I See Roses

I See Roses – Chapter 17

His tone was casual, as if he was coaxing a child, but the low and relaxed voice gave her a gentle illusion.

Ming Si was stunned for a moment.

It was not until Liang Xian squatted down and touched her ankle that a piercing pain struck her and she suddenly came back to her senses, “Ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts!”

She had always been afraid of pain. Just a little on her finger would make her fuss for a long time, let alone twisting her foot.

Her eyebrows were tightly furrowed.

Liang Xian withdrew his hand, gently pulled down the pant leg to cover the exposed ankle. He stood up and asked, “Should I carry you down?”

Although it was a question, he had already turned around and squatted down.

He had a well-proportioned figure, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, with the combat uniform accentuating his tall and heroic aura. When he squatted down, through the clothes, one could still see the tight lines of his shoulders, hinting at the hidden strength.

Ming Si hesitated for a moment and then cautiously climbed on his back.

This was her first time lying on a man’s back; the touch was unfamiliar, not soft at all.

She felt a bit… uncomfortable and strange.

Before she could fully process her emotions, Liang Xian suddenly hooked her legs and stood up. Ming Si’s center of gravity was lifted, and she exclaimed in alarm, quickly clutching his neck tightly.

“You can put more force if you want,” Liang Xian took a step forward and said calmly, “If you strangle me to death, we won’t be able to go down the mountain.”

Ming Si was so annoyed that she let go of her grip and gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

She had forgotten her initial discomfort.

In the club’s hall, Ming Si changed her clothes and sat on the sofa, carefully propping up one foot.

Liang Xian glanced at her and found her little actions strangely cute, his lips curled unconsciously.

When Ming Si saw his smile, she felt it was suspicious.

She grabbed a throw pillow, “Liang Xian, are you secretly enjoying my misfortune now that I twisted my foot?”

“If I were secretly enjoying it,” Liang Xian raised an eyebrow lightly, “I would make you hop down the mountain on one foot and record a video.”

“Hmph!” Ming Si clenched her fist and hit the throw pillow.

Liang Xian felt that she was treating the throw pillow as him.

Sure enough, Ming Si became more spirited as she continued to hit the throw pillow.

He almost laughed out loud as bent down to snatch the throw pillow away from her, “You really have so much energy; I should have made you hop down the mountain.”

Ming Si reached out to grab it, but Liang Xian lifted it gently, and she missed.

“Alright, take a rest for a while. I’ll inform the boss and take you to the hospital,” Liang Xian acted as if he wasn’t just teasing her, and handed her the throw pillow again.

Although it was he who had taken her stuff first, in the end, he acted as if he was magnanimous by giving it back.

Ming Si refused to take it back, “You keep it.”

The club’s owner, observing from afar, felt that the two of them were arguing and quickly walked over, “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, she twisted her foot. I’m taking her to the hospital,” Liang Xian put the throw pillow aside, “Tell Cheng Yu I took the car.”

In their original plan, they were supposed to descend the mountain tomorrow.

“Alright, alright, be careful on the way,” the boss had an impression of the two, not just because they were both friends of Cheng Yu but also because of their outstanding looks and temperament. At first glance, they seemed like a good match.

However, their tempers seemed difficult to deal with, arguing with each other on the sofa.

It seemed that one should refrain from judging a book solely by its cover and also avoid shipping a couple based solely on appearances.

The black SUV stopped in the club’s parking lot. Ming Si sat in the car, removed the ice pack and gently touched her ankle.

…It still hurts.

She carefully put the ice pack back.

The car drove down the mountain quietly and steadily.

The temperature in the mountains was low, and the wind blew in through the open window, carrying a chill. Clouds and mist surrounded the distant mountaintops, creating a dark green canopy.

The forest here gave a deep and gloomy feeling.

After watching for a while, Ming Si withdrew her gaze, “How much longer until we arrive?”

“About two hours,” Liang Xian estimated roughly.

She propped her chin with a sense of frustration, “Cheng Yu sure knows how to pick a place.”

“Take a nap, we’ll be there soon,” he had one hand on the steering wheel as he tilted his head.

Ming Si closed her eyes.

Because of her injured foot, she didn’t dare to fall asleep for real, yet everything felt a bit fuzzy.

She could fell the car turning and her whole body’s center of gravity shifting. Occasionally, she opened her eyes, and her vision passed through a dense ink-green color. Then, later on, she heard the slight sound of the window going up.

At some point, the car stopped.

Ming Si opened her eyes, rubbed her neck, and realized that there was no one in the driver’s seat next to her.

She instinctively unbuckled her seatbelt and looked around through the windows.

No sign of him.

He didn’t leave her here, did he?

Ming Si opened the door; using one hand to support herself on the seat cushion, she slowly tested the ground with her toes and then jumped out of the car.

Fortunately, as soon as she landed, she saw him.

Liang Xian stood at her rear side. Sensing her movement, he turned his head, “Awake?”

“Yeah,” Ming Si responded, “What… what happened?”

“Flat tire,” Liang Xian said.

Ming Si held onto the car door and took a couple of steps forward to take a closer look.

Indeed, the rear tire was completely deflated, with no chance of revival.

“Don’t we have a spare tire?”

“This is the spare tire.”

“…”

Ming Si recalled that the rear tire had burst once on the way to the mountain in the morning.

She stood there with one foot, still holding onto the car door handle, as though she was lost in thought.

It was approaching noon, and the fog had dissipated a lot. The golden sunlight shone on her from behind, penetrating her thin white T-shirt, faintly outlining her waistline.

