Chapter 112: Poetry and Distant Fields

Chapter 112: Chapter 112: Poetry and Distant Fields

Zhang Yun had only mentioned that her shoes would get dirty, but Ouyang Mingruo decided to change her entire outfit!

Since she had already slept in his bed last night anyway, she didn’t mind wearing his clothes. Helpless, Zhang Yun could only let her pick whatever she wanted.

About ten minutes later, Ouyang Mingruo opened the door and stepped out.

"Will this do?"

Her outfit was simple: a pair of large shorts and a white T-shirt. Thanks to her tall figure, she could pull off Zhang Yun’s clothes, even if they hung on her in a loose, oversized style.

Zhang Yun’s gaze trailed lower. His loose shorts naturally couldn’t produce the effect of hot pants, but they stopped right at her knees, leaving her shapely calves on full display.

The shoe sizes were obviously vastly different. She had found a pair of canvas sneakers and crushed the heels flat, turning them into passable, loose-fitting slip-ons.

"Do I look good? You love looking at my feet, don’t you!" Ouyang Mingruo pursed her lips into a light smile, stretching out a foot and wiggling her toes.

"Miss, don’t say I didn’t warn you. There’s nothing wrong with this minimalist, casual style, and you pull it off beautifully. But with the sun blazing like this, those fair, tender legs of yours are going to end up several shades darker!"

"You’re exaggerating!"

"Although mosquitoes mostly hunt at dusk, we’re heading into the mountains, where wild ones are active even during the day. With your delicate skin, a single bite will swell up into a lump this big!" Zhang Yun held up his thumb to demonstrate.

"You’re just trying to scare me!" Even though she knew Zhang Yun was exaggerating, Ouyang Mingruo’s confidence still faltered.

Tanning! Mosquitoes!

These were a woman’s greatest enemies...

Zhang Yun waited for her to give up entirely. He didn’t own any capris, and his regular trousers would be far too long for her to wear.

"Give me a second!" Ouyang Mingruo spun around and went back inside.

This wait lasted at least another ten minutes. Zhang Yun figured she must be trying on half the pants in his wardrobe.

"How about this?"

Ouyang Mingruo had changed into a pair of sporty jogger pants. On her, they fit more like harem pants. Paired with the oversized T-shirt and a baseball cap, it gave her a distinct hip-hop vibe.

Zhang Yun applauded. "Yo, yo, check it out! You look ready to drop a rap track."

"Let’s go!"

Ouyang Mingruo was in high spirits. She even grabbed a woven straw hat and plopped it on her head. "Well? Do I look the part of a village girl?"

Zhang Yun shrugged. "That kind of aura can’t be faked. You’d have to actually work the fields, wade through mud, and dig in the dirt first. As for you... I’ll just give you that straw hat. When you wear it back to the city, your friends will probably think it’s the latest Louis Vuitton release."

"Then I won’t be polite. I’m taking it with me."

Zhang Yun led her out the door. As they walked along the village path, he couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious. Some of the villagers went out of their way to come over and say hello, purely to get a good look at the beautiful girlfriend they had missed seeing the night before.

Unfortunately for the gossips, Ouyang Mingruo was dressed down in casual clothes. She lacked the stark, glamorous contrast of a television heroine that the rumors had promised.

While Zhang Yun felt awkward, Ouyang Mingruo found the entire experience novel and fascinating.

Once there was no one else around, she couldn’t help but ask, "Are you feeling shy?"

"Who said that? It’s just... our relationship is a little hard to explain." Zhang Yun quickened his pace.

"There’s nothing to explain. Just admit it."

"Lady, I still have to find a wife someday. The higher of a profile you keep, the more people will gossip. It’s going to be impossible to live down, and it’ll eventually affect my marital sex... I mean, relationship."

Ouyang Mingruo poked him in the ribs, teasing him with a half-smile. "Tsk, tsk, you sure plan far ahead. In that case, just come with me!"

"I’m not going to be a live-in son-in-law!" Zhang Yun scoffed, rejecting her once again.

"Hahaha, it’s fine! I’ll definitely defeat Ouyang Chunqiu. You won’t have to marry into the family; just stick with me and enjoy the good life. You can stay home and be the man behind the woman!"

