Everyone was quite happy at first, chatting about the past and joining Grandma in scolding the old man, but Lin Yichen always had a knack for being a buzzkill.
Ji Zhaoxi was exhausted today. She lay on the bench, listening to them talk, but her eyes were already closed.
Jiang Yanchen hadn't participated in their conversation either; he sat right next to Ji Zhaoxi.
A mosquito kept buzzing around the table. After a short while, it landed on Ji Zhaoxi's hand. She was sleeping so soundly that she didn't react at all.
Leaning back lazily, Jiang Yanchen picked up a nearby lotus pod and swatted the mosquito away from her hand.
The mosquito hovered sluggishly in the air for a moment before buzzing toward Jiang Yanchen. In the next second, he smacked it dead.
The village dogs were like street loiterers, squeezing in wherever there was a crowd.
Seeing the dogs about to approach Ji Zhaoxi, Jiang Yanchen impatiently poked their heads with the lotus pod.
Thinking he was playing with them, the dogs barked excitedly.
"Woof, woof!"
Jiang Yanchen looked at them speechlessly. So stupid.
He tossed a branch toward the distant field ridge. The dogs immediately ran after it happily. One even tripped, but quickly got back up and limped after the others.
Jiang Yanchen's gaze fell back on Ji Zhaoxi beside him.
She had barely eaten anything during dinner, and as soon as she came out, she fell right asleep on the long bench.
She was sleeping soundly. A wisp of stray hair on her forehead gently fluttered with her breathing. There were faint dark circles under her eyes, and the side of her face was slightly red from being pressed against the bench.
Jiang Yanchen let out a muffled chuckle.
Didn't she care about her golden left profile the most? Yet here it was, squished so pitifully.
He looked at the birds on the power lines not far away, gently waving a fan in his hand. Ji Zhaoxi's stray hairs fluttered in the breeze. Her eyelashes trembled, and she fell into an even deeper sleep in the cool air.
[Ah?? Can someone tell me what's going on here?]
[What's the meaning of this? Everyone else is talking but the director isn't showing them, only giving screen time to these two mutes. This has to be on purpose.]
[I mean, can you blame us for shipping them blindly... Jiang Yanchen really treats Ji Zhaoxi differently.]
[As a shipper, I am dying! The director is killing me! The production crew is killing me! The cameraman is killing me!]
[Jiang Yanchen's fans, please tell me why Jiang Yanchen is swatting mosquitoes for Ji Zhaoxi! Why is he fanning her! And why is he smiling like a fool while looking at her! Please give me a definitive answer!]
The next day, Grandma took the guests to the market to buy things.
Grandma treated these guests like her own grandchildren, terrified they wouldn't have a good time here, always thinking of ways to take them out for fun.
Ji Zhaoxi noticed that no matter the time, Jiang Yanchen was always standing right beside her.
This discovery pleasantly surprised her, because it meant she would get a lot of screen time.
Ji Zhaoxi walked in front, looking around, while Jiang Yanchen followed behind her.
"Jiang Yanchen, is there anything you want to buy?"
Jiang Yanchen paused for a moment, then spoke uncomfortably, "I'll buy whatever you buy."
Ji Zhaoxi stood in front of a tofu pudding stall, looking a bit greedy. "Jiang Yanchen, do you want to eat this?"
Jiang Yanchen glanced at her and gave a hum of agreement.
Ji Zhaoxi smiled at him. "Then I'll buy a bowl for everyone."
Jiang Yanchen's gaze met hers. He lowered his head and coughed slightly. "Sure."
After the boss finished making the tofu pudding, Ji Zhaoxi reached out to take it, but a hand stretched out from behind her and took the bowls directly.
Ji Zhaoxi looked at him in surprise. Jiang Yanchen turned his head away, not looking at her, but his ears were red.
Seeing that Ji Zhaoxi was still looking at him, Jiang Yanchen frowned tightly and asked in a somewhat fierce tone, "What are you looking at?"
Ji Zhaoxi couldn't hold back a laugh, but didn't say anything.
Watching her laugh, Jiang Yanchen's mind went blank for a second. Had he just done something stupid again?
Ji Zhaoxi thought Jiang Yanchen might have social anxiety. All his impatience was probably just a disguise, because he really blushed way too easily.
Ji Zhaoxi walked into a two-dollar store.
"Let me buy you a pair of gloves. Didn't your gloves get a hole in them?" Ji Zhaoxi said, looking at the gloves.
Jiang Yanchen's heart instantly skipped a beat. He looked at Ji Zhaoxi with a complex expression. How did she know his rubber glove had a hole in it? He clearly hadn't told anyone.
Jiang Yanchen was in a complete panic now. How on earth did she know...
"You..."
Ji Zhaoxi looked at him in confusion.
"How did you know?" Jiang Yanchen asked dryly.
Ji Zhaoxi realized what he meant and explained, "Last time when you took off your glove, wasn't there a bit of water on your finger? I saw it."
Jiang Yanchen looked at her in shock.
Was she paying attention to him every single moment? At the time, he had just felt a bit annoyed, wiped the water off his finger, and put the glove back on. No one but him knew about it, yet she had actually noticed.
"Hey, there are earplugs here too. Didn't you say it was too noisy? Do you want to buy a pair?" Ji Zhaoxi tugged at him.
Jiang Yanchen's face instantly turned bright red.
What exactly was going on?!
Why was she so clear even about the fact that he couldn't sleep?
As soon as Ji Zhaoxi looked up, she saw Jiang Yanchen's completely flushed face. Now it wasn't just his face; his ears and neck were entirely red too, even his hands were red—though his hands were red from carrying things.
Ji Zhaoxi was startled. Jiang Yanchen was so red he was almost turning dark!
"Jiang Yanchen, do you have a fever?"
Jiang Yanchen looked at her, his eyes full of embarrassment and indignation. "How do you also know that I couldn't sleep because it was too noisy outside?"
This was going a bit too far; what happened in his room was highly private!
Ji Zhaoxi thought he was angry and hurriedly explained, "I heard you mention it to the director last time, so I remembered."
Jiang Yanchen felt his entire worldview taking a hit.
"I only said it once and you remembered?"
Ji Zhaoxi looked at him cautiously. "Is it hard to remember something said once?"
What was wrong with Jiang Yanchen?
Besides Jiang Yanchen, there was one other person who knew what he was thinking.
That was the director, who had been observing everything from behind the camera.
Looking at Jiang Yanchen's distracted state, the director shook his head helplessly.
He really wanted to remind him of one thing: Ji Zhaoxi's memory was genuinely just very good, and it was like that with everyone.
But a certain someone had clearly misunderstood, and misunderstood thoroughly.
They were almost out of mosquito coils at the house, so Ji Zhaoxi also bought some.
After buying their things, they regrouped, but Jiang Yanchen still hadn't recovered his senses, and Ji Zhaoxi didn't dare speak to him.
Several of them sat together in the back of a tricycle cart, with Jiang Yanchen sitting in the middle.
One moment he was blushing, the next he was covering his face with one hand, then frowning tightly, then getting angry, until finally, he leaned against the side of the tricycle and closed his eyes in despair.
The other guests who witnessed all this: ...
Who provoked him this time?
