Chestnuts

“What’s this?”

Xiaoguo looked up at the lush fruit trees and the ripened fruits. She was extremely tempted.

Jiang Danhe was right behind her. He jumped onto a tree with familiarity and picked two big pears right off it. He wiped them against his clothes and handed one to Xiaoguo.

Before Xiaoguo could retract her surprised gaze, Jiang Danhe had already come down. She took the delicious-looking white pear and swallowed her saliva before taking a bite. The pear was super juicy and sweet.

“Delicious.”

Xiaoguo widened her eyes and nodded. It had been a long time since she had eaten fruits. She had almost forgotten the taste of pears. Now that she was tasting it, she really missed it so much.

Jiang Danhe took a bite too. It was indeed delicious.

The two of them finished the entire pear hurriedly. Xiaoguo licked the juice at the corner of her lips and said anxiously to Jiang Danhe, “More!”

Jiang Danhe’s mind was in a daze and he couldn’t hear anything else. He could only hear his own heartbeat. All he could see were Xiaoguo’s moist lips and her pinkish tongue. Every time she licked her lips, it felt like something was slashing his heart.

She wasn’t asking for a pear, she was asking for his life!

Jiang Danhe’s mind was in a daze. He was pushed up the tree by Xiaoguo again. He picked out more pears and wrapped them up with his shirt.

By the time he got down, his face was blushing and his heart was still racing. He was hoping for a nosebleed to extinguish his fire.

Although Xiaoguo was eating the pears, she did not forget to observe the surrounding fruit trees. Upon closer inspection, she found many other types of fruit trees, but there was one that particularly caught her attention.

“You want this?”

Jiang Danhe looked at the strange fruits on the tree with lingering fear. He asked Xiaoguo again and again with uncertainty.

With his shirt in her hands, Xiaoguo was getting sick of his questions. She handed him the shirt and prepared to climb the tree herself.

Jiang Danhe was shocked and quickly stopped Xiaoguo. “Guo, you can’t eat this. That prickly shell would hurt you.”

He had seen that fruit before when he was young. Out of curiosity, he had picked one, but he got pricked when he touched it. At that time, he was still quite young. He was so frightened that he didn’t dare to touch that fruit again.

“Just pry it open and eat the fruit inside.”

Xiaoguo looked at the chestnuts in front of her longingly. If she had to list out the things she likes to eat, chestnuts would be at the top of the list.

Seeing that Jiang Danhe was still hesitating, Xiaoguo decided to climb the tree herself.

Jiang Danhe had to call her “little ancestor” several times before he managed to stop her. Xiaoguo started to sulk as Jiang Danhe wouldn’t climb up the tree himself, and yet he refused to let her do it. She stood at the side looking unhappy. She shot him a look and signaled to him to climb up that tree.

Jiang Danhe had no choice but to stuff the robe into his belt. Then, he got on a branch in a few moves. At Xiaoguo’s urging, he broke off a tree branch and aimed at the green and thorny shells. “Guo, stand further away.”

Jiang Danhe was worried about the chestnuts falling on her. After she moved away, he hit hard at the fruits.

Xiaoguo kept her mouth closed, afraid that she would salivate. As she watched the green fruits fall from the tree, she couldn’t wait to cook and eat them.

Seeing that a lot of chestnuts had dropped off the tree, Jiang Danhe came down. Xiaoguo took off her jacket and spread it on the ground before picking up the chestnuts one by one. She was feeling regretful now. Had she known that there were so many fruits here, she would have brought the big basket that was as tall as Jiang Danhe.

Jiang Danhe really didn’t know what Xiaoguo was rejoicing about. “This thing is inedible.”

However, he still bent down to pick them up with her. To Jiang Danhe, he was willing to do anything that made Xiaoguo happy.

Xiaoguo picked up the fruits happily and bundled up a lot of other fruits using their clothes. However, most of them were apples and pears. Xiaoguo had wanted to bring back more chestnuts, but she didn’t have any clothes left.

When the two of them came down from the mountains, they were dressed in only one layer of clothes. The rest of their garments were used for holding the fruits.

