Chapter 23: Childhood Sweethearts
Chen Lingxi waited for Wang Kong in Liujie Alley.
He climbed onto an eave and gazed at a distant house.
The house was old. Moss crept up the base of its walls, weeds choked the gaps between the roof tiles, and the courtyard door hung crooked on its hinges. The vermilion paint had long since peeled away, leaving only deeply splintered wood.
Nostalgia filled Chen Lingxi's eyes.
He didn't take Liujie Alley every time he went to the government office just because it was a shortcut.
It was because his father had rented a house here during his early years as an official, back when he served as the Deputy Judge of the Judicial Office in Yuanjiang Prefecture.
The alley wasn't large, home to only eight or nine families in total. The Chen family lived at the very end, with the Xi family next door and the Zhao family right across from them.
The three households shared a single well, and its water was incredibly sweet and clear.
He had lived here until he was five.