No Longer Escaping (ABO) - Chapter 5
Early the next morning, Xiao Wen and Brother Zhang visited Wan Niang’s house.
“This is?” Wan Niang had just spread the medicinal herbs onto the sieve when she saw the two of them enter from outside.
“Nothing much, just asking Xiao Yang to make up the numbers. Grandpa Li’s house is being renovated, and they need a few extra hands,” Xiao Wen said with a smile.
Wan Niang looked at Brother Zhang, noticing his long face. She wondered what these two were plotting. Why did they suddenly think of asking Yang Lulong?
Xiao Wen noticed Wan Niang’s surprised gaze and turned to look at Brother Zhang, who was wearing a long face as if very unwilling. She quietly nudged him with her hand. Only then did Brother Zhang manage to force a slightly more amiable expression.
At this moment, Yang Lulong happened to come out of her room, stretching lazily. It was rare to be able to sleep until she naturally woke up; her routine hadn’t been this regular in a long time. Her mood naturally improved.
“Here, go ask her yourselves,” Wan Niang said, looking at Yang Lulong.
“Huh?” Yang Lulong met their eyes, a look of confusion on her face.
••••
Earlier, on the way the two were coming…
“Do we really have to ask her to come along?” Brother Zhang grumbled reluctantly.
“I thought about it yesterday and realized you were right. She is a Qianyuan after all, it’s not safe to just let her live at Wan Niang’s house,” Xiao Wen said. Thinking of Sister Fang last night reminded her of that scumbag Wu Yu. After much thought, she felt they still needed to be wary of Qianyuan.
“Then is it necessary to ask her to go to Grandpa Li’s house with us?” Brother Zhang was still unhappy.
“We have to test her first. I’ve already discussed it with Li Cui’er, we’ll test her together.”
The Li Cui’er Xiao Wen mentioned was Grandpa Li’s granddaughter, and also a Kunze.
“This isn’t very good… If Grandpa Li finds out, he’ll definitely give you a beating.”
“Didn’t you think she had ill intentions? I’m just testing her. Look, if she’s a lecherous person, we can use this to drive her back to wherever she came from. If she’s not, you can also put your mind at ease. We’re also thinking about Wan Niang’s future happiness, right?”
“What if she can pretend and deceive us?”
“Impossible. If she’s really a lecherous person, she won’t be able to keep up the act.”
“But in that case, Li Cui’er will be in danger.”
“Do you think I haven’t considered that? We’ll secretly watch them from the side. If Li Cui’er is in danger, we’ll step in and give her a beating.”
“Oh~ You are clever after all…” Brother Zhang couldn’t help but admire.
••••
“Is there something you need?” Yang Lulong asked timidly. The unkind gazes of these two made her feel very uncomfortable.
“We need someone to help move things, we came to ask for your help,” Xiao Wen said with a smile.
Yang Lulong first glanced at Wan Niang, who was busy with her own work. If she agreed to them, it would also be helping Wan Niang, right? Then, without hesitation, she agreed.
“We were just waiting for you to say that.” Hearing her agree, Xiao Wen stepped forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her out as if afraid she would run away. “Oh, right, Wan Niang, you don’t need to prepare food for her. Grandpa Li will provide meals.”
Wan Niang watched the few of them leave in a flurry.
Since Yang Lulong had become a Qianyuan, doing manual labor was a piece of cake for her. While others carried one log, she could carry several. Moreover, she didn’t slack off and always worked diligently. Thanks to her, the construction could even be completed ahead of schedule.
In the blink of an eye, it was mealtime. Grandpa Li and Li Cui’er brought out the food they had prepared for everyone. There were fragrant flatbreads and some homemade pickles.
While distributing the food, Xiao Wen gave Li Cui’er a look, signaling that she could start her plan.
Yang Lulong took the food given to her and found a quiet place to sit and enjoy her lunch. Li Cui’er had been observing her and secretly went over to sit right next to her.
