117: Chapter 117 Cousin! This is what you meant by "almost there"?!

"How is it different?"

"I'm more lively,"

She spoke those two words with great certainty. "I can feel it myself. The old me was really too dull. I was the type who just sat in the classroom and did nothing but study. Sometimes I didn't even know what the students next to me were saying. It wasn't an act; I really just wasn't paying attention. My head was full of problems and knowledge points. Even I found myself boring."

"Things changed after the college entrance exams?"

"Yeah,"

Cousin Zhang Fei rested her feet below the dashboard and curled herself into the seat. "It felt like I suddenly let go. That string had been pulled tight for years, and when it finally snapped loose, I felt lighter. Then I started to find so many things interesting—hanging out with classmates, traveling, eating things I'd never tried... everything felt new. My personality just changed like that."

"That's pretty good."

"It is. Even my mom says I've changed. She said I was easy to worry about before but it made her heart ache; now I'm a handful, but she's happy seeing me like this."

Cousin Zhang Fei gave a self-deprecating laugh. "People should be like this. The old me didn't live freely enough."

As Hu Tian listened to her, he subconsciously pieced together the memory of the Cousin Zhang Fei who only knew how to bury her head in practice problems. Comparing her to the Cousin Zhang Fei before him—feet on the dashboard, curled in the seat, chatting away—they truly seemed like two different people.

He thought about it and couldn't help but gently shake his head.

A girl changes eighteen times as she grows up; that saying really wasn't just talk.

"Believe it or not,"

Hu Tian rested his hand on the steering wheel, the corners of his mouth curling slightly, "I was actually the same way after I finished the college entrance exams."

Cousin Zhang Fei turned her head, looking somewhat skeptical. "You?"

"What? I don't look like the type?"

"Not at all,"

Cousin Zhang Fei said bluntly. "You look like the kind of person who is always like this, no matter what—never nervous, never flustered, very steady. It feels like the college entrance exam was just another homework assignment to you."

Hu Tian gave a self-deprecating chuckle, lowered his head, and lightly tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

That wasn't the case at all.

He remembered walking out of the exam hall back then. Standing on the playground, his mind went blank for a long time before he realized, with a delay, that the string that had been taut for three years had broken.

It didn't just loosen; it broke.

It broke so completely that for a moment, he didn't know what to do, where to go, or what to think.

For the entire summer vacation afterward, he was almost a different person. He talked more, went out more, wandered aimlessly on the streets, ran to the night market to eat alone for two hours, and sat by the river until two in the morning just staring into space.

Everyone around him said he had changed. His mother even asked him once, half-seriously and half-jokingly, if he was in a relationship.

Hu Tian didn't answer then; he just smiled.

It wasn't a relationship; it was just that after that string broke, he had come back to life.

"Things change,"

He said calmly, with an unidentifiable tone. "It's just that later, I changed back."

Cousin Zhang Fei didn't press him. She just gave an "oh" and leaned her head against the car window, looking out at the street.

This stretch of road was right next to the coastline. Beyond the guardrail were reefs and beaches. At this time of the afternoon, the waves weren't big, and the distant sea surface was struck by sunlight into a blinding white glare.

"Binhai is really beautiful,"

Cousin Zhang Fei propped up her chin, her tone becoming a bit more somber. "It's much nicer than our hometown. Our hometown is just mountains, and inside the mountains, it's just fields and roads. It doesn't have this kind of feeling."

"You'll get used to it."

"Cousin, how long have you been in Binhai?"

"Two years."

"Two years, that's not short,"

She withdrew her gaze and looked at him. "So what kind of work did you come here to do originally? My aunt didn't explain it clearly to my mom."

Hu Tian paused for a moment. "Back then... I was doing sales in the Sheshan area of Shanghai. Rent in Binhai was low, so I did that for nearly a year. It's only recently that I started getting into antiques."

"Antiques?"

Cousin Zhang Fei tilted her head. "Like what they talk about on TV, the kind where you buy and sell old things?"

"Pretty much."

"Wow,"

Her tone clearly carried a hint of curiosity. "You even understand that? I thought antiques were things old people played with. I didn't expect you to do this. How did you start?"

"A chance encounter."

"Those four words again,"

Cousin Zhang Fei curled her lip. "When people like you talk about how they started something, they love using those four words—'a chance encounter.' It sounds profound, but it's actually just because you don't want to say."

She paused. "So, do you earn a lot now? You've bought a car and a house, so it must be pretty good."

Hu Tian didn't give a direct answer. "Enough to spend."

"Enough to spend..."

The car speed was steady, and the coastline receded segment by segment in the window.

Cousin Zhang Fei turned back, unzipped her backpack, fished out a bag of snacks, tore it open, and handed one to Hu Tian.

"Want one? Gummy candy, lychee flavor."

"No."

"Then I'll eat them myself."

She popped one into her mouth and chewed twice. "By the way, Cousin, do you live in that house alone?"

"Yes."

"Is it big?"

"It's okay. Three floors, with a yard."

"Three floors,"

Cousin Zhang Fei repeated, her eyes widening. "You live in three floors by yourself? Which floor do you sleep on?"

"The third floor."

"So the first and second floors are empty?"

"Basically."

"Wow, isn't that very empty? Doesn't living alone feel a bit..."

She paused, searching for a word. "...lonely?"

"I don't think so."

