After Yang Ting left, only Li Younan and Zhu Qingyue were left at the coffee shop.
The coffee had long gone empty, but the waiter was very considerate, giving the two of them complimentary refills of lemon water.
Zhu Qingyue sipped the free lemon water, probably just freshly brewed, its sourness still strong, yet she found it somewhat pleasantly sweet.
Just now, she suddenly confirmed two things.
The first thing was that Li Younan's ex-girlfriend didn't seem to be much. She wasn't the kind of girl who overthinks things and wouldn't think there was something wrong with Li Younan just because he was with a girl who wasn't as amazing as imagined.
The second thing was that the girl probably never managed to touch Li Younan's heart. All previous worries vanished in that moment.
With that, everything logically fell into place.
Zhu Qingyue had roughly heard the conversation between Li Younan and Yang Ting earlier. She was somewhat surprised because Yang Ting didn't mention any of Li Younan's strengths, only kept telling him how important she was to him.
Could it be that she really couldn't see how good Li Younan is?
She slightly lifted her neck, fully appreciating the Li Younan in front of her. He had the gentlemanly demeanor of dawn, Jin Chengwu's hairstyle, steadiness as his base color, and a dashing, carefree attitude as a bonus. He could play the piano, was a photographer, cooked rice noodles that stimulated her appetite, and had a free-spirited heart and gentle nature.
He was a man as enigmatic as a riddle.
Zhu Qingyue wanted to learn much more about Li Younan.
But just then, Li Younan asked a question that slightly marred the moment for Zhu Qingyue.
"By the way, where's your little sidekick?"
Zhu Qingyue paused for a moment, snapped back, "Are you talking about Sweetness? She's busy today. Let's not talk about her today, let's talk about something else."
Li Younan asked, "What do you want to talk about?"
Zhu Qingyue slowly looked toward the door and suddenly asked, "What's your favorite weather?"
Li Younan found it somewhat amusing, what kind of question was this? At a time when two people who knew little about each other but might become friends, it seemed more logical to talk about experiences, their universities, or even emotional experiences. But Zhu Qingyue's question was quite unexpected.
Li Younan glanced at Zhu Qingyue; her eyes sparkled with curiosity. He remembered, oh yes, this girl was an artistic type, and in an artistic girl's worldview, everything made sense.
Li Younan said, "Rainy days, I suppose."
This answer clearly surprised Zhu Qingyue, "Why rainy days?"
Li Younan's gaze became somewhat hazy. He couldn't remember how old he was then, maybe four, or possibly five, he was just very young at the time.
It happened to be a rainy day, his mother holding a big umbrella, lowering it low, not letting a drop of rain reach him.
In his view, a father-son duo walked by, the father carrying the son on his shoulder, the son holding an umbrella. It inexplicably made Li Younan envious.
He randomly asked, "Mom, when will Dad come back?"
Li Younan couldn't remember his mother's expression at that moment, only remembered his mother saying, "When you count 100 rainy stops, Dad will return. It has to be this kind of heavy rain; you can't see anything far away. When the rain stops, Dad will come back from far away."
Since then, Li Younan liked to daydream in the rain.
Many girls at school had crushes on him; they all thought Li Younan liked rainy days. High school girls often had unrealistic fantasies, imposing various chaotic thoughts on their idols.
The girls felt that Li Younan's liking for rainy days was something truly poetic.
So cool.
Just because, very cool.
What they didn't know was that when Li Younan looked at the heavy rain, it wasn't because he liked the rain; he was just waiting for it to stop. He merely thought that once the rain stopped, a man would return from the horizon.
Many years later, when he realized it was his mother's kind lie, his mother was also probably in a daze since the day of his father's funeral was such a rainy day.
Li Younan lowered his head and said, "Because when my dad left, it was a rainy day."
Zhu Qingyue paused for a moment, her heart shocked. At that moment, she couldn't differentiate whether "left" meant passing away or leaving, but either scenario was a scar not to be brought up willingly.
Zhu Qingyue suddenly felt heartache for Li Younan and softly said, "I'm sorry."
Then she gestured toward the camera on the table, saying, "Could you take some photos of me?"
Li Younan found it somewhat amusing, saying, "Didn't you say you don't like taking photos?"
Zhu Qingyue shook her head, "I just don't like posed shots, but I love being candidly captured."
Li Younan picked up the camera, adjusted the settings, and with some amusement, said, "So is this considered a posed shot or a candid shot now?"
Zhu Qingyue gently bowed her head, and upon raising it again, her eyes were exceptionally bright, her gaze softly rested on Li Younan's face.
Li Younan was startled for a moment; it was a look he'd never seen on Yang Ting's face.
And in a trance, he had already pressed the shutter.
Zhu Qingyue lowered her head the next moment, "I'm going to the capital next." She raised her head seriously and said, "I will come to find you!"
At that moment, Zhu Qingyue was as determined as if she were about to join the Party.
Li Younan paused, slowly picked up the lemon water from the table, took a sip, "Oh, okay."
The sunlight outside seemed even more blazing, scorching the earth. Inside the coffee shop, the air conditioner sent a refreshing breeze, and in a corner, a little girl leaned against her mother's arm, slowly falling asleep.
Li Younan turned on the camera's preview screen. The photos taken today weren't many.
The first few were of Zhu Qingyue with her hat being blown off, like a comic strip. The hat gradually lifted, and Zhu Qingyue's expression shifted from initial tranquility to panic, then she leapt up to catch the hat, hair flying in the wind, each moment captured by Li Younan.
The following pictures were of Zhu Qingyue facing the camera, her gaze tender as water.
Looking at the photos, Li Younan seemed to almost smell the mild fragrance from her hair through the pictures.
Li Younan remembered what his mother once said, "Always believe that good things are about to happen."
Li Younan thought, well, isn't a good thing already happening?
The Zhu Qingyue in the camera really is adorable.
…
The next day, Li Younan said goodbye to Jing Chaoyi, got into his small car again, and set off for his next destination.
At a service area on the highway, Zhu Qingyue messaged him, saying she'd already reached the airport and sent a photo of the airport. Li Younan replied with a photo of the service area.
Li Younan's next stop was Lin'an City.
Writers and poets throughout history have left behind renowned verses in Lin'an, and just the West Lake alone is famous enough.
But Li Younan chose Lin'an as the second stop not just for its famous sights, but more importantly, because many of his classmates were there.
His recent reunion with Jing Chaoyi ignited a strong desire to see how the friends and classmates he hadn't been in touch with for so long were doing.