In the blink of an eye, it was early September, the season for grape harvest.

Every year at this time, Chen Xi and Fan Mingsu would go to Chen Mei’s orchard to help pick grapes.

This year, Fan Mingsu wanted to take Grandpa Guan to the orchard to lift his spirits.

Early in the morning, Qin Lie’s car was parked at the courtyard gate.

Chen Xi pushed the wheelchair out of the courtyard, bent down, and said in Grandpa Guan’s ear, “Grandpa Guan, today we’re going to Yang Guan Town to pick grapes and have barbecue tonight.”

Grandpa Guan was like a bundle of dry wood piled in the wheelchair, but his eyes were unusually excited.

He murmured, “Going on a trip, a trip.”

Fan Mingsu carried Grandpa Guan’s thermos and medicine, casually adding, “Let’s go to Beijing, to Shanghai.”

Qin Lie opened the rear car door and bent down to lift Grandpa Guan.

But Grandpa Guan looked up at him for a moment, then suddenly spoke with some unfamiliarity, “When did you come back?”

Qin Lie was momentarily confused. “What?”

Grandpa Guan murmured, “You’re busy, don’t worry about me.”

After saying this, he looked at a poplar tree by the gate and ignored Qin Lie.

Qin Lie looked at Chen Xi in bewilderment, but Chen Xi suddenly understood.

Grandpa Guan had mistaken Qin Lie for his son.

Fan Mingsu also heard it and patted Grandpa Guan’s shoulder.

She said loudly, “The child took the train all night to see you and hasn’t even eaten yet.”

Grandpa Guan stared at the poplar tree under the clear sky. After a moment, he couldn’t help but feel distressed and struggled to get out of the wheelchair.

He muttered, “I’ll make you yellow noodles.”

Qin Lie also belatedly understood and quickly supported Grandpa Guan’s shoulders.

He lowered his head and said, “Dad, sit still. I’m not hungry.”

Grandpa Guan sat back down properly, looked up at Qin Lie, and asked, “Is everything well at home?”

Qin Lie nodded, “Everything’s well.”

Grandpa Guan lowered his head and pondered for a long while, then slowly said, “This time, when you leave, take Sensen with you.”

Chen Xi’s heart ached, and she held the car door, saying, “Let’s go, it’s getting late.”

Qin Lie bent down and carefully lifted Grandpa Guan, placing him in the back seat.

They set off in the morning light.

Chen Mei’s family had ten acres of orchard, all planted with seedless white grapes.

Under the sunlight, clusters of green grapes hung from the vines like crystal-clear emeralds suspended overhead.

Chen Mei settled Fan Mingsu and Grandpa Guan under a grape trellis, then led Chen Xi and Qin Lie deep into the orchard.

Fan Mingsu and Grandpa Guan sat in lounge chairs with a small square table between them, holding grapes and tea.

She ate a grape – it was incredibly sweet. She thought this year’s grapes had grown better than in previous years.

Fan Mingsu suddenly said, “Sensen should stay with me from now on.”

Grandpa Guan became confused again, looking around and asking, “Did Shuping leave?”

This morning, he had mistaken Qin Lie for his son Shuping, and he was still thinking about it.

Fan Mingsu pointed to the endless grape orchard.

She said with a smile, “Shuping is picking grapes for you. Try one and see if it’s sweet.”

Grandpa Guan looked at the grapes on the small table, his eyes showing delight.

He plucked a grape and carefully put it in his mouth.

One bite, and the sweetness reached his heart.

Chen Xi stood under the grape trellis, smiled at Qin Lie, and said, “Watch carefully.”

She supported a heavy cluster of grapes with one hand and used small scissors to cut the vine with the other.

With a snip, a complete cluster of grapes fell into her hand.

Chen Xi squatted down and carefully placed the grapes in a plastic crate.

Qin Lie imitated Chen Xi and cut down a cluster of grapes.

“Is it fun?”

Chen Xi asked him with a smile.

