The paste was soft and fragrant, neither too hot nor too cold, with a slight saltiness and a milky aroma—quite tasty.
Starch and protein, both present. Was it made into a paste because he had been unconscious for a long time?
But wait—how did the handsome guy know when he would wake up?
Swallowing the paste, An Xiao weighed his words and spoke again: "Thank you, but—"
He got another mouthful of paste.
And the quick-moving handsome guy already had a third spoonful ready, just waiting for him to open his mouth.
An Xiao: "…"
Even if he was handsome, being stubborn made him annoying.
He swallowed the food and covered his mouth to speak: "Stop feeding me. I'll do it myself."
The handsome guy frowned slightly.
No getting through to him.
An Xiao simply reached out to snatch the spoon from his hand.
But the handsome guy dodged, and even said something.
An Xiao, covering his mouth, said in a muffled voice: "I can't understand you—just give me the spoon."
He grabbed a few times but couldn't catch it. Frowning, he stopped, turned his palm upward, extended it toward the other, and raised his voice slightly, "Give it to me!"
Even if he couldn't understand the language, anyone with half a brain would know what he wanted.
The handsome guy looked at him with a strange expression.
Playing dumb? An Xiao glared at him with feigned anger: "Hurry up!"
The handsome guy hesitated for two seconds, then handed him the spoon.
Hmph, so he did understand. An Xiao gave a silent snort, took the spoon, and reached with his other hand for the big bowl.
But the handsome guy moved the bowl away.
An Xiao: "?"
The handsome guy then moved the bowl back, grabbed his hand holding the spoon, and pulled it to the edge of the bowl.
An Xiao blinked and reached out with his other hand.
The handsome guy moved the bowl away again.
An Xiao: "…"
He got it… Was the handsome guy trying to hold the bowl for him?
It wasn't like his arms were broken. Was this really necessary?
Perhaps his expression revealed his unwillingness to cooperate, because the handsome guy reached out and actually tried to take back the small spoon!
An Xiao casually gave his hand a light smack—"Slap!"
The handsome guy froze, looking at him with an even stranger expression.
An Xiao didn't pay it much mind, just said helplessly: "Fine, I'll eat. Stop making a fuss."
He stopped arguing and scooped up some paste with the spoon, then began drinking it openly.
Sure enough, the handsome guy stopped moving around, just sitting by the bed holding the bowl for him.
Whether it was the one holding the bowl or the one eating, both looked utterly composed.
An Xiao mainly felt it was impolite to have someone hold his bowl, so he focused on eating quickly.
The handsome guy, for whatever reason, just quietly watched him.
An Xiao didn't know how long he'd been hungry, but he quickly downed half the big bowl of paste before feeling fully alive again.
Then he noticed something was wrong—
This bowl was way too big, wasn't it?!
He'd conservatively estimated he'd eaten the equivalent of three normal bowls.
How was there still more than half left in the bowl??
He stared at the bowl for a long moment, then looked at the handsome guy with some difficulty: "Can the rest go in the fridge? I'll finish it next meal."
Can't waste food.
The handsome guy looked at him and pushed the bowl forward a little.
An Xiao: "…"
Forgot the other couldn't understand him.
He mimed opening a door and putting something inside, then hugged his arms and pretended to shiver.
The handsome guy frowned and touched the back of his hand.
…The sensation was a bit strange.
At first touch it was cool, then it seemed to burn.
An Xiao shuddered, feeling a bit awkward as he brushed his hand away, saying: "You've got it wrong. I'm not cold."
The handsome guy looked at him twice, took the spoon from his hand, scooped up another spoonful of paste, and brought it to his lips.
An Xiao sighed helplessly, pushed his hand away, and patted his stomach: "I'm full."
He pointed at the bowl, mimed opening the fridge and putting something inside again, and repeated, "Put it in the fridge."
The handsome man seemed to understand, nodded, and pulled the spoon back.
An Xiao sighed in relief: "Thanks—"
The spoon went into the handsome man's mouth.
An Xiao's eyes widened.
The handsome man didn't notice. He seemed to find the spoon too slow, picked up the big bowl, and shoveled the food into his mouth with the spoon.
