Chapter 43

How should one describe this feeling?

It was like a traveler wandering in the desert for years suddenly stumbling upon an oasis. She ran toward it frantically, diving headfirst into the azure lake, eagerly quenching her long-parched body and soul.

At that moment, she truly believed that he really missed her.

Holding her phone, Chen Xi leaned her back loosely against the headboard of the bed, her head tilted back, her gaze wandering and unfocused as she stared up at the ceiling while her heart fluttered wildly like a trapped fawn.

Zhou Yanzhou glanced at his wristwatch and, seeing that it was getting late back home, concluded the conversation in a calm tone: "Let's leave it at that for today. Get to sleep early."

Chen Xi nodded blankly, taking several seconds to remember that they were on a phone call and he couldn't see her expression.

She could only let out a soft "oh," her tone betraying a trace or two of reluctance and lingering attachment that she herself hadn't even noticed.

Hearing her unwillingness to hang up, Zhou Yanzhou let out a quiet laugh to himself.

Hearing his sudden, unannounced chuckle, Chen Xi's cheeks instantly burned hot. Cupping her phone, she desperately wished she could hide deep inside her quilt.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Yanzhou repeated concisely: "Wait for me to come back."

This time, Chen Xi didn't make a fool of herself. She gave a restrained "mm" in acknowledgment of his instruction.

The call ended. Chen Xi tossed her phone into the drawer, flipped back the covers, and dived straight under, refusing to come out.

Not until the oxygen in the quilt was nearly exhausted and only carbon dioxide remained did she suddenly throw off the covers, lying sprawled out on the bed as she let out a heavy sigh toward the ceiling.

Zhou Yanzhou's words, "I really missed you," lingered persistently in her mind. Resigning herself to fate, Chen Xi thought: Had she truly fallen completely for Zhou Yanzhou?

That very night, the class group chat was going crazy complaining about a piece of social news.

Chen Xi happened to be awake, so she opened the group chat and read through the whole story from beginning to end.

The news reported that a senior high school girl at Xiping No. 1 High School had fallen from a building on the last day of exams.

Some guessed it was due to relationship troubles, others argued it was because of overwhelming academic pressure, while still others speculated about family conflicts.

The classmates discussed it with extraordinary intensity, ignoring the head teacher's two reminders in the group.

Just as things finally quieted down, a female classmate suddenly posted a group photo and revealed the details in the tone of an insider: The person who jumped was my cousin. She fell for an older man from outside school, and the two did what adults do, resulting in my cousin getting pregnant before marriage. Her family kept scolding her for lacking self-respect, and she couldn't handle the rumors, so she jumped. Now her family is looking everywhere for that man, but he has vanished without a trace.

This paragraph revealed so much effective information that the students in the chat were stunned into silence for a long time.

After who knows how long, Zhu Qing typed a curse in the group: "That guy is such scum!"

Prompted by Zhu Qing, the other female students in the class also began condemning the man one after another.

Some male students caught stray bullets, claiming that no man could be trusted, prompting the boys to cry out in grievance.

They were all students who had yet to step out into the real world, devoid of worldly experience and shielded from the cruelty of society. Their back-and-forth arguments were all tinged with an untainted, childish innocence.

As Chen Xi looked at the endless stream of comments popping up in the class chat, her thoughts turned to Zhou Yanzhou.

Would he, too, end up like that man—if things were ever exposed one day—vanishing without a trace?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Chen Xi couldn't help shaking her head.

Impossible.

Zhou Yanzhou was not that kind of person.

Winter in Xiping was cold and damp. Waking up from sleep, Chen Xi put on her pajamas and went out to the balcony to take in the laundry.

Though they were supposed to be dry, the clothes felt damp to the touch, as if they could squeeze out droplets of water.

Clutching the clothes, Chen Xi looked up into the distance at Zhongxiu Mountain, which was shrouded in layers of white mist.

The entire mountain was obscured, revealing only a single peak, making it impossible to discern its true appearance.

Suddenly remembering her uncle mentioning that today was the day to go pray for blessings at Zhongxiu Mountain, Chen Xi sighed, wondering if it would rain today and when the mist would finally clear.