Qin Lie glanced at Chen Mei’s figure in the distance, then quickly lowered his head and kissed Chen Xi’s lips.

He had been so busy these past few days, working almost non-stop, and hadn’t seen Chen Xi for several days.

Chen Xi smiled and nudged him with her elbow, “Get to work.”

She continued looking up to pick grapes.

Qin Lie smiled and continued working.

Sunlight filtered down through the dense leaves overhead, falling on their faces with autumn’s brightness.

Qin Lie turned his head and saw the fine down on Chen Xi’s face, which looked adorable in the sunlight.

He suddenly cleared his throat and said quietly, “This orchard is nice.”

Chen Xi hummed in agreement, working while smiling, “When I was little, I loved this season most. The adults would be busy picking grapes, and we kids would run wild in the orchard.”

“At night, we refused to sleep inside and insisted on sleeping in the shed with my uncle to watch the orchard. A light bulb hung from the shed’s eaves, and little insects and moths would fly around it in circles. We’d lie on mats telling ghost stories.”

“Every time we said we’d stay up all night, but every time we’d fall asleep without knowing how. My uncle would fan us all night to keep the mosquitoes away.”

Just then, children’s laughter came from outside the fence.

Chen Xi stopped working and was momentarily lost in thought.

For an instant, she thought she heard the laughter she had left in this courtyard as a child.

Qin Lie looked at Chen Xi and suddenly couldn’t help calling her name, “Chen Xi.”

“Hmm?”

Chen Xi turned around and looked at him with a bright smile.

Qin Lie suddenly wanted to say, “When we have children in the future, let them have this kind of childhood too.”

But just as the words reached his lips, his phone suddenly rang. He took it out and saw it was Wang Danyang calling.

Qin Lie answered the phone, and the conversation lasted nearly an hour.

Chen Xi picked grapes while half-listening to Qin Lie’s phone conversation.

Advertising, promotion, channels – Chen Xi felt like she was hearing about another world, a world separate from Dunhuang.

Without realizing it, she had picked two crates of grapes while Qin Lie was still talking.

When Qin Lie had called her name just now, Chen Xi had almost been tempted to say, “If there’s a future, shall we plant a grape orchard too?”

At this moment, Qin Lie’s voice was right beside her ear, but Chen Xi suddenly felt he was so far away, so far that they weren’t in the same world.

Chen Xi thought somewhat absent-mindedly, it was good she hadn’t said those words.

Compared to his Daybreak and his digital treasures, Chen Xi felt the future in her mind was simple to the point of being shabby.

Qin Lie finally hung up the phone and turned to see Chen Xi’s slightly absent expression.

“What are you thinking about?”

He bent down to pick up the scissors from the ground and reached up to support a cluster of grapes.

Chen Xi came back to her senses and continued with her work.

After a while, she said quietly, “Actually, you don’t need to come help. You’re already too busy with your affairs every day.”

Qin Lie placed the cut grapes in the plastic crate, walked up to Chen Xi, and looked down at her.

“Are you angry?”

His voice carried a trace of faint amusement.

Chen Xi stopped working and turned to look at Qin Lie.

She smiled, “I’m fine. Why would I be angry?”

After a moment of silence, Chen Xi said, “But there’s something I still need to tell you.”

Qin Lie raised his eyebrows slightly, “What?”

Chen Xi looked at him, her gaze calm, “Qin Lie, don’t become hesitant because of me.”

Qin Lie was slightly stunned, and his gaze toward Chen Xi became somewhat complicated.

Chen Xi said, “About returning to Beijing, don’t drag it out. When you decide to leave, just tell me, and we’ll break up cleanly.”

Qin Lie looked down at Chen Xi for a long time, silent.

Last night, he had dreamed of returning to Beijing. The moment he got off the plane, he was so busy his feet barely touched the ground, but his heart always felt like he was forgetting something.

In the dream were Wang Danyang, Chen Yufan, and Zhou Ning.

Familiar faces surrounded him. He was busy and felt grounded, but occasionally he would stop and look around, unconsciously searching for someone.

