40. Blue sweatshirt

Xiao Jiang kept his promise and invited Vivian to dinner at the same Yunnan restaurant as last time.

She found it a little funny; who would treat someone so carelessly? She guessed that Xiao Jiang probably just treated her as an old friend and was just politely returning the favor. Otherwise, wouldn't he have made elaborate arrangements?

When they met, Vivian couldn't help but ask him why he chose this place. He replied seriously, "I'm not sure what you like to eat, but at least the chances of you hating this restaurant are a little smaller."

She kind of liked that answer.

Nowadays, there are too many men who are good at sweet talk and too many men who are pretentious. It is rare to meet someone as natural as Xiao Jiang.

They had no new memories together in the past ten years. The long time between them was empty, and all they could talk about was what happened ten years ago. She still remembered that after the trip, Zhou Lin and Xiao Jiang drove her to the airport to catch her flight back home. They unexpectedly went to the wrong airport, and when they realized it, they rushed all the way, looking extremely embarrassed.

She suddenly remembered something: "Do you remember, when I got out of the car at the airport, I ran away and left a piece of clothing in your car."

"It's a blue sweatshirt."

"I really liked that dress at the time. When I realized I had left it behind, I sent a message to Zhou Lin, asking him to keep it for me and bring it to me next time."

Xiao Jiang smiled and said, "It's with me, actually."

"I know. Zhou Lin told me at the time that he left it in your car and asked me to contact you directly later. This guy is really heartless. How could he leave a female classmate's clothes with a stranger for safekeeping?"

"Actually... he is still like this until now, so innocent, which is rare." Before Xiao Jiang returned to Beijing, he lived in the same city as Zhou Lin, and the two families often went out together from time to time.

"He's already a father of two children, and he's still so naive. How can that be? His wife must be so tired."

"That's true. Fortunately, he's a technician at work, so he doesn't need to be too worldly-wise."

Zhou Lin was indeed a warm and honest man. Those qualities, if they weren't in a relationship, would have been his strength. Years later, he married an American woman, surprising everyone, as he seemed incredibly conservative. But Vivian traveled over twenty hours to attend his wedding in a small town in the American South. She truly and sincerely wished him happiness.

This is a later story.

At this moment, Vivian suddenly became curious: "That dress... must be gone a long time ago, right?"

Xiao Jiang replied, "At first I thought we'd definitely meet again, but who could have imagined it would be ten years later? I definitely haven't lost you, but I've moved around and crossed continents in the past ten years, so I really don't know where you are."

Vivian also kept a photo of the three of them wearing raincoats under the waterfall, and she was wearing the blue sweatshirt.

They'd joined the sea of ​​tourists queuing for the boat ride across the falls. The thin raincoats they'd been given were no match for the heavy mist that lashed their faces. The water surged forward like a vast painting against a black background, easily swallowing anyone. The boundless mist, dense as a solid mass, pelted her body. She was actually a little scared. The low railing on the boat was nothing; if she accidentally fell off, she'd be swept to the bottom of the gorge in a second.

She always thinks like this when she shouldn't.

They stopped frequently along the way, enjoying the ride and visiting quite a few places, but that damp, cool evening seemed to permeate the entire journey.

It was exactly the same feeling she had when she thought of Xiao Jiang later.

A cool and slightly sad feeling.

After returning home that time, she and Xiao Jiang kept in touch for a while, but relationships faded too easily when people didn't see each other.

Relationships are hard to build, like a swallow building a nest, with a stick and a piece of mud, day by day, it can grow an inch, but it can be destroyed overnight.

So if Zhou Lin hadn't been meddling this time, she and Xiao Jiang would never have had the chance to meet again.

The thought made her sad.

This sadness made her weak.

Vivian has always felt that "nostalgia" is the mood of the weak. People are particularly fond of nostalgia when they are old or lost, like the old lady Jiujin. Everything was good in the past, but everything is ruined when they return to reality.

But during this period, perhaps because of her age or because what happened was too bad, she suddenly liked to think about the past.

Time has cast a filter over the past. Under that filter, everything is like a low-resolution photo from that time, and everyone is so beautiful.

