One has to say, Ying Xu’s question truly hit Xie Jingchen’s fatal point.
He would hide nothing from Ying Xu; whatever she wanted to know, if it were any other matter, he would certainly tell her everything in detail, so detailed that in the end Ying Xu would even be too lazy to listen to the things she had asked about.
But this matter was different from the others.
Returning to one lifetime, returning to the past — such a thing was too fantastical to speak of for now, but what Xie Jingchen cared about even more was whether, if he told Ying Xu about the previous life’s matters, it would have any kind of impact on her.
In his heart, he was somewhat uncertain about whether he should tell Ying Xu about that painful future that he had already twisted and changed himself.
He did not want to use such things to add block to Ying Xu’s good mood, but at the same time he also did not want to deceive her with a mouthful of lies.
—Even so-called benevolent lies are still lies in essence. Deception is deception; no matter how nicely the name is dressed up, it still cannot avoid that one word “lie.”
In the end, Xie Jingchen took a deep breath. He still decided to tell her the truth about this matter; he could not lie to Ying Xu, and had no way to use the set of “I had a nightmare” rhetoric that he had previously used on subordinates to brush Ying Xu off.
Only, just as he had only just opened his mouth with a single word, “I…,” seeing him look like he had made some kind of determination, Ying Xu immediately said, “Forget it, don’t say it, I don’t want to listen anymore.”
Then those phoenix eyes looked at him with disdain, and she muttered, “Don’t put on that aggrieved little wife look, making it seem like I’m bullying you.”
As soon as he heard this, Xie Jingchen immediately said, “A-Xu never bullies me.”
The little follower who had been bullied since childhood spoke this with a straight face and no heartbeat change, a pair of puppy eyes sparkling, saying it from the bottom of his heart.
Hearing him say this, Ying Xu snorted coldly, but in her heart she felt that he at least knew what was good for him.
Then the eldest miss who had never bullied her little follower any less added another sentence, “Xie Jingchen, I’m tired, I can’t walk.”
Because she was truly feeling exhausted, when Ying Xu said this sentence, she did not want to lift even a bit of strength, had no spirit, so the tail end of her words was somewhat soft, sounding a bit like she was acting coquettishly.
As soon as he heard this extremely soft tone, Xie Jingchen immediately turned around very consciously, and then squatted down on the ground.
And seeing this action of his, Ying Xu also very naturally reached out from behind to wrap her arms around his neck, climbed onto his back, and was then carried by Xie Jingchen.
This whole series of actions was done by Xie Jingchen like flowing clouds and running water, extremely smooth.
One could tell that he was not lacking in relevant experience in the past.
After carrying Ying Xu, the handsome youth softly asked the pretty girl leaning softly against his shoulder, “Where does A-Xu want to go?”
“Do you want to go release river lanterns?” Thinking that he had just vaguely seen river lanterns in Xie Jiu’s hands, Xie Jingchen could not help but ask this.
“Don’t want to go.” Ying Xu lazily replied, then also expressed dislike for this Qiqiao Festival, “Not interesting, lousy day, crowded and cold.”
“Then shall we go back?”
“Mm…” Hearing this, Ying Xu thought for a moment, then said a place completely unrelated to today’s festival, “Let’s go to Big Buddha Temple.”
“Everyone is participating in this lousy festival, over there there must definitely be fewer people.” Ying Xu tilted her head; her smooth long hair brushed past Xie Jingchen’s neck with this movement.
But she did not notice such a detail, and instead, within her own thoughts, said in a light and shallow voice, “I want to go pray for big brother, big brother has become so miserable now.”
Thinking of what the system had previously told her, that after her biological elder brother went missing, he had been unconscious for a long time, and after waking up, he had lost his memory due to hitting his head, unable to recall any of his past at all.
After the initial anger upon hearing in the so-called original plot that Ying Zhao had even become one of the female lead’s thighs, one of the people backing her, Ying Xu, who had always had a good relationship with her elder brother, was still very heartbroken about her elder brother’s misfortune.
