It's dreams and dreams

When Su Qing left, the bedroom door was opened and closed with great force, making a sound neither loud nor soft. Before leaving, she still said, "My brother will be returning to China in a couple of days, and my parents will come here to see you. Please settle your little lover as soon as possible!"

·

The sound of the door closing was particularly clear in the empty living room.

Zhou Jianxing sat alone on the sofa, his body slightly sunken into the soft cushions, his eyes somewhat blank as he stared at the hazy abstract painting on the opposite wall, as if trying to find some answer from those interlaced blocks of color.

Her fingers unconsciously picked at the seams on the edge of the sofa cushion, her mind in a mess.

Who is that woman?

They talked for so long behind closed doors. What were they talking about that she couldn't hear?

Why can the other party enter and exit the house so familiarly without even saying hello in advance?

What did the scrutinizing and hostile look he gave her before leaving mean?

Countless questions rolled into a ball in her heart like a ball of wool with no end to the thread.

Wen Lingyi stayed in the bedroom for a while before emerging, her footsteps soft. She opened the thermos Su Qing had brought, and a rich, somewhat pungent aroma of scallions, ginger, and brown sugar immediately filled the air.

She took a small spoonful, blew on it, and then put it into her mouth. The warm and spicy liquid slid down her throat, and it was indeed unpalatable.

But she still finished it.

"Sister Wen," Zhou Jianxing hesitated, his lips turning pale from biting them, but he finally asked the question that had been lingering in his mind, "Who was that person just now?"

Wen Lingyi put down the spoon, took a tissue and wiped the corner of her mouth. Turning around, she saw Zhou Jianxing's expression, which looked a little aggrieved but pretending to be strong. A faint smile flashed across her eyes. "Who? You mean Su Qing? What's the relationship? Do you care about this so much?"

Zhou Jianxing nodded honestly, without moving his eyes away, staring straight at Wen Lingyi: "Why can she come in and out here as she pleases? She seems very familiar with this place."

Su Qing came uninvited and acted as familiar as the host, which made her feel sour.

Wen Lingyi wanted to tease her a bit more, but seeing her serious and uneasy expression, she swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue and replied calmly, "We grew up together and have been friends for many years. Don't worry, she's only interested in men. She has so many ex-boyfriends that they can't even fill an A4 sheet of paper."

Zhou Jianxing's tense shoulders relaxed a little, her slightly furrowed brows relaxed, and the corners of her mouth curved into a small, careful arc. She stood up and walked over, gently hugging Wen Lingyi's waist from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder, which had become weak after her illness.

"But," Zhou Jianxing said in a low voice, close to Wen Lingyi's ear, "I feel like she doesn't like me very much? Do I look very annoying?" Her arms tightened a little.

Thinking of Su Qing's cold eyes that looked like she was looking at some cargo, Zhou Jianxing still felt a little scared, but compared to the other person's attitude, she cared more about something else.

Wen Lingyi turned her head and looked at her face, which was close to her and a little nervous. She reached out and gently pinched the tip of her nose. The smile in her eyes deepened: "How do you look annoying? I don't know how lovable you are."

"Don't think too much. She's just like that. She doesn't like everyone. It's not targeting you."

Wen Lingyi turned around and looked at Zhou Jianxing directly, their eyes meeting.

Her expression was calm as she continued, "You're not annoying at all."

There was a pause here, Wen Lingyi lowered her eyes, her eyelashes casting a faint shadow under her eyes: "I like you very much."

I just like you very much.

After these words fell, Zhou Jianxing's eyes widened, her pupils reflecting Wen Lingyi's calm face. Her fingers on Wen Lingyi's waist unconsciously tightened, and her nails pinched her fingertips.

It's like groping for too long in a long, dark corridor that seems to have no end. Suddenly, a door in front of you opens, and a warm, definite light shines through. Although it's not bright and dazzling, it is clear enough to illuminate the road under your feet, letting you know that you are going in the right direction.

The uneasiness in my heart finally had a place to go.

A steady and gentle emotion slowly spread from the bottom of her heart, making her unable to help but tighten her arms and rub her cheek against Wen Lingyi's shoulder.

Finally, she finally saw the light through the clouds, right?

Before she had time to savor these words, Wen Lingyi had already shifted her gaze away unnaturally, lowered her head, covered her mouth and coughed twice.

