Jamei’s sudden appearance really startled Lily, and it immediately brought her back to her senses. She hastily struggled to free herself from Yun Ge’s grasp and said with a blush, “I-Is that so? Then I’ll go over and help you take a look right away. Ah Yun, why are you still standing here? Hurry up and take this box of nectar to Uncle Shawn! Be careful that Uncle Shawn might deduct your wages if the nectar spoils!”

  With Lily’s words, Yun Ge also snapped out of his somewhat excited state and immediately realized how disrespectful his previous action had been towards Lily. So, he didn’t dare to say anything more, quickly picked up the nectar storage box, and, under the murmuring of the onlooking team members, jogged to report to Uncle Shawn.

  It seemed that this incident had passed. Lily’s attitude towards Yun Ge afterwards remained the same as before, as if that embarrassing moment had never happened. Yun Ge also felt embarrassed to bring up the previous disrespectful attempt to forcibly kiss Lily.

  However, it was precisely because of his impulsive behavior last time that Yun Ge realized Lily did not actually reject his attempts to get closer to her physically. Thus, Yun Ge, with renewed hope in his heart, tried on several occasions in the following days to express his affection to Lily. But each time, Lily skillfully evaded the topic, causing Yun Ge’s surging desire to confess to vanish into thin air.

  It seemed that Lily truly enjoyed the current ambiguous feeling between her and Yun Ge, and she did not wish to disrupt their existing relationship. Perhaps Lily felt that she was not yet good enough.

  Or maybe, because Lily was a rather traditional girl, she wanted to maintain a safe distance between them before committing to marriage. Or could it be that Lily was afraid that Yun Ge might lose his memory again, causing him to forget their relationship once more? This would undoubtedly make Lily, who had invested her emotions, feel a sense of defeat.

  Given this, Yun Ge thought to himself, I should actively cooperate with the town chief’s treatment for my amnesia and ensure that my condition is eliminated as soon as possible. Additionally, I should work even harder and patiently wait for Lily to accept my love when the time is right. Despite the mixed feelings in his heart, Yun Ge still wore an optimistic smile on his face.

  Day by day, time passed. Unconsciously, Candy Town was once again enveloped by the festive atmosphere of welcoming the New Year. The townspeople, besides their hard work, were also making various preparations for the New Year’s Eve party.

  According to Lily, this was actually the third time Yun Ge had participated in Candy Town’s New Year celebration. Had it not been for his recurrent amnesia, which caused him to completely forget his previous memories, he would have received an invitation from the town chief to perform a wonderful dance for all the townspeople during the grand New Year’s sacrificial ceremony.

  “Me? I can dance?” Yun Ge asked in surprise.

  “Yes! Before this amnesia, you had demonstrated your exceptional dancing talent on multiple occasions and even performed solo dances twice at our sacrificial events! ”

  “Unfortunately, after this severe memory loss, it seems you’ve completely forgotten how to dance. Otherwise, you would definitely be invited to perform your unique dance steps on stage again this year!” Lily replied with a hint of regret.

  “Unique dance steps?” Yun Ge pondered for a moment, then, with a body language that was far from coordinated, he began to dance in a rather ridiculous manner.

  Yun Ge clumsily spun around, his face beaming with self-contentment, “Huh? It seems I haven’t forgotten my unique dance steps after all! Didn’t I perform this dance for everyone before? What do you think? Should I volunteer myself now? The town chief might gladly give me another chance to perform on stage!”

  Lily, who was laughing heartily at Yun Ge’s ridiculous dance moves, immediately scorned him, “Pfft! How can you be so narcissistic?! You’re dancing like a little monkey. How could the town chief possibly let you embarrass yourself on such an important stage as the sacrificial ceremony! ”

  “In my opinion, if you really want to perform on stage, I could recommend you join the town’s acrobatic troupe. I bet you could definitely find a place there! Hahaha!”

  Hearing Lily’s words, Yun Ge immediately transformed into a monkey, hopping and jumping around for quite a while, which made Lily laugh so hard she could barely close her mouth. After the commotion, Yun Ge, looking exhausted, sat down next to Lily to rest, and the two of them once again fell into a tacit silence.

  Then, in an attempt to liven up the atmosphere, Yun Ge curiously asked, “By the way, Lily. Besides dancing, what other performances can there be at the sacrificial ceremony? I think my singing is pretty good too. If dancing isn’t an option, I might as well go up and sing a song for everyone! If that doesn’t work, Luke and I could perform some crosstalk on stage!”

  As Yun Ge was about to showcase his singing, Lily suddenly interrupted him with an annoyed tone, “Enough! Do you think the sacrificial ceremony is a joke? The sacrificial ceremony is a very solemn event! It’s crucial for whether Candy Town can have favorable weather and continue to harvest nectar to make enough candy to ensure the survival of the townspeople next year!”

  “Therefore, please put away your playful mindset! You must treat the sacrificial ceremony with seriousness and respect! Do you understand?”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  In Yun Ge’s memory, this was the first time Lily had truly lost her temper with him. So, he quickly put away his smile, sat up straight, and nodded to show he understood. With a sincere expression, Yun Ge apologized, “I was being too disrespectful towards the sacrificial ceremony just now. I’m sorry!”

  Seeing Lily’s sudden emotional outburst, Yun Ge asked with concern, “Lily, are you alright?”

  After calming down a bit, Lily replied, “Phew! I’m fine. I just get emotional when I think about the upcoming sacrificial ceremony—”

  Lily stopped speaking here and pursed her lips tightly. Yun Ge immediately realized that if she continued, she might burst into tears. So, he quickly reached out to put his arm around Lily’s shoulder and asked, “Lily, what’s really going on?”

