Watching Lin Xia wolf down her food, Chen Mo and Su Man exchanged a smile. The warm, bright lights in the shop illuminated their young faces and the gradually cooling noodle soup on the table. The rain was still falling outside the window, but they both knew that something had changed imperceptibly—like seeds soaked in seawater, returning to the soil and eventually sprouting at the right time.
Chapter Five: A New Beginning in the Morning Light
At five o'clock on Saturday morning, Lin Xia was woken up by her phone alarm. She groggily picked up her phone and saw a WeChat message from Chen Mo: "See you at the usual place, the sunrise was great." Attached was a photo showing the orange-red sunrise rising from between the city's skyscrapers, gilding the cold buildings with a warm golden edge.
She rubbed her eyes, got up, and drew back the curtains. The sky outside was already turning a pale white, and the distant horizon was clearly visible. She remembered watching the sunrise in Shengsi, where the rising sun over the sea was so magnificent and intense, while the sunrise in the city now carried a subtle power, quietly awakening the sleeping streets.
After quickly washing up, Lin Xia changed into her sportswear and tiptoed out of her house. The neighborhood was quiet, with only a few early birds chirping in the trees. She ran towards the small park at the entrance of the neighborhood and saw Chen Mo and Su Man standing by a bench by the lake. Su Man was holding a drawing board and sketching the outline of the rising sun, while Chen Mo was holding up his phone, seemingly taking pictures of something.
"Good morning!" Lin Xia said, running over breathlessly.
"You've finally arrived," Chen Mo put down his phone. "Look, isn't the sunrise in the city beautiful too?"
Lin Xia looked in the direction he pointed and saw that the sun had fully risen, its golden rays spilling across the lake, making it shimmer. The willows by the lake had sprouted new buds, swaying gently in the morning breeze. She suddenly remembered the feeling of the morning breeze blowing through her hair at the seaside, and the wind now seemed not much different, both carrying the scent of hope.
"Let me show you something." Su Man turned her easel around, revealing a sketch of the city skyline. The rising sun peeked through the buildings, and below were joggers, elderly people walking their dogs, and figures practicing Tai Chi in the park. The lines were simple, yet the scene was full of life. "I want to finish this series and call it 'Sunrise in the City'."
"That's fantastic!" Lin Xia exclaimed sincerely. "It's much better than your previous melancholic paintings."
Su Man smiled but didn't speak. She simply picked up her paintbrush and added a few strokes of drifting clouds to the paper. Chen Mo, on the other hand, took out his phone and scrolled through his photo album: "Look, these are the code comments I wrote last night. Aren't they much more eloquent than before?"
Lin Xia leaned closer to take a look and saw the words written next to the code: "This place is like a beach after the tide has receded; you need patience to find the hidden seashells." She couldn't help but laugh: "Chen Mo, are you treating programming like writing poetry?"
"Well, it's just something I felt compelled to say." Chen Mo scratched his head sheepishly. "But to be honest, when I look at that code now, I really feel like it's a treasure trove waiting to be discovered, rather than a bunch of boring symbols."
The three sat on a bench, watching the morning light gradually illuminate the entire park. In the distance, the hurried footsteps of commuters and the shouts of vendors from breakfast stalls drifted by. Lin Xia took a deep breath; the morning air was fresh and moist, carrying the scent of grass and trees. She recalled returning to this city three days ago, still feeling the melancholy of a trip ending and uncertainty about the future. Now, those emotions had been dispelled by the morning light, leaving behind a sense of grounded strength.
"Where do you think we should travel next?" Su Man suddenly asked.
Chen Mo thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the mountains. I've heard that the maple leaves are beautiful in autumn."
“Great!” Lin Xia’s eyes lit up. “We can go hiking, like at the beach, and challenge ourselves.”
The sunlight grew stronger, warming them. The ripples on the lake danced like countless twinkling stars. Looking at Chen Mo and Su Man beside her, Lin Xia suddenly realized that the meaning of travel might not just be seeing different scenery, but also finding one's lost self in unfamiliar places, and then, with that rediscovered strength, embracing familiar life anew.
Just like now, they sit in a familiar park, watching the familiar sunrise, yet with a different state of mind. The courage and passion they gained at the seaside didn't disappear with the end of their trip; instead, like seeds, they were sown in the soil of their lives. When the tide recedes, what remains is not just seashells on the beach, but also the courage to face life and the hope for the future.
Lin Xia stood up, stretched, and the morning light fell on her face, outlining her soft features. "Let's go," she said with a smile, "Let's have breakfast, it's on me. We'll have fried dough sticks and soy milk, just like the seafood noodles we had in the fishing village, it's all the taste of life."
Chen Mo and Su Man exchanged a smile and followed her out of the park. The morning light cast long, overlapping shadows, like an unfolding scroll. The distant city was fully awake, bustling with traffic and noise, but they knew that from this morning onward, everything was different.
Because when the tide returns to shore, it brings not only the moist sea breeze, but also the courage to start anew. And their lives, after the baptism of this journey, quietly begin a new chapter. The weariness and confusion of the past have all turned into the waves behind them, and the road ahead is being illuminated by the morning light, waiting for them to move forward bravely with a brand new attitude.
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