Yang Lulong didn’t pay much attention, just assuming someone else happened to sit there.
Li Cui’er didn’t plan to take the initiative, wanting to see her reaction. As a result, this person was almost finished with her flatbread and hadn’t looked at her once.
From the moment Li Cui’er sat down next to her, Yang Lulong did occasionally smell a faint osmanthus fragrance, but she didn’t understand that this was actually a scent unique to Kunze used to attract Qianyuan. She thought there was an osmanthus tree nearby.
Li Cui’er looked behind her and saw Xiao Wen and Brother Zhang hiding behind a big tree. She immediately gave Xiao Wen a look, pointing at Yang Lulong, who hadn’t noticed her presence at all.
Xiao Wen waved her hand, telling her to go ahead.
Receiving the instruction, Li Cui’er helplessly rolled her eyes and cleared her throat affectedly. “Ahem…”
Yang Lulong still didn’t notice her, continuing to eat her food.
“They said they found you by the river?” Li Cui’er simply asked her directly.
“Huh?” Only then did Yang Lulong notice the person beside her.
“I’ve never seen a female Qianyuan before, you’re quite pretty,” Li Cui’er said, feigning shyness.
“?” Yang Lulong still didn’t understand what they meant by Qianyuan.
“I’m Grandpa Li’s granddaughter, my name is Li Cui’er.” Seeing her blank look, Li Cui’er had to bite the bullet and strike up a conversation with her.
“Hello… my name is Yang Lulong…”
A moment of silence fell, and the atmosphere became awkward.
Seeing that she had no intention of talking, Li Cui’er was extremely embarrassed and couldn’t help but ask, “Are you not interested in Kunze?” From just now until now, she hadn’t smelled any of her scent. Usually, when Qianyuan face Kunze, they would uncontrollably release their own aura. Even the most self-controlled Qianyuan would still show some trace.
“You are indeed a Qianyuan, right?” Li Cui’er herself only knew that the person in front of her was a Qianyuan from what Xiao Wen and Zhang Long had said. But those two were Zhongyong, how did they know she was a Qianyuan? Li Cui’er sniffed carefully, but indeed, there was no scent at all.
“What is… Qianyuan?” Yang Lulong finally asked the question that had been bothering her all along.
“No way? If you’re really like what they said, pretending to have amnesia, then not even knowing what a Qianyuan is, isn’t that a bit too much of an act?” Li Cui’er was greatly surprised. She had known the common knowledge of Qianyuan, Zhongyong, and Kunze since she was little.
Hearing her say she was pretending to have amnesia, Yang Lulong still felt a little nervous. She was indeed pretending, but she really didn’t know what Qianyuan and Kunze were.
Li Cui’er looked at her confused expression, the look of seeking knowledge in her eyes. This person really seemed not to know.
“Then let me explain it to you. Qianyuan is…” Li Cui’er completely forgot about the test and began to seriously explain what Qianyuan and Kunze were to Yang Lulong.
Behind the tree, Xiao Wen saw the two of them starting to chat intimately and gave a mocking smile. It seemed a Qianyuan was a Qianyuan after all…
“What are you two secretly looking at over here?” Wan Niang’s voice rang out.
“!!!” Startled, Xiao Wen and Zhang Long jumped in surprise and quickly stood in a row, blocking the two who were talking.
“N-nothing… nothing? Wan Niang… why did you come over?” Xiao Wen stammered.
“Just came to see how the construction at Grandpa Li’s house is going.” Wan Niang curiously looked behind them but was blocked from seeing. “Where’s Yang Lulong?”
Honest Brother Zhang wanted to reach out and point behind him but was swatted by Xiao Wen, who then fabricated an excuse, “I… I don’t know… maybe she went to the outhouse…”
“Then I’ll go ask Grandpa Li…” Wan Niang pretended to walk away, taking the opportunity when the two weren’t paying attention to look over and see Yang Lulong and Li Cui’er sitting together, looking like they were chatting about something.
