On Sunday night, there were guests having barbecue on the terrace, and it wasn’t until nearly nine o’clock that they dispersed. After cleaning up, Du Yunyan asked the workers to go home and didn’t rush to rest. He sat cross-legged on a wicker chair on the terrace. Gu Wenxi finished showering but couldn’t find him in the bedroom, so he pushed open the door to the balcony.

The guests had all returned to their rooms, and the whole building was quiet.

“Are you still thinking about yesterday?” It had been a day since the incident, and they hadn’t talked openly about it yet. Gu Wenxi pulled over a chair and sat down beside him.

“Not really.” Du Yunyan’s voice was lazy, lacking energy. “It’s a bit difficult for the village chief to understand such things, but he has a good heart and won’t make things difficult for us.” Although he said that, his mood still seemed low.

“I know, I’m not worried about that,” Gu Wenxi glanced at him, “Was I too much yesterday?”

“How so?” Du Yunyan hadn’t thought about it before, but when he heard Gu Wenxi’s laughter, he remembered the inappropriate kiss, his brows relaxed, and he couldn’t help but smile. “Not too much, it’s very much in line with your style.”

Gu Wenxi had only wanted to anger the middle-aged man, completely disregarding the feelings of the village chief and Yan Yan who were present. But since it was done, there was no point in pondering over trivial matters. What impressed him more was Du Yunyan’s loud reprimand when he entered the room yesterday.

“Ah,” he tapped Du Yunyan’s arm, “You can be so fierce sometimes?”

“How am I fierce?”

“Holding a small bamboo whip, making that person stand in the corner, scolding him so that he couldn’t lift his head,” Gu Wenxi vividly described, “Like a teacher scolding a primary school student.”

Du Yunyan frowned in disgust, “There’s no primary school student like that.”

“That’s true, it’s too much to compare him to a primary school student,” Gu Wenxi, like him, kicked off his slippers and propped his bare feet on the chair, “I was just curious. You didn’t scold me that fiercely last year.”

“Are you scared now?” Du Yunyan joked along with him, “So you’d better not provoke me in the future.”

“You’re getting excited by just a few words of praise? Are you planning to get angry with me?”

Du Yunyan leaned his head on his bent knee, still smiling slightly, “No.”

A few bright stars in the sky, the terrace lights were on, attracting a small group of tiny insects to dance below. The weather was humid and the mosquitoes were too vicious. With a slap, Gu Wenxi swatted at his leg, lifting his hand to reveal a small pool of bloodstains in his palm, evidence of how many mosquitoes he had killed.

“Let’s go back.” After Du Yunyan spoke, they both returned to the room together.

Before putting down the mosquito net, Du Yunyan picked up a bottle of floral water and sprayed a few times on Gu Wenxi’s legs, then gently smoothed it out.

“Does this work?” Gu Wenxi had a particularly mosquito-attracting physique. Even with medicine applied, he still couldn’t stop the itching. He was accustomed to letting it develop and didn’t bother with these troublesome aftermaths.

“This brand works pretty well,” Du Yunyan also sprayed some on the back of his hand, where he had been bitten. A small red spot emerged. “Don’t scratch it anymore, it’ll be better soon.”

He turned off the desk lamp and closed the mosquito net. The scent of floral water was strong, filling the room.

---

Two days later, as Gu Wenxi returned with the trash, he caught sight of Yan Yan carrying a backpack outside the inn. She must have just finished school. Kicking small stones alone, she occasionally glanced at the fence, as if she wanted to come in but hesitated.

“Yan Yan!” Gu Wenxi called out to her. “Do you want to come in?”

She stared with her round, shiny eyes, then nodded after a moment. Gu Wenxi was planning to pick some vegetables in the backyard, so he took Yan Yan with him. The little girl didn’t mention the incident from the other day, and he didn’t want to bring it up either. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to dislike them.

“Have you finished your homework?”

Yan Yan didn’t say anything, standing by the vegetable plot. After a while, Gu Wenxi had picked some green amaranth, and when he looked up, Yan Yan was still standing there.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uncle Gu… in the next two weeks, my mom and I will leave.”

Gu Wenxi had heard about her going to the city: “To find your dad?”

“Yeah.”

Yan Yan’s parents planned for her to attend junior high school in the city. With the elementary school’s classes ending soon, and after what happened to Aunt Chen a few days ago, it was more suitable for them to leave early and reunite as a family.

“I’ll miss you guys,” she said.

“You…..” He had kissed Du Yunyan in front of Yan Yan that day, and now it was too late to feel embarrassed.

“Uncle Gu,” she said somewhat shyly, “are you and Uncle Yunyan like the prince and princess?”

Gu Wenxi took a moment to understand her logic. Although Yan Yan was twelve years old, she had always loved fairy tales and had been teased by Du Xinyu for it. Her thoughts were simple, and the simplest understanding of love for her was the prince and princess in fairy tales.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

She wasn’t as reserved as before, blinking curiously, “Then who is the prince and who is the princess?”

Gu Wenxi chuckled softly, “Either one, it doesn’t matter.”

The little girl seemed to understand and seemed satisfied with the answer, nodding gently, “Then you must be very happy,” she said as she opened her backpack, took out a plant with green leaves from her textbook, and handed it to Gu Wenxi, “This is for you guys.”

“What’s this?” Gu Wenxi noticed that the leaves on the top of the wild grass had four petals in total, probably the legendary symbol of good luck, the “four-leaf clover”.

“I found it on the way, it’s very rare.”

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me,” she waved her hand, “My mom is very grateful to you.”

“Your mom—did she say anything later?” The incident that day, whether it was Yun Liang’s rudeness or their outing as a couple, was probably quite shocking to them both.

“You and Uncle Yunyan are good people,” she said sweetly, “Grandpa Village Chief wasn’t very happy, but my mom told me that you guys didn’t do anything wrong.”

Once the matter of their relationship was made public, Gu Wenxi didn’t expect to gain approval from those around him. He wasn’t someone who cared about others’ opinions in the first place. Because of this, Yan Yan and her mother’s attitude seemed like an unexpected treasure. After hearing what the girl said, his mood lightened considerably.

“Thank you,” on this summer evening, the sky was still bright, but it was not early anymore. He asked Yan Yan, “Do you want to have dinner here?”

“No, I told my mom that I’m going home.”

“Then should I walk you there?”

“No need, my car is outside,” After taking a few steps away, she waved her hand at him, ‘Uncle Gu, I’m really leaving. You have to let Uncle Yunyan see the four-leaf clover!'”

“Okay, got it!” Gu Wenxi smiled and watched her run out of the fence.

He spread out the plant in his hand. Perhaps because it had been pressed between books for a long time, the leaves were very flat, and the veins on them were clear, looking transparent in the sunlight.

---

In the following days, it rained at night, making the weather naturally cooler, and the two of them preferred to relax on the terrace before bed.

The bayberry wine had been soaking for over half a month, which wasn’t too long. However, that night, Du Yunyan couldn’t help but pour some into a small bottle and went to the balcony to find Gu Wenxi, “Want a drink?”

The purplish-red liquid in the glass bottle fluctuated as he shook it in his hand.