2:30 p.m.
The flight from Rong City to Yancheng landed smoothly.
"Welcome to Yancheng International Airport. The current outdoor temperature is minus one degree Celsius. Passengers, please keep warm..."
A sweet announcement played through the speakers overhead.
It was already the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, and returning workers packed the arrivals hall to the brim.
People pushing luggage carts, holding up pickup signs, and hurrying along with their heads down and earphones in...
Everyone was bundled up tightly, streaming outside at varying paces.
Cheng Qiuqiu pulled her pink suitcase as she slowly emerged from the crowd.
She found a corner near the floor-to-ceiling window and stopped.
Raising her phone, she took a photo of the winter sunlight filtering in through the window and the suitcase at her feet.
Thought for a moment, then lowered her head and carefully typed a few words into a WeChat chat box: "I'm back in Yancheng."
Just as she was about to hit send—
"Ding ding ding~ ding ding ding~"
Tang Song's WeChat voice call invitation popped up first.
Cheng Qiuqiu's eyes lit up. She immediately answered and pressed the phone tightly to her ear.
"Hello..."
"Landed?"
"Mm, I was just about to get a taxi home." She instinctively raised her voice, as if afraid the announcements and chatter around her would drown it out. She hadn't told Ling Ling or her senior beforehand that she was coming back this time.
Mainly because she didn't want to trouble them.
Yancheng International Airport was too far from downtown. Driving back and forth would take two hours.
During the New Year, there was really no need for that.
"How late was the flight?"
"Ten minutes."
"Did you eat?"
"I did. I had Kung Pao chicken with rice on the plane for lunch." She paused,