"I know you don’t believe." He Zhilan pouted, no longer voicing any arguments. Instead, she simply lay down on the lawn, her face turned up towards the sky. The world around her suddenly felt more expansive. In this season, one could easily spot the Big Dipper and Polaris hanging high in the sky just by lifting one’s gaze.
He Teng glanced at He Zhilan but remained seated upright without saying anything. Thus, they sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts — one seated and the other lying down.
After a long while, He Teng was the first to notice that He Zhilan was perhaps all too quiet. He looked over to see her eyes closed and her breathing shallow. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Had He Zhilan genuinely fallen asleep just like that?
"Get up, and go back to the guesthouse to sleep." He Teng nudged He Zhilan gently.
But instead, the person lying down merely stirred, used He Teng’s hand as a pillow and nestled her head onto it, shifting herself into a more comfortable position and continued sleeping. Her eyes didn’t open once throughout this process, it all felt like she was asleep.
At this moment, He Teng was caught between laughter and tears. Should he wake her up? Or let her sleep? What if she oversleeps? Besides, there were mosquitoes outside.
But seeing how deeply Zhilan was sleeping, He Teng hesitated again. She’d probably been sleeping on her stomach lately, right? That must be terribly uncomfortable. Additionally, they had been travelling these past few days, and this afternoon’s training must have been tiring as well.
"Good grief! I must have owed you something in my past life." Sighing, he shook his head before finally giving in. He gently picked up the weightless woman as if she were nothing, got up and started making his way back to the guesthouse.
Kang Xing must have taken He Dongxue somewhere else to play because there was nobody at the guesthouse. Still carrying He Zhilan, He Teng managed to easily unlock the door, stepped inside and gently placed Zhilan on the bed, then helped her take off her shoes.
Just as he was about to leave, He Zhilan suddenly pounced on him, her victory in the mischievous prank apparent in her laughter.
"Hahaha! Brother, why didn’t you hold me for a bit longer, your arms are softer than the bed!" He Zhilan had in fact woken up the moment He Teng attempted to push her, but she had purposely pretended to remain asleep.
She had initially thought he would call out to her again, or perhaps roughly pick her up, or maybe sit with her on the lawn until she woke up. She did not anticipate that He Teng would delicately and attentively carry her all the way back to the guesthouse.
How could she not rejoice or feel exhilarated by this?
While He Teng didn’t say anything aloud, it was abundantly clear that his affection for her was much more than she’d initially thought!
If he wasn’t genuinely smitten, how could he treat her so tenderly?
When He Teng turned around and saw He Zhilan’s lively eyes, he instantly realised that he had been played. She hadn’t been asleep at all during the entire journey.
"Get back to bed unless you want to fall off!" He Teng reprimanded in a low voice.
"Then you back up a few steps towards the bed and place me there!" He Zhilan replied, nodding.
He Teng shot a glance at the woman on his back and did as she said. But as he bent over to place her back on the bed, He Zhilan let go and lay back down. However, before he could steady himself, she swiftly extended her arm, circling it around his neck and forcefully pulled him down onto the bed, causing him to land on top of her due to the momentum from his last action.