When Xia Yao woke up, the sun was already rising. She looked at the magnificent lights in the sky and admired its flawless beauty.

She felt sore all over her body. She raised her hand and found out the back was covered with various deep and shallow cuts and dried bloodstains.

She sighed; it was really bad luck.

She asked the system: [Has the task been completed? Does last night count?]

[Calculating... Calculating... The reward has been sent to your card. Please check later, host.]

As soon as she heard she had received the money, the previous unhappiness instantly disappeared and Xia Yao felt better.

Surrounded by tall trees, Xia Yao lay on the ground and tried to sit up, only to discover that her left shoulder seemed to be injured. She had no strength and could only use her right hand to help herself up, but her knee also gave up. Not only had her shoulder been knocked on a large rock, but her right leg had also suffered.

She felt unhappy again.

She frowned and looked around. She found that she was rather far from the hill she had fallen from and noticed a white shadow nearby. Oh, it was Xia Xi. Let's leave her alone then.

Although her sense of direction was not too bad, she didn't know where the campsite was. Her chance of finding her way back was small, not to mention that her leg was in bad shape. After a second, she took her phone out of her pocket.

With today's technology, the signal coverage was wide and phones had become more and more resistant to falls. Xia Yao turned on the screen with satisfaction; it was 6 am and she immediately noticed that her battery was extremely low, only at 2%.

... Weren't they supposed to last two hours of call after charging for five minutes? She had done so last night, what was it dead now?

She quickly swiped the screen, clicked on the phone, and dialed her latest contact who was Xu Yinuan. She waited for a while but the girl must have still been asleep and she didn't answer; Xia Yao quickly hung up and tried the next number.

It was Xu Shizhou and she didn't have much hope. As a result, when he answered at once, Xia Yao was a little surprised.

"Hey, do you already miss me?" The boy on the other hand sounded as he had just woken up and his voice was even lazier than usual. Xia Yao guessed he was still half asleep; why would she miss him?

"I miss you, I miss you." She hurriedly added, "I rolled down the hill under the Crooked Tree. I don't know where I am now. Can you come to find me? I don't know how to go back."

She spoke fast but there was no sound at the end of the line. Only then did she find out her screen was black and her phone was dead.

—Alright, hopefully Xu Shizhou had heard enough to find this damn Crooked Tree who was trying to kill people.

***

Xu Shizhou woke up very early because he suddenly thought he had forgotten something. He had wanted to ask Xia Yao to go watch the sunrise together!

He tossed around a little irritably and couldn't fall asleep anymore. The scene of the two of them watching the sun was carved in his mind, it seemed so romantic and he was unhappy to have missed it!

As he kept thinking about it, the phone next to him rang with a special ringtone, which awakened him entirely at once.

Xia Yao?

Did she want to go watch the sunrise together?

He answered the phone instantly. He pretended he had just woken up and said: "Hey, do you miss me already?"

The girl on the other end sounded very excited and she replied hurriedly: "Miss you, miss you—"

Xu Shizhou was hit by lightning and pink bubbles appeared in his head. His mind was full of the girl who couldn't wait to see him and he couldn't wait to get dressed. But before he could change his clothes, the call had already disconnected.

Xu Shizhou: ??

He tried to dial Xia Yao back but a mechanical voice said her phone was off.

Xu Shizhou: ??

He dressed up and went to look for her, only to discover she wasn't in her tent. He then vaguely remembered she had mentioned a tree.

She was probably waiting for him under the Crooked Tree!

***

Xia Yao lay down on the ground and recited ancient poems and various school lessons boringly as she waited for Xu Shizhou. She was ready to start with politics when the boy arrived.

It was the first time Xu Shizhou saw a girl in such a mess. Her hair was all knotted, her clothes were ripped, her face was covered in dirt and there were two shallow bloody marks on her cheeks. She just lay down on the ground pitifully, like a weak kitten that would faintly meow when she opened her mouth and—

"Xu Shizhou, you're here!" Xia Yao shouted, full of vitality.

"Injured?" The boy asked from a distance.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Xia Yao stretched out her leg and showed her shoulder, revealing her wounds. Xu Shizhou looked at the blood oozing from her clothes and cursed in a low voice. No emotions could be seen in his eyes but his whole face was dark and sullen.

Xia Yao didn't like this look much and was afraid he was worried, she quickly said: "It's okay, it doesn't hurt but I can't walk."

