The sun hadn’t quite set by the time Xu Ye drove up to Red Leaf Estate.

The security guards knew him by now. The moment he put his head out of the car, one of them simply raised the barrier.

He stopped at the gate but didn’t get out. He rang Chen Qingqing and called her out of the house.

Chen Qingqing guessed he had come in the new car, and didn’t stop to change her shoes — she came running out in a pair of fluffy cotton slippers.

Xu Ye waved and grinned. “Get in.”

She opened the door and got into the passenger seat. It struck her that with this car, wind or rain, Xu Ye could come and find her at weekends — and the smile that put in her eyes was hard to hide.

Jiang Meilin had seen her run out and came out of the house herself. One look at the new car at the gate and she understood.

“Auntie, I’m taking Qingqing out for a drive. I’ll bring her back later.”

“Don’t drive too fast. Be careful.”

Xu Ye nodded, smiling. “Don’t worry.”

The car pulled smoothly out of Red Leaf Estate and went off along the national highway, away from the city center. Warm air poured in through the window, and a feeling of ease rose up.

Chen Qingqing didn’t know where he was driving, and didn’t want to know. As long as Xu Ye was there, she felt safe.

Once they were well clear of the city there were fewer and fewer cars on the road. Xu Ye drove one-handed, and when he turned and found Chen Qingqing smiling out of the window, he asked, “Why don’t you ask where we’re going?”

“Didn’t we say we were going for a drive?”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll sell you?”

“No.” Chen Qingqing smiled. “My mom watched you take me away.”

Xu Ye reached over and took her hand, as naturally as anything. It was soft and smooth; the only fault with it was that it was too thin — a light squeeze and you could feel the bones of her fingers.

Chen Qingqing was used to having her hand held by now. His was a whole size bigger than hers; if she made a fist, he could close his hand right around it. And his hands were warm all year round, like a hand warmer, and pleasant to touch.

Xu Ye teased her on purpose. “Do you remember the first time we held hands?”

Chen Qingqing lowered her head, turned his big hand over, lifted it and looked at the whorls on his fingers one by one [TL: Chinese folk tradition sorts fingerprints into 斗, “whorls,” and 簸箕, “loops,” and counts how many of each a person has; rhymes about the tally are supposed to predict character and fortune.], muttering, “I can hardly remember that.”

“I can’t forget it.”

Chen Qingqing changed the subject in good time. “You’ve got five whorls on this hand.”

“I know. Same on the other one.”

When she had finished looking she put his hand back down on her own thigh, and seeing that he had slowed down, she turned her head back to the window.

The evening wind moved through the willow branches, distant mountains hid the setting sun, and a light breeze brushed the surface of a lake into ring after ring of ripples.

Xu Ye had no idea where he had driven to. The scenery looked good enough, so he pulled over at the roadside, got out and walked along the lake with Chen Qingqing by the hand. They talked about nothing much, and in the end sat down on the grass at the water’s edge.

“Here. Borrow my shoulder.” Xu Ye patted it, offering it grandly.

It was almost dark, and there was nobody about.

Chen Qingqing hesitated for only a second, then shifted over until she was against him and slowly rested her head on his shoulder.

But then something else occurred to her.

It was this: they were miles from anywhere, and if the wretch next to her started playing the rogue again, was she going to give in meekly the way she had last time?

The further she took the thought, the more uneasy she felt.

And at that moment.

“You smell good today~”

That one line from Xu Ye put Chen Qingqing instantly on her guard. “Don’t be silly. I haven’t washed my hair in three days.”

“I don’t think it’s your hair.” And he sniffed hard, twice.

Chen Qingqing’s head came up at once. “You’re not allowed to smell me!”

“All right. I won’t, then.”

Chen Qingqing pursed her lips, took her phone out of her pocket, opened the camera and took a photo, then went to share it. Normally she would have sent it to Xu Ye first — but Xu Ye was sitting right beside her, so after a moment’s thought she posted it in the dorm group instead.

Zhang Ruowei, with nothing to do, surfaced almost immediately.

Zhang Ruowei: where is this?

Chen Qingqing: I don’t know either

Zhang Ruowei: you don’t know? Xu Ye took you there?

Chen Qingqing: he’s right here

Zhang Ruowei: have you two been glued together every day since you got home?

Xu Ye: no. we didn’t see each other for days around New Year

Jiang Yu: I really envy you two. I want to go back to school already, home is so boring. feels like I’ve put on five jin over the New Year, I don’t dare get on the scales

Shen Xinyi: haha, I’ve probably put weight on too

Zhang Ruowei: never mind, we’ll all get in shape together this summer

Xu Ye: the three of you can get in shape. no need to include Qingqing, she isn’t fat

Zhang Ruowei: guards! remove this person from my presence at once [TL: Zhang Ruowei drops into the speech of an imperial consort — 本宫, “this palace,” for herself — and the other two answer as 臣妾, the form a consort uses to a superior. Palace dramas made the register a standard joke.]

Jiang Yu: your humble servant concurs!

Shen Xinyi: your humble servant concurs!

Chen Qingqing knew they were only playing, and she laughed happily. But perhaps because it had got dark and the temperature had dropped a good deal, she suddenly sneezed.

Xu Ye took her hand at once, found it ice-cold, and said, “Why did you come out in slippers?”

“You called and I came straight out. There wasn’t time to change.”

Xu Ye moved round in front of her and unzipped his jacket. “Put your feet in here.”

“No. I’m not cold.”

“Hurry up.”

His tone left no room for argument. Chen Qingqing pursed her lips, but in the end she obediently slipped off the slippers and carefully put out a pair of small feet in white socks.

Xu Ye caught her by the ankles and tucked them straight inside his jacket. Her feet were like blocks of ice, and it was warm inside his jacket; the instant they touched through the socks, it was like ice and fire running into one another.

A wave of warmth spread from the soles of her feet through the rest of her, very fast, and Chen Qingqing, who had been tensed all over, loosened bit by bit.

Xu Ye pushed up the leg of her pants, uncovering a short stretch of ankle as pale as lotus root. Seeing that she had only the one layer on, his face went stern at once, like an adult telling off a child. “Why aren’t you wearing long johns again?”

Chen Qingqing’s face went red. “It isn’t cold at home.”

Seeing how red her cheeks were, his tone softened several degrees at once. “If you don’t wear long johns at this time of year, you’ll have bad knees in the cold when you’re older.”

Chen Qingqing said, haughty as ever, “Bad knees, then.”

Xu Ye held her feet tighter and stopped nagging.

Chen Qingqing felt the warmth of him through her feet, and as she relaxed she even began to find it comfortable.

It was like waking on a snowy morning and lying there in a warm bed.

She looked up at the moon, which had not long been out, and her mouth curved. But she soon realized something wasn’t right.

“What are you taking my socks off for?”

“What are you doing?”

“No.”

“They’re dirty~”

(End of Chapter 195)