First Meeting in Qingyi Village

“Is the wound all right?” Jiang Granny asked.

“It’s not a serious injury, but I’m afraid it might leave a scar later,” the village secretary, Zhao Baishu, said.

“Ruoxin has a quick temper. I’ve already spoken to her properly. Once Zhao Qian is discharged, I’ll have her go apologize in person.”

Zhao Baishu said nothing. He took out a cigarette and narrowed his eyes as he drew on it.

“They’re leaving on the seventeenth, right?” he asked.

Jiang Granny paused for a moment, then smiled. “Yes, everything’s been handled. We’ll be leaving in a few days.”

“And... what about Miss Qingyan?”

Jiang Granny sighed. “I want to take her too, but the Qin family is complicated. I’m afraid I can’t bring her along.”

Qin Qingyan had started living with her when she was eleven. Her mother died in an accident when she was nine. After that, her father lost all will to live. When he returned from the city to Qingyi Village, he spent his days drinking himself senseless. Less than half a month later, he abandoned Qin Qingyan and disappeared. After so many years, there had still been no news of him.

Taking pity on her, Jiang Granny had brought her home to live with her and her granddaughter, Jiang Ruoxin. It had been five years now.

A glint flashed in Zhao Baishu’s eyes, and an idea began to form in his mind.

When Zhao Qian was discharged from the hospital, Jiang Ruoxin, though deeply unwilling, was still dragged by Jiang Granny to the Zhao house to apologize.

Qin Qingyan went along too.

Oddly enough, Zhao Qian, whom they had expected to make things difficult and hurl insults, accepted the apology with a grin.

“It was my own mouth running loose; I was talking nonsense. I deserved it,” Zhao Qian said. “Jiang Ruoxin, you hit me well. You knocked some sense into me.”

His eyes drifted toward the quiet Qin Qingyan beside Jiang Granny. Zhao Baishu coughed softly, and only then did Zhao Qian reluctantly look away, the smile never leaving his face.

On the way back, Jiang Granny’s aged face was full of worry. Qin Qingyan noticed it, lowered her head, and said nothing.

On the sun-facing slope, wild grass grew thick. Qin Qingyan sat quietly on a large rock in the middle of it, a breeze lifting the fine hair at her forehead. Though she was only sixteen, her thoughts were heavier than those of her peers, and she was far more sensitive too.

Beyond the distant mountains were still more mountains; clear mountains, hazy mountains, mountains wrapped in cloud and mist. The worry troubling Jiang Granny had now settled into her own heart.

A place this small had no secrets. Zhao Qian had told her long ago that Jiang Granny would be leaving on the seventeenth. Once they were gone, she would be alone again.

Zhao Baishu had always meant to make her his daughter-in-law. She wasn’t stupid; she had guessed at Zhao Qian’s odd behavior this time.

Was she really going to marry Zhao Qian?

Qin Qingyan hugged her knees and rested her chin on them.

Laughter and chatter drifted over on the wind. Curious, she looked toward the film crew at the foot of the mountain. They had come a little over half a month ago, specifically to shoot a television drama.

It was noon, and they were gathered together eating lunch, talking and laughing all the while. They seemed much more carefree than she was.

Before long, a fine drizzle began to fall. She watched the crew quickly pack up and retreat indoors. She held out her hand to catch a few drops; only when the rain grew heavier did she get up and run down the mountain.

The rain came down harder and harder, and the sky turned even darker.

Qin Qingyan followed the route in her memory and nimbly made her way downhill. With a crack of thunder, her foot slipped, and she nearly fell.

She was afraid of thunder.

The day Qin Qingyan’s mother died had been a rainy day, with thunder and lightning raging. After that, Qin Qingyan’s father came to hate stormy weather too. Whenever those days came around, he would get drunk out of his mind and curse at her in words she couldn’t understand.

Another crash rang out. Her heart pounded so hard it hurt; all kinds of sounds crowded into her ears, mourning cries and curses, and her mind turned to chaos. Luckily, she was almost at the foot of the mountain.

Who would have thought that, just as she let down her guard, her foot would miss a step and her whole body would tumble down...

The black car moved carefully along the road. The windshield wipers kept sweeping, but the rain was too heavy; no sooner had the view cleared than it was blurred again by fresh water. Ye Bai kept his nerves taut. It was the first time he had driven on such a terrible road, and in such awful weather; he didn’t dare be distracted for a second.

Yan Yue glanced at the time. It was already past one in the afternoon, yet the sky looked like night. It seemed there was still a lot more rain to come.

After winding and twisting for a while, they were finally almost there, and the road surface had become much smoother. Ye Bai finally let out a breath. The spring weather, on the other hand, had him sweating all over.

Yan Yue sat silently looking out the window. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a faint glimmer moving slowly in the rain.

Ye Bai noticed it too and quickly pulled the car closer.

“It’s a girl,” Ye Bai said, rolling down the window. Rainwater immediately splashed in. “Hey, where are you going in this rain? I’ll give you a ride.”

She was already drenched through and through, her figure thin and trembling slightly. She looked at Ye Bai, then shook her head and kept walking, one hand braced against her injured foot.

Yan Yue noticed the movement and her expression shifted slightly.

She told Ye Bai to drive ahead a little, then took an umbrella from the back seat. Without even putting on her coat, she stepped out in only a thin shirt and opened the door.

“Get in. Don’t make things harder on yourself,” she said, taking the girl’s icy hand. While the girl was still dazed, she helped her into the car.

