“Shouldn’t you be surprised why he calls me Young Saint Lord?” He put the little wolf in my arms, raised his eyebrows, and asked, “Have you known who I am for a long time?”
I panicked, lowered my head, nodded, grabbed his sleeve, and stammered, “So what if I know that you are the Young Saint Lord? It doesn’t matter to me whether you are the Young Saint Lord or not. I am not making friends with you just because of your identity.”
He was silent for a moment and asked, “Then what are you targeting?”
“Of-of course it’s you. You are good-looking, kind-hearted, and have a good temper. Being friends with you is the blessing I have accumulated for several lifetimes.” I stammered, my heart about to jump out of my throat, my face burning, and I looked up at him.
When our eyes met, he lowered his eyelashes: “Am I really as good as you say? In the palace, my brothers and sisters all stay away from me, even my younger brother, who is born from the same mother as me, does too.”
“Why?” I asked in astonishment.
“It’s because of the identity of this Saint Lord.” His eyes were dim, and he obviously didn’t want to talk more.
“You have it! I’m not good with words, you speak better than I do.” I clumsily tried to comfort him, unsure how else to compliment him. “Anyway, no matter who you are, whether you’re the Young Saint Lord or just an ordinary person like me, I consider you my best friend.”
“Best friend?” He murmured to himself, repeating the words, his brow furrowed, and his blue eyes fixed on me. “Am I… not your only friend?”
“En, I have a few good friends.” I scratched my head. The kids from the neighborhood, a few study mates I met in the private academy, these were all friends I’ve had since I was little. I’d say I get along well with people.
“What do you usually do with them?”
“There’s plenty, climbing trees to steal bird eggs, catching loaches in the ditch, spinning tops, playing cuju, and hide and seek.” I chattered on, intentionally sharing some fun stories to cheer him up. But when I looked at him, I saw his face clouded with gloom. He stood up, handed me the wolf cubs, and walked toward the riverbank, rolling up his sleeves to wash his hands.
“Nalin!” I didn’t know which of my words had upset him, so I hurriedly placed the sleeping wolf cubs into a tree hollow, covering the hole with dry leaves and branches. When I turned around, I saw him staring out in the direction where the Daozhang had gone. A mischievous thought crossed my mind, and I quietly crept up behind him, covering his eyes with my hands.
“This handsome young man, I am the mountain demon of this place, here to absorb your essence… awoo…” I said, raising on tiptoe to get closer to his neck. My dark, curly bangs brushed against his smooth earlobe, so close that if I moved just a little more, I could kiss him. What would happen if I really did kiss him?
Would he get angry? Would he stop being friends with me?
In the moment of hesitation, my wrist was suddenly grabbed. He turned his head, and we were almost nose to nose. The evening glow dyed his blue eyes a stunning purple, and his face flushed a deep red. The sight was so mesmerizing that I froze, holding my breath. But in the next instant, he quickly turned his face away, his ears turning red again.
Why is he so easily made to blush by me? He’s like a young girl.
Feeling a restless itch in my heart, seeing how shy he was made my courage swell. I leaned in even closer, my lips almost touching his earlobe, and whispered, “What are you looking at, Nalin?”
He moved forward a little, then spoke softly, “I’m watching the sea. They say the end of this river leads to the sea, and if you follow the coastline, you’ll reach Tianzhu.”
“Do you want to go? Or should we jump in together and swim across?” I moved closer behind him, my chin just touching his shoulder. He took a step forward, but to my surprise, his foot slipped, and I couldn’t grab onto him in time. We both slid into the river. The river water wasn’t cold at the end of summer, and the shallow area wasn’t deep, but the current was a bit strong. I almost got swept away, but luckily, Nalin was quick to react and pulled me out.
“Mi Jia!”
“Cough, cough!”
I wasn’t a good swimmer and choked on a few mouthfuls of water, coughing as I lay on him. He managed to pull me onto the shallows. Once I blinked the water from my lashes and saw him clearly, I couldn’t help but freeze again, he was soaked through as well. His usually neat, dark, curly hair floated like seaweed on the surface of the water. His collar had been opened by the current, revealing his pale chest, which made him look almost like a mesmerizing merman from the Marine Creatures illustration. I felt like that fisherman bewitched by the merman, my blood rushing up and down, mouth dry, my body burning with heat, wanting to do something to him but not knowing what. In a dizzy haze, I instinctively wrapped my arms around his waist.
At this embrace, he stiffened immediately.
“Mi Jia…” He called softly, his tone restrained. He bent his knee, pressing it against my lower abdomen, lifting my body slightly. It was clear that he had sensed something unusual from below.
“I’m-I’m sorry!” I let go of my hand in panic and jumped up, but once I got out of the water, my clothes stuck to my body, and the bulge was clearly visible. I covered my lower body and rushed to the tree where the wolf cubs were hiding. I bit my lower lip and was about to cry out of shame. There was a rustling sound of grass leaves being trampled behind me. He seemed to be coming over. I hugged my knees and shouted urgently, “Don’t-don’t come over here!”
“Alright… I won’t go over.”