Hearing Ying Xu say this, Xie Jingchen only said, “Then I’ll accompany A-Xu.”
Xie Jingchen did not plan to ask Ying Xu where such information came from; since she did not tell him, then he also had no need to ask.
Just as Ying Xu, after realizing that he found it difficult to talk about his rebirth matter and did not know how to speak, did not ask further, he would not proactively seek out matters that would make Ying Xu uncomfortable.
But A-Xu’s hair falling down and brushing against his neck was a bit itchy…
In his heart, he could not help but think randomly.
However, this “trouble” did not linger around Xie Jingchen for long. Very quickly, he suddenly heard Ying Xu cry out, “Ah!” The pretty girl abruptly raised her head, and with this lifting motion, the dark hair that had fallen naturally also lifted.
She seemed to suddenly think of something, somewhat annoyed, and patted Xie Jingchen’s shoulder, puffing out her cheeks and saying, “How did I forget to have that imperial brother of yours beat you up!”
Hearing this, Xie Jingchen blinked, his face full of innocence. Only due to the angle, Ying Xu was destined not to see his harmless gaze at this moment.
He only heard Xie Jingchen say, “If A-Xu wants to beat me, why do I need to find other people?”
“What’s more, that Ninth Imperial Brother of mine also can’t beat me,” saying this, his voice slightly lifted, as if showing something to his master, “Among father emperor’s many sons, the one with the best martial arts should be me.”
Hearing this, Ying Xu snorted coldly and asked, “If I let someone beat you, would you dare to dodge?”
Then she added another sentence, “Next time you make me angry, I’ll do it myself.”
As she spoke, she clenched her hand into a fist and gave him a punch.
Xie Jingchen immediately startled, and hurriedly, in a somewhat anxious tone, asked the little girl on his back, “Does A-Xu’s hand hurt?”
And this question Ying Xu answered by giving him another slap; then Xie Jingchen said, “I was just saying, for this kind of thing, A-Xu just tell me, and I can do it myself, okay?”
His skin was rough and flesh thick; if A-Xu hit him, her hand would hurt.
“If not, then when Ying Zhao comes back in the future, let him beat me to help A-Xu vent her anger, okay?” he said in a gentle voice, coaxing the girl on his back.
However, in the next moment, Ying Xu raised her hand and tugged on his ear, and with a soft-tailed but fierce voice said, “Ying what Zhao, is that something you can call him? Call him big brother!”
She herself had not been arrogant enough to call big brother by his name, having to obediently call him brother; why should Xie Jingchen skip over her and suddenly be one head higher than her?
In an instant, Ying Xu had a small temper again.
She wanted to hit someone.
And Ying Xu had never been the kind of person to suppress her temper; if she wanted to do something, she really would go and do it.
But just as Xie Jingchen had said, if she hit him too much, it would instead make her own hand hurt. So Ying Xu did not continue to slap him, but retaliated by pulling his hair twice, and finally, under the youth’s string of pleas of “okay okay okay,” she was willing to stop.
Then after calling “big brother” to the girl he cherished several times, Xie Jingchen’s gaze suddenly ran into a red scarecrow.
The scarecrow was stuck full of red candied hawthorns, the rock sugar plump, the color bright and shiny.
The owner holding that scarecrow pole was walking along the street hawking.
Seeing a familiar thing, Xie Jingchen could not help but ask Ying Xu, “There are candied hawthorns over there, does A-Xu want to eat some?”
Xie Jingchen remembered that in the past there had been a period of time when Ying Xu really liked candied hawthorns.
Hearing this question, Ying Xu did not speak, but instead leaned her head back onto his shoulder, making it impossible to tell whether she wanted to eat them or not.
And at this time, suddenly a little girl walked in front of the two of them. The little girl had a bamboo basket slung on her arm, and inside the basket were multicolored fresh camellia flowers.
