The weather was lovely in the evening. The sun had already set, leaving only a lingering glow. Zhao Qingyun washed the dishes and tidied up the kitchen when she heard Xu Lai say, "Want to go for a walk?"

Without a second thought, he said, "Let's go."

The two walked along the stream. Their village was called Shangxi Village because it was located upstream of the stream, while another village was downstream.

Xu Lai felt bored, and the two of them didn't speak. She picked up some pebbles from the road and threw them into the stream.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Qingyun picked up a stone and skipped it across the water. Xu Lai was somewhat surprised: "Did you grow up in the countryside? You're so skilled at it."

Zhao Qingyun explained, "When I was a child, I would go to my great-grandfather's house for a few days during holidays. After he passed away, I went less often."

Xu Lai said "Oh," then realized what she meant and said, "I didn't mean to make you talk about sad things."

Zhao Qingyun smiled and said, "It's okay. So many years have passed, I'm not sad anymore. As long as I remember him, he will always exist."

Xu Lai picked up a few pebbles and said, "I'll show you what real strength is."

She threw it forward, and the pebbles bounced on the water's surface before falling back into the water one after another.

As they walked back, they ran into Jiang Yingqiu, who was returning from dinner. She exclaimed in surprise, "You two were just taking a walk together?"

Xu Lai nodded: "Yes, I just took a walk around."

Ms. Yingqiu looked at Zhao Qingyun with a meaningful expression. He coughed lightly and said, "Mom, Dad called earlier and said he needs to talk to you about something. He wants you to call him back. Let's go home now."

Ms. Yingqiu said goodbye to Xu Lai and entered the courtyard. As soon as she entered the house, she asked, "Look at the excuse you came up with to make me leave. I just talked to your father on the phone this morning."

Zhao Qingyun emphasized, "We are currently just friends. Don't worry about my affairs; it will make her feel awkward."

Ms. Yingqiu exclaimed, "Oh my! Zhao Qingyun, you've changed. You really haven't been like this before."

Zhao Qingyun thought to herself, "I've never met anyone I liked before, so it's not worth me paving the way for them."

It started to drizzle again that night, the sound of rain hitting the window. Xu Lai was woken up by the sound of the rain after falling asleep and found it difficult to fall back asleep.

She simply picked up her phone to edit a video, and while she was editing, she fell asleep. When she woke up the next day, her phone battery was critically low.

She plugged her phone into the charger and went to wash up. The morning air was fresh, and it wasn't raining outside anymore, but the sky was a bit gloomy.

After washing up, she made herself breakfast. It was almost ten o'clock. She had gone to bed too late last night. When her grandfather called her to eat breakfast, she said she didn't want to eat and turned over to change her position to continue sleeping.

After finishing breakfast, she cooked rice, blanched pork ribs to make soup, and then took a small basket and went to the yard.

Several loquats ripen every day, which she picks to prevent birds from eating them. There is a lot of moss in the yard. After last night's rain, a lot of ground cover has grown, which they call "thunder fungus."

Xu Lai recalled her grandmother explaining why she was called that: "Because the Thunder God went to the toilet in the sky, fell down to the ground, and became Thunder God Fungus."

At the time, she thought it was the excrement of the Thunder God and dared not eat it. Looking back now, it was really funny when she was a child.

Too lazy to go back and get a bag, she put the loquats on the ground, leaving the basket empty, and bent down to pick up the wild vegetables.