I'm a senior in high school, and the system says I'm going on a blind date with my childho

Chapter 131 Engravings on the Bluestone Slab

The village lanes are like a palace of childhood memories.

At each corner of the bluestone pavement, a yellowed scroll of memories slowly unfolds on the mottled old wall.

Shen Yuan stopped and stood outside a dry toilet.

The dry toilet has long been abandoned, but traces of charcoal marks remain on its yellowed walls.

Xiujuan's handwriting transcends time, allowing Shen Yuan to see the words that the little girl once carefully wrote on the wall, stroke by stroke, with charcoal in her hand.

—Shen Yuan's home.

Hidden in the lower right corner of the character "家" (home) is a smiley face symbol. The sunlight shines obliquely on this recessed wall, making the childish graffiti shimmer in the mottled surface.

Shen Yuan curled his lip, turned his head and gave Li Zhi a light sneer, then pointed at Li Zhi with his finger: "Childish."

The boy's feigned disdain was tinged with barely suppressed laughter, and the sunlight streaming in slanted across his eyes created a gentle curve.

"Humph!"

Li Zhi's fair chin suddenly lifted, her black hair rippling in the spring breeze: "Who told you to write about me first!"

Her long eyelashes cast dappled shadows on her eyelids, but couldn't hide the mischievous glint in her eyes.

"What outrageous things did I write that made you carve my name on the door of the outhouse?"

Shen Yuan tapped the mottled old wall with his finger, and fine dust fell down as he complained, "Damn it, it's been so many years, and it still hasn't faded! This dark history is still being displayed here!"

Looking at Shen Yuan's appearance, Li Zhi's eyes revealed a mocking look.

The beautiful girl suddenly took half a step closer, her citrus scent brushing against his ear.

"Don't you remember?"

Her fingertips traced the smiling face in the lower right corner of the character "家" (home), and her teasing gaze seemed to pierce through time, as if she could see two children squatting in the summer cicada song, weaving childlike bonds with charcoal on the blue bricks.

Shen Yuan blinked: "What did you write?"

Seeing that Shen Yuanzhen seemed to remember nothing, Li Zhi raised an eyebrow.

The beautiful girl suddenly reached forward with her right hand, her fingertips brushing against the folds of Shen Yuan's slightly curled clothes.

Her index and middle fingers, still warm from the girl's body, precisely gripped the indigo cotton-linen fabric, with a touch as light as a sparrow carrying a green plum.

"Walk."

Shen Yuan looked down at the hand that was tugging at his clothes.

The light blue veins on the inside of Li Zhi's wrist bone appeared and disappeared with his movements, and his fingernails showed a pinkish hue like a seashell.

The end of the stone steps covered in moss.

Li Zhi led Shen Yuan to an old tree in the village.

The old tree in the village stands majestically on a round platform built of bluestone, its rough trunk requiring two people to encircle it.

The gnarled branches stretch towards the sky within this enclosure, and amber-colored resin flows between the cracked bark, like solidified time winding down along the cracks.

The prayer ribbons hanging from the branches resemble a tree full of colorful butterflies, with faded vermilion characters and fresh ink marks intertwined among the shadows of the leaves.

A woman's cloth, used to pray for her young son's health, was lifted by the wind, revealing half of the phrase "May he be free from all diseases."

A faded silk ribbon with a copper bell at the end still faintly visible, bearing the wish for "passing the imperial examination with flying colors".

The old tree is adorned with the various wishes of the villagers.

As for whether it has ever been achieved, Shen Yuan is not sure.

Shen Yuan looked up at the prayer ribbons fluttering among the branches, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly, and a playful smile curved his eyebrows: "What, are you trying to say that I hung something here?"

After Shen Yuan finished speaking, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Can you still find it? If you can't, then it doesn't count."

Li Zhi suddenly turned to the side to block the slanting sunlight, and a crescent-shaped curve appeared at the corner of his eye.

"What if I can find it?"

Shen Yuan chuckled: "Then I'll apply it for you."

Li Zhi looked at Shen Yuan, his smile widening, his tone becoming even more sarcastic.

"Oh really?"

The beautiful girl's gaze fell on Shen Yuan, as if she were confirming something with him.

Shen Yuan nodded: "Of course."

