Deep in the middle of the night having avoided opening her phone at night ever since that first evening, Shen Jixue finally couldn’t help herself and sent a message to her friend thousands of miles away.
Shen Jixue: I need to ask you for a bit of advice.
Mo Jin: ?
Mo Jin: Well, look who it is! Rare guest! I thought you were having so much fun you forgot all about us. You haven’t even replied to a single message.
Shen Jixue: I haven’t even settled the score with you guys for tricking me into coming here behind my back!
Mo Jin: …
Mo Jin: Right away, Sister Xue! What can this humble servant do for you? (Fawning Cat Emoji)
Shen Jixue let out a quiet chuckle. Mo Jin was a younger colleague she had hired during the studio’s very first year. Quick-witted and agile-minded, she was naturally the first person Shen Jixue thought to reach out to.
Only…
Shen Jixue’s fingers hesitated for a moment over the touchscreen keyboard. Deliberating for a few minutes, she finally typed out a line.
Shen Jixue: The guesthouse owner has been taking really good care of me lately. I was thinking of ways to repay her and wanted to see if you had any ideas.
On the other side of the screen, Mo Jin bolted upright from the floor. Liu Yao, who was arranging set props right beside her, almost dropped a frame onto her face in fright.
Hiss—
Mo Jin caught the scent of something highly unusual. One had to understand that Shen Jixue was always someone who either expressed gratitude directly on the spot, yielded financial perks, or found an opportune moment to return a favor based on the person’s interests. She had never asked others to brainstorm ideas for her. Furthermore, seeing that Shen Jixue hadn’t posted in the main group chat, it was obvious she wanted to keep this hush-hush and only sought her out.
This meant Sister Xue trusted her!
Mo Jin almost moved to tears. She hadn’t expected her status in Sister Xue’s heart to hold such weight.
After waiting a while without a response, Shen Jixue turned around and sent a message to the studio boss instead. After all, the boss had more life experience and would certainly know the most appropriate way to give gifts.
Boss: Is there a situation?
Shen Jixue stared earnestly at those three words for a few seconds, her expression completely blank. What on earth did the boss mean by that?
In another cozy small house not far from her room, Yun Fei wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, reading through some documents on her laptop.
What usually would take her a single evening to finish reading felt completely uncooperative tonight; staring at the dense, obscure English on the screen, she hadn’t turned a single page in quite a long time.
Yun Fei took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly. Reaching out to grab the plush bear resting at the head of the bed, she buried her face in it and took a deep, comforting breath.
Ever since they returned from the fish pond that day, things had felt somewhat strange between her and Shen Jixue. Perhaps her words back then had been a bit too abrupt and startled her.
Over the past few days, they had fallen back into their previous rhythm.
Yun Fei had never possessed very close friends. During elementary and middle school, she had transferred schools frequently alongside her parents. By the time she reached high school, she lived alone at home, burying her head in her studies, long accustomed to coming and going by herself.
Only her college roommates could be considered somewhat close, but after graduation, everyone became consumed with their own career paths, and contact gradually faded away.
That was why she worried whether her words that day might have offended Shen Jixue, yet she didn’t have a single person by her side to consult for advice.
After pondering back and forth, Yun Fei actually came up with a wonderful idea.
She decided to take Shen Jixue to her secret haven.
Meanwhile, both the studio boss and Mo Jin gave Shen Jixue the exact same advice:
“Do what you’re best at.”
Shen Jixue was caught in a bit of a dilemma. She stood up and opened her suitcase, staring at the camera gear stored inside, ultimately picking out an instant camera.
In truth, she could use a professional camera, but right now, even picking one up felt difficult for her.
After loading the film, she stole one last glance at her favorite camera before closing the suitcase.
Yes, what she was best at was photography. Ever since making a name for herself in the photography circle, it had been a long time since Shen Jixue had held such a pure desire to simply capture a person.
She decided to gift Yun Fei a set of instant photos to express her gratitude for all these days.
Harboring their own thoughts of giving each other a pleasant surprise, both of them drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Yun Fei uncharacteristically did not wake up early. Both of them slept until the sun was high in the sky, waking up within minutes of each other.
By the time Shen Jixue finished washing up and stepped out of her room, she saw Yun Fei sitting beneath the pergola, lost in thought.
“What are you up to?”
It was rare to see Yun Fei not out and about, and this was the first time Shen Jixue had caught her zoning out, wondering what was going through her mind.
“Ah, sorry, I overslept today,” Yun Fei said, rubbing her temples as she snapped back to reality. “I didn’t have time to cook today. How about I drive you to town to grab something to eat?”
