Chapter 177 Ruthless but Touched
The white cloud over the south was outstanding, with the black velvet cloth as a foil. Under the cover of uncle wind, it moved close to the moon silently and slowly.
About five minutes later, the cloud successfully covered the crescent moon.
However, it continued to move forward and soon uncovered the moon.
The bright moonlight gently sprinkled on Bai Bing’s tender forehead, lining her extraordinarily soft face.
Bai Bing was smiling! Her smile was as beautiful as the snow lotus blooming on the iceberg.
It was the first time for Xiaolu to see Bai Bing’s smile. He really hoped that he were a time controller!
He hoped to freeze that wonderful moment and put it aside, or find a way to extend it indefinitely.
At that moment, he saw a tree full of fruit and asked Bai Bing, “Do you want to have some plums?”
She looked back at him to see that he was pointing at the tree.
She asked, “Will they be acid? This makes me think of Wang Rong’s story of plums on the roadside.”
“Probably, otherwise, they would have been picked up by others. We can try some first. If they’re sweet, we can eat them all. If they’re still acid, you can take them back home and they will be sweeter after being stored in the rice tank for a few days. Besides, you can cut the fruit into pieces and add some sugar water to preserve or boil. Since it’s difficult for us to come here, we can’t go back empty handed,” Xiaolu said.
“How can we pluck them? They’re so high up. Can you climb a tree?” Bai Bing asked.
“Yes, Master Xi taught be before. I can imitate her gestures. You know I fell in love with her before, right? But now, I just consider her as one of my good brethren!” Xiaolu frankly mentioned his affection to Long Xi before, but Bai Bing seemed not to mind.
He stood up and rubbed his hands on his clothes, holding the trunk and climbing up with both his hands and feet.
He hugged the trunk closely after climbing up and held the nearest branch. He shook it for a few minutes to see one yellow plum falling down.
Bai Bing slacked off after waiting for a few minutes with full concentration, so she did not catch it but allowed it to fall on the ground.
That yellow plum was slipt when she picked it up, revealing its fresh pink flesh. It seemed have a 90 percent ripeness at least, so she placed it in a plastic bag.
He did the same thing to shake another seven or eight branches. A dozen plums fell down. She activated her “walking with dainty steps” and “Tianshan quick hands” to catch most of the plums, with only two or three falling on the ground.
He asked, “Do you want to climb up? I can help you.”
Bai Bing answered, “I can’t.”
Xiaolu said, “You can imitate my movements. It’s okay. Come on.”
She was hesitant.
He suddenly said cheerfully, “Come on. You can see a wonderful fountain from here. Be quick, or it will disappear. Come on!”
She held the trunk with doubt and stepped onto the slight hollows. Kicking her legs with strength, she still could not stand firmly.
He bent down with an arm holding a branch and reached one hand to her. She climbed up with his help. Her movements and gestures were similar to a baby koala’s, as seen on TV, grumpy but cute!
After she climbed up the tree with difficulty, Xiaolu asked her to imitate his motions to hug the trunk tightly. Then, he pointed at the eastern side.
There was a fountain indeed.
That was a large musical fountain in the villa community.
With the pleasing rhythm, 20 water columns were ejected at different heights. They seemed to dance with the music, forming various shapes, like a fan or a musical scale.
Colorful and golden lights stood by the fountain, scattering on the water curtain and forming all kinds of classic cartoon characters, like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Snow White. That added more extraordinary points to the water curtain. A few people were surrounding it, watching.
After 10 more minutes, the fountain show ended. They finally slid down the tree reluctantly.
Xiaolu asked, “Have you ever tried to spend a night on a tree?”
Bai Bing said, “Never. Who would do such a weird thing?”
Xiaolu said, “I tried before over that big tree. When I was young, I had a dream to build a white wooden house on a big ancient tree and live inside.” .
Bai Bing was surprised. “Really?”
Xiaolu said, “I will turn into a puppy if I cheat you. Don’t you remember the year book when we graduated from junior high school? That was a dream I wrote down on it. I can show you if you don’t believe my words. How about you? What did you write down?”
Bai Bing sighed and said slightly upset, “My wish might not be reached in my life! I hope my brother can resurge!”
She told Xiaolu the story about her brother, quite a tragic one!
They cuddled together and ate a few broken plums, most of which were acidic, but some were sweet. They were really happy to eat together.
They walked around hand in hand. Sometimes, they moved forward, while sometimes they sat down to rest. Xiaolu sent her back home when the sun rose.
An early bird flew over the top of a tree and started to sing.
