Meeting strangers
"Your grandma thinks you're too weak. Do you want to be like that too?"
After a moment of silence, Xin Xuan walked up behind her and, ignoring Jin Xilu's timid attempts to dodge, slapped Jin Xilu on the waist. Her eyes swept over Jin Xilu's neck before she said in a flat tone, "Aren't you supposed to be pretty bold? Why are you so afraid of me?"
"Take your hand out. I brought medicine. You don't need to buy incense or paper money; I have plenty. Go up the mountain and have a good talk with her."
Jin Xilu had heard from others that her grandmother and Xin Xuan used to be very close, and the two of them looked like sisters when they stood together, but Xin Xuan did not come on the day of her grandmother's funeral.
Under Xin Xuan's eagle-eyed gaze, Jin Xilu shrugged and pulled her hand away, exposing the wound to her eyes. The bloodstains had been wiped clean, but tender red blood was still oozing from the wound.
Xin Xuan didn't speak, but grabbed her hand and walked outside. The sunlight shone on the two of them, and they could see each other clearly. The powder poured into their palms caused a burning sensation. Jin Xilu thought to herself, "Xin Xuan, when did you get so old?"
After applying the medicine, Xin Xuan let go of her hand. Before leaving, she turned back to look at the bewildered Jin Xilu, a helpless smile playing on her lips: "You were staring at me so intently just now, were you thinking about how old I've become?"
Jin Xilu, caught in the timely glance, lowered her guard and chased after Xin Xuan, but still didn't dare to hug her. She asked, "Did you already know? No, did Grandma say something to you before she passed away?"
"Ha, I just praised you for being smart. Your grandma, that nice old woman, is really stupid. Why would she say anything to me?"
Xin Xuan's thin, parched lips trembled slightly as she spoke, each word seeming to be pressed down from the deepest part of her chest before finally being released with her breath. After speaking, she left, got on her bicycle, and rode away.
The eccentric old lady seemed to have come all this way just to confirm whether she had returned.
Jin Xilu stared at the strip of cloth bandaging her wound in her palm under the sun, her eyelashes trembling. It looked familiar and pleasing to the eye, the knotting technique was something her grandmother had taught her.
What truly made her decide to return was a letter. That evening, as usual, after finishing her part-time job, she went to the city library to read. The afterglow of the sunset turned the clouds red, and by chance, the last golden sunlight was not blocked by the heavy curtains, shining in and casting her shadow long and distorted among the bookshelves.
On the top floor of the library, she walked to the bookshelf by the window, stood on tiptoe and pulled out the fourth book from the left on the sixth shelf. Immediately afterward, a light brown envelope hit her shoe. She subconsciously looked back and saw that the entire floor was extremely quiet, and she was all alone in this corner.
Picking up the unknown letter, she didn't want to meddle and was about to put it back when she noticed the postmark on the envelope, dated January 1st, fifteen days before New Year's Day.
It couldn't be such a coincidence. This letter seemed to be for her. Thinking of this, she suddenly felt a little panicked. Could something have happened back home?
Fear overwhelmed her thoughts, and without further hesitation, she tore open the envelope, pulled out the letter, which read: "If you want to know what happened back then, come back."
"Don't forget what your grandmother told you. You must listen to your grandmother and come back."
The last two words lingered in her mind like a curse for days. Inside the envelope was a spring flower, its stale petals stuck to the white paper like the corpse of a green worm. The eerie evil was clearly visible even through the back of the paper.
At first, she would spend all her free time in the school library looking for books about Chunlai City. She would come out of that place like a fish surfacing to breathe for a few seconds before plunging back into the water. She was eager to find answers to many, many "whys".
Unfortunately, her school library didn't have the relevant books, so she started coming to the city library every month to look for them.
The library keeps a record of the new books that are neatly stacked, but they don't tell the story of Chunlai. As for the old books that have become worn out, they are always placed together in a mess. She flips through them one by one and puts them down in disappointment. These old books are not allowed to be borrowed from the library. She can only read them when she comes to the library. Eventually, even the librarians got a headache from her persistence.
"Little girl, what are you looking for? It's all right here. If it's not there, it's not there."
"No, I understand." Since she couldn't find the answer in the book, Kim Hee-ro decided to put everything aside and go back to find the answer. She had the courage to start over.
This time, she was not the timid, helpless child who ran away at the last minute.
She never believed in fate, and the only thing that could support her to start over and return to the small town was the people she cherished.