Looking at the two who seemed to be flirting, the girl opened her round, dark grape-like eyes and cautiously asked Xie Jingchen, “Young master, do you want to buy a flower for your wife?”
The little girl’s form of address directly made Xie Jingchen’s ears turn crimson red, like a shrimp that had been cooked.
On the contrary, Ying Xu directly ignored that subtle form of address, completely not taking it to heart, and crisply said, “I don’t want one.”
She did not want something that so many people had; camellias were cheap and available everywhere by the roadside anyway, and just now along the way as Xie Jingchen carried her, Ying Xu had seen many men and women on the road holding a camellia.
But speaking of it, it was also strange — this kind of flower that could still bloom in winter should have been a rare thing, yet it was something that filled the streets.
Ying Xu decisively rejected the little girl’s camellias, but Xie Jingchen, who had just been made shy by the flower-selling girl’s words, instead said, “But I kind of like them…”
Ying Xu said, “If you like them, then buy them. I didn’t stop you from buying them yourself.”
“But…” Xie Jingchen hesitated; his already reddened ears became a bit redder, his gaze falling on the passersby beside him, and he said softly, “They all have someone giving them flowers.”
Ying Xu followed his gaze, and there happened to be a girl there pinning a flower onto the edge of the clothes of the man beside her.
“Your meaning is…” Seeing such a scene, Ying Xu narrowed her phoenix eyes, her comprehension ability maxed out, “I’m here getting in your way, so no one is giving you flowers, is that it?”
Hearing Ying Xu’s voice turning dangerous, Xie Jingchen’s survival instinct immediately came online, and he said, “I mean, could A-Xu give me a flower?”
As he spoke, he turned his eyes back, a pair of puppy eyes bright and full of expectation, looking at the pretty girl on his back.
“……” Somehow, even though it was a very familiar gaze, Ying Xu was a bit unaccustomed to it this time when he suddenly turned to look at her.
Then she pushed his head away and deliberately raised her voice to cover up that just-now uncomfortable feeling, loudly saying, “I have no money!”
As soon as he heard this, Xie Jingchen immediately followed up, “I have!”
As he spoke, he took out a piece of broken silver, raised his hand, and handed it in front of Ying Xu.
Looking at that piece of broken silver in his hand, Ying Xu could not help but fall into thought, “Buying one flower, does it take this much?”
Xie Jingchen was still somewhat shy and said, “We can buy all of little sister’s flowers.”
“And then do you want to go sell flowers?” she sneered, then patted his shoulder, signaling Xie Jingchen to put her down.
After landing, the exquisitely featured girl snatched that piece of broken silver from the youth’s hand. Then with a dark face, she strode forward two steps toward the little girl to buy flowers.
Under the little girl’s somewhat timid gaze, Ying Xu tossed the piece of broken silver she had just taken over, buying things but putting on the posture of robbing, and fiercely said, “Alright, I’ll buy all your flowers, you can go home now.”
Then, with disdain, she lifted that basket of fresh and beautiful camellias, and just as she was about to scold Xie Jingchen, she discovered upon turning her head that in the blink of an eye, some stupid dog person had disappeared.
Just as Ying Xu clenched her fist and was about to flare up, suddenly a string of red things appeared before her eyes.
It was candied hawthorns.
And the owner of the hand holding the candied hawthorns was precisely Xie Jingchen, who had just asked her whether she wanted to eat candied hawthorns.
Looking at the youth holding up the candied hawthorns and smiling at her, Ying Xu immediately said, “Xie Jingchen, are you childish or not?”
But although Ying Xu was saying he was childish, her hand honestly took that string of bright red candied hawthorns, at the same time throwing that basket of camellias to him, “Your stupid flowers!”
Taking that basket of flowers from Ying Xu’s hand, Xie Jingchen immediately took one from it and pinned it to his own lapel, and at the end even leaned over to Ying Xu, showing it to her, “A-Xu look! Is it pretty?”
“……”
“So vulgar! Wearing this stupid flower, don’t say you know me!”