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Before he could finish speaking, the walkie-talkie clipped to his waist rang first.

A pleasant female voice came through it. "Boss, it's getting late. You should come back."

After politely bidding the boy farewell, Owen turned and left.

Watching the man's retreating back, Xin Chun smiled meaningfully, but the rustling from the grass behind him quickly interrupted that smile.

The blades of grass swayed. Xin Chun turned around, and in the next moment, a large dog leaped out.

It had reddish-brown fur, brown almond-shaped eyes, triangular ears with rounded tips, and looked wonderfully soft and squishable. It was large and tall, about seventy centimeters high when standing upright.

It was an Alaskan Malamute. After jumping out of the grass, it came over to rub against Xin Chun's leg. Clearly, it was his dog.

Xin Chun rubbed the dog's ears and said softly, "Did you hear that? He asked me that question again."

"How old are you?"

It was only at the very end of his previous life that he learned what that question meant—if he was of legal age, then he could be pursued.

The man had fallen in love with him at first sight.

At this point in his previous life, he had still been wary. After only a few words, he had turned to leave.

But this time, taking advantage of his youthful face, he lied about his age and deliberately said he was underage. Sure enough, there had been a trace of stunned confusion in Owen's eyes.

Haha, recalling the man's expression just now made Xin Chun want to laugh.

And he truly did laugh aloud, his crisp, pleasant voice drifting through the woods with a hint of mischievous pride.

"My reenactment of the scene wasn't for nothing. I even deliberately came here to sleep again, right, Handsome Star?"

This time, Xin Chun happily used both hands to knead the dog's two springy ears.

The Alaskan Malamute, whose real name was Xin Xing and who refused to respond unless called Handsome Star, twisted his head but failed to shake off Xin Chun's hands. He gave two unhappy grumbles.

Xin Chun narrowed his eyes and stared suspiciously at the dog's mouth. "Strange. Don't you usually bark once? Why aren't you barking today?"

"Open your mouth and let me see. Were you playing with bugs again?"

Handsome Star's eyes shifted ever so slightly to the side.

Xin Chun said, "...Open your mouth. Spit out the bug. How many times have I told you? You're not allowed to play with bugs!"

"Woof."

Owen had come to Jingu Town mainly for work—to cultivate medicinal herbs needed for brewing a certain kind of liquor.

These herbs were difficult to grow and required strict conditions for soil and climate. Moreover, the brewing recipe needed further refinement, so after much searching, he had ended up in Jingu Town.

At the edge of Jingu Town ran an exceptionally clear river, and not far beyond it lay a forest.

Upstream on the town side stood a teahouse. It used mountain spring water to brew its tea, leaving a sweet aftertaste, and was quite famous in town.

Owen withdrew his gaze from the window, took another sip of tea, and stood up. "I'm going to take a walk by the river. You two stay here and rest for a while."

They had been busy all morning and had finally gotten some free time to drink tea, eat pastries, sit by the window, and enjoy the breeze.

Owen's secretary, Ivy, and assistant, Li Ze, had no desire to get up and go out. Upon hearing that, their bottoms, which had just begun to lift, immediately settled back down.

After Owen left, Li Ze could not help saying, "Sister Ivy, the boss seems a little out of sorts today. He's spaced out several times."

Ivy had long, curly golden hair and blue-green eyes. She was a striking foreign beauty.

Her Chinese was quite good. "Maybe he's worried about cultivating the medicinal herbs. These pastries are really good. Bring me another plate."

Li Ze said weakly, "Sister Ivy, this is already the third plate..."

Weren't you trying to maintain your figure?

"If I don't eat enough, where will I get the energy to work? Besides, these pastries are so small that they're gone before I can even taste them properly." Ivy cast him a sidelong glance, then lifted another small pastry with fingers painted bright red and put it into her mouth to savor.

"Oh."

Li Ze pushed the plate a little closer to her.

Owen walked downstream along the river.

There was a small embankment downstream. When the water was shallow, its stone surface would be exposed. It was higher on both sides and lower in the middle, with many pebbles and large rocks scattered below.

There were also stone steps above it, allowing people to walk from the forest side to the town side.

At that moment, quite a few people had gathered beside the embankment to wash clothes.

"Oh my, he's a foreigner. Mixed-race? He's really handsome."

Several aunties smiled as they looked Owen over as he approached. Some of the more outgoing ones even raised their hands to greet him directly. Their attitude was warm, and Owen responded to each of them.

At that moment, however, the figure approaching from the other side of the stone steps involuntarily drew Owen's attention.

The boy he had met in the forest only yesterday had appeared before him again today.

Xin Chun wore an oversized white T-shirt and shorts, though the T-shirt nearly completely covered the shorts, revealing two fair, slender thighs.

He carried a pair of shoes in one hand and walked barefoot on the stone steps. Every so often, he stepped into the water, laughing whenever he splashed it up, looking thoroughly happy.

Seeing this, one of the aunties beside him said with relief, "That child Xin Chun has finally pulled through."

"His grandfather passed away more than half a year ago, and the child had been unable to lift his spirits ever since. We were really worried about him. Now he can finally smile again."

"So, he took a leave from school?" Owen asked.

Had he taken time off from school to recover because he was heartbroken over his grandfather's death?

Otherwise, why was the boy still able to appear here so freely during school hours?

The auntie replied in surprise, "A leave from school? You mean Xin Chun? He graduated from university long ago. What school would he be taking leave from?"

Xin Chun happened to walk close enough to hear her. Seeing the surprise on Owen's face, he stopped walking.

"Woof."

When the person in front stopped moving, Handsome Star bumped his doggy head into Xin Chun's calf, tilted his head to look ahead, and wagged his tail.