Chapter 44: Xiao Mo, I Think I've Fallen for You
The next day, Bai Ruxue's body had almost fully recovered.
Xiao Mo naturally breathed a sigh of relief when Ru Xue recovered.
However, after Ru Xue recovered from her illness, Xiao Mo felt that she was a little strange.
Xiao Mo noticed that Ru Xue often secretly glanced at him.
When he looked at her, she would quickly avert her gaze, pretending that nothing had happened.
Once his gaze moved away, she would secretly peek at him again.
Just like now, Ru Xue was hanging clothes out to dry.
Although Xiao Mo was flipping through a book, he could already feel Bai Ruxue's gaze.
Xiao Mo looked up and met Bai Ruxue's eyes.
Bai Ruxue seemed to be electrocuted, quickly averted her gaze, turned her head, and continued to hang clothes, even pretending to smooth out clothes that were already flat.
Xiao Mo put down his book and walked towards Bai Ruxue.
Feeling Xiao Mo walking towards her, Bai Ruxue's heart rate gradually accelerated.
The closer Xiao Mo got, the more nervous Bai Ruxuefelt, and the faster her movements became as she hung the clothes.
"Ru Xue, what's wrong? Is something the matter?"
Xiao Mo walked to Bai Ruxue's side and asked.
"Ah? No, no, no," Bai Ruxue's eyes darted around, and her fair, delicate hands waved incessantly. "What could be the matter with me? No, nothing at all."
"Really nothing?" Xiao Mo asked.
"No, really," Bai Ruxue's eyes shifted, looking guilty, and her cheeks were flushed.
Xiao Mo didn't understand why she was blushing while hanging clothes.
Just as Xiao Mo was about to ask again,
A piece of clothing next to Xiao Mo wasn't hung properly and slowly slid down from the drying pole.
Xiao Mo instinctively reached out and caught the garment.
The wetness and silky feel of the fabric in his hand made Xiao Mo freeze.
Looking at what was in his hand, it turned out to be…
"Pervert!"
Bai Ruxue's cheeks were as red as strawberries, and she quickly snatched the bellyband from Xiao Mo's palm.
Clutching the bellyband, Bai Ruxue ran into the room and slammed the door shut.
"Something's not right."
Xiao Mo looked at the tightly closed door of the maiden, deep in thought.
Ru Xue, she…
She actually knows how to be shy now?
One time, a bellyband had blown onto Xiao Mo's face, and Ru Xue had laughed happily, even trying to stuff it further into Xiao Mo's mouth.
During lunch, Bai Ruxue still took a bite of rice and then secretly glanced at Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo took the rice bowl and accidentally touched her hand.
Bai Ruxue recoiled as if she had been electrocuted, looking somewhat dazed, and quickly sat down, shoveling rice into her bowl.
Xiao Mo and Xiao Qing exchanged glances, both with confusion in their eyes.
"Xiao Da ge, what's wrong with older sister?"
Finding an opportunity when her older sister had left, Xiao Qing asked with some concern.
"I don't know either," Xiao Mo shook his head. "Ru Xuehas been like this since she woke up this morning."
Xiao Qing: "…"
Well, how should he put it?
If Bai Ruxue were an ordinary woman, Xiao Mo would have found her behavior today quite normal.
But the usually silly Bai Ruxue suddenly, overnight, understood shame, and even had the shyness of first love. This truly made Xiao Mo feel very strange…
He even felt a little unaccustomed to it.
That evening, after Xiao Mo finished his bath, he found that Bai Ruxue was gone, and only Xiao Qing was in the courtyard feeding silkworms.
"Xiao Qing, where is your older sister?" Xiao Moasked.
"Xiao Da ge, older sister said she went out for a walk and will be back in a while," Xiao Qing said, holding mulberry leaves and looking up.
"Hmm." Xiao Mo pondered for a moment. "I'll go look for her. Can you be alone at home, Xiao Qing?"
"Yes, I can." Xiao Qing nodded, and a hint of joy even flashed in her eyes.
After Xiao Mo left, Xiao Qing revealed her true form and began to look for food.
Although her older sister's cooking was good, she hadn't eaten rats in a long time and missed them dearly.
Stepping out of the village, Xiao Mo roughly guessed where Bai Ruxue was.
Xiao Mo walked directly towards She Mountain.
Sure enough.
On that stone, Xiao Mo saw her, dressed in a white dress, hugging her knees, raising her head, and looking at the stars in the night sky.
"Did something unhappy happen again?"
Xiao Mo called out to Bai Ruxue.
Hearing Xiao Mo's voice, Bai Ruxue's delicate body trembled slightly, and her gaze returned from the sky: "No, no…"
"Really nothing?" Xiao Mo walked in front of Bai Ruxue.
"This time, really nothing," Bai Ruxue said softly, lowering her head.
"But you've been quite strange today, and it seems like you've been avoiding me. Why is that?"
"I haven't! You must be mistaken!" Bai Ruxue turned her head away.
Xiao Mo glanced at Bai Ruxue's profile: "Alright, then maybe I really was mistaken. It's getting late, let's go back, or else Xiao Qing will worry."
"Oh, alright."
Bai Ruxue got off the stone and walked down the mountain beside Xiao Mo.
The two walked on the mountain path, moonlight pouring down silently like water, filtering through layers of pine branches, casting fragmented, mottled shadows on their bodies.
Xiao Mo's steps slowed down intentionally or unintentionally, and Bai Ruxue's skirt hem gently brushed against the low-hanging grass tips by the roadside, as if afraid of disturbing the sleeping creatures of the mountain night.
Two figures were cast on the dim ground, sometimes close, sometimes separate.
Green light floated, and fireflies appeared silently at some point, dancing lightly in the low air like tiny stars.
A firefly drifted close to the maiden's temple, like a flowing star, resting gently for a moment, then leisurely flying away.
The maiden looked up, gazing at his profile.
Bai Ruxue felt as if the softest part of her heart had been gently touched.
It was as if something was about to break through the soil of her heart.
Sweet and sour.
She wanted him to know, yet was afraid for him to know.
"Xiao Mo…" Bai Ruxue seemed to gather her courage, her cherry lips slightly parted as she softly called his name.
"Hmm." Xiao Mo responded.
"No, nothing…" Looking into his eyes, the maiden recoiled again. "I just noticed that tonight's fireflies are quite beautiful."
"They are quite beautiful."
"…"
Bai Ruxue lowered her head, falling silent, her small hands rubbing her skirt hem.
But soon, Bai Ruxue gathered her courage again: "Xiao Mo."
"Hmm?"
"No, nothing… I noticed that tonight's moon is very full."
Xiao Mo looked up: "It's alright."
"Xiao Mo…"
"Hmm?"
"I… I noticed there are so many stars tonight."
"There are quite a lot."
"Xiao Mo… I noticed Wang Dama seemed particularly happy today?"
"It's probably because her son's business in the county town has taken off."
"I noticed Xiao Qing doesn't like to eat green peppers."
"I noticed that a long time ago."
"Xiao Mo, I noticed the big black ox in the village has become lazy."
"Because it's old."
"Xiao Mo."
"Hmm?"
"I… I think I've fallen for you."