“Hm?” Olive opened her eyes wider than before.
Alan simply bite her mouth.
Everything he had experienced here was like yesterday. He didn’t know how his girl’s small shoulders
had to carry his burden. If it was another person, they felt it was too troubling and would have long
avoided him.
He remembered that when he first lived here, his attitude towards her was extremely different. On one
hand, he was like a sleepy beast facing the anxiety caused by blindness. On the other hand, he didn’t
want to implicate pure Olive. The better she treated him, the more disturbed he was. And he was also
afraid that he would hurt her who was innocent because he couldn’t see the hidden danger around him.
He tried his best to drive her away, but she clung to him tighter like a gum. He spoke mean to her, she
grinned cheekily instead, making him couldn’t find a way out. In the end, he simply ignored her care,
which made her tease him later.
On that day, he was turned into a mess. His embarrassment was invisible but imaginable. The water
wasn’t actually deep as there was a mud beneath, it only reached to his waist. He was blind, unable to
discern his direction. He wasted his energy in the water, until he was exhausted and was pulled into the
boat by her.
She said, “You don’t want to die at all. If you don’t want to die, live a good life for me. Don’t be a man
who can’t live better than a little woman.”
And it was after that day, his attitude towards her slowly changed. The two became friends. Although
they didn’t talk about everything, they gradually developed a tacit understanding. She knew that he was
eager to learn about the information outside, so she turned on the TV to let him listen, read the
newspaper to him, told him the news in the Internet, and even included some celebrities anecdotes and
gossips. The content was all-inclusive. It was through this information that he knew about Hoyle Group.
He knew his mother was well and his younger siblings were also temporarily safe. Then he calmed
down and thought about some issues.
And later, the relationship between the two became more harmonious. Until one day where the seeds
of love were sprouting in his heart and he became unstable.
At this moment, he took his time kissing the little woman who had become his wife. He really wanted to
kiss until the end of the day, but he didn’t expect that a strange noise suddenly came from the lotus
bushes, which disturbed their sweet time.
There were a few high school students in uniforms. They had skipped class and climbed the wall to
play. When they saw the lotus in the pond blooming in full bloom, they were attracted to them. The
found two small boats and took pictures with their phones. They accidentally bumped their boat and
realized the two were making out, taking a peek for a moment.
The boys were bolder, while the girls were a little embarrassed despite their curiosity and blushed.
“Let’s go. What’s there so interesting to watch? Don’t disturb them.”
After whispering and hiding behind the dense clusters of lotus leaves, someone took out their phone
and revealed their existence with a few clicks.
Alan turned alert, “Who’s there?”
Olive’s face flushed with embarrassment for being peeped.
The children quickly picked up the oars and swung them fast, fled away quickly.
“We’re busted, hurry up.”
“Go over there.”
“Quick.”
But they never thought that there was a girl who was unsteady. The hull tilted and she fell into the
water.
There was a scream.
“Help…”
The water quickly poured into the girl’s mouth. She couldn’t swim. She struggled with her hands and
feet trying to float, but she felt something dragged her down. The water choked her. She wondered if
she was going to die from drowning.
The children panicked. One bold boy jumped into the water, but forgot that he had just learned one
move. He couldn’t even take care of himself yet wanted to save a person, which wasn’t an easy thing
to do.
“What should we do?” A girl on the boat paled with fright.
A boy knelt down on the side of the boat and shouted, “Here, swim this way. Give us your hand.”
Unfortunately, when the hand in the water reached out, the boat uncooperatively tipped over. Two more
people fell in.
These four falling into the water was only a matter of minutes. Before the boys and the girls could reach
up, the mud under their feet sucked their feet and they struggled. The water soon flooded the top of
their heads, leaving only one hand waving in the water.
The two survivors on the other boat were so scared that they didn’t dare to move carelessly anymore,
so they shouted, “Help, help. Someone falls into the water. Help.”
Alan and Olive saw that they were students, so it was impossible for them to stand idly by.
When the two students on the boat saw them, they all cried with excitement. “Mister, miss, please hurry
and save them.”
Olive wanted to go into the water, but he was pulled back by Alan. “I can do it alone. Just sit down.”
Alan jumped in without saying a word and picked up the two nearest brats from the water. Olive
hurriedly propped the boat over and helped to get them aboard. They had only drunk a few sips of
water fortunately, so it wasn’t a big matter.
The boy who only knew one move was led by his two friends and finally was pulled onto the hull. He
slowly climbed up and saved his life.
