You are the master

"Xi Lu! It's been so many years since you've come back. I bet you've made a lot of money out there."

"No, no, I haven't graduated yet..." Kim Hee-ro laughed awkwardly, frantically clapping her hands, wondering how much longer it would take to get off the highway, when she heard them ask again.

"Which university is it? College students from big cities are just different."

She sat in the middle of her relative's car, which was crammed with stuff. To her left was an old man who couldn't resist taking a few puffs of his cigarette on the highway, and to her right was a 160-pound teenager busy playing video games. The woman in the passenger seat was still talking non-stop.

"Hey Xilu, you're getting more and more extravagant as you grow up. Do you have a boyfriend yet?"

“Ordinary university, no boyfriend…” Jin Xilu didn’t know where to look. She couldn’t turn her body at all. Her numb legs tried to move to the right, but she received a glare from the fat guy next to her.

She told herself not to argue with a little kid, stiffly pulled her leg back, and the old man on her left finally finished his cigarette and couldn't wait to join the conversation surrounding her.

"If you ask me, women should get married early, have a child, and then stay quietly in town. Wouldn't that be great?" The old man said in a thick, somewhat rustic Mandarin.

The Mediterranean-looking man driving suddenly burst into laughter, his short, stubby fingers twitching by the car window as he spoke smugly.

"That's right, that's right. Look at your aunt, if she hadn't married me early, she wouldn't have the good life she has now, driving a car. My kids are already so big, I'm busy saving up for my wife."

The woman in the passenger seat was eating sunflower seeds that Jin Xilu had bought. As she ate, she kept turning around, scattering shells everywhere. She continued, "Our town is so lucky! Once you're back, just relax, and I guarantee I'll introduce you to a good guy."

Jin Xile wasn't angry or in a hurry to refuse after hearing this. Looking at the mountains rushing past the car window, she decided to go for it. She smiled sweetly and said, "Okay, Auntie, I don't want anyone else, I just want your little chubby. I'll just sit at home and not go anywhere, waiting for your 880,000 yuan dowry."

After saying that, she leaned down on the little fat man's snack bag, finally having room to spread her legs, and didn't forget to tease him a couple of times.

"The food at home is really good; it seems I made the right choice."

As soon as she said that, everyone in the car fell silent. She finally had the mind to look at the scenery outside the window. The mountains stretched endlessly. She went into a cave and came out to find more mountains. After crossing one mountain after another, the withered grass and trees in front of her finally took on new color.

After hearing the navigation announcement, the old man uttered a quiet remark after a long while.

"The mountains in my hometown are still the best; they're so pleasing to the eye."

Jin Xilu was also slowly calculating in her mind how many years it had been since she had returned, recalling that her grandmother died in the winter of 2020.

She was a freshman in college at the time. When she heard the news, her hands and feet turned cold. She only managed to buy a ticket for a green train with no seats in the middle of the night and cried all the way back. When the morning light was just beginning to break, she saw the same scene outside the train window. She couldn't count how many mountains she had crossed before finally getting home.

After spending two weeks at home handling her grandmother's funeral, she stubbornly left the town just after the New Year, amidst the sound of firecrackers from her neighbors early in the morning. Just as she had made a wish when she was sixteen, she left this backward town full of gossip and never returned.

Now she's twenty-one. She left school for an internship and got swindled out of all her money. She has dyed her hair a cheap blue color, is rather thin, and has naturally fair skin. She really does look like a student who has run away from home for many years and is unconventional.

She left with a suitcase, and she came back with just as much stuff. Even the khaki sweater she was wearing was from four years ago.

What a failure.

After exiting the highway, the golden "Spring Comes" sign above the tollbooth gradually faded into the distance. The low-slung sedan smoothly descended the newly paved asphalt road and began its bumpy journey onto the gravel and dirt road.

The path leads to a mountain, and there are mountains on both sides. The stubble of the harvested rice in the fields is wilted, and the last bit of pale yellow at the end has been wiped away by the dew. Everything is misty, and only the air is truly fresh.

The road winds around this green hill and continues forward, with more green hills beyond.

As the car struggled uphill, kicking up yellow sand that piled up on the roadside, and then a river lay not far past the slope, Jin Xilu's heart calmed down upon seeing the familiar bridge.

She thought that she would no longer be afraid now that she was older, but when she saw the familiar road home, she would still subconsciously turn around before getting off the bus to look at the road that was hidden by the mountains.

She didn't even have time to feel sad before she was put down.

The driver glanced at the girl sitting in the middle and said vaguely, "We were going to take you in, but my father-in-law is urging us to go back for dinner, so we don't have time. You'll have to walk a bit yourself."

Kim Hee-ro didn't respond to him, she just kept tapping on her phone.

After the driver finished speaking, the woman in the passenger seat turned around and said anxiously, "Sister, other people pay 800 for a ride, but since we're from the same hometown, your uncle only charges 700, without even calculating the gas cost. It's not unreasonable, is it?"

Jin Xilu still didn't respond. It wasn't until they reached the bridge that she finally spoke, glancing at him coldly, "Stop the car and go home."

The car stopped, and the driver eagerly opened the car door and ran to the back to help her with her luggage. Meanwhile, the woman in the passenger seat had already laid out the prepared QR code for receiving payments.

