After the coffin was sealed, the story between the Jiang family and Jiang Dayong was completely over.
According to custom, three days later they had to come burn incense for Jiang Dayong.
But no one took it to heart; after all, that grave would be overgrown with weeds soon enough, and burning incense for him felt like a waste.
The mountain was full of weeds everywhere. Ji Zhaoxi led Zhou Chiye as they climbed.
Ji Zhaoxi thought Zhou Chiye wouldn’t be able to keep up, and she was just about to mock him when she turned around and met his gaze directly.
He had been following right behind her, without even a bead of sweat on his forehead...
Zhou Chiye paused, looking a little uncomfortable, and said, “Tired? I can carry you.”
Ji Zhaoxi swung a stick to clear the grass as she protested, “How could I possibly be tired already?”
“When I was little, my mom used to call me a monkey.”
Zhou Chiye looked at the unknown wildflowers on the mountain and chuckled softly, “Then you must be the cleverest monkey.”
Ji Zhaoxi hesitated, looking at him as if she wanted to say something. Actually, what her mom really meant was that she was like a monkey from Mount Emei—fidgety and always scrambling around.
Every now and then, stepping on scattered ghost money on the mountain path was unavoidable; it had just been sprinkled, and the air was still thick with the lingering smell of firecrackers.
“Zhou Chiye, when are you giving me back my bear?” Ji Zhaoxi asked with a worried frown.
She lowered her head and kicked a stone off the path as she walked forward.
“I dreamed about my bear today,” she added.
Zhou Chiye’s body stiffened for a moment. He looked at the sunset, then at the flowers, but said nothing.
Ji Zhaoxi stopped and glared at him.
She had lent him her bear a long time ago!
Zhou Chiye looked at her guiltily, lowering his voice, “But I’m still not fully recovered. I can’t sleep without it.”
“I’ve never cuddled a plushie to sleep my whole life. I’ve grown attached to it.”
Actually, when he was a child, Zhou’s mother had bought him plushies, but he always ignored them. She’d stubbornly place one in front of him, and he would angrily carry it over to a corner, then go back to his spot and play with his own toys.
From that day on, Zhou’s mother never bought him a plushie again.
Hearing this, Ji Zhaoxi’s eyes softened with sympathy.
She frowned, thinking: Zhou Chiye has been so good to her, transferred so much money to her, and he’s injured right now—and here she was pressuring him to give back her bear.
The thought filled her face with guilt.
If someone else had treated her the way he did, she would have gone straight home to Ji Huaichuan and complained bitterly.
Just as Ji Zhaoxi was about to speak and offer to give him the bear, Zhou Chiye coughed twice, his voice sounding weak: “How about this: you keep the bear for a few days, then I’ll take it for a few days—we’ll take turns holding it, okay?”
Ji Zhaoxi’s heart felt even more guilty.
She gave him a generous look, “It’s fine. You can have the bear. I’ve got others anyway.”
Zhou Chiye was stunned for a moment. Ji Zhaoxi smiled at him—he must be so moved, she thought.
Zhou Chiye was silent for a bit, then looked at her and said, “I don’t want you to lose sleep over it. Keep it at your place for now, and I’ll get it back in a few days.”
Hearing his caring words, Ji Zhaoxi’s heart suddenly warmed. “No, I don’t want it anymore. I’m giving this bear to you,” she said.
Zhou Chiye struggled to reply, “I think—”
But Ji Zhaoxi turned and walked away without listening.
Zhou Chiye let out a deep sigh. What was he going to do now?
By then, the bear would be covered in his scent, and he really didn’t want that...
The sunset dyed the entire sky red. Standing on the mountain, they could see the smoke from the village chimneys and the cluster of children gathered by the roadside.
It was time for them to descend. Zhou Chiye carried Ji Zhaoxi down the mountain on his back.
Ji Zhaoxi initially refused, arguing that Zhou Chiye’s injuries hadn’t healed yet, and she felt it would be inhumane.
But Zhou Chiye’s excuse was that he hadn’t had any exercise since arriving here, and he wanted to work out.
So, with Zhou Chiye’s sincere gaze combined with her own laziness, Ji Zhaoxi pretended to reluctantly agree.
Ji Zhaoxi lay on Zhou Chiye’s back. She didn’t know if it was because he liked sports, but his back was especially broad.
She stared at the weeds nearby, still wanting to ask that question.
After hesitating for who knows how long, Ji Zhaoxi finally spoke softly, “Zhou Chiye, I saw you biting me.”
Zhou Chiye’s back instantly stiffened. His ears quickly turned red, the flush spreading down to his neck.
He was about to defend himself, but what could he say...?
Should he say he didn’t bite her? But she had seen it.
Could he claim it was an accident? But no normal person would bite someone else’s hand.
He couldn’t very well say he just liked biting her...
Zhou Chiye felt his face grow hotter and hotter. He had never been in such an awkward position.
Seeing his ears so red they looked like they might drip blood, Ji Zhaoxi tactfully didn’t press further.
She had only wanted to gently hint that biting people’s hands wasn’t a good habit. If he bit her hand, she was good-tempered enough not to mind.
But what if he went around biting others? He’d eventually get himself beaten up.
Zhou Chiye had no idea what Ji Zhaoxi was thinking. His mind was a mess. He wanted to just come out and say it, but this wasn’t the right moment.
When Ji Zhaoxi returned home, the other relatives were saying their goodbyes. Everyone was in good spirits.
Things weren’t like the old days—meeting up was so much trouble. Now that they finally had a chance to talk, it was already time to part again.
“Come visit me when you have time,” Auntie said, patting Ji Fangyun’s hand.
Ji Fangyun smiled. “I definitely will.”
One by one, the cars drove away, and the sky grew completely dark. Soon, the doorstep of the Ji family home was empty.
Zhou Chiye, quick on the uptake, helped Ji Fangyun tidy up the stools.
Ji Fangyun glanced at him, sensing something off.
Could her daughter be in a relationship with this classmate?
But Ji Zhaoxi didn’t seem any different from before.
“Classmate, don’t bother with that. I’ll handle it. You and Xixi go eat,” Ji Fangyun said with a smile.
Zhou Chiye looked a little flustered. “It’s fine, Auntie. I enjoy doing this sort of thing. Good exercise, actually.”
The driver, sweeping nearby, could only twitch the corner of his mouth.
He never thought their Young Master would know how to say different things to different people—he even managed to say something like that!
Since Ji Zhaoxi and the others had to go back today, Ji Fangyun hadn’t planned for them to stay long. She had only asked for a few days off for them in the first place.
In her view, Jiang Dayong’s matter wasn’t worth wasting too much of their time.
