Xiang Wan listened to Chao Xin’s words and fell silent for a moment.
She had never heard Chao Xin mention this Sun Qi before, and even though Chao Xin’s tone remained relatively calm, her immediate rush to find Paipai hinted that this so-called father was not a good person.
Almost instinctively, Xiang Wan wanted to go to Chao Xin; however, she hesitated, knowing Chao Xin’s character might make her feel reluctant. So, Xiang Wan pondered over her words.
Regardless, Chao Xin’s next sentence was, “Wanwan, I hadn’t anticipated being delayed this long. He wasn’t in his hometown, and I’ve been searching the village for a while. The signal’s not great, so I couldn’t get in touch with you promptly.”
Considering that Su Chang was listening, she didn’t say something like, “Sorry to have worried you.”
She knew Xiang Wan was understanding. With those words, Xiang Wan got the message.
“I’m going to stay in town tonight, so I wanted to give you a call.”
Xiang Wan took a deep breath, ready to speak.
But then she heard Chao Xin ask, “Do you want to come over?”
Xiang Wan was a bit startled and didn’t react immediately.
“Yes, I do.” She nodded, even though Chao Xin couldn’t see her.
She didn’t care where she was. She just really missed Chao Xin.
“Will the competition be affected?” Chao Xin asked, however, she wasn’t asking Xiang Wan. After a pause, she said, “Su Chang.”
Su Chang chuckled softly before replying, “The mentor swap and collaboration stage don’t involve classifying groups. As long as she can get back on time, it should be fine.”
“Mm,” Chao Xin sighed on the other end, her voice calming, “Wanwan, I let you put me on speaker because I was thinking, if you want to come over, I’ll have Su Chang arrange for someone to take you.”
Chao Xin didn’t actually want Xiang Wan to come over, but after receiving Xiang Wan’s messages, she knew that being alone would genuinely concern Xiang Wan. Xiang Wan would worry—truly worry.
“I’m currently in Hudong Ning County, a place you might not have heard of. I’ll send you the address in a bit.”
Chao Xin didn’t say much more because she was exhausted, barely able to keep her eyes open.
“Wanwan, I promise you can come over, but you have to promise me not to travel overnight. Come tomorrow, okay?” Her voice had a nasal tone, carrying a faint smile as she spoke to Xiang Wan.
After hanging up the call, Xiang Wan held her phone vertically in her palm, rubbing it unconsciously, then brought her fingertips to her lips and blew a small breath of air over them, her eyes stinging with sourness.
Su Chang crossed her legs and leaned back, taking her phone as it vibrated with a ‘moo’ sound. She picked it up and saw Chao Xin’s message: “Sorry for the trouble, and thank you.”
Su Chang replied with a chuckle, “No worries,” then turned to Xiang Wan, “Let’s not bother anyone else. I’ll drive you there tomorrow.”
Hudu is in the neighboring province, about a five-hour drive away.
They could have taken the high-speed train, however, after hearing Chao Xin mention towns and villages, Su Chang thought driving might be more convenient. Otherwise, in unfamiliar territory, transferring between different modes of transportation could be quite troublesome.
Xiang Wan frowned, feeling it was too much of a hassle and wanted to decline, yet Su Chang said in her refined voice, “I need to make sure you can come back safely, right? Otherwise, if it affects the show’s filming, I’ll have to pay up.”
With such a justified reason, Xiang Wan couldn’t really object. Yu Zhou took Su Chang’s hand and said, “I’ll go too. If your back starts to hurt, I can take over driving.”
“It seems like the situation with Ms. Chao isn’t good.” It’s better to have more people for support, Yu Zhou thought.
She was embarrassed to admit, but her inner Chūnibyō was stirring again—it was the time to assemble a team, and she even wanted to bring along Peng Xiangzhi.
So, the next morning, Xiang Wan, carrying her luggage, took a taxi to Su Chang’s place. And sure enough, she saw Peng Xiangzhi by the car.
Eating an ice pop early in the morning, Peng Xiangzhi was dressed in a leather jacket over a mini skirt and ankle boots. Her lips were bright red, and her hair styled in big waves, as she casually enjoyed her ice pop.
“Eating an ice pop so early?” Yu Zhou asked, shivering and scraping at the car window, watching Peng Xiangzhi from inside the car.
