That night, Xia Zhi couldn't sleep.
Summer in the countryside is cooler than in the city, especially at night, when the windows are open, the cool breeze blows in, which is more comfortable than air conditioning. The only headache is that there are too many mosquitoes.
Two mosquito coils have been installed in the bedroom, and Cheng Yunan has swept every corner with an electric mosquito swatter before going to bed, but as soon as he lies down, there is a constant buzzing sound in his ears.
Xia Zhi opened his eyes and the buzzing sound disappeared; he closed his eyes and the buzzing sound started again.
"… "
Xia Zhi sat up angrily. The sound was even more annoying than an electric drill.
The teammates didn't seem to be affected, and each one slept more soundly than the other.
Without turning on the lights, Xia Zhi groped his way out of the bedroom in the dark.
The mountain fields are quiet but still bustling at night. Insects chirp in the rice fields, trees sway in the wind, and there is the sound of a gurgling stream at the foot of the mountain.
Xia Zhi sat on a chair on the terrace, his mood slowly calming down. He raised the corners of his mouth and thought that sitting here all night didn't seem like a bad thing.
Of course, it would be better if the mosquitoes didn't chase me to suck my blood. Xia Zhi slapped the mosquito off his leg in frustration and scratched it twice.
"Crack—"
There was a sudden sound of a door opening behind me.
Xia Zhi turned around and asked in surprise, "You haven't slept yet?"
"Yeah." Jiang Zhixia walked to his side and asked, "Can't sleep?"
"A little bit. There are too many mosquitoes. I can't sleep." Xia Zhi scratched his leg and complained, "What are you holding in your hand?"
"Mosquito repellent." Jiang Zhixia sat down, opened the lid, pulled one of his arms over, and sprayed the mosquito repellent evenly on the exposed skin, explaining, "This mosquito repellent is the most effective I've ever used, and the smell is not pungent."
Jiang Zhixia's movement of pulling his hand was so natural and skillful that Xia Zhi didn't even have the chance to refuse. He could only stand stiffly and let him touch her.
"How do you know I couldn't sleep because of the mosquitoes?" Xia Zhi tried to divert his attention.
"You are always easily attracted to mosquitoes, and there are many mosquitoes in the countryside. You must suffer, so I prepared some insect repellents before leaving."
"Oh." Xia Zhi's earlobes felt slightly hot, and he answered dryly.
Jiang Zhixia was very skillful and finished the application in no time.
"Thank you." Xia Zhi turned his head away uncomfortably and looked at the dark wheat field in the distance.
"You're welcome." After a short silence, Jiang Zhixia stood up and habitually raised her hand to rub his head, but then stopped and patted his shoulder instead, "It's late, go to bed early."
"Yeah." Xia Zhi pretended not to notice his change of action, raised her face and smiled at him, "Good night."
"Good night."
The two of them returned to the bedroom one after the other.
Jiang Zhixia's mosquito repellent was indeed very effective. Xia Zhi lay on the bed with his eyes open and waited patiently for a few minutes. The disturbing buzzing sound never appeared again, and he closed his eyes and fell asleep with satisfaction.
I thought I would sleep till late, but I woke up before 6:00. My teammates were still sleeping, and the room was quiet.
Xia Zhi got up, carried his clothes and pants out of the bedroom, and went downstairs to the bathroom to wash up. As soon as he left, Jiang Zhixia, who was still sleeping, slowly opened his eyes.
After Xia Zhi changed his clothes and came out of the bathroom, he saw Jiang Zhixia also got up and went downstairs. He smiled at him calmly, "Good morning."
"Good morning." Jiang Zhixia glanced at his arms and thighs, and didn't seem to find any new mosquito bites. "Did you sleep well?"
"Very good." Xia Zhi nodded, "Thank you for the mosquito repellent, it's very useful."
"That's good." Jiang Zhixia said and went into the bathroom to wash up.
It was not yet time for shooting, so Xia Zhi planned to take a walk around the area before the staff arrived.
The temperature was still a little low in the early morning, so he went back to the house and put on a sports jacket. As he was squatting at the door putting on his shoes, Jiang Zhixia came out of the bathroom after washing up.
"Going out?"
"Yeah." Xia Zhi didn't look back and continued to tie his shoelaces. "It's still early. I want to go out for a walk and I'll be back soon."
Jiang Zhixia came over, took out her shoes from the shoe cabinet, and said, "I'll go with you. I heard there are wild dogs around here that bite anyone they see."
"No need," Xia Zhi said, "Didn't Aunt Hua say that the wild dogs were in the mountains? I'll just walk around here and won't go far."
