CH 13

Editor: Zoya001

Lunch is not rich. There is no soup for one meat and two vegetables. If this was served in Ning You’s home, it would be too rudimentary. 

But he has to admit that Li Mu’s cooking skills are very good, with moderate saltiness and just the right amount of spiciness that perfectly match Ning You’s taste.

After taking a few bites, Ning You’s mobile phone suddenly vibrated twice. He picked up his mobile phone and unlocked it. It was a WeChat message from Li Zhao.

[Li Zhao: Picture.jpg]

[Li Zhao: Eat a big plate of chicken at noon, how about you?] 

As long as the mobile phone is still around, it’s impossible to be truly isolated from the world.

Ning You doesn’t mind the small talk with Li Zhao. He opened his phone’s camera and just as he was about to take a picture of the meal on the table, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed Li Mu slowing down his meal and gave a look that was hard to describe.

Those eyes seemed to say: What’s wrong with you city people, must every meal be accompanied by taking pictures?

“No, I’ll show it to my friends.”

Ning You quickly pressed the shutter button, but before clicking send, he heard Li Mu say, “Boyfriend.”

This topic was too much, Ning You didn’t know how to react for a while, and asked in a daze: “What?”

“Who will show their lunch to ordinary friends?” Li Mu responded casually.

Subconsciously Ning You itched to retort, since his circle of friends is brimming with people who share their gourmet food. 

But after careful consideration, what’s on the table now is nothing more than an ordinary home-cooked meal, and he himself didn’t cook it. He really has no reason to share it.

Coming to this conclusion, Ning You was unwilling to be defined by Li Mu, and he imagined several other situations, but just as Li Mu said, there’s no need to share (picture of) this average lunch with anyone.

It’s only between lovers or an ambiguous partner, who will perform this sort of trivial thing.

“Not a boyfriend.” Ning You quietly deleted the picture and replied with three characters “home cooked meals” in the dialog box. 

In fact, based on his relationship with Li Zhao, they can completely share lunch with each other, but after this matter was defined by Li Mu, perhaps out of rebelliousness, Ning You inexplicably felt a wave of resistance, because the fiancé of the business marriage is not equal to real boyfriend, in this point Li Mu did not guess correctly.

He wants to justify it, but then Ning You doesn’t think it’s necessary.

Observing Li Mu’s attitude, he obviously just said it casually, and wasn’t interested in his love life.

It was something else that caught Ning You’s attention. 

Ol Ze ajixfv jybea ybsoglfcv, lcvlmjalcu atja tf xcfk Rlcu Tbe’r bglfcajalbc. Ktlr wjaafg, Rlcu Tbe vlvc’a vfilyfgjafis mbcmfji, jcv tf vlvc’a offi wemt regqglrf, yea obg atf olgra alwf lc atf ijra akb vjsr, tf ofia meglber jybea Ol Ze’r bglfcajalbc.

Ktlr xlcv bo gbeut wjc wera yf j ragjluta raffi wjc, gluta?

After lunch, Ning You took the initiative to clean up the dishes and chopsticks.

While he was washing the dishes, Li Mu was busy in the yard, preparing food for Hari, then the next moment he weeded and fertilized the vegetable garden. One of the things that attracted Ning You’s attention for a long time was… shoveling the big ox manure. 

Ning You once again refreshed his understanding of Li Mu. Isn’t this person not afraid of getting dirty at all?

As soon as the shovel went down, the ox manure was shoveled up like dirt. Ning You felt it was all too novel——after all, he had never seen this scene before, and on the other hand, he felt complicated——he has mysophobia, and he could watch people shovel ox manure without discomfort.

It was just that after staying with Li Mu for two days, Ning You had already begun to wonder if he had false mysophobia.

The afternoon sun shone unobstructed into the yard, and the strong wind blew the clothes on the clothesline up high. Li Mu is very focused on his work, perhaps feeling too hot. He took off his thick jacket wearing a plaid shirt underneath. It’s exactly the same as the one Ning You wore around his waist. 

Ning You wasn’t very skilled in washing dishes, and occasionally he would peek at Li Mu through the window from time to time, so he was stunned that there were only a few dishes washed in the sink all that time.

When Li Mu finished his work in hand, Ning You’s side had just finished wiping the water off the plates.

Li Mu had no plans to take a long lunch break. He packed up his work equipment and mounted Hari to leave again. At this time, Ning You came to the door of the cabin and stopped him: “Li Mu.”

Li Mu grabbed the reins and looked back at Ning You. 

“Can I sleep in the bed while you are away?” Ning You asked.

Li Mu has never paid attention to these things. He doesn’t mind people sleeping in his bed, but looking at Ning You wearing his clothes, two small legs shining white in the sunlight, he opened his mouth and said, “No.”

Ning You was a little disappointed. He didn’t sleep well last night and wanted to take a nap. He thought that since Li Mu wouldn’t be home he could sleep in the bed, but Li Mu disagreed.

He asked again: “Then can I go on a mountain to patrol with you?” 

Li Mu still replied the same way: “No.”

Ning You curled the corner of his mouth irritably: “Then be careful.”

