"It seems like there are more people around noon."

Zhou Li saw figures moving on the opposite mountain—they had to be people. He also heard voices coming from the woods to his left.

The sunlight filtered through the mist and scattered across the Peach Blossom Forest, adding a lovely charm to the spring scenery—it was the perfect time for an outing. It made sense; the pandemic had been going on for over a month, and everyone must have been going stir-crazy.

Brother Nan walked to the very front, her cowlick sticking up. Without turning her head, she said, "Everyone probably comes out to play around noon or in the afternoon. Only someone with a problem in their head would come early in the morning. Never mind the cold, the dew hasn't even dried yet."

Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing looked at each other, not daring to make a sound.

Zhou Li, however, pondered for a moment before speaking up, "Are you insulting yourself?"

"I'm no fool..." Brother Nan was speaking when she suddenly jumped up, reaching high to touch a peach branch as if to show off her height and leaping ability. After landing, she continued the second half of her sentence, "I'm just accommodating a certain fool."

Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing exchanged glances again.

Meanwhile, Zhou Li was feeling quite embarrassed. After a moment, he tried to make an excuse, "I just wanted to come out early so we could have lunch."

"You probably wanted to come out early to see Brother Nan, right?" Zhu Shuang blurted out.

...

Oh, this little brother of his. Zhu Shuang wouldn't dare talk back to Brother Nan, but he was quick to call out Zhou Li for his remarks. Zhou Li simply closed his mouth, refusing to believe he could be teased if he said nothing at all.

However, Brother Nan was quite generous, laughing it off with a few chuckles before hopping again to reach an even higher branch.

She reached it again.

The remaining dewdrops were shaken loose, nearly drenching Zhou Li, who was right behind her.

Zhu Shuang immediately complimented, "Brother Nan, your jumping is so good! You should play basketball—you'd definitely win the championship."

Brother Nan waved a hand dismissively. "I'm a coach."

Zhu Shuang said, "Oh right, right, right..."

Zhou Li: ...

This kid is beyond help.

When they returned to their 'camp,' Sister Wei had already finished eating. She was sitting at the edge of the picnic blanket, leaning against a peach tree with her head tilted back. She held a can of cola—it wasn't clear if it was empty or not—and her eyes were half-closed, the very picture of ultimate indulgence.

Tuanzi stood in the center of the picnic cloth, her head buried in a box of grilled chicken wings, ferociously gnawing at them.

"Sister Wei looks like a drunken Tang Bohu," Zhu Shuang said.

"I've said the same about her before," Zhou Li replied.

"You're pretty close with Senior Sister Wei too, huh?" Zhu Shuang pondered this with some effort. He was quite familiar with his brother's high school life and knew that his brother barely had any friends. Zhou Li had been reclusive and aloof, so Zhu Shuang could only conclude that Sister Wei must be Brother Nan's best friend.

"You get to know each other after a while."

"Oh, right."

At this moment, Tuanzi lifted her head from the box, her mouth smeared with oil and chili powder. As soon as she saw Zhou Li, she complained, "Zhou Li, Huai Xu has been eating non-stop, she's almost finished everything, and she won't let Lord Dumpling eat!"

"What are you blabbering about?" Huai Xu opened her eyes and let out a burp. "When did I not let you eat? Could you even eat without me? With those short little arms of yours, you couldn't even open the box. I even sprinkled some chili powder for you."

After saying that, she took another gulp of cola, squinting her eyes contentedly.

Zhu Shuang once again exchanged a look with Zhu Bing. Indeed, as Brother Nan's good friend, she seems like a tough character not to be messed with, he thought.

Tuanzi's way of dealing with being in the wrong was to stop talking to Huai Xu. Instead, she kept looking at Zhou Li, stubbornly complaining, "Lord Dumpling asked her to shred the meat for Lord Dumpling to eat, and she refused! She even tried to poison Lord Dumpling with this red-red powder-powder~~"

Powder-powder... Zhou Li murmured softly, finding it amusing. He then picked her up to look. "You've turned into a little calico cat, huh."

With her tender pink tongue sticking out, Tuanzi gazed at him and repeated, "Little calico cat~~"

"I'll shred it for you."

Zhou Li put Tuanzi down, sat beside her, and tore open a square, somewhat confusingly shaped small package. He pulled out a pair of disposable gloves and then took the chaotic mess of a chicken wing that Tuanzi had been gnawing on from the box.

Tuanzi sat down obediently beside him, tilting her head up to watch him shred the meat, looking like a well-mannered little lady.

"How caring," Brother Nan teased.

"That's him, spoiling this stupid cat like there's no tomorrow," Huai Xu chimed in, opening her eyes to speak once more. Then she took another swig of cola and squinted again. A few peach blossoms, blown by the wind, landed on her head and were irritably brushed aside by her.

