Zhao Pengfei crouched at the foot of the earthen wall, his legs already numb.
The jar of yellow peaches in his arms had grown warm from his body heat, and sweat had soaked the label on the glass until its edges curled.
His dad had brought it back from town last New Year, and he had swiped it from the top shelf of the cupboard while his mom was off eating sunflower seeds at the village entrance.
He had not been staying at home these past few days. A few days earlier, his mom had found the love letter to Jiang Xun he had hidden at the bottom of his wardrobe and demanded to know who he had written it for.
His embarrassment had turned to anger. He had snatched it back, slammed the door, and spent three whole days holed up at a classmate's house.
He had spent those three days psyching himself up, finally working up the courage to bring the jar over and talk things through with Jiang Xun, only to poke his head in and see a strange man standing beneath the jujube tree.
Dress pants, a white shirt, sleeves rolled up to his forearms, a laptop set up in front of him, and two cases of milk stacked beside him along with an unopened bag of vitamin tablets.
The man was frowning at the screen. Hearing the courtyard gate, he looked up, revealing a refined, fair-skinned face.
Another city guy!
An air-raid siren instantly went off in Zhao Pengfei's head.
Last week, Blue Hair had dropped in out of nowhere. This week, it was a white shirt. At this rate, by next week there would be enough people in Jiang Xun's courtyard for a Capital City mahjong game.
Over these past few days, his emotions