It was just that the girl who fell into the water first wasn’t that lucky. She was no longer could be seen
on the water surface.
“There’s still Jenny who hasn’t come up.”
“Will Jenny be okay?”
They were only children who couldn’t be as calm as adults.
Alan plunged into the water. She hadn’t fell long into the water. The water wasn’t big and there was no
undercurrent under the water. Where else could she sink?
Soon, there were waves in the water. The girl named Jenny was lifted to above the water and rescued
by Alan to aboard the boat.
Jenny had lost conscious. Her friends were too anxious to know what to do.
“Is Jenny dead?”
“Please be okay. Please, please.”
Alan glanced at these little brats coldly, “Now you’re afraid?”
“Mister, we know we’re wrong. We won’t dare to peek again. Please save Jenny.”
“If you want to save Jenny, hurry up and get ashore.”
The boat drew ashore soon. Because their call for help, a lot of people nearby had been attracted to
the pond. Some were even ready to get into the water.
Alan carried the girl off the boat and laid her flat on the ground. He squeezed her chest with both of his
hands to squeeze out that lump of water out.
The girl coughed twice and faintly woke up. The onlookers sighed in relief. Her friends cried and
laughed with joy, thanking Alan and Olive.
Alan pointed at the two students who didn’t fall into the water. “Take out your phones.”
They certainly didn’t dare to reject and obediently gave him their phones. Alan opened the photo album
on the phone. These little brats were quiet good at choosing angles. The shots were quite ambiguous
and erotic. With a swipe of his finger, he deleted everything, then returned their phones. As for the
others, theirs had already buried in the mud.
“Which school are you guys from?”
Someone answered him.
“No class today?”
“We skipped class.”
They thought there would be a reprimand. After the shock just now, they bowed their heads and didn’t
even dare to breathe. But Alan suddenly changed the topic and said, “Next time, don’t go deep if you
can’t swim. If you want to chase after girls, at least bring them to a safer place. Go home now.”
As if they had just received a pardon, the children ran faster than rabbits after thanking him repeatedly.
The crowd gradually dispersed. Olive watched her man’s wet look and his white shirt was stained with
mud. “You have to buy new clothes and get changed.”
He couldn’t go back like this. He didn’t know whether the clothing stores on the street leading to the
university were still there or not. There even used to be lovers’ clothing stores.
“Do you want to go back to the place where we lived before?” Alan didn’t care much about his wet self.
“I do, but you need to change your clothes first. Otherwise, the tenants there will think you’re a water
ghost.”
Alan laughed, “I’m a long-term tenant there.”
Olive was stunned. Okay. Sooner or later, she would have to learn to be used to such news. How
should she say to this man?
Around the small courtyard, many houses had been demolished and rebuilt, but this old courtyard
hadn’t changed much. If there was one thing that changed was that after six years of sunshine and
rain, the Albizia tree that she planted before she left had grown tall and big. It had bloomed flowers and
the fragrance was so sweet.
The TV was still the second-hand TV she bought from the second-hand market. The remote control
was placed on the table. The TV could still be watched when it was turned on.
The sofa was still the same. There was an old squeak when people sat on it.
Alan took a shower and had changed his clothes, “Shall we cook for lunch here?”
Of course Olive agreed.
The two went to a nearby supermarket together and bought some rich, small bottles of oil and
seasonings, then chose some shrimp, meat, and vegetables, and drinks.
The pots and pans she bought in the kitchen were still there. They were neatly stored in the cabinet.
Olive was the chef, while Alan was her assistant. The two worked together and they finished cooking
their lunch soon, putting them on the table.
Many years ago, he wanted to see how she was in the kitchen. At that time, he was afraid of his
loneliness, which also indicated her presence by his side, so she would hum and sing cheerful songs
while cooking.
When the food had been served on the table, she would shout at him, “Time to eat.”
She would help him sit down, give him food and soup, wash his clothes, and help him shave. She
would take care of him in every possible way.
Occasionally, when he was so angry with her, she would play pranks. Several times, when he was
about to sit down, she quickly pulled off the stool under him and deliberately made him fall on all fours.
She would burst into laughter aside, ignoring his sullen expression. He was so mad that he wanted to
catch her and beat her ass, but she slipped faster than a monkey.
There was no AC in the house, there was only a working ceiling fan on the ceiling and Olive turned it
on to dissipate the afternoon hit.
“Did you still live here then afterwards?”
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