"Why?" she smiled and gently removed his hand.
She and he were only six centimeters apart.
"Tch, didn't the Brothers Grimm say that if you don't go home by midnight, you'll go from a princess to a girl covered in coal dust?" He raised his voice, which was full of self-righteous arrogance.
"I became a girl covered in coal dust because of a bossy stepmother, not because of the passage of time." Ah Heng smiled, rubbing her eyes which were a little sore from the rain, and opened the door.
Yan hope sneered, "If I were a stepmother, you should learn to be Cinderella's wicked sister, because no stepmother would fucking run for four hours in the rain to find a girl who crawls in coal dust."
He deliberately used a vicious tone, put away his umbrella, changed his shoes, and walked straight towards the bathroom.
Ah Heng relaxed, sighed, gently rested her head against the snow-white wall, closed her eyes, and after a long while, slowly maintained a faint smile.
When I got to the restaurant, I found that the food on the table was untouched.
When Yan hope came out after taking a shower, he smelled the aroma of food.
Aheng was sitting in the restaurant when she saw him come out. She greeted him with a smile, "Yanxi, let's eat."
Yan hope's expression wasn't good, but he didn't say anything. He sat down, ate rice and ribs, stuffing his mouth full. Although he didn't show any expression, he ate every last grain of rice.
Finally, she deliberately wiped her mouth with the cuff of Ah Heng's freshly washed pajamas, gave Ah Heng a childish glare, and turned to go upstairs.
Ah Heng laughed for a long time, then slumped onto the table, almost choking. But after calming down, he became bewildered, not knowing what he had just been laughing about.
As dawn broke, thunder roared deafeningly. Ah Heng was half asleep when something suddenly occurred to her, and she woke up with a start.
I opened the door and went to the next room.
After hesitating for a long time, Ah Heng gently pushed open the door.
Grandpa Yan once asked her, if possible, not to leave Yan hope alone in a dark room on rainy days.
"Yan hope?" She walked over. The bed was flat. She looked around, hesitated for a moment, and then walked to the corner.
In the darkness, it was just a patch of black, sitting there quietly without making a sound.
And strangely enough, it even buried itself in the bed sheet.
Ah Heng reached out and gently lifted the blanket.
The boy sat in the corner, his arms wrapped around his knees, his feet bare, and his eyes tightly closed.
"Yan hope?" She gently squatted down beside him, unsure if the boy had accidentally fallen asleep there.
He remained motionless, his breathing still faint and barely perceptible.
She reached out her hand and gently, carefully, extended it.
Halfway there, he was gently grasped by a slightly cool hand, and he opened his eyes.
That was the first time Ah Heng had seen that expression in Yan hope's eyes.
Emptiness, pain, despair, and an endless, tearing black hole.
Those eyes looked at her, trying hard to regain their usual gentleness and pride, but after seeing her eyes, tears welled up instantly.
"Aheng, you must be home before midnight next time, okay?" he choked up, his voice filled with a childlike innocence that left him speechless.
Ah Heng looked at him quietly.
"Hmm?" He looked at her intently, wanting to hear her say "okay".
The boy's black hair was completely soaked with sweat.
Ah Heng's eyes held a gentle tenderness that seemed to have accumulated over mountains and rivers. She suddenly reached out and hugged him tightly, burying his eyes in her shoulder, and calmly said, "It's nothing serious, Yan Xi. Nothing in this world is a big deal."
“It doesn’t matter how filthy it is.” She heard the suppressed pain in his throat as he spoke each word clearly, “With me in this world, nothing is a big deal.”
She knew that Yan hope could understand.
Even if she didn't know what had happened two years ago, he could not turn back no matter what, and even if his wounds were bleeding, he could only look forward.
"But, Ah Heng, one day, you will leave me too." He was at a loss, and his tears scalded someone's shoulder.
Ah Heng stared at the corner in the darkness, wondering what kind of words could have such a powerful comforting effect.
“Aheng, even you didn’t know you would leave me.” He murmured, with a hint of mockery, “You see, I knew, I could even foresee these things.”
"If I leave, can't you try to keep me?"
Yan hope smiled bitterly—"Cinderella's stepmother is only Cinderella's, not her two older sisters'."
He wanted to stay, but... how could he bear to?
"Yan hope, I don't like... glass slippers." She sighed with a smile, gently releasing her hands, but dared not turn around.
Whether she was Cinderella or her wicked sister, she disliked anything so fragile it hurt her feet.
"Yanxi, if I leave, I will apologize to you." Aheng thought for a moment, then frowned and came to a conclusion.
"Aheng, the first time I said sorry, the person I thought would never leave me left me." Yan hope looked up and fell onto the textured floor.
"So, thank you for taking care of me?" She remained facing the wall.
"When I first said thank you, I felt like I had almost disappeared from this world."
"Then, let's leave quietly..."
She smiled, her tone gentle and relaxed, yet she still couldn't turn back.
