Two minutes later, Zhou Li returned with the ice cream.

He saw Baozi sitting alone on the steps. She had removed her shoes and socks, revealing small, pale feet, likely around size 35, slightly whitened from being soaked. She was forcefully wringing out her patterned socks, and a lot of water dripped down with each twist.

SPLASH!

Water sprayed out.

Tuanzi stood on Zhou Li's shoulder, struggling to keep its balance, and said to him, "Baozi looks so pitiful."

Zhou Li nodded and walked over to hand her the ice cream.

Baozi silently took it and, putting down her socks, began to eat.

Compared to the tall and sturdy Brother Nan, Baozi's slender figure was more likely to stir a protective urge in others. Especially when she sat on the steps like this, hugging her knees and curling up, she looked like a tiny bundle, as drenched as if she had just been fished out of a lake.

Seeing her like this, Zhou Li, as her cousin, felt especially heartbroken.

It's like when things reach an extreme, they swing the other way; he was so heartbroken, he almost wanted to laugh. It was essentially the same principle as 'extreme joy begets sorrow.'

So Zhou Li sat down next to her, very close, to leave half the path free for others, and asked, "Having fun?"

"It's fun."

"Hmm…" Zhou Li's face remained expressionless, but his eyes were quietly sizing her up. Still saying it's fun, huh?

Yet, Baozi's expression remained calm as she leisurely scooped ice cream into her mouth. After a while, she finally said to Zhou Li, "Vanilla is tasty."

"The vanilla was sold out."

"Strawberry is also tasty."

"Got it."

The two fell silent again, quietly eating their ice cream, occasionally looking into the distance, or feeding Lord Dumpling.

Brother Nan and Huai Xu had taken Ji Xuan to buy snacks. The local street food, which mainly consisted of skewers and fried chicken, took a bit more time to prepare than ice cream.

In the distance, the faint sound of a dog barking could be heard.

As Zhou Li craned his neck to look, the scorching sun made the air shimmer. In the dazzling light, it seemed like someone was chasing a dog. Soon, a man's loud, cursing voice emerged but quickly ceased.

He moved the ice cream to a spot out of the sun's reach.

About fifteen minutes later, three figures returned, eating and talking as they walked.

Zhou Li could hear their voices from afar.

"Is this tasty?" Brother Nan asked.

"Yeah!!" Ji Xuan nodded.

"Do you know what it is?"

"Hmm?"

"Duck intestines, a duck's intestines…" Brother Nan's voice paused. "You know what intestines are used for, right?"

Ji Xuan's eyes widened in shock.

"Then don't eat this. Eat this one; this is tasty. If you don't believe me, ask Huai Xu."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is super tasty!" Huai Xu chimed in.

"Okay!"

"Is it tasty?" Brother Nan asked again.

"Tasty!!"

"Do you know what this is?"

Ji Xuan hesitated. She had a bad feeling.

"Chicken gizzards, a chicken's stomach," Brother Nan informed her.

"WTF?" Ji Xuan blurted out.

"Don't swear," Brother Nan said patiently. "Since that's the case, eat this. I like this one."

"What is this?"

"Tripe."

"Sounds like a plant."

"Hmm…" Brother Nan paused for several seconds. Only when she saw the little girl put the food into her mouth did she suddenly say, "It's a cow's stomach."

"BOO HOO…" Ji Xuan whimpered.

"Boo hoo what? No boo hooing allowed!" Brother Nan snapped.

The little girl's voice caught in her throat, and she fell silent.

By this time, they had walked up to Zhou Li and Baozi. The little girl shot Zhou Li a look, silently pleading her case. She thought Zhou Li must have heard what happened… But all she saw was Zhou Li, head lowered, earnestly feeding Tuanzi ice cream.

Brother Nan, tilting her head with a grin, asked Ji Xuan, "Tastes good?"

After pondering for a moment, the little girl replied, "It's still... tasty."

A few moments later, they all sat down on the steps in two rows, while Huai Xu stood to the side, leaning against a wooden post.

Zhou Li handed them ice cream and asked, "What happened just now?"

