3. Forty-three sunsets

Thus, it seemed only natural that Fang Kaixuan, who had just weathered a storm in his life, would accept an invitation from a stranger in this secluded place.

"Let's grab a coffee" is just a common invitation in the city, mostly for work meetings where polite smiles are expected. But for her at this moment, in this place, it felt like an unopened gift, something to look forward to.

She'd been suppressed for too long and desperately needed a breather. But how difficult it is to be willful in daily life! Should she whine to her parents or lash out at her boss?

Neither is acceptable. After a long night of weeping, she still had to return to being that obedient daughter and diligent subordinate.

Only here, far from daily life and loved ones, can one be truly uninhibited. After all, when the time comes, one must leave; the moment one boards the return flight, everything returns to normal. It's like having to take off the glass slipper and become Cinderella again before midnight.

So let the music continue and the aroma of coffee fill the air before midnight, and let this ordinary afternoon be frozen into a moment you'll cherish someday.

*

That afternoon, the two met as agreed, at the same coffee shop. It wasn't really a suitable place for a date, entirely because the town had seen a rapid influx of thousands of newcomers, making it difficult to find any quiet corner.

They ordered two cups of black coffee and a slice of cheesecake, and sat there amidst the bustling crowd. People around them, in twos and threes, all looked excited, as if the fate of the world rested on their bold pronouncements, whether true or false.

Fang Kaixuan and he were different. Neither of them cared about grand narratives; they were only interested in the person in front of them.

Contrary to his appearance, he didn't seem to be good with words. Fang Kaixuan rarely spoke, often remaining silent. However, in Fang Kaixuan's eyes now, this was definitely an advantage.

She is allergic to men who are good at flattery and smooth talk.

The two sat facing each other, and without prior arrangement, neither of them took out their phones.

This era has evolved to the point where every spare moment must be fully utilized. Nobody reads books anymore because it's too time-consuming; AI tools summarize story outlines and central themes, giving you a ten-minute reading of "War and Peace." Videos that don't grab your attention within three seconds are ruthlessly swiped away. AI glasses are used to access information or record videos at any time, while smart rings are used to monitor health and track activity.

Driving used to be a focused moment that was almost like meditation, but with autonomous driving, people have to do something while sitting in the car, otherwise they are wasting their lives.

That's horrible. It's as if doing nothing is a grave sin.

Movie theaters have become places of nostalgia; turning off your phone for up to two hours is nothing short of modern torture, and you should only step inside as a last resort. Taking a movie to accompany your lover is certainly a sacrifice.

The small glass screen in his hand was like a dream, or perhaps a mirror reflecting the moon and the moon. He knew he was being drained of his essence, yet he couldn't stop.

Fang Kaixuan thought to herself that she could ignore her phone because he was so handsome, worthy of her undivided attention. But she didn't know why he was willing to just stay there; she knew she wasn't an outstanding beauty. Yet the two of them just smiled at each other, like wild animals disguised as humans in a crowd, accidentally catching a whiff of each other's scent and immediately recognizing each other as kindred spirits, without needing many words.

She wouldn't mind going back to her ancestral home with him.

Fang Kaixuan guessed that his taciturn nature was probably related to his lack of fluency in Chinese due to living away from home for a long time. He seemed unfamiliar with many slang terms, buzzwords, and internet slang.

But that's okay. Their first conversation was just about ordinary things—the scenery, sighs over the rain and snow, questions like, "Where did you come from?" and "What brought you here?"

Such chance encounters don't need to go through the details like a blind date; chatting about romance and nature is just fine.

Fang Kaixuan wasn't a lively person, and he was rather shy, so the two of them would fall silent from time to time. But this silence didn't cause any anxiety. In ordinary conversation, when silence occurs, one always unconsciously tries to fill the gaps in the conversation. But at this moment, even without saying a word, she felt relaxed, as if she were taking a bath alone after a very tiring day.

I was left with only myself.

She couldn't help but recall when she was fifteen or sixteen, just beginning to understand the attraction between the sexes, and immediately falling into a pure, unrequited love. Every move the other person made would stir her heartstrings, and a single expression would make her heart race for a long time.

As we grow up, we often don't want to admit it, but the love we had back then was the pure, unadulterated love.

In the years that followed, I never experienced such pure love again, where I forgot everything else and only cared about you and me.

Later loves are all just vain displays of vanity and carefully calculated pairings.