"Aheng, you'll know what to do, because you'll eventually grow up." But he, who knows when, will stop growing.
"I see."
The Ah Heng who could smile and act nonchalantly with her back to Yan Xi, the Ah Heng who dared not turn around, the Ah Heng who was incredibly strong and powerful...
But she had already been smiling calmly while secretly shedding tears.
Chapter 37
That day was in the autumn of the following year.
They climbed a mountain together, and their youthful thoughts began to surface.
After walking for a very long time, Ah Heng kept climbing towards the top of the mountain. This was when she was extremely tired, and this was her last bit of perseverance.
She didn't even think of turning around, but then she heard this complaint behind her—"Ugh, I'm exhausted! Who gave this terrible idea to go up the mountain..."
Isn't it you?
Ah Heng smiled, turned slightly to the side, and stretched out her hand without thinking, while a similar hand stretched out on the other side.
It is Siwan.
Yan hope was stunned. Aheng smiled and tried to casually withdraw her hand, but Yan hope grabbed it—"Hey! You heartless girl, I was exhausted back there, and you only just remembered!"
Siwan's expression was somewhat stiff.
He withdrew his hand.
"Brother!" Er'er ran in the lead, then turned around and waved to Siwan with a bright smile.
Siwan gave Yanxi a gentle look and strode towards Si'er.
Ah Heng laughed, feeling that holding Yan hope's hand was like holding a piglet.
"Yanxi, what exactly did you stuff in your bag? It looks so heavy."
"Nothing much, just my pig-head slippers, sleeping bag, snacks, and a dozen or so Saiyuki books. Hehe, I am Sanzang!" Yan hope struck a cool and aloof pose like Sanzang holding a gun, blowing away the ethereal gunpowder smoke from his fingertips, his expression serious yet innocent.
Ah Heng felt like vomiting blood—"We're just camping out on the mountain for one night, not some elementary school field trip!!"
Yan hope grabbed A Heng's hand, acting spineless and dragging his feet, looking like he was being unreasonable—"Isn't it all the same?"
With a face as beautiful as a flower, Mary, now dressed in men's clothing, glanced at the two people making a ruckus behind her and said with a smile, "Siwan, you're finished."
Siwan's expression remained gentle as she spoke in a calm tone, "Mary, are you gloating?"
Mary instinctively flicked the phoenix tail with her index finger—"Siwan, I warned you beforehand."
Wan glanced at the maple leaves slowly turning red in the distance and chuckled softly, "It can't be Aheng. Her connection with Yanxi isn't deep enough."
Mary's tone was slightly mocking—"Yes, your fate is enough, a full seventeen years. If nothing goes wrong, you're definitely childhood friends for life!"
The words “childhood friend” are pronounced with emphasis.
Siwan remained silent, while Si'er sneered from the side, pretending not to hear the two of them deliberately lowering their voices.
"Damn it! Can you guys stop dawdling? It'll be dark by the time we get up the mountain." Da Yi was panting heavily as he climbed, oblivious to the undercurrents surging behind him.
"Did you bring a lighter?" Siwan asked.
"Mao?" Da Yi was dumbfounded.
"A lighter." Chen Juan raised an eyebrow, his tone dismissive. "Don't tell me you forgot to bring one, or we'll freeze to death on Ming Mountain tonight."
Mingshan is located in the suburbs of the city. Because it has been minimally sculpted by humans, most of the scenery is naturally formed. In addition, its terrain and altitude are in line with the original ecological flavor of the mountains, making it very popular. Especially in spring and autumn, many people come here to play. However, perhaps because they feel it is not safe enough, very few people camp here.
"So what if I didn't bring it? Hey, you did bring it, show it to me!" Xin Dayi retorted coolly.
Chen Juan snorted coldly – “I never intended to rely on you in the first place!”
Turning around, she called out to Aheng with a slightly embarrassed expression, "Aheng, did you bring a lighter?"
Ah Heng, sweating profusely from the piglet's antics, replied with her family in tow, "I didn't bring any. It's alright, there's a flint on the mountain."
Da Yi laughed – “Why is it that every time Aheng is around, I feel like I don’t have to worry about anything?”
Si'er smirked – “I think I’ve heard this before when Lu Liu was around.”
Da Yi scratched his black hair, somewhat realizing something—"So, Immortal Lu and Aheng do look somewhat alike."
Si'er shook her head – “Wrong. It's Aheng who looks like Lu Liu.”
Mary lightly mocked, "Xin Feifei, how am I wronging you by calling you a baboon?"
I only realized this belatedly.
He thought that kind of gentle brilliance, that kind of intelligent and serene temperament, was something he could never find again in this world, away from America and Vienna.
However, upon returning home, he saw something strange in a woman.
He had been observing from the sidelines, wanting to see where she would end up, but unfortunately, she never reached the point where she could stand up to that man. If she had grown a little more, this story might have become even more interesting.