In the afternoon, Yan Mu arrived at school full of expectation and joy, only to realise that Yu Yuan’s seat was empty.
“Teacher, where’s Yu Yuan?” After school was finally over, Yan Mu hurried to ask Teacher.
“You didn’t know?” Teacher looked somewhat surprised, “Yu Yuan only attends school for half the day.”
“Half day?” Yan Mu was dumbfounded. Yu Yuan didn’t tell her anything at all.
There was still an egg hidden in her little schoolbag. Father Yan had left it for her, but she couldn’t bear to eat it and wanted to save it for Yu Yuan.
“Hunter Zhang asked him to do farm work in the afternoon, so Yu Yuan can only study for half a day.” Teacher sighed.
“Yan Mu, since you have quite a good relationship with Yu Yuan, if you meet him when you go back, help him with the lessons he missed,” Teacher said. “Also, please tell Yu Yuan about the homework I’ve assigned today.”
“Alright.” Yan Mu earnestly nodded and stiffly walked home.
Her leg hadn’t fully recovered yet, so she was limping. Apparently Zhang Goudan had also hurt his left leg.
…… What a coincidence. Yan Mu inwardly sighed. Not long after, she met Yu Yuan at the edge of the field.
The sun was blazing overhead[1] and the teenager was doing laborious work with his back bent, his clothes long soaked. His black hair was wet with sweat and stuck on his white, almost transparent face.
“Yu Yuan!” Yan Mu waved at him. Yu Yuan straightened his body and looked towards her.
Yan Mu found a shady tree, squatted under it, and said, “Teacher asked me to help you with your lessons.”
At her words, Yu Yuan stopped what he was doing. He patted the dirt off himself and walked to the stream to wash his face.
Under the scorching sun, a layer of dry skin had already formed on his parched lips. After washing his face, he scooped another handful of clear water and was about to drink.
“Wait a minute.” Yan Mu hurriedly stopped him. She took out her own little canteen, “Drink from this.”
The canteen was filled with cooled plain boiled water. Although there was no industrial pollution in this era, directly drinking unboiled water was still too risky.
If she failed her mission because Yu Yuan died from a pathogenic infection, that would be a little too unlucky.
With such thoughts in her head, Yan Mu added, “In the future, you mustn’t drink unboiled water anymore. If you’re thirsty, you can drink my water.”
Yu Yuan’s expression was a little complicated. He carefully looked at Yan Mu’s face, trying to see something from it. But her face looked too calm, and after a long time, Yu Yuan still couldn’t discern anything out of it.
Yu Yuan didn’t immediately take the canteen, but asked somewhat coldly, “Do you treat everyone this way?”
Yu Yuan stared straight at Yan Mu, with the intention of not drinking the water if she didn’t answer him.
“No, you’re the only one I care about.” Yan Mu honestly replied. Only Yu Yuan was the target of her mission, and other than Father Yan, no one else really mattered to her.
“……” Yu Yuan turned his head away. Just when Yan Mu thought he wouldn’t accept it, Yu Yuan reached out his hand and took the canteen.
Yu Yuan’s lips didn’t touch the mouth of the canteen but instead poured the water into his mouth from a distance. His Adam’s apple rolled up and down as if he was drinking nectar of the gods instead of plain water.
He drank quickly and urgently, and by the time Yan Mu came to her senses, he had already finished the entire canteen of water.
“I still have an egg, do you want to eat it?” Yan Mu handed over the egg. Yu Yuan passed the canteen to her and coldly declined, “I won’t eat it.”
Yan Mu placed the egg back into her schoolbag.
The two of them walked along the country road as wind blew through the treetops, rustling the leaves.
Yan Mu realised that Yu Yuan was quite some distance away from herself. She didn’t understand why, so she moved closer to Yu Yuan while carrying her small school bag on her back.
Yu Yuan’s body stiffened and he took a few more steps to the side.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Yan Mu was unhappy and somewhat dejectedly lowered her head, “Did I do something wrong, so…… you really dislike me?”
