He asked so naturally, as if it were just casual small talk.

The wind blew past Jiang Shi from behind. He shrank back as if startled, but the top of the wall was so narrow that when he moved, half of his body was left hanging in the air behind him.

Cheng Ye pulled his leaning body back and set him upright. In the chaos, Jiang Shi’s legs clamped around his waist, and his hands landed on his shoulders.

The posture became even more awkward.

Cheng Ye seemed not to notice, his hands still resting on Jiang Shi’s waist. His face was pressed against Jiang Shi’s chest, his expression hidden in the darkness of the night.

“What are you panicking about? You almost fell.”

Jiang Shi gave him a push. “Get away from me.”

Cheng Ye didn’t move. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

Answer my ass!

Jiang Shi bent his leg and tried to jab Cheng Ye’s stomach with his knee, but the other didn’t budge. His muscles were hard as a rock, and it made his own knee hurt.

“Cheng Ye, what crazy stunt are you pulling now?”

Cheng Ye reached out and rubbed his knee. “I’m not pulling any stunt. I’m an adult now, just asking some adult questions.”

Jiang Shi: “…”

Jiang Shi said, “I’m counting to three.”

Cheng Ye: “Being so evasive, it seems you haven’t, then.”

Jiang Shi: “Three, two…”

Cheng Ye let go and took two steps back. After a moment’s thought, he extended his hand again. “Do you want me to help you down?”

Jiang Shi: “…”

…

Because of one “adult question,” Cheng Ye had made Jiang Shi angry. All the way until he went home the following weekend, he didn’t give Cheng Ye a single pleasant look.

After all these days, Gao Xinhe’s hair had finally grown out. Since he couldn’t dye it, he went to a salon and got a stylish haircut, which restored his confidence.

It was the same familiar bus, the same familiar seats. Gao Xinhe was squeezed between the two of them, his butt like it was on fire, unable to sit still.

He scooted over towards Cheng Ye. “Brother Cheng, did you make my little cousin unhappy again?”

The use of the word “again”… Cheng Ye was silent for a few seconds. “Are you very bored?”

Gao Xinhe: “…”

He was diligently trying to mediate their relationship, only to be scorned by Cheng Ye.

He was going to throw a tantrum!

Unfortunately, no one cared about Gao Xinhe’s tantrums.

Cheng Ye thought back on his actions and realized he had been a bit out of line. The Young Master was thin-skinned, and he had asked too bluntly, making it difficult for him to answer.

It was just a pity that Jiang Shi hadn’t spoken to him at all these past few days. He would turn his head and walk away the moment he saw him, and even slept with his back to him at night. Forget apologizing, he could barely get a few words in with Jiang Shi.

After getting home, Cheng Ye went to the small convenience store, planning to buy something to apologize to Jiang Shi.

The convenience store was run by an old granny from Xiliu Village. The shop was small, mostly selling cheap spicy sticks, and the selection of goods rarely changed.

Cheng Ye once again bought the most expensive milk candy.

The old granny slowly reached for the milk candy on the shelf, her speech just as slow. “Little Ye-zi, buying candy again? Why are you always eating candy? You’re not buying it for some little girl, are you?”

Cheng Ye leaned against the doorframe and chuckled. “Not a little girl.”

More like a delicate little prince.

Cheng Ye handed the money to the granny, took the candy, and was about to leave when she asked him, “Do you want cigarettes? I have a broken pack, I can sell it to you cheap.”

“No thanks, I quit.”

“Oh… that’s a surprise.”

Cheng Ye carried the dry scent of sunshine. “The smell is strong, not pleasant. Someone doesn’t like it.”

The old granny asked again, “The person who eats the candy?”

Under the sunlight, the boy’s cold, hard features gradually softened. He hooked his lips into a youthful smile.

“Yes, the one who eats the candy.”

…

When Cheng Ye arrived at Jiang Shi’s house with the candy, he only found Jiang Xue making shoe insoles at the door.

Once the spring planting was over, the seeds lay dormant in the soil, waiting for the day to sprout. During this period, the farmers weren’t as busy.

The sunlight was perfect. After feeding the pigs, Jiang Xue couldn’t find anything else to do, so she sat under the pear tree by the door, planning to make two pairs of shoe insoles for Jiang Shi.

She would make some for Song Jian’an too, and give them to him when she had the chance.

Seeing Cheng Ye climbing up the small path below the courtyard, Jiang Xue knew who he was looking for without having to think.

She shouted loudly, “Jiang Shi isn’t home! He went to Liu Family Slope to herd the cattle!”

Cheng Ye slowly: “?? “

Jiang Xue said, “There’s not much to do lately, and the grass on Liu Family Slope has grown out. We have several cows at home, so I was thinking of taking them out to graze. But Jiang Shi saw me and said he wanted to go, so I let him.”