The cold hasn't completely healed yet, and my throat is still dry, itchy, and uncomfortable.

Zhou Jianxing immediately let go of her and carefully helped her tighten the sweater that had slipped down her shoulders. His fingertips brushed across the soft and slightly cool material, carefully covering the loose collar.

·

After lunch, Zhou Jianxing removed all the sweat-soaked sheets, quilt covers, and pillowcases in the bedroom that needed to be washed and replaced them with new bedding. After Wen Lingyi fell asleep, she drew the heavy blackout curtains, and the room suddenly became dark.

After finishing all this, she returned to the living room, sank into the large sofa, and took out her cell phone. The light from the screen illuminated her pensive face, and she recalled Ajie's solemn instructions.

Zhou Jianxing flipped through her phone, feeling a sense of unease. She considered herself unromantic. Judging by Wen Lingyi's reaction to Zhou Jianxing's corny love talk, Ajie was probably just as romantic as she was.

Even so, Xiao Min can still be with him. This is probably what people often say, "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." If you really like someone, everything is fine.

Proposing a marriage is something that requires creativity, aesthetics, and a careful sense of ritual. It is more reliable and worry-free to leave it to professionals, and the results will be better.

She pondered and began to search online for wedding planning companies with a good reputation in City C. She slid her fingertips across the screen, carefully looking at the case pictures and user reviews, and comparing different styles and packages.

Looking at the carefully arranged romantic scenes on the screen, with flowers, lights, gauze curtains, perfect music and surprise segments, Zhou Jianxing couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.

It was great, her best friend was going to propose, and a new stage of life was about to begin.

Proposal, engagement, marriage, honeymoon... this series of words sounds full of happiness and expectation. Marriage itself should be a beautiful thing, isn't it?

She feels happy to be able to contribute a little to this beauty.

For no apparent reason, she had a strong intuition that Ajie and Xiaomin would be able to walk hand in hand until the end. So she wanted to do her best to help, so that this solemn beginning moment would become a beautiful fragment in their future memories.

It is so beautiful that every time I think of it, I feel that the scenery on the road of life is beautiful and dreamy because of each other's choices and persistence.

So if they really get married, how much red envelope should I give?

Zhou Jianxing browsed the web and checked the usual amount of gift money in the local area. According to the plan revealed by Ajie, if the proposal is successful, the wedding may be held before the end of the year.

Finally, she decided to order a large sum - eighteen thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight.

Even if this favor cannot be taken back in the future, it doesn’t matter. This blessing is real and she is happy for them.

After last year's year of birth, which was full of setbacks and misfortunes, it seems that many things are starting to move in a good direction this year.

Her best friend was about to get married, and she herself had also met Wen Lingyi this year. It was as if life had finally turned a sharp corner, and a new landscape opened up before her eyes.

Her fingers unconsciously slid across the screen, and as if possessed by a magic spell, she deleted the wedding keyword she had searched for before. Her fingertips paused for a moment, and she re-entered... "Wedding of two girls".

The moment she pressed the search button, she knew in her heart that domestic laws did not currently recognize such a relationship. This was the most basic social common sense, and she knew it.

Many shared posts popped up on the webpage, most of which were experiences and photos of registering in a picturesque place abroad and holding a small wedding ceremony in China.

Zhou Jianxing watched silently, the screen light reflecting off her eyes. She couldn't tell much from the emotion, but she'd simply been staring for too long. After a moment, she flicked her thumb and finally turned off the screen. She placed the phone upside down on her knees and turned to look out the window.

No matter what, those are too far away, as distant as stories from another world, separated by layers of barriers of reality.

The most pressing issue at the moment is that Wen Lingyi is still legally someone else's wife, and bigamy is a crime in China.

No matter how many times it is ignored or avoided, this fact will always jump out clearly at some inadvertent moment, such as now, like a deeply buried thorn, which will bring a familiar dull pain when touched.

The series of associations about marriage, commitment and the future triggered by Ajie's proposal made her suddenly begin to examine her almost impulsive behavior of buying the ring.

If you think about it calmly, giving a ring is not actually the most appropriate choice.

Why not a necklace, earrings or bracelet? Why a ring with a special meaning, usually associated with marriage?

The most superficial reason might be that I was attracted by its unique design at first sight when I passed by the counter that day and wanted to give it to Wen Lingyi.