At first, she hadn't figured out who sent the letter to her, but now that she'd gotten to know them, she began to suspect that Xin Xuan might have sent it. Although she had no proof, Jin Xilu was relieved that she had come back.
Putting aside the headache of borrowing money, Jin Xilu insisted on going to the street to buy it herself, even though Xin Xuan said she could get the yellow paper from her.
It wasn't that she didn't want to save money, but rather that Xin Xuan was a loner and didn't fit in with others. She lived in the most remote part of town and didn't even have a bicycle. A round trip would take an hour, and she couldn't afford to waste that time.
Clutching against the corner of the wall, Jin Xilu skillfully avoided the gaze of her neighbors, heading east out of the alley and into Jin Street. As soon as she peeked out, she was choked by the flour. She clutched her waist and coughed repeatedly, her ears filled with the rumbling sound of a noodle-pressing machine, and the strong aroma of old sesame oil hanging overhead.
Jin Xilu eventually arrived at this place after walking for a while. After catching her breath, she quietly stepped into the grain store.
There was only one woman in the shop. She turned her bulky body around and pressed the noodles over and over again. Working in such a noisy environment for a long time had made her hearing a little dull. Jin Xilu had no choice but to raise her voice and call her four or five times in a row before the woman turned around.
When Aunt Pan saw Jin Xilu standing at the door, she let out a soft gasp and instinctively tried to fan away the dust in front of her eyes, until Jin Xilu spoke again gently, "Hello, Aunt Jiang. Is Ya Nan home?"
"Ah, ah, you're back." Aunt Jiang's hands were still covered in flour. She hesitated for a moment, thinking that the girl in front of her was someone she had watched grow up. She had heard all the rumors in town. Just as she was hesitating whether to tell her that her daughter wasn't home...
Dull footsteps came from the next cubicle. The wooden stairs made a creaking sound when you walked on them. Before you could even get your footing, you could hear her clear voice: "Jin Xilu, you're back. You've been here so many times. Just come upstairs by yourself."
Even though the two hadn't seen each other for several years, Song Yanan's voice was still easy to recognize. A few seconds later, the woman in the black cotton coat pushed open the door and walked between the two, opening her arms to Jin Xilu with her smile unchanged.
Song Yanan is Jin Xilu's best friend in town.
Jin Xilu could clearly see that she had grown taller and darker. Song Yanan had inherited Aunt Jiang's beautiful face and soft, sweet voice, but she had always kept her hair short and wanted to compete with the boys in everything. She was called a tomboy by the boys throughout junior high school.
That's why Kim Hee-ro and Song Yanan were able to become good friends.
Aunt Pan was originally thinking about how to get Jin Xilu away, but now, seeing her daughter holding Jin Xilu, she didn't know what to say. She stared at the back of her daughter's head for a while with a look of exasperation before turning back to turn on the noodle-making machine. The machine's muffled rumble drowned out Aunt Pan's grumbling. As she stretched the noodles, she muttered, "What are you afraid of? What's coming is coming. Ugh."
"Don't mind my mom, she's more timid than a mouse. Let's go upstairs and talk." Song Yanan said as she turned around and beckoned Jin Xilu upstairs. Her short hair had grown long and was in excellent condition. Now it was all pinned up behind her ears with a large hair clip, revealing her smooth forehead and a set of small white teeth that showed when she smiled.
Jin Xilu was about to say that she was just passing by and couldn't help but come in, but when she met Song Yanan's surprised and sparkling eyes, she swallowed all the remaining words of refusal.
She couldn't resist warm people; even in winter, she still longed to be loved.
"Come on, get on here quickly."
"Okay." Jin Xilu took a breath and followed her upstairs, feeling dizzy. Now that she had this opportunity, she wanted to ask her what had happened in the town over the past few years.
"Why did you suddenly come back? How long are you going to stay this time?" After pressing Jin Xilu down on the stool, Song Yanan went to close the door and open the window. The air in the small room circulated, and soon Jin Xilu smelled the fresh scent of grapefruit peel. As Song Yanan continued to talk eloquently, she said, "You should be a senior this year, right? Are you not going to leave again?"
"Here, soak some grapefruit peel in water if you like."
Jin Xilu took the cup, steam rising from it. She brought her nose close to the rim; the water was sweet. She blinked, then looked up at Song Yanan again. She still couldn't bear to deceive Song Yanan.
“No. I’m just back on business. I… I’ll be leaving again.” Kim Hee-ro gripped the cup in her hand, the green grapefruit peel swirling in the water. “I need your help.”
