Oh, impossible.
There was an insurmountable size difference between him and that snake. If it were real, he couldn't possibly still be alive, still able to walk.
Just as his thoughts were running wild, sobbing came from the other side.
An Xiao snapped back to attention and saw the older woman pulling the two people beside her to their knees, kowtowing and weeping.
He quickly stepped aside a few paces—even without knowing what was going on, he still wanted to live a few more years. He couldn't accept that kind of bowing.
The moment he stopped, he saw the handsome man turn his head to look at him.
He blinked.
The handsome man turned back around and said a couple of words.
The older woman seemed much better. She wiped her tears, pulled a cloth-wrapped bundle from her back basket, and respectfully handed it to the handsome man.
The handsome man took it and raised his hand slightly.
The older woman hastily pulled the other two to their feet.
Then all three of them looked together at An Xiao, who stood seven or eight meters away.
The older woman called out a word.
The young man and young woman also called out softly, though their pronunciation didn't match the older woman's.
An Xiao guessed they were greeting him.
Looking at the expectant expressions on the three faces, he followed the way he'd handled the two uncles earlier—smiling and waving.
—No way. He couldn't understand a single word they said. Going over would expose him.
The fewer people who knew, the safer he'd be.
The older woman saw him, and tears started flowing again, but she didn't look sad—more like crying tears of joy.
The other two were also excited, and the young woman even stepped forward two paces, as if she were about to rush over.
The handsome man swung a long leg forward, blocking her path.
The older woman quickly yanked the young woman behind her and bowed repeatedly to the handsome man, as if apologizing.
An Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. His smile widened, and he waved more casually.
The older woman said a whole string of things before leading the others down the mountain, looking back every few steps.
The handsome man turned back and handed the cloth bundle to An Xiao.
An Xiao: "…For [me]?"
Handsome man: "*[You]."
An Xiao mimicked his pronunciation: "[Give me]."
The handsome man nodded.
Another word learned~~ An Xiao was delighted. Clutching the bundle, he tried to communicate: "Who were those people just now?"
He could sense no ill intent from the older woman and her group, but he remembered that before he'd lost consciousness, he'd been thrown into a cave by a group of people.
He needed to figure out what was going on.
The handsome man didn't understand at all, just looked at him.
After An Xiao gestured wildly for a while, the handsome man still stared at him in confusion.
An Xiao scratched his head. This was too complicated—how could he act it out? Right—draw!!
An Xiao lifted the hem of his shirt, squatted down with the bundle in his arms, and brushed aside the loose stones. After hesitating for a long moment, he decided to draw what he cared about most first—
He drew a few stick figures on the ground, plus one being carried on a stretcher. Beside them, he drew a cave with a huge snake coiled inside.
His drawing skills were poor—he drew, erased, and redrew.
The handsome man continued fiddling with the cabinet, occasionally glancing over at his scribbles.
An Xiao finally finished. Pointing at the stick figure on the stretcher, he asked, "This is [me]."
The handsome man nodded.
An Xiao pointed at the people carrying the stretcher and asked, "[You]?"
The handsome man shook his head.
An Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.
So the handsome man wasn't one of the people who'd thrown him into the cave.
He pointed at the cave with the coiled snake, then at the stone dwelling on the cliff behind him, and asked, "[You] saved [me]?"
The handsome man nodded.
An Xiao was delighted.
He knew the handsome man was reliable!!
Thinking about the possible relationship between the handsome man and this body, he hesitated for a moment, then continued drawing:
To the left of the cave drawing, he drew two stick figures holding hands, with an arrow pointing toward the cave.
To the right of the cave, he added an arrow pointing outward, then drew two more stick figures holding hands.
Then he pointed at the cave first: "[You], [me], from here,"
pointed at the arrow, then pointed at the room behind him, "to here."
Finally, he pointed at the two stick figures holding hands on the right, and made a praying-hands sleeping gesture, "like this?"
The handsome guy nodded.
An Xiao then added the leftmost picture, following the arrow, from left to right:
Stick figures holding hands, praying-hands sleeping;
The cave;
The room behind;
The two stick figures on the far right, praying-hands sleeping.
He asked, "[You], [me], knew each other long ago?"
Otherwise, everyone else had abandoned him—why would the handsome guy recklessly go in to save him?
The handsome guy seemed not to understand, tilting his head.
An Xiao repeated it, this time deliberately slowing down, making sure he understood each picture before pointing to the next one.
The handsome guy looked at him for a while, shook his head, then raised his hand and drew a vertical line between the two stick figures on the left of the cave—hesitated for a moment, then erased one of the stick figures.
An Xiao: "!?"
What does that mean?
Did the handsome guy actually understand?
He didn't know the "original body" before?
…Damn, this guy took advantage of someone in a vulnerable state?
He glared at the handsome guy suspiciously.
The handsome guy, who was fiddling with the cabinet, noticed, looked back at him, his expression calm, his gaze open and honest.
An Xiao: "…"
The handsome guy looked too upright—he felt like he was wronging a good person.
But this guy really did sleep with him, didn't he?!!
He didn't know if the guy had actually understood what he meant earlier… He had no interest in inheriting someone else's partner.
An Xiao stared at the handsome guy who was rolling up his sleeves to work for a long time, gritted his teeth, erased all the pictures, and drew a bed again, then drew two stick figures lying on the bed.
"[You], [me], how long?" he pointed at the bed and asked.
The handsome guy looked at the picture, then at him, his Adam's apple visibly rolling, his already dark and deep pupils instantly turning sharp… and greedy.
An Xiao's hairs stood on end. He knew with his bare feet what direction this guy's mind had wandered off to.
He was both embarrassed and angry, wiping the picture away in one sweep: "What are you thinking about? I'm asking you—forget it! I can't explain it to you anyway!!"
