In the dining room.
The food on the table had became completely empty as Feng Rouyi ended her little storytelling session and puffed up her chest.
"How was my storytelling skill? It wasn't half-bad, wasn't it?"
"It was a beautiful story." Yu Mei gaze was a bit dreamy while on the other side, Li Kong was busy teasing Ye Cheng.
"But still, I can't believe how dense Uncle Ye was that it took a full two years for him to realized about your feelings." Yu Mei was rather amazed by her uncle's head density as she stared Ye Cheng dumbfoundedly.
Ye Cheng's expression turned black at once as he lowered his head.
"Hahaha. How could you be so dense, uncle? If it was me, I'd figured it out in an instant." Li Kong laughed further.
"Why are you laughing so hard, huh? Like you weren't also like that." Ye Cheng scoffed at his mockery.
He could bear anyone teasing him but absolutely not Li Kong because the heck was this brat trying to do by laughing at his dark past while currently living on it himself.
"Hah? What do you mean by that?" Li Kong asked with a clueless face.
"So was I wrong then?" Ye Cheng's gaze altered between Yu Mei and Li Kong before he fell into deep contemplation.
Feng Rouyi sighed at the both of them and said exasperatedly to Yu Mei.
"You've seen my hardship now right? Men like them were just too dense."
Yu Mei nodded and she rose from her seat and started to clean the table and while doing that, she approached Yu Mei and whispered.
"And because of that, you have to be bold and make the first move." After that, Feng Rouyi winked at her and disappeared to the kitchen.
Yu Mei was petrified for a moment before she went into blush and looked at Li Kong a little. Li Kong felt someone's gaze was on him and returned the gaze but the sender had turned her face away.
Li Kong stared for a while in confusion before carry on with his conversations with his uncle while Yu Mei on the other hand was having a hard time controlling her heart rate.
...
The night was getting late and the husband and wife pair were sending them off.
After they left the house, Li Kong offered to walked Yu Mei to her house which she accepted.
The night walk was awkward to say the least. Li Kong was busy watching the stars while Yu Mei was busy peeking at Li Kong's face,
For some reason, after they left Ye Cheng's house, she felt a little fuzzy yet warm feeling each time she was seeing Li Kong.
'You have to be bold and made the first move.' The words echoed deeply in her ears.
Her heart rate immediately spiked as the blush on her face was getting redder.
Her heart thumped gradually slowed and she took a last peek at Li Kong's face which Li Kong noticed and asked.
"Is there something wrong on my face?"
Yu Mei's heart jumped for a moment and she replied, "Nothing."
Li Kong shrugged it off as she being weird and keep on gazing the stars before he turned his head back at the sudden question.
"So, Li Kong..."
"Hmm?"
"What do you think about Auntie Feng's story?"
"Why did you ask?"
"Can you just answer the question?"
"Alright. Alright."
"So?"
"I think it was a beautiful story, cute even."
"As in?"
"Firstly, I never thought for even once that Auntie Feng was a shy girl before I heard the story. Even after listening to it, I still have a hard time believing it."
"Oh? Are you teasing Auntie Feng right now? You know that her house was still nearby, right? I could go back there and tell her what you've said."
"Madam, please have mercy!"
"[...] So? After that?"
"I'm not telling you anymore."
"Auntie Fe-"
"Hey! Sigh... Do you really insist to lower my life expectations or what?"
"[...] Yes and because of that, you have to hurry or else."
"Okay. Okay. I think that despite her shyness, auntie still tried the best to get closer to uncle and I personally thought that it was brave of her."
"Mhm."
"And for some reason, uncle's denseness irked me when I listen to auntie. "
"I don't think you were the right person to say that."
"You're talking just like uncle! What was you two plotting behind me, huh?"
"Blehh!"
"You!"
"Someone help me. A dense rock is trying to kidnap me!"
"Try screaming louder. Granny Qing on the other side of the village can't hear you yet."
"Kyaaaa!"
Tap Tap Tap
"Don't run!"
Tap Tap Tap
"..."
Tap Tap Tap
"..."
Tap Tap Tap
...
"Stop running. I'm out of breath."
"Li Kong, you jerk. Huff, you dare to made a lady run. And in the night at that!"
"So what if I am?"
"Hmph."
"Hey, wait for me!"
"..."
"..."
"So, Li Kong..."
"I'm listening."
"What do you think about love?"
"As in Auntie Feng's story?"
"Mhm."
"It would probably be a nice thing to have."