Yu Yuan frowned. After a long time, he said, “I’m sweaty.”
At his words, the young girl’s mood shot up again and she revealed a bright smile, “It’s good that you don’t hate me!” With that, she tugged at his sleeve and moved a few steps closer to him.
Yu Yuan inwardly sighed and gave up struggling. He was half a head taller than Yan Mu, and with just a slight turn of his head, he could see the young girl’s beautiful side face and an arch of fluffy baby hair on her forehead. The breeze coiled up the fragrance on the young girl’s body and the air seemed to burn even hotter.
He lowered his head and saw Yan Mu’s delicate hand clutching his soil-stained sleeve.
But the young girl beside him didn’t seem to care about the dirt at all, instead she was humming happily.
Yu Yuan’s whole body started to stiffen. He originally thought that this uncomfortable feeling would disappear when he reached the Yan’s house.
But when he looked at the empty house, the strange feeling in his heart became stronger.
There was a split-second when Yu Yuan wanted to escape. Unfortunately, just as he took a step, Yan Mu tugged on his sleeve.
“…… No.” Yu Yuan frowned as he struggled to disperse the strange feeling in his heart, “Zhang Goudan burned the textbook.”
“B-burned it?” Yan Mu was stunned. In this era, textbooks were very expensive. Isn’t Zhang Goudan doing too much to suppress Yu Yuan?
“He’s gone too far!” Yan Mu’s face turned red from anger.
“He’s already disabled, so it doesn’t matter what he does.” Yu Yuan, however, didn’t seem that angry, “Although he burned the book, his leg will never heal.”
Yan Mu stuffed her textbook into Yu Yuan’s hand and angrily said, “You use mine. Don’t worry, I’ve memorised it all.”
Yu Yuan looked down at the textbook that Yan Mu had firmly shoved over and then looked up at her, who was full of anger.
Why does Yan Mu seem angrier than me? Yu Yuan was inwardly puzzled.
Anyway, he indeed needed a textbook. So this time, Yu Yuan didn’t decline.
“Tomorrow night.” Yu Yuan looked at Yan Mu with a serious face, “I’ll be able to memorise it by tomorrow night and return it to you by then.”
“Actually…… you don’t need to return it.” It’s just a Three Character Classic.
“I must return it,” Yu Yuan’s gaze was fixed on her, and the look in his eyes was difficult to decipher, “I don’t want to owe you anything.”
“What do you mean?” Yan Mu was confused by Yu Yuan’s words. She felt that there was some other meaning in his words, but for the moment her sluggish brain couldn’t figure it out.
Does Yu Yuan…… find me troublesome? Yan Mu was somewhat distressed.
Could it be that she’d been acting too friendly, and Yu Yuan had become disgusted with her? She recalled the way he’d avoided her when they were walking down the road, and the more Yan Mu thought about it, the more she thought it was possible.
This isn’t good…… If Yu Yuan really hates me, then even if I manage to kiss him to replenish my life, the main storyline mission of “Accompanying Yu Yuan Through the Whole Plot” still won’t be completed. She was a little terrified, and just as she was about to cautiously ask Yu Yuan, she found that at some point he ‘d already walked out of the house.
“I still haven’t helped you with the lessons you missed yet.” Yan Mu stopped Yu Yuan.
“No need.” Yu Yuan lowered his eyes, “I’ll be fine on my own.” He had already caused enough trouble for Yan Mu and really didn’t want to give her any more problems.
He turned his head and added, “In the future too. It’s enough for you to take care of yourself, you don’t need to give me any extra care.” Without waiting for Yan Mu to reply, he’d already left.
…… As expected, Yu Yuan hates me. Yan Mu sucked in a cold breath and suddenly felt her head buzzing with a little pain.
[1] 骄阳似火 (jiāoyángsìhuǒ) – the sun blazing like a ball of fire/scorching sun