Chapter 136 I am a thousand kilometers away
At the check-in counter at Pudong Airport, the check-in agent glanced at my passport and smiled gently.
"Sir, you can put your luggage up now."
"No luggage."
The check-in clerk was a little surprised and handed my passport and boarding pass to the check-in counter.
"It's healed now."
Tong Zhongyuan collected his passport and left the check-in counter. He completed immigration and passed through security. There was still over an hour before boarding. He Wu called again; she must have just woken up.
"Have we arrived at the airport yet?"
"Yes, everything is done. I'm waiting to board the plane."
"Have you eaten the noodles?"
"I've had lunch."
"Where did you eat?"
"In the store."
He Wu had originally wanted to tell him to eat a bowl of noodles, but after hearing his answer, she felt even more upset. Such an important birthday, and he spent it all by himself eating a bowl of noodles in a store. She rubbed her nose and controlled her emotions.
"Arriving in London at 10pm?"
"No need to pick me up. I'm going back to my own home. I'll come see you tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow is not your birthday anymore..." He Wu choked.
Tong Zhongyuan stopped and looked helplessly at the planes taking off and landing outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
"Mom, it will be the same if I make up for it tomorrow. I gave birth at night, so it's only a few hours later than dawn. What difference does it make?"
"Okay. Send me a message when you get to London. I'll go get groceries and come over for dinner tomorrow."
After hanging up the phone, Tong Zhongyuan walked into the lounge.
He had quietly returned to England, never telling Qin Tian. He didn't know what was going on in his head. Was he keeping it a secret because he was angry she'd left him all alone in Jingdezhen? Was he expecting her to realize he'd left quietly and feel guilty? He covered his face. He'd done more childish things in the past few weeks than in the previous twenty years combined.
He clicked on her profile picture on WeChat. Should he talk to her?
Qin Tian finally found the gift and stuffed it into Li Jie's hands.
"Sorry, I have to leave suddenly for something important. Let's contact each other on WeChat!"
Without looking back, she rushed out of the Nüshu Museum and stood on the street to hail a taxi. Jiangyong was just a small county town, with very few taxis. She pulled her hair in anxiety. The regular train was too slow, and there were no rental car stands. The fastest way for her to leave was to take a taxi.
Li Jie chased after him: "Are you going to the train station? You can just walk there."
Qin Tian looked back, this might be her only hope. She ran to her and said anxiously: “I want to go to Changsha, the train is too slow. Do you know anyone with a car, I will pay three thousand yuan, take me there!”
"You can go to Yongzhou. There's a high-speed train from Yongzhou to Changsha."
Qin Tian shook her head in disappointment. She'd thought about it all. Getting from Yongzhou to Jingdezhen required several transfers, and the connection time was too long. There were no direct flights to Jingdezhen either. Only by taking the high-speed rail from Changsha and then transferring to Nanchang for Jingdezhen could she reach Fuliang before midnight, to the mountain villa where she'd left him.
"Don't worry. My cousin has a car. I'll call him."
Li Jie made a phone call, and soon a small van drove over.
As she got into the car, Li Jie held her hand and said, "It doesn't have to be 3,000 yuan. Just give him the gas money for the round trip. I've already told him."
My cousin was speeding down the highway, trying to chat with Qin Tian. But Qin Tian bit his finger, turning a deaf ear, and kept swiping his finger to get a standby ticket from Changsha to Jingdezhen. She had booked every train she could, so all she had to do was wait.
For two hours, she twirled her hair nervously. She wasn't in the mood to contact Yuanjun on WeChat. It wasn't a big deal, she could talk about it later. Please, give her a seat, even if she had to stand. Every time her phone rang, her heart skipped a beat. Finally, she received the long-awaited notification that she'd been accepted on the waiting list! She bit her lip, even more excited than if she'd received a college acceptance letter. She bought the last high-speed train ticket to Jingdezhen.
"Cousin! Can we get to Changsha South Station before 6 o'clock?"
"rest assured!"
Boarding has begun for flights to London Heathrow Airport.
Tong Zhongyuan found his seat and the flight attendant came over to help him put his luggage in. He smiled and put his bag in the luggage rack himself.
"Welcome aboard. Would you like something to drink?" the flight attendant bent down and asked him gently.
"Ice water, thank you."
He lowered his head and opened his phone. He might as well tell her about it. He'd be on the plane for the next ten hours, and she'd probably be anxious if she couldn't find him.
The phone screen suddenly went black and vibrated, and her name appeared on the screen.
"Tong Zhongyuan..." Qin Tian's voice was gentle and apologetic, passing through the electricity. "You are in Fuliang now, right?"
It was time to tell her, and she had just called. He opened his mouth, but in the blink of an eye, his tongue got tied and he changed his words.
"Looking for me?"