Xiping belonged to the south, where there was no central heating in winter. Without turning on the air conditioning, the indoors were just as cold as the outside.

Unable to stand the cold, Chen Xi bundled up layer upon layer before heading out: a base tank top, thermal underwear, a brown crew-neck sweater, and finally the long white down jacket her mother had bought her last year.

Before leaving, Chen Xi didn't forget to dig a fluffy furry hat out of her wardrobe and put it on.

Walking downstairs, her uncle was already prepared. Seeing Chen Xi wearing her little bear hat, he smiled and waved: "All set? Ready to go."

Chen Xi sniffed and nodded obediently.

Her aunt was unwilling to travel and had gone to stay at her maternal home with their son, so this trip consisted only of Chen Xi and her uncle.

On the way to Zhongxiu Mountain, her uncle looked Chen Xi over carefully before asking abruptly, "Did you have a good time playing in Beijing last time?"

So much time had passed that Chen Xi was momentarily stunned.

She drew her chilled fingers back into her sleeves, lowered her head to ponder her uncle's intention for a few seconds, and answered in a soft voice: "It was pretty good."

Xu Jingqian kept his hands on the steering wheel, taking in Chen Xi's small movements with his peripheral vision. After a moment of thought, he offered a tactful reminder: "Many people want to run off to Beijing. It's very easy for a young person to have their eyes blinded by that kind of environment the first time they go."

"Xixi, your uncle hopes you will conduct yourself with dignity and not walk down the wrong path."

***

Chen Xi's expression suddenly froze. She turned her face, looking at her uncle in bewilderment.

After a long pause, Chen Xi spoke up: "Uncle, I don't understand what you're talking about."

Hearing the slightly aggrieved tone in Chen Xi's voice, Xu Jingqian was temporarily at a loss for words.

It was only when he called a friend in the capital two days ago that he discovered Chen Xi hadn't sought them out during her half-month in Beijing; instead, she had stayed the whole time with Zhou Yanzhou, and they had even lived in the same hotel.

Xu Jingqian didn't want to pin those dirty thoughts and accusations on Chen Xi, but sometimes rumors could easily destroy a person.

She was young and couldn't distinguish the serious stakes involved. As her uncle, he had an obligation to correct her.

With this in mind, Xu Jingqian slowed the car down and brought the matter out into the open in a measured tone: "I heard that you stayed with Zhou Yanzhou the entire time you were in Beijing?"

Chen Xi looked up in surprise, meeting her uncle's probing gaze. Clenching her sleeves, she replied with poised dignity: "Wasn't it you who asked him to take care of me?"

Xu Jingqian was momentarily speechless. He had indeed dropped a casual word back then, asking Zhou Yanzhou to look after her a bit, but he certainly hadn't meant for them to eat and live together.

If word of this got out, what would people say about Chen Xi?

Xu Jingqian sighed and explained awkwardly, "I asked him to take care of you, but not *that* kind of care."

Chen Xi understood her uncle's meaning instantly. Realizing what he had misunderstood, she bit down hard on her lower lip, then slowly relaxed it.

Taking a deep breath, she swore to her uncle: "Uncle, Zhou Yanzhou and I are completely innocent. Nothing happened that shouldn't have happened."

As she spoke, tears suddenly spilled uncontrollably from Chen Xi's eyes. Her vision blurred by the tears, her voice sounded somewhat dim and dampened, as if soaked in water: "Uncle, he is not that kind of person."

Xu Jingqian came to his senses. He hurriedly pulled out two tissues and handed them to her, soothing her as he spoke: "Your uncle believes you. Your uncle was wrong. Your uncle was just worried that someone so young might stray onto a crooked path and ruin her future, not that I doubted your character."

Chen Xi could no longer hear what her uncle was saying. Clutching the tissues, she turned her head away and stared silently at the overlapping mountain ranges.

The car pulled into the small grocery store at the foot of Zhongxiu Mountain. Chen Xi went inside to buy incense and joss paper. The proprietress, who had a deep impression of Chen Xi, didn't forget to ask while ringing up the items: "Little sister, where's the handsome guy who came with you last time?"

Fearing her uncle would find out, Chen Xi shook her head in a panic and fled in a hurry under the proprietress's astonished gaze.

