Chapter 43: Talking Nonsense Again

What was her mindset back then?

Anger, fear, panic.

Perhaps it was all of those.

Lu Yuyao sighed.

It had been so long that even she could not recall her exact state of mind, but she was certainly sad at the time.

Lu Yuyao felt she was perhaps a bit cold-hearted.

Not long after Fang Chenxi left, she had once again adapted to the reality of being “abandoned” and continued her dull life, as if their years of friendship had never happened.

Even later, during the summer after ninth grade, Fang Chenxi found her on WeChat and explained that she had lost her old account, only managed to add her back after creating a new one.

After adding each other, the two chatted and shared their daily lives as usual, seemingly no different from before.

But Lu Yuyao felt that it didn’t really matter anymore.

Lu Yuyao stood up and walked toward the other side of the park.

She rounded the rockery, finding that the weeds behind the wall were still growing tall.

She reached out to push aside the grass blocking her view, and the hole from her memory appeared.

It was actually still there.

Perhaps the workers had failed to notice it during the renovations.

Finding their Secret Base from years ago made Lu Yuyao happy, and she even crawled inside immediately.

She had been young and small back then; now that she was older, the space inside felt significantly smaller.

‘One must be in the scene to truly feel the emotions involved.’

Lu Yuyao only now truly understood that saying.

The beautiful times the two of them had spent in this hole seemed to play out before her eyes once more.

She missed it, but she didn’t want to go back to the past.

“Lu Yuyao.”

“Lu Yuyao.”

Lu Yuyao thought she was hallucinating.

She actually heard someone calling her name.

She shook her head, thinking she might be tired from playing on the slides.

However, the sound of approaching footsteps and the shouting made her body freeze.

Her pupils dilated.

That person was indeed calling her name, and the voice sounded very familiar.

The sound of footsteps came from the weed patch in front of the hole, and the familiar voice rang out again.

“Lu Yuyao? Why are you staying in here?”

Jiang Ling looked at Lu Yuyao inside the hole, her voice full of complaint.

“I called you so many times and you didn’t answer. Grandma is already cooking. Come home to eat.”

‘How did she…’

Lu Yuyao snapped her head toward Jiang Ling.

Her eyes held a flicker of surprise and joy.

Ignoring Jiang Ling’s question, she asked instead,

“How did you know I was here?”

Jiang Ling scratched her head, feeling a bit guilty.

She didn’t dare look directly into Lu Yuyao’s sparkling eyes.

She couldn’t exactly say she already knew this was her childhood Secret Base and had come to try her luck.

“Intuition,” Jiang Ling explained vaguely.

“Intuition?”

Lu Yuyao seemed to truly believe her as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

The surroundings were dim, but Jiang Ling could faintly see that Lu Yuyao was smiling.

She scratched her head, thinking the girl didn’t believe her, but Jiang Ling couldn’t explain much more.

She simply urged her again,

“Let’s go. Time for dinner.”

“Okay.”

***

Jiang Ling had only napped for a little while, but by the time she woke up, it was already getting dark outside.

After the start of autumn, the days were growing shorter and shorter.

With a sigh, Jiang Ling got out of bed to see what Lu Yuyao was doing, but after a quick search, she found no sign of her.

Thinking she might have gone out, she sat in the living room to wait.

To her surprise, Lu Yuyao still hadn’t appeared even by the time Dong Hui returned from her Buddhism prayers.

“Grandma, where did Lu Yuyao go?”

“Didn’t she tell you?”

Jiang Ling shook her head.

“Hmm… she probably went to the park. She always loved going there when she was little,” Dong Hui replied after a moment of thought, smiling.

“Perfect timing. Go call her back for dinner.”

“The park is on the same road you two came in on,” Dong Hui instructed, worried Jiang Ling might not find the way.

“Okay.”

And so, Jiang Ling had come to the park and found Lu Yuyao at her Secret Base.

“I say, why are you always smirking? Did you think of something happy?”

Jiang Ling tilted her head.

Lu Yuyao was trailing half a shoulder’s distance behind her, but she could constantly hear the girl’s soft laughter, which left her quite puzzled.

On second thought, that park was where Fang Chenxi and Lu Yuyao had first met.

Perhaps she was reminiscing about their memories and felt happy.

Thinking of it that way made sense.

“I’m not telling you,” Lu Yuyao said playfully, though her heart was fluttering with excitement.

