Watching the drama unfold across the yard and getting caught by the parties involved made Xu Qiu feel somewhat awkward.
His mother, Li, felt the same way.
While gossiping about the Lin family was a shared and amusing pastime for the villagers, making a spectacle of oneself right in front of them was truly inappropriate, especially since the young boy in question had been crying.
Seeing Lin Qu run off, Li awkwardly stood up. “Let’s go, let’s go. Time to head back. For a grown man, you really do love watching the excitement, don’t you?”
Xu Qiu replied speechlessly, “Mother, there’s really no need to say that.” You were the one watching just as eagerly.
However, since the show was over, they got up to leave. Xu Qiu grabbed a book. “The people from that side should be returning soon. I’ll head over to take a look.”
“Alright. Mind the shade and walk under the trees; don’t get heatstroke,” Li instructed.
Xu Qiu acknowledged her words, grabbed the meat and fruit his eldest brother had sent back, and headed out. In their region, getting meat could be either simple or difficult. For a family like his, where the two older brothers were muscular and possessed high martial prowess, hunting down game was quite straightforward.
Even his father excelled at this, possessing a wealth of experience.
Their household was also fully stocked with various healing medicines.
However, for an ordinary family in the village, things were entirely different. Back when Xu Qiu was little, wild beasts would occasionally launch surprise attacks and snatch away young children, giving some idea of how chaotic the area truly was. By the time he grew up, although such incidents hadn’t occurred in the village in recent years, it was still far from safe, and the back mountains remained extremely hazardous.
Neither his father nor his two older brothers dared to go up the mountains alone when hunting.
Carrying his things, Xu Qiu made his way toward the edge of the village. Midway there, however, he spotted a figure sitting on the ground with their head buried in their knees, occasional soft sounds of weeping escaping them. He recognized that figure.
It was Lin Qu.
Hesitating for a moment, Xu Qiu wondered whether he should continue forward.
To be honest, before recovering his memories, he had actually quite appreciated Lin Qu. As a young Ge’er, Lin Qu possessed a strong sense of self-reliance, approached everything with earnestness, and worked hard to draw nourishment from this unfriendly environment to grow.
He also knew how to fight for himself rather than blindly descending into self-pity.
Appreciation aside, given the other person’s status as a cannon-fodder foil, he had no desire to get involved in any of this.
After thinking it over, he decided to walk past anyway. This was a path he had to take to reach the other side, and originally, Xu Qiu just wanted to slip by quietly and quickly. But as he drew closer, Lin Qu sensed the movement and raised his head.
Since they were from the same village and had exchanged greetings a few times in the past, Xu Qiu couldn’t just ignore him. He could only say awkwardly, “Oh, you’re here.”
Lin Qu’s eyes were swollen from crying. Seeing Xu Qiu, he stood up and nodded. “Yes.”
He wanted to say something to Xu Qiu, but he didn’t know what.
Xu Qiu advised, “You should head back quickly. This place is too remote; if wild beasts come down from the mountain, you won’t even have time to run. Paying attention to your safety is what matters most.”
Lin Qu shook his head. “I don’t want to go back.” Running away was easy, but going back later would be difficult.
Old Mrs. Lin was not the kind of person who would pretend nothing happened if you ran off for a few hours before returning home. In the past, unless forced by circumstances, Lin Qu would never do such a thing. Yet, no matter how mature a child might seem, some grievances were simply too much to bear. After experiencing it a few times, he had gained some experience.
At the very least, there would be no dinner for him tonight, and Old Mrs. Lin would likely be waiting in the room ready to give him another beating.
At this thought, he dared to return even less.
No child was unafraid of being beaten.
Suddenly, his stomach let out a rumble, and Lin Qu embarrassedly covered his stomach with his hand.
Despite living in the same village, Lin Qu and Xu Qiu were not close. From childhood to the present, they had barely spoken to each other a handful of times. In Lin Qu’s mind, Xu Qiu, who appeared gentle and refined, was different from the other youths in the village. Furthermore, harboring an admiration for him, having his stomach rumble so audibly right in front of Xu Qiu made him extremely embarrassed.
Xu Qiu was well aware of Lin Qu’s situation. It was nearly noon, the time for the midday meal, but since Lin Qu had just provoked Old Mrs. Lin, he likely wouldn’t be getting lunch, let alone dinner. After a moment of thought, he ultimately handed over the pear he was holding. “Here, take this and eat.”
Lin Qu’s eyes widened slightly as he repeatedly waved his hands. “N-no, I couldn’t.”
The pear looked quite large, not the small wild fruit typically picked around the village, and he didn’t dare accept it.
Xu Qiu smiled and forcefully pressed the item into his hand. “It’s fine, just take it. We have plenty of these at home.”
Without waiting for Lin Qu to refuse again, he turned around. “I have things to do, so I won’t linger here.”
Holding the pear, Lin Qu watched Xu Qiu’s retreating back. In a daze, time seemed to overlap; back when they were children, the other person had been just as kind-hearted.
After walking a short distance, Xu Qiu suddenly felt an inexplicable urge and glanced back over his shoulder. That was when he caught sight of the expression in Lin Qu’s beautiful eyes, causing his heart to skip a beat. He quickly turned his head back around.
His mind struggled to settle. The look in Lin Qu’s eyes… could it be that this person actually harbored romantic feelings for him?