My Exclusive Dream World Adventures

Chapter 128: Stew it for 128 minutes. Chapter 128: Stew it for 128 minutes. Chen Xu felt a tickle on his nose and woke up, only to find Yang Jinxia sprawled on his chest, teasing his nose with a strand of her hair.

Seeing him wake up, she let go and said with a bright smile, “Awake?”

That smiling face dazzled Chen Xu a bit.

He reached out and rubbed his slightly itchy nose to ease the awkwardness. Soon, the events of the previous night came flooding back into his mind.

His gaze softened as he asked, “Did you sleep well last night?”

“Not at all.”

Yang Jinxia’s face turned stern as she said, “You just held me so properly all night long. Don’t I attract you at all?”

Chen Xu felt his nose tickle again but resisted the urge to rub it, saying somewhat awkwardly, “My grandma is sleeping next door.”

“Haven’t seen anything before?” Yang Jinxia snorted, sitting up, “They are all excuses.”

Chen Xu also wanted to sit up, but as he moved, he realized his right hand was completely numb and unresponsive.

His right hand had been pressing down on her all night long; it was no wonder it felt numb.

“What’s wrong?” After Yang Jinxia got out of bed and tied her hair up with a rubber band, she turned around to see him lying on his side, pinching his right arm, and asked.

Chen Xu, enduring the tingling sensation, said, “It’s numb.”

“Serves you right.”

Despite her words, she climbed back on and gently massaged the muscles of his arm, noticing him frowning from discomfort every now and then. She couldn’t help but say, “Couldn’t you think to withdraw your hand?”

Chen Xu just smiled and remained silent.

“Ah, you really don’t get romance.” She sighed, “Can’t you say something nice to me? You were clearly afraid of waking me up.”

Chen Xu slowly pulled his hand back, and as Yang Jinxia looked on in slight surprise, she heard him say in a low tone, “What role do you hope I’ll play to always be by your side?”

Her gaze shifted from shock to calmness as she looked back at him.

In the ensuing silence, the atmosphere turned increasingly tense.

Finally, Yang Jinxia moved her lips, about to speak, “You…”

Thud, thud…

The knocking from outside interrupted her. Third Aunt’s voice came in, “Xiao Xu, come out for breakfast.”

The tight atmosphere was instantly broken.

Chen Xu felt a sense of relief and then noticed that Yang Jinxia’s expression had also visibly relaxed. He was uncertain about his own feelings as he answered, “Coming.”

After coming downstairs, the two of them tacitly avoided discussing what had just happened.

Third Aunt had prepared new toothbrushes and towels for them because the village no longer had even a small store; purchasing goods required going to town, which was quite inconvenient, hence these daily necessities were kept in stock for visitors.

Holding the toothbrush and towel, Chen Xu went outside to wash, leaving the bathroom to Yang Jinxia.

After he finished washing and came back, the bathroom door was still closed. Women always took a bit more time to clean up.

He returned to the living room to meet Third Aunt’s knowing smile and knew he wouldn’t be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the river, so he simply pretended not to see it.

The day had already brightened, and the time was 6:30 am.

For the first time, his biological clock had failed him, and he had overslept.

After a while, Yang Jinxia finished washing up and came over, already changed into a new set of clothes. As she walked in, she greeted, “Good morning, Grandma, good morning, Third Aunt.”

“Morning. Come, sit down and have breakfast,” Third Aunt invited her with a warm smile.

Breakfast consisted of porridge, stir-fried vegetables, eggs, a bowl of pickles, and a plate of salty, crispy peanuts.

While eating, Chen Xu asked her, “Do you have to go back to the office today?”

“No need, I’ve already asked for leave,” Yang Jinxia replied. “I rarely get to visit, and I want to have some fun here today.”

“Mhm, after we eat, I’ll take you to town for a stroll,” Chen Xu remembered how interested she was in the bustling market yesterday.

“Alright.”

After breakfast, Chen Xu drove her out. Before leaving, Third Aunt asked him to buy some vegetables on the way back, which he readily agreed to.

This town was bigger than the one Liu Xiaoshang came from. In fact, by the time Chen Xu was in elementary school, the concept of a market day no longer existed, and it was then that the young people from this area started flooding into the big cities to earn money.

