Longing for You (Part 5)

An has been lazily lounging at home for the past few days.

The cod expressed its envy.

Seeing that An had already left, she hurriedly submitted her resignation.

Cod's reason for resigning was simple: she just didn't want to be a beast of burden anymore.

An had advised Cod to calm down, after all, Cod had a baby at home who needed to be fed.

Cod deleted the report word by word, and when he finished, his eyes were filled with tears of imprisonment.

For An, there's not much difference between working and staying at home.

She rarely stays up late and doesn't have the habit of sleeping in late, so her daily routine hasn't changed.

However, perhaps because I resigned, a blank space opened up in my mind, which brought a lot of inspiration. In addition, with more free time, I resumed all the novels that I had stopped updating, and I was updating them every day.

This feeling actually made her feel more fulfilled.

When she's not writing, she's planning where to go for fun.

She considered many places, including universities she had always wanted to visit but hadn't, and places she had promised to visit with her cod for work. In the end, she chose Fenshuiling Town.

One of the birthplaces of oil-paper umbrellas.

It was almost the first time I saw this option that I decided to go there.

She had a vague feeling that she would find the answers to everything that was troubling her there.

She waited for Ji Qingzhou for five days, but he never came.

Five days later, An had already boarded the bus to Fenshuiling Town.

Cod even pretended to be sad and called An to say goodbye. Most importantly, she told An some exciting and heartwarming news.

—Huai Chuan was dismissed.

It was supposedly a direct order from higher-ups.

They didn't know the reason for their dismissal.

When Cod excitedly told An Yi, An Yi felt nothing; he had always been an unnecessary person to her.

An had walked past two rows of low-walled tiled houses, through an alley lined with upside-down oil-paper umbrellas hanging overhead, and followed the navigation to stop in front of two large wooden gates.

The door was wide open, and inside sat an old man on a small stool, turning an unfinished oil-paper umbrella.

A young man came out of the house with his phone in his hand and looked up, meeting An Yi's gaze.

He quickly ran over and asked her with a smile, "You must be Ms. An Yi?"

An nodded and contacted the guesthouse owner before getting out of the car.

The young man picked up the suitcase beside An Yi and led her inside.

As they walked, he introduced himself, saying, "My name is Qi Ling. If you need anything in the future, just come to me." As they passed the old man on the bench, he casually added, "This is my grandmother. You can also look for her."

An nodded.

Once inside and upstairs, Qi Ling opened the door to a room and invited An to go in first: "This is your room."

The room was dark brown in color, with some wooden furniture, and two oil-paper umbrellas hung by the window as decoration.

The room wasn't very spacious, but there was enough room to move around, and the natural light was excellent.

The open window reflected the distant green mountains.

An smiled at Qi Ling and said, "Thank you, I like it very much."

Qi Ling also laughed. He was fine when he didn't laugh, but when he did, he looked a bit silly.

Later, An had more contact with Qi Ling and felt that it was the unique aura of a small-town craftsman that he possessed.

After giving some instructions regarding check-in, Qi Ling left, leaving Liu An resting in his room.

An lay down on the bed, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.

There was a smell of tung oil in the air.

Ji Qingzhou once said that some people don't like this smell, but this smell just won't go away.

She actually found the smell pleasant, like the warmth of a burning fireplace.

She had booked a guesthouse here for a month, and since she had brought a lot of stuff, it was evening by the time she finished unpacking.

I had a quick dinner and then went back to bed.

I opened my phone, and apart from a few messages from Codfish, everything was quiet.

Suddenly, there was an unread message; Ji Qingzhou had sent her a message.

"Are you settled in?"

An Yi paused for a moment. She thought she had been dumped, but she didn't expect to receive a message from him.

"arrive."

On the other end, someone was probably waiting for her message, and another message came in immediately.

"You must eat dinner."

"have eaten."

"And breakfast and lunch."

An gently bit the inside of her lower lip.

"knew."

She wanted to ask him when he would be back, but then she realized that even if he came back, she wasn't planning on going back now.

There was no response from the other end, and An was afraid she wouldn't be able to contact him again, so she quickly asked, "Is it convenient for you to call now?"

In the empty office, a gloomy cloud hung over Ji Qingzhou's brow.

"In a meeting."

An has turned off her phone screen.

Why is he so busy? I originally wanted to tell him in person, but I haven't been able to see him for a long time, so I can only talk to him by phone.

But there was no time for a phone call.

An had long since ruled out the extremely cold and impersonal approach of using words.

An murmured a complaint: "What a busy person."

An had turned over and found a comfortable position to lie in when Kong Yue called.

She thought Kong Yue was going to ask her how the guesthouse was.

Kong Yue knew she was coming here and offered to book a hotel for her, but An Yi refused, saying she had already found a place to stay.

Kong Yue wasn't too happy; she disliked those messy places.

But to my surprise, she immediately asked Ji Qingzhou.

"An'an, are you still talking with Ji Qingzhou?"

An's eyes widened slightly. She hadn't expected Kong Yue to ask this right away. Had Kong Yue found her another promising young man?

In the past, An Yi would have definitely said "Yes, let's be together," but today she still weighed her relationship with Ji Qingzhou.

Ji Qingzhou seems to like her a little, but she's not sure. She wants to break up with Ji Qingzhou, but they haven't done so yet.

So they should still be counted together.

An replied, "Mm."

To her surprise, Kong Yue's next words were even more unexpected: "Then you should have a serious talk with her, you really need to have a serious talk, don't break up?"

An was stunned; hadn't she been strongly against it before?

