Chapter 49 – Not understanding
“Older brother Hua, I have some extra vegetables with me. Here, you should take it and eat it at home.” Seeing that he wanted to leave, Lianhua hurriedly took out a large handful of tender green beans and stuffed into Li Hua’s basket.
There was a look of awkwardness on Li Hua’s face. But, when he glanced over at Li Man to check on her, she had a bystander’s detached expression as if she was just watching an entertaining show. It made Li Hua feel as if a stone was clogging his heart. He grabbed the green beans and placed them back into Lianhua’s basket, “No thanks.”
Then, he turned around and grabbed Li Man’s hand and called out to Little Five, who had been standing to the side, “Let’s go. We’re going home.”
“Older brother Hua…” Lianhua wanted to chase after him, but Li Hua’s pace was too swift, and she couldn’t keep up. She fell behind after only a few turns on the footpaths.
Little Five knew that his fourth brother didn’t enjoyed being chased after by the village girls. Moreover, Little Five didn’t like Lianhua either. And so, when Li Hua told him to go, he ran faster than anyone else. Like a wisp of smoke, he ended up in front of Li Man and Li Hua.
It was Li Man that was the one that was suffering. It was already hard enough to walk on the paths between the fields to begin with, but Li Hua had been dragging her forward without pausing. Every time he took a step, she had to take several steps to catch up to him, and he was walking so fast too. There were many times that she almost slipped and fell, but Li Hua would always catch her in time.
She couldn’t help feeling bewildered. What was wrong with this rotten brat? Why was he unhappy that a girl had given him some food to express her feelings? Why were they running away?
Still, Li Hua really had a lot of admirers. In addition to those two girls, there was also that girl, who was being confined in the shrine. They were all very interested in him. She just didn’t know which one of them he was interested in…
“Ah,” she yelped.
Li Hua had abruptly stopped walking, but Li Man hadn’t noticed and ended up accidentally falling into his arms.
She raised her head and saw that Li Hua’s eyebrows were slightly furrowed and his gaze was hot, but it was also mixed with a hint of annoyance. Li Man’s heart suddenly felt tight, and she carefully asked, “What’s wrong?”
Li Hua’s expression was tense. He stayed silent and kept staring at her.
Li Man felt flustered from his stare. When she instinctively took a step back, she heard a muffled crashing sound. The basket fell from Li Hua’s hands and the food for the piglets spilled out.
“You – ” Li Man felt as if her heart was going to jump out of her chest.
Before she could ask a question to clear up her doubts, Li Hua suddenly took a step forward, leaned down, got very close to her face, and brushed his warm lips against hers.
In an instant, it felt as fireworks were going off by her ears. Li Man was dumbstruck.
Li Hua’s heart was beating like a drum. He didn’t dare to look her in the eye. Taking advantage of her stunned state, he hastily picked up the basket and ran away from her in panic.
Little Five had been lying down behind a slope. Seeing that Li Hua was running away like he was fleeing from something, he stood up and called out “Fourth brother, why were the two of you walking so slowly? Where’s older sister?”
“Older sister?” Li Hua abruptly stopped. When he turned around to look, he saw that Li Man hadn’t followed after him. Losing his head in panic, he dropped the basket and hurriedly went back.
Li Man was still standing in the same place as before with her fingers touching her lips. It felt as if there was still residual warmth from the teenager’s kiss. But, how could this have happened? Weren’t they siblings? Wasn’t he her older brother? How could he have kissed her?
Seeing her like this, Li Hua’s heart fell to an all-time low. Did she not like it? He had ended up scaring her because of his impulsive action.
Li Hua walked to her side and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”
Li Man heard his voice, and her face flushed red. Why had he come back so soon? She hadn’t recovered yet. Should she ask him why he had kissed her?
“Come on, let’s go home.” Seeing that Li Man was keeping her head lowered and not saying a word, Li Hua felt even more dejected and upset with himself. He had originally wanted to hold her hand and bring her home, but right after he stretched his hand towards her, he took it back. He was worried about making her even more unhappy.
