My girlfriend is from the future!

Quanling Temple is located on the outskirts of the port city, and there is a spacious open-air parking lot at the foot of the mountain.

Since it was neither a weekend nor a holiday, there weren't many people coming to worship today.

When He Tianran arrived, it was nearly ten o'clock. He parked the car, turned off the engine, and sat in the car for a while. He subconsciously touched the cigarette pack in his pocket and found that there was nothing in his clothes except his wallet and phone. He could only take a deep breath and get out of the car.

Although he was still some distance from the temple, He Tianran felt a faint sandalwood scent in the air, whether it was psychological or the lingering fragrance of the accompanying pilgrims, and he could hear the distant sound of bells ringing from the ancient temple halfway up the mountain.

He Tianran walked out of the parking lot with his hands in his jeans pockets, walked through the scattered crowd of pilgrims, and saw Xue Yong's conspicuous bag from afar under a large banyan tree.

At this moment, Xue Yong was standing there, holding two strings of bright red candied hawthorns in his hand, and was showing off something to a pregnant woman next to him. That was his wife, Bai Tingting. Although she was heavily pregnant, she had a rosy complexion and her face was full of happy reproach.

And a little further away from them...

A slender figure stood there.

Cao Aiqing wore a beige long cashmere coat and a dark gray scarf today. The lower half of her face was almost buried in the scarf, with only her bright eyes showing.

Unlike Xue Yong and his wife, she didn't fight or look at the passersby. She simply looked up quietly, watching the red ribbons with prayers written on them flutter in the wind on the treetops.

The winter sun dappled through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows on her. She stood there, yet seemed detached from the world, enveloped in a serene tranquility.

As if struck by a sudden inspiration, He Tianran took out his phone, found the right angle, adjusted the focus, and wanted to capture this scene discreetly.

Perhaps He Tianran's actions weren't discreet enough, because the very next second after he pressed the shutter, Cao Aiqing seemed to sense something and turned her gaze over, their eyes meeting in mid-air.

There was no sadness like last night, nor the expected embarrassment. Cao Aiqing's eyes were as calm as an autumn pool, clear and discerning as ever.

She glanced at He Tianran's somewhat incongruous student attire, her gaze lingering for a second on the grinning Sun Wukong image on his chest, before a slight smile curved her lips.

"Hey! Tianran! Why are you so late? What are you doing sneaking around like that!"

Xue Yong, with his sharp eyes, spotted He Tianran approaching immediately. He greeted him casually and shoved a string of candied hawthorns into his friend's hand.
"Here you go. Tingting insisted on buying them, but she bought two skewers and didn't eat them. Now that you're here, don't waste them."

After saying that, he lowered his voice, nudged He Tianran with his elbow, and winked, "Not bad, bro. You had a fight with your girlfriend last night, and today you've come all the way to the Buddha? This outfit... is quite an attempt to look young. Tingting said Ai Qing likes sweets, so we were waiting for you to come and give them to her."

"What...do you know?"

Listening to Xue Yong's words, He Tianran wasn't sure if Cao Aiqing had said anything to the couple on the way here.

"Hey... Dude, you're about to be a dad, do you think I can't read the tension between you two? Just keep trying to appease me."

He Tianran clutched the string of sweet candied hawthorns in his hand, looking at the quiet girl a few steps away. His lips twitched, but he couldn't utter a single flirtatious remark.

Bai Tingting then walked over, supporting her back, and greeted her with a smile: "Brother Tianran, you've finally arrived! Ai Qing said you were too busy with work to come."

After saying that, she naturally took Cao Aiqing's arm, as if to push her toward He Tianran: "Aiqing, you see, I told you Brother Tianran would definitely come."

Cao Aiqing stiffened slightly as she was being held by her arm, but quickly relaxed.

She looked at He Tianran, then carefully examined his attire, and finally glanced at the incongruous candied hawthorn in his hand before speaking:
"……coming."

"...Ah, um."

He Tianran had a thousand words stuck in his throat, but in the end, he could only manage to utter a single, dry word:

"……coming."

A mountain breeze blows, and the wind chimes under the banyan tree tinkle.

Xue Yong and his wife stood between the two men, looking left and right. Xue Yong touched his buzz cut and said:
"Hiss...you guys...aren't you very familiar with each other?"

Bai Tingting's eyes darted around, and she continued to hold Cao Aiqing's hand, puffing out her chest and saying in a crisp voice:
"Let me introduce you. This is my best friend, Cao Aiqing. She is 26 years old, a local of Gangcheng. She just returned from studying in the UK last year, majoring in architectural design. Currently... it's hard to say whether she's single or not."

