C County is, in fact, a county-level city; however, it has long been habitually referred to simply as a “county”. Ling Hanlu lived there from birth until she graduated from high school.

　　Later in life, she attended university in another city, worked, got married, and then was widowed. Over the past decade or so, her ties to this small town have become increasingly tenuous.

　　When Ling Hanlu was only a freshman in college, her parents divorced. They were able to maintain a facade of marital harmony until she was accepted to university, and their daughter expressed understanding. However, her mother remarried just two months later, causing Ling Hanlu to favor her silent and reserved father.

　　As a graphic designer for a local newspaper, her father never spoke about the matter. Ling Hanlu tried to glean even a sliver of insight from him, but ultimately to no avail.

　　The wedding ceremony took place without the mother present, who was abroad at the time. Therefore, the father personally gave away his daughter to the groom. He spoke at great length, filled with deep emotions, and together with everyone present, witnessed the union of this talented and beautiful couple.

　　However, in just a few years, he too suffered the heaviest blow when his daughter became the wife of a murderer and then passed away.

　　For several days in a row, Ling Kangwen, the father, was emotionally distraught. On his way to work, his bicycle collided with a car, and he fell and injured his waist. Fortunately, the injury was not too serious, and after lying in bed for half a month, he was able to return to a normal life. Nevertheless, Ling Hanlu was warned and decided to stay strong, for immense sorrow and tragedy provide no reason to irradiate one’s own pain to others.

　　Afterward, on various holidays of all sizes, Ling Hanlu would send Ling Kangwen a surprise, which made her father feel comforted after receiving her daughter’s positive and optimistic attitude towards life.

　　This Father’s Day, Ling Hanlu was planning another long-planned surprise “raid”.

　　She took a four-hour ride and arrived stealthily outside the small county’s bus station one day in advance.

　　“Kid, farewell!” Ling Hanlu waved at Gu Pan.

　　Gu Pan stood still, showing no intention to leave.

　　Ling Hanlu noticed that the boy looked confused and wondered in her heart, “Where are you planning to go? I forgot to ask you along the way. I’m familiar with this place…I can…”

　　“No place to go !” Gu Pan replied.

　　“Ah?” Ling Hanlu’s bag strap slipped down to her elbow as she looked puzzled.

　　“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m leaving, bye!” Gu Pan turned around swiftly and disappeared from Ling Hanlu’s sight.

　　But after turning the corner, his brisk strides gradually slowed down to a staggering walk. He counted the pavement tiles step by step in unfamiliar streets, and this peculiar shadow left Ling Hanlu feeling concerned.

　　“Kid, what’s going on?” she asked, showing her kind-heartedness and curiosity about Gu Pan’s situation.

　　In a tender voice, Gu Pan came to a halt. He refused to turn around easily. The more sincere and emotional Ling Hanlu’s voice was, the more scared he was to look at her eyes cut like water. He felt unworthy.

　　. “I could tell something was wrong earlier,” Ling Hanlu quickly walked several steps forward and tilted her head, leaning slightly forward.

　　“I, I just received a message that my relatives had an emergency and they’ve all gone out…” Gu Pan hurriedly explained.

　　“So you have nowhere to go now?”

　　“I am going to buy a return ticket. For 2 pm this afternoon…”

　　“Is it okay for you to do this? If there is no urgent matter, maybe you could stay and travel in this little town?” Ling Hanlu couldn’t help but show her hospitality.

　　Gu Pan remained non-committal. He gripped the shoulder straps of his backpack and nervously rubbed the surface of the Oxford cloth with his fingers. He looked like he was making a life-or-death decision. Seeing this, Ling Hanlu chuckled.

　　“Kid, Follow me ! ” She grabbed Gu Pan’s bag strap and led him toward the heart of the small town.

　　2

　　Ling Kangwen was squatting in the small courtyard on the ground floor, facing the wall corner with his back to the fence door. He was wearing a light gray T-shirt with a hip-hop-style pattern printed on the back. This was still a gift sent by Ling Hanlu before Children’s Day.

　　On the night he received the express delivery, old Ling gritted his teeth and tore off the label. He washed it, dehydrated it, and hung it out to dry. After one night of drying in the wind, he put it on and went to the vegetable market the next morning.

　　At this moment, his face was facing the wall, and the part of his body that was blocking his view was occupied by several pots of Milan, jasmine, and chrysanthemums.

　　Ling Hanlu, during her previous visit, had noticed a plant that had not yet bloomed. But now, the plant was swaying with blossoming flowers. Standing behind her father, she sighed at the passing of time. Her father’s attention was immediately drawn to the young man standing behind her daughter.

　　He noticed that his daughter had maintained her thin figure but appeared to have a slightly better physical state. He relaxed and smiled. However, his focus was quickly diverted to the young man standing behind her daughter.

　　What a striking and elegant young man! Ling Kangwen couldn’t help but recall the wish her daughter had made when she first started having romantic desires at the age of ten. Those secret wishes had subtly hinted at her admiration for a certain type of person of the opposite gender. Tall, delicate features, soft, fluffy hair, and handsome sideburns… all of these were qualities are also possessed by the man who cut the buttocks of young girls with a craft knife.”

　　Ling Kangwen felt a stabbing pain in his chest, making his movements slightly sluggish. However, he immediately forced himself not to make hasty actions out of impulse or emotion.

　　“He welcomed the person with a sense of regret.

　　After lunch, Ling Hanlu took Gu Pan for a walk around the county seat. Gu Pan followed behind, stopping and starting, like a small tail that sometimes wandered off. Ling Hanlu could not help but urge her to keep up, saying, “Come on, with those long legs of yours, how come you’re slowing down now? Are you out of energy?”

