Sang Tian had already been about to agree, but seeing her best friend Song Qiuyu’s expression, she put on a show of reluctance.
Yet, under Song Qiuyu’s silver tongue, Sang Tian handed over the fish in seconds.
“Uh, how about we throw our fish in too?”
Sang Tian’s three female roommates also chimed in.
For Song Qiuyu, this was an unexpected stroke of luck.
The weather had turned cold, and girls didn’t eat much anyway. If they couldn’t finish today, they could just pop it in the fridge and eat it for the next two days.
That solved three days of meals.
“But our hotpot is going to have snail noodles—four packs of them. Are you guys really okay with that?”
Xie Zhuran was being honest.
As soon as he said that, it successfully scared off the three roommates.
Sang Tian, however, decided to stay.
“Then, I’ll help you guys dig bamboo shoots!”
Sang Tian found a bamboo shoot and started looking around for a handy tool.
The four of them nodded.
Then Xie Zhuran gripped the two ends of the very straight branch in his hands and snapped it in two with a crack.
“Here, Lao Sang, take this half. Use it.”
“Mm, I’ll make good use of it!”
Sang Tian smiled gently, then took the other half of this “broken sword” with both hands and said.
“……”
For some reason, Song Qiuyu vaguely sensed the vibe of a new-generation Sword Saint receiving a broken sword and inheriting a predecessor’s will.
Maybe it was because Sang Tian had been hanging out with them too long and got marinated in their flavor.
But, come to think of it.
This move actually made Ha Ji Xie look pretty cool.
After that, the five of them dug and dug, dug and dug. After the bamboo shoots, they foraged for wild vegetables. Occasionally they’d run into mushrooms, immediately pull out their phones to scan them, confirm they weren’t poisonous, and pick them.
The sky was gradually getting dark.
With their hands full of bounty, they prepared to leave the Back Mountain.
Suddenly, something splatted against Song Qiuyu’s cheek.
Huh?
What’s this?
Her reflex was to swat it like a mosquito, but the thing bounced off her face and hit the ground instead.
Seeing that, she crouched down, brushed aside the leaves with her fair little hand, and picked up the thumb-sized object from the dirt.
A pine nut?
Song Qiuyu furrowed her brow and immediately formed a guess.
She followed the direction the pine nut had come from.
There, not far away, a squirrel with a big, fluffy tail was holding a pine nut in both paws.
It was about the same size as the one in her hand.
At that moment, the squirrel’s bright, dark eyes were fixed on them—cautious, yet somehow provocative.
“Since when are there squirrels on this mountain?”
Song Qiuyu tightened her grip on the pine nut.
She was the type to hold a grudge, though usually not for long—only because the other party wasn’t worth her energy.
But today, getting hit by a squirrel out of nowhere really pissed her off.
“Wait for me a second. I need to have a word with that squirrel!”
She rolled up her nonexistent sleeves and stepped forward.
“Xi’er, maybe I should handle this.”
Jiang Xiao pulled her little hand back.
He’d heard that when a girl is on her period, hormonal and physical changes can make her moody.
He completely understood her anger.
But he could get revenge for her, and she was still on her period—she needed to rest.
“Jiang Xiao, don’t stop her. Let Qiu Yu go. This is a fight between her and the squirrel that has to be settled!”
Sang Tian said.
Hearing that, Xie Zhuran and Lin An were stunned for a moment. Seriously? Were they really going to fight a squirrel just because it hit her with a pine nut?
What was the difference between this and that idiot who boxed a giraffe last year?
But then again, it did sound kind of fun.
Jiang Xiao thought it over and decided not to stop her. If Xi’er felt uncomfortable later, he could still massage her—and let her learn a lesson too.
It was her fault for never being well-behaved when her period came.
So Song Qiuyu tightened her grip on the pine nut and stepped forward two paces.
Splat.
The squirrel quickly threw another pine nut from its spot, hitting her right on the forehead, then scampered up and down and away.
“Ugh, that hurts…”
Song Qiuyu rubbed her forehead, grabbed the pine nut before it could bounce away, then chased after the squirrel with two pine nuts in hand and threw one back.
Behind her, Sang Tian pulled out her phone, smiling broadly as she recorded the moment, murmuring, “This is really good!”
