Chapter 105: Blushing, Sob Sob! I Am Guilty!

When they got home, Ming Dai and Zhou Sinian went straight into the special space.

She first arranged Zhou Sinian’s medicinal bath, then took one herself.

After soaking in the hot water, they both felt much better. Going out in this weather truly had been a torment.

Ming Dai made sour soup dumplings, and Zhou Sinian was utterly won over by the strange tangy flavor. He finished not only every dumpling but every drop of the broth as well, and promptly added sour soup dumplings to his list of must-eats.

After dinner, Ming Dai lounged comfortably on the sofa and chatted with Zhou Sinian about the day’s events.

“Even if Secretary Cheng doesn’t know much about your situation, we’ve at least got a general direction now. We still need to keep going to the county town and asking around. I won’t send the package for now. Next year I’ll try to make contact with the commune and see whether we can learn anything from that Director Wang.

“Maybe we won’t even have to wait that long. You’re getting clearer by the day. Maybe one day you’ll remember everything on your own.”

She went on chattering for a long while, but Zhou Sinian gave no reply.

Just as she was beginning to think he had grown tired and fallen asleep, he finally spoke.

“I’m not getting acupuncture anymore!”

His voice was muffled, clearly full of feeling.

Ming Dai sat up and looked at him. He had lowered his head and was knitting a sweater, his movements heavy and forceful. He was obviously angry.

“Why not? Don’t you want to get better?”

Zhou Sinian said nothing. Instead, he turned his back to her, offering a stubborn silhouette.

Ming Dai was utterly bewildered. What was going on?

Frowning, she moved closer and leaned over to look at him, only to discover that he was actually crying!!

This was the first time Ming Dai had ever seen Zhou Sinian cry. Meeting those rabbit-like eyes, spilling with tears, she panicked and didn’t know what to do.

“Hey, hey, hey! Why are you crying? What happened? Did I say something wrong?”

Zhou Sinian flung the ball of yarn in his hands onto the coffee table, then turned back sharply, choking out his accusation: “Ming Dai! Are you going to abandon me?!”

A huge accusation dropped from the sky and stunned Ming Dai on the spot.

She waved her hands frantically. “No, no, no, I didn’t!”

Zhou Sinian lifted his chin, staring at her stubbornly, tears still streaming down his face, his eyes full of doubt.

Ming Dai hurried to swear to it. It took a full half hour before Zhou Sinian finally believed her and stopped crying.

Looking at his swollen eyes, Ming Dai sighed. “You’re a grown man. Isn’t it embarrassing to cry like this?”

Zhou Sinian held the milk Ming Dai had given him and sniffled. “I was scared. You went to the county town to ask people around—were you trying to help me find my family? And once you found them, you’d leave me with them, right?”

Ming Dai had not expected him to be so sensitive. She sat up straighter.

“Yes and no. Zhou Sinian, you’re an adult. No one can force you to stay by anyone’s side, including me. I’m going to the county town to ask around not to send you away, but to prevent danger.

“Do you remember what happened before, when you hurt someone and the commune director wanted to send you back?”

Zhou Sinian thought for a moment, then nodded and added, “They were bad. A lot of them hit me! They hurt me too, but only I got locked up. They wouldn’t let me out, so I hit them again. It wasn’t my fault.”

Ming Dai nodded in agreement. “It really wasn’t your fault. But under normal circumstances, the youth office would have taken over. Either both sides would have been punished on the spot, or you’d have been sent back to your place of origin for handling. But neither happened.

“Not only were you not sent away, you were left here in Red Banner Commune, and the people who hit you weren’t dealt with either. The whole thing was allowed to fade away. That’s very strange.”

Zhou Sinian’s gaze turned cold. “Someone wants to harm me!”

Ming Dai smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. “Smart! If we can find out who wants to hurt you, then we can guard against it in advance, can’t we?”

Zhou Sinian nodded in agreement. “Know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll win every battle!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he looked confused.

“What am I saying?”

Ming Dai comforted him. “Your subconscious is speaking. It’s fine. It means you’re getting better. So, I’m not trying to abandon you. I just want to know where the danger lies ahead of time. If we can’t beat it, we can still avoid it, understand?”

Zhou Sinian broke into a happy smile. His bright eyes looked at her earnestly.

“Ming Dai, you’re good to me. Only you’re good to me. I don’t want to leave you. I’ll be good to you too, very, very good. Don’t leave me. When I get better, I’ll still only be good to you. Really!”

As he spoke, he also reached out and took Ming Dai’s hand.

Although Zhou Sinian’s mind was still stuck at the level of a seven- or eight-year-old, his body was that of a real adult man.

At that moment, his lean but broad palm clasped Ming Dai’s small hand tightly, and the heat in his palm spread up her arm and straight to her face.

She was burning up again.

Ahhh!!!

What are you saying?!

Why does this sound so much like a confession?!

Seeing Ming Dai’s face nearly boiling over, Zhou Sinian grew a little nervous. “Ming Dai, are you sick? Your face looks like a monkey’s butt!”

That one sentence yanked Ming Dai back to reality. She tore her hand free from Zhou Sinian’s, touched her face with trembling fingers, and shook her head solemnly at him.

“No, no. We’re like family. Before you’re better, we’ll stay together. When you’re better... uh, when you’re better, we’ll talk.”

Because once you recover and remember today, I’m afraid you’ll either bury yourself or bury me!

Zhou Sinian frowned and stated stubbornly, “Even when I’m better, I still want to be with you! Always with you!!”