There was no need for extra words between the two; Kim Hee-ro completely trusted Song Yanan.
Song Yanan licked her dry lips. She gave the only stool in her room to Jin Xilu and sat on the edge of the bed. Just then, a gust of wind blew her. She sighed, looked at Jin Xilu, and then raised her cup.
"Okay, I'll help you. It's my regret that I couldn't help you back then."
"What exactly happened in the town in the years since I left? Why is he the clan chief?" Jin Xilu had so many questions she wanted to ask. She was so eager that she overlooked the fleeting disappointment in Song Yanan's eyes.
The two clinked glasses across the glass. This year's pomelo peel was dried by her, and it was exceptionally bitter; only Kim Hee-ro could taste the sweetness in it.
The afternoon passed faster than Kim Hee-ro had expected. The two of them chatted for a long time, and eventually they both sat cross-legged on the floor, staring at the blue sky, floating white clouds, and sunlight streaming through the window.
Jin Xilu kept in mind that she was going up the mountain to offer incense to her grandmother, but chatting with her long-lost friend on a warm afternoon was so pleasant that she couldn't bear to interrupt. Just as it was getting close to four o'clock in the afternoon, Aunt Pan downstairs couldn't sit still anymore and leaned against the railing, calling out Song Yanan's name pitifully.
"Ya Nan, Ya Nan, come here, come help me."
"Auntie called you. I'm back now. Don't worry about me. Kim Hee-ro is a woman with an iron will." Kim Hee-ro stood up and prepared to leave.
“Okay, I’ll come to your house to find you later.” Song Yanan said, then shrugged.
She couldn't do anything about her dramatic mother. She told herself that she only had her mother, so she tried to go along with whatever her mother said. As she went downstairs, she replied to her mother, "You're here now. What's wrong now? My dear auntie."
After Aunt Pan finished speaking, a regular customer called to order 10 jin of noodles and asked someone to deliver them. Song Yanan had just agreed to deliver them by bike when she received another call. It was from someone saying that a machine in her factory had broken down and only she knew how to fix it.
To put it nicely, Aunt Pan is a rather naive person. When she was young, she was easily deceived; to put it bluntly, she was a fence-sitter who was easily taken advantage of. Over the years in business, she has come to understand who is easy to talk to and who is not.
For example, right now, Aunt Pan simply tossed ten pounds of noodles to Jin Xilu, grabbed her shoulders, and pushed Jin Xilu towards the door: "Xilu, you're a smart little girl, you've been well-behaved since you were little. Just do me a favor and help me deliver this. It's not far."
Jin Xilu fastened her helmet, glanced at Song Yanan who was still irritably making a phone call, said nothing, gave Aunt Pan an OK sign, and rode away on her electric scooter.
You can ride an electric scooter anywhere in town. The family who ordered noodles is celebrating their baby's one-month birthday today and is going to make noodles to share with their neighbors. After cooking, they realized they were short and immediately called to order more noodles.
Riding her bike and asking for directions along the way, Jin Xilu finally turned into an alley. At the entrance, she saw some firecracker debris. Continuing forward, she saw a lively courtyard full of people. Among the sea of plain-colored cotton-padded coats, Jin Xilu spotted Ni Canyang, dressed in a flashy red outfit.
"What is he doing here?" Jin Xilu braked through the fence. Luckily, she only saw Ni Canyang. Fortunately, Ni Canyang, that lovable rascal, was focused on the freshly stir-fried noodle topping and didn't see her.
She suddenly had a bad feeling. If she could see Ni Canyang here, could Jiang Yilin be here too? Only half a day had passed since their unpleasant parting, and she wasn't mentally prepared to see his icy face.
She sat on the electric scooter for another thirty seconds. Well, she'd already seen him. Anyway, she wasn't afraid of Jiang Yilin. She was the one who had wronged Jiang Yilin. On the other hand, at least Jiang Yilin had a clear conscience and wouldn't avoid her. All she had to do was be a little more shameless and take the initiative. How could she repay a debt of gratitude without being shameless?
Just as she finished thinking about how she could beat a master with a haphazard punch, Jin Xilu patted her thin face, picked up the noodles and walked towards the door. Suddenly, she felt a slight itch on her left cheek. When she turned her head, she froze. The next second, she immediately squatted down because she saw a stranger, Jiang Yilin.
"So Jiang Yilin can laugh like that too."
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