A red light suddenly appeared on the distant mountain.

Brother Nan packed up all the trash, grabbed Zhou Li's wrist, shoved the bag into his hand, and patted her bottom as she started walking down the hill. "I should have made a couple of torches at home and brought them out, just like we used to do when we were little."

"I can see," Zhou Li said.

"It's not about whether you can see, it's about the atmosphere, the ambiance, you get me?" Brother Nan led the way, using the moonlight to see the path.

"Ambiance, huh..."

"Are you mocking me again!!"

Brother Nan turned around and thumped Zhou Li.

Zhou Li didn't bother explaining. He'd already been hit, so explaining was pointless. Besides, if his explanation was dismissed, that would be one thing. But what if Brother Nan actually accepted it? Wouldn't that mean he'd taken a punch for nothing? Definitely not worth it.

Brother Nan continued, "Look at this stack of firewood. Some troublemaker is sure to come and light it, setting the mountain on fire and ending up rotting in jail."

"Have you never set a fire before?"

"..."

"Forget I said anything."

"It wouldn't matter if this stack burned; there's soil all around. Besides, the mountains here don't really catch fire," Brother Nan changed her tune.

"Oh."

"There's cabbage here... hee hee!"

Brother Nan walked towards a patch of earth, asking as she went, "Do you like eating cabbage with twice-cooked pork?"

Zhou Li kept silent, following her.

After all, he had never stolen crops before, nor did he have any experience in thievery. This was quite abnormal; as Brother Nan would say, a childhood without stealing corn or watermelon was incomplete.

So he was inevitably a bit nervous.

This nervousness triggered some hormonal secretion, which actually made him feel a slight sense of anticipation and excitement.

Luckily, this kind of "stealing" was legitimate.

Brother Nan seemed to sense his mood and deliberately said, "If someone comes chasing us later, you'd better run fast."

"Yes!"

Zhou Li became more excited.

Brother Nan laughed heartily, calm and unhurried. She turned on her phone's flashlight and began carefully selecting among the plants in the dirt.

She picked very carefully.

Half an hour later, she chose a relatively small cabbage, cut it with the small knife she carried, stuffed it in a bag, and handed it to Zhou Li.

"Let's go."

"Just one?" Zhou Li asked.

"Hmm? What else?"

"Nothing." Zhou Li realized he was somewhat disappointed and quickly dismissed the thought.

"Did you really want to steal enough for a week? I was joking," Brother Nan laughed again. "If you really want to steal, I'll take you. If not, we can just go through the motions. Stealing too much is a hassle to carry anyway."

"I don't want to."

"That proves you're a mature Zhou Lili now," Brother Nan said, looking at him seriously. "Only children lack self-control."

"..."

"HA HA HA!" Her unrestrained laughter filled the night sky.

Just as they were about to leave and move to the next spot, they suddenly heard voices growing louder as they approached.

"Someone's coming." Zhou Li immediately looked at Brother Nan, somewhat at a loss.

"Is it children's voices?"

"Seems like it."

Zhou Li then relaxed.

Brother Nan quickly turned off the flashlight and pulled Zhou Li down by the arm. "Crouch down, don't make a sound!"

"Okay!"

His nervousness inexplicably returned.

What an emotional roller coaster... so thrilling.

Then Brother Nan's voice whispered in his ear, "They must be coming here to steal. Let's scare them when they arrive!"

"..."

Zhou Li held his breath.

The children approached, holding flashlights, one with a torch, talking amongst themselves.

"This is the place!"

"There's cabbage!"

"It looks like it's from Yaya's family's field!"

"..."

The children's voices became shrill with excitement.

Suddenly, Brother Nan shot up, switched on her flashlight, and shouted loudly, "Whose kids are you! I'll beat you all up!"

The children froze on the spot.

Brother Nan still shone the flashlight on them. Zhou Li clearly heard her soft, suppressed giggles, then she shouted again, "Still lingering? Want a beating?"

"Run!!"

The children scattered, running and shouting, a surprisingly joyful feeling in their retreat.

Brother Nan put down her phone, leading Zhou Li from the dirt patch onto a small path. She explained, "I'm not bullying them; I'm increasing their thrill and joy. When I used to steal crops as a kid, I always hoped there'd be adults guarding the fields."

"Would you argue back with the adults?" A defiant taunt, something like, 'What the hell are you looking at?' suddenly echoed in Zhou Li's mind. Like an earworm, once it appeared, it kept replaying, refusing to leave.

"No, I wouldn't do that," Brother Nan denied. "It's fun as it is; arguing would just make it unpleasant for myself."

Really...

Anyway, these were all fun experiences he had missed in his childhood.

The sky overhead suddenly turned somewhat red.

Zhou Li turned to look. The mountain they had just descended was indeed ablaze, likely set by some children. Faint shouts from children could be heard from that mountain and the one opposite it. The firelight reddened half the sky.

The sound of adults scolding drifted from the distance.

The children just laughed.

