Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 184 - 181: Summer Noon

Chapter 184: Chapter 181: Summer Noon

The mountain air was much fresher than the city’s, and just a simple walk on the mountain path, breathing in the fresh forest air, filled one with pleasure.

Sun Wen led the way, his exercised physique carrying a big bag effortlessly, while he chatted and laughed with Yueyue beside him. Yueyue walked with empty hands, occasionally nodding, giving off an impression that their relationship was still somewhat awkward.

Trailing behind, Qin Guanglin suddenly realized what Sun Wen meant by saying he couldn’t wait the other day.

Once the two of them completely reconciled, if nothing changed, they would likely soon repeat the cycle of bickering and fussing.

But all this had nothing to do with him. At first, carrying the bag on his shoulder had been quite comfortable, and though climbing halfway up the mountain hadn’t been much harder, his shoulders had grown a bit sore. Qin Guanglin didn’t overexert himself, stopped to shift the bag to the other shoulder, and carried on.

He Fang moved around Qin Guanglin with light footsteps, playfully picking a small flower to tuck into his hair without him noticing, then snapped a photo with her phone before removing it, while Fool Qin obliviously grinned at her camera work.

"Tired?" She ran in front of Qin Guanglin, hands behind her back, thought for a moment, then pulled out a bottle of water from her bag, "Want to take a sip and rest?"

"No thanks, this load isn’t heavier than you; how could I be tired?"

Qin Guanglin refused the water she offered and took a few brisk steps forward with his long legs, "See, if it weren’t for taking care of you, I could go even faster."

"Slow down, we know you’re strong; no need to rush and risk falling over."

The clouds in the sky were capricious, occasionally covering the sun, then stealthily sliding away, the sunlight now hidden, now spilling onto them. He Fang intended to offer Qin Guanglin an umbrella, but after being refused, she didn’t bother to use one for herself; the weather was cool, with a gentle mountain breeze, and not a hint of irritation.

"You’re back home," said Qin Guanglin after walking a bit, glancing towards the dense forest.

"Huh?" He Fang looked at him, puzzled and unsure of his meaning.

"Don’t foxes live in the woods?" He winked, "I had a dream before, where you were a fox spirit, with a bunch of tails behind your butt, pouncing over to eat me..."

"You’re the fox spirit."

He Fang wrinkled her nose, showing dissatisfaction with his words, "What kind of absurd dream?"

"Heh heh heh."

Qin Guanglin watched He Fang with sheer amusement. If she sprouted a tail right then and darted into the forest, and then an old fox came out declaring himself her father-in-law, that would be quite fun.

The first half of the trail up Chou Mountain wasn’t steep, and the path was quite flat. It only grew rugged as they neared the middle of the mountain. The group wasn’t aiming for the summit of Chou Mountain; their destination was half-way up.

Approaching noon, they had arrived at the midpoint of the mountain, finding a clearing where tents had been pitched before. Everyone put their load down and sat to catch their breath.

Starting to cook immediately was unlikely, as no one was keen on the effort right after climbing. Each person took out their own food from their bags, having a snack to tide them over before dealing with the items they’d brought up later.

Qin Guanglin spread the prepared picnic blanket under a large tree with He Fang, put down his backpack, and began to take things out. Sun Wen led Yueyue over and the four of them settled their lunch together.

"Don’t move, let’s take a picture first."

"Right, don’t rush to eat."

The two women wielded their phones, searching for the perfect angle.

"The phones eat first," Qin Guanglin shrugged at Sun Wen, both of them waiting with expectation as the women busied themselves.

Taking photos before eating had become a routine habit; during a picnic, it seemed like something was missing if they didn’t take pictures. Once the two women finished, the meal officially began.

Sun Wen had actually brought pizza, contained in a large iron box, eliciting amazement from Qin Guanglin. He and He Fang only had simple, easy-to-carry items: cake, bread, fruit, drinks, a box of egg tarts, and the homemade sandwiches that He Fang had stuffed in last minute. Turning to look at the others, they all had similar assortments, except for Sun Wen who was the exception.

"Impressive, huh?" Sun Wen proudly showed off the iron box lid, "Took me ages to find this box."

"Somewhat impressive."

"There’s more impressive stuff," Sun Wen said, pulling out two cans of beer, "Ha-ha, you definitely didn’t remember to bring any."

"..."

"..."

Yueyue and He Fang’s gazes fell on the beer cans, then they each looked towards the two men.

"Cough... My throat hurts, can’t drink," managed Sun Wen.

Qin Guanglin cleared his throat and used a toothpick to pick up a piece of pineapple and put it into his mouth, nodding, "I’m quite happy just eating this."

"It’s actually quite moisturizing... ahem... Well, the weather is indeed very dry, easy to cause internal heat. Now that you mention it, my throat also feels uncomfortable." Sun Wen casually stuffed the beer back into her backpack, turned her head, and smiled at Yueyue, "Hungry, right? Eat up."

...

"If you want to drink, you can ask him."

After the meal, Qin Guanglin sat lazily against a tree, with He Fang leaning beside him, playing with his hand as she spoke.

"I don’t like drinking it; there’s nothing good about that stuff." Qin Guanglin chuckled, "From now on, you’ll be my shield. Whenever I don’t want to drink, I’ll just say my girlfriend won’t let me, perfect."

"Then what have I become in the eyes of your friends, a shrew? A tiger lady?"

"They wish they had one."

"Tsk, who would want someone who is so controlling all the time..." He Fang’s voice trailed off as if she remembered something, growing softer until she finally stopped talking and just smiled.

Qin Guanglin raised his hand to ruffle her hair, leaning completely relaxed against the tree behind him, and looked up.

The lush leaves were above his head, with only fragments of sunlight spilling through the gaps between the leaves.

The leaves in summer weren’t as tender and vivid green as they were in spring but had a settled shade of dark green. The wind was gentle, causing the branches to sway softly, but they hardly made a sound.

"Do you like it?"

"What?"

"Do you like it, like this?"

"It’s quite pleasant, of course, I like it."

"I like it a lot too." Qin Guanglin swung her gently in his embrace, "We can often go out and play by ourselves."

He Fang rolled her eyes sneakily, "I bet you’ll be the one who ends up wanting to stay at home and too lazy to go out."

"You’re the one who’s the biggest homebody."

"I’m only temporarily a homebody."

"We’ll see who’s the one not wanting to move when the time comes." Qin Guanglin got up and pulled over his backpack, taking out a pencil and a drawing pad from inside.

"What are you doing?" He Fang curiously watched his actions.

"Drawing." He shook the pencil, feeling she had asked a silly question.

"Duh, I’m asking what you’re drawing."

"Take a guess."

"Now you’re copying me?" He Fang leaned on Qin Guanglin’s back, reaching her hand to probe around his waist, "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Stop messing around, you’ll see it when I’m done."

The pencil quickly sketched across the paper, the blue sky, the big tree, the hillside, the grassland, the stream, and also the two silhouettes nestled together under the tree, gradually taking shape.

A gentle breeze fluttered by, willows swayed, cicadas sang on the branches, and stream water flowed leisurely.

Qin Guanglin turned his head to look at her and smiled, "Turn around, let me see what the pattern on the back of your clothes is like."

"Oh."

He Fang obediently stood up and turned around. Seeing that he nodded, she came over to continue watching him draw.

Halfway through watching, she looked around, leaned in close to Qin Guanglin’s ear, and whispered, "I want to kiss you."

"I’m an artist, not a courtesan." Qin Guanglin paused with his pencil, thought for a moment, and said, "But you could force me."

"Then when you are finished, we’ll go behind the tree."