Once back in the car, Chen Xi hastily fastened her seatbelt and said with lingering fear, "Uncle, let's go."

Seeing her panicked expression, Xu Jingqian couldn't help asking, "What's wrong?"

Chen Xi shook her head and subconsciously denied it: "Nothing."

After heading up the mountain, the mist grew thicker and heavier, reducing visibility to under thirty meters, and her uncle drove very slowly.

Chen Xi curled up in her seat, thinking back to the last time she had come here with Zhou Yanzhou.

Reaching the summit, her uncle used a lighter to burn the joss paper, while Chen Xi held the lit incense sticks, bowing and cupping her hands in salute to the Goddess of Mercy.

The wind blurred her eyes. With her eyelids closed, Chen Xi silently made a wish to the Goddess of Mercy: *Goddess of Mercy, please bless me so that I can see him soon.*

Whether it was because the Goddess of Mercy had shown her divine efficacy or not, no sooner had Chen Xi arrived home than she received a text message from Zhou Yanzhou.

With the Spring Festival approaching, Auntie Wu had taken a leave, and her uncle had gone to pick up her aunt, leaving her all alone in the house.

Sitting on the living room sofa, Chen Xi mustered up the courage to take out the phone she usually never dared to show, finding the unread message.

*Arriving in Xiping at 9 PM. Come pick me up?*

Chen Xi sprang up from the couch. She read the message twice, her eyes widening in disbelief.

He was coming back???

Really?? Was this a joke??

Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs. Forcing herself to calm down, Chen Xi began to rack her brain for an excuse to leave the house tonight.

As it happened, Zhu Qing invited her out to go shopping. Finding her excuse, Chen Xi called her uncle, who was still at his mother-in-law's house, to ask for his opinion.

Her uncle was in the middle of playing mahjong with his brother-in-law. Hearing the phone call and remembering that Chen Xi was home alone, he feared she would be bored, so he gave her a few words of caution and readily agreed to her request.

Chen Xi checked the time: a little past five in the afternoon. There were still more than three hours until nine o'clock.

Wearing the same outfit from the morning, she ran upstairs to grab her charger, slung her hand-knitted rose-patterned bag over her shoulder, and set off to meet him with overwhelming joy.

She and Zhu Qing were meeting at People's Square. Chen Xi took the bus there, and before even reaching the bus stop, she spotted the forty-story sail-shaped hotel rising out of nowhere in People's Square.

Dozens of workers were still working overtime on the interior decoration, but the basic structure was already taking shape.

Chen Xi suddenly remembered how, a few months ago, Zhou Yanzhou had held her shoulders, stood before the hotel's floor-to-ceiling windows, and asked her with absolute confidence whether she believed his sail-shaped hotel would become Xiping's new landmark architecture.

At that time, Chen Xi had harbored doubts.

Yet looking now at the hotel rising like a ship unfurling its sails upon the sea, Chen Xi finally seemed to understand Zhou Yanzhou's ambition back then.

She finally believed that he had the capability to pull it off.

Bus No. 5 arrived at People's Square, and Chen Xi stepped down in a daze amidst the crowd.

Standing in People's Square, she tilted her head back to inspect the sail-shaped hotel before her.

Even though work wasn't finished yet, Chen Xi could be certain that this hotel would surpass any other building in Xiping and undoubtedly become the most talked-about grand hotel among the people of Xiping.

When Zhu Qing rushed to the meeting spot, Chen Xi was still staring fixedly at the sail-shaped hotel.

Walking up behind her, Zhu Qing playfully patted Chen Xi on the back, giving her a start.

Once Chen Xi recovered her wits, Zhu Qing glanced at the sail-shaped hotel in front of them. Remembering the gossip she had heard from the adults, she leaned in close to Chen Xi's ear and said mysteriously, "I heard from my dad that the boss of this hotel is very young, extremely rich, and from Beijing. Word is that the mayor's daughter took a fancy to him and purposely arranged a dinner banquet to invite him, but he didn't even pay her any mind and flat-out rejected her."

"Tsk, rich, loaded, and good-looking—the standard template for a male lead in a romance novel."