After saying that, Shen Yuan found a pebble nearby: "Show it to me, I'll scratch it right now!"

Li Zhi looked at Shen Yuan, his eyes flashing as he suddenly leaned closer.

She lightly touched the ground to Shen Yuan's left with her toes, and the shimmering light from the curls in her hair resembled a string of dancing amber beads.

As she turned around, the scent of citrus wafted from her hair towards Shen Yuan, and a hand landed on the boy's left shoulder.

Li Zhi's nameless finger pointed at Shen Yuan's collarbone, which was hidden by his collar.

Shen Yuan heard the soft, deliberately lowered voice of the beautiful girl.

"Look down and see what you wrote."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan's gaze fell upon a piece of bluestone.

The scratches on the bluestone have been left to this day.

When the marks of time came into view, Shen Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted, and his Adam's apple slid abruptly across his taut neck as he swallowed.

His knuckles, gripping the pebbles with excessive force, turned bluish-white, the sharp edges almost piercing his palms, and fine beads of sweat seeped from the edges of his fingernails, glistening faintly in the sunlight.

The teasingly raised eyebrows trembled uncontrollably at this moment, and the rapid blinking of the eyelids caused the eyelashes to cast messy, fragmented shadows under the eyes.

At that time, Shen Yuan was only 7 years old.

Unable to reach the branches of the old tree, he carved his vision on the bluestone beneath it.

——Shen Yuanlizhi.

A burning sensation spread through her earlobes where Li Zhi's breath had brushed against her, and a lingering stinging pain remained on the skin of her collarbone where her fingertips had touched, as if she had been burned.

As Shen Yuan's gaze repeatedly confirmed the "" symbol of age rings stained on the bluestone, a barely audible breath escaped his throat.

Just then, the wind rang the copper bells hanging from the branches.

At this moment, Li Zhi's voice rang in Shen Yuan's ears again.

"Hmm, it should be crossed out."

The beautiful girl deliberately lowered her voice, the slight arch of her eyebrows resembling the swaying tip of a cat's tail after a successful prank, and even the light brown mole under her eyelid exuded the smugness of a successful mischief.

Shen Yuan suddenly turned to look at the girl beside him.

Li Zhi's face was filled with a tension of cunning and intimacy, and the curve of her lips carried the unique playfulness of a young girl.

He pressed his lips together tightly, as if suppressing the laughter that was about to spill from his throat.

The pretty girl smiled and said, "Now you know why I wrote this, right? Your actions have caused immense damage to my reputation and immense harm to the heart of a 7-year-old child!"

"So my house became a dry toilet, right?"

The words came out without the consent of the mind.

Li Zhi chuckled: "So, has your house been demolished now? Does this mean my words have come true?"

"Then I should thank you." Shen Yuan clasped his hands together and tossed the pebble aside.

"Hey, hey, hey, where did it go? Are you not going to apply it anymore?"

The lingering warmth of the pebbles on Shen Yuan's fingertips was swept away by the spring breeze, and a faint blush spread across the tips of his ears at the end of Li Zhi's teasing tone.

He abruptly turned his face away, the dappled shadows of the trees swaying on his taut jawline. The movement of his Adam's apple stirred the lingering burning sensation in his collarbone, as if a discarded pebble had lodged in his chest.

"This is called vandalism!"

He raised his eyebrows dramatically, and then kicked the pebble even further away.

"If you want to apply it, then apply it yourself."

The moment the words left his mouth, Shen Yuan's pupils suddenly trembled, like a copper bell being suddenly plucked.

"and many more!"

Shen Yuan turned around abruptly, the wind stirred by his robes startling the dragonflies perched among the prayer ribbons.

The boy's chest heaved rapidly, and the red marks on his palms from the stones were faintly burning.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down with each swallow, his gaze sweeping over Li Zhi's eyelashes, which were edged with gold by the sunlight.

"If you didn't like it, why didn't you cross it out in the first place?"

Li Zhi's foot, which was grinding half a withered leaf, suddenly stopped.

As the girl tilted her head, the copper bell on the old tree jingled softly.

Li Zhi slowly curled the strands of hair hanging down her chest with her fingertips. The shadows of the trees cast swaying golden light on her eyelids, making the small brown mole look like an ink dot on rice paper.

"Well..."

