The car left the airport and merged onto the provincial road toward Jing County.
In the northern winter, the daylight was a cold white.
The poplars on both sides of the road were bare.
Beside the field ridges and along the ditches, patches of snow that had not fully melted still remained, dirty white and mottled.
Zhang Yan sat in the back seat, her body slightly curled up, her gaze fixed on the scenery outside the window.
She looked very quiet, but within that quiet was a taut, strained emotion.
Liu Qingning glanced at her several times before finally speaking softly. "Zhang Yan, are you okay?"
Zhang Yan came back to herself and quickly shook her head. "I'm fine."
Liu Qingning looked at her, paused, then asked, "Do you want me to go with you?"
"No." Zhang Yan bit her lip and said quietly, "I... I'm just going to meet some relatives here in Jing County and have a meal, that's all." "All right." Liu Qingning nodded. "Contact me anytime if anything happens. My home is over by Nanhuan Mining Construction Community, not far from here." For an occasion like a family gathering, she really was not suited to follow along.
"Thank you, Qingning."
Zhang Yan lowered her eyes, a complicated emotion in her gaze.
Before, in her eyes, Liu Qingning had always been someone high above her.
Beautiful, dazzling, smart—like the kind of person who would always stand at the very front of the crowd and would never bow her head.
But after truly spending time with her, she slowly realized that Liu Qingning was not actually as unapproachable as she had imagined.
On the contrary, she had a good sense of boundaries and was very gentle.
Just then—
"Ring, ring, ring."
Her phone suddenly rang.
Zhang Yan lowered