Following Li Mu to patrol the mountains was just Ning You’s whim. Since he was stuck here and couldn’t get out, it was better to take this opportunity to expand his horizons.

But this idea is indeed unrealistic. It’s impossible for him to patrol the mountains naked, and he definitely doesn’t want to come into contact with that wild species again while naked. 

After Li Mu left, Ning You honestly took a nap on the floor.

When he woke up, the sun outside the window was still dazzling, and his legs were as sore as ever. However, after sleeping well, the mood is different, and the soreness of his legs becomes irrelevant.

He turned on the phone and took a look. There was no news or any call. This feeling was extremely strange, but it unexpectedly made him feel comfortable.

Ning You opened the door of the cabin to see how the clothes were doing. He just took a step when he noticed a small object squirming by the wooden fence not far away. 

The lump thing looked dirty, as if it had rolled around in the mud a few times.

It was only after Ning You got closer did he realize that the lump dirty thing was actually a little fox.

Even if Ning You was no longer familiar with small animals, he could see that something was wrong with this little fox. The fur on his body was bald, and there seemed to be pus flowing in the corners of his eyes.

This is the first time Ning You has encountered such a situation, and he doesn’t know how to handle it. He hadn’t even been in such close contact with a healthy fox, let alone this little fox who was obviously sick. 

After being at a loss for a while, Ning You finally chose to call Li Mu.

The little fox wasn’t afraid of people at all. When Li Mu rushed back from the outside non-stop, it stayed by Ning You’s side obediently.

“Li Mu, come and have a look.” Before Li Mu got off the horse, Ning You shouted impatiently, “Does it want us to help it?”

Li Mu walked over quickly, and after just one look at the little fox, he picked it up from the ground and said to Ning You, “I’ll take it to the vet at the bottom of the hill.” 

“Are you going on horseback?” Ning You asked as he followed Li Mu.

“I’ll drive a car.” Li Mu said.

“Then I’m going too.” Ning You said.

Li Mu turned his head and looked at Ning You’s bare lower legs. Ning You immediately understood what Li Mu meant and said, “I will stay in the car and won’t go down.” 

“Then hold it. “As Li Mu said, he stuffed the little fox over. Ning You looked at the dirty fur, and he didn’t pick it up for a while, nor did he pick it up, but in the end he overcame the resistance in his heart and took the little fox into his arms.

The warm body temperature came from his hands. Aside from the experience of learning to ride a horse when he was a child, Ning You had a real sense of small animals for the first time in so many years.

“Is it okay?”

Sitting in the passenger seat of the pickup truck, Ning You put the little fox on his lap. The condition of the little fox is really bad, Ning You was completely indifferent to small animals, but looking at the wilted little fox lying on his lap, he still felt worried. 

“Hard to say.” Li Mu started the car, “First take it down and have a look. Chief Lin’s daughter is a veterinarian.”

It took less than five minutes to drive from the mountain to the village.

The pickup truck eventually stopped at the fenced entrance of a wooden house, and inside the fence was a female of unknown age who was playing with a sheepdog.

“Dou Lan, help me see this fox.” 

Li Mu walked into the yard with the little fox in his arms. He said Duo Lan is Chief Lin’s daughter. Her eyebrows are somewhat similar to Chief Lin, and her cheeks have the same plateau red.

Ning You didn’t get out of the car. He looked into the yard through the car window and saw Dou Lan check on the little fox, then frown and shook her head at Li Mu.

Li Mu’s face obviously became gloomy. He and Dou Lan chatted a few more words, and finally left the little fox there and returned to the car by himself.

“Is it okay? “Ning You asked. 

Li Mu didn’t answer, started the car, turned around and drove towards the mountain.

Ning You couldn’t help stretching his neck and looking back, until he couldn’t see the little fox anymore, he retracted his head and asked Li Mu, “Is it seriously ill?”

“Hmm.” Li Mu responded with no expression.

“What kind of disease is it?” Ning You asked. 

“Kidney failure.” Li Mu said.

“Why is that? ” Ning You said in surprise.

“The high probability is that it ate the food fed by the tourists.”

This is an area that Ning You has never been involved in before. He asked uncertainty: “Can’t they eat human food?” 

“Can’t.” Li Mu frowned and said, “Animals are different from humans, they can’t eat very salty things.”

Ning You could clearly feel that Li Mu was angry. Although he knew that Li Mu’s anger was definitely not aimed at him, he still consciously closed his mouth.

“I don’t know why some people always like to feed wild animals,” Li Mu continued. “Is it so easy for people to give alms just so that it makes them feel satisfied?”

Ning You always felt that Li Mu was not a person with great emotional ripple, but it was clear that this incident made it hard to control his emotions. 

“Can the little fox still be saved?” Ning You couldn’t help but ask.

“No.” Li Mu said, “When it dies, Dou Lan will find a place to bury it.”

Ning You was dumbfounded.

He had just hugged the little fox, and its body temperature seemed to remain in the palm of his hand. 

He looked at his hand and realized for the first time that man and nature are not a simple proposition.

“Li Mu.” Ning You withdrew his gaze from his hands and looked at the person beside him, “Why did you become a forest ranger?”