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Jinan is a legendary name for Taiwan, just like Qiu Feng has asked Autumn Wind countless times: Does Summer Rain Lotus really live by Daming Lake?
In fact, what Daming Lake is like, Autumn Wind can no longer remember. In her memory, there were indeed lotus flowers blooming in Daming Lake, but apart from that, it was no different from other lakes. If someone asked Autumn Wind about Baotu Spring, she could recite Lao She's text for them.
Before the age of ten, Autumn Wind's life was unchanging. After the age of ten, her life remained the same, but these two lives were vastly different, simply because one was in Jinan and the other in Taipei.
Jinan is not in the south, and Taipei is not in the north; the two inverted directions have overturned Autumn Wind's original way of life.
Thus, when she saw the words " Jinan" on the LED lights, it was like a lightning bolt striking her mind. Without hesitation, she bought a train ticket from Hangzhou to Jinan. As dusk fell, Autumn Wind left the hotel with her luggage. At that time, Shaolan and the others had not yet finished work. After leaving her room card at the front desk, she directly went out to take a taxi to Train Station.
After a night of travel, the train arrived at Jinan at nine in the morning. The temperature in Jinan was beginning to warm up. Following the crowd, Autumn Wind walked towards the exit. The Jinan Train Station was under renovation, with signs everywhere saying " Construction in Progress, please be cautious."
Autumn Wind had to carry her luggage up and down stairs as if climbing a mountain. This feeling seemed familiar; it felt as if she had experienced this endless up-and-down journey before.
Ten minutes later, she finally exited the Train Station, finally seeing the long-awaited sunshine of Jinan. However, winter in Jinan was too dry; the wind felt filtered. As it blew across her forehead, which had just sweated, it felt like it cracked open, stinging painfully.
The crowd quickly split into several streams. Autumn Wind followed a group of business travelers heading east. As she walked, she suddenly burst into tears. A bridge appeared before her eyes—a bridge that carried countless memories. Dilapidated buildings, ancient city bricks, narrow passages; beneath the bridge lived people from Jinan, who often exclaimed "What are you doing?"
Memories fear revisiting old places most. In an instant, it felt like a floodgate had opened and rushed into a narrow river channel—everything remained unchanged. She looked up at the excessively aged bridge; Autumn Wind once thought it was intentionally built to add fun for children—playing hide-and-seek under the bridge and climbing on top of it to ask for water from those living below when tired—everything was so beautiful.
But now that Autumn Wind has grown up, naturally, the bridge has aged too.
The wind mercilessly turned into knives, cutting across her face that had just shed various liquids. At that moment, Autumn Wind finally felt the pain before her hands went numb from the cold. She clenched her fist tightly; her hand regained some strength. Sniffling slightly, she hailed a taxi: to Spring City Square.
Upon reflection, Taiwan and Jinan are quite similar; both cities' southern regions are mountainous. So much so that when Autumn Wind heard words like " Southern mountains" coming from the radio in the taxi, she couldn't help but twitch slightly.
Sitting in the taxi, Autumn Wind boredly fiddled with her phone. To her surprise, there were several missed calls on her phone from Taipei. As she scrolled through them, she noticed that the number was the same as the previous ones, so she decided to call back. However, just as this thought crossed her mind, it was interrupted by the driver stopping the car. In a thick Jinan dialect, he said, "We've arrived at Spring City Square. That'll be ten yuan!"
After paying and getting out of the car, Autumn Wind stood on the vast and desolate Spring City Square, dragging her luggage behind her. The square looked quite barren; aside from a few vendors who had no choice but to stay at their posts, there were hardly any tourists in sight.
Perhaps it was because she had just come out of the warm car, but when another gust of cold wind hit her, Autumn Wind couldn't help but shiver.
Little did Autumn Wind know that at that moment, someone’s heart was colder than the weather in Jinan.
That person was Liu Jian.
Liu Jian was anxiously dialing Autumn Wind's number at Taoyuan International Airport. With his left hand holding his boarding pass and his right hand scrolling through his phone, he was extremely worried. Just a moment ago, there had been ringing when he called; now it simply showed "no network"!
Frustrated, Liu Jian paced back and forth. Yao Lizhen followed him wearing oversized sunglasses. Seeing Liu Jian stomping his feet in frustration, she took off her sunglasses and coldly remarked, "Hey, is it because I'm going to America with you that you're unhappy?"
Liu Jian continued to focus on his phone. This time Yao Lizhen was completely enraged. She lifted her foot and sharply jabbed him in the leg with her one-centimeter stiletto heel.
Now Liu Jian reacted; he squatted down with an "ouch," his face turning red instantly. "Sister, what are you doing? This could kill someone!"
"Hmph! Who told you to ignore me?" Yao Lizhen tossed her designer bag over her shoulder and turned her head away. She continued, "It was your mom who invited me! Look at you acting all indifferent. I just got back from Korea and I'm exhausted! If it weren't for your mom insisting, I wouldn't be flying with you! Look at you putting on airs! Do I owe you money or something?"