An Xiao: "…"
Even his own mother wouldn't want to eat his leftovers!
"Th-this isn't very hygienic, is it!?"
"Save it for me to eat tonight—I'll pay for it—right, right, I have money, I can pay for meals!!"
The handsome man set down the bowl, wiped his mouth, and looked at him in confusion.
An Xiao: "…"
Looking at the big bowl that was emptied in the blink of an eye, then at the handsome man's mouth—how did he pour it all in?
The handsome man saw he hadn't spoken for a long time, got up, and walked outside.
An Xiao snapped back to reality and hurriedly called out: "Hey—big brother!!"
The handsome man stopped and turned around.
An Xiao: "Can I go outside and take a look?"
He mimicked walking with two fingers, then pointed at the door.
The handsome man seemed to understand, put down the bowl, and returned to the bedside.
An Xiao was puzzled.
The handsome man bent down, picked up a black cloth shoe from the ground by the bed, and reached for his ankle.
An Xiao was startled and quickly pressed his hand down: "I'll do it myself!"
What's this guy's deal?
He wasn't crippled yet!!
He snatched the cloth shoe from the handsome man's hand, bent down to put it on, then picked up the other one and put it on as well. Then he got off the bed and hopped in place a couple of times.
Pretty soft, but the sole was a bit thin—not quite used to it.
Looking at the cloth shoes, something occurred to him, and he turned to look at the handsome man's feet—straw sandals?
Why did it feel like everything on the handsome man was lower quality than what he had?
He looked at the handsome man.
But the handsome man turned around, picked up the bowl, and lifted the curtain to go out.
Thinking about the strange condition of his body, An Xiao narrowed his eyes, swept his long hair behind him, and followed!
As the bamboo curtain was lifted, blue sky and white clouds came into view.
Towering mountains on the horizon, winding green waters in the distance, low hills and sparse woods nearby.
And houses scattered below the slopes.
Very natural.
Very mountainous too.
With this many households, he couldn't even see a single road—
Wait!!
An Xiao stepped forward a few paces to examine the village below the slope more carefully.
By rough estimate, there were at least several hundred houses, all gray and drab, not one with ceramic tiles or painted exterior walls. The roofs weren't flat terraces, and they didn't look like tiles either.
No, that wasn't important.
With a village this size, how were there no utility poles, no power lines?
How was there no cement road?
That was impossible!!
With the country's development to this day, even remote corners deep in the Daliang Mountains with only a few households had roads and electricity—how could a village this big have none?!
Where were the village committee people?
Where was the township government?
He unconsciously walked forward, trying to get a clearer look—
"****."
It was the handsome man's voice.
An Xiao turned around.
The handsome man stood a few steps away, watching him with a calm expression and deep, dark eyes.
"********." He said something long.
An Xiao said helplessly: "I can't understand you—"
His gaze swept past the handsome man and stopped.
The doorway behind the handsome man, covered by the bamboo curtain, should be the room he'd been in.
But this room… was actually embedded in the cliff face!
And not just one!!
An Xiao stared at the three doorways lined up along the cliff, shocked: "Am I in Shaan-Gan-Ning?!"
The handsome man watched him without speaking.
"No." An Xiao stared at the doorways and muttered to himself, "Cliff-side yaodongs are usually arched at the top for stability, and they'd add brick or stone arch supports[Note 1]."
But these doorways didn't have any.
No kiln arches.
And no loess soil either.
Cave dwellings require highly cohesive local loess soil, combined with the region's dry, rain-scarce climate and living habits, to become a residential feature that has persisted for years in the area.
But this cliff face had no soil at all—what was exposed was unmistakably granite. The interior walls were all stone as well.
A granite mountain!! How long would that take to dig out? How much would it cost?
He looked at the handsome man.
The handsome man just stood there looking back at him.
An Xiao didn't expect to communicate with him anyway, so he turned to survey his surroundings.
He was now on a flat area in front of the cliff face—quite large, roughly the size of two or three basketball courts.
The entire flat ground was packed down with crushed stone, very level, and it crunched softly underfoot, which had a certain charm to it.
A few meters away were piles of wood and wood shavings, along with a small heap of sawdust, a dagger, and an axe… probably someone had been doing woodworking.