"Why?"
"I don't know. It just felt like it's comforting to have someone always by your side. Like for example, me when I was spanked by Uncle Zheng but the moment he saw you were there, he immediately lifted me down and let me go to play with you."
"So you were just using me for bail out?"
"Argh! Don't hit my head!"
"You deserved it."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So, how about now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Uhhh... I meant do you interested in love?"
"As of now? Not really."
"Is that so?"
"But..."
Yu Mei gazed up and looked at him.
At this moment, Li Kong appeared to be glowing by the light of the resplendent stars.
"Like I said, it would be a nice thing to have..." He said with a slight smile on his face–"...So I probably won't mind if I were to have it even though I don't really need it now."–before returning to his usual grin.
Captivated, Yu Mei opened her mouth as if trying to say something but no words came out. She bit her lower lips, frustrated at her indecisiveness.
Yu Mei calmed her mind and took a deep breath and with all of her courage, she uttered.
"Li Kong, I-"
Li Kong stared at her and for some reason, she felt that the stare was a bit intense, but she couldn't back down after she got this far. She carry on with her words before she suddenly felt a change in Li Kong's expression as Li Kong lifted his arm high and pointed at the sky.
"Look! A shooting star!" Yu Mei immediately turned her attention to the sky but her vision flickered a little bit and the on the night sky, there was a strike of a line, looking as if it divided the sky into two but before she could realized what had happened, the light suddenly disappeared and the night sky turned normal.
"Are you messing with me right now? There was nothing there!" Anger welled up from deep inside of Yu Mei as she stared at him incredulously. It felt like Li Kong was trampling with her feelings and deliberately made up a stupid excuse.
"What do you mean there's nothing? It literally just flew by from there." Li Kong felt wronged and pointed at the direction where the supposed shooting star came from and where it disappeared and when Yu Mei traced where his finger pointed at, she found that the shooting star disappeared into the forest.
Still bamboozled and confused by his friend's reaction, Li Kong could only stood there wordlessly and his face was in disbelief.
Yu Mei wanted to curse at him but based on her experience growing up with Li Kong, she could easily distinguished when he was lying and when he wasn't and based on what face he was making right now, she could easily tell that Li Kong wasn't lying this time. But even though she could tell that Li Kong wasn't lying but what about the absence of the shooting star?
The gears in Yu Mei's brain started to work but unfortunately, it didn't produce anything useful at all and ultimately she just sighed and blamed it on the nighttime causing Li Kong to seeing things.
"You must be so tired." Yu Mei voiced her earnest concern for him.
She bowed at Li Kong and apologized. "I'm sorry for being mad at you."
Li Kong was somewhat annoyed at her concern but after listening to her next words, he quickly laughed it off.
"It's okay. It's not like that this is the first time you've done it."
"Excuse me?" She gave him a sharp side-eye.
Li Kong responded with a smirk.
"Now I remember that you have something to tell me right? Before I told you I saw a shooting star."
Yu Mei was caught off by the sudden remark and frantically spun her head to scavenge for any answers. Fortunately for Yu Mei, her house was already on vision and she instantly bid farewell to Li Kong and rushed in her house. Shortly after, she stepped out of the house to thank Li Kong before going in again.
Li Kong felt like he was stricken by thunder as his brain working hard to comprehend what was wrong with Yu Mei.
He sighed and muttered in a low voice.
"Maybe this is the meaning of what they said about women on their period."
He quickly forgot about it and gazed for the black canvas on the sky for one last time. He narrowed his eyes a bit before walking to his house.
Today the night ended peacefully.
...
Morning had come and Li Kong rose from his sleep. He sat silently, staring at nothing for a good minutes and while charging up his energy, he suddenly remembered the scene from last night, the shooting star, leaving a trail that seemed like it divided the sky into two parts.
'I could really swear I've seen it. Well, I mean, how could you not see that? That shooting star was strikingly bright that it blinded me for a second right there. But why couldn't Yu Mei see it too?' Li Kong mused but unfortunately his brain hadn't be conditioned to think this hard in the morning.
He ruffled his own hair and sighed in resignation. He got up and made his bed before he walked to the front door.
'All in all, that sure was a strange night. I wonder what Yu Mei wanted to tell me.' He thought to himself as he stretched his body.
Warmed up, Li Kong took a deep breath and he started to jog. The fresh and cold air of the morning filled Li Kong's lung with satisfaction as he breathed in and out.
