This time, Gu Wenxi’s luggage was much lighter than last time. According to the agreement with his father, the car he usually drove didn’t belong to him, so naturally, he couldn’t take it with him.

He boarded the train alone and arrived in the county after a night’s journey. He then took a minibus to the town and hailed a motorcycle back to the village. The journey wasn’t long, but it was tiring and troublesome. However, seeing the familiar village road, he felt a bit relieved.

The scenery had changed somewhat. When he left last time, the rapeseed fields at the foot of the mountain hadn’t blossomed yet, and the strawberry garden wasn’t as lively as it was now.

Gu Wenxi spotted Du Yunyan from a distance, just parting with someone from the village. He got off the motorcycle and caught up, stopping a few meters away, waiting for him to turn around slowly.

As the light flickered, he seemed to catch a glimpse of the smile hidden in Du Yunyan’s eyes and brows, but it disappeared in an instant.

When Du Yunyan turned around, the young man in front of him pushed the coffee-colored sunglasses resting on his nose up, and his slightly long bangs parted to the sides, revealing his forehead.

It had been a week since Gu Wenxi had sent messages less frequently. Du Yunyan didn’t expect to meet him under such circumstances. “When did you come?”

“I got on the train last night,” Gu Wenxi walked up to him, acting spoiled, “I returned the car to my family, so it was quite a hassle to come over. You have to take me in.”

Under the backlight, Du Yunyan squinted his eyes a bit, seeming to lower them slightly. “Why didn’t you ask me to pick you up?”

“So you still wanted to come and pick me up?” Gu Wenxi chuckled, “I guess all your previous attempts to persuade me to stay at home were fake, huh?”

“I didn’t expect you to really come,” Du Yunyan’s face turned slightly red from his nonchalant teasing, “If you had said so, I would have gone to pick you up.”

“Of course, I had to come! But you’ve been busy lately, so I didn’t want to bother you with this.” Gu Wenxi was afraid that he would lecture him again in the end, dampening his enthusiasm. So he decided to come without notice. However, Du Yunyan was more straightforward than he had imagined.

It was almost noon, the spring sun was shining brightly, and there was a warm atmosphere all around. Groups of tourists were standing in the flower bushes taking photos. Gu Wenxi scanned the area. “These flowers are really beautiful.”

“They only bloomed recently.”

Several bees flew past them one after another, and the two of them subconsciously slowed down their pace. Gu Wenxi’s gaze followed the bees as they flew into the flowers and then turned his head, meeting Du Yunyan’s eyes. “It’s the right time for me to come back, isn’t it?”

Du Yunyan was a bit absent-minded and nodded lightly after a moment’s pause. “Yeah.”

It had been another month since they parted after the drunken incident. After meeting again, it seemed like they seamlessly returned to the past, with only some subtle changes that were not easy to notice, like seeds sprouting and waiting to break through the soil.

“Hey, are there guests coming?” Du Hong saw his boss returning with a strange man and immediately assumed they were tourists.

Du Yunyan hadn’t figured out how to introduce him yet when Gu Wenxi spoke up, “I’m not a guest.”

“Not a guest?” Du Hong was surprised.

Although Du Yunyan looked a bit stiff, he didn’t deny it, so Du Hong took it as a fact and nodded in response. “Oh, no problem then.”

When Du Hong turned away, Gu Wenxi draped his arm around Du Yunyan’s shoulder and whispered softly, “Don’t worry, I’m not just here to work.”

Du Yunyan raised his elbow to push him away, but another employee asked, “Boss, should we prepare lunch now?”

“Okay, I’ll be right there.” He took out the key from behind the kitchen counter and handed it to Gu Wenxi. “You can rest upstairs for a while.”

Du Hong was surprised to find that the key in the boss’s hand was for the double bed room that had always been off-limits to guests.

After taking a shower and changing into a set of dark casual clothes, Gu Wenxi stood by the window and casually glanced outside. The new seedlings in the backyard had already grown a bit.

After briefly organizing his luggage, he appeared again in the ground floor dining area. With many customers coming in for lunch, the indoor space quickly filled up.

It was likely that they would need to add more tables at the entrance.

Although Gu Wenxi didn’t go into the kitchen, he helped with taking orders and serving dishes, and entertaining guests without any hesitation. He had a bit of the demeanor of a worker, and with his slick tongue, he made the diners happy, and those who originally complained about the long wait for their meals calmed their temper.

“Gu-ge, we’re out of shiitake mushrooms,” Du Yi, who worked with Du Hong, poked his head out from the kitchen, holding a list that Gu Wenxi had brought over.

“Okay, I’ll ask the customers if they want to change it to something else.” He walked towards the table that had just ordered.

Du Hong had been glancing over intentionally or unintentionally, starting to suspect Gu Wenxi’s identity. He took advantage of a break when Gu Wenxi was serving two dishes and quietly asked, “You’re not just here to work, are you?”

“What’s wrong? Don’t I look like it?”

“Not at all!” Du Hong whispered, “Even Yangyang and Beibei don’t bark at you.”

“Really?” Gu Wenxi had long forgotten how those two dogs scared him when they first met last year. “They’ve always been friendly!”

“That’s not true,” Du Hong quickly denied, “They’re very wary of strangers, sometimes the boss has to tie them up so the guests won’t be afraid.”

He looked Gu Wenxi up and down again. Although he seemed to be doing the work fine, he didn’t seem to belong to their category. After pondering for a few seconds, he suddenly realized, “Oh— are you Boss’ relative?”

“Haha,” Gu Wenxi couldn’t help but laugh when he heard this, “Why do you say that?”

“You look like a city person,” Du Hong said with a simple smile, “You came here to visit and help our boss, right? And the room you’re staying in was specially arranged by the boss. You wouldn’t get that treatment if you weren’t a relative, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Gu Wenxi was unaware of this, “That room was specially arranged?”

“Yeah, many people want to book the big bed room, but the boss only lets them use the one on the third floor,” Du Hong explained to Gu Wenxi, who looked completely clueless, “You didn’t know about this?”

“Of course I didn’t.” With Du Yunyan’s personality, there must be something fishy if he told him such things.

Gu Wenxi lowered his head and didn’t say anything more, but Du Hong became more convinced of his speculation. “The boss usually doesn’t have any company, so he should be happy to have relatives visit.” The young man liked to talk and kept chatting with Gu Wenxi about their work lately, and various city people he had encountered. “By the way, do you have any places you want to visit?”

“What?” Gu Wenxi looked up.

“You can’t just work when you visit relatives, right? Our place is very popular with tourists,” Du Hong said, then remembered something, “But you’ve probably been here before, right?”

“I only came last winter.”

“Winter isn’t very lively,” Du Hong, speaking as a local, introduced to him, “It might be a bit boring.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Hey,” his eyes lit up, “Starting tomorrow, we’ll have a temple fair here. Let the boss take you to see it? Me and Du Yi will help watch the inn.”

Then he started to feel embarrassed again, “I forgot, you city people probably aren’t interested.”

Gu Wenxi smiled, “Why wouldn’t I be interested?”

“The city is so lively, with a variety of things.” Du Hong blushed, “The goods and performances in the countryside can’t compare.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

Gu Wenxi felt a bit hopeful because of his words, not because he liked such bustling scenes, but because it was an opportunity to travel with Du Yunyan.