　　“Oh,” Gu Pan quickly caught up with Ling Hanlu.

　　“We’re almost at the high school I attended. Do you want to take a look?” Ling Hanlu pointed to a group of buildings surrounded by a gray wall not far away.

　　“Okay,” Gu Pan agreed.

　　After showing their identification to the gatekeeper, Ling Hanlu took the young boy back to her old school.

　　“I think he remembers you,” Gu Pan whispered as they walked.

　　“How can you tell?”

　　“The old man didn’t even look at your ID before letting us in. He looked at your face for a long time.”

　　“Oh? Maybe it’s because people who frequently make the honors list leave a deep impression on others, right?”

　　“You’re not being modest enough.”

　　“Because it’s the truth!” Ling Hanlu chuckled softly. She noticed that Gu Pan was becoming more eloquent and initiating conversations, indicating that he had come out of his “depressed” state from visiting his relatives. She felt relieved.

　　" Do you still remember our old classroom?" Gu Pan walked while kicking a blackish-purple unknown fruit that fell to the ground.

　　“I remember. Not much has changed here. The layout is still the same. Do you want to go see it?”

　　“Uh-huh. Aren’t you curious about what the place where you spent three years looks like now?”

　　“Well, now that you mention it, I am. Follow me!”

　　The two moved quickly. They passed through the purple wisteria corridor and the basketball court. Guided by the tree-lined cement road, they stood at the bottom of the five-story teaching building.

　　At the end of the west side on the top floor, that's where Ling Hanlu fought for three years. She tried to push the door, which was slightly ajar and not closed tightly. "Hehe, it's still the same. Back then, the homeroom teacher was afraid that we would forget to take our materials home on weekends, so he would keep the door open to allow everyone to come and go freely. He said that if someone fell and broke their leg while climbing through the window, it would have a huge impact on learning. Besides, there was nothing valuable in the classroom anyway."

　　"The desks and chairs look new. They should not be from your time, right?" Gu Pan touched the back of the chair and felt that the style of the desks and chairs was not much different from those she was familiar with.

　　"Well, they're not. We had double wooden desks back then... Huh? My time?"

　　"Yes, let me calculate..." Gu Pan's features froze once again, immersed in arithmetic, "It's probably the beginning of this century!"

　　"Kid, let me teach you a word today, 'conversation taboo'. You should be careful when talking to older women in the future," Ling Hanlu said with a pursed mouth, trying to hold back her laughter.

　　In fact, age is not a taboo topic for her at all. Since she can accept various questions about her husbandry skills, mental health, and other aspects with an open mind, there is no longer any heavy topic that can crush her.

　　“Okay, I got it,” said Gu Pan taking the advice. But he didn’t look directly at Ling Hanlu. He scanned the more than 40 sets of single desks and chairs in the classroom and asked, “About which position did you sit in when you left school after the college entrance examination?”

　　Ling Hanlu looked at the row closest to the wall in the classroom and estimated. She blinked and pointed to the fourth table counting from the front to the back, “It’s about this one!”

　　Gu Pan walked over with his hands in his pockets, swaying and looking around. He wanted to appear nonchalant, but he took advantage of the ten or so seconds that Ling Hanlu was admiring the blackboard to carefully touch the new desk with an estimated “Ling Hanlu” mark on it.

　　Ling Hanlu took leave with her father and said that she would take “this little kid” to the busiest antique street in the county in the evening. As soon as the phone hung up, Gu Pan asked Ling Hanlu in a consultative tone if she could stop using the term “ little kid” in the future.

　　Ling Hanlu immediately switched her thinking and remembered what happened in the classroom at her alma mater that afternoon. Since some people minded being referred to as “old,” it was only fair to allow others to refuse to be treated as inexperienced children. She understood the young people’s little psychological discomfort. However, the three words that were more like a term of endearment made her feel inexplicably amused. When they were called out, a sense of comfort would naturally arise in her mouth, like chewing on fruit-flavored candy. It was sweet and pleasant.

　　“Okay, I’ll try my best, but I can’t guarantee that I can do it. toddler, let’s go!” said Ling Hanlu.

　　“What!!!”

　　The boy followed Ling Hanlu and strolled through the chilly night streets. Drunken crabs, sticky rice balls… Ling Hanlu invited all the delicious memories from her childhood, trying to give a sense of satisfaction and compensation to the young man from a foreign place beside her.

　　She always thought that the initial purpose of Gu Pan’s trip had not been fulfilled, and he did not see the person he wanted to see. Perhaps, food was a kind of effective consolation.

　　Late Homecoming.

　　She tidied up the empty room, and Gu Pan didn’t refuse her offer.

　　Lying in a strange and quiet bedroom, he tried hard to recall. Over the past 18 years, when and which woman had cared for him meticulously and without any ulterior motive?

　　The answer was, none.

　　The next day was Father’s Day. Ling Hanlu got up early and prepared a table full of breakfast. Of course, soy milk, fried dough sticks, and salted egg yellow rice balls were all bought from a small food shop five hundred meters away. Only scrambled eggs weren’t bought.

　　Gu Pan was awakened by Ling Hanlu’s knocking on the window. After getting ready, he walked towards the living room in his brand-new slippers, still feeling a bit shy. There, Ling’s father and Ling Hanlu had already set the tableware and food. Both of them had the same happy smile in their eyes.

　　As he approached them step by step, Gu Pan could see more clearly. Their smiles were bright and cheerful, as if they were asking him about the hidden part of his heart.

　　Under his feet, the woven sole of his shoes seemed to be stuck by some kind of force. He struggled hard to free it…