The old street on a summer night was bustling with activity. A newly opened shop was holding a promotion, though Xun Long didn’t catch what the free gift was with purchase.
She was stunned for a few seconds by Jin Zhuo’s logic. “People don’t even eat meals every single day.”
Jin Zhuo pushed her along slowly. “Of course people eat every day, and love should be made every day, too.”
Xun Long: Stop it.
There was simply no reasoning with this person.
Jin Zhuo spoke her mind bluntly and didn’t care about the occasion at all.
After a few seconds, Xun Long asked, “Why don’t you say things like that when you’re filming your videos?”
Jin Zhuo let out an “ah” of surprise. “You watch my videos?”
Xun Long countered, “Can’t I?”
“Of course you can.” With her octopus-tentacle hair ends gathered together at the back, Jin Zhuo suddenly looked like she was sporting a blunt, one-length bob. “Which episode is your favorite?”
Xun Long answered honestly, “I haven’t kept track of any special ones.”
Her words didn’t hurt Jin Zhuo’s feelings in the least. “Then do you want to come over to my shop and look around?”
Xun Long: “I don’t want to.”
Jin Zhuo sighed. “Fine then, I’ll take you around for a stroll a bit longer.”
Xun Long lacked any enthusiasm. “It’s just this one street, what is there to stroll around and see?”
“It is pretty boring, but Grandpa Xun wasn’t wrong either. Staying cooped up at home every day is no fun for you.”
“This street has always been like this. It seems to have been here for hundreds of years, yet every day there’s still something different about it.”
Xun Long: “Go do whatever you need to do, I’m heading back.”
Her wheelchair was high-end, the top-tier model that Jiang Kemin had gone out of her way to have someone purchase for her. Because the trial feedback had been so good, Jiang Kemin had actually bought one for herself just to sit in and play with at home, claiming it felt way better than an ergonomic chair.
Xun Long had accepted the wheelchair. Even though she hadn’t gone out much since returning to Feixian Town, she also felt it was pretty good.
At least at a time like this, it allowed her to shake off Jin Zhuo at lightning speed.
“What the heck? That fast?”
With her hands letting go of the handles, Jin Zhuo looked in astonishment at the figure vanishing around the corner at high speed, standing frozen in place marveling at it for half a day until she actually found herself wanting one.
Xun Long quickly returned to the lantern shop, where her grandfather looked quite surprised. “Didn’t Huoshao take you out to play?”
“We’ve barely been out for any time at all.”
Xun Long picked up a half-finished lantern from the floor. “There was nothing fun to do.”
“It’s good for you young people to chat anyway. Don’t always stay cooped up with us old folks.”
Her grandfather paused for a moment. “Forget it, you’re young yet already getting on in years. Even Grandpa is more relaxed than you.”
Right on cue, her grandmother walked out carrying a plate of freshly sliced green mangoes and gave her old partner a gentle smack. “Who talks to their granddaughter like that?”
Xun Long pointed at her grandfather. “Him.”
Her grandmother smiled and asked, “You ditched Huoshao and came back by yourself?”
Xun Long found it baffling; even though her grandmother hadn’t been there, it sounded as if she had a security camera installed right on her. “Why would you say that?”
“Huoshao likes you so much, she definitely wouldn’t have brought you back without walking you home.”
Her grandmother had also watched the two neighboring girls grow up. After Jin Zhuo graduated and came back, interactions with them had become even more frequent.
When Xun Long had her accident, they were the ones who wanted to go see her, and Jin Zhuo had helped organize everything.
Jin Zhuo had asked the elders not to mention this, so the old folks hadn’t brought it up.
Clueless about all of this, Xun Long asked, “How is it that she likes me so much?”
Her grandfather took a bite of green mango and said with a smile, “She was like that when she was little, peeking over the garden wall to look at you. Did you forget?”
Xun Long shook her head.
Her grandmother said with a hint of melancholy, “That’s just how you are, never taking anything to heart.”
Xun Long didn’t understand. “Isn’t it good like this? I rarely feel sad.”
Having lived a good many years longer, elders naturally knew what was good and what wasn’t, but given Xun Long’s special situation, they couldn’t bear to poke at their granddaughter’s pain either.
With the sight in one eye gone and walking being difficult, her life had undergone massive changes.
Xun Long had high self-esteem; whether she fell or knocked something over, she never wanted anyone else to help her. Her pride was absolute.
Someone who had been goal-oriented from childhood had her spirit shattered by a car accident. The first time she answered that she did not know was when her grandparents asked her about the future.
Should she go back and continue working, or stay at home?
Xun Long felt completely lost.
She had no idea what she was searching for, or what she had lost.
The compensation money was enough to sustain her life, and her work capability and resume were sufficient for her to find another job. In fact, having an extra disability certificate made finding one even easier.
What she had lost was that intense urge of wanting and needing things.