Lu Yuyao couldn’t explain why she was so happy, but the moment Jiang Ling suddenly appeared at the Secret Base, her breath had hitched for a moment — just like when Fang Chenxi had appeared back then.

‘Saviour.’

Lu Yuyao didn’t know if she should describe it that way; she felt it might be an exaggeration, but the feeling was definitely there.

It was very strange.

Lu Yuyao couldn’t explain it clearly with words.

Her distraction was so great that during dinner, she reached for the same piece of shrimp as Jiang Ling three or four times.

Jiang Ling started to think Lu Yuyao was doing it on purpose.

No matter what dish she went for, Lu Yuyao followed.

She found it quite funny.

‘You eat it, you eat it. I’ll let you have it.’

The dinner Dong Hui prepared was very lavish.

For the three of them, there were five dishes and one soup.

Even though the two girls tried to convince her to make less so they wouldn’t have leftovers, Dong Hui insisted on finishing the last dish and even stewed a pot of soup.

Poached shrimp, braised shrimp… there were many dishes made with shrimp as the main ingredient.

Dong Hui naturally understood her granddaughter’s preferences and had also asked Jiang Ling what she liked to eat.

In reality, Jiang Ling and Lu Yuyao had very similar tastes.

Thus, the two of them were forced to endure a bounty of love.

Dong Hui noticed Lu Yuyao was absent-minded.

After a bit of thought, she seemed to realize something and said, “What’s wrong? Thinking about your Sister Chenxi?”

In Dong Hui’s memory, Lu Yuyao was only close with Fang Chenxi in the village.

Lu Yuyao froze and looked up, her gaze colliding with Jiang Ling’s.

Jiang Ling seemingly thought the same thing, raising an eyebrow at her in a teasing manner.

Lu Yuyao ignored Jiang Ling and shook her head instead.

“No, I just went for a walk and I’m a bit tired.”

“Besides, there’s nothing to miss. Sister Chenxi is at the same high school as us now. She’s even Jiang Ling’s seatmate,” Lu Yuyao said, pointing her finger at Jiang Ling sitting across from her.

Jiang Ling nodded, signifying that Lu Yuyao was correct.

Dong Hui seemed to have just learned this information, an expression of surprise on her face.

“Chenxi’s family moved back to Lotus City?”

“No, only Sister Chenxi came back. She’s living right next door to us.”

“I see. That child is something else; she didn’t even say hello to Grandma after coming back. I missed that girl too,” Dong Hui muttered with a hint of complaint.

The families of Fang Chenxi and Lu Yuyao weren’t that close, but Dong Hui was familiar with Fang Chenxi because the girl always played with Lu Yuyao.

She had long since treated her like another granddaughter.

“She probably forgot. Chenxi originally wanted to come back with us, but it seemed she had something to do at home and couldn’t get away,” Jiang Ling felt it was necessary to save some face for Fang Chenxi in front of Dong Hui.

After all, they would be family in the future; it wouldn’t be good if there was a rift.

Dong Hui was only joking and didn’t truly mind.

she simply waved her hand.

“Chenxi is a good child… watching you all grow up well is enough for me. I’m just an old woman now.”

“No, no, no. Grandma, why are you talking nonsense again? You’re so healthy; you’ll live for many, many more years.”

Lu Yuyao couldn’t stand it when Dong Hui said such things.

She always wanted the elder to be happy.

An elderly person living alone was always lonely; even with Grandma Jiang for company, they would still ponder the issue of life and death whenever they were idle.

For the elderly, death was an unavoidable topic.

“Exactly. Even when Lu Yuyao gets married in the future, you’ll have to be there to welcome the guests.”

Lu Yuyao’s gaze shot over like a blade.

Jiang Ling broke into a cold sweat, only then realizing what she had said in her jest.

She guiltily lowered her head to drink the sweet corn and egg soup.

This soup wasn’t alcoholic, so how was she so drunk?

“Hahaha, Little Ling is right. I’ll still have to show my face when you two get married.”

Dong Hui laughed.

Jiang Ling’s words seemed to have struck a chord, and the old woman’s mood became excellent.

At her age, these were the things she looked forward to.

“…”

Lu Yuyao sighed.

In order not to spoil Dong Hui’s mood, she didn’t say anything… but it was all Jiang Ling’s fault.

She gave another fierce glare to Jiang Ling, who was pretending to drink soup.

To suddenly talk about marriage and such… it was completely nonsensical.