The moment Qin Qingyan got inside, the noise of rain and wind fell away. Warm air wrapped around her, and only then did she belatedly realize what had just happened.

Seeing that she was soaked through, and with Ye Bai still in the car, Yan Yue, before the girl could react, only took off her outer coat.

Then she rolled up Qin Qingyan’s pant leg, revealing a wound about a finger’s length long, with a few smaller cuts around it. There was no medicine in the car, so they would have to wait until they reached Qingyi Village to deal with it. After that, she draped the blanket from the back seat over her.

Qin Qingyan soon caught a faint, indescribable fragrance; it was very comforting.

“Thank you.” Her voice was extremely soft, but in the cramped car it was unusually clear.

Through the rearview mirror, Ye Bai glanced at her. “It’s raining this hard. Why didn’t you bring an umbrella?”

“I forgot.” Her voice was light, revealing nothing.

The car continued smoothly on its way. After asking Qin Qingyan for her address, Ye Bai planned to drop her off first.

Qin Qingyan tightened the blanket around herself and carefully glanced at the woman beside her by the window. Yan Yue was looking out at the rain, her expression unreadable.

So Qin Qingyan quietly looked away again, down at her own hands, and clenched them.

Yan Yue was thinking of something. Back then, it had also been a rainy day like this...

She stared at the car window, where Qin Qingyan’s curled-up reflection could be seen, and turned her head to ask, “Cold?”

Qin Qingyan froze, then shook her head.

“You’re lying.”

Realizing her tone had been a little too heavy, Yan Yue said softly, “Sorry.”

The girl seemed not to hear her at all. She didn’t move or speak.

Yan Yue drew in a deep breath. Her thoughts drifted back to many years ago, swayed around for a while, then returned to the present.

Something occurred to her, and she turned to look at Qin Qingyan again. The girl was still in a sorry state, but her features were plainly beautiful, her face carrying the innocence and awkwardness of youth. Yet those eyes...

The rain kept falling, with no sign of stopping, though the sky had brightened somewhat.

Jiang Granny brought out ginger tea and warmly invited them to sit down.

Yan Yue wore a long black puffer coat and loose blue jeans, leaning against a stone pillar and looking out at the world beyond the house. After saying a few words into the phone, she came inside.

They accepted the tea and thanked her with smiles.

“This girl Qingyan never listens when I tell her to bring an umbrella. Luckily she ran into the two of you. If something had happened in rain this heavy, I’d have blamed myself for the rest of my life,” Jiang Granny said.

The ginger tea was warm, chasing away the chill in their bodies. Qin Qingyan listened quietly to their conversation while drinking.

Suddenly sensing something, she turned her head and met Yan Yue’s gaze. Seeing the other woman smile faintly before looking away, Qin Qingyan paused, then lowered her head and continued drinking her ginger tea.

“So you’re here to find those actors filming here? I know them; they’re staying at the government office, not far from here,” Jiang Granny said. Seeing that they both looked strikingly good and carried themselves differently from ordinary people, she added, “Are you actors too?”

Ye Bai exchanged a look with his boss. He let out a soft laugh, but before he could speak, Yan Yue smiled and said, “No, we’re here to visit family.”

Jiang Granny understood at once and nodded.

The rain outside went on for a long time, and they chatted for quite a while too, gradually learning a lot.

“So this little girl has been under your care the whole time?” Ye Bai asked in surprise.

Jiang Granny looked at Qin Qingyan with affection and a hint of complexity, then sighed. “After her mother passed, Qin Xun came back to Qingyi Village. He drank all day long. About half a month later, he left Qingyan here alone and disappeared. He never came back.”

“What an irresponsible man,” Ye Bai said.

Given his current mood, if he ever met that man, he would definitely punch him a few times to vent his anger.

Jiang Granny opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing and only kept sighing.

Throughout it all, Yan Yue noticed that Qin Qingyan had simply been quietly drinking her ginger tea, as if everything being discussed had nothing to do with her at all; she was even less concerned than Ye Bai, the listener.

Her gaze fell on the ginger tea in Qin Qingyan’s hands. Half an hour had passed, and the tea had already gone cold. Looking at the girl’s slightly pale face, Yan Yue said softly, “Cold tea won’t warm you.”

Qin Qingyan’s movements paused. As if someone had seen right through her, she didn’t look up or speak, but she set the tea down.

Seeing that, Yan Yue looked away. Outside, the rain had finally started to ease.

Before they left, Jiang Granny asked Qin Qingyan to see them off, though it wasn’t far. The ground had been paved with cement, but years of wear had left it cracked and uneven.

Yan Yue and Ye Bai followed slowly behind Qin Qingyan, while also looking around.

“This Qingyi Village isn’t as remote and backward as I imagined,” Ye Bai said. “At least the roads are passable, and there are brick houses everywhere.”

“Compared to what? Last year, when we donated supplies to that poor mountain area, the wooden doors and walls were so flimsy I could’ve kicked right through them. The mud on the road was so deep it nearly covered your calves,” Yan Yue said.

“At least now, their lives are better than before, aren’t they? So things will always get better,” Yan Yue said with a smile, her gaze falling on the thin figure ahead.

Qin Qingyan had both hands in her pockets and said nothing the entire way, listening to the two of them talk.

Will things always get better? Maybe.

When she reached the stone steps, the broken stones were unstable. Qin Qingyan pressed her lips together, turned around, and held out a hand. Yan Yue paused, then smiled and took her wrist.

What she hadn’t expected was that the girl, though she looked delicate, had a very steady grip when she supported her.