The evening seemed especially lively.

Just as he was becoming engrossed, Brother Nan nudged him from behind. "Let's go, what are you spacing out for?"

"Oh, right."

After that, they went and picked a head of cauliflower.

Passing a radish field, Brother Nan decided against them, complaining that pulling them out of the ground would get one's hands all muddy. When they passed a field of garlic sprouts, she also deemed them unclean and didn't touch them.

While picking celery, they finally encountered a villager with a flashlight guarding his field.

Brother Nan wasn't a child anymore. She didn't drag Zhou Li away in a panic; instead, she confidently approached. The villager, seeing she wasn't a child, didn't rush to chase her away.

"Uncle, mind if I pick a few stalks of your celery?"

"Which family's girl are you? I haven't seen you around before."

"We're from over by that bend in the creek. Sigh, it's been many years since I last 'stole' veggies back home." Brother Nan pointed in a random direction and stepped forward, using her phone's screen light to start picking celery. "If it weren't for the pandemic, I would've gone back to work long ago."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-four."

"Oh wow, you look so young!?"

"Everyone's been saying that since I was young; I'm so sick of it. I reckon I'll still look like this even when I'm in my thirties. What will I do then, huh?"

"That young man is your..."

"My younger brother."

"You do look alike."

"Exactly!"

Brother Nan let out another suppressed giggle.

She hadn't turned on her flashlight, using instead the light from her screen along with the uncle's flashlight. Each stalk of celery she picked, she placed on the ground. When she finally gathered them, it was quite a bunch.

"Happy New Year, Uncle!"

"..."

The uncle, clearly pained by the loss, did not respond.

Brother Nan hummed a tune as she walked off into the distant night.

Zhou Li followed behind her and finally spoke—

"You're twenty-four?"

"Little brother! Come on, call me 'Big Sister'!"

"..."

They temporarily stored the "stolen" vegetables in the car, then set out again with their bags.

Brother Nan sauntered ahead without a flashlight, her tall, slender figure a silhouette in the moonlight. She asked, "How did you manage to sneak out with me to 'steal' crops? Did you get Huai Xu to cover for you again?"

"Yes."

"Then how will you get the vegetables back home?"

"Ummm..."

Zhou Li had overlooked that detail. After a moment's thought, he said, "I'll ask Huai Xu to pretend to go out for a bit later."

"You two are quite something."

"And you?"

"What about me? I'm quite something too."

Her tone carried a distinct tease in the latter half of her statement; she clearly knew what Zhou Li was asking and was deliberately playing along.

Zhou Li was patient and continued, "What did you tell your family?"

"I told them I was going out with classmates to 'steal' veggies!"

"Oh."

This time, their haul was much smaller. They mostly chatted and walked, enjoying the rare kind of night. Children frolicked all over the hills, and groups of adults walked along the ridges between the fields, making it seem almost like daytime, yet under a bright, clear moon.

Zhou Li thought that many years later, he would still remember this night, perhaps even be reminded of it every time there was a full moon.

But this still wasn't the most memorable part.

They returned to the hilltop and saw the pile of cornstalks still burning. They chatted about everything and anything, seeming to forget how late it was getting, even as the world quieted down and the most boisterous children were urged home by their parents.

Only a pile of dark red glowing embers remained of the bonfire.

"It's midnight."

Brother Nan looked at the moon, then at her watch. She felt the chill of the January midnight air and shivered, hugging her arms, perhaps to shake off the cold, or perhaps to dispel the awkwardness in her heart. "It's the sixteenth of the first lunar month now."

"Yeah." Zhou Li nodded.

"It's your birthday," Brother Nan added.

"That's right."

"Happy Birthday, then!"

"Thanks."

"I don't like giving gifts; I'm too lazy to choose. And I don't like receiving them either; too lazy to reciprocate." Brother Nan was unconventional. "All this giving and receiving is so sentimental."

"I know."

"Close your eyes."

"Hmm?"

"Just do it. Listen to me."

Zhou Li looked very surprised. He thought he understood Brother Nan reasonably well, and this was out of character for her.

He glanced upward.

Brother Nan's cowlick was faintly visible in the moonlight.

He glanced downward.

Brother Nan had already tucked her hands into her coat pockets.

It seemed she really had prepared a gift for him. Judging by the flatness of her pocket, it must be some small trinket—a seemingly ordinary little thing would be more in line with Brother Nan's style.

Zhou Li obediently closed his eyes.

The wind, a gentle breeze, tickled his skin.

A soft thing pressed against his face, accompanied by a slight smacking noise, and was gone in an instant.

Zhou Li, as if electrocuted, quickly opened his eyes.

Brother Nan was already more than a foot away, but she was still making little lip-smacking noises, confirming it hadn't been his imagination. Her face was clearly flushed with embarrassment, yet she forced a nonchalant and casual expression.

"Ahem, that was a token of Brother Nan's affection for you," she said, clearing her throat and feigning a bold demeanor. "No need to panic."

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