Translator: Lan Editor: Efydatia

  Cong Nianwei suddenly smiled sweetly, as if she had recalled something. "I knew that from early on. Back then, we had just been friends. Qin Guan used to sit in a corner of the playground and pretend to read Tolstoy. All the girls around him admired him. Only I noticed the grey mice running out of a small hole behind him disdainfully."

  "I guess you could say that I have been paying attention to him for a long time. The idiot never realized it though."

  Hilton was no longer in the mood to compete with her after listening to that anecdote. She shot a secret look at Cong Nianwei as she said, "So you fell in love with him at school? How old were you when you met for the first time?"

  Cong Nianwei shook her head. "I was not in love with him, I just paid attention to him out of curiosity. I wanted to see if all animals hated him. He wasn’t aware that birds, cats and dogs were trying their best to keep a distance from him."

  "It was so funny! I’m always happy around him……"

  Cong Nianwei looked at Hilton, who was looking down and drawing circles on the ground with her toe.

  "We met when we were 15. It’s been about eight years now, I think. Loving somebody is different than being fond of them. Women always fail to tell the difference."

  My love rival sounds reasonable.

  Hilton looked at Cong Nianwei, who was waving at Qin Guan with a smile.

  Tasha smiled meaningfully at Lin’s arrangement. My old friend is still playing tricks on others. She took out another piece of blank paper.

  "I’m here, Lin. What should I do?"

  Qin Guan waved at the artists. The view there was much more beautiful. There was a wide yard behind the flowering shrubs that stretched toward the horizon.

  Lin grinned and pointed to the small wooden house. "Stand by the door, Qin Guan. Yes, by the fence. Look over here!"

  Qin Guan had just gotten into position, when he suddenly heard a cow moo.

  Speechless, Qin Guan looked at Lin and Tasha. The two old artists nearly fell down from laughter.

  A beautiful cow with black dots exited through the fence looking around indifferently. She seemed curious about the strangers.

  When she caught sight of the stranger in her domain though, she got angry. She went out decisively to protect her home.

  "Moo……" The bell on her neck jingled along with her steps, and her smooth hair was floating in the soft summer breeze as she ran after the young man. The two of them seemed to be playing a game on the cabbage field. The game was called "Cat and Mouse".

  Tasha’s brush was dancing on the paper and Lin’s shutter was moving up and down. The two artists were in their own world. They were paying no attention to the miserable model.

  Run, Qin Guan! Run for the sake of art!

  Qin Guan dared not stop. Is this cow from Spain? Am I wearing anything red? I can only think of my underwear!

  When the sun set, Tasha lifted her brush and Lin filled his pipe with tobacco.

  Cong Nianwei sorted out the sketches as Qin Guan lay on the ground. He did not struggle as the cow craned her neck over his face.

  A pink tongue slipped out and licked him. Thanks for playing with me. I hereby welcome you to the farm. Here is your reward.

  When night fell, Tasha lit up the candles in the candelabras. There was no electricity there, so she had to use firewood for the heater. She got drinking water from the nearby stream. She lived a pure life in nature.

  The milk in the glasses was a gift from the cow and the vegetables in the large iron pot were harvest from the field. Cong Nianwei put some wildflowers in a vase.

  If one ignored the creaking wooden bed and the scratchy handmade wool blanket, life in isolation sure seemed beautiful.

  Without electricity, all they could do was lie in bed in the dark and wait for Morpheus.