love on the turquoise land

Chapter 84

Since Feng Mi was already in the car, Yan Tuo decided to go with the flow.
To his surprise, there was a queue at the car wash. It might be because the end of the year was approaching, and everyone wanted to have their cars spotless for the New Year. After waiting for a while, Feng Mi grew impatient: "Yan Tuo, why don't we go eat first? We can wash the car after we eat."
"Let's wash it ourselves then," Yan Tuo suggested.
"Wash it ourselves? Did just you say 'we'?"
It sounded interesting, and washing the car together would provide plenty of opportunities for interaction and bonding.
Feng Mi became excited: "Sure!"
Yan Tuo called over a young guy from the car wash to borrow a bucket and spray bottle, bought some sponges, car wash soap, and towels, and then drove to a nearby water faucet.
After parking the car, Yan Tuo took the spray bottle to fill it with water and instructed Feng Mi: "Help me clean out the water channel under the front windshield, especially any leaves that have fallen in."
Feng Mi agreed and climbed onto the hood of the car. She used her hands to clear what she could reach and tried to blow away what she couldn't—at first, she was full of patience and enthusiasm.
When she had cleaned most of it, Yan Tuo returned with the filled spray bottle and handed it to her: "Please spray down the car body. Remember to spray everywhere; where there's mud or sand, spray more to wash it away. Otherwise, when we wipe it with a towel later, the sand will scratch the paint."
Feng Mi had never washed a car before. Listening to Yan Tuo explain everything so thoroughly made her look up to him for a moment. However, after spraying for a while, she started complaining: "This car is so big! Using this manual spray bottle is exhausting; my arms are getting sore!"
This was not what she had imagined; she thought they would just flirt a bit and finish washing the car—how did it turn out to be so tiring?
Looking up at Yan Tuo, she saw him focused on mixing the car wash soap with water in proportion and stirring it up until it foamed.
Fine, since she had promised to help, she couldn't just put down the spray bottle. Feng Mi continued spraying—switching from her left arm to her right when one got tired, then back again. After refilling water twice, she finally managed to wet down the entire car body.
When it's all done, she tossed the spray bottle onto the ground and vigorously shook out her arms to relax.
Yan Tuo came over with a bucket of mixed soap and water, adjusted the spray bottle, and poured more into it.
Feng Mi felt a sense of dread: "Aren't we done spraying?"
Yan Tuo didn't look up: "That was just to wet down the car and soften the dirt. Now we're actually washing it. After washing, we still need to wipe it down. I see you're a girl; I'll let you do the easier tasks."
At first, Feng Mi thought about suggesting that they switch roles—let him spray while she did something else—but hearing him say that made her realize she was getting off easy. She had no choice but to keep quiet.
What made her think washing a car would be fun?
As she picked up the spray bottle again, Feng Mi almost felt like crying.
Yan Tuo pointed at the roof: "Start by spraying the roof. When wiping down, you should always work from top to bottom since dirty water flows down."
Just moments ago, Feng Mi had admired Yan Tuo's seriousness and professionalism; now all she wanted was to curse: "You're a man! When someone brings a beautiful girl to wash a car, isn't it supposed to be about having fun? Why are you so focused on just cleaning?"
Yan Tuo took a sponge and began slowly wiping down the roof with the soap he had sprayed on. He didn't seem tired at all since he had left all the heavy lifting for Feng Mi.
After spraying down the entire car again, Feng Mi felt like her arms were no longer hers; she was panting heavily and wiped her forehead with her wrist. Just as she was about to sit in the car for a break, Yan Tuo tossed her another sponge: "Help me wipe that side down."
Feng Mi really wanted to throw that sponge back at him but knew that would take too much effort: "Can't you do it?"
"I'm wiping! If I do it alone, it'll take too long; if this soap dries up before we finish wiping it down, we'll have to spray again."
Damn...
Feng Mi felt like killing someone; after randomly wiping at one of the windows with the sponge twice in frustration, she finally couldn't hold back anymore: "What kind of process is this?"
Yan Tuo didn't look up: "Once we're done washing, we rinse with water one last time and then wipe dry with towels—I don't want you getting too tired; let's just do a quick wash."
***
Finally finished washing the car, Feng Mi felt completely exhausted. When she sat in the passenger seat, her back couldn't even straighten up; she felt limp like a pile of mush.
