It was a very, very helpless way of crying.
‘Don’t cry,’ Xie Ben hurried to console her.
‘I… I… you mind your own business!’ Xu Xian’en paid no heed to his ‘comfort’, crying on her own.
‘I beg you, stop crying. If this isn’t the mountain from your home, then where is it?’ He glanced around at the surrounding forest.
‘How would I know!’ Xu Xian’en wiped away her tears with force, pointing angrily into the distance, ‘This is definitely not the mountain from my home.’
‘Well, do you really want to keep crying?’ Xie Ben stood up, hands on his hips, looking at the little girl sitting on the ground.
‘Ugh…’
She continued to cry, ignoring him.
Brushing off the dirt from his hands, Xie Ben bent down to pick up the things they had dropped together – the quilt and the bag of food, then turned to leave.
‘Where are you going?’
Xu Xian’en pitifully grabbed the corner of his clothes, her eyes filled with tears, looking at him pleadingly.
‘You’re crying so happily, I might as well leave on my own. We don’t even know where this is, I have to find someone to ask, right?’ Xie Ben teased, scratching his cheek. ‘Who knows, maybe we’ll be lucky and end up back in the past like in a movie.’
‘I don’t want to go back to the past, I’m worried about Qiqi…’ she said softly, getting up reluctantly.
‘Worrying is no use, you can’t even take care of yourself now.’ Xie Ben ruffled her hair and extended his hand. ‘Want to hold hands?’
‘I… you… why would you want to hold hands, that’s so embarrassing!’ Xu Xian’en righteously refused him.
‘Never mind then…’ He laughed coldly and withdrew his hand.
‘Ah!’ Her small hand quickly grabbed his. ‘Since you offered, then let’s hold hands. Don’t make it hard for yourself.’
Xie Ben looked at her expression and almost burst into laughter. This little girl was really full of twists and turns.
‘Then you carry the quilt, the food is heavier, I’ll take it.’ Xie Ben, without any trace of tenderness, casually dumped the quilt onto her head.
Xu Xian’en pouted, reluctantly holding the quilt in her arms, thankfully it was a feather quilt, not too heavy.