Further over, there was a pile of extinguished campfire ashes.
Beside the fire pit stood a large wooden frame with half an animal carcass and an animal leg hanging from it… the fur had been stripped away, and all that could be told was that it was a four-hoofed animal.
Very natural… so natural it was primitive.
Too primitive.
Even just the crushed-stone dirt ground was completely unsuitable for someone injured to move around on—there was no way this was some pastoral, rustic, nature-therapy retreat.
An Xiao pressed his lips together and continued looking.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Power transmission through mountainous areas requires high-voltage cables, yet these mountains were clean of any trace of modernization whatsoever.
An Xiao was starting to panic.
And his leg—how could there be no wound?
All of this was too strange.
So strange that it seemed like…
The handsome man suddenly moved.
He turned to the left, stepped past the doorway, and walked toward the outer edge of the rocky ground.
An Xiao watched him—he hadn't forgotten that his body was still in a bizarre state.
And besides him, the only other living person here was this handsome man!!
The handsome man was utterly composed, slowly strolling to where the crushed stone met the grass, and stopped.
An Xiao looked at him in confusion.
Faint voices drifted over.
An Xiao immediately turned toward the direction of the small grove.
A moment later, two figures emerged from the trees.
They were two men around forty or fifty years old—one in gray cloth clothing, one in brown—both wearing narrow-sleeved, long-robed garments with diagonal closures, very old-fashioned in style.
They also had their hair tied up with cloth bands and wore straw sandals on their feet.
An Xiao was stunned.
Both uncles were carrying large baskets stuffed full of things, leaning slightly forward as they walked. When they spotted them—or rather, spotted the handsome man standing there—the two of them simultaneously quickened their pace and jogged over.
Then they stopped a few steps away, bowed one after another, and called out a word to the handsome man.
Their demeanor was very respectful.
An Xiao silently repeated the word to himself. He had no idea whether it was the handsome man's name or some kind of honorific.
Over there, the handsome man gave a nod and said something.
The two uncles untied the rattan ropes strapped around their bodies and took off the loads on their backs.
Once the things hit the ground, both of them visibly sighed in relief—they must have been heavy.
Then the gray-clothed uncle said a few things to the handsome man.
The handsome man nodded again and handed something to the gray-clothed uncle.
Then the gray-clothed uncle waved at An Xiao, smiling, pointed at the boxes, and chattered off a few sentences.
The brown-clothed uncle beside him also smiled at him.
An Xiao couldn't understand.
But he did figure out one thing: these two uncles knew him.
At this point, all the clues came together, leading to one utterly absurd conclusion—
He had time-traveled.
This body wasn't his.
An Xiao forced a smile, didn't go over, and tried to look natural as he waved at the two uncles.
The two uncles seemed even happier, chattering a few words to each other before leaving cheerfully.
They left behind two large wooden chests bound with rattan rope.
An Xiao watched the handsome guy grab the rattan rope of one chest, instinctively stepping forward to help.
Before he could take two steps, he saw the handsome guy grab the rope of the other chest too, twist his wrist, and hoist both large chests up with one hand. Holding them with his arm outstretched, he slowly walked back.
An Xiao: "…"
Isn't that heavy?
Remembering that after waking up, the handsome guy showed no reaction at all to his inability to communicate, An Xiao relaxed a bit and curiously followed along.
The handsome guy carried the two chests into the middle room.
An Xiao followed him in, sweeping his gaze over the large stone vat in the right corner, the big earthen bowl and ladle placed on a rock beside it, and finally looking at the handsome guy who had set down the chests in the corner.
The handsome guy crouched down and first unpacked the contents of the first chest:
A small clay pot, inside which several small ceramic jars were wrapped in dried grass.
Then a large clay pot, also stuffed full of dried grass, wrapped around a stack of bowls, a stack of plates, and a pair of chopsticks.
An Xiao blinked and swept his gaze across the room again—same style as the room he'd been lying in, a proper bare-bones, four-walls-and-nothing-else aesthetic.
So, had the handsome guy just moved here?
Come to think of it, what was the relationship between this body and the handsome guy? Why did he show no reaction at all to his inability to speak?