Cheng Ye said, “You just let him go like that?”

Jiang Xue: “They’re all yellow cattle, very docile. What could happen?”

Cheng Ye thought, That’s not necessarily true.

He took the candy and went to Liu Family Slope.

There was a sloping meadow on the hill. At the end of the meadow was farmland. The corn had been planted early, and tender corn shoots were already poking out from the ground.

Cheng Ye followed the small path up. He didn’t see the cattle, but the first thing he saw was Jiang Shi lying on the grass.

The boy was dotted with bits of grass, and an English book covered his face. It looked like he had fallen asleep.

Cheng Ye walked closer, squatted beside Jiang Shi, and reached out to lift the book from the little cowherd’s face.

Sunlight fell on Jiang Shi’s face. His long eyelashes trembled, but he didn’t wake up.

“Jiang Shi,” Cheng Ye said. “Your cows have run away.”

Jiang Shi’s eyelids twitched, and then he scrambled to his feet. “What! My cows ran away?”

A short laugh came from beside his ear. Jiang Shi turned his head and met Cheng Ye’s face.

He asked Cheng Ye, “Where are my cows?”

Cheng Ye patted the grass clippings off his shoulder. “Are you asking me?”

Jiang Shi: “…”

The sunlight was dazzling, and the wind was strong. The newly sprouted tender grass bent in the wind.

Jiang Shi followed behind Cheng Ye, trudging through the grass, one deep step and one shallow step, searching for the cows. The azaleas nearby were in full bloom, their brilliant red a stark contrast against the blue sky above.

He stood in front of an azalea bush that was about as tall as him, chose a cluster of flowers that had formed a perfect circle, and plucked it. The flower stem was still warm in his hand when Cheng Ye’s voice came over.

“Jiang Shi, your cow ate someone else’s corn.”

“What? What!”

Jiang Shi ran over with the flowers and, sure enough, saw their old yellow cow open its mouth, its tongue curling out and pulling a tender shoot that had just emerged from the soil into its mouth. After eating, it wasn’t satisfied and started nudging the ground with its snout.

Cheng Ye pulled the cow towards the edge of the grassland, but the yellow cow stubbornly stretched its neck towards the field.

Jiang Shi ran over and pushed the cow’s head with his hand. “What are you doing! What are you doing! Isn’t there enough grass here for you to eat?”

He was holding the flowers in his hand. The cow saw them and stretched out its long tongue to try and lick the flowers from Jiang Shi’s hand.

Seeing this, Jiang Shi panicked too. He clutched the flowers and was about to step back, but the soil under his feet was soft. He tripped and fell backwards, landing on his butt in the field.

Jiang Shi: “…”

Cheng Ye, who was holding the cow, turned his head and coughed.

Jiang Shi picked up a clod of dirt and threw it at him.

In just that short time, the old yellow cow’s tongue curled out and snagged another corn shoot.

Jiang Shi picked up a larger clod of dirt and threw it at the cow’s rear.

Cheng Ye could only lead the cow away first.

He tied the cow to a nearby tree. When he turned back, Jiang Shi was bent over, climbing out of the field. His butt was covered in yellow mud, but he was still protectively clutching his flowers in his hand.

His body was battered, but his spirit was firm.

Besides the old yellow cow, there were also two calves. Fortunately, the calves had been following the yellow cow and hadn’t wandered far.

The three cows stood under a large tree, munching away. Jiang Shi patted the dust off his clothes, then his pants, and then sat down on the grass to shake the mud out of his shoes.

Cheng Ye sat down next to him.

Jiang Shi said, “Stay away from me. This is all your fault.”

“It is my fault,” Cheng Ye said. “If it weren’t for me, people might have thought this piece of land wasn’t planted.”

“…”

He could kill someone with that sharp tongue of his.

Jiang Shi didn’t speak.

He held the flowers in his hand, his face smudged with dirt he had accidentally gotten on it. His hair was tousled from the grass, with bits of it still clinging to him.

Dirty and messy.

Cheng Ye wanted to reach out and ruffle his hair, but seeing the expressionless look on Jiang Shi’s face, he stopped himself from this dangerous thought.

“Are you still angry?”

He shouldn’t have brought it up. The moment he did, Jiang Shi let out a cold snort and fell silent again.

Cheng Ye took the milk candy out of his pocket and handed it to him. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean it.”

“I just thought, you’re so good-looking, with a good personality, a good temper, and your grades are decent too. There must be a lot of people chasing you. Unlike me, I’m already an adult and I haven’t even experienced what it’s like to be in love.”

Jiang Shi turned his head to look at Cheng Ye.

The boy, who was almost a head taller than him, sat beside him with his legs bent, holding the candy. When he spoke, his tone was flat. Paired with his shabby clothes, it gave off the honest feeling of a withdrawn child from the mountains finally willing to reveal his innermost thoughts.

