Peninsula: I run a bed and breakfast on Jeju Island

Chapter 72 Grandpa Stone

"It's a bit too sweet." He smacked his lips.

Lee Ji-eun frowned slightly. "I only added a tiny bit of sugar."

"Usually one spoonful of sugar is enough, how many spoonfuls did you put in?" Li Ran picked up another piece of tomato.

,

She pursed her lips and silently made a "3" gesture.

"Look! You added three spoonfuls of sugar, so it's definitely sweet now." He raised an eyebrow.

Lee Ji-eun also took a bite, chewed it, and found it was indeed a bit too sweet.

"Sweet things taste better!" she stubbornly insisted.

She put down her chopsticks, picked up the porridge and took a sip. "Alright, consider this tomato and egg stir-fry as an apology for last night."

97

Li Ran tapped her chopsticks lightly with her index finger. "An apology that's too sweet."

She nodded without changing her expression. "We lost too much."

"You—"

Li Ran shook her head and chuckled softly.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Xiao Hei ran over from the corridor, circled the dining table, and finally stopped next to Lee Ji-eun.

It wagged its tail and rubbed its nose against her calf.

Little Black swished its tail across the floor twice, looked at her pitifully, and its gaze fell on the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

She glanced down at it. "No."

"Waaah~" Little Black started whimpering.

"Being cute won't work. You can't eat tomatoes anyway."

Xiao Hei moved two steps closer to Li Ran and looked at him in the same way.

Li Ran gently nudged its chin with her foot. "I'll give you dog food later."

Lee Ji-eun finished her porridge, pushed the bowl aside, and asked, "Are you going out today?"

Li Ran was slightly taken aback.

"I've been staying in my guesthouse lately and don't really feel like going out. Plus, it rained yesterday, and some of the ground is still sticky."

Lee Ji-eun pouted, "Fine."

"Why are you suddenly asking me this?" He glanced at her.

"It's nothing. I just mentioned yesterday that I wanted to go out for a walk, so I was just asking if you had time to come along."

"There's not much to see around here," he shook his head.

Lee Ji-eun rested her chin on her hand, ready to hear how he would spoil the mood.

"There's a slope opposite the guesthouse, which leads down to the beach. It's usually not crowded. Further east, there's a dirt road with a few cherry blossom trees on both sides."

"Now is the peak blooming season."

She looked up and blinked.

"If you want to see cherry blossoms, now is the perfect time." Li Ran finished the last mouthful of porridge in her bowl. "It'll also help you digest your meal."

Lee Ji-eun placed her chopsticks on the rim of her bowl, tilted her head, and looked at him for two seconds. "Did you bring Jin-ri last time too?"

Li Ran paused slightly, then nodded.

"Before she left, she said she wanted to see the cherry blossoms one last time. At that time, the cherry blossoms weren't in full bloom yet, just scattered here and there. Now they're in full bloom."

"Let's go then." She stood up and quickly cleared away the bowl and chopsticks in front of her.

"I really want to share the cherry blossoms at their most beautiful right now with Mari. I heard that today is some kind of peak viewing period or something."

After tidying up, Lee Ji-eun turned back to look at him as she walked to the door. "Aren't you going to change your shoes?"

Li Ran looked down at her slippers and shuffled towards the entrance.

Lee Ji-eun had already changed her shoes and was standing at the door waiting for him.

Li Ran opened the door. The stone path in the courtyard was still wet, with several shallow puddles.

Little Black was licking its paws when it saw them leave, and wagged its tail.

"Remember to keep an eye on the house while you're here," Li Ran said, pointing to it.

Little Black put its head back on its paws, looking somewhat sullen.

I don't take it with me when I go out to play.

When Lee Ji-eun passed by, she bent down and patted its head, and Xiao Hei's tail immediately wagged.

Outside the courtyard gate, the gravel road had been washed into several gullies by last night's rain.

Lee Ji-eun walked on the slightly drier ground.

Reaching the fork in the road, she paused, turned back to look at Li Ran, and asked, "Which way?"

"This way," Li Ran pointed to the left.

The slope is not steep; just walk down to the gentle sandy beach.

The sand was hard after the tide receded, and there was a faint fishy smell in the air, which was not strong and was easily dispersed by the wind.

A few seagulls perched on the distant rocks, occasionally one would take flight, glide along the sea surface for a while, and then land back down.

"How about we go see the cherry blossoms first? The light is still pretty good now, so we can take a picture," Lee Ji-eun said, glancing at the beach.

Li Ran scratched her brow. "That works too."

"Are you going to ride your bike or walk there?"

"The cherry blossom area isn't far; it's faster by electric scooter. It's also about a ten-minute walk."

"Let's walk over there then. We can enjoy the scenery along the way. I haven't really had a good look at it yet!" Lee Ji-eun said, putting her hands in her pockets.

Li Ran nodded.

He led her east onto a dirt road. On both sides of the road were weeds, battered by the rain, lying crookedly and sprawling.

Occasionally, there are a few clumps of low-lying wildflowers, whose names I don't know; their small purple petals are exceptionally bright after being washed by the rain.

She crouched down to take a picture, then stood up and continued walking.

The road turned a small bend, and a low stone wall appeared ahead, with two stone statues standing at its base.

They both wore top hats, had bulging eyes, large noses, tightly closed lips, and their hands were folded over their abdomens.

The wind and rain have left varying depths of erosion marks on the surface of the stone. The top of one of the statues has been worn into a crack by the years, and a few strands of green moss have grown in the crack, shining brightly.

Lee Ji-eun stopped in her tracks. "Oh, Grandpa Stone."

Li Ran followed behind and glanced in the direction of her gaze.

The two statues stand side by side. Their facial features are not exactly exquisite, but if you spend a long time outdoors in Jeju Island, you can catch a glimpse of their short and stocky shadows from any corner.

He had previously researched online and found that the statue with the left hand on top represents a military official, while the one with the right hand on top represents a civil official.

The two statues in front of us, one with its left hand on top and the other with its right hand on top, together form a complete set.

"Have you seen them near the guesthouse before?" Lee Ji-eun asked him, turning around.

"I saw it when I passed by, but I didn't look at it closely." He took two steps forward, tilted his head to examine it, and his gaze swept from the top hat all the way to the base.

"It is said that people believe that touching its nose can help them have a child," Lee Ji-eun added from the side.

ummm

Li Ran glanced at the statue's shape and nodded. "It's another kind of 'filling in what's missing' approach."

At first, Lee Ji-eun didn't realize what he meant, but after glancing at the "Grandpa Stone's" appearance, she suddenly understood what he was talking about.

She turned her head and gave him a disgruntled look.

"I was talking about the hat." Li Ran pointed to the bowler hat on Grandpa Shi's head. "The hat was missing a piece, so moss grew to patch it up. What did you think I was talking about?"

"—You weren't talking about a hat."

"It's a hat."

Lee Ji-eun stared at him for two seconds.

His expression was extremely upright, so much so that anyone who didn't know him would think he was a guesthouse owner seriously discussing the issue of stone carving preservation.