She blurted out, "Why?"

Kong Yue seemed to have finally lost her temper, her tone angry: "Su Xi contacted me and asked me to persuade you two to break up. I agree with her on the point that you should break up, but do you know why she asked me to persuade you?"

An Yi wasn't surprised that Kong Yue had so bluntly expressed her feudalistic, parental views on separating lovers; she had also vaguely guessed why Su Xi had made her so angry.

Kong Yue's anger flared up again: "She said you're not good enough for Ji Qingzhou! She said you're not good enough for her son! Hey? Tell me, who isn't good enough for my daughter, Kong Yue! I used to think she, Su Xi, was someone special, but I never expected..."

Kong Yue was still venting her anger on the other end of the line, while An had moved her phone a little further away.

She really didn't know what to say.

She was referring to Kong Yue's daughter, not An Yi.

An Yi would probably never satisfy Kong Yue. Finally, Kong Yue added, "I don't care about that Ji Qingzhou, he's just like your father... Just listen to me, be with him first, then dump him!"

Mentioning her father made An feel a little irritated. She was too lazy to deal with Kong Yue, so she just casually replied with an "Mm" and hung up the phone.

The time spent in the guesthouse was very leisurely. As Cod would say, anywhere is leisurely away from the clutches of capitalism.

An has a fixed time every day to sit in front of the computer and type.

I used to only write when I had inspiration, but now I force myself to keep writing even when I don't have inspiration.

Because she changed her writing location and earned some income, she felt she needed to be even more attentive to customers who had paid her.

The readers urging her to update felt like tiny whips were being raised behind her.

Fortunately, this has become more of an incentive for An, giving him more motivation to turn on his computer every day.

When I'm not writing, I go to see my grandma or Qi Ling making oiled paper umbrellas and chat with them about everyday life.

The steps they took to make the oiled paper umbrella were almost exactly the same as those Ji Qingzhou took to make one.

Oiled paper umbrellas come in different regions and styles, with different characteristics in different places. Ji Qingzhou can make many kinds.

As she sat in front of Qi Ling, intently watching him make an umbrella, she would occasionally have a fleeting illusion that the person in front of her was Ji Qingzhou.

Coming to my senses, I looked up and saw the owner of those hands wearing a simple, honest smile.

Sometimes she would go out with Qi Ling to feed the horses.

That horse was Qi Ling's beloved treasure. It was tall and majestic, with a completely black coat that shimmered like silk in the sun. When it held its head high, it looked like a proud warrior.

Ma'er seemed to really like An Yi. Every time An Yi came to his side, he would be very excited. Qi Ling said that he didn't get close to others easily, let alone a guest who had just arrived.

An has been here for a few days, but apart from going horse riding with Qi Ling, she hasn't gone out. Qi Ling's grandmother advised her to go out for a walk, saying that the weather is quite nice today and she shouldn't stay cooped up here all the time since she's come all this way.

The old lady tried to persuade her several times, and An finally remembered what Ji Qingzhou's grandmother had said.

The old woman had grown up here, so she must know her. She asked, "Grandma, do you know Miss Yun? She should be about your age now. When she was young, she was called Miss Yun."

Grandma stopped what she was doing and traced back to her memories from nearly a hundred years ago.

After a long pause, I finally found a similar name. "I don't remember a girl named Yun, but I do remember Xiao Yun. When I was a teenager, I learned how to make umbrellas from her. I think she later married someone from another town, but I heard that her husband's family was not good, so she ran back and continued to make oil paper umbrellas."

“Her home is on the other side of town, which is already far away. After she got married, we had even less contact. I haven’t heard from her in the past few years.”

At least there was a clue. An had already gone to the other side of the town based on Grandma Qi Ling's vague memories.

Some houses were dilapidated because the elderly had passed away and there were no young people left. She visited several households specifically to ask the older residents, but no one remembered them.

The elderly people in the town all grew up here. Some of them have never even left the town. If they don't remember it, it's probably because the old lady remembered the location wrong.

It's also possible that Grandma Ji Qingzhou remembered the wrong person.

An was a little discouraged, but she wasn't in a hurry and went to look for it again the next day.

She was originally heading in another direction, but her gaze was drawn to a tall crabapple tree in the distance.

The crabapple trees had already finished blooming, leaving only lush green trees.

The leaves rustled in the breeze.

The crabapple tree grows in a courtyard. Because the tree is so tall, most of it can be seen through the courtyard wall.

Images flashed through An Yi's mind one after another.

She suddenly wanted to see the tree in its entirety, so she knocked on the door.

Fortunately, someone was there. A girl of about fifteen or sixteen opened the door and, after hearing An Yi's purpose, let her in.

The crabapple tree's thick trunk is deeply embedded in the soil, with an ancient root protruding from it, while its branches sway in the wind.

There was a stone table and several stone benches under the tree.

In that instant, An seemed to have entered a dream world, where A-Yun was just like that, either making an oil-paper umbrella under the crabapple tree or standing under the crabapple tree waiting for Huaichuan.

"This tree must be very old," An thought.

The little girl tugged at An Yi's hand and brought her back.

"Sister, do you want me to take a picture for you?" the little girl asked. It seemed there were quite a few people visiting the crabapple tree.

An glanced at the crabapple tree again, then handed his phone to the girl: "Thank you."

She walked into the crabapple tree and stood beside him. The little girl already had experience taking photos for others, and even reminded An to make a peace sign.

An An smiled faintly and raised her left hand.

The little girl peered out from behind the screen, her eyes fixed on An Yi's hand.