Because the car encountered heavy fog shortly after leaving the village, it didn’t go very far. However, it still took nearly half an hour to get back.
Song Jun started dragging his luggage, and then Xia Hongshen reached out to pick it up for him.
After riding in the car all morning, he couldn’t eat a bite of food in the village at noon, and he couldn’t even sit on a stool. Now he had walked uphill for a long time, and Song Jun was already panting from exhaustion.
Xia Hongshen walked beside him, suddenly squatted down in front of him and said, “Come up.”
Song Jun was stunned for a moment and then realised that Xia Hongshen wanted to carry him on his back. He turned and glanced at Xi Anling, who was lagging behind. The girl was panting from exhaustion but kept walking forward with her head lowered. He suddenly felt embarrassed and said, “No need.”
When Xia Hongshen heard his refusal, he said nothing and continued walking forward, dragging Song Jun’s luggage.
When they returned to the village, not only the village chief but also the village secretary came out to welcome them.
Long Xing called Captain Liu and informed him that they had returned to the village. He asked them to go down the mountain as soon as possible. Later, they originally planned to stay at the village chief’s house for one night, but they did not expect the village secretary to stand up and object, insisting that they go back to his place with him.
Song Jun suddenly felt that the old village chief of Wanjia Village was a little pitiful.
Now that the village secretary insisted, the village chief did not continue to object and said to Xia Hongshen, “Teacher, you can go live at the secretary’s place. If you need anything, come to me and I’ll help you out if I can solve it.”
Xia Hongshen nodded and said, “Thank you.”
The village secretary’s home was actually not big, and he barely managed to clear out an empty room, allowing Xia Hongshen and the other four boys to make do with each other, while Xi Anling was arranged to share a bed with his daughter.
As soon as Feng Junyuan entered the room, he frowned and looked unhappy.
Because there was only one bed in the room, and although it was a large bed, it was very difficult to squeeze four boys into it.
Song Jun also felt uncomfortable. He was just about to say that the two of them should sleep at the village chief’s place when he heard Long Xing take the initiative to say, “You three can sleep, I’ll just sleep on the floor.”
Actually, Long Xing was the youngest among them, but he had the best personality.
Hearing what he said, Song Jun and Feng Junyuan could no longer express their unspoken complaints.
Song Jun sat down on the edge of the bed. At this time, he didn’t care whether he was dirty or not, and leaned back.
Feng Junyuan also lay down not far from him, and Long Xing simply sat on the ground, leaning his back against the bed.
Xia Hongshen stood at the door and looked outside, no one knew what he was looking at.
They rested all afternoon, and it was almost seven o’clock in the evening before the secretary’s wife came to ask them to have dinner.
Dinner was steamed wood-fired rice. Although the food was not very good, for these young people in their twenties, after starving for so long, even if they were given a bowl of white rice, they could still eat very well.
Song Jun ate two large bowls of rice in one go and felt that his stomach was about to burst.
He patted his chest and heard that the secretary was telling Long Xing about the village chief and his nephew, probably complaining about their family’s abuse of power for personal gain.
This village secretary’s surname was Wang. Although his surname was not Wan, he lived in Wanjia Village many generations ago.
After hearing his conversation with Long Xing, Song Jun felt that he was quite ordinary middle-aged man, not as cold and guarded as he felt when they first entered the village.
Secretary Wang’s wife was also an ordinary woman. She had several children at home, more sons than daughters.
Song Jun thought that no one would care about such a remote place, and maybe there was more than one child here in the family.
After listening to them talking for a while, Song Jun felt that it was not interesting, so he stood up and said that he was leaving first.
The dining area was right inside the kitchen. As Song Jun emerged from the kitchen, he stood in Secretary Wang’s yard, gazing towards the surrounding mountains. At this moment, the sky hadn’t completely darkened, but only the undulating outlines of the mountain ranges were visible. It truly felt like towering peaks and ridges, evoking an indescribable sense of awe for Song Jun, who had grown up in a flat city environment.
While he was in a daze, something suddenly rushed past his feet.
Song Jun was so frightened that he took two steps back. After taking a closer look, he realized that it was actually a cat.
It was a common tabby cat in rural areas. It was quite big and must have been quite old. The cat stared at Song Jun and meowed twice.
Perhaps because of the little black cat, Song Jun had some natural affection for cats. He remembered the Whiskas he had brought at some time, so he said to the cat, “Wait a minute, I’ll give you something to eat.”
After saying that, Song Jun ran back to the room, rummaged through the packages of Whiskas bags, took them out and wanted to feed the cat.
When he returned to the yard, he found that the tabby cat was missing, so he walked around in the yard and whispered, “Meow?”
Suddenly, Xia Hongshen appeared next to him, grabbed his hand, and asked him, “What do you want to do?”
Song Jun was startled by him and showed him the thing in his hand, “I want to feed the cat.”
“You can’t,” Xia Hongshen said.
Song Jun was stunned, why should this be a problem for him? Why should he be controlled by this?
Next, Xia Hongshen said, “Would you like to go out for a walk?”
Hearing his question, Song Jun quickly forgot his anger. He originally wanted to go out for a walk, but he felt scared and didn’t dare to go out alone. Now that Xia Hongshen said they wanted to be together, he had nothing to fear, so he nodded.
The two people left Secretary Wang’s yard and walked outside.
Song Jun looked at the quiet mountain village and asked Xia Hongshen beside him, “Are there any ghosts in this village?”
