[Picking Boat and Accompanying the Moon] We Will Meet Again Later - Chapter 25

That very night, Ning Xu dreamed that Jiang Feng had been cursed and turned into a long-eared rabbit, thrown into the maze of the Lost Garden.

Before his misfortune, Jiang Feng even told her, “Come find me quickly, come save me!”

Ning Xu thought to herself, does it require a true love’s kiss to break the curse?

She ran through the maze, searching for Jiang Feng, who had turned into a long-eared rabbit.

She ran and ran, until her heart was weary. A faint, elusive voice kept urging her, “Come quickly and kiss me.”

Exhausted, Ning Xu cursed, “Kiss my ass, I haven’t even seen a shadow of the rabbit.”

After running for what felt like ages, Ning Xu finally reached the depths of the garden. There, by the vine swing, she saw that the long-eared rabbit had been made into a whole roasted rabbit.

“…”

The whole roasted rabbit was skewered over a fire. It turned its head toward Ning Xu, tears welling in its eyes as it accused, “Why did you take so long to come?”

Bean-sized tears fell into the fire, sizzling and drying up instantly.

Ning Xu, “…………”

Daylight streamed in. Ning Xu woke up, feeling inexplicably sore all over. She glanced at the long-eared rabbit doll beside her pillow and couldn’t resist giving it a punch.

After washing up and getting ready, she went down to the buffet restaurant for breakfast. Ning Xu scanned the dishes but had no appetite. She asked, “Do you have whole roasted rabbit?”

Waiter, “Ah… no.”

It was snowing again today; no sunlight in sight.

Jiang Feng’s schedule was tight. Once things wrapped up here, they had to pack and move to the next location.

Ning Xu didn’t have much luggage—just a bag and a suitcase. Most of the suitcase was filled with snacks. After giving some away last night, it was even lighter now. There wasn’t much to pack.

While waiting, she built a small snowman off to the side.

Yanlin was in the south, where it didn’t snow. But she had lived in Haoyou City in the north as a child and had seen snow many times, so it wasn’t novel to her. Right now, she was just bored and playing around.

“Ning Xu?” Jiang Feng came out looking for her.

Ning Xu called out, “Over here.”

Hearing her voice, Jiang Feng slowly walked over. When he felt he was close enough, he reached out a hand but found empty air.

“I’m crouching down,” Ning Xu said, looking up.

Jiang Feng crouched down too.

The two of them surrounded an ugly little snowman. Bundled up in thick clothes, they almost looked like two lumps crouching there.

So, there was a black lump on the left, a white lump on the right, and a frowning ugly snowman in the middle—a rather amusing sight.

Now that Jiang Feng was here, Ning Xu lost interest in the snowman and turned to look at him.

He was wearing a black down jacket, which made his skin appear even paler. A few scattered snowflakes landed on his neck and quickly melted into water from his body heat, leaving behind a slight dampness.

Ning Xu stared for a moment, then with lightning speed, placed her icy hands against the side of his neck.

Eek, warm.

“Why don’t you have any reaction?” Ning Xu pinched his neck.

Jiang Feng’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He chuckled softly, “I guessed you would.”

He had guessed she would do this and didn’t dodge. Ning Xu felt happy about their regained tacit understanding, her heart secretly leaping with joy.

Gao Jinfei also came out with large and small bags. They took a taxi together to the airport to board their flight.

They bought first-class tickets—three seats, two together and another across the aisle.

On the plane, Jiang Feng sat down first. Gao Jinfei naturally followed and sat next to him, but then Jiang Feng frowned and elbowed him.

“What?” Gao Jinfei asked, baffled. “What’s your problem?”

In the past, whether traveling by car, plane, or boat, Gao Jinfei always sat in the seat next to Jiang Feng, so he hadn’t considered any other possibility.

Seeing both of them seated, Ning Xu took the other seat across the aisle.

Jiang Feng pressed his lips into a straight line, turned his head away, and didn’t want to talk. His expression was extremely cold. Gao Jinfei gave him a confused glance and started playing on his phone.

After getting off the plane, someone picked them up and drove them.

This time, they were going to a small village in the south. The car drove away from the airport and gradually left the city center.

They went from the suburbs to the countryside, and from daytime to evening.

The crew member said, “You’ve had a long journey today. Rest well tonight, and we’ll start preparing for the shoot tomorrow.”