Shen Jixue didn’t mind at all. With her own secret plan tucked in her heart, she naturally had no objections to Yun Fei’s arrangements.
“It just so happens that the work I’ve been busy with lately is wrapped up. We can stroll around town this afternoon. There’s a scenic area nearby where we can go hiking, and we can grab some outdoor barbecue there tonight,” Yun Fei suggested.
Shen Jixue’s eyes lit up. Going to a scenic spot meant she could naturally propose taking photos of Yun Fei! With that in mind, she agreed immediately.
Seeing that Shen Jixue showed no signs of objection, Yun Fei breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The place she wanted to bring Shen Jixue to wasn’t far from the scenic area; they could easily pass by on their way back and stop for a visit.
Once the plan was set, Shen Jixue went back to prepare immediately. She packed the instant camera, threw on a sun-protection jacket, stepped into a pair of lightweight shoes, and donned the hat Yun Fei had given her. Shen Jixue nodded in satisfaction.
Yun Fei pulled the car up to the front entrance of Cloud Retreat, just in time to run into Auntie Wang, who was heading out to meet her elderly friends. The two chatted for a few moments until Shen Jixue stepped out. After bidding Auntie Wang goodbye, they officially set off.
When Shen Jixue first arrived, she had been down on her luck and utterly exhausted. This time, sitting in the passenger seat with the breeze flowing through the window and fluttering her hair, she felt no discomfort whatsoever. The cicadas chirped vibrantly in the tree shade along the road, lending the journey a strangely lively feel.
Shen Jixue usually traveled a lot for business, and driving was mainly for the convenience of carrying equipment back and forth. Initially, she had intended to just buy a plane ticket and fly straight over, but her studio crew had tricked her, leaving her to drive all the way out here only to break down on the road.
If she hadn’t run into Yun Fei on the road that day, she likely would have passed out from heatstroke on the highway.
“When I get a chance, I’ll go to town and get someone to tow your car back here so you don’t have to keep going out on foot,” Yun Fei suggested as she drove. Almost everyone in the rural countryside knew one another. Having stayed here for nearly a year and frequently visiting the town auto repair shop back when she lived in town, she was quite well acquainted with the mechanics there.
“That would save me a ton of effort,” Shen Jixue teased. “Boss Yun really knows a lot of people.”
After all, virtually everyone she had met since coming to this guesthouse was introduced through Yun Fei.
Yun Fei gave a self-deprecating smile. “You think too highly of me. When I first got here, I didn’t know anyone either. Everyone was a stranger.”
Shen Jixue was naturally a person driven by strong curiosity. Hearing Yun Fei put it that way, it seemed coming to this town to open a guesthouse really carried a hidden story.
“If you didn’t know anyone here, why did you decide to open a guesthouse here?”
She had asked her friends to inquire, and as far as she knew, no other guests seemed to have stayed here before her.
Yun Fei avoided her gaze, keeping her eyes fixed on the road ahead as the car glided smoothly along. “No particular reason. I happened to come by here once, thought it was quite nice, and decided to make it my home.”
Shen Jixue knew that answer was definitely a brush-off. Curving her lips, she mentally vowed that she would get her to open up on her own one day.
In truth, past events were nothing particularly dramatic for Yun Fei, nor did she have some tragic history. It was simply that knowing how to put it into words presented a considerable hurdle for her.
“What about you? I heard your friends tricked you into coming here. When they reached out to me, they only asked me to let you stay here peacefully for five months.”
Shen Jixue flew into a mock rage, not expecting those lousy friends of hers to gossip about her like that to Yun Fei. For reasons she couldn’t quite name, she instinctively didn’t want Yun Fei to discover any of her flawed sides.
“Though I suspect they were exaggerating. After all, you seem so well-behaved,” Yun Fei added, a faint smile touching her face that she herself didn’t even notice.
Shen Jixue’s anger deflated like a punctured balloon with a soft pfft, while the tips of her ears began to radiate warmth.
“Still, your friends really do care about you,” Yun Fei continued, oblivious to her reaction, her tone tinged with a hint of envy. “When they reached out to me, it was as if they were terrified you’d get hurt. They told me so much about your daily habits and dietary restrictions. It looks like you’ve lived and worked together for a very long time.”
Shen Jixue froze, not having realized there was so much behind it. No wonder Yun Fei almost never stumbled across any of her dislikes when cooking, and even the room incense was her favorite floral-fruity scent.
“Yeah… they really are a great group of friends.”
Shen Jixue leaned back against the seat, watching the interior ornaments sway gently with the motion of the car.
So, only if I take the initiative to step away can I keep them from getting hurt because of me.