I subconsciously looked up to the roadside and saw a woman wearing a helmet sitting on an electric car. It was she who was calling me.
When I was about to ask her who she was, she took off her helmet and I recognized her.
It’s Zhou Qian!
We haven't seen each other since I asked her to give me the USB flash drive last time, and I never thought we would meet here.
I smiled at her and said, "It's you!"
She nodded to me and asked in surprise: "Why are you here?"
"I just had a discussion with someone here. He left first. Why are you here too?"
"My house is right in front." She pointed to the front and said.
I nodded, and she said to me again: "I didn't have time to say thank you for what happened last time. I didn't expect to meet you here."
"Yeah, it's quite a coincidence. Are you...going home?"
"Well, I just got off work."
I nodded and had no words to say. I wasn't familiar with her at all.
But she was quite enthusiastic and asked me again: "Are you okay?"
"It's okay, I'm okay."
"I was just looking for an opportunity to treat you to dinner. Are you free now?"
I wanted to refuse her, but then she said to me: "Thanks to you for what happened last time. You helped my father clear his name and sent Su Jin to hospital. I always wanted to thank you, but I couldn't contact you.
Fuck you."
"Don't you have my contact information?"
"Yes, but I dropped my phone and all the contacts in it are gone."
"Oh, that's how it is!"
She smiled and nodded, looking more cheerful than before, and then turned to me and said, "It's really surprising. I just passed by and saw someone who looked like you. I didn't dare to come over and acknowledge you at the first time."
I smiled again, stood up and said to her: "It's okay. I should thank you for what happened last time. I won't use it for dinner. You can save my mobile phone number in case anything happens in the future."
Easy to contact.”
Zhou Qian nodded, took out her mobile phone and saved my number, then turned to me and said: "Brother Chen, look it's almost time for dinner. We have a unique crispy fish restaurant here that does a great job.
Eat it, and it’s only available in this season.”
She was really enthusiastic, and I couldn't resist her enthusiasm, so I agreed and wanted to try the unique crispy fish in her mouth.
She then smiled at me again, then patted the back seat of her electric car and said to me, "Come on, get in the car, and I'll take you there."
After getting on her electric car, she turned the switch and the electric car sped out.
…
The evening wind blows on my face and feels very comfortable.
Putting everything else aside, this small town is really livable. The weather here is pleasant, not hot in summer and not cold in winter.
I like rainy days in small towns very much. I like to sit on the balcony of the inn on rainy days, make a pot of tea and listen to the sound of rain falling.
I really want to live in this small town. I even think about bringing An Lan here in half a year. It will be good for our family to live here.
But now, because of certain people and certain things, I began to hate this small town, its smallness, and its worldliness.
Because here, some people can really cover the sky with one hand.
No wonder, according to my current understanding of this small town, there has not been any big boss from other places investing in the small town.
The wealthy people in the small town are all locals. They occupy all the resources, leaving those who invest from other places to leave in despair.
I finally realize now that if I had known this was the case at the beginning, I would never have developed a resort town, absolutely impossible!
…
Zhou Qian seemed to be in a good mood. She drove the car very fast, and soon she reached the edge of the small town.
The tall buildings in the city are no longer visible to the naked eye; they are all low-rise residential buildings that may face demolition at any time.
After crossing a somewhat bumpy cement road, Zhou Qian parked the car on the side of the road and said to me: "Brother Chen, it's just a short walk into the alley in front. We can only walk in, it's not far."
"It's okay, let's take a walk."
After she said that the electric scooter was locked, she took me into the small alley in front.
I subconsciously looked around. This place is on the edge of a small city, but it is also part of the urban area. It is considered the urban-rural fringe. Looking around, I can still see some land growing crops.
Zhou Qian walked in front of me. Her steps were brisk and she seemed to be very familiar with this place.
I asked her: "Isn't this your home?"
"Well," she stopped and pointed to a small yard about 50 meters to our right, "that's my home."
I looked in the direction of her finger and saw that the small yard was in a dilapidated state, overgrown with weeds, and it looked as if no one had lived in it for a long time.
I asked her again: "Why doesn't it look like someone lives here? You don't still live here, do you?"
"Of course not. I'm outside, at the intersection where we just came in from this concrete road. I rented a house there."
Let me just say, this little courtyard is so dilapidated, how can anyone possibly live in it?
However, although this small courtyard has been abandoned, it can be seen that it was carefully tidied up in the past.
There are also two very good yellow horn orchid trees in the courtyard, and there are very avant-garde murals on the courtyard walls. However, with the erosion of wind and rain, the murals have become a bit blurry, but it can still be vaguely seen as more Chinese.
Wind mural.
Zhou Qian saw me staring at the yard with rapt attention, and she said to me again: "When my dad was here, our family was the most beautiful family in our village. My dad treated life with a special sense of ritual...
It’s the two yellow horn orchids in the yard. I remember that when my dad first planted them, they were only as tall as me, but now they have grown so tall.”
Speaking of this, Zhou Qian suddenly sighed: "After my father passed away, no one took care of it. Over time, it became like this. The whole yard is considered abandoned."
"The homestead still belongs to you, right?"
"Yes, but... I don't dare to come back and live alone."
I can understand and imagine that before her father's accident, their family should have been very happy.
But just because of such an accident, their family was destroyed.
This is one of the reasons why I don't like this small town, because power is only in the hands of a few people, and they use the power in their hands to do whatever they want.
Zhou Qian has lost her mind. Judging from her appearance, she has forgotten why she brought me here.
It wasn't until I patted her shoulder lightly that she came back to her senses, and then continued walking into this alley with me.
Not far away, I saw a restaurant specializing in fish. The restaurant looked small and had little business.
It's really hard to imagine a unique taste in such a place.
But I was willing to believe Zhou Qian, so I followed her into the restaurant.