze fell on their perpetually joined hands, and he rolled his eyes dramatically. Sitting up slowly, he said, “You two don’t need to come anymore.”
He Sui’an asked in confusion, “Why not?” They only visited once a year and stayed for just seven days. As soon as the seven days were up, the old man would drive them away, not allowing them to stay even one day longer.
The old man took a bite of his chicken leg.
Casually, and somewhat unclearly, he said, “Don’t you want to go down the mountain and see the world outside? Young people shouldn’t be confined to such a small place like Tianshui Village; you ought to go out and explore.”
To be honest, since growing from a few years old to eighteen, He Sui’an had indeed thought about leaving Miaojiang Tianshui Village to see the outside world.
She asked again, “What about you?”
The old man smacked his lips and snorted, “Why do you care about an old man like me?”
He thought that He Sui’an and Qi Buyan were two extremes: He Sui’an talked a lot, sometimes so much that people wanted to knock her out, but her innocent expression made it hard to do so.
Qi Buyan, on the other hand, rarely spoke unless necessary, and sometimes not even then, preferring to act directly.
Oddly, in front of He Sui’an, he answered every question, behaving almost like a normal person. The old man mused to himself, glancing at them again.
He Sui’an pressed her lips together, “So we really can’t come anymore?”
“Are you deaf?”
Seeing her throw another question his way, the old man seemed to lose his patience.
As soon as he spoke, a colorful venomous snake slithered towards him. The old man’s eyes widened in anger, “Qi Buyan! You, you’re letting a snake bite me again! I didn’t even scold her today! This is too much.”
The old man, whose martial arts were unfathomable, loved staying in the insect- and snake-filled Tianshui Village but was terrified of the creatures. Truly, he was a bundle of contradictions.
He Sui’an shook Qi Buyan’s hand. Although she said nothing, he understood her meaning.
Qi Buyan called back the snake.
The old man broke out in a sweat.
If he stayed with these two kids any longer, it would surely shorten his life by several years.
The old man shooed them away, “Get out of here…” He glanced at the three snakes at Qi Buyan’s feet and swallowed the word “out,” changing it to, “Just go.”
He Sui’an didn’t pester him further, “Alright, we’ll go then, Senior.”
The old man arrogantly turned his head away.
Qi Buyan didn’t care. If it hadn’t been for He Sui’an wanting to come down the mountain to talk with this person, he wouldn’t have interacted with him at all.
*
Not long after, He Sui’an indeed left Miaojiang Tianshui Village. She rode a horse while Qi Buyan walked ahead, leading it. A red figure and a dark blue figure traversed the vast landscape.
He Sui’an had a bag of fruit picked from the big tree in Miaojiang Tianshui Village.
They were seedless.
Convenient to eat and sweet.
She munched on the fruit while humming a tune she learned from the villagers. Occasionally, she leaned forward and called Qi Buyan, who was leading the horse, to turn around and placed a piece of fruit in his mouth.
He Sui’an was thrilled to be outside.
Along the way, she chirped like a little bird, talking non-stop.
A breeze passed over them, making the silver ornaments on Qi Buyan’s clothes jingle. The small bells at the end of He Sui’an’s braided hair chimed too, their sounds blending together.
Colorful butterflies flitted around them, landing on He Sui’an’s hair and shoulders. One brightly colored butterfly gently landed on Qi Buyan’s fingertip.