Chapter 113: You Are Interested in Me

Chapter 113: Chapter 113: You Are Interested in Me

Xiuxun had come out very early. She wasn’t particularly busy, but she intentionally dawdled so she could go back a bit later. She couldn’t say what exactly she was avoiding; she just figured Zhang Yun and his guest would have finished dinner and left by now, so she finally headed home. However, she never expected to run right into them on the narrow ridge between the fields.

At first, she only saw Zhang Yun. She didn’t recognize Ouyang Mingruo under the large straw hat, so she kept walking toward them. It wasn’t until she got closer that she realized it was a woman—naturally, the beautiful girl who had come looking for Zhang Yun last night. Before the two sides even drew near, an unnatural awkwardness settled over them. But it was too late to take a detour. They had to pass each other on the narrow path, making it impossible to pretend they hadn’t seen one another.

Zhang Yun immediately smiled and greeted her, "You haven’t eaten yet, right? Heading back so late." He didn’t even realize that he had omitted his usual form of address, calling her neither by a formal title nor by her name, Xiuxun.

"Yeah. Are you guys heading to the fish pond?" Xiuxun replied. As she got close enough to see Ouyang Mingruo clearly, she smiled shyly and greeted her. "Hello."

"Hello." Ouyang Mingruo smiled and waved. "I’m Mingruo."

"I’ll bring you guys some vegetables later," Xiuxun said. She had picked some greens and placed them in her buckets.

"Thanks, thank you." Zhang Yun and Ouyang Mingruo stopped walking to let Xiuxun pass with her carrying pole and water buckets. She didn’t stop, so their exchange only lasted for the brief moment it took to cross paths.

As they resumed walking, Ouyang Mingruo tilted her head and stared at Zhang Yun with a teasing half-smile.

"What are you looking at?" After she had glanced at him several times, Zhang Yun couldn’t hold back anymore.

Ouyang Mingruo chuckled softly. "Is this the pretty village girl you like?"

"What are you talking about!" Zhang Yun’s eyes widened.

"HAHA, you said earlier that I didn’t look like a village girl. Is this what a real, pretty village girl looks like—capable of doing heavy labor?"

Zhang Yun nodded. "Exactly. You wouldn’t be able to carry things with a pole, right?"

Ouyang Mingruo lowered her voice again. "In your traditional views, doesn’t she also need to have wide hips so it’s easier to bear children?"

"COUGH!" Zhang Yun nearly choked on his own saliva. He couldn’t help but look back, relieved to see that Xiuxun had already walked far away. "Lady! What about your status? Your elegance? Can you pay a little attention to your image when you speak?"

"HEHE, I’m just doing as the locals do," she giggled. "If I started talking about finance, the internet, or throwing around foreign words, wouldn’t you despise me for being pretentious?"

Zhang Yun deliberately glanced at her backside. "Then let me see if you’re good for bearing children!"

"That was Xiuxun, wasn’t it?" Ouyang Mingruo suddenly asked.

Zhang Yun froze. He hadn’t mentioned her name or introduced them, yet she still figured it out? After a few seconds of hesitation, he snapped back to reality. So what if she knew it was Xiuxun?

"Yes."

"Why are you panicking?"

"Crazy! How am I panicking? What do I have to panic about?" Zhang Yun rolled his eyes.

"PFFT," Ouyang Mingruo burst into a laugh. "I just asked a casual question, and you stressed your denial multiple times. Isn’t that panicking?"

Zhang Yun waved his hands, mimicking a popular internet meme. "I didn’t, I’m not, don’t talk nonsense..."

"Let me analyze this," Ouyang Mingruo said. "You must have feelings for her. So when you saw her, I immediately felt you act unnaturally. She probably has feelings for you too, since she was just as awkward."

"Nonsense, there was nothing unnatural! We’re just neighbors. You’ve only known me for a few days, and you’ve only seen her once..." Zhang Yun stopped mid-sentence. Was he unconsciously covering up again?

"She definitely has feelings for you. She intentionally looked at me," Ouyang Mingruo said with certainty. "But it wasn’t the look of a bystander watching a spectacle. Plus, she avoided eye contact with me because she was afraid I’d see right through her!"

