Jiang Xia subconsciously touched his face, and the moment he did, he knew something was wrong.
"Are you calling me thick-skinned?"
"I did not. Don't slander me."
An Ning turned away with a huff, but a smile played on her lips. Her mood was light and cheerful.
Jiang Xia shook his head slightly, an unseen look of fond exasperation in his eyes.
One in front of the other, they began to climb the mountain.
The mountain range behind their home was vast.
The mountain An Ning had leased was just a small peak, belonging exclusively to their village of Shili Gou.
But the area they were in now was already outside of Shili Gou, falling under the town's jurisdiction.
The deeper they went, the taller the trees became.
Once the Beginning of Spring had passed, the branches were just as Jiang Xia had said: no longer dry and brittle, but full of resilience.
An Ning tried to snap off the tip of a branch and said admiringly, "The wisdom of our ancestors is truly unrivaled."
