A month later, Shen Zhiyi finished all her shooting commitnts and cleared her schedule.
Wang Feifei was puzzled by this, as Shen Zhiyi had been taking breaks more frequently in the past six months, which was not in her character.
"Do you have sothing to do?"
Shen Zhiyi was packing her luggage and smiled at the question, "No, I’m going on vacation."
"Oh," Wang Feifei was a bit envious, "Where are you going to play?"
Shen Zhiyi ntioned a place, which Wang Feifei had never heard of, and after looking it up, she realized it was a small village in the country.
"Did you record a variety show in this place?"
"Hmm," Shen Zhiyi said, "That’s my hotown."
Wang Feifei then laughed, "Going back to your mother’s ho, eh? Alright, have a good ti."
This ti, she stayed at the sa vacation villa as before. It was the sumr vacation, and there were no shortage of tourists. Before heading out, Shen Zhiyi put on a hat and hesitated over whether or not to wear a mask.
Wearing a mask in the sumr was too suffocating, but without one, she easily risked being recognized.
After changing his clothes, Pei Yu saw her hesitation and said, "Don’t wear it."
"It doesn’t matter if you are recognized," he added.
After all, there were bodyguards around them, and any photos that got out could be intercepted promptly.
Most importantly, wearing a mask made it inconvenient to kiss her at any ti.
"Alright," Shen Zhiyi eventually decided to leave the house wearing only a wide-brimd sun hat.
Tourism in the village had developed better and better over the years, especially after the variety show aired last ti, which boosted its popularity. Most visitors were young people.
They chose a local restaurant known for its signature dishes. The proprietress was warm and generous, bustling with the custors and switching channels on the restaurant’s large screen.
Shen Zhiyi thought she looked familiar. When the proprietress ca over to serve them, Shen Zhiyi hesitantly uttered a na.
"Xia Wei?"
The proprietress was clearly stunned when a stranger called her na, "I am..."
Shen Zhiyi lifted the brim of her hat slightly and smiled at her, "Long ti no see."
"Zhiyi!" The proprietress exclaid, then quickly lowered her voice in excitent, "I couldn’t believe it when Granny Zhao told you’d been back. It’s been so many years since you’ve been ho."
Her eyes curved into a smile as she looked Pei Yu up and down.
Shen Zhiyi introduced them, "This is my husband, and this was my desk mate in the first year of high school."
She wasn’t very extroverted, and back in school, she only got along well with her desk mate. But their families lived far apart, so apart from school, they hardly saw each other and eventually lost contact.
Upon Shen Zhiyi’s introduction, Xia Wei took a few more glances at Pei Yu. At first, when she saw them co in, she just thought they looked distinguished, not like ordinary people. Now, giving him a closer look, she suddenly found him extrely familiar.
Sothing occurred to her, "Did you co to our place before?"
Shen Zhiyi was surprised, "You’ve seen him?"
"Not just seen him," Xia Wei said, "I even took his photo. Wait a mont."
She went upstairs to look for sothing, and after a while, she brought back a photo, "Take a look."
"That day I went to deliver your test paper, and when no one answered after I knocked at the door, I had to go back ho through another way. That’s when I saw this gentleman standing by the roadside."
Xia Wei laughed, "Where have I ever seen such a handso guy? I secretly took a picture with my phone then, and later had it developed along with other photos."
The phone’s pixel wasn’t high, resulting in a blurred printed photo, but Pei Yu’s facial features were still discernible, and Father Pei was even standing beside him.
Shen Zhiyi guessed this was the day she was injured and Huo Heng had taken her to the hospital.
Noticing her gaze, Pei Yu nodded slightly, affirming her guess.
"Was your allergy better then?"
In the photo, it was the first ti he wasn’t wearing a hat or a mask.
"Mmm, only a bit remained on my body."
The reason Pei Yu’s allergic reactions were so severe was that he used to frequently visit places with cherry blossoms with Father Pei in the initial days. Later, as he went less often, the symptoms gradually subsided. The day he decided not to wear a mask and went to find Shen Zhiyi, he happened to witness her father’s dostic violence after drinking.
"I had an allergy flare-up again," Pei Yu said with a faint smile. "Shortly after this photo was taken, I went to the Cherry Blossom Forest again."
He sat there all night, and the next day, he was taken away from this place by Father Pei.
No matter how happy they were now, that past full of coincidences and misunderstandings would always remain a regret.
Shen Zhiyi silently took his hand.
After dinner, the two walked along the street, passing through the tidy and clean renovated street. Shen Zhiyi picked out a pair of ceramic rings shaped like cherry blossoms from a roadside stall, overhearing nearby tourists discussing where to go next.
She heard a few words and was a bit surprised, "There’s a Cherry Blossom Forest here?"
The last ti she ca, that cherry blossom forest had already been cut down.
The tourist, who didn’t recognize her, cheerfully said, "Yes, I’ve heard it’s newly built. We plan to go there to take pictures; they say it’s particularly photogenic."
Shen Zhiyi was sowhat puzzled, "Aren’t the cherry blossoms out of season now?"
"It’s not a real Cherry Blossom Forest," the tourist said loudly as they walked a few steps ahead. "It’s artificial cherry blossoms, but they are incredibly lifelike."
For the tourists, whether it was real or fake didn’t matter; what was important was taking beautiful photos. Moreover, the fake had its own advantages; cherry blossoms could be photographed all year round.
Pei Yu looked down and slipped the ceramic rings onto her finger, "Want to go?"
Shen Zhiyi nodded.
The two of them then changed their plans on the spot and followed a few tourists heading the sa way. Along the road, they also encountered locals who were going there to take wedding photos.
"When I was a child, there was a real Cherry Blossom Forest there. Every April, it would be full of blossoms that were especially dreamy," said the bride in a wedding dress with a smile. "Unfortunately, I didn’t appreciate it back then. Every ti I passed by, I thought there were too many bees. I’d go in clean and co out covered with pollen and petals."
Shen Zhiyi held onto Pei Yu’s fingers, whispering, "I was the sa when I was little."
The first ti she t Pei Yu, she had taken a shortcut through the Cherry Blossom Forest, erging covered in petals, and when she looked up, she was startled to see a boy standing in front of her.
The newly built Cherry Blossom Forest was extrely similar to the one in Shen Zhiyi’s mory and indeed looked lifelike, nearly indistinguishable from the real thing unless examined up close.
There were many people visiting, all diving into the woods to take photos. Shen Zhiyi sohow got separated from Pei Yu. She walked around a few trees, parted the branches in front of her, and saw Pei Yu standing ahead, about to make a call.
When he looked up, for a mont, this scene overlapped with the one from their first eting.
Under the vivid cherry blossom trees, Shen Zhiyi and he made eye contact, her gaze warm, seemingly tinged with a hint of laughter.
Like the first ti he saw her, Pei Yu felt an invisible thread drawing him closer to her.
He asked softly, "What’s your na?"
Back then, young and eager, he didn’t know why he asked that question, uncertain whether he wanted to hear her voice or just wanted to get to know her.
The person in front of him looked at him, no longer with a wary avoidance but with a smile directed towards him.
"Shen Zhiyi,"
she said, "Your Shen Zhiyi."
From first eting to reunion, through spring, sumr, autumn, and winter, it was all eternally due to love.
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