Chapter 21.2
Editor: Jodi
A dozen minutes later, Ning Sheng, leaning against a tree, gasped for air.
“You call this nearby?” He asked, “We’ve walked for about a kilometer, right! Is your math not good?”
“My math is excellent!” Li Haoyue was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, “It’s my character that’s bad, I tricked you. Xu Ling said, we should deceive you into walking more.”
Ning Sheng: “….”
Seriously, he didn’t even know where to start scolding.
“Do you listen to him or me?” Ning Sheng asked him.
“Ah? My mom and dad only ask me that when they argue.” Li Haoyue said.
Ning Sheng: “……”
Damn math nerd.
Fortunately, they finally reached the creek Li Haoyue had spoken about. It had clear water that Ning Sheng found pleasingly clean.
He squatted by the water, dipping his hands in, the cool stream flowing through his fingers, reflecting the sky and clouds above.
This town, once dusty in his memory, now seemed more like a sanctuary far removed from the world.
Plop, ripples appeared in the water, then it started to rain.
Li Haoyue: “Ah.”
Ning Sheng: “You’re afraid of getting wet?”
Li Haoyue hugged his backpack closer: “My knowledge is afraid.”
Ning Sheng: “…..”
The rain, typical of the rainy season, poured down on them, forcing them under a tree for shelter.
“I think we can make a dash for it.” Li Haoyue told Ning Sheng.
“I can’t run.” Ning Sheng, his clothes soaked, shivered under the tree.
Currently, he couldn’t quite run or jump.
“How about you go back first?” He suggested, “Then you tell Xu Ling to come and get me.”
Li Haoyue rummaged through his backpack, pulled out a thick booklet, tore off the plastic cover, then used it as a makeshift umbrella for Ning Sheng’s head.
“You…” Ning Sheng was a little touched.
“This set is too easy, I got everything right.” Li Haoyue continued, “It’s worthless garbage.”
Ning Sheng’s touched emotion turned into anger.
Not long after, two figures dashed through the rain curtain.
“Princess!” Lu Peng, carrying an umbrella, shouted, “Are you still alive? We’ve come to rescue you.”
An umbrella opened above Ning Sheng’s head.
“What happened to your leg?” Xu Ling asked him.
“I slipped by the creek.” Ning Sheng replied.
It was only now that he noticed a scrape on his knee that he hadn’t bothered to pay attention to as he had been getting drenched in the rain.
“Hold this.” Xu Ling shoved the umbrella into his hand.
Ning Sheng: “? I should hold it? You’re taller! Are you even human?”
Xu Ling bent down in front of him: “Get on, I’ll carry you.”
Ning Sheng: “…oh.”
Since the time Xu Ling set his heart on making him walk on his own, he hadn’t carried him much anymore.
Holding the umbrella, he leaned on Xu Ling’s back.
“Let’s go, let’s go back.” Xu Ling called.
The four schoolkids made their way back together.
“Good rain knows its season, it happens in spring when it comes.” Lu Peng recited a poem as they walked.
“It’s summer now.” Ning Sheng pointed out mercilessly, “And this rain is not good at all.”
Lu Peng: “I’m uneducated.”
“I’m going to slip off.” Ning Sheng said.
Xu Ling hoisted him up a bit.
“Little Bell.” Ning Sheng whispered, “It’d be nice if you could always carry me.”
Xu Ling: “Are you even human?”
Ning Sheng, struck by his own words, became angry.
“I mean, if I could walk, they would take me back to S City!” He said.
He didn’t want to leave. He loved the Xu Ling he had raised and everything about Qing’an Town.
“Lu Peng.” Xu Ling called, “Pick up a brick, Princess says he doesn’t want his legs anymore.”
“Are you okay?!” Ning Sheng hit Xu Ling’s shoulder, then hugged his neck tightly, “Dummy!”
Luckily, Lu Peng was smart enough today to realise it was just a joke and didn’t actually pick up a brick.
The four of them stepped out of the orchard and set up a stove in Li Haoyue’s yard for a barbecue.
Ning Sheng, wrapped in a dry cloth, sat by the stove, holding a skewer with a piece of pork belly on it.
Then the skewer became hot, almost too much to hold.
Xu Ling took the skewer from his hand. “Did this pig offend you before it died?” Xu Ling looked at the charred remains on the skewer, “That you would crush its bones and scatter its ashes?”
“It looks like he roasted it with karma fire.” Lu Peng said.
Li Haoyue: “Samadhi true fire, perhaps.”
Ning Sheng: “….”
The “isolated” Ning Sheng sat to one side, focusing solely on eating and not caring about roasting.
It was indeed delicious, and the aroma was mesmerizing.
Ning Sheng ate several slices.
“What’s this?” He asked, looking at a bowl Xu Ling was handing to him.
Xu Ling: “Ginger soup.”
Ning Sheng disliked ginger soup. It was so spicy that his mouth hurt.
“You better take a few sips.” Lu Peng told him, “You weak chickens got soaked, so be careful not to catch a cold.”
Ning Sheng: “We….. weak chickens?”
He was a bit hurt.
“Strong chickens, strong chickens.” Xu Ling placated.
“You’re also calling me a weak chicken?” Ning Sheng raised his hand.
Xu Ling caught his hand and smacked it down on Lu Peng’s head: “He started it!”
“It tastes good, finish it.” After the ruckus, Xu Ling stared at him and told him to drink the ginger soup.
“Got it.” Ning Sheng, pursing his lips, took small sips.
Sure enough, the person he raised was. He was quite considerate.
Xu Ling opened a small band-aid and put it on his knee.
“If you don’t like walking, then don’t walk.” Xu Ling told him, “Call me to carry you, don’t knock yourself into the ground.”
Ning Sheng: “I didn’t do it on purpose, I’m not stupid.”
After spending a wild half day in the orchard, Ning Sheng hummed a tune that evening as he walked upright into the living room, then bumped straight into his grandmother.
He froze: “Ah.”
Then he mumbled to himself as he walked towards his bedroom: “These legs, how did they start moving on their own.”
His grandmother: “…..”
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