Jiang Zhixia changed his shoes by himself: "Maybe he ran down the mountain, let's go together."
In the end, we went out together.
Instead of going up the mountain, the two of them took a leisurely walk along the dirt road at the foot of the mountain.
The mountain breeze was quite strong in the morning, and Xia Zhi felt a little cold even with her coat on. Seeing that Jiang Zhixia was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt, she asked with concern, "Aren't you cold?"
"It's okay, not that cold." Jiang Zhixia turned around and asked him, "Are you cold?"
"I'm not cold either." Xia Zhi turned his gaze away, admiring the scenery of Jingwu Village while muttering to himself, "Jingwu Village is indeed very beautiful, a natural oxygen bar, really suitable for a vacation."
"Um."
Xia Zhi suddenly asked him curiously: "Have you ever been to the countryside to film a movie before?"
"How many times?" Jiang Zhixia said, "When I was shooting my last movie, I lived in the countryside for half a year."
Jiang Zhixia was talking about the film that won him the Best Actor award. During the release of the film, Xia Zhixia happened to be abroad and missed the premiere, so he has not seen the film to this day, but he heard that the film was a great success at the box office and word of mouth, and Jiang Zhixia's acting skills were recognized by all the audiences.
Xia Zhi somehow suddenly remembered eight years ago, when Victoria was facing the crisis of disbanding. Everyone was in a low mood and wanted to do their best to keep the group together. But at this time, Jiang Zhixia told them that he had terminated his contract with the company in advance. I still remember that everyone was in disbelief at that time. Compared with the group being forced to disband, the betrayal of their teammates was more difficult for them to accept.
Xia Zhi had deep feelings for the group, and coupled with his relationship with Jiang Zhixia, this incident hit him harder than anyone else. He questioned Jiang Zhixia why she did this, but Jiang Zhixia told him that a new agency wanted to sign him and was willing to help him pay the penalty, so he agreed.
At that moment, Xia Zhi's anger reached its peak. He didn't even ask Jiang Zhixia the reason for changing jobs, but determined that he was a traitor who betrayed the friendship of the five of them and also betrayed the love between them. So he impulsively said a lot of excessive words to him and proposed to break up.
After leaving Chuanxing, the first thing Xia Zhi did was to block all contact information of Jiang Zhixia and decided not to see him again in this life. Later, he learned from Sang Luo that he had signed a contract with a new agency and became an actor. The company valued him very much and soon after signing the contract, they tailored a play for him. Although it was a low-budget web drama, it also invested a lot of financial and material resources.
Xia Zhi never expected that Jiang Zhixia would become an actor. At that time, he thought it was absurd and could not understand his choice. Later, Sang Luo woke him up with a word - either for the dream of being an actor or for money.
But Xia Zhi knew that Jiang Zhixia was not a professional actor, nor did he have the so-called dream of becoming an actor. At that time, he lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.
Xia Zhi was recalling the past, his attention was a little distracted, and he didn't even notice the road under his feet. Just as he was immersed in his memories, he suddenly felt his arm being pulled hard.
"Don't go any further."
"What?" Although Xia Zhi had not yet reacted to what was happening, he still stopped and looked forward, only to find a pile of cow dung in front of him.
Jiang Zhixia pulled him and walked over quickly, only slowing down after they were far away.
Xia Zhi's face turned blue, and only then did he dare to breathe deeply.
When they were almost at the end of the path, Jiang Zhixia stopped and asked him, "Do you want to keep going?"
Xia Zhi looked back and saw that they had walked quite far and would leave the village if they walked any further. But if they walked back, they would see that disgusting pile of cow dung again...
Jiang Zhixia seemed to see his dilemma, and before he could make a choice, she took him to the main road and walked towards the village: "Let's go back another way."
"How do you know there is another way?"
"In order to facilitate access to farmland in rural areas, small roads are usually built in all directions. It is rare that only one road leads to one place."
"Is that so?" Xia Zhi couldn't help but sigh, "It seems that you benefited a lot from the six months of rural life."
"There's more to it than that." Jiang Zhixia observed the surrounding terrain and explained, "In fact, I lived with my grandparents in the countryside until I was seven years old. After I turned seven, my parents took me back to the county town to study."
Xia Zhi was surprised: "I've never heard you mention it before."
"Well, my grandparents died when I was ten years old. After that, we rarely went back to the countryside except to visit relatives during the Chinese New Year."
"So that's how it is. No wonder you know so much about rural conditions."
Jiang Zhixia seemed to be in a good mood and told him about her rural hometown. "This place is not far from my hometown, and the customs of the two villages are quite similar."
