Guan Manling left with a smile in this sumr full of blossoms.
In the end, she couldn’t finish her novel.
Perhaps it was a bit regretful, or maybe it was relief.
Old Wu was stronger than anyone expected, quietly cleaning Guan Manling and dressing her in the military uniform she wore at their wedding.
He managed her funeral, comforted her parents and siblings, and received the guests who ca to mourn.
He maintained a husband’s necessary composure and thoroughness, arranging everything in perfect order.
Later, he took Guan Manling’s ashes back to the Great Northern Wilderness.
He buried her under the birch tree.
Their nas were still carved there, now a bit taller than when they were first inscribed.
"Lingling, we have returned..."
"Don’t be afraid. Wait for , once I’ve taken care of everything, I’ll co find you..."
Beside the new grave, there was a pack of jujube flower cake and a bundle of orchid.
...
After Guan Manling left, Sie Yufei seed to mature all at once.
This ti, he didn’t get drunk, nor did he cause trouble.
He helped Old Wu take care of Guan Manling’s final affairs and watched him return her to the Great Northern Wilderness. He accompanied the grieving mother of the Guan Family to the hospital, and made room for her younger brother, who was to take the college entrance exam next year, at Lingyun Tutoring School.
He calmly handled various leftover issues, ate on ti, and slept on ti.
This was much more unsettling than making a scene or threatening suicide.
Recently, everyone with a rank in the compound was busy, and in the face of big issues, matters of the heart were trivial; personal emotional affairs needed to be set aside.
So...
Lin Nianhe took on the responsibility of caring for Fourth Sie.
"Fourth Brother, I need to go to the Northwest soon. Do you want to go with ? To collect inspirations for the next film and so fresh air."
Due to Guan Manling’s funeral, Lin Nianhe’s plan to go to Shaanxi Province was postponed again and again.
With the sester starting in just over twenty days, she planned to take Sie Yufei along.
Sie Yufei was thumbing through that manuscript notebook.
Upon hearing this, he pondered for a mont and nodded: "Okay."
"You’ve been at ho too long... Hmm? You said okay?"
"Yes, okay."
Lin Nianhe’s pupils trembled, and she swallowed instinctively.
He said okay!
So why did she feel nervous?
Sie Yufei looked at her with utmost calm: "When do we leave?"
Lin Nianhe tentatively asked: "Tomorrow?"
"Alright."
Sie Yufei started packing his luggage.
He was so normal that Lin Nianhe felt he was being abnormal.
She ntioned this to Wen Lan, and Sister Lan imdiately said: "Don’t worry. If he tries anything, I’ll knock him out and lock him up."
Lin Nianhe thought for a while and found it feasible.
The train ride from Beijing to Shaanxi Province was too long, but fortunately, there was a civil route at West Gate Airport, and Su Yuncheng got the tickets.
There were six of them in total, divided into three groups on the plane.
Lin Nianhe and Su Yuncheng discussed the school site selection with composure;
Wen Lan, Wang Shui, and Wang Xiaoxiao were so nervous they kept swallowing, with each bump eliciting startled cries;
Sie Yufei looked utterly detached, as if ready to renounce the earthly world any mont and enter a monastery.
Xicheng’s West Gate Airport was the closest airport to the city, only four kiloters away, shorter than most airport runways.
Wang Xiaoxiao vomited as soon as she got off the plane, crying and vowing never to fly again because it was too frightening.
Wang Shui felt sorry for her sister, soothing and comforting her as she patted her back: "It’s alright, we’ll take the train for the next leg."
Hearing they still had to travel further, Wang Xiaoxiao cried even harder.
Indeed, more travel was necessary because Wen Lan’s ho wasn’t in West City, but in Yu City, in northern Shaanxi Province.
This city, located at the southern edge of the Mu Us Desert, had historically been barren. "Bald mountains, treeless land. Rolling yellow sands, yielding nothing from the soil" was its true depiction. But after thirty years of afforestation, so of the rampant sandstorms were halted.
The wind in the Northwest was fierce and unyielding, hitting one’s forehead with pain.
Wen Lan’s ho wasn’t far from the train station, with her eldest brother Wen Jiang and fourth brother Wen Tao coming to pick them up. Wen Tao was sowhat tanned but still looked like a young man, but Wen Jiang... if Wen Lan hadn’t called him her brother, Lin Nianhe would have thought he was her father.
His skin was dark, his large hands full of calluses, clearly from years of hard labor.
"Thank you for taking care of my sister."
Wen Jiang was earnest, repeating this one sentence over and over.
He and Wen Tao each carried a pole, insisting they put all their luggage in baskets, even though Su Yuncheng and Sie Yufei didn’t appear to need help.
Mr. Wen was a workshop director at a soy sauce factory, and the eldest brother also worked at the factory. The Wen family’s second sister worked at the Cooperative Society and wasn’t ho now. The youngest sister Wen Guo was in junior high, the sa age as Wang Xiaoxiao, and was also on sumr vacation.
When they arrived at the Wen family ho, Mrs. Wen had just boiled water to cook noodles.
"You’re back." Mrs. Wen smiled warmly, glancing out from the kitchen to wave them in, "Sit down, dinner will be ready soon."
Mrs. Wen had worked many years at the street office, so coming ho to cook als was quite normal, and no one would mind if she ca ho late or early.
The Wen parents both had dual incos, but with so many mouths to feed, depending solely on their salaries was difficult.
After Wen Lan started earning money, she didn’t dare give too much to her family for fear that Mrs. Wen would find out and scold her. Wen Lan claid the community was thriving, teachers’ salaries were high, and even earned points... In any case, giving her mother twenty yuan a month was the limit. Any more, and she’d risk facing her mother’s angry love.
In reality, the Wen family’s situation had improved significantly over the years. Both the eldest brother and second sister had jobs, and with Wen Lan’s occasional support, they had enough to eat and wear.
Soon, Mrs. Wen brought the noodles to the table.
She bead at Lin Nianhe and Wang Shui, complinting, "What beautiful young ladies," and couldn’t help but scold Wen Lan: "Silly girl, you still know to co back? This afternoon you better..."
"Mom!"
Wen Lan seed to anticipate what her mom was going to say and interjected quickly: "Mom, we’re back for a purpose this ti... um, which village around here is the poorest?"
Mrs. Wen was puzzled: "There are many poor places, why do you ask?"
Lin Nianhe chid in, explaining: "Aunt Wen, we’re here to donate a school, prioritizing villages without schools to alleviate children’s difficulty in accessing education."
Mrs. Wen paused, eyes lighting up: "Wait here, I’ll be right back from the street office!"
Mrs. Wen was always brisk and decisive. Without waiting for any response, she took off her apron and dashed out.
Lin Nianhe licked her lips and turned to Wen Lan with an inquisitive glance.
Wen Lan was instantly alard: "My mom isn’t going to find a matchmaker, is she?"
Lin Nianhe: "Even if I’m not your mom’s daughter, I can tell that’s not her intent this ti."
"What about next ti?"
"Next ti, it surely will be."
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