There weren’t any big hotels in this village, so they had booked a homestay in advance.

Jiang Feng hadn’t eaten much all day, relying entirely on Ning Xu’s literally “throw feeding”  of snacks.

“Last piece of bear cookie.”

Hearing this, Jiang Feng hesitated about whether to eat it or not. But then Gao Jinfei rushed over in a swift stride, snatched the last cookie from Ning Xu’s hand, and shoved it into his mouth in one big gulp.

Ning Xu was stunned. Jiang Feng reacted faster; hearing the commotion, he grabbed Gao Jinfei with one hand and locked his arm around his neck.

“Who said you could eat it?”

Gao Jinfei laughed, almost choking. His face turned red from suffocation, and he kicked his legs, signaling for Ning Xu to save him.

Ning Xu refused to rescue him, “He’s right. Who told you to eat it? Which little cookie do you think you are!”

Gao Jinfei was rendered speechless by their teamwork.

He was mainly fooling around and didn’t struggle hard.

Jiang Feng let go.

“Cough cough cough—” Gao Jinfei coughed and then suddenly started laughing like an idiot. “You guys are something else.”

Jiang Feng and Ning Xu also laughed uncontrollably.

The easiest thing to lose when growing up is childish fun and innocence. It only comes out occasionally in front of familiar and trusted people.

Amid the laughter and teasing, the meal ordered by the crew arrived.

Ning Xu livestreamed dinner. It wasn’t always food she made herself; sometimes she would livestream while eating takeout, giving a strong sense of companionship.

“Do you mind if I livestream?” Ning Xu asked the other two at the table.

Jiang Feng, of course, had no objection. He loved listening to her livestreams. Gao Jinfei also had no objection and even asked, “Do you need my good looks to help attract some viewers?”

Ning Xu had already started the livestream, and this sentence was heard by the audience.

[I don’t believe it unless you let me see.]

[Who? Who was that! A man’s voice, doesn’t sound like Jiang Feng.]

The comments and bullet screen comments were all spamming “let us see.” Some viewers who had just joined, not understanding the situation, also started playing along.

Gao Jinfei opened Ning Xu’s livestream, glanced at the barrage, and said nonchalantly, “Alright then, seeing is believing.”

Since it had come to this, Ning Xu had no reason to refuse. She turned the camera toward him.

Someone immediately sent a gift.

“Thank you ‘Master Kang Doesn’t Eat Noodles’ for the super rocket, thank you, boss.” After reading it out, Gao Jinfei raised an eyebrow and said, “So, how about that? Your boy here makes a pretty decent host, right?”

Barrage said: [You dress pretty cool.]
[What’s your relationship with Lin Xu?]

Gao Jinfei only responded to the comments praising his looks: “Really handsome, you got that right.”

Ning Xu turned the camera back and started eating, “Didn’t cook at home today, came to a village to play. Yes, staying at a homestay.”

The direction of the barrage couldn’t be corrected and went further off track: [Was that your boyfriend just now?]
[I don’t care, just based on the looks, I’m shipping it!]

Gao Jinfei wasn’t as famous as Jiang Feng, so no one recognized him for the time being.

Ning Xu smiled speechlessly, “How can you ship anyone with anything? Did you take a course in shipping from the Planet of CP?”

Jiang Feng used to listen to Ning Xu’s livestreams on his phone and occasionally hear what the barrage was saying. Now, without his phone, he didn’t know what they were commenting, but from what just happened, he could guess a lot.

Jiang Feng spoke up, “You can turn the camera over a bit.”

Ning Xu looked at him, “You’ll be in the shot.”
“En.”
Alright.

Ning Xu turned it. Jiang Feng greeted the livestream viewers: “Good evening, everyone.”

The livestream went wild, crazy spamming of Jiang Feng’s name.

[Finally get to see his face!!!]
[The original partner has appeared! I firmly hold the flag for the original partner and will not waver.]

The newly discovered CP instantly vanished. Everyone was cheering for the original partner.

Ning Xu’s livestream had never featured a male guest before. Jiang Feng was the first. Viewers who got their sugar fix directly defaulted him to being the original partner.

Jiang Feng’s fans, notified within a short time, swarmed into Ning Xu’s stream en masse.

The livestream was unprecedentedly lively.