Liu Jian was a smart man; he quickly realized that his earlier focus on making the call had angered Yao Lizhen. He immediately adopted a humble demeanor and forced a smile. "Good sister, please don't be angry! I really have urgent matters!"
"Urgent matters? Why didn't you take care of them earlier? We need to board soon! Are you really hoping I won't go with you?" Yao Lizhen was still fuming. "I left my kid at home to come to your place!"
"Good sister, don't be angry, don't be angry!" With Yao Lizhen's interruption, Liu Jian completely gave up on continuing to call Autumn Wind. He felt a deep sense of regret in his heart, which could only be expressed as a heavy sigh.
In fact, Yao Lizhen was right; he should have done something earlier. However, this matter was truly beyond Liu Jian's control. Originally, he had planned to meet Autumn Wind at the agreed time and place. But just as he came out of the parking lot, the phone that stored Autumn Wind's number seemed to be pulled by a fishing line and "whooshed" out of his hand, landing right under the car's wheels. Before he could react, three or four cars rolled over it in succession, and all he heard was "crunch," "crunch." By the time he got out of the car to check, his phone was already shattered.
Can you imagine that while Autumn Wind was trying to call Liu Jian, he was kneeling on the ground picking up the pieces of his broken phone? It was too tragic!
Liu Jian was a person who valued his pride; his self-esteem simply wouldn't allow him to call Yao Lizhen in a submissive manner. Moreover, at that time, Yao Lizhen had already gone to Korea with the children. Asking Yao Lizhen for the phone number of a girl he had only met once would only make him a laughingstock.
Liu Jian wasn't without action; in the following days, he waited near Autumn Wind's company hoping to see her. Unfortunately, she didn't go to work during those days.
On the third day of waiting for Autumn Wind, Liu Jian ran into a close friend from childhood. His friend warmly invited Liu Jian to his guesthouse in Yilan. Liu Jian, feeling confused, agreed and ended up leaving Taipei for four or five days.
When he returned to Taipei, he took advantage of Yao Lizhen being busy with her phone while playing with Quack Quack to sneakily browse through her contacts. He retrieved Autumn Wind's number this time and uploaded it to the cloud. However, to his disappointment, Autumn Wind's phone remained unanswered.
Thinking about this made Liu Jian let out a heavy sigh. Some things were just meant to be arranged by fate.
Liu Jian thought that perhaps there really was no destiny between him and Autumn Wind! If he ever encountered Autumn Wind again next time, he would definitely not give up.
Autumn Wind found an affordable chain hotel near Spring City Square. After checking in without unpacking her things, her stomach began to growl with hunger. Looking out at the leaves being swept up by the cold wind outside the window, a sense of desolation washed over her. To prevent her emotions from overwhelming her, she decided to change her surroundings and made up her mind to go out for something to eat.
The hotel staff enthusiastically informed her, "There’s a large supermarket below Spring City Square!"
Autumn Wind nodded with a smile as she walked out of the hotel.
But the winter in Jinan was indeed very cold. She rubbed her hands together and exhaled, quickening her pace toward the supermarket. To warm herself up a bit, she couldn't help but bounce lightly, looking from behind like an injured rabbit.
However, this exercise didn't last long before a shadow suddenly appeared in front of her. Before she could react, she "thudded" down to the ground.
Her bottom hurt so much. What happened? Countless question marks popped up in her mind as a voice like thunder echoed above her, "Sorry, are you okay?" It was the authentic Jinan dialect.
Autumn Wind patted her bottom and jumped up from the ground. Initially furious, her anger suddenly diminished upon realizing that the other person was a local from Jinan. She even felt embarrassed to speak, fearing that she might accidentally let out a Taiwanese accent while speaking Jinan dialect. This insecurity surged from her feet to the top of her head. She lowered her head and said, "I'm fine, I'm fine!" Then she turned and walked toward the entrance of the underground supermarket.
But that person wouldn't let it go and circled in front of her. "Hey, beautiful, why aren't you talking? Are you hurt?"
Autumn Wind dodged left and right but couldn't escape his persistence. Wherever she went, he followed—left when she went left, right when she went right. Autumn Wind had no choice but to stand still and glare at him. The guy had a round childlike face with thick eyebrows and big eyes; he looked quite handsome. His face was flushed red with an anxious expression. In his left hand, he held a large poster featuring a young woman heavily made up, making it hard to see her original appearance. When he noticed Autumn Wind looking up, his eyes revealed even more urgency as he deeply bowed and said, "I'm really sorry, really sorry! I apologize!"
Autumn Wind glanced at him and realized he was handsome. Suddenly, she didn't feel as annoyed anymore, so she softly replied, "It's fine, really!" Her tone was quite cold as she quickly lowered her head and left.
The boy stood there in shock for a while before reacting. His voice drifted into Autumn Wind's ears from afar, "Hey, beautiful, are you really hurt?"
Autumn Wind didn't respond; instead, she extended her hand behind her back and waved in the air.
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