Xia Zhi was a little curious: "Is your hometown also in Y City? What is the name of the village?"
"Boyuan is not in Y City, nor in the same province, but it only takes three hours to drive there. I'll take you there when I have the chance."
"Okay." After saying this, Xia Zhi realized what he had agreed to, but it was too late to regret.
Jiang Zhixia looked calm, as if he was just saying it casually, but there was a flash of smile in his eyes.
The atmosphere fell into a brief silence.
Xia Zhi put his hands in his pockets and pretended to appreciate the scenery.
After following Jiang Zhixia and walking forward for two hundred meters, they crossed a stone bridge and walked into the fields.
Xia Zhi followed Jiang Zhixia's footsteps and stepped onto the narrow ridge of the field. His eyebrows jumped and he couldn't help but question: "Can you really find the way?"
Jiang Zhixia stopped and pointed to the ridge under his feet and said, "Follow this ridge to the end and you will be back to the B&B."
Xia Zhi began to suspect that he had boarded a pirate ship, but he was not familiar with the rural terrain, and he had no choice but to board this pirate ship, so he could only continue to trust him.
The ridges of the fields were bumpy and the road was narrow, so only one person could walk on it. Jiang Zhixia led the way in front, and Xia Zhi followed behind him, staring carefully at the road under their feet.
Although he was extremely cautious, it was still a little difficult because it was his first time walking on this road. He almost stepped into a puddle several times, but fortunately Jiang Zhixia held him up.
After walking only one-third of the way, Xia Zhi was already exhausted and out of breath. Jiang Zhixia suggested stopping and resting for a while.
Xia Zhi stood on a small mound, one hand on his waist, one hand fanning the wind, with a resentful expression: "I regret listening to you and leaving here."
Seeing how hard he was walking, Jiang Zhixia was a little shaken, so she suggested: "Why don't we walk back?"
Xia Zhi waved his hand and refused, saying, "Keep going. I don't like going back."
Jiang Zhixia didn't say anything. She waited for him to rest and then took him forward. However, compared to her attentiveness in reminding him every step she took just now, this time she suddenly became silent and didn't say anything.
Xia Zhi thought that he didn't talk much to save energy, so he didn't take it too seriously.
After walking for a while, the ridge of the field became wider, enough for two people to walk side by side, so Jiang Zhixia slowed down his pace and walked with Xia Zhi.
Xia Zhi then realized that Jiang Zhixia was not in a good mood. It seemed that he was not just tired, so he asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Jiang Zhixia did not hide it and said frankly: "I was thinking about what you just said."
Xia Zhi was puzzled: "Which sentence?"
"You said you didn't like going back the way you came."
"... Ahem!" Xia Zhi scratched his cheek with his index finger, "I just said it casually, you don't have to take it seriously."
"Really?" Jiang Zhixia suddenly lowered her voice, "Don't you have anything to ask about last night?"
"Last night? What happened?" Xia Zhi pretended to be stupid.
"Zheng Churong is a junior in the same company as me. He is a practical, capable, smart and studious kid. When he first debuted, the company wanted me to guide him, so I took him to shoot two movies."
Xia Zhi was stunned for a moment, and after some recollection he remembered that Zheng Churong was the third rumored boyfriend of Jiang Zhixia that Sang Luo and the others had listed last night.
"Why are you telling me this?" Xia Zhi sounded a little uncomfortable.
"In my heart, he is just a junior. I take good care of him just because I don't want a good seedling to be buried. I help him as much as I can. I have no other selfish motives."
"oh."
"I like… "
"Let's go back quickly," Xia Zhi interrupted him, "We've been out for quite a while, they should have gotten up by now."
Xia Zhi shook off Jiang Zhixia and walked forward quickly, but because he was distracted, he did not notice the puddle under his feet and stepped on empty water.
"Ah!" His body fell forward uncontrollably. Xia Zhi cursed Jiang Zhixia in his heart while instinctively closing his eyes, waiting in despair to fall to the ground.
However, the next second, he felt his waist tighten—Jiang Zhixia hugged him from behind in time.
"Be careful, there are many puddles here." Jiang Zhixia whispered in his ear.
"Thank you," Xia Zhi was still frightened, his hands still tightly grasping Jiang Zhixia's arm, and it took him a while to calm down. Only then did he realize that their current posture was somewhat ambiguous.
"I, I'm fine." He struggled calmly, reminding Jiang Zhixia that he could let go.
Jiang Zhixia hummed, but did not let go. Instead, she tightened her arms, pressed her entire chest against his back, and rubbed her lips against his ears, opening and closing them gently several times.
"The person I like has always been you."
(End of this chapter)