*

In the silence, dusk descended grandly. The two turned to look out the window simultaneously. The snow-capped mountains stretched out their arms to embrace the town, making them seem as if they were submerged at the bottom of a lake. The setting sun sank to the highest peaks, gilding the ridges with a pale gold, but that gold lingered only for a moment. The earth seemed to gently rotate a few degrees before carrying the sunlight away. The pale gold visibly faded, turning into a somber, inky blue.

The purplish-blue hue wafted around, as if splashed from a paint bucket, slowly dyeing the air and snowfield blue.

The two watched the fantastical changes in silence.

"You also like watching sunsets," he asked her, but his tone was certain, as if it weren't a question.

"Yes. Don't you think sunsets are amazing? They're so beautiful yet so melancholic, making you feel like you're breathing with the earth. Unlike sunrises, which are always uplifting and invigorating. But unfortunately, most of the time when I'm at sunset, I'm still sitting in my office doing some boring things." She rattled off a long list of things.

After finishing, he felt embarrassed, wondering why he would tell such things to a stranger.

"Actually, there can be more than one sunset in a day," he said, making a rare witty remark.

“Hmm, watching the sunset forty-three times, how lonely that would be,” Fang Kaixuan replied fluently. She thought, it seems very few men like reading *The Little Prince*.

He paused for a moment, and Fang Kaixuan liked the way he always thought carefully before speaking. “Yes. Saint-Exupéry was 43 years old when he wrote The Little Prince, so he made the Little Prince live on a planet where he could see the sunset forty-three times a day.”

“How wonderful. Just by moving the chair, I can watch the next sunset.” She sighed inexplicably, recalling some sad things. “The Little Prince said that when people are sad, they want to watch the sunset. If it happens forty-three times a day, how sad they must be. Isn’t that what the Nineteen Ancient Poems say, ‘Thinking of you makes me grow old, and the years have suddenly passed.’”

His eyes lit up, but he didn't say anything.

Fang Kaixuan guessed that this person was probably not familiar with classical Chinese poetry and did not know how poignant and tender the Nineteen Ancient Poems were in expressing the feelings of lovers. Therefore, he could not answer.

It's kind of cute.

The thought popped into her head, and she knew she was pretty much doomed.

Finding a man strangely cute is the beginning of bad luck.

He was indeed strangely endearing. Despite being so handsome and carefree, his mannerisms were rather old-fashioned, like an old man. In this day and age, when everyone has one or more mobile phones and wallets are practically useless, he still paid with paper money. He even carried a thick notebook with him at all times.

Upon seeing this, Fang Kaixuan laughed from the bottom of her heart. Because she herself was one of those old-fashioned people who still carried a notebook and ballpoint pen with her.

The blues moment was beautiful yet fleeting; soon it was completely dark, and fine snowflakes drifted against the windowpane. She had work to do and had to leave.

She reluctantly put down her coffee cup, looked at him, and before she could speak, he seemed to understand her and asked, "Would you like to go hiking on the snow mountain together tomorrow at dusk?"

Fang Kaixuan nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Such a lack of self-restraint is truly inappropriate.

Realizing what had happened, she took out her phone to check her messages to hide her embarrassment. She saw a photo Xiaoju had sent; the cat was fast asleep on Xiaoju's sofa, accompanied by the caption:

"Hey, how are you? Guazi is at her godmother's, everything's fine~"

She laughed, then pressed the screen to her cheek and kissed it.

The two walked to the door, pushed it open against the wind, and took a deep breath of the sweet, fresh air mixed with snowflakes, their lungs filled with pure oxygen from the snow-capped mountains.

Before they had to part ways, she asked, "What do you do for a living?"

You should always find out what people you meet by chance do, to avoid them being scammers or serial killers.

"During this period, we studied the microorganism *Hirudinella* rotifer in the permafrost layer in Siberia."

She nodded, though she didn't understand. The male protagonists in Yi Shu's novels are often geophysicists or marine biologists, and today, with the swirling snow and wind, she had met someone just like a novel's perfect match.

For the first time, Fang Kaixuan felt gratitude towards his boss. Before this, he had only harbored resentment towards capitalists.

If the boss hadn't insisted on having her come, how could she have had such a serendipitous encounter?

///

I like it (a smile playing on his lips)

Hahahaha, I'll watch it too!

The first chapter seems to have been about rain, so I'm not sure if the mention of snow particles in the air in this chapter is appropriate.

That's very observant! The prediction is that the temperature will cool down in the afternoon, and the light rain will turn into light snow (hopefully this is plausible).