"Xiuxun is actually..." Zhang Yun caught himself. "Why should I explain anything to you? Think whatever you want."

"And that brings us to the second issue!" Ouyang Mingruo excitedly pointed a finger at him. "It’s completely normal that you didn’t introduce us—we were just passersby crossing paths! But it’s very suspicious that you spoke to her without using any name or title. Either you two are so intimate that you just drop the formalities, which is clearly not the case, or it was a subconscious evasion!"

Zhang Yun had tried to hold back, but listening to her analysis, he couldn’t help but interject. "Master Detective Ouyang, what exactly am I subconsciously evading?"

"You were afraid I’d find out who she is. You were afraid I’d know you have feelings for her, because... you have feelings for me!" Ouyang Mingruo looked at him with a beaming smile, even shooting him an exaggerated, playful wink.

Zhang Yun rolled his eyes at her. "You really think highly of yourself!"

"HAHA, don’t worry, I don’t mind!"

"Who cares whether you mind or not?"

"The fact that you like a pretty village girl proves that your interests and aesthetics are perfectly normal. It’ll be a piece of cake for me to steal you away. On the other hand, turning a gay guy straight wouldn’t be so easy."

Zhang Yun said in annoyance, "It seems I was too well-behaved last night, making you suspect I’m gay? Why don’t you try me out later and see for yourself!"

"HEHE, you refused to stay by my side even when I offered you millions. Who knew if you swung the other way? But that was just proven false; you’re clearly drooling over that pretty village girl. HAHA..."

"Stop talking nonsense." Zhang Yun frowned. They had already begun to enter the mountains, and with no one else around, he decided to explain Xiuxun’s situation to her. "Actually, I usually address her with a formal title out of respect..."

After hearing his explanation, Ouyang Mingruo’s expression grew serious.

"She really hasn’t had it easy. But what era are we living in? Why does she still have such a feudal mindset? We only live once, and there are no do-overs. Youth is even more fleeting. Is she just going to lock herself away forever over some outdated concept?"

Zhang Yun couldn’t answer that. It was someone else’s choice, and everyone had their own attitude toward life.

"Her family of origin might have molded her into this submissive personality, but someone so young shouldn’t sacrifice her entire life. She needs you to save her!"

"Stop messing around!"

"Just being a pretty village girl might not be enough to tempt you, but the identity of a beautiful widow adds that extra thrill of the forbidden, doesn’t it?"

"..."

"Don’t play dumb! I refuse to believe you don’t have any thoughts about her. It’s just that both of you are afraid of gossip."

"Hold on a second!" Zhang Yun patted her on the shoulder. "Weren’t you trying to make me your live-in husband? Weren’t you trying to snatch me away? Why are you suddenly encouraging me to go save someone else?"

"Those are two entirely different things," Ouyang Mingruo shrugged. "You save her, and I steal you away. They don’t conflict!"

"’You are not the fish, how do you know the joy of the fish?’ You’re using your own perspective to judge that she’s stuck in the mud, but how do you know she doesn’t find her own kind of happiness?"

"’You are not me, how do you know that I don’t know the joy of the fish?’ That’s just the self-satisfaction of a martyr complex, not true happiness."

"I am not you, so I don’t know if you know or not. By that same logic, you are not Xiuxun, so you don’t know whether she’s happy or not."

Ouyang Mingruo stood on her tiptoes and slapped him on the head. "Stop your sophistry! You can argue about her emotional fulfillment, but what about her physical fulfillment? Can she really be completely satisfied with absolutely none of that?"

"Uh..."

Zhang Yun was instantly left speechless. He couldn’t exactly say that she could take matters into her own hands, could he? Xiuxun didn’t seem like the type of person who would satisfy herself. For some reason, pondering this question brought his mind back to the cornfield. Imagining what Xiuxun would look like doing that... his face instantly flushed red.

"Pah! You pervert! Fantasizing about other women right in front of me!" As if seeing right through Zhang Yun’s thoughts, Ouyang Mingruo playfully pinched his waist with a feigned pout.

"..."