After March, as the temperature warmed up, the number of urban visitors to the village nearby gradually increased. Most of them came by car, some came in the morning and left at night, and some stayed for one or two days. The guest houses were no longer vacant, some were even too busy, and Du Yunyan hired two young people from the village to work during the day.

Noon was the busiest time because not only would the guests dine in the inn, but also some day-trippers might come for a meal. Du Yunyan often waited until the inn quieted down and the staff had finished lunch before he could eat something.

“Boss,” a newcomer, Du Hong, pulled aside the kitchen door curtain, “A guest on the phone asked if there are any double rooms available, can they be arranged in the room on the second floor?”

Du Yunyan was making strawberry jam. He turned down the fire a bit and turned his head, saying, “You tell them, for now, there are only standard rooms available.”

“But what if they’re not willing?” Du Hong was straightforward, with some doubt not concealed, “Isn’t that room also a guest room? Why leave it empty?”

“Just do as I said,” Du Yunyan didn’t explain, “If they’re not willing to stay, then forget it.”

“Okay.” At this point, Du Hong didn’t want to say more, so he returned to the front desk to answer the phone.

The strawberries in the stainless steel pot were being cooked down under continuous heating and stirring, losing their original shape, waiting to be completely boiled down into a thick jam. While waiting, Du Yunyan’s phone, placed on the nearby cluttered shelf, beeped once.

Gu Wenxi sent a new message.

Twenty days ago, this person sent him a voice message, roughly saying that he had sold himself to his own company for a month, with some complaints and a somewhat cheerful tone. The last sentence was “By then, I can come find you.”

Du Yunyan wasn’t sure if Gu Wenxi would change his mind after a month, but the room he once stayed in had always been kept empty, and no other guests had been received since.

Du Yunyan added some lemon juice to the pot, turned off the fire, and began typing on his phone’s WeChat interface.

---

After starting work, Gu Wenxi was too lazy to cook for himself again. Being alone didn’t give him much motivation, and he got tired of both restaurants and takeout. He almost went to his father’s house to eat every day.

As usual, he went home on Friday afternoon. When parking, he sent a message to Du Yunyan. After entering the second-floor room, he received a reply. The tone of the message was like a work summary.

“These two days have been warm. The backyard has been turned over and new vegetables have been planted. Two guests left at noon, but a family of three came over to spend the weekend here. In the afternoon, I cleaned the rooms and prepared dinner ingredients. I made strawberry jam, very sweet, suitable for breakfast with bread.”

The day he agreed to Gu Yuching’s condition, Gu Wenxi left a message to Du Yunyan on WeChat. Du Yunyan didn’t ignore him again, just simply reminded him in text, “Work hard.”

Gu Wenxi mainly dealt with foreign trade business at the company, which wasn’t particularly easy. When he had free time, he still liked to send messages to Du Yunyan, mostly voice messages. Du Yunyan only replied with text, and each reply was very brief.

Once, Gu Wenxi protested, “Why do you never send more than ten words each time?”

Du Yunyan asked him, “What should I say then?”

“Anything will do. You can also tell me what you do every day.”

Since then, Du Yunyan’s message style had become “work log-style”. The number of words had increased, but they were all just a rundown, without any ambiguous signals, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Gu Wenxi lay on the bed, said a few more words to his phone, and suddenly the door of the room was pushed open, bringing in a slight breeze.

“Ge, why did you come back so early?” With the door half open, Gu Wenheng walked in directly.

“Afternoon field work, got off early,” Gu Wenxi saw it was him, turned his head away again, “What about you? No more classes?”

“Yeah, otherwise, how could I be back? “I want to borrow your English dictionary.”

“Sure,” Gu Wenxi pointed to the bookshelf, “There are several kinds, just pick one.”

Gu Wenheng took one down from above, glanced at Gu Wenxi who had just put down his phone, staring into space, his expression different from usual. Curiously, he asked, “Ge, do you have something on your mind?”