Yan Tuo looked lively: "Shall we go eat?"
Hearing that there was food involved perked Feng Mi up.
Yan Tuo chose a trendy street-side restaurant.
The place wasn't big but was packed with people—tables were almost touching each other with chairs pushed against one another. Every table was noisy and chaotic; it hurt her head trying to talk over everyone else. After sitting for just two minutes, Feng Mi wanted to leave, however, Yan Tuo had already scanned a QR code and ordered their meals.
She had no choice but to start eating amidst all that noise. The meal lasted nearly half an hour during which her nerves were tortured by all that commotion.
As they left the restaurant, Yan Tuo asked her: "Are we rushing off somewhere next or heading home?"
Normally, Feng Mi would definitely want to play until dawn; however today was different—she was already worn out and hadn't eaten well so she felt somewhat nauseous.
She replied weakly: "Let's go home."
***
Finally back at the villa.
As soon as Feng Mi entered her room, she collapsed onto her bed. Her body felt fine except for her arms which were trembling from fatigue—she must have pressed that spray bottle thousands of times.
Just as she was slowly recovering from exhaustion, someone knocked on her door.
It was probably either Xiong Hei or Lin Xirong checking on how things went between her and Yan Tuo today.
If only they knew she had spent all that time washing his car!
Feng Mi opened the door irritably.
It was Yan Tuo again.
He had changed into running shoes and casual sportswear with headphones stuffed in his ears.
"What are you doing?" Feng Mi asked.
Yan Tuo smiled: "Going for a run. I just had dinner; after eating so much it's healthier to burn some calories."
Feng Mi replied incredulously: "It's freezing outside..."
"Once you start running you won't feel cold."
Feng Mi nearly swallowed back her refusal; Aunt Lin had told her to pay more attention to Yan Tuo. This was only day one; she needed to see this through till the end.
Besides, going for a night run together counted as spending time together.
She gritted her teeth and said: "Wait for me; I'll change clothes."
***
The streets around their villa area were perfect for night runs—about five kilometers around.
Five kilometers sounded daunting to Feng Mi; it wasn't that she couldn't run but rather—was this really necessary?
With her interest waning and feeling lazy, Feng Mi quickly found herself left behind by Yan Tuo.
However, Yan Tuo was quite considerate: after leaving her a short distance behind, he would stop, turn around, and wave at her, waiting for her to catch up before continuing—he never ran out of her sight.
This was fine; while Feng Mi felt reassured, she also worried a bit: if Yan Tuo ran every night, would she have to accompany him every time?
***
As the distance between them increased, he would stop, watch her approach, then turn and continue running.
This went on repeatedly until the third time he stopped, at which point Yan Tuo dialed Xing Shen's number.
He used a special phone that had Xing Shen's and Nie Jiuluo's numbers saved as speed dials—thankfully, he had prepared this phone earlier to monitor Lu Xian, and now it came in handy.
Xing Shen answered quickly: "Hello?"
Yan Tuo looked at Feng Mi in the distance: "It's Yan Tuo."
Xing Shen responded with a sound of acknowledgment: "I heard from Ah Luo. Do you have time to meet?"
Ah Luo—Xing Shen called her that, indicating they were quite familiar.
Given his current situation, finding time wasn't easy, but it didn't matter; meeting Xing Shen as soon as possible was the priority.
"Yes."
Xing Shen replied straightforwardly: "Just come to Hanzhong first. When you arrive, call me, and I'll tell you where to go next."
This reluctance to reveal his exact location immediately was reasonable. Yan Tuo hesitated for a moment: "I'm in Xi'an. Is there any chance you'll come here?"
With only about fifty meters separating him from Feng Mi now, Yan Tuo waved at her and turned to run forward.
Xing Shen's voice came through his earphones: "Not possible. Ah Luo trusts you very much, but I'm sorry, I don't. Since I haven't met or talked with you before, I have my doubts. Are you... running?"
"Yes. I didn't want to make calls in my room, it's safer outside. I understand. I'll hurry to Hanzhong and contact you again."
"Contact me again."
With a soft beep, Xing Shen hung up.
Yan Tuo kept running, covering over a hundred meters before finally stopping and turning around.
Feng Mi had fallen behind again; perhaps seeing him stop made her take a break too, bending over with her hands on her knees and breathing heavily.