Some say that your relationship and interactions with someone are fixed at the time you first met them. For example, when you're with your college classmates, you feel like you're only 20 years old. Even if you run into your old friends in your 50s or 60s, you'll instantly revert to your youthful naiveté.

Being with Xiao Jiang, Vivian seemed to have returned to her early twenties.

Aside from the fine lines at the corners of his eyes when he smiled, his eyes were still bright. Many men his age have either dull eyes, as if they've been ravaged by life, or eyes that are fierce, as if they're fighting the world.

"Successful men" like Jia Lan and Zhang Ruolin often reveal such fierce expressions unintentionally.

It is said that men need a gentle place to rest, but in fact women also need gentle men.

But there are very few truly gentle men.

Has Xiao Jiang always been this gentle? Perhaps, but it's also possible that time has tampered with her memory.

But no matter what, sitting with him now, she didn't need to put in any effort or show off. She felt as if she was put into a gentle bubble, as comfortable as taking a hot bath.

No wonder people always want to stay young forever, and no wonder men always want to get their sweetheart back when they have money.

This feeling is so wonderful and money can't buy it.

Vivian knew that she didn't have the same tension between men and women with Xiao Jiang, nor the anxiety of saying the wrong thing. Perhaps she'd grown tired of walking the tightrope lately, and suddenly she felt that this ordinary gentleness and appropriateness was also good.

Just like the blue sweatshirt I lost, it would not be fashionable today. I have so many new clothes in my closet that I have forgotten them before I even wear them. But since it was lost unexpectedly, it seems particularly regrettable.

When she was in middle school, she and her best friends liked a song called "The Boy in the Blue Coat", which was from Yi Nengjing's album "Annie's Music Box" - today's fans of Yi Nengjing or Qin Hao may not know that Yi Nengjing was once a singer in a girl group, and that song sings about a girl's secret love.

"I meet you again, it's still the rainy season

This weather is like your heart...

A blue coat, like a shower of rain

I don't know why you are as melancholy as this weather

I want to bring you summer

Take off your blue coat"

At that time, the girls knew the songs on that album by heart. She also loved the color blue the most from then on.

She was so tired now. Not only did she want to go back to her twenties, she even wanted to go back to her teens and have that still innocent heart.

Xiao Jiang saw that she seemed to be thinking about something, so he didn't ask any more questions.

Why was she so quiet? She'd been like this ten years before, and back then, of course, he'd seen Zhou Lin's feelings for her—Zhou Lin was incredibly frank, his feelings completely clear on his face. Girls in this situation were often either incredibly reserved, deliberately keeping their distance, or inevitably overwhelmed by the favor. She was neither. Occasionally, she'd let a hint of frustration slip at Zhou Lin's incessant chatter, but she didn't resent it. She carried on the conversation smoothly, so smoothly that Zhou Lin was completely oblivious and continued to chatter.

Xiao Jiang could see the subtle changes in her expression in the rearview mirror. She was unaware of it, which made him feel like watching her.

Just like ten years later, when they were sitting across from each other at the dining table, he was also trying to gauge her mood.

"You look a little tired. How about I take you home early?" Xiao Jiang asked her.

Hearing this, Vivian's heart was filled with alarm.

It's not that she hates men, it's just that many men are so straightforward that it's annoying. If you invite someone for a cup of coffee or a meal, you have to get something in return, otherwise it feels like you're losing out.

She missed the old-fashioned dating era, when men were willing to put in a little effort to please women for the sake of affection or even sex, unlike today, when men think they are Casanova just by sending a few greasy love words.

But she didn't show it. Xiao Jiang paid the bill and they walked out. He called a taxi, and she hesitated, not suggesting, "How about we walk?" Actually, this place wasn't far from her home, and she really enjoyed taking walks at night.

But she thought: He has to take care of the children and put them to sleep when he gets home.

When they arrived at the gate of her community, what Vivian worried about did not happen. Xiao Jiang said goodbye normally and decently, and he had no intention of trying to go upstairs.

Before saying goodbye, she said, "Bring Yaoyao out to play with you next time."

She decided to immerse herself in the atmosphere of her twenties a little longer.

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