Still, centered around the old Supply and Marketing Cooperative was a fairly bustling street, with just supermarkets, for instance, there were two or three. And there were even more small wholesale sections.

When they arrived, the street was already bustling. There were sellers of Spring Festival couplets, New Year stickers, incense paper and candles, and various stalls filled the entire street.

After parking the car, the two headed to the street.

At the intersection was a pork stall, fixed to the back seat of a motorcycle with a wooden platform. It occupied the middle of the road just like that.

The meat seller was a middle-aged man missing part of his right index finger. Seeing him look over, the man picked up a cleaver and asked, “Boss, buying meat?”

Chen Xu decisively shook his head and continued walking forward.

After walking a bit further, Yang Jinxia asked softly, “That pork seller just now seemed pretty fierce. When you shook your head, I was so afraid he was going to chop at us with his knife.”

Chen Xu couldn’t help but laugh, saying, “Who does business like that? But yeah, these people are indeed not to be trifled with. I heard from the villagers before that the pork business in the town is monopolized by a dozen or so families. Last year, some people from other towns came to sell here and got beaten up by them; it was quite a big deal.”

Yang Jinxia said, “I just felt these people had a fierce aura.”

As the two walked on, the sounds of hawking were non-stop: there were those selling kitchen knives, medicinal oils, electric frying pans, and also cordyceps flowers.

The busiest was a store that used a loudspeaker to announce, “Everything for ten yuan, each item is ten yuan…” and that was one crowded place.

Each time they passed a stall, Yang Jinxia would stop to look, watching the vendors promote their products in various ways.

Chen Xu rarely came to the market, and standing by her side, he found it quite a novelty.

“Look, there’s a ring toss game over there,” Yang Jinxia exclaimed as if she had discovered a new continent, running over.

Chen Xu followed and saw an open space with about fifteen geese, their feet and wings tied up. About a meter or so away from them was a railing, and in front of the railing, a young man was tossing a small plastic ring at one of the geese’s necks.

He was somewhat surprised as he hadn’t seen this kind of game in a long time. He remembered back in middle school, during summer vacation when he would go to where his parents did business and would see these ring-toss games when he went out for an evening stroll.

Later, when the city management cracked down, such games became rare.

He didn’t expect that they would still have it in his hometown.

“Chen Xu, let’s play too,” Yang Jinxia said with a hint of excitement.

Chen Xu immediately went to the stall owner and bought ten rings for ten yuan, handing them to her.

When the person in front of them had used all his rings, she stepped forward. The stall owner was hooking the rings back with a pole and reminded her not to cross the railing, otherwise, it wouldn’t count.

Yang Jinxia picked up a ring, aimed for the closest goose head, and threw it, missing the target.

“Oh no, let’s try again…”

Soon, all ten rings were thrown, and not a single one hit the target.

Chen Xu had anticipated this; the distance looked short, but in truth, the difficulty was quite high. Firstly, the rings were too small, and secondly, the geese’s long and nimble necks would instinctively dodge anything thrown at them.

“Ten more,” Yang Jinxia seemed hooked, asking for ten more rings.

Quickly, she tossed ring after ring in her hand, and with only two left, she suddenly turned her head, saying, “This is hard, why don’t you try?”

“Alright,” Chen Xu took the plastic rings, approached the front, and asked, “Which one do you want?”

“That white one, it’s the prettiest,” she pointed to a goose in the middle and said.

“Alright.” Chen Xu glanced over, then threw the plastic ring in his hand, and it seemed about to land on the goose’s head, but the bird ducked and dodged it.

Yang Jinxia tugged at his arm hard, exclaiming, “Ah, that’s too bad.”

“One more try,” Chen Xu observed and then tossed another ring somewhat more swiftly, adding a bit of spin. The white goose didn’t react in time and got its head caught.

“Got it!” Yang Jinxia cheered.

The onlookers beside them also clapped.

Under the expressionless gaze of the stall owner, Chen Xu walked away with the goose, telling Yang Jinxia, “When we get back, we’ll ask grandma to stew it.”