On the way down, Xiaoguo tried to remember the route. She planned to bring more baskets the next time she comes, so that she can collect more fruits.

Jiang Danhe could tell what she was thinking at a glance. He said solemnly, “You can’t come here alone.”

The roads here were not easy to navigate, and there were also steep slopes. Jiang Danhe could not imagine if Xiaoguo came up alone and fell off the mountains.

Just thinking about it made him perspire in fright. .

When she saw his serious expression, Xiaoguo had second thoughts about it. But it was such a pity to ignore the presence of these fruits.

“Okay, I promise you. I won’t come without you.”

In the end, Xiaoguo agreed. The emotions in Jiang Danhe’s eyes looked so complicated. Xiaoguo felt terrible seeing him like this. In order to reassure him, she promised not to come here alone.

Jiang Danhe heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. He smiled and wanted to reach out to rub Xiaoguo’s head. But before he could do that, Xiaoguo immediately said, “Don’t raise your hand. The fruits will fall.”

Jiang Danhe’s hand, which had stopped in midair, looked extremely awkward. Xiaoguo wished that she hadn’t spoken. She was such a spoilsport.

Eventually Jiang Danhe still managed to rub her head. He said helplessly, “They won’t fall.”

He proved with his actions that the fruits would not fall when he raised his hand.

Xiaoguo smiled awkwardly. It was really embarrassing. Those words just now made her sound like a fool who only cared about those fruits and not for the person in front of her.

Jiang Danhe didn’t mind. He continued to stand in front of Xiaoguo with his tall body blocking her. Xiaoguo didn’t know if it was her imagination or reality, but she felt that the air around her had become much warmer.

Looking at the figure in front of her, Xiaoguo felt an indescribable sense of security. She quietly reached out and grabbed the corner of his shirt.

The man was stunned. Then he strode forward again, adjusting his strides to accommodate Xiaoguo’s speed.

She secretly pursed her lips and smiled. Ever since Jiang Danhe felt the subtle movement behind him, his ears had turned red.

The two of them picked a route with fewer people because of their current appearance. There were leaves on their heads and hay hanging from their clothes. Looking the way they did, strangers might think that they had done something shameful.

They were very lucky. They didn’t bump into anyone along the way. However, when they reached the house and Xiaoguo opened the door, Jiang Danhe detected some movements around the house.

He quickly looked in that direction, but he didn’t see anything. Jiang Danhe frowned and wanted to take a closer look, but he was stopped by Xiaoguo.

“Come in.”

Xiaoguo opened the door and urged Jiang Danhe to go in. But the man was still standing at the door and looking outside. Xiaoguo wasn’t as sensitive as him and didn’t notice anything unusual.

The two of them stood at the door for a while. A gust of wind blew past, and Xiaoguo couldn’t hold on anymore. She forcefully dragged Jiang Danhe into the house.

Jiang Danhe was puzzled. What he saw just now was very disturbing. He began to feel a niggling sense of worry.

As he was naturally sensitive, he was quite sure about his instincts. There must have been something there just now.

However, he did not tell Xiaoguo about this. He just had to be careful since he had yet to figure out the situation. If he were to tell her about it, it would only make her worry. It was better to figure it out first.

After Xiaoguo was done washing up, she saw that Jiang Danhe was still sitting on a chair with a frown. “Seriously, does this person neglect his health just because he has a big body? He’s wearing so little, yet he doesn’t know to hurry back to his room to change.”

Xiaoguo pushed Jiang Danhe into the house. Just as she was about to wash the fruits she had brought back, there was a knock on the door.

She checked her attire to check that she was dressed appropriately before walking over to open the door.

“Sister-in-law.”

“Aye.”

Yang Jia lowered his head and waited for Xiaoguo to answer before looking up. “I’m here to return the book.”

After hearing the purpose of his visit, Xiaoguo let him go into the house to exchange some books while she continued to sort out the fruits.

Yang Jia didn’t think it was a good idea, but seeing how serious Xiaoguo was, he couldn’t say anything else. He entered the house and quickly returned the books before picking out new ones. He didn’t linger a second more.