Chapter 040: You Crossed the Line First

Jiang Yao stared at her own disheveled clothes in a daze for two seconds, then something exploded in her mind. She hurriedly tightened her clothes around herself, her eyes wary as she looked at He Yunqing. "What did you do?"

He Yunqing frowned and let out a soft laugh. "You should be asking what you did."

Jiang Yao shoved the man away, struggling to her feet. She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "How did I end up here?"

"You don't remember? Do you need me to help you recall?" He Yunqing also stood up, speaking slowly and deliberately.

"Go ahead then, let's hear it." Jiang Yao tilted her head, eyeing him with suspicion, eager to see just how outrageous his story would get.

He Yunqing folded his arms and stepped in front of her, clearing his throat. "Last night, someone—rather than sleep in the middle of the night—ran into the mountains in the pouring rain. If I hadn’t arrived in time, you might have been eaten by the monsters out there."

"Please, there are no such things as monsters!" Jiang Yao scoffed. If he wanted to scare her, he could at least come up with something believable.

"Weren’t you the one who told me there were monsters in the mountains? Three heads, you said..." He Yunqing shot her a sidelong glance.

"Me? You mean me?" Jiang Yao pointed at the tip of her own nose, finding it all too absurd, as if challenging him to see just how far he would take his tale. "And then?"

He Yunqing fell silent, his thin lips pressed together. He recalled last night, that utterly innocent, guileless kiss Jiang Yao had given him...

"Well? Go on, say it." Jiang Yao urged him.

He Yunqing shot her a look, his words coming faster. "Then I tried to take you back, but you started shouting about taking your clothes off, and then the sky was already light."

A long string of speechless ellipses floated through Jiang Yao’s mind.

"Me? Take my clothes off?" Jiang Yao was torn between exasperation and amusement. "Was I crazy? Here? In the rain? In front of you? He Yunqing, what exactly did you bring me here for?"

"Who knows if you were crazy or not." He Yunqing let out a soft, dismissive laugh.

"You..." Jiang Yao glared at him, suddenly recalling the mushroom soup she had drunk the previous day.

Perhaps...she’d been poisoned by mushrooms...

Jiang Yao rubbed her head vigorously. "I must have been crazy."

As she lowered her head to straighten her clothes, her tone grew a touch more cautious. "Then...did you see anything?"

"See what?" He Yunqing asked coolly.

"What else could you have seen?" Jiang Yao covered her chest with one hand, certain the man was being deliberately obtuse!

He Yunqing didn’t answer, but the corners of his lips curled as he looked Jiang Yao up and down.

The more he smiled, the less confident Jiang Yao felt.

"What are you laughing at? Did you see or not?"

He Yunqing’s chilly gaze fell on Jiang Yao’s feet, still smeared with blood and mud. "Do you enjoy discussing these things with a man in the wilderness?"

He approached her, crouched down with his back to her. "Get on."

Jiang Yao didn’t move; she was long accustomed to going it alone.

"Before I carry you down the mountain, get on," he repeated, his tone even.

Only then did Jiang Yao gingerly climb onto his back, looping her arms carelessly around his shoulders.

"Last time you fell asleep, didn’t you hug me quite tightly?" He Yunqing teased with a faint smile.

Jiang Yao pursed her lips, then wrapped her arms a little tighter around his neck, still trying to remember what had happened last night.

"I remember...I think I dreamed about a huge rainbow lollipop," Jiang Yao murmured, tilting her head. "I was licking it. People always say you can’t taste anything in dreams, but mine was so sweet..."

He Yunqing walked on in silence, a frown unconsciously creasing his brow.

A lollipop...

"He Yunqing, I keep feeling like I did something else, but I just can’t remember," Jiang Yao pondered aloud. "Are you sure I didn’t do anything else last night?"

He Yunqing’s voice was low. "What else could you have done?"

Jiang Yao shook her head. "Hopefully nothing. It’s so embarrassing...absolutely mortifying..."

As she spoke, she knocked her head lightly with her hand in regret. "Please don’t tell anyone when we get back!"

Where she couldn’t see, the corners of He Yunqing’s lips lifted in a near-perfect arc.

They walked on in silence for a while before he suddenly spoke. "A-Yao."

Jiang Yao didn’t even notice when he began calling her by that nickname. She responded instinctively, "Hm?"

"Aileen is my sister."

The words came out of nowhere, with no context.

Jiang Yao was startled. "What? She’s your sister—your real sister?"

"Yes." He Yunqing’s reply was cool. "She lived abroad for a long time and only recently came back."

For reasons she couldn’t explain, Jiang Yao felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

She ran her fingers through her still-damp hair. "I thought..."

Halfway through, she broke into quiet laughter.

He Yunqing let her laugh. When she’d had enough, he continued, "I have to leave for a few days. No more than a week at most."

Jiang Yao unconsciously tightened her hold around his neck, resting her chin lightly on his shoulder. "Okay."

After all, he was in show business; it wouldn’t be surprising if he flew somewhere every day.

Jiang Yao had no intention of prying into his schedule.

"A-Yao," He Yunqing strode forward, his voice suddenly gentle as he called her name, "wait for me."

Those simple words, for some reason, warmed Jiang Yao’s heart.

He asked her to wait for him.

Jiang Yao didn’t understand when it became her turn to wait, but her heart skipped a beat or two all the same.

She scratched her head. "Why should I wait for you?"

He Yunqing didn’t answer. After a few more steps, his gaze fell on the campsite up ahead, a smile curling his lips. "You crossed the line first."

Crossed the line?

Jiang Yao was puzzled for a couple of seconds, then immediately started tugging at her hair.

She was done for. She must have done something out of her mind that had offended He Yunqing, and now he was just waiting to finish his work before coming back to settle the score.

When kids fought as children, didn’t they always point at each other’s noses and say, "Just you wait"?

Jiang Yao imagined three black lines appearing on her forehead, secretly worrying that He Yunqing, after all, wasn’t a bad person. Even if he wanted to settle accounts, surely he wouldn’t be too harsh.

"If I really did something to make you angry, you can just tell me now. Let’s settle it here—no need to wait until you’re back. Or else you can just hit me!"

He Yunqing frowned. This woman—how did her mind even work...