He needed to find an excuse to go to Hanzhong.
Having just returned, it was hard to come up with an excuse. But he couldn't delay too long. Lin Ling was already on a date with Lu Xian, and the progress of that date depended on Aunt Lin—who knew what ideas she might come up with?
Aunt Lin had asked him to take Feng Mi around; perhaps taking her along would be more feasible—he could say they were going on a trip? Hanzhong was such a large place; there must be some nice tourist spots!
Yan Tuo dialed Nie Jiuluo's number.
The call connected, but no one answered at the moment.
He gave Feng Mi a thumbs-up as she started running again and turned back to sprint forward.
Still no answer.
Nie Jiuluo must be busy. He should have sent a message first—after all, in modern society, many people, especially busy ones, don't welcome sudden calls or visits.
The call connected again.
"Who is this?"
"It's me; I'm not interrupting anything am I?"
This was the first time he heard her voice since leaving her small courtyard.
"You are interrupting. I'm busy. Are you... running?"
"Wait a moment."
He gathered his strength and ran far down the path before stopping and turning around: Feng Mi was far behind this time, giving him more time to talk.
"If I'm interrupting, should I hang up?"
"If it's already an interruption then why hang up?"
After a pause, she asked: "Is it inconvenient to talk while running?"
"Yes. Someone is running with me; I need to leave her behind so I can speak comfortably. This trip back feels a bit strange."
Nie Jiuluo sounded slightly nervous: "What feels strange?"
He couldn't quite articulate it.
Lin Xirong had inexplicably appeared in his room and said some ambiguous things while also asking him to take Feng Mi around; at the same time, Feng Mi got into his car—who knew if she was rummaging through things in there?
Thinking about it now made him feel uneasy; fortunately, he had left Chen Fu with Nie Jiuluo.
"It feels like I'm being suspected. The unreasonable part is that if Aunt Lin suspected me, she should do so discreetly without letting me know and investigate secretly until she really catches me doing something wrong. But she said some things to me and made some arrangements; she couldn't possibly not know that would raise my alertness and attention."
It was too contradictory—she had both targeted him while also letting him know he was being watched.
Nie Jiuluo probably found this strange too; she fell silent for a moment.
Yan Tuo said: "I'll run ahead."
Seeing him start running again made Feng Mi exclaim in frustration: "How much farther do we have?"
***
What was going on today?
Washing the car had turned out differently than she expected.
The romantic dinner she envisioned wasn't like the real dinner they had either.
And this romantic night run...
Was this all intentional?
***
Without looking back, Yan Tuo accelerated: "We're almost done; we'll turn back soon."
When he stopped again, Nie Jiuluo laughed on the other end: "You're really not making it easy for yourself; without some stamina you wouldn't be able to manage this!"
Yan Tuo smiled wryly: "Just a clumsy method."
In such haste, he couldn't think of anything else.
Nie Jiuluo said: "Lin Xirong's actions remind me of an inappropriate example."
"Go ahead."
"It's like an emperor knows his favored minister is accepting bribes. He wants to give the minister a chance so he doesn't expose it directly but instead hints: 'I already know about this; this time I can tolerate it but don't let it continue. If you do continue down this path it will become problematic.'"
Yan Tuo shuddered all over.
He recalled Lin Xirong's words: "Aunt Lin hopes that our bond will never change. If it does change, Aunt Lin won't be able to bear it."
So that's what she meant.
Lin Xirong truly felt some affection for him and was subtly hinting at him?
"What if it changes? Aunt Lin won't be able to bear it."
But it will change sooner or later, won't it?
Nie Jiuluo noticed his silence: "Yan Tuo?"
Yan Tuo came back to his senses and saw Feng Mi getting closer; this time, he wasn't planning to run anymore—he was tired from running.
He quietly asked, "Is your arm feeling any better?"
***
Meanwhile, Nie Jiuluo paused slightly, the pen in her hand stopping as she turned it between her fingers.
She had indeed been busy that evening, working on a new clay sculpture.
On her sketch, there was a small figure hugging a broken plum blossom branch, smiling so wide that her eyes nearly squinted shut.
She was preparing to sell it for a thousand or eight hundred.
Nie Jiuluo lowered her head and added another small flower to the plum branch, saying, "It's better now."