Wan Niang was first surprised. Li Cui’er had told her that she disliked Qianyuan and had no feelings for them, and had even revealed that she preferred Kunze. Watching them chat so enthusiastically, she felt a strange discomfort in her heart… Yang Lulong didn’t seem to have talked to her that much…
“Do you think… can Qianyuan and Qianyuan, Kunze and Kunze, be together?” Li Cui’er asked, sounding slightly sad.
Yang Lulong thought for a moment in her heart, “Doesn’t matter, I guess…”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Li Cui’er had only revealed this inclination of hers to Wan Niang. Yang Lulong was the second person to know, and she wanted to know what a Qianyuan would think.
“It’s none of my business. Who they’re with is their own affair.”
Yang Lulong’s answer surprised Li Cui’er. It was the first time she had heard such a statement. “Do you really think so?”
••••
The two began to chat about this topic. After hearing Yang Lulong’s views, Li Cui’er felt enlightened. Saying goodbye to Yang Lulong, she quickly went to Xiao Wen and Zhang Long.
“You don’t have to worry, she’s a good Qianyuan to get along with, definitely not the same kind as that scumbag Wu Yu… What happened to your faces?” Li Cui’er hadn’t noticed Wan Niang was also there. After seeing Wan Niang, she quickly changed her words, “I think… I still need to help Grandpa make tea, see you later…” She found an excuse to slip away.
“You two explain what’s going on,” Wan Niang said, raising her eyebrows and looking at the two who had come up with the bad idea.
••••
After the construction was finished, Grandpa Li, to express his gratitude, also distributed some sweet potatoes he had stored.
Yang Lulong took her share and was about to leave when Grandpa Li called out to her. He stuffed a few more into her hands. “Just consider these Wan Niang’s share. She helps me a lot usually. I offered them to her before, but she wouldn’t take them, so you take them for her.”
“Thank you… Grandpa…”
Yang Lulong didn’t expect to run into Wan Niang just as she stepped out of Grandpa Li’s house.
She was still wearing white, her ink-black hair gently swaying in the breeze. She was waiting for her.
As soon as Wan Niang saw Yang Lulong come out, she walked over, looked at the burlap sack in her hand, and asked, “What’s this?”
“Sweet potatoes.” Yang Lulong didn’t dare to meet her eyes, looking down at the sweet potato sack in her hands.
“Then shall we have roasted sweet potatoes tonight?”
“Mmm…”
The two walked side by side on the way home.
Wan Niang moved closer to her little by little, the distance between their shoulders gradually decreasing.
“I saw you chatting with Cui’er, what were you talking about?”
“She told me about Qianyuan…” Yang Lulong recounted everything to her.
“If you didn’t understand… why didn’t you ask me?” Wan Niang was a little unhappy.
“I…” Yang Lulong was embarrassed to say she was shy.
••••
The sun had set. Wan Niang was busy in the kitchen, while Yang Lulong was feeding the chicks in the yard again, enjoying the peaceful scene.
Xiao Wen and Zhang Long, these two uninvited guests, arrived again, handing a basket full of medicinal herbs to Yang Lulong, telling her not to call Wan Niang out, just to tell her they had come. They then ran off after giving the instructions, their movements so quick that Yang Lulong didn’t even have time to react.
Wan Niang came out carrying the steaming roasted sweet potatoes and understood when she saw the two baskets.
“They came?”
“Yeah, what’s this?” Yang Lulong looked at the basket filled with medicinal herbs, very puzzled as to why these two would suddenly bring Wan Niang medicinal materials.
“Medicinal herbs. They’ll be delivering these for the next few days,” Wan Niang said casually, blowing on the sweet potato in her hand and peeling off the skin.
Yang Lulong didn’t pay much attention, only finding it strange that the two had disappeared after lunch. Now she knew they had gone to gather herbs.