Feng Qishi’s gaze also locked onto his younger self, who was not as tall as he was now.
“Hey, can you lend me some money?” Little Feng Qishi suddenly said.
Upon hearing this, Mu Anxiao took the steamed buns she had packed, turned her head to look at Little Feng Qishi, and paused for a moment. "Don't you have money yourself?"
"I forgot to bring it, lend me some." Little Feng Qishi smiled sheepishly.
Mu Anxiao sighed as she looked at Little Feng Qishi, who was only half a head taller than her. She then took out ten yuan from her pocket and gave it to him. "No need to return it." After saying that, she walked away with the steamed buns.
Little Feng Qishi turned his side to Mu Anxiao's retreating back and shouted, "Thank you."
Mu Anxiao replied, "You're welcome."
Feng Qishi watched Mu Anxiao walk towards him, and then looked at his own smug expression after having taken advantage of the situation. "Back then, I wondered how there could be such a foolish stranger. Now I finally," he shook his head, "believe it."
"Believe what?" Zhang Yan asked, turning his head to look at Mu Anxiao, who had stopped by the roadside to eat her steamed buns.
"I believe that Mu the fool isn't faking her foolishness, she's genuinely foolish," Feng Qishi said seriously.
Zhang Yan chuckled twice. "She's looking at you. If it were someone else, she wouldn't be so generous."
Feng Qishi found Zhang Yan's words reasonable. He then took a bite of a biscuit and said, "Alright, I really should thank her. If it weren't for her, I would have been hungry all morning at this time."
"Why are you here on vacation?" Zhang Yan asked, glancing at Little Feng Qishi, who had already left the steamed bun shop.
"Forgot," Feng Qishi replied casually, then walked up behind Mu Anxiao and asked, "Are they good?"
"They're alright, the meat filling is quite sufficient," Mu Anxiao said as she ate.
"That's good then," Feng Qishi said, his eyes fixed on the meat bun in Mu Anxiao's hand, licking his lips.
"You should move aside," Mu Anxiao said as she ate.
Feng Qishi's eyes remained fixed on the meat bun in Mu Anxiao's hand. He swallowed and said, "I forgot to bring water."
"Then don't eat. Once you're done with your business, you can drink water properly when you get back."
Feng Qishi pursed his lips and said, "Tell me, when we go back, will it be at night or during the day?"
"Of course, at night," Mu Anxiao said.
"Why?" Feng Qishi asked.
"Because I can only use magic to go back in time, to travel across the time from which I came. I haven't learned any magic to travel forward," Mu Anxiao said faintly. xxs one
"Then you should learn it," Feng Qishi said simply.
Mu Anxiao tilted her head back and stared at Feng Qishi for a moment, saying, "I'd like to learn that too, but," she shrugged, "no one is teaching me, and it's said that such magic doesn't exist."
"Then everything you've told me is just nonsense," Feng Qishi said, shifting his gaze away.
Just then, a plump auntie stood next to Mu Anxiao and said, "Hey, you have this habit too."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao slightly frowned and turned her head to look at the plump auntie who was staring at her, smiling unnaturally. "What do you mean by that?"
"Let me tell you, what you're doing is the right thing," the plump auntie said inexplicably.
Mu Anxiao blinked her eyes. "Auntie, what are you saying? I don't think I understand."
The plump auntie smiled faintly, then looked at the road, silent for a few seconds, and suddenly said, "Look, this young lady is still pretending to be foolish with me."
Mu Anxiao's mouth twitched. Following the plump auntie's gaze forward, she saw only cars and nothing else.
"Uh," she dared not move away and asked cautiously, "Are you talking to me?"
The plump auntie turned her head, smiled at Mu Anxiao, and said, "Of course not you. Let me tell you, my friend is great. Others don't like to chat with me, but she does. I scold her, and she doesn't get angry, haha." With that, she turned around and walked away, muttering curses.
Mu Anxiao half-turned to watch the plump auntie walk away, her throat constricting with incomprehension. "What's going on?"
"She's probably been lonely for too long," Feng Qishi said, also staring at the plump auntie's retreating back.
"I feel like she mistook me for one of her own," Mu Anxiao said, turning to look at Feng Qishi.
Feng Qishi looked down at Mu Anxiao, rolling his eyes slightly. He said with forced cheerfulness, "You're different from her. You're communicating with me, not with yourself."
"But..." Mu Anxiao started, then suddenly noticed the strange looks from passersby. She quickly closed her mouth, turned towards the road, and pretended nothing was happening.
"When you first came, you didn't care about others' opinions at all. Why do you care so much now?" Feng Qishi said, looking down at Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao hadn't realized she had changed until Feng Qishi mentioned it. She paused and said, "That's right, why have I started caring about other people's opinions?"
"That's a good sign," Zhang Yan said, walking up behind Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao turned her head slightly and asked, "What do you mean?"
"It means you're gradually adapting here. In other words, because you've been influenced by those around you, you've started to care about saving face," Zhang Yan said. "When I first arrived here, I also didn't care how others viewed me. But after staying for a while, I started to care more and more about others' opinions of me. This is... a normal manifestation. As the saying goes, trees grow thick bark, and people grow thick skin."
"But why do I care less and less as I get older?" Feng Qishi said.
Zhang Yan looked at Feng Qishi and thought for a moment. "Everyone is different. This is just my own summary of my changes. I think," he glanced at Mu Anxiao, "she's probably been influenced by me."
"You really do care about your image," Feng Qishi said, pointing at Zhang Yan.
Zhang Yan narrowed his eyes. "Your age..."
Before he could finish speaking, Feng Qishi shifted his gaze to Mu Anxiao's face and said, "I think that auntie just now lived no worse than you, old brother. If you ask me, sometimes, caring too much about others' opinions doesn't necessarily make life easier. But when you don't care, you'll feel much more relaxed."
Mu Anxiao hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Feng Qishi, thinking of her past self who cared about nothing and lived a carefree life. She nodded and said, "You're right. The more you care about people you shouldn't... the more you tire yourself out. The less you care, perhaps the more relaxed you'll be. Everyone has their own little secrets. You two are my secrets now."
"You figured it out quite quickly," Feng Qishi said with a smile.
Mu Anxiao's lips curled. She turned to Zhang Yan and said, "Saving face leads to suffering. I don't want to be like you."
"I don't like hearing you say that," Zhang Yan pouted and turned his face away.
Mu Anxiao looked at Zhang Yan's expression and couldn't help but smile, continuing to eat her steamed bun.
"When we get back, I'm definitely going to have a late-night snack," Feng Qishi said, staring at Mu Anxiao's steamed buns.