T City, a nameless remote area.
It’s not really a mountain village, yet it has a shantytown rarely seen within city limits.
Lines of bungalows are neatly arranged; most courtyards are empty, leaving only a few households remaining.
After several days of inquiry, Jon found this place and, using thirst as an excuse to ask for water, started chatting with an elderly resident.
The homebound elder, clenching a tobacco pipe stem in their mouth, smoked dried tobacco leaves while curiously looking at Jon.
Seeing that Jon finished drinking the cold water, the elder spat out a puff of dried tobacco leaves and asked with a smile, "Young man, what country are you from?"
Placing the dipper back on the lid of the water jar, Jon flashed a dazzling white smile, appearing quite friendly.
"Granny, I’m from E country."
"So what brings you to this godforsaken place?"
Jon grabbed a small stool and sat down opposite the elder, "I heard the customs here are quaint, so I specially came to have a look.
He had leveraged some connections to find out from the household registration office that Julian Zane was born here, so he came to explore and see if he could find any useful information.
The elder spat out another puff of tobacco, then spat out a mouthful of saliva far away.
"What quaintness? Just say it’s poor!"
Jon was amused by the elder’s words, "Granny, has anyone ever told you that you’re very cute?"
The elder puffed on their pipe again, "Hmm, when I was young, everyone used to say that."
Are the elders nowadays more confident than the young people?
Seeing that the handsome guy opposite didn’t engage in conversation, the elder raised an eyebrow and glared, "What? You don’t believe me? When I was young, I was a famous beauty around here. I had so many young men chasing after me, but none caught my eye!" Jon chuckled and made a gesture as if to support the elder’s arm. "I believe it, I believe it, Granny, you still look beautiful now."
"Of course." The elder took pride in their appearance as they drew on the pipe and exhaled the smoke with a pleased raise of the eyebrows.
Jon saw the right moment and started to steer the conversation to the main topic.
"Granny, how many years have you lived here?"
"Years?" The elder stopped their smoking, leaned in close to Jon’s face, and with especially prominent creases on their face, they raised their fingers exaggeratedly toward Jon.
"I’ve been living here for a whole sixty-odd years!"
"Oh, Granny, you’ve lived here for quite a long time." Jon continued with flattery, and the elder took another puff of their pipe and sighed, "Alas, I was born and raised here, too attached to leave..."
A sigh expressed both the elder’s yearning for a better life in the city and their nostalgia for their birthplace.
Watching the elder reminiscing, Jon seized the opportunity to probe.
"Granny, having lived here for so many years, you must know someone named Julian Zane, right?"
"Julian Zane?" The elder paused their pipe-smoking motion, furrowed their brows and looked over, the pipe stem halted before their mouth as if recalling but also somewhat skeptical.
After staring at Jon for a moment, they suddenly slapped their thigh, "Ah, you’re talking about little Julian from the Zane Family, yes, I know him." As they spoke, the elder bit the pipe stem again, took a vigorous puff, and got nothing; they examined it in front of them, then kicked off the ash onto the sole of their shoe.
Jon rejoiced inwardly, having stumbled upon this elder sunbathing in the yard and inadvertently entering; unexpectedly, he had found the right person.
Quickly, he continued with the topic, "Granny, could you tell me about young Julian from the Zane Family’s past?"
After knocking out all the ash from the pipe bowl, the elder lifted their head and looked at Jon suspiciously.
"What are you up to? Why are you asking about young Julian’s past?"