Then An Le turned back without much thought and continued to embrace Yan Huan tightly.

"Tap tap tap..."

Before long, Yan Huan carried the flushed-faced An Le, whose eyes had a glaze to them, back to the shrine's entrance.

At the entrance, Granny Kamiyo was still there scolding the two little brats, perhaps already aware of the embarrassing incident they had stumbled upon earlier.

"Granny Kamiyo!"

"Oh my, you're back... These two kids, really... Miss, are you alright?"

"I'm fine..."

An Le shook her head lightly while she was panting and looked at Granny,

"Granny, you can just call me An Le."

"Alright... Oh dear, your hand is hurt... Come, quickly put her down, I'll bring you some medicine..."

Granny Kamiyo didn't know An Le's hand had no feeling at all, and her panting was entirely due to inappropriate contact with her chest.

But this was good, at least An Le didn't need to explain.

Yan Huan was utterly exhausted, exhausted from enduring.

As soon as he saw they were at the right spot, he quickly put down An Le.

"I'm sorry, big brother and sister, it's because of us that you were chased all the way... They didn't know you two were there, just thought it was us..."

Beside them, Kuixiang came over apologetically, apologizing to Yan Huan and An Le.

Actually, it was because An Le had thought of something earlier and let out a sound in a daze which exposed them.

But Yan Huan thought this was also a lesson for the two of them.

Don't peek around at things you shouldn't.

It's easy to get into trouble.

"I'm sorry, big brother and sister, I'll treat you to lollipops..."

Beside them, Hayashi pulled out two individually wrapped candies from his pocket and handed them to Yan Huan and An Le.

Yan Huan glanced at his empty pocket and asked,

"If we eat these, what will you two eat?"

"Uh... We won't eat them!"

Yan Huan chuckled silently and returned the candy to them,

"Forget it, you two eat them. Here..."

Kuixiang glanced at the candy Yan Huan handed over, her eyes shifting back and forth, then she only took one.

"No problem, Hayashi and I will just have one! Big brother and sister can have one too!"

"Huh?"

Yan Huan and An Le were stunned, even Hayashi turned red,

"You... you eat it, I'm not having any."

"No no, just have one!"

"Big brother and sister are a couple, so they share one; we're not, so we can't share..."

Kuixiang was momentarily surprised, her face slightly reddening,

"But when we're grown up, we'll be a couple... so it's okay to share one now..."

Listening to their mistaken words, Yan Huan was slightly taken aback.

Just about to explain, he glanced at An Le beside him, who was blushing yet her lips slightly curled into a rare smile, seeming somewhat happy...

For some reason, the words of explanation didn't quite manage to come out.

"Come come, I've brought you some medicine..."

Granny Kamiyo approached holding cotton swabs, bandages, and iodine, looking at An Le's bleeding right hand, she couldn't help but gasp,

"Bear with it, the cut isn't big, but it'll hurt a bit."

"Mm..."

An Le nodded, watching the iodine-soaked cotton swab move around her hand.

"Does it hurt?"

Yan Huan's concerned voice echoed, making An Le belatedly realize she ought to feign pain.

"Oh... It's alright, Xiao Huan..."

She took a sharp breath, pretending to feel pain as she replied.

"It'll be over soon, over soon."

Granny Kamiyo wrapped An Le's hand with bandages, then amiably looked at her,

"Be careful. The mountain here isn't like the city, the roads are uneven, falling and getting hurt won't be good, understood?"

Listening to Granny Kamiyo's kind words, An Le blinked and squeezed her bandaged hand.

Momentarily stunned, Granny Kamiyo further asked,

"Did you hear me, An Le, you need to be careful."

"Ah... yes... okay..."

An Le quickly nodded in response.

Upon hearing An Le's response, Granny nodded with a smile and got up to attend to her own tasks,

"Alright, alright, don't run around, everyone in the village is busy. If you're free, help tutor these two with their homework."

"We finished our homework!"

"Then stay in the shrine and watch TV, don't run around!"

"Oh darn!"

An Le watched the two kids amusingly squabble with Granny.

Next to her, Yan Huan looked at her with concern,

"How are you, does it still hurt?"

"No... it doesn't hurt anymore, Xiao Huan..."

"That's good."

In the distance was the peaceful and serene village, with its beautiful scenery.

For some reason, a rare sense of calm and comfort welled up inside An Le...

A kind of peace and simplicity she really liked.

"..."

An Le blinked, unable to savor that feeling slowly when she suddenly remembered what happened earlier.

"By the way, Granny..."

"What is it?"

Granny Kamiyo turned back to her, and An Le began to describe the temple she saw on their way back,

"Granny, is there a temple in the village?"

"Temple?"

Upon hearing this, Granny Kamiyo glanced at the nearby kids, appearing puzzled.

"It's just... there was a temple on the roadside of the path we took down the mountain... I think I saw a Buddha statue inside..."

However, upon hearing this, everyone's expressions grew more bewildered.

Not only Granny Kamiyo, Kuixiang, and Hayashi but even Yan Huan frowned.

"But there's no temple in the village at all? Didn't you mistake a house for a temple?"

"Huh?"

An Le was momentarily surprised and glanced at Yan Huan beside her.

Yan Huan shook his head but was also pondering over everything she said, questioning,

"An Le, when we came back down, there was nothing by the roadside."

"..."

Hearing that, An Le pursed her lips, pondering internally.

But no matter how she recalled, she felt everything she saw earlier was real.

Could it be...

Her expression changed slightly to an awkward smile,

"I guess I was mistaken earlier because of the injury, and someone chasing us, I must've seen it wrong... When I think about it carefully, it must have been just a villager's house..."

As she explained, Granny Kamiyo and the others nodded without further thought, only advising her to rest well.

It was Yan Huan who carefully observed An Le's bashful smile, realizing her little lie.

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