After Grandma Liu finished speaking, she was still waiting for Liu Guiyuan to respond, but Cao'er didn't expect her to answer first: "Auntie, Guiyuan just came back and must be very tired. Let's eat first and let him have a good rest. We can talk about other things later, okay?"

"Can……"

Aunt Liu thought today was a good day and pulled Liu Ji to stay, saying they wanted to have a drink together. Seeing Cao'er's resistance, she interrupted, "Ah, look at you, old woman, you're so anxious! The people are back, how can you run away? They just came back, you shouldn't let them talk first. Cao'er is a young man after all, and he's shy. How can you ask him in front of him? Listen to Cao'er, eat first, and then talk after you've rested."

"Okay, let's eat first and talk about it later."

In order to make dumplings, they had to go outside to buy more meat. Grandma Liu wanted to go with Cao'er to get money, but Cao'er held her back. He said he had money and the road was muddy, but it wasn't far away anyway, so he asked someone to wait at home and he would be back soon.

Before going out, Liu Aong said that it was slippery and difficult to walk outside, so he asked Liu Guiyuan to accompany Cao'er. No one present quite understood what Liu Aong meant. Liu Guiyuan paused for a moment and nodded in agreement.

After the two of them walked away, Grandma Liu asked in confusion: "What do you mean? Guiyuan just came home, why did you let him go out again?"

"I've been saying that you're too old to understand things, and you're just talking to yourself happily. Don't you see that Guiyuan is a little different this time? You could tell from a distance how happy he was when you saw Cao'er before, but he's been back for such a long time, and he hasn't said a single word to Cao'er. The same goes for Cao'er. The two of them look so distant. I think they might have had a quarrel, and it's inconvenient to talk about some things when there are so many people around. I just want them to be alone for a while so that they can talk about any differences."

Grandma Liu was so immersed in the surprise of her son's sudden return that she didn't really notice anything wrong. It was only after he reminded her that she realized what was going on. No wonder when she asked them to settle down just now, neither of them was as excited as before. It seemed that the old man had guessed right.

"You are the only one who can see clearly. My old eyes have been blurry for so long. If I hadn't thought of it, I wouldn't need you to remind me. Ji'er, don't you think my aunt's eyesight is better than your uncle's?"

Liu Ji was suddenly dragged into this and was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He quickly tried to appease both parties: "It all works, it all works."

The two old men were in high spirits today and had a few more words with each other, but they were not really angry. Liu Ji was good at coaxing his elders, so he moved on after a few words.

There was a butcher in their village, not too far away. It would have been too dull to walk in silence all the way. Cao'er secretly glanced at Liu Guiyuan's face and took the initiative to speak: "Did you remember anything when you came back and saw your parents? Is this village familiar to you?"

"I can remember some of it, but it's all fragments that don't connect." Liu Guiyuan looked at the snow-covered fields beside the road, then at the eaves of the houses lined up in a row. The feeling of familiarity grew stronger and stronger. He pointed to a patch of farmland a few dozen steps away and said hesitantly, "I seem to remember working there."

He stopped and closed his eyes to think: "Is it summer? Maybe it's wheat harvest time?"

Cao'er looked in the direction of his hand and said happily, "Yes, yes, that's it. That's your family's fields. But because you're not at home, your uncle and aunt can't take care of them. The land over there has a good harvest, and the two elders couldn't bear to let it go to waste, so they rented it out to other people in the village. Do you remember it?"

"Well, I saw some more pictures."

"It's okay as long as you can see it. Remember some of it, and you'll definitely be able to remember more and more later. Don't be too anxious, take your time. After dinner, I'll take you wherever you want to see. It might help you regain your memory."

This is good news. Being able to remember it means there is still time to recover. Cao'er clapped his hands and felt that the big stone pressing on his heart was relieved a lot, and his tone of voice became relaxed.

Few people go out on snowy days, and the butcher's business is not very good. Cao'er was sold to a brothel by his parents before, and there are some rumors about him. Now everyone in the village knows that Cao'er is taking care of the Liu family's elders, so naturally some people will say something unpleasant.

Although the butcher looked a bit ferocious, he was a kind-hearted person. He felt sorry for Cao'er and believed that she was not sold voluntarily, so he never looked at her with strange eyes. Today, when he saw Liu Guiyuan and Cao'er coming to buy meat together, he was happy for her and gave her two more taels of meat.

Cao'er thanked the butcher and kept muttering on the way back with the meat.

This village holds so many childhood memories for the two of them. Cao'er pointed out things to Liu Guiyuan as they walked, muttering to herself, "Look at that family! They raise pigs. Do you see that tall persimmon tree in the yard? When we were little, we couldn't reach the ones growing higher up, so we picked the ones that had fallen and broken open beneath the tree. You told me that picking persimmons was a matter of luck, and every time I saw one, it was crawling with bugs and ants. Then you took me to wait under the tree, but we waited so long that we fell asleep, and a falling persimmon hit me in the face, staining my face with the orange flesh."

"And there's the river at the entrance of the village. You loved swimming in it when you were little, and you even caught big fish there. But you were bitten by a water snake in the river. Although it wasn't poisonous, it scared Auntie so much that she didn't let you go to the river anymore."

"And the little flower dog at the village chief's house. It's the one that clings to you the most, because you're the only one who feeds it delicious food when you pass by the village chief's house. And there's that willow tree. We used to..."

Liu Guiyuan watched and listened, and felt that everything he said was vivid in his mind. With a smile on his face, he seemed to have really seen two greedy children being hit on the head by persimmons under the persimmon tree. He was listening attentively when Cao'er suddenly stopped talking.

Liu Guiyuan stopped in confusion, and after a while he heard Cao'er speak in a muffled voice.

"Don't take what Auntie said today too seriously. I took care of them to repay your kindness, not to take any credit from you. I'll explain it to you when I get home tonight. After a month, when you think about them more, I'll say goodbye to you. Then you can marry whoever you want."

Liu Guiyuan hid the smile on his face. "I haven't fully remembered yet. I doubt what Wen Ling said. She has always refused to tell me the truth. Although I have always been told that my friendship with her is deep, it is strange that I have no desire to stay with her forever. Doesn't this make me sound like a scumbag who cheats on others' feelings?"

Cao'er twitched the corners of her mouth but didn't smile. Liu Guiyuan continued, "I remember that willow tree. I remember the time we met under it. After you left a few days ago, I kept thinking of you, whether consciously or unconsciously."

"Really?"

"Well, even though I don't remember you, I still feel happy from the bottom of my heart when I see you. Although I can't remember you completely now, I don't want you to leave. Can you wait for me until I remember you?"