Living a drift-along, day-to-day life for the first time felt very much like floating on a dead sea: everything else bobbed to the surface, but whenever she wanted to sink downwards, she had no idea where the descent should begin.
“Good is good, at least it saves me from worrying at home about whether you’re doing well out there.”
Her grandmother let out a long sigh. “Hanxin said sometimes you get so busy with work you can go a whole day without eating. No wonder your stomach is bad.”
As soon as she brought up Ding Hanxin, she realized a moment later that maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned her.
Xun Long, however, kept her expression as normal as ever. “Once I come back from eating, I forget everything else.”
Her grandmother: “You were the same when you did homework back then; whenever we called you to eat, you’d get upset.”
Xun Long suddenly asked, “Has Ding Hanxin contacted you?”
Her grandmother shook her head. “That was something she mentioned a long time ago.”
“Though after you came back, Hanxin still asked me how you were doing.”
Regarding problems between children, the elders hadn’t probed too deeply, but they could tell to some extent that the atmosphere between Ding Hanxin and Xun Long had been somewhat strained back when Xun Long was hospitalized.
Later on, when Xun Long was doing rehabilitation, Ding Hanxin had also come once or twice. Xun Long didn’t know about it, and since Ding Hanxin didn’t announce herself, the old folks simply pretended not to see.
Xun Long: “What did you say?”
Her grandmother: “Just said everything was fine.”
Xun Long gave an “oh.”
Her grandmother handed the sliced green mangoes right in front of Xun Long. “Eat up. Huoshao sends things over to the house every three days. Next time, let’s invite her over for a meal; she likes the sweet soy-sauce rice cakes I make.”
Xun Long: “Should I be the one to invite her?”
Her grandmother took it as a matter of course. “Weren’t the two of you just out together? She’s right next door, it’s good to keep in touch.”
“She has plenty of customers over on her side, and they’re all youngsters. Sometimes someone even plays the guitar.”
The old folks were more than eager for their granddaughter to go out and wander around more.
The lantern shop had remained unchanged for decades, while the blacksmith shop next door kept up with the times. Aside from Old Jin’s scheduled daily traditional blacksmithing performance, there were also some sheet-metal accessory DIY workshops. Waves of people came through, occasionally even driving up business for the lantern shop.
The neighbors all adored Jin Zhuo, and some even hoped Jin Zhuo could bring their own children along to strike it rich.
“She likes you the most.”
Since both grandpa and grandma kept saying that, Xun Long thought that if they ever found out what Jin Zhuo actually did to her, she had no idea what kind of expressions they’d make.
Xun Long actually found herself looking forward to that scene a little.
Since she had already reached an agreement with Jin Zhuo, there was no need for Xun Long to expose it right now.
She couldn’t go far anyway, and Jiang Kemin would be coming this way in a few days. Xun Long intended to make Jin Zhuo run errands and pick her up.
Her grandfather chimed in from the side, “Didn’t you add each other on WeChat?”
Her grandmother smiled: “Then the two of you should chat more.”
Xun Long: “There’s nothing for me and her to talk about.”
She wheeled herself back to her bedroom.
Previously, Xun Long rarely posted updates; her WeChat Moments were mostly work-related.
Unlike Ding Hanxin, whose life was run like a flourishing enterprise.
She was the type of person who could use everything as a stepping stone, and right now she could even gamble away her marriage for a better future.
News of Ding Hanxin’s engagement had spread long ago. Even though Xun Long had vanished for a long time due to her accident, anonymous software within the industry would still bring her up, speculating whether she and Ding Hanxin had anything going on.
Though it was pure speculation, people spoke with absolute certainty. If Xun Long went out of her way to clarify, it would only make her look like she cared deeply.
When it was clearly Jiang Kemin who had the entanglements with Ding Hanxin.
If it weren’t for the fact that Jiang Kemin looked like she was suffering from severe heartbreak, Xun Long would never have agreed to her request to take the train over here to clear her mind.
Acting as a guide for someone who couldn’t walk was no different from asking a paraplegic person to guard a soccer goal.
Jiang Kemin’s personality was different from Xun Long’s; even if Xun Long refused, she would still come anyway.
Jiang Kemin: [I’ve bought my train ticket.]
Jiang Kemin: [You’re coming to pick me up, right?]
Xun Long: [With me like this, how am I supposed to pick you up?]
Jiang Kemin: [I checked, your hometown is actually pretty decent too, they even have chartered tour travel services. Why don’t you just charter a car to pick me up?]
There were no books related to her major on Xun Long’s desk; the study materials from her exam preparation years had been sold off long ago.
What lay on the desk instead were various lantern pattern designs. Different occasions called for specific attention to fonts and patterns.
Xun Long hadn’t told her grandfather that she would learn, but having absolutely nothing else to do, she started reading through her grandfather’s old reference books anyway.