He walked away angrily, hugging the cloth bundle.
After two steps, he felt something was off—
Why was he the one hiding?
It wasn't his fault.
He stopped and glared at the handsome guy.
The handsome guy: "…?"
Looked at him blankly.
An Xiao: "…"
Forget it.
He might as well see what that big sister had brought over.
He lowered his head and unwrapped the bundle.
There wasn't much in the bundle: a piece of cloth woven from colored threads, a few colored thread ribbons two or three fingers wide, a pair of cloth shoes, a wooden comb, and a bronze mirror about the size of a palm—
Bronze mirror!!
An Xiao immediately picked it up and held it to his face—
He froze.
In the bronze mirror, whose clarity was no less than a modern mirror, reflected a young face… exactly the same face as when he was in university.
—No, not the same.
Fair skin, long eyelashes, lips so red they seemed to drip, even his cheeks and the tip of his nose were tinged with pink. Combined with his small face, at first glance it looked…
An Xiao frowned in disgust.
The person in the mirror frowned along with him.
His big double eyelids, which he usually thought were bright and spirited, now looked watery and delicate against his fair skin—both cute and pitiful.
Paired with his messily wrapped long hair…
Ew~!
An Xiao was devastated.
He used to only think his eyes were spirited—how did turning pale change the whole vibe?
The saying goes that fair skin covers three flaws, but he'd never heard that being too fair would change your gender!!
…It didn't actually change, did it?
Trembling with fear, he reached down with a shaky hand—
Phew, still there.
She was truly scared silly—she had clearly seen it when she first woke up.
She let out a sigh of relief, looked up, and met the handsome man's gaze…
Then she watched helplessly as his gaze slowly traveled downward, landing on her hand that was covering… that spot.
An Xiao snatched her hand away as if burned, clutching the cloth bundle as she darted back into the room.
She placed the colorful thin cloth on the bed—the blanket on the bed was also woven in colors. These people really liked bright colors, didn't they?
She set the bronze mirror, comb, and cloth strips on the table.
She put the shoes in the corner.
An Xiao untied her tangled long hair, combed it smooth, fumbled to twist it into a knot at the top of her head, and tied it with the colorful ribbon—since her appearance was already like this, there was absolutely no way she would go around with her hair loose and flowing, looking all delicate and fragile!!
There wasn't even a hint of technology in this place, and she was deep in the mountains—how had her original body managed to keep her skin so fair and tender?
The older sister and the young girl from earlier hadn't had fair skin either.
It was truly strange.
After tying up her hair, she took two more strips and threaded them through her sleeves one by one, pulling them around to tie at the back of her collar—thank goodness she had watched period dramas with her mom and knew how arm bands worked.
Once she was properly tidied up, she went out again.
The handsome man was still fiddling with the cabinet.
An Xiao circled around him twice, wanting to help. She had just picked up a wooden board when the handsome man took it from her.
The handsome man turned to look at her. "You—" His voice paused, his gaze landing on her hair.
An Xiao noticed, touched the colorful ribbon she had just tied, and said with slight embarrassment, "I saw it looked a lot like the hair tie on your head, so I used it to tie my hair… I didn't do it wrong, did I?"
The handsome man set down the wooden board, stepped forward two paces, and stared at her.
An Xiao: "?"
The handsome man touched the ribbon holding her bun, then lowered his head—
Feeling warm breath land on the top of her head, An Xiao was startled and stumbled back several big steps. "You—you—what are you doing?!"
The handsome man seemed to be in a very good mood, the corners of his mouth even curving up slightly. But he didn't speak. He stared at An Xiao for a moment, then turned back to continue working on the cabinet.
An Xiao: "…"
So weird.
She glanced around. The handsome man wouldn't even let her hold a wooden board… fine, she'd go boil some water instead.
She picked up the empty pot to fetch water, then started a fire to boil it.
Before the water had even come to a boil, the cabinet was assembled.
It was over a meter tall, nearly two meters, with three shelves total. Aside from having no doors, there was nothing wrong with it.
Then the handsome man carried the cabinet into the room where the water vat was.
An Xiao understood. This was a dish cabinet.
She quickly stacked the scalded bowls and chopsticks and carried them in after him.
The handsome man glanced at her, took the bowls and chopsticks, and stuffed them into the cabinet.
There were only a few bowls and plates, and they filled just one shelf.
The handsome man brought over the two bamboo baskets and tucked them into the bottom shelf of the cabinet.
Everything was now in the cabinet, and the room looked tidier—but also… more empty.
An Xiao felt like sighing just looking at it.
This was truly a house with nothing but four walls… how was this any different from starting from scratch?
No stove, but they could use a campfire.
No toilet, but nature could serve.
There wasn't even a bathroom—she couldn't just haul water every day, could she?
Oh wait, she could haul water.
An Xiao looked around, dashed out of the room, and ran toward the handsome man among the woodpile, gesturing animatedly: "Water, where's the water source?"
The handsome man didn't understand.
An Xiao simply grabbed him, pulled him back into the kitchen, pointed at the big water vat, and said, "Water source, river, where is it?"
The handsome man understood. He bent down and scooped her up.
An Xiao: "?"
Before she could react, she was carried out of the room and they started sprinting—
Truly sprinting.
The wind whipped past her ears.
Her long hair, which she had worked so hard to tie up, lashed around like a whip, whipping against her back with stinging pain.
Fortunately, he only took one hit before the handsome guy pinned him down.
By the time the handsome guy stopped, the scene before them had completely changed.
Trees, shrubs, grass, and a babbling stream flowing down the hillside.
An Xiao: "…"
He was just asking… Did he really need to carry him all the way here?
Was this guy really that dense?