By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 24 I will come find you
After Yang Ting left, only Li Younan and Zhu Qingyue remained at their seats in the coffee shop.

The coffee was long gone, but the waiter was very thoughtful and gave the two of them free refills of lemon water.

Zhu Qingyue drank the free lemonade, which was probably freshly made and still very sour, but she found it somewhat sweet.

Just now, she suddenly confirmed two things.

The first thing is that Li Younan's ex-girlfriend doesn't seem to be all that great. She's not the kind of girl who dwells on things, and she wouldn't think there's something wrong with Li Younan just because she sees him with a girl who isn't as wonderful as she imagined.

The second thing was that the girl probably hadn't won Li Younan's heart. All his previous worries vanished at that moment.

In this way, all the logic becomes self-consistent.

Zhu Qingyue had overheard most of the conversation between Li Younan and Yang Ting. She was somewhat surprised because Yang Ting hadn't mentioned any of Li Younan's good points; she had only been telling Li Younan how important she was to him.

Could it be that she really can't see how good Li Younan is?
She tilted her head slightly, admiring Li Younan before her. He possessed the gentlemanly air of Leon Lai, and the hairstyle of Takeshi Kaneshiro; composure was his foundation, while his carefree and unrestrained nature seemed like a bonus. He could play the piano, take photos, and even stir-fry rice noodles that would whet her appetite. He also had a free spirit and a gentle personality.

He is like a mystery.

Zhu Qingyue wanted to know more and more about Li Younan.

But at that moment, Li Younan asked a question that Zhu Qingyue found somewhat of a mood killer.

"By the way, where's your little follower?"

Zhu Qingyue paused for a moment, then came to her senses. "You mean Gan Tian? She has something to do 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 towards the door and suddenly asked, "What kind of weather do you like best?"

Li Younan found it somewhat amusing. What kind of question was this? Between two people who knew nothing about each other but had become friends, it would be more reasonable to talk about experiences, universities, or even romantic relationships. But Zhu Qingyue's question was quite unexpected.

Li Younan glanced at Zhu Qingyue, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. He then remembered, oh right, this girl is an artsy type; anything an artsy girl thinks is reasonable.

Li Younan said, "It'll be a rainy day."

This answer clearly surprised Zhu Qingyue. "Why a rainy day?"

Li Younan's gaze became somewhat unfocused. He couldn't remember how old he was, probably four or five, but in any case, he was very young then.

It happened to be a rainy day. The mother held a large umbrella, pulling it very low so that not a single drop of rain would get on her son.

A father and son walked by in her field of vision; the father carried his son on his shoulders, and the son was holding an umbrella. That scene inexplicably filled Li Younan with envy.

He asked out of the blue, "Mom, when is Dad coming back?"

Li Younan couldn't remember her mother's expression at that time, only that her mother said, "When you count to 100 and the rain stops, Dad will come back. It has to be a heavy rain like this, when you can't see anything in the distance. When the rain stops, Dad will come back from a very, very far place."

From then on, Li Younan liked to stare blankly at the heavy rain.

Many girls at school had a crush on him, and everyone thought Li Younan really liked rainy days. Girls in their school days often have unrealistic fantasies, projecting all sorts of nonsensical ideas onto their idols.

The girls thought that Li Younan's love for rainy days was something to be celebrated.

so cool.

For no particular reason, it's just cool.

What no one knew was that Li Younan wasn't gazing at the heavy rain because he liked it; he was simply waiting for it to stop. He felt that once the rain stopped, a man would return from the horizon. Many years later, he learned it was a well-intentioned lie from his mother. His mother was probably somewhat bewildered at the time, because the day of his father's funeral was a very, very rainy day.

Li Younan lowered her head and said, "Because it was a rainy day when my dad passed away."

Zhu Qingyue was stunned for a moment, her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't distinguish whether "gone" meant deceased or departed. But either way, it was a wound that shouldn't be reopened.

Zhu Qingyue suddenly felt sorry for Li Younan and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Then she pointed to the camera on the table and said, "Could you take some pictures of me?"

Li Younan found it somewhat amusing and said, "Don't you dislike taking photos?"

Zhu Qingyue shook her head. "I just don't like posed photos, but I like being candidly photographed."

Li Younan picked up the camera, adjusted the settings, and said with a hint of amusement, "So, is this a staged photo or a candid shot?"

Zhu Qingyue lowered her head gently, and when she raised it again, her eyes became very bright, and her gaze softly rested on Li Younan's face.

Li Younan was stunned. He had never seen this look on Yang Ting's face before.

In a daze, he had already pressed the shutter.

Zhu Qingyue lowered her head the next moment. "I have to go back to the capital." She raised her head again and said earnestly, "I will come to find you!"

At this moment, Zhu Qingyue was as determined as if she were about to join the Party.

Li Younan paused for a moment, then slowly picked up the lemon water on the table, took a sip, and said, "Oh, okay."

The sun outside seemed even more scorching, baking the earth. Inside the café, the air conditioning provided a cool breeze, and at a corner table, a little girl nestled in her mother's arm, slowly falling asleep.

Li Younan opened the camera's preview interface. He hadn't taken many photos today.

The first few photos show Zhu Qingyue's hat being blown around, like a comic strip. As the hat flies up little by little, Zhu Qingyue's expression gradually changes from serene to panicked. Then she jumps up to grab the hat, her hair flying in the wind, and Li Younan captures every moment.

The following photos show Zhu Qingyue looking at the camera with gentle, tender eyes.

Looking at the photo, Li Younan could almost smell the gentle fragrance of her hair through the picture.

Li Younan remembered something her mother had said: "Always believe that good things will happen next."

Li Younan thought to himself, "Good things are already happening, aren't they?"
Zhu Qingyue looks so cute in the photos.

……

The next day, Li Younan said goodbye to Jing Chaoyi and drove his little cool car to his next destination.

At a highway service area, Zhu Qingyue sent a message saying she had arrived at the airport and also sent a picture of the airport. Li Younan then took a picture of the service area and sent it to her.

Li Younan's next stop is Lin'an City.

Throughout history, countless literary figures have left behind numerous well-known poems and famous lines in Lin'an, and West Lake alone is enough to make it famous.

However, Li Younan chose this place as his second stop not only because of the famous tourist attractions in Lin'an City, but more importantly because many of his classmates were here.

His reunion with Jing Chaoyi last time gave him a strong desire to see what his friends and classmates, whom he hadn't contacted in a long time, were like now.

(End of this chapter)