“My brother is coming from our hometown this weekend and can cover for me for a few days.” Ayu’s voice lowered a little, but quickly rose again. “My mom said I should take everyone out and have some fun, saying young people shouldn’t always be cooped up in concrete jungles.” She shook the photo album. “Look, even Auntie supports it!”
Old Wang stared at the photo album in Ayu's hand. Inside was a picture of him holding a beer bottle on the beach years ago. Back then, he didn't have a beer belly, and his hair wasn't gray. He suddenly sighed, as if releasing all the weariness that had been building up for a long time: "Alright, count me in. But it's a promise, I have to catch up on the schedule when I get back."
Xiao Li's eyes lit up: "I'm going too! It'll be a good opportunity for my girlfriend to see that I'm not just a useless office worker."
Xiao Zhang took out his phone: "I'll call my girlfriend right now! Ayu, send me the link to the guesthouse!"
Ayu suddenly stood up, the chair scraping against the floor with a crisp sound. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but suddenly her eyes reddened. She quickly lowered her head, pretending to organize a photo album, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly: "Then I'll book the tickets now! Send me your ID numbers... Oh, and remember to bring a light jacket, it gets chilly in the mountains in the mornings and evenings."
Watching Ayu frantically open the ticketing app, Lin Xia suddenly felt her eyes well up with tears. The sky outside the window seemed to brighten a bit, and through the gaps in the blinds, she could almost smell the sea breeze from the photo album, its salty, damp scent slowly dispersing the stifling cobwebs in the office.
She took out her phone and sent a WeChat message to her parents back in her hometown: "Mom and Dad, I'm thinking of taking my colleagues on a trip soon, to a place with mountains and rivers." When the notification popped up that the message had been successfully sent, she seemed to see her mother laughing on the other end of the phone, saying, "Okay, take lots of pictures."
Ayu's plaid shirt began to flutter in the office again. This time, she held a notebook and went around asking everyone for their sizes—she said she wanted to prepare a sun hat for everyone. Sunlight streamed through the blinds, casting long shadows behind her, like a billowing sail, about to carry them to some unknown, hopeful distance. The microwave in the break room dinged again, but this time, Lin Xia felt the sound wasn't jarring; instead, it felt like the prelude to some kind of journey.
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