Peng Xiangzhi sighed beside the trash bin, “When you asked me yesterday, I was still at a club, stayed until four in the morning, FOUR, you know?”
Without the ice pop to wake her up, she might have just collapsed.
Yet it was perfect timing; Peng Xiangzhi had just finished her party and could take three days off, so she decided to join the excitement on the spot.
Seeing Xiang Wan, she felt pity, “Haven’t seen you in months, and now you have to chase your wife a thousand miles.”
It was quite the dramatic scene.
No one paid her any mind, so once they got in the car, there was silence, and Peng Xiangzhi didn’t speak any further, leaning against the window and dozing off.
After getting off the highway and driving on a provincial road for another hour, they didn’t encounter the winding, bumpy dirt roads they had imagined. However, it was apparent that they were getting more remote, and several times the GPS led them in the opposite direction. Su Chang circled around two or three times before finally arriving at Ning County.
Ning County was situated in the mountains at a moderate elevation, slightly cooler than Jiang City. The passersby on the road were all dressed in light layers. The county town was small, with just one main street that wasn’t very wide to begin with, and vendors on both sides selling vegetables, which made Su Chang drive very slowly. She glanced at the GPS, felt something was off, so she asked Yu Zhou to ask for directions.
“Hello, could you please tell me how to get to Maoyun Town?” Yu Zhou rolled down the car window, and after Su Chang came to a stop, she asked a woman leading a child by the hand.
“What was that(in dialect)?”
The woman didn’t catch the question and asked back.
“Mao…” Yu Zhou turned her head to confirm again and then enunciated each syllable, “Maoyun Town.”
“I see,” the woman drew out her voice, pointing ahead while holding the child’s hand, “Just go straight ahead. When you get to the fork in the road, take the path that goes around it, and follow that road, you’ll get there.”
Yu Zhou struggled to understand her, so the woman repeated it again in her broken Mandarin.
“Okay, okay, thank you,” Yu Zhou said, still puzzled about exactly which side ‘the side of the fork in the road’ referred to.
It was clear Su Chang didn’t understand either. Combining guesses and the GPS, they somehow managed to find the correct way.
Xiang Wan realized then why Chao Xin had insisted on Su Chang arranging someone to bring her. If it were up to her alone, she definitely wouldn’t have found the place.
Fortunately, with friends around, they didn’t waste too much time on the road. Just before one in the afternoon, they arrived in town. Chao Xin was staying at a place called “Welcome Guesthouse” and said she would wait for them at the entrance.
The car rounded a traffic circle, went downhill, and entered a narrow lane. There weren’t many pedestrians on the road, and the roller doors were either half-open or half-closed. The only lively spot was the mahjong parlor at the corner, where the noise was deafening.
Amidst the clamor of ‘four dots’ and ‘eight characters,’ Xiang Wan spotted Chao Xin standing at the entrance of the guesthouse.
She was clad in a thin trench coat, her elegance utterly out of place on the small town’s street. Her straight back and slender, toned legs made her ankles look particularly attractive in her high heels. She was looking down, her curly hair cascading down, hands in her pockets, as if she were gazing at the shadow on the ground.
Xiang Wan leaned out of the car window to look at Chao Xin, her face catching the breeze from the drive, causing her bangs to flutter gently, as if they were dancing.
Suddenly, Xiang Wan thought that a woman looks most beautiful when waiting.
Because regardless of how bleak the surrounding environment might be, regardless if the roadside greenery was overgrown from neglect, regardless if there was a little boy nonchalantly peeing by the side of the road, her hopeful wait made her stand out as if she were standing amidst the clouds.
Because she harbored an anticipation, it transformed her entirely.
Hearing the sound of the car, Chao Xin looked up. Without a second’s delay, her face broke into a pure smile, then she took a couple of steps back to give them room to park.
As Su Chang pulled over, Chao Xin moved to help with the luggage. However, Xiang Wan got out of the car first, steadying herself on the frame and called out to Chao Xin., “Ms. Chao.”
Chao Xin couldn’t hold back anymore. She stopped in front of Xiang Wan and pulled her into an embrace, hugging her deeply.
