After Su Qing returned to Lihua Village, she paid a visit to Zhao Youcai’s house. She gave him the ten yuan for hiring someone to shovel the snow and the key to her courtyard gate. Zhao Youcai offered some parting advice before finally letting Su Qing head home.

Early the next morning, Su Qing left Lihua Village and headed for Xiyuan County.

The weather had already started to turn cold, so there weren’t many people taking the bus. Su Qing bought her ticket quickly, and just as she turned around, she saw Fu Yuzhen rushing toward her.

Seeing Su Qing, Fu Yuzhen quickly smiled and greeted her, "Xiao Qing."

"Aunt Fu." Su Qing was happy to see her, too.

Fu Yuzhen felt the thickness of Su Qing’s clothes and nodded. "Good, you’ve dressed warmly," she said. "When you get closer to the south, you can change into something lighter."

"Okay," Su Qing quickly replied.

Fu Yuzhen handed Su Qing a small package. "Here’s some food I made for you to eat on the road. Take it."

"Thank you, Aunt Fu." Su Qing knew it was a heartfelt gesture, so she accepted it with a smile.

Fu Yuzhen then pulled Su Qing aside, took out something wrapped in a handkerchief, and said, "Here’s some money and national ration coupons. Keep them on you. When you’re out on your own, don’t skimp on things for yourself."

Su Qing took one look and quickly said, "Aunt Fu, you don’t have to. I have money. Don’t you remember? I sold my dad’s job position to my eldest uncle and got a lot of money for it. Please, take this back."

But Fu Yuzhen insisted. "What you have is your own, and what I’m giving you is a gift from me. Those are two separate things. You need to be well-prepared when traveling, you know? Besides, money alone isn’t always enough. These are nationally accepted ration coupons. Keep them with you. You’ll need money for plenty of things on the road. It’s terrible to need something and not have it."

They went back and forth for a while, but Fu Yuzhen remained firm, so Su Qing had no choice but to accept. ’I’ll just have to find a way to repay her generosity later,’ she thought. "In that case, thank you, Aunt Fu."

"Silly child, there’s no need to thank me. Don’t be such a stranger, or I’ll get upset," Fu Yuzhen said with a smile. Seeing that people were starting to board, she told Su Qing, "Alright, you should get on the bus now. Find a window seat; the air is better."

"Okay."

Su Qing boarded the bus, found a window seat, and placed her luggage on the overhead rack. She then opened the window and said to Fu Yuzhen, "Aunt Fu, I’m all settled in. You can go home now."

"Alright, I’ll leave after the bus starts moving."

They spoke for a while longer, with Fu Yuzhen chattering on, reminding Su Qing about all sorts of things to be mindful of while traveling. When the conductor closed the bus doors, Fu Yuzhen quickly called out, "Xiao Qing, have a safe trip! If anything happens, call us. I put the factory phone number for me and your Uncle Pan in the package. Make sure you keep it safe!"

"Okay, don’t worry, Aunt Fu! I got it." As the bus engine started, Su Qing quickly waved to Fu Yuzhen.

Only after watching the bus drive further and further away until it disappeared from sight did Fu Yuzhen finally head toward the factory.

The bus ride from Xiyuan County to Bingcheng took about four hours. Since Su Qing had woken up early, she leaned against the window to catch up on sleep after boarding. As she slept, she felt someone staring at her. Su Qing frowned slightly and opened her eyes to look at the person in the seat next to her.

Su Qing remembered a woman in her thirties sitting there when the bus left. Now, however, it was a girl of about seventeen or eighteen. She had a round face and round eyes that gave her a very endearing look. And... she seemed a little familiar.

The girl was staring at Su Qing without blinking. When Su Qing suddenly opened her eyes and turned to look over, the girl flinched in surprise and said, a bit sheepishly, "Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?"

Su Qing was speechless. ’Well, yes, you did,’ she thought, ’but did you have to be so blunt about it?’

Before Su Qing could say anything, the girl quickly added, "It’s just that you look really familiar. Especially your eyes."

Su Qing pressed her lips together. ’What a coincidence,’ she thought. ’I was thinking the same thing.’ This girl seemed strangely familiar to her, too, but there was no memory of her in the body’s original owner.

"Have we met before? Have you ever been to Beijing?" the girl asked, blinking. She studied Su Qing again, and when her eyes passed over the scar on Su Qing’s left cheek, a flicker of pity and sympathy crossed her face.

"No, I’ve always lived in the countryside. This is my first time leaving Xiyuan County," Su Qing replied. "I think you must be mistaken. We’ve probably never met."

The girl had a thick Beijing accent; she clearly wasn’t from Xiyuan County.

"Oh, maybe," the girl said. It made sense, she thought. This was her first time in Xiyuan County. She had only come because her uncle was here on business, and she’d tagged along for fun. In the end, it was too cold for her to handle, so she decided to just head back to Beijing on her own first.

After a moment’s thought, the girl smiled again. "Well, even if we haven’t met, we can get to know each other now. My name is Li Huan. What’s yours?"

"Su Qing," she answered. As she said her name, her mind started turning. ’Her surname is Li... the same as the original owner’s mother.’ It suddenly clicked why Li Huan had seemed familiar—she bore a slight resemblance to Li Wan.

’Could the original owner’s mother be related to Li Huan somehow?’

But even with this suspicion, Su Qing didn’t plan on voicing it. After all, she still wasn’t sure how Li Wan had felt about her own daughter. If Li Wan hadn’t cared about the body’s original owner at all, then whatever connection she had to Li Huan was irrelevant to the current Su Qing.

"Su Qing, huh? That’s a pretty name," Li Huan said with a smile. "Now that we know each other’s names, does that mean we can be friends?"

Su Qing was speechless.

’What a naive and sweet girl,’ Su Qing thought. ’To her, I’m a complete stranger. What if I were a human trafficker? What if I had malicious intentions? Hasn’t this girl considered that at all?’

’It’s better not to talk to strangers when you’re traveling, especially for a young girl on her own.’ 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"You don’t even know me," Su Qing reminded her tactfully.

"What’s the big deal? We’ll get to know each other over time," Li Huan said with a charming smile. "So, do you want to be my friend or not?"

Su Qing blinked. Li Huan was so direct that she was at a loss for how to respond. To be honest, after everything she’d been through in the apocalypse, she was extremely wary. It was difficult for her to be like those people who hit it off with someone right away, acting as if they were long-lost friends who were destined to be inseparable from the moment they met.

Even with someone like Fu Yuzhen, it had taken her all this time to gradually let down her guard. And Li Huan was a complete and utter stranger.