Xun Long didn’t even have the mood to type out text messages, so she impatiently replied with a voice message: “Then why don’t you just charter a car yourself?”
Jiang Kemin: [That would be so embarrassing, I still need you to play the gracious host.]
Xun Long desperately wanted to play the role of the host and shovel her away.
Soon the other party sent a long voice message: “I’ve done my research. What kind of cloudland town is your place? It’s great for hiking, I’ve even bought all my gear.”
“Hanxin is getting engaged, I am about to end my love right in her hometown!”
“You should understand me.”
Xun Long blocked her.
The next second, her phone started popping up messages continuously like it was possessed. Xun Long almost thought she had blocked the wrong person.
This time it was Jin Zhuo.
[Can I come over tonight?]
[There are still eighty-nine times left to redeem, right?]
[I’ll bring my own bedsheets this time.]
[If you don’t reply within half an hour, I’ll take that as a yes.]
Xun Long thought: If I don’t agree, would she actually not come?
Back in ancient times, this woman probably would have been classified as a bandit plundering flowers.
Jiang Kemin, having been blocked by Xun Long, started making phone calls, while on the other side Jin Zhuo kept spamming winking emojis.
Xun Long suddenly felt that Feixian Town wasn’t rural enough; she really ought to move deep into the mountain forests.
She hung up Jiang Kemin’s call and replied to Jin Zhuo:
[Not doing it. I have something I need your car for.]
Jin Zhuo was currently giving the final grinding and polishing to a piece of sheet metal for a customer.
The shop was full of clattering noises. Old Jin had long finished his traditional blacksmithing performance work and was lending a hand nearby.
Jin Yao was still running odd jobs in the tea-beverage space next door which was currently in its soft opening, occasionally coming over to ask Jin Zhuo how things should be displayed.
Today’s group tour consisted of retired uncles and aunts from the big city. Jin Zhuo greeted them with a wide smile, and when opening her doors for business, she would also change her dressing style according to the age of her scheduled guests.
Today’s outfit fit the town’s literary style quite well. Her octopus-tail hair ends were tucked into a hair net at the back, and her earrings were handmade by herself.
Perhaps she was radiant with smiles when she sent that message just now, as one customer auntie asked, “Does the little boss have a partner yet?”
Jin Yao came out to pour a glass of water and happened to hear her older sister say: “Yes, I do.”
“Where are they from?”
“Local.”
“What do they do?”
“They make lanterns right next door.”
“Well then, I’ll have to go take a look.”
“Sure. Though she’s not home right now, and aren’t you leaving soon? Looks like you’ll miss out.”
Old Jin chuckled and said to his younger daughter, Jin Yao: “Your sister really just talks nonsense. Yesterday she said she didn’t have a partner, today she has one again.”
“Last week she even said she was in a long-distance relationship, changing it every single day.”
Only Jin Yao felt something was off, thinking: Where on earth did she get a partner next door?
The only one matching the description didn’t even match the gender.
Could her sister not be straight? No way.
Weren’t netizens just joking around? Her sister looked straight as an arrow trying to act like a lesbian.
No matter how she looked at it, her affection for Sister Yue Long was just an appreciation for good looks. How could there possibly be any other possibility?
Old Jin’s blacksmith shop closed its doors every night at nine, and took a weekly break every Wednesday. This was a schedule Jin Zhuo had set.
She needed time to work on the planning for her next round of filming and collect design patterns for the shop’s sheet metal pieces.
After seeing off the customers, Jin Zhuo stared at her chat box with Xun Long, itching to go right over and find her right now.
What did Xun Long want her car for?
Was she going out?
Or did this car have some hidden meaning?
Her mind running wild with thoughts, Jin Zhuo waited until her sister closed up and went to sleep, then quietly closed her own shop and hopped over the courtyard wall without a sound.
Old Jin had already gone back to the house on New Street, and her mom had gone on a tour group recently and wouldn’t be back for quite a while.
Jin Zhuo had also taken a shower. Her nightgown had no pockets, so she changed into a sportswear set instead, stuffing disposable bedsheets into her pocket.
Bearing in mind how Xun Long had wiped her fingers previously, Jin Zhuo even brought a box of finger cots.
She took a photo and sent it to Xun Long: [I’ll come over once my sister goes to sleep.]
Xun Long tapped on the image and immediately closed it.
On her desk lay the lantern patterns she had been drawing for a long time. The basic colors were red, green, black, gold, and yellow. She still had plenty of practice ahead of her before reaching her grandfather’s level.
She needed to keep a calm mind.
Yet someone always managed to make her restless.
She typed out every single character deliberately: [Not doing it.]
[Didn’t you understand?]
Jin Zhuo read the message and willfully misinterpreted it: [If you aren’t doing it, I’ll do my own.]
She sent several pitiful yellow bean emojis and lowered her voice: “Big sister, have mercy.”
“I’ll practice safe measures.”