"You're the stupid cat!" Tuanzi retorted, turning her head.

"Looks like a monkey scratching an itch," Zhou Li said, describing Huai Xu's action.

"It seems like Tuanzi understands what you're saying," Zhu Shuang chuckled.

"She's not that smart. She's just mad at me because I didn't give her food earlier, so she's sulking and can't stand hearing me talk." After speaking, Huai Xu opened her eyes a tiny slit, peering at Tuanzi. "Right, you stupid cat?"

"Lord Dumpling hates you!"

"See? See..."

The food Brother Nan had brought was all easy to carry: mainly fast food from KFC and Pizza Hut, many snacks, a roasted duck she claimed was the tastiest in Quanyan City, and several cans of beer and cola.

It filled two whole backpacks and a plastic bag.

Enough for about ten people.

That was plenty for the five of them.

Huai Xu had already eaten one and a half pizzas; it was out of loyalty that she had left them half. She hadn't even had enough yet.

"Cheers!" Brother Nan lifted her beer.

The others all held colas.

Tuanzi meowed, standing upright with her two front paws hugging a can of beer in front of her, seemingly trying to lift it. But the can of beer didn't look much smaller than her.

"Someone hold this for Lord Dumpling."

"Zhou Li!"

"Huai Xu!"

No one paid her any attention.

Instead, the attentive Zhu Bing took away the beer she was hugging, afraid she would bite through the can, and said, "You can't drink beer."

Tuanzi looked at her blankly, then lowered her head and began to sulk.

But still, no one paid attention to her.

As she sulked, her anger gradually dissipated. By then, the others had already started to eat and drink merrily.

Despite Brother Nan's best efforts to keep the takeout warm with aluminum foil and foam paper, the food was at best lukewarm after two hours in the cold weather. Even so, it was very satisfying to eat these things in the middle of a wild, mountainous area.

The duck was indeed delicious. The skin was crispy, the meat neither dry nor oily, and the bones were roasted to a crunch, becoming more flavorful the more you chewed.

Besides that, Zhou Li only ate some pastries.

「After the meal.」

Everyone sat still for a while. Zhu Bing and Zhu Shuang, eager to clean up, were stopped by Brother Nan, who told them to relax and enjoy the moment more. So they all found trees to sit under, leaning against the trunks, adopting Senior Sister Wei's relaxed slouch, their eyes half-closed.

As soon as their eyes were half-closed, everything suddenly felt incredibly comfortable.

The gentle sunlight became even gentler, the soft spring breeze even softer, caressing their faces, and the leisurely passage of time felt even more unhurried.

Zhou Li and Brother Nan were leaning against the same tree, very close to each other. Aside from the faint scent of peach blossoms in the air, he could smell Brother Nan's personal scent. And aside from the breeze, he could feel strands of Brother Nan's hair, lifted by the wind, brushing against his face.

The Peach Grove was quiet; for a moment, time seemed to stand still.

Peach blossoms were blown from the branches by the wind, twirling and fluttering in the air before landing on them, on their heads and shoulders.

This lasted until Zhou Li felt a little paw press on his leg, followed by a soft, tiny voice saying, "Zhou Li, Lord Dumpling saw Little Demons in the Peach Grove! Lord Dumpling is going to play with them!"

He nodded, feeling a drowsy sensation.

But they didn't end up falling asleep there; if they had, they might have dreamt of beautiful things. Instead, they started playing cards. Since Zhou Li and Zhu Shuang only knew the rules to Fight the Landlord, they decided to split into three groups and play with alliances against the landlord.

"The loser does thirty push-ups. Zhu Bing and whoever else can do squats," Brother Nan said.

"What about you?" Zhu Bing asked.

"I don't do them."

"Erm..."

Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing naturally formed an alliance.

But to their surprise, Zhou Li didn't team up with Brother Nan but with Senior Sister Wei instead.

Brother Nan was on her own.

In fact, Zhou Li hadn't wanted to participate at all. He barely ever played cards. He had even brought an ancient book with him when they left, just wanting to experience the pretentious feeling of reading under the peach trees.

「The situation at the time was—」

Brother Nan: "Why not play?"

Zhou Li: I don't feel like it.

Brother Nan: "I suggest you think it over."

Zhou Li: "I accept your suggestion."

After pondering for a few seconds, he said, "I've thought it over. Let's play. How about I team up with you? I can help you strategize."

Brother Nan: "No."

So Zhou Li was paired with Huai Xu.

He felt pessimistic about this because even though Huai Xu swore up and down that she often watched others play Fight the Landlord and said it would be fine, he knew that when it came to punishment for losing, it wasn't just the person playing the cards who got punished—the entire alliance did.

He still wanted to team up with Brother Nan.

If that were the case, forget reading a book; as long as Brother Nan didn't deliberately mess with him, he probably could have lain down and taken a nap with no issues.

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