For An An, Wen Qian was her only family. No matter what she did or where she went, she would always bring her mother along.
As An An grew up, she visited cities and village markets, but she still felt her home was the best, despite its remote location.
When she came of age, people started inquiring about matching her with their children of similar age.
Regarding matters of the heart, Wen Qian herself was inexperienced in relationships, so she couldn't offer much advice. Instead, she encouraged An An to seek answers in books or by observing how people around them lived their lives.
To the neighbors, An An seemed to be a carbon copy of Wen Qian's personality, showing little curiosity about romance and instead preferring hunting and storing food.
After coming of age, An An rejected all suitors, believing she didn't need anyone else. She felt that living with her mother was enough and didn't require any additional people in her life.
Wen Qian thought that An An might change her mind someday, so she didn't pressure her.
In her view, people who enjoyed solitude like herself were rare, and An An might have been mimicking her behavior. She thought that once she was gone, An An might change her perspective.
This led to a new worry for Wen Qian: An An hadn't been exposed to many of life's intricacies. What if she were deceived by an irresponsible person later on, unknowingly walking into a trap?
To address this concern, Wen Qian gave her examples to help her discern people's true nature, encouraging her to look beyond surface appearances.
She advised that if An An were to be with someone, she shouldn't focus solely on how well they treated her initially or how sweet their words were, but rather on their character.
People of good character have a moral baseline, meaning that even if a relationship doesn't work out, they won't cause excessive harm.
However, those of poor character could lead to endless troubles.
Wen Qian warned against being seduced by momentary sweetness, lest An An end up with lifelong regrets, like prey caught in a trap.
Hoping to help An An filter out such individuals from the start, Wen Qian shared news stories from her era and examples of people she knew.
She presented both good and bad examples. At first, An An saw these as mere stories, but as she began gossiping with neighbors about local people, she realized the diversity of human nature.
Wen Qian taught her a simple method: to seek role models within her limited social circle.
An An chose Ni Sha's family as her example. She felt that if she were to have a family and partner, she'd want a relationship like that of Ni Sha's parents, who always seemed harmonious and happy.
What An An observed wasn't just surface-level happiness, but the natural chemistry between the couple. She vividly remembered seeing Ni Sha's father instinctively offer his hand to support his wife when walking on difficult terrain.
For some reason, this image left a profound impression on An An, so much so that when her mother mentioned role models, she immediately thought of them.
While An An had heard many examples about relationships from her mother, Wen Qian's own romantic history remained a blank page.
Wen Qian's explanation was simply that she was born preferring solitude and enjoyed living alone.
She then added, "Except for children, of course."
An An laughed and began pestering her mother to tell stories from her youth.
Since Wen Qian didn't have personal anecdotes, she shared others' stories instead.
She spoke about the phenomenon of "graduation season equals breakup season" from her time, when young people were still studying in schools.
An An longed for the universities her mother described, viewing them as havens of knowledge. However, apart from the south, such institutions no longer existed elsewhere.
Regarding the breakup season, An An's perspective was simple: neither person had included the other in their future plans.
People only considered themselves, or merely enjoyed the present love and excitement, without any thought for tomorrow.
"How can one expect to harvest wheat in autumn if they don't plant seeds in spring?" An An expressed her thoughts in simple terms.
An An was also a planner. As a child, she would plant alongside her mother, but sometimes her timing was off, resulting in no harvest.
Each failed planting attempt left her sad or disappointed, but Wen Qian never consoled her by replacing the bad plants with good ones.
Instead, she explained the reasons for the failure and encouraged An An to keep trying. Learning to accept failure was a necessary lesson; Wen Qian wasn't about to raise her child in a greenhouse.
Sometimes, even with proper watering and fertilizing, and planting according to the seasons and temperatures, unexpected natural disasters could occur.
But barring such uncontrollable forces, everything else depended on human effort. At the very least, if one tried their best, they wouldn't have regrets even without a harvest.
However, expecting to find food in a field where nothing was planted was clearly impossible.
An An enjoyed making plans, finding great satisfaction in checking off items on her list. Making lists and keeping a diary were also habits her mother had taught her.
While An An wouldn't be upset if her plans were disrupted, she indeed hadn't included anyone other than her mother in her future plans.
She hadn't even imagined a hypothetical person, seemingly content with the idea of living independently, just like Wen Qian. She saw nothing wrong with this lifestyle.
As Wen Qian aged, she didn't stop working, but more responsibilities fell on An An's shoulders.
At first, An An needed Wen Qian's reminders and guidance, but later she became capable of managing things on her own.
Raising a child to be independent was already a great achievement. As for matters of the heart, Wen Qian couldn't really help, so it was up to fate whether An An would find someone.
Indeed, on her way to the small town, An An encountered a young man on a large boat who immediately and openly expressed his interest in her. She calmly rejected him.
The young man, though disappointed, accepted the rejection. Despite some onlookers mocking him, he didn't become angry or embarrassed.
He optimistically said that if it didn't work out this time, there would always be another chance to meet again.
Ni Sha returned home and told Wen Qian about the incident, describing An An's calm rejection.
An An hadn't felt happy or proud, nor angry. She had simply rejected him seriously, with an expressionless face.
In this era, forming partnerships was quite casual. If two people liked each other, they could become a couple on the spot.
However, An An couldn't do it. She felt the risk was too high, and she still had no idea about the other person's character. To make someone her bedmate without knowing them—what if they turned out to be a demon?
One should always be cautious, and An An felt this method of finding a partner wasn't suitable for her.
On this point, her view aligned with her mother's, even though Wen Qian had always said her own perspective might be too narrow and encouraged An An to consider other people's opinions.
In reality, Wen Qian was also afraid that her words and actions might have had an excessively negative impact on her child.