Chen Xi blinked in surprise and couldn't help asking, "Have you seen him?"

Zhu Qing let out a hiss of breath and said with a horrified expression, "How could I possibly have seen him? Is a person like that someone an ordinary commoner like me can just lay eyes on? My dad only caught a glimpse of him from afar because his company has a business partnership with them."

"You're usually not interested in this kind of gossip, so why are you acting so strange today?"

As she spoke, Zhu Qing's gaze locked onto Chen Xi's fair and delicate face. Spotting what seemed to be a major issue, her eyes widened in shock: "Crap, are you wearing lipstick???"

Chen Xi: "..."

Zhu Qing's reaction was so dramatic that Chen Xi felt a bit awkward. Touching the corners of her lips, she whispered in explanation, "It's not lipstick, just a bit of tinted lip balm. It seems to change color."

As she spoke, Chen Xi pulled a tissue from her bag, preparing to wipe it off: "Does it look bad? I'll wipe it off then."

Zhu Qing hurriedly stopped her: "Don't, don't, don't! It looks good, it looks good!"

"It's all pink and tender like a peach, makes me want to give you a kiss!"

Chen Xi: "..."

Under Zhu Qing's vehement obstruction, Chen Xi ultimately didn't wipe off the lip balm.

She couldn't help wondering, though: when Zhou Yanzhou saw her later, would he notice?

The two girls strolled around the shopping mall for over two hours, grabbing some snacks along the way. Around 8:30 PM, Zhu Qing received a phone call summoning her away.

Her mother was calling her back for dinner.

With a look of deep regret, Zhu Qing bid farewell to Chen Xi, making plans to hang out together again next time.

Chen Xi had checked the time several times already, eager to find an excuse to leave.

Seeing that Zhu Qing spoke up first, Chen Xi breathed an inward sigh of relief.

Parting ways with Zhu Qing at the bus stop, Chen Xi boarded the bus heading to the airport.

Along the way, her mind wandered, filled with anticipation for this reunion.

After half a year apart, would his appearance have changed? What would he be wearing? Which exit would he come out of?

As her thoughts drifted, Chen Xi began to fret over what she should say when they met later, and where they would go at such a late hour.

The more she thought, the more chaotic her mind became, forcing her to stop her wild imagination.

Twenty minutes later, the bus arrived at the airport.

The airport was quite small. A few cab services for picking up passengers were parked in the open-air parking lot outside, and travelers were trickling out of the arrivals exit one after another.

Actually, Chen Xi had overthought it; the Xiping airport only had a single exit, so there was zero need to worry about missing him.

Standing on the patch of lawn at the outer perimeter, she thrust her hands into the pockets of her down jacket and fixed her unblinking gaze on the domestic arrivals exit.

Every single face coming through was completely unfamiliar. Chen Xi strained her neck for a long time without catching sight of that familiar figure, and soon the exit area grew empty with no sign of anyone else emerging.

Confused, Chen Xi pulled out her phone and opened the text message to carefully verify the details.

Just as she was beginning to doubt whether she had read the date wrong, a tall, slender figure pulling a suitcase covered in travel stickers walked out leisurely from the exit.

Catching sight of the person standing under the streetlight looking utterly disappointed, Zhou Yanzhou paused in his steps and couldn't help calling out: "Chen Xi."

Chen Xi snapped her head up from her phone screen. Seeing the man standing not far away, she instinctively tucked her phone away and stepped forward.

Only as she drew closer did she realize Zhou Yanzhou was wearing a black overcoat over a dark suit.

He was tall, and the overcoat lent him an air of effortless elegance.

Having not seen him for several months, he didn't seem to have changed much.

The only difference was that his hair was considerably shorter, though the hairstyle still suited him handsomely.

Zhou Yanzhou glanced briefly at her, his gaze falling upon her little bear hat. He reached out to pinch one of the bear ears and said calmly, "Pretty cute."

Chen Xi's face flushed red on the spot.

Zhou Yanzhou raised his wristwatch to check the time, his gaze returning to the young girl as he noticed her reddened eye rims and the longing suppressed within her gaze.

His heart stirred slightly, and he asked, "How about getting some dinner together?"