Only when the alarm rang did he suddenly realize that Chen Xi wasn’t beside him.

These days, he had tried his best to maintain the current balance and had never revealed his thoughts about returning to Beijing in front of Chen Xi.

But did he not want to go back?

Daybreak was waiting for him, FW was waiting for him, and Chen Yufan was waiting for him.

A brilliant virtual future was waiting for him.

He asked himself honestly – did he not want to go back?

Chen Xi withdrew her gaze and continued picking grapes. The answer was already written on his face, and Chen Xi could see it.

Qin Lie suddenly hugged Chen Xi from behind, lowered his head to her ear, and asked in a hoarse voice, “Chen Xi, are you thinking about breaking up with me every day?”

Chen Xi shook her head, her hair gently brushing across his cheek, carrying a trace of her unique scent that was intoxicating.

“No, but this is reality. You won’t stay here forever.”

Qin Lie turned Chen Xi around and looked seriously into her eyes.

“But Chen Xi, we’re not a multiple-choice question.”

He held her in his arms and gently swayed, “There will always be a solution.”

The sunlight was perfect, and so was the wind.

Overhead hung clusters of crystal-clear grapes, like countless innocent eyes watching them.

Chen Xi nodded and softly hummed in agreement.

A voice in her heart kept telling her – Couldn’t anyone else provide the same romantic love?

But she knew that if she missed this person before her, whoever she met for the rest of her life would probably just be settling.

She would take things seriously and face things with grace.

“Chen Xi.”

Qin Lie’s deep voice reached her ears, word by word, “Don’t think about breaking up with me.”

At noon, the sun was too harsh. After lunch, everyone went to their rooms to nap, planning to return to the orchard after two o’clock.

Qin Lie had stayed up late again last night and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Chen Xi didn’t have the habit of taking afternoon naps. After lying down for a while, she got up and tiptoed out of the room.

She was thinking about the camel Chen Mei kept behind the house and wanted to go see it.

When passing Chen Mei’s bedroom, Chen Xi saw the door was slightly ajar, with sounds from the TV and her aunt and uncle’s low conversation coming from inside.

“Write it like this, yes, it’s one dot, not two dots.”

Chen Xi stopped and curiously pushed the door open a crack to look inside.

Her aunt and uncle sat on the sofa with their heads together, looking at a notebook on her aunt’s lap.

A TV drama that Chen Xi hadn’t seen was playing on the television.

Her uncle held her aunt’s hand, writing something stroke by stroke in the notebook.

“This character is pronounced ‘fu’ (fortune).”

After he finished speaking, he let go of her hand and watched as her aunt traced over it stroke by stroke in the notebook.

“Fu.”

Her aunt repeated earnestly.

Her uncle said with a smile, “Fu as in ‘having you is my fortune.'”

Her aunt pointed at the TV and said, “I see on TV they say it’s fu as in ‘happiness.'”

Her uncle smiled and said, “One character can form many words.”

Chen Mei nodded and earnestly wrote the character for fortune again in the notebook.

She hadn’t had the opportunity to study when she was young, and later, after marriage and children, it seemed she never had a day to live for herself.

Suddenly, one day, she discovered her children had grown up and gone far away. She had plenty of time, but didn’t know how to use it.

The dream that had never had a chance to sprout suddenly broke through the soil in her heart one day.

She still wanted to learn to read, to one day sit under the shade of trees in the orchard with a book in her hands.

To read “Ordinary World,” to read “White Deer Plain,” to read stories written by Northwest people.

“Chen Mei, do you still remember how I taught you to write your name ‘Mei’?”

Chen Xi heard her uncle’s smiling voice.

Chen Mei nodded and wrote the character for plum blossom in the notebook.

Chen Xi smiled and gently closed the door.

She knew her aunt was learning to read by watching TV, but she didn’t know her uncle was teaching her hand by hand.

Her uncle had only attended three years of elementary school and didn’t know many characters.

But when he taught her aunt to read, he looked like an all-knowing teacher.