The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 2298 - 2273: Secretly

They didn’t have a tent, so Manbao placed a medicine bag by the fire. The fire roasted the bag, and soon a medicinal fragrance spread out. This was insect repellent medicine.

In the desert, it’s very effective. Whenever they camped in the desert, there were always rustling sounds coming from beneath the sand, be it scorpions, sand ants, or sand rats. There were also quite a few flying insects.

But now, there were no scorpions, sand ants, or sand rats, only some flying insects.

However, after the medicinal fragrance dispersed, they slowly disappeared too.

Daji took a piece of felt and laid it on the sand, so he could sleep on it directly.

Perhaps due to the inner layer of clothing, it didn’t feel cold at night. But Bai Shan still put a cloak over Manbao.

Manbao lay on the felt and smiled at him, then pulled the cloak over her head and dove into her system to communicate with Teacher Mo.

Teacher Mo looked at the photos and videos she sent over and emailed her back.

He didn’t expect the meteorite from an old crater could be so large, and was very excited, so he encouraged her to work hard and strive to excavate the meteorite as soon as possible.

Manbao, after reading the email, was stunned for a moment and then replied, "Teacher, I want you to see this rock is so big and deeply buried. It’s hard to dig it out manually, especially when it’s just me and my friend’s manpower."

Manbao finally had Keke type three words: "Need support."

Didn’t he say that if you have a problem, ask the teacher?

It was Teacher Mo’s first time encountering such a straightforward question. After a moment of thinking, he didn’t offer a suggestion like "hire someone to excavate," but directly said, "Hold on, let me apply for you."

Teacher Mo disappeared immediately, and Manbao waited for a long time without seeing him return. Bai Shan was lying next to her and noticed Daji seemed to be asleep, so he turned to face Manbao while lying on his side.

When Daji laid the felt for them, he intentionally left a large space in the middle. Although they were engaged, they still had to maintain propriety, right?

He laid his felt on the other side of the fire, forming a right angle with theirs. This way, he could keep watch on the perimeter and not disturb the two masters.

But when Bai Shan covered Manbao with the cloak, he shifted his felt closer to hers, and now there was only half an arm’s length of sand between their felts.

Bai Shan watched her with his head resting on his arm. Since she was hiding under the cloak, he could only see her black hair like a crow’s wings.

Manbao peeked her head out from under the cloak and immediately locked eyes with Bai Shan.

Bai Shan thought she had fallen asleep, so when she suddenly opened her big round eyes, he was momentarily stunned, staring at her in a daze.

Once he realized, his gaze couldn’t help but shift a bit to the side, somewhat evasive.

But soon he looked back, gazing at her intently, his eyes seemingly filled with starlight, "Are you tired?"

Manbao replied softly, "I’m not tired, are you tired?"

Bai Shan chuckled softly and replied just as quietly, "I’m not tired either."

The two looked at each other for a while, then Bai Shan reached out, gently pulling the cloak over her again and asked in a low voice, "Are you cold?"

Manbao shook her head, "Not cold."

She asked, "Are you cold?"

"I’m not cold either."

Manbao: "You must be cold."

She glanced at his clothes, lifted her head slightly to look at Daji not far away, and whispered to him, "I’m not cold with the cloak. How can you not be cold? I’ll share it with you."

Bai Shan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "I’m really not cold."

But Manbao had already sat up and moved her felt closer to his. When the two felts were about to touch, Bai Shan got up to stop her, glanced at Daji, and whispered to Manbao, "It’s good now."

The felt was adjusted back, leaving a fist-sized space of sand between them. Manbao spread the cloak over both of them. It didn’t cover their entire bodies, but it did cover both their upper bodies and bellies.

The two lay back down, now lying side by side very closely. Manbao felt slightly embarrassed meeting Bai Shan’s gaze and closed her eyes.

Bai Shan looked at her tenderly and touched her face gently. Realizing what he was doing, he leaned over and gently kissed her cheek.

Manbao, her eyes closed, fluttered her eyelashes like a butterfly, then lay still.

Bai Shan quickly returned to his spot, holding her hand, and lay there without moving.

Manbao opened her eyes a sliver to look at him, her cheeks slightly red. Seeing the deep red in his ears, she couldn’t help but smile, letting him hold her hand.

Since it was open-air with few people around, Manbao thought she would be scared and unable to sleep. But unexpectedly, just lying quietly for a while, with Bai Shan holding her hand warming it up, she fell into a doze.

Bai Shan heard her breathing become shallow and opened his eyes to watch her for a moment, then smiled and closed his eyes to sleep too.

Lying on the other side, Daji opened his eyes only after both had fallen asleep.

He sat up, added some wood to the fire, and listened carefully to the surroundings. Even then, he didn’t hear any wolf howls, and there were no rustling sounds beneath the sand, so he lay back down.

If it were anywhere else, such silence at the campsite would unsettle him, but here, with the crater nearby, it seemed normal.

Daji had many, many questions in his heart, but just listening to the mutual inquiries and care between the two young masters made him feel those questions were unnecessary.

Having grown up under his watch, they were still the same people they were, though now adults, still with childlike hearts.

And their intelligence far surpassed his. Knowing he wasn’t that clever, he figured he’d better just do as they said.

Daji woke up three times during the night, each time to feed wood to the fire. The last time he woke, the sky was nearing dawn, the coldest part of the day, so he dared not stop and fed all the wood into the fire.

Manbao and Bai Shan were fast asleep, their hands still lightly touching, resting on the sand gap, Bai Shan’s clothing edge inadvertently covering them, making the cold sand feel warmer under their fingers.

Daji didn’t sleep anymore but got up to walk around, confirming there wasn’t an animal in sight. Only further out were small, winged bugs, smaller than mosquitoes and harmless.

Finally reassured, he returned to the fire, preparing hot water and steaming buns for them.

Manbao and Bai Shan were awakened by the aroma of buns, and upon opening their eyes and seeing each other, they couldn’t help but smile.

Daji cleared his throat softly, bringing them back to their senses, and they immediately let go of each other’s hands and sat up.

Bai Shan pretended nothing had happened, greeting Daji with a calm demeanor.

Daji feigned ignorance and warmly said, "Young master, Miss Man, I’ll take you in after breakfast. Once you’re inside the crater, I’ll return to get supplies."