The heels of her high heels scraped the ground twice. She wasn’t used to being so affectionate in front of others, but she truly needed Xiang Wan.
And it was unbearable for her to think that Xiang Wan, whom she needed so much, had traveled such a long distance to come to her at this time.
Yu Zhou pursed her lips with a smile and joined Su Chang to open the trunk of the car, while Peng Xiangzhi folded her arms and surveyed the surroundings, debating whether to scold the little boy peeing by the roadside.
He looked like he was about to do more than pee.
Before she could decide on a course of action, Chao Xin released Xiang Wan and came over to greet them, then helped carry the luggage into the guesthouse.
It was a small entrance adorned with poor-quality neon lights, and the young girl at the front desk was engrossed in her TV drama, not even lifting her head.
Leaning on the front desk, Chao Xin asked them, “I didn’t know you were coming, so I didn’t reserve extra rooms. Are you going to stay here? This is the best place in town, but it’s still pretty average.”
She spoke diplomatically in front of the desk clerk, however, everyone could see from her eyes that the conditions were subpar.
“How about you come up and take a look first? If it’s not acceptable, we can drive back to the county town later and stay there. There’s a three-star hotel that’s fairly clean.”
Mainly, Chao Xin wasn’t sure if Su Chang could handle it.
She didn’t worry about Xiang Wan. Yesterday, Chao Xin had asked Xiang Wan to bring disposable bed covers to make the bed a bit cleaner. With that and being held in Chao Xin’s arms, Xiang Wan should be able to sleep.
“Let’s just get the room,” Su Chang said, “There’s nothing I can’t handle.”
Now that they were here, of course, they were prepared for various situations. This was not the time to be picky.
The young girl at the front desk didn’t bother pausing her show, casually displayed the QR code for payment while peeking at the drama, and then tossed out two keys—one for Su Chang and Yu Zhou, and one for Peng Xiangzhi.
Seeing the key, Peng Xiangzhi had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good, and sure enough, the room was so spartan it was generous to even call it that. She dared not draw the curtains for fear that a layer of dust would come pouring down. Some of the wall switches were missing, exposing the wiring, but luckily they still worked. The light flickered with an electrical hum before staying on.
In the corner of the room, there were stains from water seepage, and beside the bedside table were two thermoses, one red and one green. Peng Xiangzhi didn’t dare to check the bathroom, fearing she might have a heart attack.
Nevertheless, they couldn’t afford to fuss over it. They wanted to resolve things quickly and leave, so after setting down their luggage, they went downstairs to find a dingy little eatery. Chao Xin brought them condiments for Douhua[1] and began to explain the current situation.
“I found Sun Qi. He’s been feasting for three days, it said that he’ll return to the village this afternoon. Paipai is at her aunt’s place in town, but I looked around and no one knows where her aunt lives.”
She sniffled, seemingly catching a cold, yet Chao Xin was remarkable—no dark circles, no bags under her eyes. Regardless of how well-rested she was or how energetic she actually felt, she always appeared lively and spirited.
“They won’t let you see Paipai?” Peng Xiangzhi asked.
“Mhm.”
“They want Paipai’s custody? After all these years, suddenly they remember?” Peng Xiangzhi lost her appetite for food, eager to delve into the gossip.
Chao Xin let out a scornful laugh, “Most likely he’s run out of money.”
She guessed it was probably because he saw Chao Xin on a variety show.
“So, we’re going to find Sun Qi this afternoon, right?” Xiang Wan handed Chao Xin a cup of tea, her voice soft.
“Yes.”
“And,” Yu Zhou picked up a mouthful of rice, “will there be a fight?”
To be honest, she was a bit nervous.
Su Chang soothingly patted her waist.
Chao Xin scoffed, “He wouldn’t dare. Other than making a scene, that old Sun family has no other tricks up their sleeve.”
She knew him all too well, and that’s why he only dared to hide Paipai.
Yu Zhou felt slightly relieved, and everyone began to eat. Xiang Wan picked some greens for Chao Xin with her chopsticks. Chao Xin let her hand drop, pulling Xiang Wan’s left hand that rested on her thigh, and gently squeezed it under the table.
- Douhua is a Chinese sweet or savoury snack made with silken tofu.(Douhua – Wikipedia) [return to text]
CNYuriTranslation 