Free Web NovelChapter 165: Chapter 130: The Inscription on the Bluestone Slab (Part 2)
The beautiful girl deliberately lowered her voice. The slight arch of her eyebrow was like the twitching tip of a cat’s tail after getting its way. Even the light brown mole beneath her eyelid seemed to radiate the smug satisfaction of a successful prank.
Shen Yuan suddenly turned to look at the girl beside him.
Li Zhi’s face was a mixture of cunning and playful intimacy. The curve of her lips held a girlish coyness.
Her lips were pressed tightly together, as if she were suppressing a laugh that was about to bubble up from her throat.
The beautiful girl said with a smile, "Now you know why I wrote it, right? Your behavior caused tremendous damage to my reputation! And it inflicted immense trauma on the heart of a seven-year-old child!"
"So my house became a latrine, is that it?"
The words left his mouth without his brain’s permission.
Li Zhi chuckled. "Well, your house is demolished now, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you say my words came true?"
"Then I suppose I should thank you for that." As Shen Yuan pressed his palms together, he tossed the stone in his hand aside.
"Hey, hey, hey, why’d you throw it away? You’re not going to cover it up?"
The spring breeze swept away the lingering warmth of the stone from his fingertips. A faint blush spread across the tips of his ears at the teasing lilt in Li Zhi’s voice.
He abruptly turned his face away. Dappled tree shadows danced on his tense jawline. As his Adam’s apple bobbed, it tugged at a lingering heat near his collarbone, as if the discarded stone was now lodged in his chest.
"That’s called destruction of public property!"
He raised an eyebrow in mock exaggeration and, after speaking, kicked the stone even farther away.
"If you want to cover it up, do it yourself."
The moment the words left his mouth, Shen Yuan’s pupils quivered like a suddenly struck brass bell. freewёbnoνel.com
"Wait!"
Shen Yuan spun around abruptly, the wind from his clothes startling a dragonfly resting among the prayer ribbons.
The young man’s chest heaved rapidly, the red mark on his palm from the stone faintly burning.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, his gaze sweeping over Li Zhi’s eyelashes, which were rimmed with gold by the sunlight.
"If you didn’t like it, why didn’t you cross it out back then?"
Li Zhi, who had been grinding a dried leaf with the tip of her shoe, suddenly froze.
As the girl tilted her head, the brass bells on the old tree chimed softly.
Li Zhi’s fingers slowly twirled a lock of her dark hair that hung over her chest. The tree’s shadow cast flickering specks of gold on her eyelids, making the light brown mole look like a drop of ink on rice paper.
"Well, about that..."
Her last syllable was drawn out by the wind. Li Zhi suddenly stepped in front of Shen Yuan.
The beautiful girl stood on her tiptoes, looking up at Shen Yuan with a cunning smile on her face.
"I don’t know. It was too long ago, I forgot."
Her warm, citrus-scented breath washed over his throbbing temples.
The back of Shen Yuan’s neck tensed. The smiley face drawn with charcoal flashed through his mind.
"You..." freёweɓnovel.com
But his words were cut short.
The beautiful girl suddenly took half a step back.
"I’m heading back."
Her final word landed as lightly as a honey-dipped feather, and the beautiful girl’s figure disappeared into the alley.
Shen Yuan watched Li Zhi’s retreating back, his gaze eventually falling back to the small writing.
Shen Yuan crouched down, extending a finger to trace the scratches.
’Damn, I really had the guts to say anything when I was a kid, huh.’
Just as Shen Yuan was lost in thought, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him.
"Shen Yuan!"
Shen Yuan turned to see it was his big brother.
Shen Ming, along with his fiancée, was walking toward the old tree, carrying a long ladder.
His big brother leaned the long ladder against the tree trunk and spoke to Shen Yuan.
"Give me a hand holding this."
Shen Yuan nodded and stepped on the foot of the ladder.
His big brother climbed the old tree step by step, took a red silk ribbon from an inner pocket of his clothes, and carefully tied it to a branch.
Watching his big brother’s earnest expression, Shen Yuan’s gaze suddenly fell upon the blue-gray stone.
’Did I have the same expression back then?’
*Hiss...*
’Was I really that much of a hopeless romantic?’
At the corner of the alley, Li Zhi stealthily peeked her head out.
When she saw Shen Yuan hadn’t followed, Li Zhi had come back looking for him, only to find the guy still staring at the small carved words.
"Hmph!"
After huffing in Shen Yuan’s direction, Li Zhi turned and left.
Li Zhi ran into her Eldest Female Cousin in the alley.
Her Eldest Female Cousin was sauntering back from the neighborhood convenience store with their younger male cousin.
Upon seeing Li Zhi, Yang Yishui said in surprise, "Couldn’t find the dog, and you’ve already lost another one?"
"PFFT—"
Zhao Yueyang had just taken a sip of iced tea and sprayed it all out.
You had to admit, their Eldest Female Cousin had a sharp tongue.
The moment Zhao Yueyang finished sputtering, their Eldest Female Cousin’s hand came down with a slap.
"Can’t you even drink properly? Go back and copy vocabulary words for me."
"Huh?" The younger cousin was stunned.
Just then, their Eldest Female Cousin suddenly saw a smile flicker across Li Zhi’s lips. It was brief, but Yang Yishui trusted her eyes.
’What’s going on here?’
’Something’s fishy!’
However, her Eldest Female Cousin didn’t say anything, merely tucking the matter away in her mind.
’I’ll interrogate Shen Yuan later!’
Their Eldest Female Cousin composed herself, cleared her throat, and then asked nonchalantly, "Ahem, where did Shen Yuan go? Didn’t you two go out together?"
Li Zhi snapped back to reality and quickly replied, "Oh, that guy, Shen Ming, he called Shen Yuan over. It looked like they were going to hang something on the tree. He should be back in a bit."
Li Zhi had met Shen Ming before, but she didn’t remember his name very well.
If Shen Yuan and her Eldest Female Cousin hadn’t mentioned him that morning, she probably wouldn’t have remembered it at all.
Yang Yishui nodded.
Hanging things on the old tree had more or less become a village custom.
"Come on, let’s go. Don’t worry about him. It’s past noon. I’ll take you guys home later; we still have to get back to school tonight."
Li Zhi nodded. "Okay, I’ll head back first then. Just have Shen Yuan let me know before you all leave."