Zhang Yun made an exaggerated show of looking her up and down from behind. "Oh, so you prefer it from behind."

"Get lost!"

Outside the village, the fields were bustling with people hard at work. Everyone warmly called out to greet Zhang Yun, and a few even hollered teasing remarks from afar. Now, it wasn’t just Zhang Yun who felt self-conscious; even Ouyang Mingruo grew a little bashful.

Zhang Yun introduced his hometown as they walked.

"See that? That dirt path connects to the main road. I couldn’t tell you if it’s a township, county, provincial, or national highway, though. This whole stretch of fields belongs to us. We grow rice in these paddies here, and those elevated, dry plots over there are the vegetable gardens.

"The peak behind us is called Bijia Mountain. It’s shaped like a calligraphy brush rest—a lot of places have mountains named like that. But ours is part of a massive mountain range. If you go deep enough, it’s just endless peaks and untouched, primeval forests.

"This area also produces ginseng. That’s actually what I used back then—I fed you a few drops of its essence."

"Ew... can you phrase that a little better? What do you mean you ’fed me a few drops of your essence’..."

"Haha, can you get your mind out of the gutter?"

Ouyang Mingruo strolled along the raised paths between the fields. Looking at the nearby farmland and forests, and the scattered, picturesque houses of the village in the distance, she felt as though she had stepped into an oil painting. The lingering weight on her chest lifted, her mood growing even more relaxed.

"It’s so beautiful! There are lush green vegetable patches and fields of golden harvest. You can smell the authentic scent of the rice paddies. Even the hot breeze doesn’t feel stifling—it’s a soothing comfort that an air conditioner could never replicate." Mingruo took a deep breath of the fresh, rustic air, feeling her heart fully open to the world around her.

Zhang Yun smiled. "Life isn’t just about surviving the daily grind. It’s about poetry and the fields far away."

"Exactly! I’m so jealous that you get to wake up to this every day."

Zhang Yun scoffed. "Bah! Give me a break. That’s just the pretentious romanticism of city folks sitting in their air-conditioned office buildings. If you actually had to live in these ’fields far away’ for a month, enduring the harsh wind and blistering sun, you’d be crying and begging to go home in no time."

"..."

"Traveling is just leaving the place you’re sick of to visit a place someone else is sick of. This ’artsy lifestyle’ you talk about is the same thing. You’re exhausted by your own daily grind, so you romanticize someone else’s life from afar. But once it actually becomes your life, the ’poetry and the fields far away’ will just turn into a brand-new daily grind."

Ouyang Mingruo burst into giggles. "Tsk, tsk. How old are you again? When did you become so cynical about life?"

"Twenty!" Zhang Yun flicked his hair with a suave toss of his head.

"You’re twenty? I don’t believe that for a second!" Ouyang Mingruo curled her lip.

Zhang Yun smiled faintly and lowered his voice. "Centimeters, that is."

"Twenty centimeters?" Mingruo mulled it over for a second before the realization hit her. "Nonsense! How does that saying go? ’People brag the most about what they lack!’ If you ask me... hehe... you’re probably just a three-inch stump..."

"Three inches? Haha, I’m at least seven inches!"

Ouyang Mingruo playfully punched his shoulder. "You’re so inappropriate! How did a guy like you manage to scam someone into becoming your apprentice? It’s a total mystery!"

Zhang Yun threw his hands up in mock defeat. "Because I have a massive... talent."

"What kind of talent? Is your Kung Fu just that good?" Ouyang Mingruo was genuinely curious. The way Zhang Yun had dispatched those two assassins last night hadn’t been nearly as flashy as the sparring performance put on by his four apprentices today.

"Exactly," Zhang Yun nodded earnestly.

"So what is it?"

"I’m exceptionally *long*, and my *Kung Fu* is incredible."

"??" Ouyang Mingruo paused to process his words before bursting into laughter and smacking him again. "You shameless bastard, you can turn a simple walk through a dirt field into a dirty joke!"

As they laughed and joked, Zhang Yun suddenly ground to an awkward halt. As luck would have it... Xiuxun had just finished watering her vegetables and was carrying her empty buckets back home. It was too late to take a detour now.