Lin An and Xie Zhuran had expected this and weren’t surprised at all. Over the past three years, Lao Sang had filmed a ton of Lao Song.
They turned to look and saw Jiang Xiao also recording on his phone.
And Jiang Xiao’s face was full of smiles too.
At that moment, Lin An and Xie Zhuran both fell silent.
Never mind Lao Sang, but Lao Jiang really wasn’t afraid that when Lao Song came to her senses, she’d get mad and ignore him for days?
Song Qiuyu had no idea she was being filmed.
She was fully absorbed in her battle with the squirrel.
The squirrel wasn’t big—at most it could jump up and wrap its tail around her head once—but it had a fierce temper and was obnoxiously cocky.
She strongly suspected it had already ambushed several people today.
So what she was doing now was called—Acting in Righteousness on Behalf of Heaven!
Before long, the girl seemed to have forgotten human language and started communicating with the squirrel with “squeaks,” “coos,” and “whines.”
All of this was, of course, fully recorded on Jiang Xiao and Sang Tian’s phones.
The girl chased the squirrel, hitting and scolding it, while they chased after her.
Until the night grew deeper.
Song Qiuyu pointed at the squirrel holding a pine nut not far away, panting, and let out a dolphin-like screech to express her displeasure and declare war.
The squirrel puffed out its cheeks and snorted, making a noise like a toy, accepting the challenge.
But to the squirrel, the fight wasn’t really a fight—it was more like play, or rather, a one-sided bullying of the human.
The squirrel gnawed on a pine nut and chittered a couple of times. This human was interesting.
“Lao Lin, do you understand what they’re saying?”
Xie Zhuran spread his hands.
Lin An’s glasses glinted. “I think Lao Song is probably saying: ‘Squirrel, let’s fight another day!’ And the squirrel replies, ‘Okay’?”
“……”
Xie Zhuran looked at his roommate’s behavior and suddenly didn’t know what to say. Lao Song’s combat power was maybe… 0.5 squirrels.
Sang Tian was beaming.
She admired the video she’d shot, then uploaded it to her personal account online. Good stuff should be shared with netizens!
Whether as a director or an actor, the most important thing was never to be afraid of dropping punchlines—the real fear was being too concerned with personal image and holding back.
That was the director’s philosophy Qiu Yu had taught her over these past three years.
It would be great if she could accidentally trend.
Like #SongQiuyuOutwitsSquirrelWithAmazingLearningAbility, or #TranslateEverythingSongQiuyuSaidToThatSquirrel
When Qiu Yu found out, she’d be really surprised.
Then Song Qiuyu’s expression suddenly changed. She crouched down, pressing her hands together over her stomach.
“Xi’er, what’s wrong?”
Jiang Xiao quickly stopped recording and ran over.
The squirrel chittered twice and fled deeper into the Back Mountain.
By the time they returned to the rental apartment, the entire South Wind City was already shrouded in night.
Song Qiuyu washed her hands clean, and Jiang Xiao helped her to the sofa to sit down.
Even though she kept insisting she was fine, Jiang Xiao didn’t quite believe her and nearly carried her back princess-style.
She didn’t actually mind being taken care of like a little girl by Jiang Xiao—it was just too embarrassing to bear the stares, whispers, and sneaky photos from others.
“Looks like tonight’s hotpot will have to be on the milder side.”
Jiang Xiao sat down beside her, breathed on his hands, rubbed them together, turned sideways, and placed them over the painful spot on her lower belly.
“Ahem.”
Sensing the glances from others, Song Qiuyu didn’t answer Jiang Xiao. Instead, blushing, she obediently accepted the care.
“Lao Jiang, you take care of Qiu Yu for now. We’ll go handle the ingredients!”
Lin An said, then picked up the bamboo shoots and wild vegetables and headed to the kitchen first.
Jiang Xiao nodded, glanced at the two figures following Lin An into the kitchen, and said, “Okay, I’ll come help you guys in a bit.”
“I’ll be fine after a little rest—then I can help too!”
Song Qiuyu turned her head and said to them.
Hearing Song Qiuyu say that, Jiang Xiao helplessly curled his lips slightly.
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