Liang Xian intended to say something but inexplicably felt a bit restless, his Adam’s apple rolled gently.

He glanced away, “Let’s get back in the car first.”

Back in the car, Ming Si looked at the blank signal bars and realized a fact——she and Liang Xian might be stuck here for a while.

“Maybe not,” Liang Xian leaned against the car window lazily, “If someone passes by, we can catch a ride with them.”

“What if no one comes?”

“Then we can only wait for Yu Chuan and the others,” Liang Xian spoke nonchalantly, “We’ll figure something out.”

So, it all came down to luck.

Ming Si leaned back in her seat, feeling puzzled about why Liang Xian seemed so laid back, as though he wasn’t in a hurry at all.

“Being in a rush won’t help,” he seemed to sense her thoughts, “Is your foot hurting a lot?”

Ming Si glanced at him, “It’s alright.”

Sitting here while doing nothing felt awkward.

Liang Xian responded with a simple En, and said, “Just wait a bit.”

She wondered if anyone else has had this experience, being stuck in a car with someone they’ve never gotten along with since childhood, or with an unfamiliar husband.

Either scenario would be quite awkward.

And she was experiencing both.

Liang Xian probably had similar thoughts too, as in the first hour, they didn’t talk much.

There were only simple exchanges.

She found it uncomfortable to sleep in the front seat, so Liang Xian helped her move to the back and even found a thin blanket from somewhere.

Initially, Ming Si thought that, at most, in two hours, they would surely encounter a passing car.

But as time passed, the sun gradually moved towards the west. However, they didn’t see any car passing by on the mountain road.

She figured it out.

Anyone passing here would be heading to the club. With so many activities at the club, like live-action CS, billiards, outdoor barbecues, and camping, it was unlikely that anyone would come down anytime soon.

The light outside the car window gradually dimmed as the sun set, and the darkness became thicker.

Ming Si woke up from another nap. She almost couldn’t distinguish between morning and evening. She pressed her phone, and the time displayed 8 o’clock in the evening, but there was still no signal.

She tossed the phone aside.

Just then, a rustling sound came from outside the window.

Ming Si’s nerves instantly tightened, and she sat up with a start, “What’s that sound?”

Liang Xian fell silent for a moment, “It should be some small animals passing by.”

The surroundings were pitch-black, but there was also a crescent moon, casting a faint light. The shadows of the trees loomed, as if they could stretch their claws into the night sky with just a slight movement.

Ming Si felt goosebumps rising on her skin. She rolled up the window. Rubbing her arms, she couldn’t help but ask, “Are you sure? It’s not wolves, is it?”

Liang Xian rested one hand on the edge of the car, and it seemed he reminded of something by her question, his expression slightly stiffened, “It’s possible. This area used to be a wild mountain. There used to be ferocious beasts roaming around, and they might eat people.”

Just then, a chilly wind blew outside, rustling the trees. The small animal from earlier must have scurried away.

Does its departure mean that a more ferocious one is coming?

Ming Si grew more fearful with her thoughts and hugged her arms tightly, almost wanting to close her eyes.

“Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you,” Liang Xian’s voice sounded quite composed.

“How are you going to protect me? Do you think you’re Wu Song1?” Ming Si opened the car’s armrest compartment to search, “We don’t even have a knife…”

Liang Xian couldn’t help but laugh at last.

Her rummaging stopped for a moment, and then she realized what was going on. She gave his back a firm slap, “Liang Xian!”

All those wild mountains, ferocious-beasts-that-eat-people stories were just made up by him.

Liang Xian withdrew his hand from outside the window and turned to look at her, a hint of lingering amusement in his tone, “Ming Si, how are you so easily fooled?”

If it weren’t for her twisted foot, Ming Si really wanted to fight him right now.

Recalling their first meeting, which ended with a fight between them; at that time, Ming Si followed Ming Zhengyuan and Cen Xinyan to an island. The adults had business to attend to, so the children went to play by the beach.

Ming Si saw a seashell from afar and eagerly ran to pick it up. Unexpectedly, a boy picked it up even faster than her.

Both insisted that they saw it first, and they couldn’t remember who made the first move, but by the time the servants rushed over, they saw the two children rolling in the sand, their faces covered in it.

In the end, Ming Si got the seashell. When she got home, she even found a tiny pearl inside it.

Later, she learned that Liang Xian wanted to pick the seashell to give it to his bedridden mother. So, she hesitated and returned the pearl to him.

However, she still remembered the fiery pain when her hand was hit during their fight. So, her impression of him didn’t improve.

……

Seeing her lost in thought, Liang Xian reached out and lightly shook his hand in front of her eyes.

Ming Si instinctively pushed it away. Soon after, she realized that she had touched his hand, so she quickly withdrew it.

For some reason, it was indeed as Liang Xian said; she had a particularly strong guard against him, although he had never taken advantage of her in any way.

“Ming Si,” after a while, she heard him speak softly. His tone was no longer as casual as before, but rather somber, seemingly blending into the night.

“What is it?” Such a sudden serious tone made her feel uncomfortable.

“We’ve known each other for almost twenty years. Do you like quarreling with me?”

Ming Si couldn’t believe it, “Am I so perverted that I like quarreling with people?”

Liang Xian chuckled lightly; the moonlight happened to appear from behind the clouds, gently gliding over his eyes, “I don’t like quarreling with people either.”

She saw his lips gently curling as he said, “So, why don’t we try to reconcile?”