Su Qingran was startled, then shook her head. “No, I haven’t.”

She felt a little embarrassed. “I looked up information and watched some documentaries.”

Pei Jingyan replied, “I traveled part of it three years ago. Starting from Luoyang, passing through Dunhuang, arriving in Shanshan, Xinjiang, and then crossing the Congling Mountains to the ancient country of the Yuezhi. I went with a caravan on a self-drive trip.”

Four years ago, he realized that his feelings for Su Qingran were not brotherly but romantic. But at that time, Su Qingran was about to take her college entrance exams, so Pei Jingyan decided to wait until she finished to confess his feelings.

Unfortunately, when her exams were over, Su Qingran got together with Jiang Chenlin almost without hesitation.

He still didn’t like recalling how he felt back then.

It was around that time that a friend organized a trip along the Silk Road, so he joined.

Back then, he never would have imagined that one day he’d be sitting beside Su Qingran, sharing his experiences with her.

As Pei Jingyan shared his story, Su Qingran listened carefully. Time passed without them noticing, and she had filled two more pages in her inspiration notebook.

Today, neither of them mentioned the three-day deadline for an answer, but at 8:00 p.m., Su Qingran sent him a message: “Mr. Pei, I’ve made my decision. I’ll be working in the studio tonight. Come see me tomorrow morning.”

Pei Jingyan held his phone and stared at her message for a long time.

His eyes felt hot, and he kept typing the same few words wrong, rewriting them several times—“Alright, I’ll be there at nine in the morning.”

He held his phone and leaned back in his office chair, his household registration book sitting beside him, something he’d been carrying around these past few days.

After a while, he sent her another message: “Don’t stay up too late; otherwise, you’ll have dark circles in the photos.”

After receiving Pei Jingyan’s first message, Su Qingran returned to her carving.

She wasn’t working on the Loulan three-color stone but rather finishing the Heart Sutra pendant.

She planned to give it to him as a wedding gift tomorrow.

Two hours later, she completed the empty space on the pendant in one go.

When she picked up her phone, she saw the message from Pei Jingyan.

She had planned to stay up late working on the Loulan stone, but his message made her set everything aside and go wash up obediently.

After all, the photos at the marriage bureau couldn’t be edited. She didn’t want to have dark circles on her marriage certificate.

After washing up, she replied to him, “I’m going to bed now.”

He replied, “Good. Goodnight.”

Su Qingran closed her eyes, feeling exhausted yet unable to sleep.

In the final moments of the third day, she had made a significant decision for her future.

Lu Ruolan had asked her why she had changed her mind and decided to agree.

She told Lu Ruolan that it was because she could hold her carving tools again.

After Jiang Chenlin hurt her, her mind went blank, and she couldn’t hold her tools, which made her feel frightened and lost.

But after tasting the chestnuts Pei Jingyan gave her, she realized that things weren’t as bleak as they seemed. Her life had other options all along.

Her inspiration had returned.

Slowly, Su Qingran drifted into sleep.

*

The next morning, Su Qingran was woken up by the sound of thunder and lightning.

Despite it being winter, a sudden heavy rainstorm hit Beijing.

The rain came suddenly, with intense downpour starting around 7:00 a.m., and the rainfall quickly exceeded 30 mm in a short time. Although Beijing’s drainage system has improved over the years, it couldn’t handle this kind of onslaught, and soon the city’s drainage system was overwhelmed, causing flooding in many areas.

In the worst-hit areas, the water was almost up to car hoods.

At 8:00 a.m., Su Qingran looked out at the rising water outside Beichen Street and frowned.

They were in a commercial area, and although the sidewalk had a bit of elevation, it was only a matter of time before the rainwater spread.

Sure enough, although the rain was gradually easing up, the water continued to rise, soon covering the sidewalk and inching towards the shops.

Su Qingran kept an eye on the news, not too worried about her studio flooding since the water was unlikely to reach that level. But there were some items on the ground that she needed to move ahead of time.