They set off in the morning and, after a long and winding journey, finally arrived in the small town in the afternoon.
Grandma’s house was tucked deep within the old street. The road, worn down by years of use, was covered with tiny broken stones. The car moved slowly over it, bumping slightly the whole way.
The car window was lowered. Among the rows of old red-brick houses in the distance, a small courtyard with white walls and blue-gray tiled roofs stood out conspicuously.
It was the house her father, Lin Jingshan, had specifically hired someone to renovate two years ago.
The courtyard gate was ajar. Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Lin Zhinuo hurriedly jumped out.
“Grandma! Grandma…”
The courtyard was silent. No one answered.
Lin Jingshan took several boxes of nutritional supplements out of the trunk.
“Looks like your grandma went next door to chat again. Let’s go inside and rest for a while. We’ll wait for her to come back.”
Grandma had always been a clean and tidy person. The entire courtyard, inside and out, was spotless.
Lin Zhinuo’s gaze fell on the courtyard wall to the right. A relatively short jujube tree stood there all alone.
Its main trunk split into Y-shaped branches. The new leaves were a deep green, and tiny yellow flowers covered the branches.
Every summer vacation when she came to her grandmother’s house, climbing this jujube tree had been one of her favorite childhood pastimes.
Back then, she would always see the exceptionally handsome but taciturn boy next door spending his entire day in the courtyard, working on various wooden crafts.
Her grandmother had once told her that the boy’s grandfather was a famous old carpenter in town. Having grown up around him, the boy had learned woodworking from an early age and developed remarkable craftsmanship. After his grandfather passed away, he had relied on those skills to make a living on his own.
Just as her thoughts began to churn, the sudden clanging and knocking of wood came from the neighboring courtyard.
Lin Zhinuo’s heart tightened abruptly. Almost instinctively, she walked toward the jujube tree.
Because she had practiced dance for many years, she was agile. Using both her hands and feet, she quickly climbed into the branches.
The moment she sat down, fragmented sunlight filtered through the gaps between the leaves, making her squint.
When she opened her eyes again, she unexpectedly met a pair of long, narrow, cool black eyes.
The boy stood beneath the tree. His simple white T-shirt accentuated his lean, upright figure, making him look like a slender green bamboo growing in the mountains, swaying in the breeze. His cool, fair skin glowed softly under the sunlight, while his facial features were clean-cut and sharply defined.
At that moment, the shy appearance of the sixteen-year-old boy overlapped perfectly with the mature, reserved man she remembered from her previous life.
A wave of bitterness rose into her nose, and tears nearly spilled from her eyes.
Lin Zhinuo hugged the tree trunk tightly and bit down hard on her lip. Hidden behind the leaves, she steadied her turbulent emotions.
When she looked up again, she revealed a sweet smile.
“What are you holding? It looks so delicate.”
The Xu Qingyan in her memories had always been cold and taciturn. Whenever their eyes met during childhood, he would merely glance at her indifferently before lowering his head and continuing his work.
Lin Zhinuo had always been cheerful by nature, but whenever she encountered his cool, distant gaze, she only dared to give him a shy smile.
The young man pressed his thin lips together. His slender, well-defined fingers lifted slightly as he answered in a calm voice,
“A Luban lock.”
“You made it?”
Lin Zhinuo had no idea that his woodworking skills had already reached such an impressive level.
“Can I come over and take a look? I promise I won’t disturb you while you work.”
The girl sat among the twisted branches of the tree, half her face hidden in the shade of the green leaves. Her exposed features were delicate and lively, making the tiny yellow jujube blossoms above her head seem dull by comparison.
Beneath the locust tree, the young man’s fingers tightened almost imperceptibly.
After a brief silence, he gave a slight nod.
A smile instantly lit up Lin Zhinuo’s eyes, and she immediately turned around to climb down from the tree.
A gentle breeze of late spring swept through the branches. Tiny jujube blossoms fluttered down, landing among the girl’s soft, dark hair.
The boy quickly withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyes.
Before long, half of the girl’s head poked through the crack in the gate of the boy’s house, her almond-shaped eyes blinking curiously.
Although she was familiar with the furnishings of the small courtyard, this was the first time she had gotten a proper view of it from the entrance.
The boy continued to work on the piece of wood in his hands, his head lowered. Sunlight filtered through the swaying branches overhead and fell across his brows and eyes, softening the sharpness of his features.
On a small round stool nearby, a Luban lock lay quietly.
Lin Zhinuo bent down and picked it up. Pointing at the wooden stool, she asked softly, “Can I sit here?”
The boy cast a casual glance at her from the corner of his eye. His gaze unintentionally brushed over her pale pink-tinted fingernails before falling on the stool, whose surface had not yet been completely smoothed.
He stood up, took a clean white towel from the clothesline, and gently spread it over the seat.
“Go ahead and sit.”
A faint ache stirred in Lin Zhinuo’s heart. She vaguely remembered that in her previous life, Xu Qingyan had always used plain white towels to wipe his face.
When she sat down, she still quietly moved the towel aside.
Holding the natural wood-colored Luban lock between her fingertips, Lin Zhinuo lowered her head and carefully examined the intricate wooden puzzle. A faint woody fragrance lingered beneath her nose, and she couldn’t help marveling inwardly at his superb craftsmanship.
However, after fiddling with it for quite a while, she discovered that this little thing was surprisingly difficult to solve.
The surroundings were so quiet that only the sound of the wind remained. After a long stretch of silence, Xu Qingyan couldn’t help turning his head to look.
Under the sunlight, the girl’s fingers repeatedly manipulated the wooden joints. Her lips were tightly pursed, and her brows were slightly furrowed. Her expression was focused, yet tinged with frustration.
Without realizing it, Xu Qingyan found himself staring at her, becoming lost in thought.
The girl suddenly lifted her thick, long lashes and looked up at him. Her brows furrowed even deeper, and her clear, crisp voice carried a hint of childish innocence.
“Xu Qingyan, is something stuck inside this Luban lock? Why can’t I open it?”
The gaze he had failed to withdraw froze abruptly, and Xu Qingyan stood there stunned.
Lin Zhinuo’s heart jolted. Only then did she realize that, without thinking, she had called him directly by his name, just as she had in her previous life.
In the past, she had always properly addressed him as “Brother Qingyan.”
The boy didn’t seem to mind her calling him by his name. He reached out and took the Luban lock she handed him. With a slight movement of his long fingers, the interlocking wooden joints that had been tightly fitted together shifted apart.
With a soft click, the puzzle easily came undone.
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Lin Zhinuo’s face. Afraid that he might see how clumsy she was, she hurriedly found another topic to cover it up.
“Brother Qingyan, are all these tables and chairs going to be taken into town to sell?”
Xu Qingyan nodded lightly.
“The furniture shop in town comes to collect them.”
Lin Zhinuo smiled sincerely.
“Wow, you’re really amazing.”
The moment she finished speaking, the half-closed courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open.
A middle-aged woman gripped the doorframe, gasping for breath. Her face was filled with urgency.
“Qingyan, hurry… hurry and go take a look… Your dad, your dad something happened to him!”