Bai Bing listened to its song carefully. The bird was timid; it stopped singing when finding someone was approaching. When Bai Bing and Xiaolu stepped back, it continued singing, but when they moved closer, it stopped again.
Xiaolu asked, “You like to listen to birds singing, right?”
Bai Bing answered, “Yes, it makes me feel more comfortable.”
Xiaolu put his hand over his mouth and imitated the singing of a few kinds of birds, like cuckoos, larks, and nightingales.
Bai Bing was fascinated by his performance.
Xiaolu said, “Every time when you are in a bad mood, I can imitate birds’ melodies.”
Bai Bing asked, “So how about you? What should I do when you feel upset?”
Xiaolu said in a sweet tone, “As long as you stay with me, I will be happy!”
Bai Bing suddenly asked, “I heard that you broke the contract with the Korean company. Is that so?”
Xiaolu answered, “Yes, I discussed this with the company, but they refused my proposal. I have no mood to go back to Korea now, because my mom needs me and I should stay with her. “But my mom tried persuading me to focus on my career. I told her I hoped to go back home to develop myself. After all, I am a person of Z Country, so I will find my roots in the end.”
Bai Bing said, “It’s good. You can distract your mom’s attention if you’re home. But I am different. To be honest, I don’t like to stay with my family. My parents treat me coldly and I can’t feel any warmth from them. I just received an invitation to play a role in a Korean TV series. After I finish it, I will also end the contract with our company and go back home to stay with you!”
Xiaolu said, “Well, we can develop our career in our homeland! We will shine everywhere only if we’re talented!”
Bai Bing said, “I will leave the day after tomorrow, because I have asked for a few days before. I would have to pay for the high breach if I linger over. Don’t send me to the airport. I’m afraid of being photographed by the paparazzi to create some scandals. Your fans almost hope to be your wives, so I don’t want to make trouble for you! I want to invite you out to have fun tomorrow. In case of being recognized, how about disguising as middle-aged people?”
Xiaolu said with a smile, “You’re so nice to me! Always considering my situation!”
“Of course, you know your importance to me!” Bai Bing said while pushing Xiaolu back to the wall, slamming him against the wall with her long leg and leaning toward his head for a French kiss…
On the next day, Bai Bing went to Xiaolu’s home again.
In case of being recognized, they disguised themselves as two middle-aged people.
Bai Bing needed to always apply makeup because of her performances. Besides, she had pretended to be a middle-aged or even an elderly person a few times. Therefore, she had learned a lot from professional dressers.
She disguised herself as a “painter” and added cosmetics on Xiaolu’s face layer by layer.
Xiaolu could see that he was getting older gradually. After finishing, he wore plain clothes and looked like a 40-year-old worker.
Bai Bing also dressed as a worker in her 40s.
Then, they walked hand in hand on the streets and no one recognized them.
Bai Bing took Xiaolu to a parkour club in X City. There were quite a lot of parkour fields and parkour practitioners.
Parkour, as one of the newest, most famous extreme sports blooming in China, it was becoming more and more popular.
Parkour required the exertion of one’s bouncing ability, as well as muscle ability of arms, chest, and abdomen. One needed quite a lot of professional training. Otherwise, one might get an injury.
That way, professional training institutions came into being.
That parkour club where Bai Bing took Xiaolu to was one of the best training institutions in X City. Xiaolu had gone there before several times.
Xiaolu asked with a smile, “Do you also like parkour?”
Bai Bing said, “I don’t know how! But you’re good at it, right? Can you teach me?”
Xiaolu said with a smile, “Since you just recovered and got out of the hospital, I don’t think it’s suitable for you. Besides, you’re a new bird!”
Bai Bing said, “I can watch you! I remember that our company arranged a parkour competition in Korea, right? You jumped over from one building to another which had nearly seven meters apart. Normally, people cannot bear the large impact to their arms and fingers, even if they can jump over. But you’re different. You have been developing in every aspect of your body and seem to have no shortcomings. You even ended your parkour with such a handsome motion. It’s awesome! Since that day, I often thought of you!”
Xiaolu said with enlightening, “Oh, it was that day!”
Bai Bing asked, “How about you? When did you start thinking of me?”
Xiaolu scratched his head and said with difficulty, “I don’t know! Maybe in those days when we stayed together in Korea. On that day, I saw you get hurt on your chest. I was so worried that I couldn’t see you anymore!”
Bai Bing said, “Do the warm-up exercises. I want to see it! I want to make a video, so I can see you from time to time.”
Xiaolu said with a smile, “No wonder Master Xi always said that you’re ruthless but touched!”