While Li Kong was jogging, he met with a middle-aged man that was stuffing goods into his cart. The middle-aged man noticed Li Kong and called him.
"Up so early, don't you?" The middle-aged man grabbed Li Kong by his shoulder and patted him a few times, his voice filled with enthusiasm.
"The air in the morning is the best, uncle An! You should try to jog a bit once in a while!" Li Kong replied with the same amount of enthusiasm.
"I would like to but this old bone is already starting to deteriorate you know?" An Yan sighed.
"Don't need to be so modest, uncle. You carried these goods just fine. I believe that you are still as strong as in your youth." Li Kong replied earnestly.
"You really know how to struck an old man's heart, aren't you?" He once again grabbed him by his shoulder and ruffled his hair while Li Kong laughed in response. "I'm beginning to think that my Fang'Er should follow you as an example."
Li Kong laughed a little at An Yan's words. An Yan then released Li Kong and Li Kong bid farewell to him and continued to jog.
Time passed by and he finally returned to his place and slumped down on one of the chairs on his terrace. After his body had cooled down, he went inside of his house and took a bath.
Feeling energized, Li Kong had done all of his morning routine and went to the field to help others to tend it.
"Li Kong, come here!"
"Right away!" Li Kong swiftly replied and plunged into the field.
The sun had reached its peak and Li Kong was resting under the usual tree and Yu Mei came to his side with water and they chatted with each other for a while, oblivious to the insidious eyes looking at them or specifically, Li Kong.
After chatting for a long time, Yu Mei had to go and they bid farewell to each other and as Ye Cheng wasn't planning to went out hunting today, Li Kong suddenly had many times on his hand.
He went back home to take a little nap before wandering the village. While walking Li Kong was occasionally called by the bystanders, whether to talk with him or ask him to do something.
After talking with the other villager, Li Kong met the twin from yesterday with their friends.
"Yo, Li Kong." Xiao Fang greeted him.
"What? Do you wanted to spin like yesterday?" Li Kong said playfully.
With a quick response, Xiao Jia immediately arrived in front of Xiao Fang and shielded him with her tiny body.
Watching Xiao Jia's action made Li Kong a bit uncomfortable as he hurriedly explained to Xiao Jia.
"I was just joking, Xiao Jia! Don't you remember that we had promised yesterday?"
Xiao Jia without hesitation, responded with, "Promise could be broken." as she stared warily at Li Kong.
Though there was no sound of something breaking, something within Li Kong definitely broke following Xiao Jia's statement as he fumbled to the ground.
"Don't be so sad, Li Kong. Xiao Jia would forget it in no time." One of the children with the darker skin tone comforted him.
"Rangrang was right, Li Kong." This time the voice was higher than the last.
"I already told you not to call me with that, Wang Xi! Call me by my name, "Huang Rang"!"
"But Rangrang is cuter. Why don't you just use that?" Wang Xi pouted.
"Arghh! Whatever." Now it was the time for Huang Rang to sulked.
"Do you guys intend to comfort me or want to popped off my ears?" Li Kong filed a complaint.
"Rather than that Li Kong, we want to see you do tricks!" Xiao Fang pulled his sleeves and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
Li Kong looked at the other children and found that they all were looking at him with the same eyes as Xiao Fang. Li Kong's heart couldn't bear to see these children sad (and felt that this was a perfect chance to show off to these kids) and accepted their invitation.
The group of children hooray-ed and together, they marched to the giant tree in the outskirt of the village. While marching, they met with Yu Mei, who was looking at them with eyes full of inquiry.
"Where are you all going to?"
"We're going to the giant tree! Li Kong promised us that he would show us tricks." Xiao Fang was the one to respond.
Yu Mei looked at Li Kong for explanation and Li Kong just shrugged it.
"Then, could I join with you guys too?"
The children looked at each other before nodding to Yu Mei.
"Yes!"
...
They had arrived at the place and there stood the absurdly large tree and a vast grassy field surrounding it.
They immediately went to their usual spot where the tree branches peeked a little out of the ground, just enough for them to comfortably sit on top of them.
"Quick, Li Kong. Show us your knives!" Huang Rang urged him.
"Alright. Alright. Geez, couldn't you wait for a second?" Li Kong wasn't pleased at all.
He looked at Yu Mei and Yu Mei nodded. Yu Mei grabbed a few wooden spheres that she had brought with her from home.
"Remember to not do this by yourself, okay? Because if your mother doesn't spank your butt, I'll be the one to." Li Kong gave his share of warning which the children quickly nodded to.
