"Elope? Are you serious?"
"Do you know what you're saying?!"
Lixian's face flushed bright red. With a hint of panic in his eyes, he stared at the innocent-looking Shen Qing and his voice suddenly rose. He stammered as he asked.
Shen Qing was startled by Lixian's sudden increase in volume. She turned her head and looked at him blankly, her eyes full of confusion. "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
Lixian looked at the thin little girl in front of him. Angrily, he stepped forward and pinched her face. But due to years of malnutrition, there wasn't much flesh on Shen Qing's face, so it didn't feel good to pinch.
"Do you know what 'elope' means? How can you say such a word at such a young age? Be careful someone might hear you and kidnap you!"
Lixian's expression was a bit fierce, which scared Shen Qing into quickly covering her mouth.
Shen Qing stared with wide eyes. Her thin face made her eyes look extremely big. "Does this word have a bad meaning? But I often hear Sister Zhaodi next door say that she wants to elope with the poor scholar at the village entrance..."
"I thought this word just meant leaving the village. It turns out it's a bad word..."
Seeing that Shen Qing looked like she was about to be scared into crying, Lixian softened his heart.
She was just a child. What could she know? She must have just heard it from others.
To prevent Shen Qing from saying in the future that she wanted to elope with someone, Lixian solemnly grabbed Shen Qing's shoulders and said to her seriously.
"This word is not exactly bad, but it's not good either. It does mean leaving the village, but it refers to a man and a woman in love who agree to leave together."
"You're still young. You can't just say this word casually, especially to boys!"
"Do you understand!"
Lixian, like a little adult, nagged and admonished Shen Qing.
Shen Qing covered her mouth and nodded repeatedly. In her heart, she had already sealed away the word "elope" and didn't plan to say it again in the future.
"I understand. I won't say it to others again!"
Finally, she timidly looked at Lixian and added, "I promise."
Lixian looked at the pitiful Shen Qing, and a corner of his hard heart softened.
Her clothes were tattered and full of patches. Compared with Shen Chuyun, they didn't seem to be from the same parents.
Lixian, who had harbored a bit of resentment towards Shen Qing because of Shen Chuyun just now, had all that resentment disappear because of Shen Qing's actions.
The weather had entered early autumn. The raindrops fell on the two of them, making them both shiver involuntarily.
They huddled together. It seemed that only in this way could they draw some warmth from each other.
Especially Shen Qing. She was still young and didn't have a very clear boundary about the differences between men and women. Because of the cold, she pressed closer to Lixian and even wanted to open her arms to hug him.
Seeing this, Lixian curled his lips into a sneer and mocked himself. "What's the difference between us and orphans now? We both can't go home."
Shen Qing raised her head. Her eyes were moist. "We have fathers and mothers. How can we be orphans?"
Seeing that Shen Qing didn't understand what he meant, Lixian didn't plan to explain. He took Shen Qing's small hand and led her in the other direction.
"Come on. I'll take you to my home."
Lixian's hand was very warm. When Shen Qing's hand was held by him, she felt a warm current flow through her whole body.
But when she heard that he was going to take her home, the first thing Shen Qing thought of was Lixian's quarreling parents.
"But aren't your father and mother quarreling? If we go in... we'll get beaten, right? I'm scared..."
The little girl's fear and resistance were written all over her face. She even walked a bit slower.
Lixian explained, "That's not my home. I'm going to take you to my own home."
Shen Qing nodded as if she understood. She obediently let Lixian pull her away.
For some reason, she always had an innate trust in Lixian. She didn't trust anyone in the world, including her father, mother, but only Lixian. No matter what he said, Shen Qing would believe it.
So she wasn't afraid that Lixian would take her to some strange place and do something bad to her. She only believed that Lixian could take her away from that depressing home.
Anyway, no matter how long she left home, her father, mother, and younger brother wouldn't worry about her...
Thinking of this, Shen Qing lowered her head to hide the disappointment in her eyes.
Lixian led Shen Qing through the village roads and walked all the way to the back mountain, which was where the villagers collected matsutake mushrooms.
There were wild beasts in the mountains, so the villagers always walked on the well - trodden paths when collecting matsutake. Shen Qing was also very familiar with this place.
But after walking on the main path for a while, Lixian led Shen Qing onto a small path. They walked around left and right and even passed by a steep cliff.
Lixian looked at Shen Qing, who was following him calmly, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. He originally thought Shen Qing would be scared into crying.
"Aren't you scared?"
Shen Qing looked at Lixian in confusion. "Not at all. I've been to even more dangerous places."
After all, she was young and not as fast as the adults at collecting matsutake, so she often had to go to some remote and uninhabited places to collect so as not to compete with the adults.
"I mean, aren't you afraid that I'll take you to some strange place?"
Shen Qing shook her head and gave Lixian a big smile. "I'm not afraid. You won't!"
This kind of unconditional trust made Lixian feel as if his heart had been hit.
He had never had such a feeling before.
After walking for about half an hour, the fine rain made the mountain path filled with a white mist. The two of them were so cold that they kept sneezing.
Finally, Lixian brought Shen Qing to a cave. The entrance of the cave was carefully covered with some branches by Lixian. The entrance was extremely narrow and only children could get in.
After Shen Qing went in, she found that there was a big stone bed and a small wooden table in this small cave.
What made Shen Qing even more delighted was that the big box beside the stone bed was filled with clean clothes and some dry rations that could be stored for a long time.
"Wow, this place is really great!"
"Brother Lixian, you're so amazing. You've even managed to turn this place into a little home!"
Shen Qing looked around curiously. Even though this cave was very simple to others, for Shen Qing and Lixian at this moment, this place was their haven.
It was a place where they could protect themselves and sleep peacefully.
Lixian stood still on the spot and stared blankly at the excited Shen Qing muttering to herself.
"Brother..."
"This little girl actually called me brother..."
Lixian couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth. Hearing Shen Qing sweetly call him brother, his heart seemed to be extremely satisfied, as if he had eaten a very sweet candy.
No...
This sweetness was even better than that of candy.
"Little girl, what did you just call me? Say it again. I didn't hear clearly."
Lixian pretended to be serious and asked Shen Qing to call him brother again.
And Shen Qing was very cooperative. She sweetly called out again, "Brother Lixian!"
This time, Lixian was extremely satisfied.