Ji Xuan swallowed, her voice tinged with lingering fear. "There was a big dog that came over and tried to bite us. It was really scary."

"Oh," Zhou Li responded.

"Then your girlfriend chased it away," Ji Xuan said, quickly glancing at Brother Nan before immediately looking away. To be honest, she was a bit intimidated. She thought her newly met cousin's girlfriend was like someone out of a movie. "Then the dog's owner came over and got into an argument with... Brother Lan. And after that, Brother Lan knocked the dog's owner down."

"She kicked the owner to the ground with one foot, and then walked over like this…" Ji Xuan was so excited that she even stood up to demonstrate.

"Hmm," Zhou Li acknowledged. He could guess the rest.

Ji Xuan, however, was still caught up in the excitement, painstakingly describing the incident in detail, even repeating the entire conversation verbatim—

"Brother Lan said, 'Not leashing your dog? You sour dog! That's like a dog walking a dog!'"

"Then the owner said, 'Who are you calling a sour dog?'"

"And Brother Lan said, 'I'm calling you a dog!'"

"Then the owner yelled, 'You son of a—'"

Zhou Li watched expressionlessly as she played both parts.

Indeed, she was just at that impressionable age.

If she were the same age as Brother Nan and they went to the same school, she might have become one of Brother Nan's most loyal fans.

After all, her IQ didn't seem particularly high either.

Next, they went rock climbing and walked across the glass bridge before preparing to head back. Ji Xuan took the initiative to get into Zhou Li's car.

The return trip would take about an hour.

Although it was their first meeting and Ji Xuan had grown up mostly abroad, Brother Nan still got along very well with her.

On the way back, Brother Nan was teaching Ji Xuan to speak the Yi Province dialect.

"For example, one of our local slang terms for 'very handsome' sounds something like 'gwah-see-see'. Another one, sounding like 'hah-chwo-chwo', is a synonym. You can use them interchangeably," Brother Nan explained earnestly. "These phrases will be useful if you go back to Yi Province with your mother."

"'Gwah-see-see,'" Ji Xuan repeated.

"That's right."

"'Hah-chwo-chwo.'"

"'That's right, that's right! Looks like you've got the hang of it," Brother Nan instructed encouragingly. "Usually, we greet people like this: 'Morning! Had breakfast? Hey, you're looking very 'gwah-see-see' today!'"

"'Why do you look so 'gwah-see-see' today?'" Ji Xuan repeated. "Is that right?"

"'Exactly! And we usually respond like this…" Brother Nan adopted a modest expression. "'Oh, not at all, I think *you're* the one who's 'gwah-see-see'.'"

"Oh~~"

"Now, if we want to compliment someone's vibrant spirit, we say they're, uh, 'shen-chwo-chwo.'"

"Is 'chwo-chwo' a complimentary term?"

"'That's it! You're already thinking for yourself, impressive!" Brother Nan praised. "Now, if we want to say someone is smart—for example, if you go back to your mother's hometown and see a relative's child, you should praise the child for being clever. You say: 'You've got a bump on your head.'"

"'You've got a bump on your head.'"

"'Right, right…'"

"'Lord Dumpling, you've got a bump on your head!'" Ji Xuan gently stroked Tuanzi's forehead. She quickly decided the phrase must mean that the person had a larger brain capacity than others.

"HAH!"

This was the first time Zhou Li saw Tuanzi bare its teeth in a threatening manner, which surprised him. But it lasted for only a second before Tuanzi scurried into his arms.

Soon, they arrived in Chunming.

When they got out of the car, Ji Xuan winked at Zhou Li and said happily, "I like your girlfriend! Make sure you listen to Brother Lan, okay? I'll come play with you guys again tomorrow. I'll go back home this year but come again next year. My mom wants me to learn Chinese well and apply to universities in China... So don't you dare lose Brother Lan!"

Brother Nan was overjoyed to hear this. Patting her chest, she assured Ji Xuan repeatedly, "Don't worry! Stick with me, and I guarantee you'll be speaking fluent Chinese!"

Zhou Li opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated.

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