Had these monkeys been following them all along?
Ruan Jiaojiao stood up, and Xiu Xi rose too, discarding the meat in his hand and tightly grasping hers as he looked around.
The monkeys around them instantly scattered like birds and beasts, their rustling fading away into the distance.
"Xiuge, they mean no harm. Are you full? Let’s apple," Ruan Jiaojiao withdrew her gaze, picked up the apple from the ground, and happily said to Xiu Xi.
Xiu Xi nodded, pulled her to sit down beside him, picked up the discarded chicken, and continued eating, while Ruan Jiaojiao cradled the apple, nibbling on it. After eating half, she stopped and passed it to Xiu Xi when he finished his meat. Worried he would disdain it, she hummed softly, "We don’t have a knife, so don’t be picky..."
Before she could finish, she noticed the young antagonist bite enthusiastically from where she had, showing no signs of distaste.
Ruan Jiaojiao watched, laughed, and for some reason, her heart felt unusually happy.
Once Xiu Xi finished the apple, they rested for another few minutes before continuing on their way.
Xiu Xi seemed to have boundless energy, while Ruan Jiaojiao’s steps grew heavier and heavier. She was extremely tired but didn’t want to hold him back, so she gritted her teeth and followed him for another two hours.
It was not until she tripped over a vine that she couldn’t get up again.
"Xiuge, I can’t walk anymore," she said, looking at him with some sadness.
Xiu Xi immediately squatted to check her knee. Seeing that the fabric wasn’t worn and she hadn’t scraped it, he relaxed, rose to his feet, turned to her, and bent over.
"Don’t, you won’t be able to carry me," Ruan Jiaojiao refused.
She had been pampered by the Ruan Family, plump and well-nourished, while Xiu Xi was much thinner than she was and not as tall. How could he possibly carry her?
"Get on," Xiu Xi insisted, bent over and unmoving, only urging her.
Ruan Jiaojiao hesitated for two seconds, then tentatively leaned on his back. Xiu Xi immediately hooked his arm under her knees and lifted her up, his steps not seeming heavy at all, as if she weighed nothing.
"..." Ruan Jiaojiao once again marveled at the young antagonist’s extraordinary talent!
With such looks and abilities, how did he not end up as the male lead? It was truly a pity.
Lying on Xiu Xi’s back, Ruan Jiaojiao lost herself in thoughts for a while. After they had walked some distance, noticing that Xiu Xi’s breathing had not become rapid, but still worried, she said, "Xiuge, if you can’t carry me anymore, just put me down."
"Okay," he said, though he continued to lift her slightly as he carried her.
His shoulders were not broad or robust at all but rather slender, yet Ruan Jiaojiao felt especially secure lying there. She didn’t even know when she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
In her dream, she imagined being carried on the back of a wolf, running freely through the forest...
"Silly wolf..." she muttered in her sleep.
Xiu Xi, carrying her, heard her muffled voice. Under the moonlight, his sharp and cold green eyes gradually became tender, even more so than the moonlight above...
When Ruan Jiaojiao woke up again, daylight had broken.
She was cradled in the arms of the young antagonist, resting on a patch of verdant grass, surrounded by the chirping of birds. The sunlight was warm on their bodies.
At the moment she opened her eyes, Xiu Xi also opened his.