Cousin Zhang Fei chewed her gummy and looked at him for a while. "Cousin, I'm telling you, is your personality different from before too? Even though you didn't talk much back then, the feeling was different. Before, you felt like a 'silent gourd'—no one knew what was spinning in your head. Now, you still don't talk much, but it feels like there's something more. I can't quite put my finger on it, but you're much more composed. Before, when you stood there, it made people think, 'Hey, does this guy not want to talk to me?' Now, when you stand there, you feel steady, like someone who doesn't panic."

Hu Tian didn't say anything.

Cousin Zhang Fei nodded to herself. "Yeah, steady. It's good. For a guy, being steady makes people feel at ease."

"You talk a lot now."

"Yeah,"

Cousin Zhang Fei didn't mind at all and popped another gummy. "Let me tell you, my mom originally didn't agree to me staying at your place. She said it was far and that I'd be bothering you. I said, Cousin has such a big house, how is two people living there a bother? Besides, I'm coming to Binhai for university and I don't know anyone else. You're my only relative here; if I don't come to your place, where else would I go?"

"When do you report for school?"

"The day after tomorrow,"

Cousin Zhang Fei said. "So I'll just stay with you for these two days to help you 'warm up' the house. You live in three floors all by yourself with no human presence; it'll be better once I'm there, right?"

Hu Tian glanced at her. "Just for these two days?"

"Don't worry, I'm not staying long-term. Once I report to the school, I'll stay in the dorms,"

Cousin Zhang Fei brushed the sugar dust off her hands. "Of course, if I can't get used to the dorms, maybe I'll occasionally come over to crash. Not too often, just occasionally."

"How frequent is 'occasionally'?"

"Well,"

She put the gummy bag away, zipped up her backpack, and smiled. "Depends on the situation."

The car drove into the Yunding Villa Area. The trees on both sides of the road were neat, and sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows that swept backward with the car's speed.

Cousin Zhang Fei turned her head toward the car window, looking at the courtyard walls and the rooftops peeking out from behind them. The curiosity in her eyes became increasingly obvious. Her mouth moved as if to speak, but she said nothing. After watching for a while longer, she finally couldn't help herself. "Cousin, you live here?"

"Yes."

"This entire area... is all houses like this?"

"Pretty much."

Cousin Zhang Fei was silent for about three seconds, then turned to look at him with a serious expression. "Just what kind of antique business are you in?"

Hu Tian didn't answer her question.

The car turned at an intersection into the internal roads of the Yunding Villa Area. The road was a circle wider than the outside, with tall camphor trees planted on both sides. Canopy met canopy, creating a lush green tunnel of shade.

Cousin Zhang Fei left her question hanging, and without waiting for an answer, she was drawn away by the scenery outside the window.

She pressed against the window to look out. Courtyard wall followed courtyard wall, and inside them were rooftops of various styles—sloped, flat. Some yards had tall trees whose canopies emerged from within the walls, swaying gently in the wind.

As they went deeper into the villa area, the yards by the road became larger and the spacing between them wider. It was no longer a layout where they were packed tightly together; every building was separated by a significant distance.

Further in, a lake appeared by the road.

The lake wasn't huge, but the water was calm, surrounded by a ring of weeping willows. The willow branches hung low, lightly brushing the water's surface. There was a small pavilion in the center of the lake, with a stone bridge connecting it to the shore. Light and shadows were reflected in the water, shimmering beautifully.

Cousin Zhang Fei pressed her face against the window. "Wow."

She uttered that single word of wonder and said nothing else, her gaze glued to the lake until it disappeared from view. Only then did she pull her face back from the window.

"There's even a lake here."

"Yes."

"Is it private?"

"It's shared by the owners."

"Shared by the owners..."

She muttered as she repeated it, turned to glance at Hu Tian, and again said nothing, withdrawing her gaze to look out the window once more.

The car continued inward.

The road gradually opened up, and the distance between the courtyard walls on both sides grew even larger. Occasionally, the corners of buildings that were clearly much larger in scale could be seen behind the trees and walls.

Cousin Zhang Fei's breathing changed slightly.

She didn't speak, just watched quietly, her lips pressed together. The curiosity and uncertainty in her eyes had slowly transformed into something else—something hard to define, a vague realization that hadn't been confirmed yet, leaving her with a suspended feeling.

The car made another gentle turn, and the view ahead suddenly opened up.

The road ended here. Before them was a wide, gentle slope, and at the top of the slope, a building stood quietly.

It wasn't just ordinary big; it was the kind where, at first glance, the mind doesn't have time to estimate dimensions and only instinctively feels that this isn't a place for ordinary people.

The main building had three floors with a clean facade and sharp lines. Large areas of floor-to-ceiling glass connected the interior and exterior. Light shone through the glass, making the entire building look as if it had grown out of the ground, firmly embedded on that gentle slope.

The yard was huge. Extending inward from the main gate, one could see a neat gravel path. On both sides of the path were well-manicured lawns, and deep within the lawn were several tall trees with beautiful shapes and spreading branches.

There was also a swimming pool in the yard. From this angle, a corner of the blue water could be seen, shimmering in the sunlight.

Hu Tian drove the car straight over and parked in front of the main gate.

Once the car was parked, he unbuckled his seatbelt and glanced at Cousin Zhang Fei.

Cousin Zhang Fei was sitting in the passenger seat, her entire body frozen stiff.