Gao Hongyi’s exquisite and beautiful face was filled with a small sense of happiness that belonged only to a young girl.
Leaving the Ibis Hotel and walking into the desolate and dilapidated Linchuan County, she didn’t seem to mind at all.
On the contrary.
This felt like a grand and magnificent adventure.
Gao Hongyi had always lived in Donghai.
Those beautiful buildings were exquisite and magnificent — yet they always made one feel as if they were separated by a layer of glass.
They were too perfect.
And too unreal.
This place was different.
The buildings on both sides of the road were low and cluttered.
The tin roofs were mottled with traces of wind and rain erosion.
The old newsstand by the road stood tilted, like the remains of an era long forgotten.
It was ugly, but it was very real.
“Uncle Bai, let’s take a photo together, okay?”
She suddenly held up her phone.
Click.
The next second.
That photo of Gu Yebai and Gao Hongyi had already been set as her phone’s lock screen.
“Hehe, Uncle Bai’s smile is so silly.”
“So this is how Uncle Bai smiles in reality.”
“Uncle Bai, Uncle Bai, do you like Coca-Cola or Pepsi?”
Gu Yebai really couldn’t understand why she was so excited.
Perhaps she was used to an exquisite and perfect world, and a place like Linchuan County felt full of novelty to her.
“Actually… there isn’t much to see in a place like Linchuan,” he instinctively tried to dampen her enthusiasm.
“Uncle Bai, I like fireworks.”
Gao Hongyi’s hand was still tightly holding Gu Yebai’s.
Along the way, the gazes of the passersby were quite scorching.
“Is it because you like fleeting beauty?”
“No, not at all.”
Gao Hongyi shook her head.
“What I really like is the moment the fireworks bloom.”
“The face of the person I love — the smile that gets lit up by the light in that instant.”
“If I were alone in Linchuan County, this place might be hell.”
“But it’s different now.”
“At this point in time, I have a father, a mother, and most importantly, I have you, Uncle Bai.”
“So, being here makes me very happy.”
Her words made Gu Yebai’s face flush slightly.
He didn’t dare look at her again.
But at the same time.
A trace of indescribable fear quietly grew deep in his heart.
When people first meet, they unconsciously imagine the other person to be too perfect.
‘Will Hongyi see through my dullness and humility one day and then leave me?’
‘She will eventually realize that I am just one of the many ordinary people.’
“Hongyi…”
“Uncle Bai, let’s go to the cemetery first.”
“The cemetery?”
“Because my biological parents are buried there.”
“Although they didn’t raise me for a single day, if a parallel world exists, maybe they would have raised me.”
“In that world, I would be a country girl.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t have the courage to leave a small place like Linchuan my whole life.”
“I wouldn’t be as hardworking and resilient as Uncle Bai.”
“But they would definitely treat me gently; I’ve always believed that.”
“Because Uncle Bai is very gentle.”
“I’m very grateful to them.”
“Because they were once gentle to Uncle Bai, too.”
Gu Yebai was silent for a moment.
“Okay.”
“Let’s go.”
Guided by Gu Yebai, the two walked toward the bus stop sign.
This was already an instinct carved into his DNA.
But Gao Hongyi shook her head gently.
“We can just take a taxi.”
“You don’t need to take the bus anymore, Uncle Bai.”
“But… taxis are a bit expensive.”
“For the current Uncle Bai, time is the more important thing.”
“For the rest of your life, you won’t need to worry about money anymore.”
Gu Yebai nodded.
That was true.
In the future, when he ate KFC, he wouldn’t have to specifically wait for Thursday.
However, due to his stubborn nature, Gu Yebai still couldn’t feel at peace spending their money.
The two sat in the taxi.
The driver couldn’t help but look at Gu Yebai several more times through the rearview mirror.
His gaze carried obvious envy and admiration.
Clearly, he had taken it for granted that Gao Hongyi was Gu Yebai’s girlfriend.
It wasn’t hard to understand why.
Along the way, Gao Hongyi left almost no gap for Gu Yebai.
She held his arm.
It wasn’t just resting her hand on it; her whole body was pressed against him.
She held his arm firmly in her embrace, pressing it close to her chest.
It was as if he would slip away from her side if she loosened her grip even slightly.
When the position of their arms became inconvenient, she switched to interlocking their fingers.
It wasn’t a polite hand-holding, but a complete meshing of fingers with palms touching.
Her fingers tightened.
They were so tight that Gu Yebai could even clearly feel the temperature and strength coming from her fingertips.
It was like she was silently confirming his presence.
Confirming that at this moment, he indeed belonged to her.
Her hands were truly beautiful.
The joints were distinct, and blue veins were faintly visible.
Her palms were small, yet they could perfectly hold Gu Yebai’s hand.
These were the hands of a piano player.
“By the way, Uncle Bai,” Gao Hongyi suddenly spoke.
“Before leaving Linchuan County for Donghai, don’t you plan to say goodbye to your friends?”
“Friends?”
“Do you have many friends in real life, Uncle Bai?”
She asked very softly.
Her tone was so gentle that it held almost no aggression.
But when she asked this, her gaze never wavered.
She looked straight into Gu Yebai’s eyes.
In that instant, it was as if she had turned into a precise and calm lie detector.
“I guess so.”
“Actually… the internet is so convenient now. There’s no need to make a special trip to say goodbye.”
“I see…”
Gao Hongyi replied softly.
Her tone was still soft, and her expression didn’t change.
Only the force with which she held Gu Yebai’s fingers quietly tightened by another notch.
“Uncle Bai.”
“Do you have any female friends in real life?”
“In our QQ group, I know you have female readers other than me.”
“Or should I say… do you already have a girlfriend?”
Those originally soft and cute eyes suddenly became somewhat sharp in an instant.
“Uh… I do have a female friend.”
Gu Yebai thought of the ordinary-looking girl in his class who was always being bullied.
At the thought of her, he couldn’t help but sigh.
‘Once I leave, school might truly become a disaster for her.’
‘Everyone will bully her, and she will just crouch alone in the corner to study.’
‘Clearly, she hasn’t done anything wrong; it’s simply because she doesn’t fit in.’
Gu Yebai couldn’t even help but imagine if she would walk toward despair step by step in such a cold environment.
“I do have one female friend I need to meet.”
“I want to say a final goodbye to her before I leave.”
“Oh.”
The originally warm atmosphere in the car suddenly turned cold.
This became the last sound Gao Hongyi made in the taxi on the way to the cemetery.
That said, her hand didn’t loosen in the slightest.
Instead, she gripped even tighter — so tight that Gu Yebai even felt a hint of pain.
Listening to their conversation, the taxi driver couldn’t help but shake his head gently.
It was as if, in his heart, he had already categorized Gu Yebai as some kind of legendary master beyond redemption.