Ning Xu, “This is ‘A Meal,’ not ‘A Couple,’ okay? Either watch Jiang Feng eat or watch me eat. Anything else is out of the question.”

One viewer said: [We want to watch Jiang Feng eat!]
[Host, you can leave now.]
Ning Xu, “？？？”

In just a moment, a certain well-known female host was about to be unemployed and laid off?

The laid-off Ning Xu, seeking re-employment, turned the camera back, “Not letting you see him anymore. Just watch me eat. Behave properly.”

Viewers : [？？？？？？]
It was all question marks and crying emojis. Ning Xu almost laughed herself silly.

The meal ended, and the livestream concluded.

Gao Jinfei and Jiang Feng shared a room. Ning Xu had a room alone across the hall.

Closing the door, Gao Jinfei was dead tired and flopped straight onto the bed. Watching Jiang Feng still feeling around the room to familiarize himself with the layout, he said, “You’ve been a bit strange these past couple days.”

Jiang Feng, “How?”
Gao Jinfei thought for a moment, “Just now, for example. Based on your usual habits, you wouldn’t have been in a hurry to show your face on Lin Xu’s livestream.”

Her livestream had a very distinctive characteristic; it had a relaxed, soothing atmosphere, suitable for eating and chatting about daily trivialities, helping people unwind.

Jiang Feng avoided showing his face or speaking during her livestreams firstly because he didn’t want to affect her broadcast, and secondly because he didn’t want to steal the spotlight and have too many people steer the topic or direction.

By showing up this time, wasn’t Jiang Feng trying to shift the livestream’s topic?

Later, when Ning Xu continued her eating livestream, indeed, no one cared anymore about whether Gao Jinfei and she were a CP.

“You really like her that much?” Gao Jinfei sensed something fishy.

Jiang Feng ignored him, picked up his towel and clothes, and went to the bathroom.

Closing the door, alone in the space, he turned on the shower. The only sound was water droplets hitting the tiled floor.

He hummed in agreement, seemingly responding to the earlier question.

But it was fragmented and blurred by the sound of water, impossible for anyone to hear clearly.

After her shower, Ning Xu played on her phone while blow-drying her hair. Remembering Ding Fuxue, she sent a message asking about her recent situation: [How have you been lately?]

A few minutes later, Ding Fuxue replied: [I’m okay, but Xiao Qi seems to have some stomach issues. I’ll take him to the vet these next couple days.]

Xiao Qi was the guide dog who had accompanied Ding Fuxue for a long time.

Ning Xu suddenly thought of something she hadn’t considered before: if Jiang Feng had a guide dog to assist him, going out would be much more convenient. The number of guide dogs in the country was very small, but given the Jiang family’s capabilities, it shouldn’t be impossible to get one.

Jiang Feng received a WeChat from Ning Xu: [Why don’t you want a guide dog?]

Since he was willing to use a distinctive white cane, why wouldn’t he want a guide dog? Ning Xu was puzzled.

Jiang Feng sent a voice message: “You gave me a plush toy before.”

Not answering the question,

Ning Xu, brushing her hair, thought: When did I give him one? What plush toy?

She had no impression, so much so that she pondered it until she fell asleep. Nearing the threshold of sleep, a thought suddenly flashed in her mind.

—This little dog looks like you.

Ning Xu’s eyes snapped open. She instantly climbed out of bed, grabbed her phone, seamlessly opened WeChat, and clicked on Jiang Feng’s profile picture.

A light brown dog plush toy, with a dark brown patch over its left eye.

This was it! Years ago, she and Jiang Wenyu went to the toy city’s claw machine and won it. It was the first time she had ever won a plush toy. She gave it to Jiang Feng. She never expected him to place it by his pillow, take a picture, and use it as his profile picture.

It was probably taken a long time ago. Back then, Jiang Feng didn’t know how to take photos well. The angle was off, the lighting was dim, the pixel quality was blurry—even zooming in showed graininess.

No wonder Ning Xu couldn’t recognize it before.

She collapsed back onto the bed.

Perhaps it was the satisfaction of solving a case like a detective, or maybe because the environment was so quiet in the middle of the night, she could clearly hear the beating of her own heart.

After a long while, Ning Xu placed the long-eared rabbit plush toy Jiang Feng gave her by her pillow.

She picked up her phone and took a picture of it.

Set it as her WeChat profile picture.