Ming Dai blushed again at that animal-like frankness.

Who could withstand such a direct confession from a big wolf dog?!

“Okay, okay, together, together!”

Ah, no—this is just making it worse!

No, this can’t go on. If I stay here any longer, something’s going to happen!!

She sprang to her feet in panic. “All right, remember to drink your medicine. After you finish, go to sleep!”

The words had barely fallen before she had vanished up the stairs.

Watching her disappearing back, Zhou Sinian murmured, “You run pretty fast, don’t you? Then why couldn’t you run like that on the mountain? Do you want me to carry you? Honestly, such a naughty girl.”

Upstairs, Ming Dai flung herself onto the big bed and rolled back and forth, silently screaming into her pillow.

Ming Dai!

What on earth are you thinking?!

His mind is still that of a child!

You’re already a thirty-year-old auntie in psychological age!!

Scrub those shameless thoughts out of your head!!

After a round of extreme rolling, she was panting with exhaustion, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Had she been too bored lately, and that was why her brain had gone wrong? Faced with Zhou Sinian’s pure, innocent eyes, she had actually blushed!

Blushed!

Covering her still-burning face, Ming Dai felt mortified.

Spontaneous combustion in an old house is terrifying!!

Wasn’t she just a thirty-year-old lifelong singleton?

How had a few words from him managed to fluster her into this disgraceful state?

Waaah!

The child is only twenty, and his mind is still not fully developed. Why the hell are you blushing?!

That night, Ming Dai slept badly and woke with dark circles under her eyes rivaling those of a national treasure.

When the morning sunlight pierced through the curtains and fell onto the bed, Ming Dai let out a long sigh. It looked like she’d need more fire-dousing medicine after all—maybe a bigger dose. Waaaah!

After dozing fitfully for a while, Ming Dai got up.

She spent some time upstairs building up her resolve before going down, but the moment she saw Zhou Sinian’s brilliant smile, she instantly lost her composure.

Waaah, I’m guilty!

Compared with Ming Dai’s listless state, Zhou Sinian was full of energy. Even the eyes he had swollen from crying yesterday had gone down, and he greeted Ming Dai brightly at breakfast.

Today they were going to pollinate the fruits in the special space. Since they hadn’t found any beehives in the mountains during winter, they would have to use manual pollination instead for now.

The process was simple: first collect the male flowers, use a paintbrush to sweep off the pollen, then apply it to the female flowers.

The best time for pollination was between seven and ten in the morning, when the success rate was relatively high.

Ming Dai now felt a kind of moral guilt toward Zhou Sinian and was too embarrassed to work with him side by side. After teaching him how to tell the female flowers from the male ones, she took charge of pollinating the cantaloupes, while Zhou Sinian handled the watermelons.

They had always worked together before, so being separated made Zhou Sinian uncomfortable. Only after Ming Dai told him she would be in the field right next door and he could see her at a glance did he finally go off with his lips pursed.

Ming Dai had a headache. Why was Zhou Sinian, who was clearly improving, becoming so clingy?

And why had he somehow learned to act coquettish on his own?

By noon, both of them were tired.

Zhou Sinian had spent the whole morning seeing that Ming Dai barely paid him any attention, and he was not pleased.

Especially now that he was willing to voice his thoughts openly, he simply ran his mouth at Ming Dai without pause.

“Ming Dai, in the whole morning you only spoke to me ten times. Do you not want to be good to me anymore?!”

Ming Dai!!

Listen to the kind of wild words you’re saying!!

“I don’t! I didn’t! Don’t talk nonsense!!”

Zhou Sinian got angry, glaring at Ming Dai in accusation as he shouted, “You do! You did! I’m not talking nonsense! We agreed on it last night, and this morning you ignored me again! Ming Dai, you’ve turned bad!!”

His voice was so loud it echoed.

Ming Dai was nearly in tears.

Oh heavens!

Oh earth!

Please, just give me back that silent, reserved Zhou Sinian from before!!

After Ming Dai repeatedly assured him that she would not ignore him again, and promised him no fewer than a dozen delicious dishes, Zhou Sinian finally let her off and happily went to the storeroom to get sweet potatoes.

Ming Dai had said she would make him candied sweet potatoes for lunch. He had no idea what that was, but anything made by Ming Dai would be delicious.

Happy!

Ming Dai wiped the sweat from her forehead as a horde of foolish deer raced through her mind.

Are boys all this hard to soothe?

The thirty-year-old lifelong singleton, Aunt Ming Dai, was close to despair.

From the kitchen came Zhou Sinian’s cheerful voice. “Ming Dai, how do you make this?”

His cheerful tone rose and fell through several turns, completely at odds with his towering six-foot-three frame.

Ming Dai hurried to answer, “Coming, coming!”

She was afraid that if she was even a little late, Zhou Sinian would once again accuse her of being heartless and cruel, of wanting to abandon him.

Poor Ming Dai still had not realized that she had fallen into Zhou Sinian’s trap.

Zhou Sinian had learned to speak in a sly, tea-like manner from Ming Dai herself, and he had quickly surpassed his teacher.

Seeing that this trick worked on Ming Dai, he went farther and farther down the path of being tea-like.

By the time he fully recovered, he could no longer bear to look directly at this version of himself and strongly demanded that Ming Dai give him a needle so he could forget these shameful moments.

Ming Dai: Ha. Dream on. Since you’ve been the one to tease me, go feel embarrassed on your own.

Waaah. After hunting crows all day, I’ve ended up pecked in the eye by one. How mortifying.