Xia Hongshen’s eyes swept across the distance and told him in a calm tone, “There are ghosts, and there are many of them.”
Song Jun became nervous instantly.
Both of them stopped.
Xia Hongshen said, “Many ghosts are surrounding this village and don’t want to disperse.”
“Why?” Song Jun asked softly.
Xia Hongshen shook his head, “I don’t know.”
Song Jun stood next to Xia Hongshen and felt that it was not that scary. He asked, “Is it because they all died unjustly, so they can’t be reincarnated?”
Xia Hongshen did not answer his question but said, “The young man named Wan Jingsheng was killed, and then all the fat was removed from his body. What do you think it was for?”
Before that, Song Jun didn’t know that there was such a thing. He looked at Xia Hongshen in surprise, “Drained away the fat? Why?”
Xia Hongshen said, “I’m thinking about it too, what do you think?”
Song Jun frowned, thought for a long time, and said, “Is it used for cooking?”
After saying that, he felt sick himself and couldn’t help but hold his chest.
Xia Hongshen gave him a blank look.
The two sat down next to a small mountain stream. Song Jun put his hand into the stream. Even though it was spring, the stream was still cold.
Song Jun’s bags of Whiskas had already been snatched away by Xia Hongshen, and he was now playing with them in his hands. He didn’t bother to ask him for them back.
Song Jun felt that the current relationship between the two was a bit indescribable. He had suffered a lot of grievances and got angry a lot because of Xia Hongshen, but he could feel that Xia Hongshen didn’t seem to take it to heart. It seemed that the attitude towards him had not changed from beginning to end. What did Xia Hongshen mean? Did it mean that it was enough for two people to maintain the relationship of friends and senior fellow apprentices? Song Jun felt unable and lacked the capacity to speculate on this matter; he felt tired
In the past, he felt that Xia Hongshen’s almost ambiguous attitude towards him was because he liked him, but now his head was a mess and he didn’t know anything anymore.
Xia Hongshen suddenly raised his hands and stretched, and said, “I’m so tired.”
Song Jun asked him strangely, “Can deity get tired too?”
However, this was obviously not what Xia Hongshen wanted to hear. He ignored what Song Jun said, turned his back to Song Jun, and then fell onto his lap.
Song Jun’s body suddenly became stiff.
Xia Hongshen found a comfortable position, pillowed on Song Jun’s legs, and stretched his arms.
Song Jun didn’t dare to move.
Xia Hongshen thrust the Whiskas into his hand and said, “I want to eat it.”
Song Jun was a little stunned, “You want to eat? This is for cats.”
Xia Hongshen raised his arm and bumped Song Jun’s chest, urging him.
Song Jun still hesitated, and said again, “This is for cats. Although it smells delicious, I think humans still can’t eat it…”
Xia Hongshen bumped into him again.
Song Jun was helpless and said, “Okay, okay, I understand, you’re the one who wants to eat it.”
He opened the Whiskas bag and carefully fed some into Xia Hongshen’s mouth, and then saw that he really swallowed it deliciously.
“Is it really okay?” Song Jun asked.
Xia Hongshen said “En”.
Song Jun fed him a little more and asked him, “Is it delicious?” He just saw Xia Hongshen eating so deliciously, and suddenly became curious and wanted to try the taste.
However, what he didn’t expect was that Xia Hongshen didn’t answer him. Instead, he stood up and fed him the half piece he had bitten into his mouth.
Song Jun was dumbfounded. He chewed the meat mechanically and ate it without tasting the meat at all. After Xia Hongshen finished this action, he lay back on his lap as if nothing had happened.
In a sense, this could be regarded as a kiss.
But Song Jun was not so sure. He looked down at Xia Hongshen. The surrounding light was so dark that he could hardly see Xia Hongshen’s expression clearly. He suddenly felt that Xia Hongshen’s action just now was like a big domestic pet snatching food from its owner’s mouth.
It was just that a moment ago, Xia Hongshen was feeding him.
There was no symbolic meaning, and the touch of lips was nothing. It was just a process of passing food.
Song Jun raised his hand to press his lips. He could still recall the soft touch just now. Of course, he needed to ignore that it was cat food. He thought about the kiss he gave Xia Hongshen on the night of New Year’s Eve. Was it meaningless to him?
“Senior Brother Xia?” Song Jun reached out and grabbed Xia Hongshen’s shoulders and shook him.
Xia Hongshen said, “Yeah?”
Song Jun asked him, “Do you know what kissing means?” Maybe he was a deity and he didn’t understand what kissing means at all.
Xia Hongshen said, “I know, humans like to bite their mouths when they are in heat, men and women bite.”
Song Jun didn’t notice that he said the word ‘human’, but he just heard that he knew the meaning of kissing, and suddenly felt disappointed.
Unexpectedly, Xia Hongshen next said, “I don’t agree with you kissing Xi Anling.”
Song Jun was a little angry for a moment, pushed Xia Hongshen away, stood up and said, “It has nothing to do with you!” Then he turned around and walked straight into the yard.
The author has something to say:
Recently, I’ve been posting updates and running off right away. It’s been a while since I’ve said something. Last week, while riding my bike home from work, I was thrown off directly from the bike. My knee is still hurting, and I can’t squat down when going to the toilet every day, feeling extremely foolish… Actually, what I want to say is, thank you to the girls who follow my story for patiently commenting despite me disappearing after updates. I truly appreciate it. Everyone, please take care and stay safe.
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