The footsteps stopped behind the tree. After a while, I dared to glance back. I couldn’t see him, but I could make out his silhouette leaning against the tree, stretched long by the setting sun. I too leaned against the tree, took a deep breath, buried my face in my knees, my ears burning, and my heart still racing uncontrollably.
“Mi Jia, what are you thinking about?” At this time, his voice came from behind the tree. His cold voice seemed to be soaked in water, it was moist and seductive. My ears felt numb again, and my lower body became even more swollen.
Thinking about you.
I pursed my lips: “Nalin, let’s play a game, alright?”
“What game?”
“Hide and seek! Close your eyes and count. When you reach 100, come back and find me!”
There was silence behind the tree for a moment, and then he actually started counting.
“One, two, three, four, five…”
—Fool, what a beautiful fool.
I felt both guilty and amused, so I slipped away secretly.
That night, I had a dream.
When I woke up, I still vaguely remembered the vague scenes in the dream.
Nalin and I hugged each other like two entangled snakes, our skin and hair were covered with camellia petals.
I was so ashamed that I buried myself in the quilt, but I couldn’t help taking out the small portrait I drew for Nalin from under the pillow and looking at it. I tried to hold back, but finally I couldn’t and reached my hand down.
I had this kind of dream several times before, but they were all vague. None of them were as clear and specific as last night. It must be because his wet body gave me the seeds of fantasy, which made my desire grow vigorously.
If he knew I was so vulgar, would he hate me?
I thought so, but still couldn’t control myself. I took out the small portrait of him that I had drawn last night from under the pillow and imagined myself lying on him, kissing him passionately, making a mess on the bedsheet. I was lying in the quilt, gasping for breath, when I heard a knock on the door.
“Mi Jia, hurry up, mother has made some green plum wine and is calling you to try it!”
I was so scared that I sat up and quickly changed my clothes, rolled up the bedsheet and undergarments, and kicked them under the bed.
As soon as I opened the door, a sweet and sour fragrance of green plums hit me in the face, which immediately made my mouth water.
Mi Luo smiled and took my hand and ran to the yard. Mother was sitting under the green plum tree in the yard, fanning herself. When she saw us running hand in hand, she smiled and pointed with her fan at the small porcelain bottle and two small cups on the small table under the tree: “Only one cup per person, don’t drink more.”
Mother is good at making wine. She often makes medicinal wine and rice wine for Father, but green plum wine is her specialty. My sister and I drank a glass each and still felt unsatisfied. Mother sealed the small porcelain bottle, tied a red string, and handed it to me, saying, “Go, take it to Master Tai.”
My master also loves to drink this green plum wine. Every time my mother brews it, she asks me to send a bottle to the private academy as a thank-you gift for his dedication to teaching me. I have long been accustomed to it. On the way to the private academy, I thought of Nalin. Every time I went to his place, he would prepare cakes for me, but I never brought him anything except paintings. Why not bring him this green plum wine made by my mother to try?
So, I secretly withheld the green plum wine, bought a bottle of other fruit wine to give to the master, and after leaving the private academy, I rushed to look for Nalin. I didn’t see Bai Ha’er on the tree, so I climbed over the wall boldly and looked out, but I didn’t see Nalin in the yard. My heart tightened, could it be that he didn’t come back by himself last night?
I quickly jumped down, but a pair of hands suddenly covered my eyes from behind.
“Yesterday, you lied to me.”
—He was blaming me for tricking him into counting and then sneaking away!
This pretty fool, could he really have counted to two hundred? I pursed my lips and smiled secretly, took out the green plum wine in my arms, turned around, and handed it to him: “Isn’t that so I brought a gift to apologize to you?”
He lowered his eyes and glanced at me but didn’t answer. His blue eyes stared at me, dark and deep, like a seemingly clear but actually deep pool of water: “Don’t leave without saying goodbye like you did yesterday.”
Well, he is really angry.
I stopped smiling and raised my hand to swear, “Alright, if I lie to you again, I will… never get married in this life!”
He was about to laugh: “Then you are at a big loss, right?”
“Isn’t that right?” — It doesn’t matter if I can’t marry, you are enough for me. I stuffed the bottle back into my chest, climbed over the wall, and looked back at him. “Don’t be angry, those two wolf cubs are still waiting for you!”
Sitting under a tree with Nalin, I helped him milk the doe and feed the two wolf cubs. Seeing that his complexion had improved and he seemed to have calmed down, I dared to take out the green plum wine again, bit open the cork, and passed it to him. I said with a playful smile, “I brewed it myself. It’s delicious. Do you want to try it?”
He sniffed it and frowned slightly: “Is this… wine?”
I nodded. “Have you ever drunk wine?”
As if he remembered something, he frowned and turned away: “I… can’t drink.”
“Why?”
“Drinking alcohol will hinder cultivation. It will be bad if Mother finds out.”
I blinked: “Will your mother come today and tomorrow?”
He shook his head.
“Then what are you afraid of? This wine is not intoxicating. At most, you can rinse your mouth with water after drinking it, and the breath you exhale will have no smell. Your mother will not come today or tomorrow, so how can she find out?” I tilted my head back to take a sip, smacked my lips, and glanced at him. “Ah, it’s really delicious…”
Seeing that he was unmoved, I dipped my finger in some and quickly applied it to his lips.
