Chapter 08

Jiang Siwei’s sudden declaration was not intended to seek an immediate result, nor did he urge Lou Jia to respond at that moment.

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone declare their love without expecting a response.” Lou Jia smiled lightly and thought for a long time before saying, “Jiang Siwei, you’re strange.”

Secretly in love, but not seeking a response.

“I just hope that we can have a formal start before that,” Jiang Siwei said. ‘You should think about it, and you don’t have to give me an answer right away.’

After all, he had waited for so many years, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing to wait a little longer.

Lou Jia’s heart slowly calmed down, and she looked at Jiang Siwei quietly, her tone gentle: ”What if after I think about it, I still decide to reject you?”

“It’s my business to like you, and it’s your right to accept or reject me.“ Jiang Siwei said it all, and he was even more at ease. ‘I just hope you don’t take my liking as a kind of pressure or burden, and turn it into something you have to accept.’

”I definitely don’t think so.” Lou Jia smiled. ‘Since I was little, haven’t I been told how much I’m liked?’

Jiang Siwei agreed. ”Of course, half of the love letters you received in high school were from me.”

“Oh, really.“ Lou Jia touched his arm. ‘To be honest, did you secretly hide the love letters that others gave me?’

”…“ Jiang Siwei’s eyes wandered, and Lou Jia looked guilty. He touched his face and said, ‘I hid some…’

Lou Jia snorted.

Jiang Siwei’s face flushed, and he whispered in self-defense, ‘The ones I hid… were all boys who didn’t seem to learn good behavior.’

”Really?” Lou Jia looked at him.

Jiang Siwei was a little overwhelmed and slowly backed away: “There were also some… that looked like the type you would definitely like.”

“Good, Jiang Siwei!” Lou Jia laughed, “I said how so many people wrote love letters to me, and I couldn’t even meet one I liked!”

Jiang Siwei stopped in place.

Under the moonlight, his smile was bright, and his tone also carried a distinct smile: “Sister, early love violates school rules, I’m doing this for your own good.”

“Bullshit!” Lou Jia gave him the finger.

Jiang Siwei didn’t explain anymore. He had no intention of being seen in a bad light, so there was nothing to say. Not to mention that when he first heard that Lou Jia and Zhang Lin were dating, he even wished for them to break up on his birthday.

But then he saw Jian Rongrong’s sad face because of the breakup, and Jiang Siwei didn’t want Lou Jia to be sad, so he reluctantly wished them a long and happy life together.

But now it seems that birthday wishes are not that magical.

Of course, this has a lot to do with whether Jiang Siwei is sincere or not, but he just won’t admit it.

Lou Jia naturally didn’t know about Jiang Siwei’s little trick, and was still planning to give him a good birthday this year.

She originally planned to take Jiang Siwei to the mountains to go hiking and camping, and to see the sunset and sunrise, but Fang Jin heard about it from somewhere and insisted on going with them.

In the end, the two of them had to turn into a large group, led by Yingxi and the grandson of a local villager. The six of them entered the mountains with their equipment on their backs after lunch.

Wutong Village is almost surrounded by mountains, with towering and dense forests, and the green and blue patches of land look like a realistic oil painting.

Lou Jia brought her camera and stopped to take pictures along the roadside, unconsciously falling to the end of the group.

Jiang Siwei always stayed by her side.

“Is that a groundhog?“ Lou Jia put down her camera, grabbed Jiang Siwei’s arm, and pointed to a small mound diagonally in front of them. ‘There, do you see it?’

Jiang Siwei squinted and looked in the direction of her finger: ‘It looks like it.’

”It’s not afraid of people.” Lou Jia had previously gone hiking in the northwest, and there were often groundhogs in the woods, so fast that the camera couldn’t catch them.

“Maybe it didn’t notice us?” Jiang Siwei walked a few steps forward, making a lot of noise. The groundhog moved a little, but it still didn’t move far away.

Lou Jia followed and took a few pictures of it, then handed the camera to Jiang Siwei: ‘Take a picture of me with the little guy.’

Jiang Siwei took two steps back as Lou Jia instructed. He was half-squatting on the ground, and Lou Jia’s body was leaning to one side in the frame, pointing a finger at the groundhog.

The sunlight filtering through the trees made her smile even more dazzling.

Jiang Siwei was a little lost in thought.

“Are you ready?” Lou Jia asked.

“Almost.” Jiang Siwei re-focused the lens and pressed the shutter a few times.

Lou Jia came up quickly and said, “Let me see how you did.”

Jiang Siwei handed the camera to Lou Jia and quickly said something that sounded like a local dialect.

Lau Ka looked at him and said, “What did you say? I didn’t understand a word.”

“You are very beautiful,” Jiang Siwei repeated in Chinese.

Lau Ka couldn’t describe the feeling she had at that moment. It was a mixture of being taken for granted and being embarrassed. She made an excuse to look at the photos, but her hand holding the camera was slightly trembling.

She didn’t see anything special in the photos either. She put the camera around her neck and said, “Let’s go.”

