Chen Xi sat at the table drawing.
Four days had passed since she last saw Qin Lie at the hospital, yet she still hadn’t finalized the sketch for the third character.
She rarely drew male characters.
Already not particularly skilled at it, and wanting to impress Qin Lie, she found herself increasingly uncertain about how to draw.
She twirled the carbon pencil in her hand and looked up toward the window.
Afternoon sunlight filled the courtyard.
Her aunt Chen Mei had come and was making pickled vegetable soup with Fan Mingsu under the shade of the grape arbor.
Chen Xi tore up the half-finished sketch, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the wastebasket.
She simply threw down her pen, stood up, and wandered outside.
In the northwest spring, temperatures rose day by day.
Both Chen Mei and Chen Xi wore short sleeves, while Fan Mingsu had also changed to lighter clothing, still wearing a windbreaker vest over it.
Chen Xi walked under the grape arbor.
She casually picked up a goat’s milk fruit, and when she broke it open, thick milky white juice flowed out. Taking a bite, the taste was refreshingly sweet.
This was the fruit of a vine plant that Chen Mei had picked from the fence of her vineyard.
Every year at this time, she would pick many goat’s milk fruits to bring to Fan Mingsu—they were perfect for making pickled vegetable soup.
Chen Mei had heard from Fan Mingsu about Chen Xi quitting her job.
She asked worriedly, “Did you think it through before quitting? You’re still young—what will you do in the future?”
Chen Xi stretched her stiff shoulders and neck, saying casually, “Repair cars.”
Chen Mei truly didn’t understand, but she had always been good-tempered and didn’t like to lecture people.
She only asked with concern, “Then won’t all those years of education be wasted?”
Chen Xi smiled and said, “How could they be wasted? Going to university wasn’t just about sitting in an office.”
Chen Mei thought about it and sighed softly, “That’s true. Education is about living with understanding.”
Her casual remark struck Fan Mingsu like a thorn.
Fan Mingsu broke celery stalks and said leisurely, “Of my three children, I delayed you the most.”
Chen Mei was her first child.
Back then, she and Chen Mei’s father were out in the Gobi Desert working on wind and sand control, treating each fragile little sapling as more precious than their child.
Chen Mei was raised like a free-range sheep, didn’t get much education, but was remarkably sensible, learning to cook before she turned ten.
Every evening when Fan Mingsu and her husband returned home covered in sand and dust, exhausted and hungry, there was always a hot meal waiting on the table.
Fan Mingsu felt the person she owed most in this lifetime was this child.
Chen Mei put the goat’s milk fruits, celery, and cabbage into an old earthenware jar, poured in cooled noodle broth, and finally added a bit of old pickle brine.
She covered it with a lid and smiled, “What’s there to regret? I’m living quite well now.”
Chen Xi stayed in the courtyard for a while, then went up to the roof to collect the raisins that had been drying since early morning.
She lowered the raisins down with a rope, then sat on the eaves.
A flock of pigeons flew overhead with a whooshing sound.
Looking around, there were quite small courtyards in all directions, each with a grape arbor.
Grandpa Guan’s house still had red peppers drying on the roof that hadn’t been collected, while another house had steamed buns and sweet potato strips drying on its roof.
Not far away, a residential complex had been built.
Perhaps in a few years, this quiet area of small courtyards would also be developed into commercial housing.
This was what Chen Xi least wanted to see happen.
Her phone’s WeChat notification sounded.
Chen Xi looked down—it was from Qin Lie.
“How’s the third character coming along?”
Chen Xi stared at the screen, not replying for a long time.
After a while, Qin Lie sent a second message.
“Having difficulties?”
Chen Xi stared at the screen for a moment, then replied with two words: “No.”
She climbed down the ladder and returned to her room to sit at the desk again.
Another fruitless day.
In the evening, Bai Yuning called, reminding her not to keep her head down drawing all the time, warning about potential neck problems.
He had gone to Jiuquan for a conference today and wouldn’t return until the day after tomorrow.