She had been injured a lot since she was a child and it had been more serious than that. This wasn't enough to really hurt her. She wasn't missing an arm or a leg, at most she should go check at the hospital nothing was broken.

The boy looked at her wounds silently for a long time and the expression on his face eased a little. He leaned closer and said in a low voice: "Come on, call me brother and I will carry you."

"..."

Wow. Carry or not, forget it, she had never seen someone take so much advantage of the situation!

"I'm hurt." Xia Yao softened her voice, "I rolled down the hill, my shoulder hurts, my leg hurts, my whole body hurts."

—No, no, she didn't want to call him brother again, it was impossible in this life!

Xu Shizhou's expression darkened and he swore again.

"Let's go, I will take you to the hospital." He pulled her up nervously and squatted on the ground, before motioning for her to get on his back.

When Xia Yao came back to her senses, her head was already leaning against Xu Shizhou's strong shoulders and her arms instinctively wrapped themselves around his neck. She smelled the familiar minty fragrance from the tip of her nose, which was very reassuring.

"Xu... Xu Shizhou!" A delicate and sweet voice suddenly sounded.

Xia Yao turned her head to look at the girl in white. She didn't seem to have suffered damage, she just looked a little messy, and Xia Yao couldn't help but curse in her head.

—As expected of the heroine's halo!

"Can you carry me?" Xia Xi covered her scraped knee and ran over, "I am also injured. My knee hurts when I walk around, can you... can you..."

The girl's eyes were wet like her injury was a huge deal, and her face looked distressed. Xia Yao lay on Xu Shizhou's back, too lazy to speak, and watched her perform with interest.

Obviously, she was okay enough to run over, why couldn't she see where she was hurt? Wait, she woke up so late, she couldn't have been sleeping all along, could she?

Xu Shizhou never glanced at her and kept walking with Xia Yao on his back. Xia Xi saw that he wasn't reacting, and she could only follow him silently and embarrassed.

Xia Yao raised an eyebrow at her, her expression a little smug.

Xu Shizhou walked very steadily and Xia Yao didn't find the journey bumpy at all. On the contrary, it felt rather enjoyable and the two of them chatted along the way, ignoring Xia Xi.

"How did you get hurt?"

"She pushed me and I pulled her with me." Xia Yao glanced at Xia Xi.

"I will remember it."

"Don't, I will avenge myself." Understanding the meaning of the boy's words, she whispered in his ear. She remembered that she had a scene of pushing the heroine into traffic, according to the original novel. It seemed to be around the final exam and it would come sooner than later.

Xu Shizhou didn't take Xia Yao back to the campsite but directly called his driver. A bodyguard opened the door for them and the teenager helped Xia Yao inside first, before getting on the other side.

As for Xia Xi who had followed them all the way, her eyes were still red and she could only eat the car's dust as she watched it drive away, feeling even more bitter in her heart.

***

The temperature must have been perfect because as soon as she got in the car, Xia Yao fell asleep. Xu Shizhou was close to her and he used one hand to put her head on his shoulder.

In the passenger seat sat the butler Uncle Li. He glanced in the rear view mirror several times and couldn't help but ask: "Young Master, is this lady your girlfriend?"

Uncle Li had been with Xu Shizhou since he was a child and while the man was a little older, he was closer to him than his own parents. Xu Shizhou turned his head slightly and looked at the girl's peaceful sleeping face, before frowning and taking a tissue out. He wiped some of the dirt on her face and said: "It's so dirty."

Uncle Li stared at the young master's movements from the rear view mirror and showed a meaningful smile.

—The young master was so handsome but had never liked anyone. He had always wondered if he liked boys.

After a long time, Xu Shizhou finally said: "Soon."

"Huh?" Uncle Li was a little confused, "This is the suburbs, there is still some time before we reach the hospital."

"..."

Xu Shizhou secretly took Xia Yao's hand and whispered: "She will be my girlfriend soon."

Uncle Li: !!

They weren't together yet! Uncle Li couldn't help but be shocked, who couldn't resist the young master!

"Good luck!"

Perhaps because his cheering was a bit loud, Xia Yao opened her eyes a little startled. She saw a pair of dark eyes and a small mole under its corner; the focused expression was somewhat frightening.

She realized her head was resting on something a bit hard and cleverly sat back up. With an extremely serious face, she said: "I will definitely study hard and make progress every day!"

Little theater:

Xu Shizhou: Soon.

Ji Huai: Denied.

Xia Yao: Let's contribute to the motherland!