But what if we think about it from a deeper, more hidden perspective? Does the ring that she carefully placed on Wen Lingyi's ring finger, with both trepidation and anticipation, also implicitly represent a possession and desire that she herself was not even aware of?

Longing for a formal, mutually tacit bond, longing for Wen Lingyi to belong to him both physically and mentally, longing for her love to be clearly, uniquely and permanently directed towards him?

Thinking of this, Zhou Jianxing felt a surge of panic, her cheeks flushed. She picked up her phone and turned off the screen again.

She didn't dare to think about it any further, for fear of discovering the perverted possessiveness lurking deep in her heart.

but.

Wen Lingyi had clearly and honestly told her that he liked her today. This wasn't some lustful murmur or comforting remark, but rather a sober, ordinary daytime remark.

It was like catching sight of a distant light in the endless darkness. Although it was still a long way to go, it at least pointed the way, meaning that one day, those wishes she had only dared to secretly hope for and cherish in her heart would come true...

Maybe... there really is a chance that this can become reality?

·

Wen Lingyi slept soundly, the combination of medication and post-illness weakness causing her to fall into a deep sleep. When she woke up, the bedroom was dim, the heavy curtains tightly blocking out most of the outside light, with only a hint of the gray-blue color of the setting sun filtering through the gap at the bottom.

The hazy twilight was gradually swallowing up the remaining light of the day. The room was so quiet that the only sound I could hear was my own steady and slightly dull breathing.

When people wake up alone in the afternoon, especially in the evening, they often feel a huge sense of emptiness and trance, as if time is dislocated and they have been forgotten in some still and quiet corner, while the entire outside world is still running noisily somewhere else.

A faint, unfounded feeling of loneliness will spread silently like the cool air that seeps in through the window cracks, wrapping around the limbs.

She reached out and groped around the bedside, turning on the bedside lamp. The warm yellow light dispelled a small area of ​​darkness and created a blurry halo around her.

I subconsciously glanced at the seat beside me—it was empty. There was no dent in the pillow, and I touched it; the sheets were cold, with no trace of warmth left.

Where is Zhou Jianxing?

Her heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason, and she immediately threw off the covers and got out of bed. Her toes touched the cold floor, sending a slight chill through her.

Having just woken up from a deep sleep, the boundary between consciousness and reality is still a little blurred, and the remaining fragments of dreams are intertwined with the darkness in front of my eyes.

For a long time after breaking up with Zhu Yang, she often fell into this kind of confusion and doubt. Which part was the cruel reality and which part was the nightmare caused by her excessive pain?

Was the breakup itself a dream? Was it that she and Su Qing caught Zhu Yang and her husband in the hotel? Or was it that the police later told her she was the mistress in that relationship?

Or perhaps, those promises that were once thought to be unbreakable were just a huge and ironic illusion?

She couldn't distinguish between dreams and reality. For example, in reality, after they broke up, Zhu Yang cried and begged her not to leave, but in the dream, she was begging Zhu Yang not to leave.

So what about now? Could it be that Zhou Jianxing, who had intruded into her routine without warning and reignited her life, was just another overly realistic and addictive dream that she had in her feverish delirium?

Is it because I long for some kind of pure warmth that my brain weaves such a dream?

Her fingers curled up unconsciously, and the cold metal felt clearly and firmly on the skin at the base of her fingers.

She raised her hand to the bedside lamp. In the dim light of the bedroom, the silver ring quietly wrapped around her ring finger, reflecting the light and emitting a small circle of soft but firm light. It was there, with an undeniable weight and cool texture.

This ring, a solid, silent coordinate, brought her back to reality from those vague and disturbing doubts.

It's like the spinning top in Inception that finally stops.

·

After calming herself down and firmly stomping the floor, Wen Lingyi pushed open the bedroom door and walked out. Downstairs was quiet, but warm lights were on from the dining room and kitchen, and there was a faint, gentle aroma of food wafting in the air—the smell of porridge.

She followed the light and walked into the kitchen.

Zhou Jianxing was busy doing something at the kitchen sink with his back to her. The small stew pot on the stove was covered with a lid, making a subtle and steady bubbling sound. White steam occasionally lifted the lid, emitting the warm fragrance of boiled rice grains.

She lowered her head slightly, as if concentrating on preparing something, and her figure looked calm and ordinary under the light.

She seemed to be just waiting quietly and patiently for her to wake up so that they could have dinner together.