But the hand that had rested on his waist that night had been so hot. The night was deep, and he couldn’t see the expression on Cheng Ye’s face, but he had keenly sensed a hint of danger.

Jiang Shi always felt that he couldn’t see through Cheng Ye.

“You were just asking a simple question, with no other meaning?”

Cheng Ye asked him back, “What other meaning do you think I had?”

Jiang Shi fell silent again.

He was slow to learn things, but he wasn’t really a fool. Growing up, countless eyes had stuck to him, and many people had confessed their feelings to him.

This face brought him convenience, but also trouble.

He didn’t think that the one or two months he had known Cheng Ye could have produced such a deep friendship. Everyone wants to pick a beautiful flower, but there are thousands of beautiful faces in the world. He was just one of them, definitely not the only one.

Jiang Shi opened his English book, leaned back, and covered his face with it. His voice came out muffled from under the pages. “I’m not dating anyone. My mission is to study hard.”

Cheng Ye curled his fingertips. “Why not?”

“Why are there so many ‘whys’?” Jiang Shi said. “Because I have no interest in love. I only want to contribute to the motherland.”

“Okay,” Cheng Ye said. “If you’re not dating, then I won’t either.”

Jiang Shi let out a laugh. “What, are you going to contribute to the motherland too?”

“I don’t really want to, but if you need me to, I can.”

The sun slipped away through the gaps in the treetops. Jiang Xue stood at the crossroads, calling for Jiang Shi to come back for dinner.

Cheng Ye led the old yellow cow, and Jiang Shi followed behind, herding the calves. Everything was the same as before, but it also seemed like something had changed.

In the end, Jiang Shi didn’t accept the bag of milk candy Cheng Ye had offered as an apology.

He had put on some weight these past few days, but his chin was still sharp. His eyes were long and narrow, his eyelashes long and thick, and his skin was a cool white. It was a sharp kind of beauty.

The bag of milk candy was held out in front of him, but Jiang Shi didn’t even extend his hand. He just lowered his eyes and gave it a faint glance. “I don’t eat candy. You can take it back.”

Cheng Ye’s hand hung in mid-air. “You ate it before.”

Jiang Shi said, “That was before. I don’t eat it now.”

In a daze, Cheng Ye felt as if he had seen the sharp quills of a hedgehog.

His palm stung for a moment. Finally, he withdrew the candy. “Okay, I’ll remember that.”

Jiang Shi’s fingertips, hidden in his pocket, twitched. He really wanted to ask Cheng Ye what exactly he had remembered. But due to his current aloof persona, he ultimately kept his mouth shut.

A few days later, Jiang Shi finally understood what Cheng Ye had remembered.

His method of rejecting people was one he had always used. After all, as long as a flower had thorns, you would be pricked every time you got close. Over time, the passion would fade.

No one would constantly think about a rose covered in thorns.

Well… except for Cheng Ye.

He had been well-behaved for two days after returning to school. Jiang Shi didn’t talk to him, and he didn’t bother him too much either. Until one evening after night study, he found Jiang Shi.

To avoid disturbing their roommates, they went to the lawn behind the dormitory building.

At night, this place was often filled with little couples on dates. The two of them, two big guys standing here, felt strange to Jiang Shi.

He wasn’t wearing a jacket. When the wind blew, a layer of goosebumps rose on his arms.

The next second, Cheng Ye’s jacket was draped over his shoulders. Without the school uniform jacket, Jiang Shi could finally see that the T-shirt he was wearing underneath was so worn that the edges were frayed.

It was a cheap item from a street stall, costing no more than ten yuan. It would get like this after just a couple of washes.

Cheng Ye was holding a bag in his hand. He gestured for Jiang Shi to sit down.

Jiang Shi didn’t understand what trick he had up his sleeve, but he sat down anyway. “What did you call me out here for?”

Cheng Ye also sat down. The bag in his hand was one of those black trash bags. It was bulging with something unknown inside.

Cheng Ye said, “I was wrong about last time. The milk candy is only seven yuan a bag. You must be tired of it by now.”

Jiang Shi: “?”

Wait, big brother, does that even make sense?

As he spoke, Cheng Ye pulled a box of chocolates out of the plain, unadorned black plastic bag. “I had someone buy this for me. They said this was the best. It’s imported. For you.”

Jiang Shi glanced at it. It really was the best. Even the price was outrageously good. Even his former self wouldn’t have dared to eat it every day.

He didn’t speak. Cheng Ye thought he didn’t like it and continued to rummage inside.

“This is cookies, this is dried fruit, this is beef jerky, this is…”

“That’s enough!” Jiang Shi interrupted him.

Cheng Ye looked at him. “You don’t like any of them? I bought other things too. There must be something you like.”

His voice was low.

“Jiang Shi, don’t be mad at me anymore.”