The last note was drawn out by the wind, and Li Zhi suddenly stepped in front of Shen Yuan.

The beautiful girl stood on tiptoe, looked up at Shen Yuan, and had a sly smile on her face.

"I don't know, it's been too long, I've forgotten."

The warm breath, carrying the scent of citrus, wafted over his throbbing temples.

Shen Yuan's neck tensed instantly as the smiling face drawn with charcoal flashed before his eyes. "You..."

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

The beautiful girl suddenly took half a step back.

"gone back."

The last note drifted down like a honey-dripped feather, and the beautiful girl's figure walked into the alleyway.

Shen Yuan watched Li Zhi's retreating figure, his gaze falling back to the small characters.

Shen Yuan squatted down, extended a finger, and placed it on the scratches.

"You really dared to say anything when you were a kid."

Just as Shen Yuan was pondering, a voice suddenly rang out behind him.

"Shen Yuan!"

Shen Yuan turned his head and saw that it was his older brother.

Shen Ming, accompanied by his fiancée, carried a long ladder toward the old tree.

The elder brother leaned the long ladder against the tree trunk and spoke to Shen Yuan.

"Help me steady this."

Shen Yuan nodded and stepped onto the foot of the ladder.

The older man slowly climbed up the old tree, took out a red ribbon from the inner pocket of his clothes, and carefully tied it to a branch of the old tree.

Seeing his older brother's serious expression, Shen Yuan's gaze suddenly fell on the blue stone.

Did I have the same expression back then?
hiss--

Am I that purely naive?
At the corner of the alley, Li Zhi cautiously poked his head out.

Upon realizing that Shen Yuan hadn't followed, Li Zhi went back to find him, only to discover that the man was still staring at the small characters carved on the stone.

"Humph!"

After snorting at Shen Yuan, Li Zhi turned and left.

Li Zhi ran into his older cousin in the alley.

My older cousin was strolling back from the roadside convenience store with my younger cousin.

Upon seeing Li Zhi, Yang Yishui exclaimed in surprise, "You didn't find the dog, and now another one is missing?"

"puff--"

Zhao Yueyang had just taken a sip of iced tea when he spat it all out.

It has to be said that my cousin has a sharp tongue.

No sooner had Zhao Yueyang finished speaking than his older cousin slapped him across the face.

"You can't even drink a beverage anymore? Go back and copy some vocabulary words."

"Huh?" My little cousin was stunned.

Just then, Yang Yishui suddenly saw a smile appear on Li Zhi's lips. Although it was brief, she believed her eyes.

what's the situation?
It’s tricky!
However, my older cousin didn't say anything, but kept it to herself.

They'll torture Shen Yuan severely later!
The older cousin composed herself, coughed, and then asked casually, "Ahem, where did Shen Yuan go? Didn't you go out together?"

Li Zhi snapped out of her daze and quickly replied, "Oh, that Shen Ming, he called Shen Yuan away. It seems he went to hang something on a tree. He should be back in a while."

Li Zhi had met Shen Ming before, but he didn't quite remember his name.

If Shen Yuan hadn't mentioned it to her older cousin this morning, she probably wouldn't have remembered.

Yang Yishui nodded.

Hanging things on old trees has become a custom in the village.

"Let's go, let's not worry about him. It's past 12 o'clock. I'll take you home later. You have to go back to school tonight."

Li Zhi nodded: "Then I'll go back first. I'll have Shen Yuan tell me before I leave."

My older cousin made an "OK" sign and then led my younger cousin away.

"Alright, let's go, you silly kid."

While rubbing his head, Zhao Yueyang muttered a complaint, "Sis, do you think my bad grades are because you always hit me?"

Upon hearing this, the older cousin's lips curled up slightly, revealing a sly smile. At the same time, she raised her arm, as if to hit Zhao Yueyang.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Yueyang was so frightened that he immediately shrank his neck, like a startled ostrich, and dared not resist in the slightest.

Shen Yuan did not return with Shen Ming.

The older brother wanted to take his fiancée for a stroll around the village for a while.

When Shen Yuan returned to his uncle's house, he immediately saw his older cousin leisurely sunbathing in the yard, and his younger cousin playing games. There was also a bottle of iced tea on the ground next to them.

Shen Yuan walked straight up to his older cousin, pointed at the bottle of iced tea, and asked, "Just one bottle? What about mine?"