Li Kong was satisfied with the response and gave signal to Yu Me to start. The young lady threw all of the spheres in a quick succession and each of the spheres following behind the first spheres in a perfect line.
The children gasped at Yu Mei's expertise at throwing the wooden spheres and after that, a multiple thuds could be heard and all of the spheres flying in the air fell down.
Li Kong ordered the children to fetch the spheres and when they collected all of them, they were more amazed than when they saw Yu Mei's throwing skills.
All of the wooden spheres had a marking on each of them and all of it was already scarred but the most amazing thing about the scar that all of them was right in the center of the spheres.
The children was dumbfounded for a moment before they clapped ceremoniously.
"That's so cool!"
"You're awesome, Li Kong!"
"Li Kong. Awesome."
"Do it again! Do it again!"
While on the other hand, the object of praise was living the moment of his life as he laughed in a weird manner.
"Hohoho. Come. Shower me more with your praises."
Uncapable of watching this foolery anymore, Yu Mei knocked some senses unto him as an "Aiyah!" came out from Li Kong's mouth.
After that, Li Kong and Yu Mei kept playing with the children until the end of afternoon.
As the sun started to blended with the orange hue, Li Kong placed the last children carefully and after he done, he slumped to the ground near the children and lean to the tree's trunk.
"Huff... These kids are really something else. They played until they tired and slept on the field causing me have to carry them all to here." Li Kong grumbled as he wiped the sweats off his head.
Yu Mei laughed at him and took a seat besides him.
"Well, aren't they a little cute when they sleep like this?" Yu Mei caressed Xiao Jia's sleeping cheek gently.
"I wouldn't say so." Li Kong said while he plucked nearby grass and tickled Xiao Fang's nose causing him to wiggled.
Yu Mei watched him silently as a little smile was carved on her white face.
"So? What happened to our brave young warrior right here?" Yu Mei asked in a playful manner.
"What do you mean by that?"
She wriggled a bit before replying to him with a closed eyes.
"Come on. Do you have any idea how long I've been with you? I only need a glance to see something is wrong with you." She squinted her eyes at him.
Since on the field, Yu Mei had caught Li Kong absentmindedly looking at a certain direction many times and when she traced his gaze, it always pointed at the forest. The pattern continued from the talk they had in the afternoon until now, when they played with the children.
Li Kong remained silent and Yu Mei's stare became increasingly more intense. She ultimately just sighed and right at the moment Li Kong thought she'd done asking, suddenly Yu Mei shifted her head a little bit to the side. She leaned on his shoulders which surprised Li Kong and caught him off guard but quickly he calmed his heart down and watched her profile quietly.
"No matter what it is. You could always lean on me, Li Kong." She said in a low, gentle voice.
Suddenly, the evening breezes swept across them causing her hair to be fluttered in the air. Li Kong found himself utterly captivated at the moment as he imagined that her smiling face shone bright at this moment as her hair danced unrestricted, following the wind's guide as the orange hue of the sunset gleamed behind her.
Li Kong's mouth opened slightly as he watched over her. The crippling sense of uncertainty that Yu Mei noticed gradually faded away in his heart as if was being washed away by the wind.
He shifted his attention and looked straight in front of him and with a little curve on his mouth, he said sincerely.
"Thank you, Yu Mei."
He waited for her reaction but soon after, he fell into confusion as to why she didn't teased him yet. He redirected his attention back to the girl that still leaning on his shoulder and quickly astonished to found that the girl had slept.
Her eyes was tightly shut and her lips slightly opened. Her head bobbed front and back on his shoulder.
Li Kong watched her in disbelief before resigning to his fate to be a pillow.
He took a last peek at her sleeping face and there lies a peaceful face sleeping as if she was unbound by all the cares in this world. He suddenly got an uncontrollable urge by watching her sleeping face and flicked her nose causing her to wiggled.
Li Kong stopped messing with her and smiled a little at her reaction. The smile slowly faded as his expression turned serious and he directed his gaze to the forest.
'I've decided. Tomorrow I'll go to the forest!' Li Kong thought to himself resolutely.
'But as of now...' His gaze turned soft as he caressed the hair of the sleeping girl besides him and checked at the children who was still sleeping peacefully.
'Let's enjoy this moment.'
Li Kong closed his eyes and drowned in the sea of drowsiness.
Underneath the watch of the evening sun, the pair leaned at each other as they asleep.