Yang Yutao took his friends back to the city in the afternoon, and Xiao Yi had made up his mind to follow them. Before that, however, he had some stops to make.
He stood in front of the small bookstore with a sore feeling in his chest. Its brick walls were obviously old, needing pressure washing, but it still looked unmistakably cozy as if the harsh environment outside had no reach inside.
The door swung open before he could reach for the handle, and the old lady crossed her arms as she took in his appearance.
His eyes softened, perhaps for the first time since meeting this cranky old woman. He realized that he had forgotten her name after calling her old so many times.
After a moment, she said. "You're leaving."
Xiao Yi's eyebrow rose, just like it had when she told him he looked like he needed a job when he first moved here. Sometimes, he felt like this was the reason that her bookstore was still running despite the low foot traffic. It was because she had the ability to read people.
He nodded. "I'll be back, though."
Her eyes glanced over him. "A lot of people say that."
"I'll miss Mr. Li's cooking too much."
"That's all you'd miss?"
"What else?"
She reached up her hand to point at him, and Xiao Yi tilted his head with a loose smile, stating. "I might miss you too, but I didn't want you to let it get to your head…"
She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and countered. "Now you're just saying that so you won't get beat."
Xiao Yi shrugged. "I didn't want to get beat today."
After ten quick minutes of bantering, Xiao Yi was shoved out of the alley with an arm full of food. She had set him up with Jinhua ham, dumplings, and sweet rice balls that she had made earlier that day, and Xiao Yi practically cradled them like it was a newborn child as he walked home.
She had won him over with sesame balls when he showed up.
He didn't rush home. Instead, he visited some of the local shops, took a trip through the park near his apartment, and bought himself some soju before going back to his apartment, simply reminiscing in this little town that he only found by running away from home.
Xiao Yi would have never guessed that he'd find himself thinking of this small town as his home. It was completely different from the place he'd grown up, a wealthy neighborhood where his neighbors were a mix of politicians, businessmen, and even the odd celebrity. They were the type of people who had more than one vacation home, and even separate residences in larger cities. Hence, it was quite quiet.
When he moved in with Chen Qiang, he was still living in the gated community, just a few roads down.
Then, they moved to their company building, which was within walking distance of anything they needed, surrounded by large apartment buildings whose residents were non-the-wiser to the esports team being right there.
Finally, he lived in the apartment with Xiao Qiu, in the middle of yet another city.
This town was different. There were only two buses that showed up per day, one in the morning and one in the evening. With no large taxi or cab services available, one either needed to rely on their neighbors with cars or hope the local taxis weren't fully booked.
It didn't matter to those who could walk well, but while the cities were bustling with young adults, most of the residents here were past 30 years old, many approaching retirement or retired, so most of the businesses and apartments were clustered together, as were many of the homes. It would only take an hour to walk from one side of the town to the other if you walked a straight path at a leisurely pace.
But the air was fresh, the rivers were clean, and you'd find someone willing to drown you in hour-long conversations at every corner you turned.
It was hard not to fall in love with it.
After Xiao Yi ate, he locked up the apartment and walked to the bus stop without a bag in sight. While waiting for the bus, he sent a voice note to his brother. "Coming back tonight."