Qin Tian heard his calm voice and didn't know where to start. He wouldn't tell her that today was his birthday.
"Well, I'm coming to see you now. I'll be a little late, so you can go to sleep first."
He stood there in a daze, the noise in the cabin and the welcome of the flight attendants all drifting away from him.
"Where are you going to find me?"
The wind from the highway whipped against the car windows, and the barren rocks and open fields stretched endlessly. This unfamiliar road was one she had never seen or walked before. She mustered her courage and called out, "I'll come to Jingdezhen to find you. It's a bit far, and I'm still on my way. I'll be there before midnight tonight, I promise!"
He stood up from his seat.
"Qin Tian, where are you?"
Where is she? She held her phone and looked at the road in the distance, looking around blankly.
"."
The flight attendant came over with ice water and almost bumped into Tong Zhongyuan who was getting out of his seat.
"Sir, what are you doing? The hatch is about to close."
"I need to get off the plane. I have something urgent to do."
"Ah, your luggage is still there..."
"Thank you." He turned back, opened the luggage rack, took down his bag, and rushed to the cabin door.
"I mean your checked luggage is already on the plane."
"I didn't check anything in." He said without turning his head.
Like a sturgeon swimming upstream, he pushed through the crowd and left the cabin amid everyone's astonished gazes.
He walked out of the jet bridge and through the terminal, scrolling down his phone, avoiding the crowds with his peripheral vision. There were no flights from Shanghai to Jingdezhen today. The only high-speed train left was the last one, departing at 7:00 and arriving at 11:20—too late, and there were no tickets left. He opened the map, zoomed in, searched, and searched. Huangshan! There were still plenty of flights to Huangshan.
He bought a high-speed train ticket for the 5:00 AM train from Pudong Airport across Shanghai to Hongqiao Station. While on the Airport Express, he called He Wu.
"I'm not coming back. There was a problem with the plane, but luckily it was checked before takeoff. No need to wait tonight."
"So what do you do on your birthday? Just buy the next flight back at the airport."
"It's God who won't let me fly today. If you insist I fly back today, I'll go buy a ticket."
He Wu was silent for a moment: "Oh, forget it. Safety first. So when do you plan to come back?"
"Maybe soon."
Qin Tian thanked her cousin, transferred him another 3,000 yuan, and rushed to Changsha Station. She had already checked on the way there: there was a cake shop inside the station. She headed straight for it and bought the only birthday cake in the refrigerator. She also packed up two cups of Cha Yan Yue Se.
She didn't dare to run anymore with the cake in her hand, so she slowed down and caught up with the high-speed train.
The night deepened, and just after eight o'clock, the train stopped at Nanchang Station. She got off with her luggage and ate a bowl of rice noodles at the station. At nine o'clock, she boarded the last train to Jingdezhen.
As the train entered Huangshan, the slanting rain streaks outside the window shone like glittering spiderwebs under the light. The train doors opened. Tong Zhongyuan walked to the parking lot. He had rented a car at the high-speed rail station and was driving back to Jingdezhen from Huangshan.
The windshield, like a shattered kaleidoscope, reflected a bizarre array of light. The wipers hummed with a steady, monotonous mechanical clatter. The endless mountain ranges shone like a dark nightmare in the rainy night. Just 160 kilometers to go, and he'd be back in Fuliang. He knew it wasn't a nightmare, nor a fleeting dream. He was on his way to the future he wanted, toward her. He couldn't give up on someone no matter what. After weathering the storm, a sunny day awaited him.
At 10:10 pm, she finally arrived at Jingdezhen Station. It was too late; the car rental service had already closed. There were no taxis. She kept swiping online ride-hailing services, constantly raising the price. After more than 20 minutes, a shabby car finally arrived.
The rain intensified, and the mountain road was as dark as a demonic maw, luring passersby in. The headlights illuminated the raindrops like a gleaming crystal, blurring the windshield. The driver drove slower and slower, and worse still, the car emitted a series of painful gasps and twitching sounds as it climbed the hill. Qin Tian's heart sank; this was not a good sound. She only hoped it would make it to the cabin. However, that hope was quickly dashed. The car stalled.
Two and a half hours later, Tong Zhongyuan arrived in Fuliang. He prayed all the way that Qin Tian wouldn't arrive before him. It wasn't until he saw the glass-framed villa in the distance, dark and devoid of light, that he breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally caught up.
He went into his room, hid his bag in the closet, changed his clothes, and checked everything upstairs and downstairs. It was perfect. Freshly boiled water, milk freshly put in the refrigerator—all the characteristics were consistent with the daily life of a single man who had lived here alone for four or five days.
Everything was ready. He checked the time. It was already half past ten, and he felt a vague sense of unease. In this weather, would it be easy to get from Jingdezhen Station?
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