The shadows of the trees in the grove cut the sunlight into pieces. The summer mountain breeze drifted by, scattering them over the long stone-brick mountain path like a pool of shifting, broken gold.
Yu Ning eyed the broad, tall back in front of her. It was as solid as a small mountain.
She curled the corner of her lips and couldn’t help being mischievous. “Can’t you be a little more romantic? Like a princess carry or something? It has to be a piggyback?”
Hearing that, Chen Chuan turned his head and glanced at her, then said coldly and mercilessly, “Then walk by yourself.”
With that, he turned back around, presenting her with his back again.
“…”
She really couldn’t understand how such a rough, blunt man had come up with such a poetic name as “Yichuan Fengyue.”
Unable to stand his solemn expression, she deliberately made trouble and lightly pinched his waist.
It was rock hard.
She couldn’t pinch it at all.
Chen Chuan only felt a tingling numbness spread from his waist through his entire body.
His eyes trembled, and he rebuked in a low voice, “Don’t move around!”
This woman was far too bold!
He refused to believe she didn’t know what it meant to pinch a man’s waist.
Seeing the reaction she wanted, Yu Ning lifted her brows, looped her arms around his neck, and slowly lay against his back.
A weight suddenly settled on his back, and Chen Chuan’s body stiffened slightly.
Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Yu Ning leaned close to his ear and urged, “Go on.”
Her warm, soft breath brushed into his ear. In an instant, Chen Chuan felt as if his earlobe had been lightly scorched by a tiny flame.
It didn’t hurt, but a strange feeling seemed to climb up inside his heart.
A little unnaturally, he raised a hand and rubbed his earlobe, then said to the person on his back, “Can you behave?”
Yu Ning tilted her head, looking innocent. “How am I not behaving?”
Chen Chuan ignored her, supported her legs with his wrists, and stood up with ease.
Yu Ning was very light. She felt lighter than two crates of fruit from his orchard.
Carrying her took no effort at all.
Oh my, he was even using gentleman’s hands.
Laughter rippled through Yu Ning’s eyes. Thinking that his movements while carrying someone seemed a little unfamiliar, she teased him again. “First time carrying a woman?”
Chen Chuan didn’t speak. His gaze stayed forward, his steps steady.
“I’m talking to you!”
“…”
“Didn’t your ex-girlfriends ever teach you that when your girlfriend talks to you, you have to respond?”
Chen Chuan frowned and glanced sideways at her. “When did you become my girlfriend?”
“Mm… about an hour ago? More or less. That uncle even told you to invite him to the wedding banquet. When are you planning to hold it?”
Chen Chuan had figured it out. The more he entertained her, the more energetic she became.
“Can you stop talking? If your mouth is that idle, get down and walk yourself.”
“I walk with my feet. What does my idle mouth have to do with whether I walk or not? There’s a bug in your logic.”
Chen Chuan stopped and made as if to put her down.
Yu Ning hooked her arms tightly around his neck, even draping the hand holding her shoes over him. “I’m just chatting with you, aren’t I? I was afraid you’d be bored on the way.”
Chen Chuan stood there for half a minute. Seeing that she still refused to let go, he had no choice but to heft her up again.
Then he continued down the mountain.
Yu Ning knew when to stop. She rested her head on his shoulder and quietly looked at the firm, distinct lines of his profile.
From this angle, she could see the high bridge of his nose, even count his eyelashes—fine and long.
Her gaze shifted again…
Oh, there was also a very small light-brown mole on his earlobe.
Chen Chuan had walked downhill for four or five minutes, and her gaze seemed glued to his face. If she wasn’t looking at his eyes, she was looking at his nose, and finally, she stopped openly on his lips.
With a sweep of his peripheral vision, he could still see that face very close to him—bright, smiling, fair, and beautiful.
He turned his face away unnaturally. “Don’t look at me.”
Yu Ning refused. “Why? You won’t let me talk, and now you won’t let me look at you either? So domineering—do you have a death wish?”
“…”
Once the floodgates opened, there was no stopping her.
In the thirty years Chen Chuan had been alive, Yu Ning was the thickest-skinned, chattiest, and boldest woman he had ever met.
As she rambled on about everything under the sun, Chen Chuan rarely replied.
Most of the time, he only answered because she forced him to.
The mountain path that had taken Yu Ning twenty minutes to walk took the tall, long-legged Chen Chuan barely ten minutes. They had already passed the stone arch bridge over the stream at the foot of the mountain.
Before they even entered the town, they saw two old men walking toward them with hoes on their backs. From afar, they greeted Chen Chuan.
They were still speaking the Jidong dialect.
Yu Ning didn’t understand a single word.
In her heart, she secretly swore that she absolutely had to learn the Jidong dialect.
Although she didn’t understand, judging from the expressions the two uncles gave her, she could guess what they were saying.
Most likely, they were teasing Chen Chuan just like Auntie Fang had yesterday.
Unfortunately, Chen Chuan, this “unmoved even with a beauty in his arms” fellow, showed nothing on his face.
She couldn’t tell at all whether he was shy or embarrassed.
For once, she didn’t tease him. She simply lay on Chen Chuan’s back and watched him talk to the two uncles.
Chen Chuan wasn’t a man of many words. Most of the time, others spoke while he listened, occasionally chiming in with a sentence or two.
After they entered town and walked a little farther, the group parted ways.
Yu Ning saw that even after walking so long, he still wasn’t panting or flushed, looking completely at ease. Curious, she asked, “Aren’t you tired?”
“Tired from what?”
“You’ve carried me such a long way. You’re not tired?”
“How much do you weigh?”
“How much?” Yu Ning thought about it seriously. “One hundred and four, I think. Before I came traveling, I even weighed myself on purpose.”
At her height of one meter seventy, 104 jin was actually especially light.
Mainly because she had the kind of body that lost weight easily. On top of that, she had been busy with work before; her eating and sleeping schedules were irregular, and she often drank.
All these years, she had never been able to gain weight anyway.
Chen Chuan frowned slightly. He did think she was a little too light.
“Any two or three crates of fruit in the orchard are heavier than you.”
In other words, carrying you is no trouble at all.
Yu Ning raised her brows. “Is that so? Then I hope that in the next three months of eating, drinking, and lying around in Jidong Town, I can gain about ten jin.”
Ten jin?
Even with ten jin, she’d still be light.
At least twenty jin to start.
Chen Chuan criticized inwardly, but he didn’t say it out loud.
He carried her all the way back to Yichuan Fengyue Courtyard.
Tank heard the footsteps and had already rushed out to greet them, even barking twice in excitement.
Mother Chen, who was sitting behind the counter, turned her head and saw her son carrying Yu Ning back. She hurried out and asked, “What happened? A-Ning, are you hurt? Aiyo, why are your pants and shoes wet too? What happened?”
“She stepped into the stream,” Chen Chuan replied succinctly.
“How did you fall into the stream for no reason? Are you hurt? Is it serious?” Mother Chen asked with concern.
Yu Ning smiled. “I’m fine, Auntie Chen. I just ran into a snake and got startled, then accidentally stepped into the stream. I’ll go upstairs and change first.”
Mother Chen nodded. “Chuanzi, hurry and carry her up. With those wet clothes sticking to her, she could easily get rheumatism. A-Ning, your room upstairs probably doesn’t have anywhere to dry shoes. After you wash them, take them to the back to dry. I’ll go make lunch too.”