"Hey Tingting, stop fooling around..."

Cao Aiqing had intended to give him a cold look, but Bai Tingting's sudden action caused her face to flush instantly, just like when they were sixteen years old.

Since his own wife had given such a hint, Xue Yong certainly wasn't going to be outdone. He put his arm around He Tianran's shoulder and immediately began to flatter him:

"My brother, He Tianran, is a director. He just turned 27 last month. He's a local. He studied finance at the University of Hong Kong for his undergraduate degree and is now pursuing a master's degree at the Film Academy, but he applied for an extension of his studies due to work. He currently owns three companies, one of which is about to go public. As for whether he's single now... well, that depends on the person."

After saying this, Xue Yong patted He Tianran on the back and instructed him:

"Shake hands! What are you standing there for? Are you looking at how pretty she is, and already thinking about names for your future kids? Standing here like a block of wood, hey, you're not like this when you're directing actresses!"

"No~ Ai Qing, can you hold this for me?"

As Xue Yong's words became increasingly outrageous, He Tianran shoved the candied hawthorn into the unsuspecting Cao Aiqing's hands. Then, he grabbed Xue Yong's head with one hand and pulled it toward his chest, while bending his index finger with the other and rubbing it back and forth on the guy's super-thick buzz cut.

"No~ Brother, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts..."

The two boys started playfully wrestling together without any restraint. Cao Aiqing and Bai Tingting exchanged a glance, and then, as if on cue…

"throat……"

"puff……"

"Hahahahahaha..."

Time seemed to rewind to many years ago at this moment, and the two boys' playful fight finally subsided amidst the laughter of the two girls.

Xue Yong straightened his collar, which He Tianran had ruffled, caught his breath, and looked up at the winding mountain path, suddenly feeling a surge of emotion:

"Speaking of which, how long has it been since we last came here together? It seems like it was during our senior year of high school, on our autumn outing. Tingting sprained her ankle that time, and I carried her all the way. She's been thinking about me ever since."

"Pah, pah, pah! What are you saying, Xue Yong? You can't talk nonsense in a place like this!" Bai Tingting, having been exposed, quickly covered her mouth. Xue Yong said in a muffled voice:
"It's the truth, what kind of nonsense is this... um~ um~"

The writer seemed a bit confused, which didn't quite match his memory.

"You two... got together so early?"

"They got together in college. Xue Yong was talking about the first time Tingting developed feelings for him..."

Cao Aiqing, who knew He Tianran's situation, gently explained it to him.

Xue Yong finally managed to break free from Bai Tingting's grasp, and probably didn't hear He Tianran's question earlier. The group slowly entered the mountain gate and stepped onto the stone steps.

When are you two planning to get married?

The writer had met Xue Yong once before and remembered that the other party mentioned that if he had a son, he would name him "Xue Yingxiong" (Hero Xue). However, it had been a while since their last meeting, and the writer had not received any news about the wedding. The writer assumed that given their friendship, the other party would definitely inform him when the time came.

When this topic came up, Xue Yong, supporting his wife's arm, seemed prepared for the question:
“We got our marriage certificate a long time ago. As for the wedding, let’s wait until Tingting has finished having the baby. Anyway, you’re definitely going to give us a wedding gift. I was also thinking of telling you that you two should both be our best man and maid of honor.”

He Tianran nodded. Pregnancy before marriage is quite common among urban men and women these days, and most of them get married because of pregnancy. However, judging from how loving Xue Yong and Bai Tingting are, marriage is only a matter of time.

Bai Tingting was pregnant and climbed the mountain slowly. She hadn't even walked for ten minutes when He Tianran and Cao Aiqing, though deliberately slowing down, had already waited for her several times ahead. Bai Tingting felt quite embarrassed, saying that she had never found climbing mountains so strenuous before. Xue Yong laughed beside her:
"A good woman doesn't dwell on past glories, okay?"

Seeing his wife about to hit him again, Xue Yong quickly begged for mercy, changed the subject, and pointed to a fork in the road ahead:
"Thank goodness we didn't take that old path. It's all stone steps, and very steep. I, Old Xue, have a family to support now, and Tingting is quite heavy. I definitely wouldn't dare let her climb those thousand steps..."

