Wutumeiren Township

"Driver, Wutumeiren stop." Chen Mengchuan looked at the familiar place drawing ever closer ahead.

"Got it~~"

Zhao Wanyu looked at the desolation around them and asked, "Are we there?"

"Almost. It's just up ahead." Chen Mengchuan nodded.

After taking a wide bend and crossing a canal bridge, the bus slowly came to a stop.

Chen Mengchuan slung his backpack on and dragged down the large bag of supplies he had bought from the vocational school.

Zhao Wanyu also struggled down with her large bag. Looking around, she saw only a few scattered buildings and figures along the roadside where the bus had stopped. The other side of the road was nothing but barren wasteland.

"What was this place called again?" Zhao Wanyu asked, pretending to stay calm.

"Wutumeiren Township." Chen Mengchuan set down the large bag in his hand and looked toward several houses to the north.

"Watch the bags here. I'll go find someone," Chen Mengchuan instructed.

Though Zhao Wanyu was nervous, she obediently murmured, "Mm," and stood by the roadside.

He found a nearby courtyard with its gate wide open and walked in.

"Sir, is anyone home?"

"Who is it?" An old man emerged from inside the house.

"Uncle, I'm taking some things to Balagetu. It looks pretty far, so I'd like to borrow a vehicle from you and ask for a ride," Chen Mengchuan said with a smile, handing him a cigarette and lighting it for him.

"Balagetu? That's over ten li away. What are you delivering, kid?" The old man took a drag.

"Some notebooks and pens for the children, plus drawing supplies. There are a lot of notebooks, and they're heavy. They're all outside by the road," Chen Mengchuan said with a smile.

"Sure. Wait here, I'll have my son take you." The old man grinned.

"Uncle, how much should I pay you?"

The old man waved his hand and smiled. "Pay for what? Do you charge the children for the notebooks and pens you bring them?"

"Of course not," Chen Mengchuan said with a smile.

"Then why would I charge you? Wait here." The old man went back inside. Before long, a young man in a sheepskin coat came out, fastening his belt as he walked.

"Brother, get on. I'll take you." The young man nimbly climbed onto the tractor in the courtyard, pulled out the crank, and started it with two quick turns.

The tractor was small. Chen Mengchuan climbed into the trailer and set down his backpack and handbag.

Once they drove out of the courtyard to the roadside, Chen Mengchuan called to Zhao Wanyu, "I'm heading into the mountains. Are you still coming?"

"I'm not afraid of you," Zhao Wanyu said.

"Miss, you're really pretty. Are you from the city?" The young man jumped down and smilingly helped Zhao Wanyu load her large bag and luggage into the tractor trailer.

Chen Mengchuan also struggled to lift his large bag into the trailer.

"Brother, I've got it." The young man helped Chen Mengchuan hoist the bag up in one go.

The two stood in the trailer as the tractor chugged away, soon turning onto a dirt road to the southeast.

The tractor moved at a fair speed. After half an hour, it entered a village made up of several dozen households and stopped by the roadside.

"Brother, we're here." The young man cut the engine, walked to the trailer, and helped unload everything.

Chen Mengchuan took out a hundred-yuan bill and handed it to him. "Take this."

Though the young man clearly wanted the hundred yuan, he still shook his head. "If my father finds out, he'll break my legs."

"Take it. Help me carry this bag inside, and call it your wages. All right?" Chen Mengchuan smiled. The more desolate the place, the more simple and honest its people seemed to be.

"Brother, I'll carry it in for you, but I don't dare take your money." With that, he lifted the bag onto his shoulder and headed into the village.

Chen Mengchuan put his backpack on and followed. Though Zhao Wanyu was uneasy about the mountain village, she gritted her teeth and followed behind Chen Mengchuan.

As he entered the village, more and more of Chen Mengchuan's memories slowly awakened.

