Xiao Xiao walked toward a large tree.
It was the same tree he had seen from the café earlier.
Beneath its enormous canopy, light and shadow dappled the ground.
The shifting patterns made the light seem to ripple before his eyes.
Xiao Xiao glanced at the picture the shopkeeper had sent him.
He dialed the number shown in it.
"Beep~ beep~ beep~"
"Beep—"
Xiao Xiao dialed again.
Meng Jixi tilted his head slightly. The shopkeeper had called back sooner than he'd expected.
Just as Master Xiao had said.
And they'd found the contact information the girl had left behind all those years ago.
So far, everything had gone smoothly.
All that remained was...
getting in touch with her.
After all these years, who knew whether the girl from back then had moved?
The picture the shopkeeper had sent showed a landline number.
The girl had still been young at the time, so presumably she hadn't had a cellphone of her own.
Meng Jixi smiled and shook his head at the thought that she'd come up with the idea of leaving the cloth doll she'd made at the general store—and then actually gone through with it.
What a clever girl.
The owner of that general store had been kind, too.
"Hello..."
The voice instantly brought Meng Jixi's wandering thoughts back to the present.
He quickly looked at Master Xiao.
The call had connected!
"Hello, is this Zhao An's home?"
An elderly woman answered.
Her hearing seemed to have grown poor.
"Huh? What did you say?"
the old woman called loudly. "I can't hear you."
Xiao Xiao raised his voice and repeated what he'd said.
"Zhao An?"
The old woman recognized the name. "An An?"
"Are you looking for An An?"
"She moved out a long