  Lily shifted her position to avoid Yun Ge’s embrace and said softly, “Don’t worry! I’m fine. You know how girls are—our moods can change frequently. You just need to learn to read the situation and not provoke me when I’m in a bad mood!”

  Then, Lily sighed deeply and continued, “Ah Yun, remember this. The sacrificial activities held in Candy Town every year are very important! Especially the large-scale sacrificial events that are held only once every three years are even more crucial for us! Everything we do is to ensure that the residents of Candy Town can live safely in the Lost Woods.”

  “Until the town chief can master greater power and lead us to safety out of this forest, we must be grateful for the gifts this forest gives us and also fill our hearts with reverence for it. ”

  “Therefore, in order to ensure the happiness and safety of the townspeople, we must understand the mission we bear at all times. And we must also be brave enough to make a small sacrifice at critical moments.”

  As Lily spoke, she stood up and, with a smile on her face again, said to Yun Ge, “Alright! As long as you remember that the purpose of our hard work now is to let the residents of Candy Town live a happier life in the future, that’s enough! Let’s go! The lunch break is almost over, and we should go back to work!”

  Yun Ge had no idea why Lily was suddenly saying all this to him. Although he verbally responded to Lily, saying that he had already remembered her words and would definitely work even harder in the future, in reality, his mind was completely occupied by the scene of Lily rejecting his hug just now, leaving his mind still in a blank state.

  In Yun Ge’s view, given their current ambiguous relationship and Lily’s emotional state just now, which was almost on the verge of tears, it should have been a natural progression for him to comfort Lily and embrace her.

  But the result was that even in that vulnerable moment, Lily still rejected his hug. This cast a shadow of frustration over Yun Ge’s heart again, making him doubt whether their feelings were deep enough.

  Although this sense of frustration was hard to bear, life still had to go on. However, perhaps due to this conversation or for some other reason, Yun Ge noticed that Lily was intentionally keeping her distance from him in the following days.

  Although the two still went to work and came home together every day and worked together all day, Yun Ge could feel that the ambiguous feelings of the past were fading from Lily.

  Nowadays, when Lily interacted with him, her politeness and restraint made it seem like she was interacting with an ordinary friend. This made Yun Ge no longer dare to chat casually with Lily about life, but instead, he was always cautious, for fear that he might offend the girl who seemed close but was actually distancing herself.

  The increasingly evident change in Lily’s attitude towards Yun Ge was naturally seen by those around them. Yun Ge also discovered a new problem again: although Lily’s family did not openly approve of the closeness between Yun Ge and Lily, they never stopped them either.

  When Lily threw some tantrums at Yun Ge, her family members would actively persuade Lily not to treat Yun Ge that way and would inquire about the situation with Yun Ge in private. Sometimes, Lily’s family members would even jokingly give him some advice, hoping that he could quickly win Lily’s favor again.

  But now, even though everyone saw that Lily was becoming obviously cold towards him, they chose to ignore it. This made Yun Ge start to reflect on himself, trying to figure out where exactly he had offended Lily’s family.

  After much thought and no clear answer, Yun Ge had to turn to Luke for help. So, after dinner, when Lily’s family was discussing household expenses, Yun Ge found Luke, who was pretending to clean up in the kitchen to avoid being scolded for exceeding the budget last week, and asked, “Luke, may I ask you something?”

  “What is it?” Luke responded while keeping an eye on the family members who were calculating the expenses from last week.

  “Well—, actually. Luke, have I done something wrong recently that might have offended you and your family? If so, please let me know, so I can correct my mistake immediately and sincerely apologize to you and your family later,” Yun Ge asked in a very formal tone.

  Upon hearing this, Luke looked at Yun Ge in confusion for a while, then suddenly seemed to understand something and gently patted Yun Ge’s shoulder, saying, “Hey! What are you thinking! My family and I really like you. Why would we be angry with you for no reason? In fact, my parents have already regarded you as their own son! And I’ve also considered you as my own brother!”

  After spending time together, Yun Ge could naturally tell that Luke was speaking the truth. So, Yun Ge’s nervous mood instantly relaxed a lot.

  He finally mustered enough courage to bring up his relationship with Lily for the first time: “But—, uh, Luke. Why do I feel that Lily has been deliberately keeping her distance from me during this time? Are you sure I haven’t offended her?”

  “How could that be! We’ve all seen the relationship between you and Lily. It’s just that—” Luke’s words were cut off halfway as he seemed unsure of how to continue.

  “What’s the matter?” Yun Ge anxiously pressed.

  After some thought, Luke explained, “It’s just—, well, you know! Patience is a virtue! Lily is originally a traditional and rather slow-to-warm-up girl. Plus, she likes to think about the future a lot, so it’s inevitable that she becomes extra cautious when facing some major issues, even to the point of becoming more and more reserved!”

  Then, Luke patted Yun Ge again and said, “So, my advice to you, buddy, is not to push too hard. You must give Lily enough space to think. This will be beneficial for both of you. If you’re lucky enough, maybe you’ll really be able to achieve your wish soon—right?”

  So that’s it! It turns out that my eagerness to confirm our relationship has put too much psychological pressure on Lily, causing her to choose to keep her distance from me! It seems that I should also take the initiative to keep my distance from Lily in the coming days, allowing her to establish a comfort zone in a spacious enough space! Yun Ge thought with a sudden realization.

  However, precisely because Yun Ge had been tormented by emotional issues during this period, his subconscious, after raising the question just now, focused more on the part of Luke’s answer that was favorable to him.

  This led him to completely overlook the fact that when Luke said the last sentence, his tone had become quite complicated. As a result, Luke’s last sentence, which should have ended with an affirmative tone, ultimately turned into a sentence full of worry and concern when it was spoken.