The three arrived outside the gates of a large courtyard. A big wooden sign hung above the entrance, bearing six words: "Balagetu Primary School."

The gate stood open. Chen Mengchuan lingered outside in a daze. After taking a deep breath, he walked in, followed by the young man carrying the large bag and Zhao Wanyu.

Seeing visitors arrive, a young woman stopped teaching inside one of the schoolrooms and came out.

"Hello."

She had short black hair, a somewhat slender frame, sun-darkened skin, and beneath her warm smile were a pair of resolute eyes.

Chen Mengchuan froze for a moment. It was as though he had crossed through different times and spaces to see her again, and his gaze held countless complicated emotions.

"Hello. I'm Ayase Sonoko, a teacher at Balagetu Primary School. It's a pleasure to meet you." Ayase Sonoko gave the three of them a ninety-degree bow.

"Teacher Sonoko, they came to bring notebooks and pens." The young man set the large bag down from his shoulder.

"You're from Japan?" Zhao Wanyu stared in astonishment as she shook Ayase Sonoko's hand. She clearly found it hard to imagine that a young Japanese woman would come to teach in such a remote mountain village.

Ayase Sonoko smiled and nodded at Zhao Wanyu, then turned her gaze toward the silent Chen Mengchuan.

"I'm Ayase Sonoko. Please take care of me."

A slender hand reached out before him, causing Chen Mengchuan's two sets of memories to merge together.

"I'm Chen Mengchuan. Please take care of me..." Countless chaotic images, good and bad, happy and unhappy, surfaced in Chen Mengchuan's mind. He looked completely stunned.

Though surprised by the man's expression and emotions, Ayase Sonoko was still very happy. The bag contained many notebooks and pens, as well as large sheets of white paper, paint, and paintbrushes.

"Please wait here a moment!" Ayase Sonoko happily told the three of them, then ran back into the classroom and said something to the dozen or so children inside.

Soon, all the children poured out. They lined up neatly from tallest to shortest, then each walked up to Chen Mengchuan and Zhao Wanyu.

"Thank you, Uncle and Auntie!" After saying that, the child gave Chen Mengchuan a deep bow.

"Thank you!" Chen Mengchuan's eyes stung, and he gave the child a deep bow in return.

Zhao Wanyu immediately followed suit and bowed back as well.

"Thank you, Uncle and Auntie!" Bow.

"Thank you!" Bow.

"..."

"Thank you, Uncle and Auntie~" When the last child in line, a three-year-old, bowed to them in a babyish voice, Zhao Wanyu was already crying uncontrollably.

"Thank you!" Chen Mengchuan returned a proper, solemn bow.

"Everyone, open them up and see what gifts Uncle and Auntie brought for you!" Ayase Sonoko happily told the children.

"Woo~~!" A burst of cheers rose from the courtyard.

Looking at Ayase Sonoko, smiling like a camellia blossom, and the children, as happy as if it were New Year's, Chen Mengchuan felt as though his heart had been filled to the brim.

Standing beside him, Zhao Wanyu looked at Chen Mengchuan, Ayase Sonoko, and the children, remembering what Chen Mengchuan had said on the plane: "Someone very important to me."

Who was it? Ayase Sonoko? But they clearly seemed not to know each other.

As noon approached, at Ayase Sonoko's insistence, all three of them stayed and had lunch with the children.

The children had brought their own lunches, while the meals for the four adults had been shared out by villagers who came after hearing the news.

Simple aluminum lunchboxes held small portions of diced cured pork over rice, corn buns, dried pickled vegetables, stir-fried pickled radish with egg, and mountain herb soup.

Chen Mengchuan ate quietly.

"Auntie, you can have this." A little boy ran over and placed a piece of cured pork into Zhao Wanyu's lunchbox.

"Auntie, you can have mine too..."

"Auntie, don't cry..."

"Auntie, don't cry. You can have mine..."

As Zhao Wanyu ate, tears kept falling with soft plops.

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