Nan Yu waited for Tan Linyuan in Jingbei for a week. They had phone calls in the meantime, and she basically knew the ins and outs of the whole story.
Tan Linyuan described it casually, but Nan Yu couldn't help but feel shocked. Yet more than that, she was silent.
Words of comfort got stuck in her throat. It seemed that no matter what she said would be too trivial and irrelevant.
In the face of extreme tragedy, there is no true empathy.
In what tone could she express her heartache and pity?
Maybe he didn't need it at all.
She was silent on the phone for a long time. Finally, she only asked, "When will you come back?"
Tan Linyuan was very calm. "I'll finish it soon and come back this weekend."
Nan Yu glanced at the calendar. There were still two days until the weekend.
After hanging up the phone, Nan Yu immediately booked a flight ticket to Jiangcheng.
Before leaving, she told Aunt Li to take good care of Little Chestnut. She would come back with Tan Linyuan as soon as possible.
Aunt Li saw her off at the door and told her not to worry about home. She could handle everything well.
Aunt Li said with a smile, "Husband and wife are birds in the same forest. They should face and bear things together."
Nan Yu said with a smile, "He's used to being strong in front of others and rarely shows weakness."
Aunt Li also smiled. "Even the hardest heart has its soft part. Aren't you that part to him?"
Nan Yu paused for a while before nodding with a smile.
She bought the earliest flight. She hardly brought any luggage. She just took a small handbag and boarded the plane.
When she landed, she could feel the obvious humidity and stuffiness different from Jingbei.
There was a layer of water on the ground. It seemed that it had just rained.
She took out her phone, turned it on, and called Tan Linyuan.
The moment the phone was connected, a hoarse "Hello" came from the other end.
Just this one word "Hello" told her his exhaustion.
Nan Yu was stunned at first. Then she tried to make her tone as brisk as possible. "Where are you?"
"I'm at..." Tan Linyuan stopped halfway. Suddenly, he noticed something was wrong. "Why do you ask?"
"Your location. Tell me."
Tan Linyuan was taken aback. His voice was almost helpless. "Yuyu, you don't need to come. Wait until I finish dealing with it and..."
"I'm already at Jiangnan Airport," Nan Yu said firmly. "You can continue with your work. I'll come to you."
Her tone was unshakable.
"At Jing'an Temple."
Nan Yu hung up the phone and directly got into a taxi by the roadside.
The taxi driver drove the car to the mountain road and then stopped.
Nan Yu knew that Jing'an Temple was in a more remote location. The car couldn't go any further. She had to walk there.
She paid the driver and got off the car.
She still remembered the way to Jing'an Temple, but the ground washed by the rain had become muddy.
Nan Yu held her phone and resisted the impulse to ask Tan Linyuan to pick her up.
She rolled up her trouser legs and stepped in carefully. The wet mud soon splashed onto her shoes.
Soon, her socks and trousers were also splashed.
Nan Yu still walked forward step by step. When she encountered a puddle, she stepped over it and chose to step on the hard stones.
Because she had been looking down at her feet, she didn't look up. Naturally, she didn't notice that a pair of eyes had been quietly watching her.
It wasn't until Nan Yu finally stepped on the cement open space in front of the temple gate that he let out a soft laugh.
Hearing the sound, Nan Yu immediately looked up.
In front of the temple gate, Tan Linyuan was wearing black clothes and black pants. He was looking at her with his arms folded.
He curved his lips. "Why didn't you let me pick you up? I could have carried you in."
When Nan Yu saw his face, although it had only been a few days since they last met, it felt like a lifetime.
There was stubble on his chin, and there were dark circles under his eyes, obviously showing that he hadn't had enough rest recently.
"Your shoes and trousers are dirty. There's no change of clothes for you in the temple," he said as he bent down to touch her socks. "Are they wet inside? Do you feel uncomfortable?"
Although he was so haggard and tired, the first thing he cared about was her.
Nan Yu's eyes couldn't hold back the tears anymore. The moment he stood up straight, she opened her arms and hugged him tightly.
There was a smell of the post - rain soil on him, as well as that familiar slightly bitter smell.
"What..." Tan Linyuan laughed. "Haven't seen me for a few days, and you miss me so much? You should have told me in advance. I would have gone to the airport to pick you up."
Nan Yu shook her head. It took her a long time to say, "Every time it's you who comes to see me."
"This time, it's my turn to come to see you."
Tan Linyuan paused for a moment. Then he also put his arms on her back and hugged her tightly.
"Do you feel sorry for me?" Tan Linyuan stroked her head. "Wasn't it you who said that feeling sorry for a man would bring bad luck for a lifetime?"
Nan Yu leaned against his chest and said in a muffled voice, "It wasn't me. It was Qu Jiaran who said that."
"Don't you agree?"
"I don't."
"Then tell me. How are you going to feel sorry for me?"
Hearing his casual tone, Nan Yu felt as if her heart was bleeding.
She felt that she had even come a bit late.
After the truth came to light, how had he spent these nights?
He was always like this, able to be calm and composed forever, as if nothing in the world could affect him.
But he was not a god after all.
Under that seemingly calm expression, there was too much disappointment and desolation hidden.
After a moment, Nan Yu adjusted her emotions and said, "I... I don't know what to say, but I think you need a hug now."
Tan Linyuan laughed out loud. "I'm not that delicate."
"It's different," Nan Yu said stubbornly. "It won't work with others. It has to be me."
She said it naively but also very straightforwardly.
"I think you need me."
In the mountain after the rain, the mountain wind felt cold on the body.
The moment she finished speaking, the whole mountain seemed to fall silent.
After a long time, Tan Linyuan let go of her and took her hand.
Nan Yu's voice was very soft, like an echo in the valley. "You've seen my most down - and - out side and know my whole life so far. You've accompanied me from my youth to my maturity. In front of you, I have no secrets. To be honest, I often feel lucky because of this, thinking that I'm extremely fortunate to meet such a man."
Seeing that the man was about to speak, she quickly said, "Wait until I finish."
So Tan Linyuan let her continue.
Nan Yu took a deep breath. She felt that the air in the mountain was a bit cold, and her throat became moist. "I used to feel scared because of this. I thought you were condescending. Yes, condescending. This is the gap in age and also in experience, a gap that I can't cross. I would feel insecure, thinking that you could always be in control of the overall situation, and everything was within your sight. I once thought that you were the sun in the sky shining on all things... But it's not like this now."
She looked up into his eyes. "It may be a bit presumptuous and even a bit self - conceited to say this: Even the sun needs its own stars, right?"
"You've always been taking care of me. This time, let me do it."
"Let me take care of you."