“What?” Gu Wenxi said absentmindedly, “What could I have?”

“Why would you want to go to some mountain out of the blue…” This matter was not a secret at home, Gu Wenheng was just once again refreshed by his brother’s unconventional behavior, “Are you out of your mind?”

“I…” Gu Wenxi turned over, changing from a lying position to a sitting one, still casually saying, “finding myself, returning to my true self, is that not okay?”

Gu Wenheng made a motion as if he were about to vomit, he absolutely didn’t believe that Gu Wenxi, a typical Sagittarius, would pursue those metaphysical things: “Why don’t you say it’s for the olive tree in your dreams?”

“If I said that, would you believe it?”

“I don’t even believe your current explanation. You’re just trying to fool Dad, but you can’t fool me,” Gu Wenheng looked at him thoughtfully, “Ge, are you…”

Gu Wenxi became impatient with his hesitation, raising his head, “Am I what?”

Gu Wenheng tiptoed to the door, peeked outside, saw no one, gently closed the door, then returned to his side, “You haven’t gotten yourself into some romantic situation out there, have you?”

Gu Wenheng was indeed quite sharp. Gu Wenxi narrowed his eyes, contemplating whether to tell the truth in front of him.

But he kept silent, which made Gu Wenheng more certain, “Alright, I won’t tell anyone else.”

“You promise?”

“Of course,” without waiting for Gu Wenxi to remind him, Gu Wenheng raised his right hand, “I promise not to tell Mom and Dad, not to tell Aunt Mei, and not to tell classmates or strangers…”

“Alright, I believe you,” Gu Wenxi gestured for him to sit down, then put his hand on his shoulder, “This matter… it’s what you think it is.”

“Have you really gotten together with someone outside?”

“Not yet,” Gu Wenxi shook his head a few times, “but I’m planning to.”

“So you haven’t even started yet?” Gu Wenheng sneered, “Are you sure you’re not acting on impulse?”

Gu Wenxi was displeased, “Don’t say such discouraging words. Do you think I’m someone who rushes to give affection to others?” Although the WeChat communication with Du Yunyuan was perfectly normal, the change in his attitude was obvious.

“If you’re not, why hasn’t that girl come to find you?” Gu Wenheng half-joked, then worried, “I don’t care, but are you sure Dad won’t faint with anger if he finds out you’re pursuing someone?”

“So you better keep your mouth shut, and wait until I’m on the right track before saying anything.”

Gu Wenxi’s idea was to prove to his father that he could independently adapt to the life he chose. Gu Wenheng obviously misunderstood, tentatively asking, “Are you planning to force Dad to agree by making the first move?”

“What move…” Gu Wenxi was stunned for two seconds, his face turning red, “Forget it, how much brain-dead drama have you watched?”

“As long as it’s not that, I almost thought I was going to be an uncle…” Seeing the other’s unfriendly expression, he immediately changed his tone, “Hey, what kind of person is the prospective sister-in-law you found?” After all, he hadn’t seen Gu Wenxi truly interested in anyone before, so he was curious.

Gu Wenxi raised his eyebrows, “Want to know?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not telling you,” Gu Wenxi lightly pushed his approaching shoulder, “You haven’t even confessed about your secret girlfriend!”

Gu Wenheng was slightly flustered, glanced at the tightly closed door, “You’re changing the subject.”

“I want you to understand that this is a secret,” Gu Wenxi’s right index finger was placed on his lips, “You’ll meet them when the time is right.”

“So mysterious,” Gu Wenheng still didn’t understand, but there was a proper distance between the brothers, they wouldn’t pry into each other’s secrets too deeply, “You’re not falling for some fox spirit, are you?”

“It’s not a fox spirit,” Gu Wenxi smirked playfully, “It has to be a fairy at least.”

Gu Wenheng looked at his brother’s beaming face, feeling a chill run down his spine.