"I know you young people don't like carrying cash, you have money on your phones, it's so convenient."

Jin Xilu smiled perfunctorily, scanned the code, and before the woman could jump up, she held up her phone screen and stated clearly, word by word, "Three hundred and eighty. It only costs a little over two hundred to take a private car back from Lucheng. I also checked the toll and fuel costs, and that's the average price. Not a penny more."

"Also, I have the chat history we agreed on before I got on the bus. If you don't let me go, I don't care, I'm all alone anyway."

"If I crash into your car, none of us will be able to celebrate the New Year." Jin Xilu's voice was very soft from beginning to end, like a still pool of water that suddenly splashes on someone, sending a chill down their spine.

Hearing this, the driver realized he had miscalculated. He had thought she was a timid and easily fooled young female student, and he was looking to make a big profit from her. But he hadn't expected her to be so cunning. He was scared and decided to just take what he could get.

"Tch, a college student, huh?! They must be desperate for money."

"You don't understand human relationships at all. I'm just an orphan, so I'll let you off the hook."

"Take pity on me and refund my fare." They were right. Jin Xilu also thought she was desperate for money, otherwise why would she have thought of coming back now?

The family of four each spat out a mouthful, and then drove their bumpy little car forward, turning into another mountain.

Jin Xilu also carried her old briefcase, stepping onto the new cement ground. This time, there was no grandmother waiting for her to come home by the bridge.

The suitcase wheels left a mark on the ground, but her heart traveled farther than the suitcase. Her eyes were always on the road ahead, and the familiar bridge was decorated with red lanterns for the New Year.

The electric scooter drove past her, and every person who passed by her was not the one she wanted to see.

"Congratulations on your fortune!"

The newly opened supermarket at the bridgehead was playing "Gong Xi Fa Cai" (a popular Chinese song) loudly, so loudly that the arcade next door could hear it clearly. In front of a slot machine flashing red light, a young man with white hair sat with his legs crossed on a low bamboo chair, his long, clean fingers arched as he pushed coins in one by one with one hand.

He was a little sleepy, his eyelids drooping lazily, and his enviable long eyelashes drew gasps of admiration from those around him every time he opened his eyes; he was truly blessed.

With his fair skin, naturally light-colored eyes, and premature graying hair, his unique and enviable appearance makes him seem like a princess from a fairy tale with a tragic fate.

In fact, in this town, he was considered a princess in a certain sense.

Jiang Yilin yawned and, urged on by the group of elementary school students around him, tossed in seven or eight coins.

"Hurry up and choose!"

"Choose 8, and there's also the Ace of Hearts."

"No, no, choose 6. 666 is so much better!"

On winter break, the arcade is bustling with students making a racket early in the morning, all you can see.

"Stop fooling around, have you forgotten what the teacher taught in class? Come on, line up, one person at a time." Jiang Yilin's clear voice was like a gentle breeze, sending a chill down your spine and making you unconsciously back away.

"Okay! Thank you, Uncle Jiang."

"Okay! Thank you, Uncle Jiang."

"Grandpa Jiang! Thank you so much, you're so kind."

"You're welcome." After hearing the string of titles and honorifics, Jiang Yilin simply nodded and let them play by themselves, continuing to rub his taut temples with his eyes closed.

Sunlight streamed in through the old stained-glass window of the arcade, casting a sliver of pale blue light on the man's high, straight nose, and then down his thin red lips, enveloping his light-colored blue hoodie.

Everyone unconsciously lowered their breathing. The elementary school students, like little mice that had become clever, looked at each other, shrank their heads, and obediently lined up quietly, because they all knew that if they offended Uncle Jiang, they would be scolded at the ancestral hall when they got back.

This harmonious scene didn't last long. Soon, a series of hurried footsteps broke in. The boy who came in was panting heavily. He was wearing his newly bought red and white baseball uniform and hadn't noticed the several scorched holes in his clothes from the firecrackers. Jiang Yilin didn't bother to remind him either.

After scattering the elementary school students, Jiang Yilin could finally feel a little more at ease in front of acquaintances.

"You're running in such a hurry, you must have won the lottery."

Ni Canyang, hands on his hips, rolled his eyes upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "It's not like I won the lottery, it's more like I'm even more excited than if I had won the lottery."

"Stop pretending! Your little wife is back."

The moment those words were spoken, the elementary school students in the arcade erupted in excitement. They transformed from "little mice" into a row of electronic cameras, all pointing at Jiang Yilin. Everyone was extremely curious, but dared not ask because of Jiang Yilin's status.

Jiang Yilin took a deep breath, and the white mist he exhaled dissipated into the air. Her name had been on his tongue several times, but he put it down in the end. He lazily opened his eyes, put down the hand that was supporting his head and rubbing his eyes, and subconsciously sat up straight and straightened the corner of his clothes. Only after doing this series of actions did he remember that there was someone sitting in front of him.

After hearing He Canyang's words, he pretended not to care and said, "Oh."

"Oh my god!"

"Don't swear. These are just kids. Don't corrupt them." Jiang Yilin, her ears red, turned away, avoiding Ni Canyang's questioning gaze.

Ni Canyang gritted his teeth: "Hmph, keep pretending."

"You think you're some big shot, coming all the way to the bridge this early in the morning? You're not waiting for someone, you're waiting for a ghost!"