Jiang Siwei didn’t say anything and slowly followed her.

Before it got dark, the group reached the camping site, which was a relatively open area of flat land.

Ying Xi and Liu Xiaoshan were both locals and knew that the temperature in the mountains dropped quickly, so they lit a fire as soon as they arrived.

The six of them gathered around the fire to watch the sunset, and then began to set up the tents.

Lou Jia had experience hiking and was relatively skilled at setting up tents. Under her and Liu Xiaoshan’s guidance, the three tents were quickly set up.

It gets dark early in the mountains. When Jiang Siwei and Fang Jin returned from collecting firewood, the sun had already set.

“I’m so hungry. When are we going to eat?” Fang Jin slammed a pile of firewood onto the ground and sat down next to the fire. “Are the sweet potatoes ready?”

“They were just put in.” Lou Jia took a freshly skewered ham sausage from the iron plate and handed it over. “Eat this first, and you can eat the sweet potatoes later.”

After that, she looked at Jiang Siwei and asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Not really,” Jiang Siwei replied, washing his hands and getting ready to help.

Lou Jia then picked up a small piece of roast beef and held it to his mouth, saying, “Be careful, it’s hot.”

As soon as Jiang Siwei bit into it, Fang Jin jumped up and shouted, “That’s not fair! Why should I eat raw ham and he get to eat beef?”

He Miao, another girl in the group, said, “How dare you compete with your younger brother?”

“Do I have a face?” Fang Jin said.

His frank attitude amused the group, and Ying Xi comforted him, also passing him a piece of beef, saying, ‘It’s like feeding a little animal.’

Fang Jin: ‘…’

When the moon was high in the sky, the six of them had eaten and drunk enough, and they began to chat about life and the future around the fire. Fang Jin asked Ying Xi why he had come back after finally passing the exam.

Yingxi stared at the dancing flames and asked with a smile, “Then why did you come here?”

After thinking for a long time, Loujia didn’t want to say anything, and the others didn’t know what to say. Only Jiang Siwei said, “Didn’t you ask me to come?”

Loujia couldn’t help but laugh, and the others followed suit.

Liu Xiaodong raised the can in his hand and said, “No matter what the reason is, I would like to thank you on behalf of the children at the school for being willing to come here.”

“Cheers!” He Miao responded, and they clinked glasses.

After three rounds of drinks, Fang Jin began to suggest playing a game. What would it be? The most common game at parties is truth or dare.

In the first few rounds of the game, it was always Fang Jin, Liu Xiaodong and Lou Jia who were chosen.

Lau Jia insisted on choosing the truth, but fortunately the topics were relatively simple and did not involve any sensitive issues.

Fang Jin and Liu Xiaodong each chose one big adventure and one truth, and the big adventures were not difficult. Liu Xiaodong escaped the big adventure, but Fang Jin’s question was more embarrassing.

The question was about the color of his underwear today.

“Oh my god!” Liu Xiaodong exploded, covering his face and saying, “Red, red, it’s my year of the horse.”

After everyone had finished laughing, they were about to start the next round when Jiang Siwei suddenly got up and said he was going to get some water.

When he came back, he sat on the other side of Lou Jia. This was equivalent to taking her place in the game.

Coincidentally, the next round really drew Jiang Siwei, and he also chose the dare.

He Miao handed over his phone: “Draw it yourself.”

“Go into the crowd and sing a song in public.” Jiang Siwei read out his big adventure.

Fang Jin shouted: “What’s the big deal? We’re all in the mountains. How can you be so lucky!”

Jiang Siwei just smiled wryly.

This was a real dare for him.

Lou Jia was laughing too. She knew best that Jiang Siwei had a big voice and was born with a bad ear for music.

She bent down and hit Jiang Siwei’s knee: “Give me 500 yuan and I’ll sing for you.”

Jiang Siwei took a deep breath: “No.”

Lou Jia smiled at everyone and said: “I’d like to remind you that you can cover your ears when necessary.”

Jiang Siwei laughed helplessly, but she had no grounds to argue. She searched her song list in her head and cleared her throat: “A person/looking out at the blue sea and sky…”

Fang Jin already had a lot of questions in his head after just one line.

Jiang Siwei was willing to take the risk, and the higher she sang, the higher the pitch.

He Miao listened more and more and thought, “I’m familiar with the lyrics, but this pitch is wrong, right?

Lou Jia laughed and leaned against Ying Xi’s shoulder. He looked at Jiang Siwei’s side without saying a word. When the song reached its climax, he suddenly turned his head.

He was caught off guard by the look in his eyes, and Lou Jia was lost for a few seconds, but was pulled back by his singing.

“There is a wall in your heart

but I found a window

that occasionally lets in a warm, faint light

Even if you have a wall

my love will climb up to the window sill and bloom

Open the window and you will see sadness melting…”

Jiang Siwei’s singing was indescribable, but his face was so seductive.

Even Lou Jia’s heart, which had been silent for a long time, couldn’t help but start beating again to applaud him.