Chu Yang sent a message to Chi Yan: "Video call?"
Over on Chi Yan's side, he was sitting in the living room, accompanying his grandfather in watching TV. He had set up a special notification for Chu Yang, so as soon as she sent him a message, his phone immediately alerted him.
Seeing Chu Yang's message, Chi Yan immediately stood up. "Grandpa, I'm going back to my room." Then he hurried up the stairs, three steps at a time. After closing the door behind him, he video called Chu Yang.
Chi Bai watched his retreating figure and shook his head, saying to the butler beside him, "Why has Yan become so impetuous lately?"
The butler replied: "Well, he's on vacation, so the young master should relax a bit."
Chi Bai thought about it and figured he had a point.
In the room, Chi Yan was walking around with his phone. "Let me show you my room. Here's my desk, the balcony is over there..."
Chu Yang suddenly remembered that the clothes she had hung out to dry that morning were still at Chi Yan's place. "Did you put away my clothes that I washed? The ones I hung out this morning?"
Only then did Chi Yan remember. He slapped his forehead. "Crap, I forgot. I came straight home. I'll go over tomorrow."
"Okay. Remember it, alright?"
"Mm hmm."
Chi Yan suddenly flopped down on his bed, his face taking up the entire screen. He hadn't turned on any beauty filters, but his face was so refined that it was quite visually striking anyway. "I miss you..." It was only the first day since Chu Yang had left, and he already missed her.
Seeing him like this, Chu Yang didn't know what to do. "Let me show you my room. Here's my desk, this is my bed, and my house only has one floor, no balcony, so you can see it's all dark outside. Oh right, I'm going fruit picking tomorrow, so I'll take a video to show you then. If I have time I'll send some over to you, so give me your address."
"Okay. What time are you going fruit picking tomorrow?"
Chu Yang figured her parents would probably head out early in the morning, so she would go with them. "Probably very early, to make it to the morning market. We'll probably get up around 5 or 5:30 am."
Chi Yan: "Then I'll get up around 5:30 too. Do a livestream for me to watch you."
Chu Yang: "No, sleep in a bit more. I won't have time for livestreaming while working anyway, I'll video you when I have time."
"Oh, alright." He was disappointed, but it made sense. Then Chi Yan suddenly had an idea and eagerly asked, "Does your family need any summer workers? I can come do farm work for free, just give me meals and kisses in return."
As soon as Chu Yang heard this she immediately refused: "No need!"
Chi Yan, disappointed: "Oh, okay."
The two chatted for a long time again before Chu Yang started feeling tired and Chi Yan reluctantly let her go rest. "Good night."
"Goodnight."
After hanging up with Chu Yang, Chi Yan immediately got a call from someone else. "Bro Yan, I've been trying to reach you but your phone was busy!"
Chi Yan: "What's up?"
Caller: "Bro Yan, the club is having a car race tomorrow, wanna come?"
Chi Yan thought about it for a moment. "What time?"
Caller: "Tomorrow morning at 10 am."
It had been a while since Chi Yan last went. Might as well, he thought. "Okay, I'll head over."
"Great, see you there tomorrow, Bro Yan!"
The next morning at 5 am, Chu Yang was woken up by the sounds of her parents getting up. She got out of bed as well, startling the couple when she came out of her room. "You're up already? It's still early, go back to sleep!"
Chu Yang saw that they already had baskets on their backs and were heading out the door. "I want to help too!"
"We already said you don't need to help, go back to sleep. If you want to go into town later, you can come with us when we get back."
But Chu Yang insisted. "It's fine, I'll go with you now."
Seeing her determination, the couple had no choice but to take her along, giving her a small basket to carry.
It wasn't just fruit picking. Their main task this early was to pick vegetables to sell at the morning market. The fruit picking was just a side job. They grew and sold both vegetables and fruit. Unlike some families with dozens of acres, they only had a little over one acre of land. They kept some for themselves and sold the rest.
The green beans were growing wildly these days, along with cucumber and pumpkin seedlings.
Chu Yang's mom taught her how to pick green beans, leaving her to pick on her own without expecting much from her - she was here just to play around after all. Chu mom went to pick cucumbers and pumpkin sprouts while Chu dad dropped them off at the vegetable plot before heading up the hillside to pick honey peaches. Those were heavy so he went alone.
The sky was still dark but the fields were already busy, not just their family. Other plots also had flashlight beams visible - everyone coming early to pick produce for the morning market.
Chu Yang wore a headlamp given by her mom. With a quick twist, she picked a whole bean pod cleanly.
Soon Chu mom filled up a whole basket of cucumbers and pumpkin sprouts, mostly cucumbers. Then she came over and swiftly started picking beans with amazing speed - way faster than Chu Yang could manage.
At around 6:30 am, the three regrouped and loaded everything onto their trishaw - a recent purchase mainly funded by the money Chu Yang sent back. The couple decided it would be handy to have one for the family. Chu Yang sat in the back munching on the steamed bun and bottled water her mom gave her, eating heartily. Her clothes were totally drenched in sweat.
As for taking videos? No time for that at all - she was dead tired.
But her parents looked perfectly energetic still, dropping Chu Yang off at home to rest properly while they hurried off to the market.
Once home, Chu Yang immediately showered then collapsed onto the sofa, snacking on fruit with zero desire to move.
Meanwhile her parents had set up shop at the vegetable market, hawking their produce.
"How much for the beans?"
"2 yuan per jin, freshly picked this morning! Want some?"
"Are these peaches sweet?"
"Very sweet, guaranteed! Here, try a piece."
"I'll take some pumpkin sprouts please."
"Coming right up!"
Over in Beijing, Chi Yan woke up early but never did get any video from his girlfriend. He messaged her: "Chu Yang~"
Ten minutes passed with no reply, so he sent another: "[Peeking]"
An hour passed and still no response. One last try: "Chu Yang~ [Cute Face Peeking]"
Figuring she must be too busy, a disappointed Chi Yan had no choice but to head out.
People flocked to greet Chi Yan when he arrived at JBR Club.
"Bro Yan, been a while!"
"You racing today, Bro Yan?"
"Bro Yan!"
"Bro Yan, you finally came!" The tall and lanky Monkey, whose real name was Hou Sheng, immediately came over. He was the one who called Chi Yan last night.
"Yeah. Who else is here today?" Chi Yan walked in with both hands in his pockets, nodding back at people.
"Zhang Yuan and Xiao Lin are here. Oh right, and that Gao Miao guy too." Monkey added softly.
Hearing Gao Miao's name reminded Chi Yan of how he had ruined his pool date with Chu Yang. "Is Gao Miao racing today?"
Monkey: "For sure, when does he not?"
Chi Yan patted his shoulder. "Get my car prepped. I'm racing too today."
Monkey eagerly responded: "You got it!" Then he called out, "Hey everyone, get Bro Yan's car checked!"