Yang Yishui slightly raised her eyelids, glanced at him, and then slowly closed them again, saying unhurriedly, "That silly kid said he doesn't need to buy it for you."

"Eh?"

Zhao Yueyang, who was standing to the side, suddenly cried out in surprise, seemingly realizing that something was wrong. He hurriedly interrupted to explain, "No, brother, let me explain!"

Shen Yuan looked at Zhao Yueyang with a serious expression and said, "Speak. I'll give you five seconds."

Zhao Yueyang was intimidated by Shen Yuan's imposing manner and quickly said, "I said I wanted to buy it, but my older sister said I don't need to buy it. She said if you want iced tea, you can go buy it yourself."

He spoke in rapid succession, afraid that if he hesitated even for a second, he would be struck by his elder brother's iron fist.

After listening to Zhao Yueyang's explanation, Shen Yuan nodded thoughtfully, then slowly shifted his gaze to his older cousin's face, as if he was pondering something.

Just then, my older cousin suddenly spoke up: "I've transferred it to you."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan's gaze returned to his younger cousin, a slight smile playing on his lips. He said, "Buy it for me, I'll transfer the money to you."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yueyang immediately pouted, his face full of reluctance.

But he still obediently stood up from the bamboo chair, lowered his head, and slowly walked towards the door.

It takes at least two minutes to walk from here to the convenience store, plus the fact that Zhao Yueyang just walked by.

I really don't want to continue.

After his younger cousin left, Shen Yuan plopped down on the bamboo chair, then, like his older cousin, stretched out his legs, tilted his head back, and struck a very casual pose.

The two exchanged a glance and simultaneously revealed a sly smile.

For most older siblings, it's probably quite common to tease their younger siblings.

Zhao Yueyang was completely helpless.

Although he was quite strong in his first year of high school.

But he couldn't beat Shen Yuan, and his older cousin was the only girl in this generation. If he upset her, it would be the same as upsetting both his older brother and Shen Yuan.

My little cousin could only stand silently to the side, trembling with fear.

However, when Shen Yuan and his older cousin were about to leave, his younger cousin became unhappy.

"Let's go!" The eldest cousin waved to the family, especially giving her younger cousin a big smile.

She and Shen Yuan walked away, but the older brother couldn't chat with her, so he could only play on his phone by himself.

The older cousin walked up to her younger cousin, gently pinched his cheek, and said with a smile, "Look at your long face. It's all because you didn't do well on your high school entrance exam. Otherwise, you would be coming to my place every day!"

Hearing his older cousin's words, the younger cousin looked even more dejected, and he pouted and said:
"I really can't pass the exam!"

After teasing her little cousin, the older cousin looked at his distressed face with satisfaction, then turned around and led Shen Yuan and Li Zhi into the car.

"Going home, going home, going to work again tomorrow!" My older cousin muttered as she fastened her seatbelt, her face full of weariness and exhaustion at work.

Hearing his older cousin's complaint, Shen Yuan, who was sitting to the side, immediately interjected, "I have to attend evening self-study today!"

My older cousin waved her hand dismissively and said, "They're all the same."

Shen Yuan's eyes widened as he retorted, "How are they the same? I have class today!"

My older cousin smiled and explained, "You didn't have a formal class today, so it doesn't count."

Shen Yuan persisted, arguing, "Then come and take over the class!"

My older cousin shrugged and said casually, "I'm here to take over the class so you can give the lecture."

Shen Yuan was speechless. He looked at his older cousin and after a long while, he finally managed to stammer, "You... Yang Yishui, you win."

My older cousin laughed heartily: "Let's go! Let's go!"

As the vehicles drove away from the village, the prayer ribbons hanging from the old trees stretched out in the wind.

The faded ink marks and brand-new wishes overlap among the branches and leaves, like a diary repeatedly transcribed by time.

Shen Yuan gazed at the buildings receding into the distance in the rearview mirror, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing his palm.

The childish graffiti on the walls of the outhouse in my childhood, and the heart-shaped imprints deeply embedded in the bluestone, have now all turned into a new ring added to the old tree's annual rings.

A breeze carrying the scent of citrus swept past the prayer bells, concealing an unspoken answer within the lingering tinkling of early autumn.

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(End of this chapter)