51: Chapter 51: Missed 51: Chapter 51: Missed Inside the bathroom, the sound of rushing water had already started.
Chen Hai gently twisted the doorknob.
It wouldn’t budge, the bathroom door was locked from inside.
“I never thought about locking the door when I showered, nor did I ever imagine that Lin Lan would take the chance to peek.”
“I trusted her so much, but she was still wary of me!”
“We’re all old classmates, we know each other so well, can there still be trust between people?”
Feeling gloomy, Chen Hai muttered to himself.
He had no other intentions, he was merely worried Lin Lan might not be able to reach her back, wondering if she needed help scrubbing it!
But now, he had gotten sentimental again!
Feeling resentful, Chen Hai returned to the bed and lay down directly.
“When Lin Lan comes out, I’ll turn into a brute and just take her…” Thoughts swirled in his mind, he silently considered.
Five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes…
Lin Lan dawdled, and still did not show up.
After being busy in Shuang State till past two in the morning, already weak, Chen Hai was completely exhausted and unknowingly, he had fallen deeply asleep.
When he woke up in the morning, it was around ten o’clock.
The sun was almost shining on his butt.
Inside the guest room, Lin Lan was nowhere to be seen.
[Chen Hai, I’ve left.
Seeing you sleeping so soundly, I didn’t have the heart to wake you.
My biological parents are coming to Liuyuan County today to take me to Yuedong.
Hope to see you again if fate allows…]
When he found this note on the bedside table, Chen Hai was somewhat dumbfounded.
“I’d earned some money, finally regained my confidence, and was ready to develop a good relationship with Lin Lan, how could she leave without a word?”
“Last night, when she came with me to the hotel, did she already have some preparations in mind?”
“In the bathroom, dawdling and never coming out, was it because she was too shy to make a final decision?”
“Damn, I’m worse than a beast, a great marriage opportunity, and I just missed it…”
Ideas flooded Chen Hai’s mind, and when he sorted out the rationale, he truly wished he could slap himself.
To tell the truth, Lin Lan had mentioned before that after the entrance exams, her parents would come to pick her up.
However, Chen Hai had never expected that Lin Lan’s parents would come so quickly.
The entrance exams had just ended, and they came to take Lin Lan to Yuedong.
Separated for over ten years, perhaps, they were eager to reunite with their daughter as soon as possible.
“Once back in Yuedong, Lin Lan should be called Yang Huilan!”
“Her father, not content with being a contractor, actually plans to build and sell houses?
Even created something called Guihua Garden!”
“As the houses are built, will anyone buy them?
I really don’t understand what these people from Yuedong think.”
“Lin Lan also told me to find her in Guihua Garden after going to Yuedong, when I finish several years of college, if I really have spare time to go to Yuedong, I don’t know if she will still remember me!”
Filled with regret, Chen Hai silently lamented.
He hadn’t even had the chance to give Lin Lan his pager number.
If she wanted to contact him, she’d probably only be able to do so by writing letters.
Separated by a thousand miles, and under these inconvenient circumstances, Chen Hai truly didn’t know if he would ever get the chance to meet Lin Lan again.
Every time he thought of these things, Chen Hai felt sick with depression, somewhat panicked.
In the afternoon, his cousin Sun Jinzhong had come over.
Apart from him, there was a young girl with him.
The girl was around eighteen or nineteen years old, fairly good-looking, but her makeup was a bit too heavy.
Despite being a local from Liuyuan County, this girl occasionally spouted a few Yuedong dialect phrases while talking.
While casually chatting with Chen Hai, Sun Jinzhong, the bastard, seemed to be showing off on purpose, hugging and cuddling with the girl as if they were glued together.
Such a disgraceful couple—disgracing their ancestors!
Chen Hai wanted to kick Sun Jinzhong a few times out of annoyance.
Luckily, Sun Jinzhong did not stay long, leaving in less than an hour with the girl.
The night was hazy, with a crescent moon hanging in the sky.
“Brown sugar rice cakes…” Li Hanchu walked along, carrying a pole with baskets through this dense night.
It was only around three or four in the morning, the surroundings were desolate, and shouting didn’t actually help.
Knowing this, he still shouted every now and then, mainly to bolster his own courage.
Making money wasn’t easy these days.
Today was the market day in Fengshu Town, and starting from Yanbei Village, he had to cover several dozen li to reach Fengshu Town early in the morning to sell his two baskets of rice cakes directly.
The journey through the nearby paddies felt most menacing during the dead of night.
Once he traveled beyond this stretch, the situation on the main road would improve significantly.
Technically, Li Hanchu could have first headed to the county seat before making his way to Fengshu Town, all along major roads, not needing to pass this area.
However, that would entail an extra four or five li, wasting much of his time.
“Brown sugar rice cakes…”
In the lowland below was farmland, a water channel connected the high ground to the other side; before reaching the channel, Li Hanchu shouted a few more times.
The channel, about a meter wide with a hollow middle for water flow, was still reasonably flat on top for walking.
However, predictably, the channel lacked any handrails.
A careless fall from a height of six or seven meters was enough to cause serious injury.
This type of channel was a product specific to an era, and in recent years, it had been largely abandoned.
Normally, when people passed here, they used the channel like a bridge.
“Cross this part of the channel, then a short distance further is the main road from the county to Fengshu Town.”
“If I’m lucky, by shouting along the way, I can sell at least a third of these two baskets of rice cakes.”
“Once I reach the market, I can then sell the rest without much pressure!”
Talking to himself, Li Hanchu continued to carry the baskets over the channel.
“Big brother, can you help me across?”
Just then, a rather pleasant female voice suddenly rang out near Li Hanchu’s ears.
Hearing someone call him, turning his head was a natural reaction.
At that moment, Li Hanchu felt a shiver in his heart, but he still instinctively stopped and looked back.