At this point, Xue Yong's not-so-large eyes darted slyly over He Tianran and Cao Aiqing, his true intentions revealed:

"As for you two... you're both strong and healthy, walking on those flat roads is so boring, why don't you revisit that old road from back then? I remember during our autumn outing, you two got separated and ran off to that old road without permission. You two, all alone together, tsk tsk, Director He, all the boys in our class were so envious of you back then~ How about it, do you two want to revisit that place?"

"Is that so?"

The memory is probably too distant for the "writer" to recall, but if it were related to Cao Aiqing, he should have some recollection of it...

He looked at the girl beside him, trying to get confirmation from her, but she was also frowning slightly, as if searching her memory...

"You two, are you sure you've forgotten? Or... am I remembering wrong?"

Looking at their expressions, Xue Yong really doubted whether there was something wrong with his memory. After all, he had repeated his senior year of high school for several years and had been to Quanling Temple for autumn outings several times. Every year he came with different senior high school classmates, so it was only natural that he would get confused.

However, Bai Tingting, standing to the side, understood perfectly. Knowing that her best friend and He Tianran might have had some recent disagreements, she saw this as a perfect opportunity to create a moment of solitude for the two of them. So, she went along with it and chimed in:
“Yes, yes, we can split up and go our separate ways. We’ll walk slowly so we won’t keep you from getting ahead. Besides, I’ve heard that the old road has the best scenery. As the old books say, ‘A winding path leads to a secluded spot, where a Zen room is surrounded by flowers and trees.’ You design students and artists will definitely love that kind of atmosphere.”

He Tianran saw through it but didn't say anything, only turning his head to look at Cao Aiqing.

The girl still held the string of bright red candied hawthorns in her hand. The mountain wind ruffled the hair at her temples, and she gently tucked it behind her ear. Her eyes were fixed on the ancient stone steps leading into the deep mountains, her expression unreadable.

What's the point of just walking?

Seeing that neither of them objected, Xue Yong became even more enthusiastic and made the decision directly:
"How about we have a race? Although we walk slower, our path is easier; you walk faster, but it's all steps, winding and tiring. Let's use the incense burner at the temple entrance as the finish line and see which team gets there first!"

"Want to compete again?" He Tianran raised an eyebrow. "What's the stake?"

"Is that even a question? Whoever loses has to treat everyone to the vegetarian lunch at the temple! The vegetarian food at Quanling Temple is absolutely amazing. The prices have gone up a lot in recent years, so who else would we rip off if not the big spenders?"

Xue Yong chuckled, as if victory was already assured.

He Tianran smiled helplessly, turned to look at Cao Aiqing beside him, and unconsciously softened his tone, adding a hint of inquiry:
"How about it? Want to take a gamble?"

Cao Aiqing withdrew her gaze, her eyes falling on him, then glancing at the untouched candied hawthorn in her hand, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Why wouldn't you dare to invite someone to dinner?"

Her voice was clear and crisp, carrying a hint of girlish playfulness and competitiveness.

"Alright! It's settled then!"

Xue Yong laughed loudly, helped Bai Tingting walk towards the new path on the right, and before leaving, he turned back to wink at He Tianran and mouthed, "This is all the help I can give you, brother!"

He Tianran looked at the backs of the boisterous yet affectionate couple, shook his head, and turned to the left at the bluestone steps that had been polished smooth by time.

"Let's go?"

He put his hands back into his jeans pockets and looked at Cao Aiqing.

The girl nodded, took a step, and stepped onto the first step first. He Tianran subconsciously lagged behind by half a step to catch up.

This is the "old road" leading to Quanling Temple, the road they walked side by side that autumn when they were seventeen years old.

At that time, their relationship was one of tentative exploration and youthful excitement.

Is it still the same now?
The wind in the forest rustled through the pine needles, scattering dappled sunlight.

That half-step distance is like an invisible boundary, separating memory from reality.

The silence ten years ago was the girl's bitterness, the embarrassment after being teased, the head bowed forward, and the heartbeat hidden in her clothes for fear of being heard; while the silence ten years later is the secret that adults keep to themselves, unable to speak out, an unspoken understanding about the present.

He Tianran gazed at the slender yet upright figure in front of him, watching the string of bright red candied hawthorns in her hand sway gently beside her plain trench coat.

At this moment, there are no accomplished directors, no heirs who need to carefully navigate the process, and no conflicts or confusion between personalities...

At this moment, only a man and a woman, temporarily "out of touch" with the real world, embark on a winding road that belongs only to them, under the watchful eyes of all the gods and Buddhas, a road that is divided into sections of light and shadow along the way.

The road is difficult and winding, but as long as we keep walking and walk together, the journey always seems exceptionally gentle. (End of Chapter)