Peninsula: I run a bed and breakfast on Jeju Island

Chapter 76 Wind Chimes

Li Ran lay in bed typing on her phone.

Then he fell asleep.

It turns out that it's best not to write in bed, otherwise drowsiness will come over you and you won't be able to stop it.

He rubbed his eyes and picked at the sleep from the corner of his eye.

Li Ran glanced at the time: 3:23 PM.

There are unread messages on Kaoktalk.

It was sent by Choi Jin-ri.

The cherry blossoms are beautiful, it's a pity I'm not here.

Several photos of cherry blossoms were attached.

Li Ran thought the photos looked familiar, and then realized that they were taken by Li Zhi'en.

She said at the time that she wanted to send it to Truth.

He sat up in bed and typed: [I'll go with you to see it next time you come over.]

Choi Jin-ri paused for two seconds, then sent a message: [I don't even know when I'll be able to come again. The flowers will probably all wither by then, right?]

A withered flower?

He pursed his lips and continued typing: [If not this year, then next year. Come over then and I'll cook you some good meals. I recently learned a few new recipes online; you can try them then.]

[OK!]

She sent a smiling emoji.

Just as Li Ran was staring at the screen, unsure of what to say, Cui Zhenli sent another message.

"It doesn't matter if the flowers wither."

Choi Jin-ri paused, then added, "As long as the tree is still there, it's fine. The flowers will bloom every year."

He looked at the message, paused slightly, then smiled and typed: "[Right? As long as the tree is there, the flowers will bloom every year. We'll take some new photos together then.]"

After that, Choi Jin-ri didn't send any more messages; she must have been busy.

He rubbed his eyes again and put on his slippers.

He walked out of the bedroom and found the living room quiet.

The television was turned off.

Brin curled up on the sofa, while Little Black lay on the carpet.

They glanced at him briefly, then lowered their eyelids again.

Lee Ji-eun has disappeared somewhere.

He looked around.

There were faint noises coming from the courtyard.

Li Ran glanced out the window.

Lee Ji-eun sat on a deck chair in the yard, holding her phone up to her face, seemingly looking at something.

He went to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, then poured himself another, and pushed open the gate to go outside.

He handed her the glass of water and sat down on the chair next to her. "How long have you been sitting here?"

"I don't know." Lee Ji-eun took the water and drank a sip. "I came out for some fresh air; it's a bit stuffy inside."

The afternoon sunlight slanted in and shone into the courtyard.

Li Ran raised her hand to block the sunlight and changed the angle of the chair.

"Have you finished writing your novel?" she asked.

Upon hearing this, Li Ran lowered her head, smoothed the stray hairs from her forehead, and said somewhat awkwardly, "She fell asleep."

Lee Ji-eun turned her head and glanced at him. "Did you fall asleep while typing?"

"It's easy to get sleepy when you're lying down and coding."

She paused for two seconds, then lowered her head to take a sip of water, without saying anything more, but her lips twitched slightly.

Li Ran caught a glimpse of it. "What's so funny?"

"No," she said, placing her water glass on the small table beside her. "I just think you have a really good work ethic."

Considering that she was currently the biggest sponsor of his novel, Li Ran selectively ignored the teasing in her tone.

"Then I really appreciate your compliment."

A gentle breeze caressed my face, and the wind chimes in the courtyard rang softly twice.

Lee Ji-eun looked up at the glass wind chimes hanging under the eaves of the courtyard.

"Where did you buy this wind chime?" she suddenly asked, her eyes still fixed on it. "I'd like to buy one too."

Li Ran followed her gaze.

That wind chime has been hanging there for a while; he bought it casually at a nearby general store when he first moved to Jeju Island.

The sound of the wind chimes was muffled, not crisp, but not jarring.

He pointed in a direction, "It's to the east, the general store with a bunch of flower pots at the entrance."

"I think I bought it for three or five thousand won back then. It was a cheap one, and the sound quality was so-so."

He looked up and glanced at her. "Her looks are just so-so."

The wind chime above her head looked like an inverted glass bowl with a dark brown rope running through the middle.

It's not one of those particularly exquisite designs.

Lee Ji-eun turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow slightly. "I think it's pretty good."

"If you think it's good, I'll give you one. I happen to have an extra one in my storage room." He shrugged and took a sip of water.

It's another amazing storage room.

Lee Ji-eun blinked. "How come there are extras? Aren't you going to hang them up?"

Li Ran shook her head. "The shop owner said 'buy three, get one free,' so I bought a few more. Later, I realized I didn't have anywhere to hang them, so I just put them away."

"Buy three get one free?"

"Yeah, buy three get one free." Li Ran put the water glass on the table. "Back then, I had just moved in and felt the yard was a bit empty, so I wanted to hang a few more."

"The boss said buy three get one free, and I thought, four wind chimes hanging in a row, how impressive."

"And then?" Lee Ji-eun blinked.

"Then I hung it up and found out it wasn't like that at all."

He pointed to the strings of wind chimes overhead, "Hanging four together, when the wind blows, they jingle and clang like playing mahjong."

"And I feel that the number four has a bad connotation."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're quite superstitious."

"Whether there are dates or not, it's all just a matter of casting a line. But if it's too much trouble, I probably won't bother. You could say it's selective superstition." He shook his head.

Lee Ji-eun's lips curled up slightly.

Li Ran glanced at the wind chimes above her head, then stood up. "I'll go get the wind chimes from the storeroom for you to see." She saw Li Ran heading straight for the storeroom.

When he returned, he was carrying a string of blue glass wind chimes.

This blue wind chime is thinner and darker in color than the transparent glass wind chime overhead.

A purple rope, longer than the one on top of its head, was threaded through its middle.

"Here, this is it."

He handed the wind chime in his hand to Lee Ji-eun.

Lee Ji-eun took it and held the wind chime up to her eyes to look at it.

The light shone through the blue glass and cast several dappled blue shadows in her palm.

She gently shook the wind chime.

"Ding ding~"

The sudden sound was particularly clear in the quiet courtyard.

"The voice is still a little different," Lee Ji-eun suddenly said.

Li Ran glanced at the wind chime in her hand. "Huh?"

"The wind chimes overhead make a muffled sound."

She gently shook the blue wind chime in her hand again. "This one is brighter."

"You have pretty sharp ears." Li Ran picked up her water glass and took a sip.

"Of course, after all, I play music!" She tilted her head slightly, somewhat proudly.

"I happen to like purple too. This one is mine." She shook it again and placed the wind chime on her lap.

"It was originally meant for you. Otherwise, why would I have dug it out?" Li Ran leaned back in her chair and looked up at the string of wind chimes above her head.

Lee Ji-eun glanced at him, her lips twitched, and she lowered her head to fiddle with the purple rope on the wind chime.

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