Smart door locks

In winter, Lanyue Bay has lost all its bright colors, leaving only a gray silence.

The camphor tree still stands upright, its dark green leaves covered with a thin layer of dust, losing the glossy luster of spring and summer. Occasionally, a few leaves that can't stand the cold swirl down and mix into the damp soil.

The air was filled with dampness and coldness, like invisible needles that could penetrate clothes and pierce the bone marrow.

The outlines of the buildings in the distance were blurred in the dense mist, and only tiny water droplets occasionally condensed on the leaves of nearby plants, reflecting the faint light from the sky.

Zhou Jianxing carried the toolbox and walked very slowly with every step.

She was not ready to face Wen Lingyi, or rather, she was prepared to never see Wen Lingyi again in her life.

A gust of cold wind carrying moisture suddenly blew past and penetrated the hem of her loose dark blue work clothes. She shivered with cold and subconsciously tightened the collar of her coat, which was not very thick.

The wet and cold wind made my eye sockets and nose tip red, and a physiological sourness arose.

The journey seemed to be particularly long, yet also seemed so short that it made her feel anxious.

I don’t know how long I hesitated, but the familiar, gorgeous carved iron gate inevitably appeared at the end of my sight.

It just stood there quietly in the gray mist.

Zhou Jianxing himself couldn't remember how he came here in a daze last time.

She only vaguely remembered that day, she went to a hot pot restaurant to repair the exhaust system.

When the maintenance was finished, a woman who was eating passed by. Through the thick spicy smell of boiling butter in the pot, she smelled the same perfume as Wen Lingyi.

It was already dark when she left the hot pot restaurant, and she hadn't had dinner yet.

She went to a convenience store, bought a rice ball, and sat on the street, nibbling it. The food had a salty and astringent taste, but no other flavor.

She returned to the convenience store and bought a 550ml bottle of peach-flavored rum.

In fact, Zhou Jianxing doesn't like drinking. Wine tastes bitter in her mouth, no matter whether it is expensive or cheap.

She especially dislikes white wine, which is bitter, spicy and pungent. She doesn't know what's so good about it.

But she would occasionally drink with Zhou Jianjun at home, and she could never avoid it during company gatherings. Gradually, she got used to the taste of white wine.

But no matter how many times I drink it, the bitter feeling never disappears.

Unless you mix white wine with Sprite or red wine with Coke, but drinking it like that will cause great harm to your body.

There is enough suffering already, why do you want to make yourself suffer more?

Peach flavored rum, it tastes sweet when you drink it and makes you feel dizzy after drinking it.

When she woke up the next morning, she found herself lying at the door of Wen Lingyi's house. Her whole body ached as if she had been beaten. She had caught a cold at night and had a fever after returning home.

In that chaotic heat, she saw Wen Lingyi sitting beside her bed, with the back of his cold hand covering her burning forehead.

She just squinted her eyes and looked at Wen Lingyi, not daring to blink.

It was not until the other person tried to pull his hand away that she nervously grabbed that wrist, with her eyebrows and eyes drooping, silently begging the other person not to leave.

Then, she heard a familiar but unexpected voice: "Xingxing, what's wrong? Do you want some water?" The tone was concerned.

It was Chu Wei's voice.

She closed her eyelids, loosened her tightly grasped wrist, and buried herself back in the hot and lonely darkness.

·

Taking a deep breath of the cold, damp air, Zhou Jianxing pushed open the heavy carved door with force, and the metal hinges creaked dully.

Wen Lingyi was standing at the door of the villa, wearing the same smoky gray silk halter dress that she had worn when they first met. It glowed with a cold luster in the grayish-white winter light.

She casually wore a thick white cashmere shawl, but it was obviously not enough to protect her from the cold outside.

Under the skirt, she was wearing fluffy slippers on her bare feet, and her ankles were exposed to the cold air and turned a little red.

Wouldn't it be cold if you stood in the cold winter wind dressed like this? Wouldn't you catch a cold?

If he catches a cold again, this person will definitely make a fuss and refuse to go to the hospital, refuse injections, and take medicine because the capsules are too big and get stuck in his throat, or because the granules are too bitter to swallow.

I am not that greedy at ordinary times, but when I get sick, I want to eat this and that. There are so many things I want to eat, and because I can't satisfy them, I will purse my lips and feel unhappy.

It took a lot of coaxing and tricking to get her to drink some light porridge.

At that time, it was still midsummer, the hottest and most unbridled season of the year.

Now, it is winter when all things are dormant. Time silently slides towards the coldest season, leaving behind only the gray sky and damp and cold air.

Zhou Jianxing kept a distance of about two meters from Wen Lingyi, lowered his head and no longer looked at her.

"Mrs. Wen," Zhou Jianxing said straight to the point, "Is there any problem with your smart door lock?" She just wanted to finish this quickly and leave.

"Zhou Jianxing." Wen Lingyi seemed not to hear her question and took a step closer to her.

A slight cold breeze and the familiar cold fragrance from Wen Lingyi came over.

Zhou Jianxing immediately took a step back and kept his distance.

"You can call me Master Zhou or Engineer Zhou." She felt the toolbox in her hand getting heavier, so she put it on the ground between them. The box was like a silent boundary, stretching between them.

"Zhou Jianxing." Wen Lingyi stopped and repeated it again.

She tried to grab Zhou Jianxing's hand, which was hanging by his side and a little red from the cold, but he quickly dodged her without making a sound.

Looking at her outstretched hand that fell in vain, her fingertips paused stiffly in the air.

"I know that what happened before was my fault. Can you please listen to my explanation?" The cold wind made Wen Lingyi's voice tremble a little.

"Mrs. Wen," Zhou Jianxing turned his body and faced her sideways, his tone cold and distant, "If you have nothing else to talk to me about, I'll leave first." As he said that, he was about to turn around.

As he spoke, the breath Zhou Jianxing exhaled formed a small cloud of white mist in the cold air.

"Master Zhou," Wen Lingyi took a half step back, putting some distance between herself and Zhou Jianxing, "Please help me check the door lock first."

Zhou Jianxing then picked up the toolbox again and walked to the cold entrance door.

The door lock had been changed and was not the same model as when she lived here before.

Looking at this brand new lock, Zhou Jianxing couldn't describe the feeling in his heart. He just let out a breath slowly, and the white mist instantly dissipated in the cold air.

She put on a pair of thin work gloves and focused on the inspection process.

There were no obvious signs of damage on the exterior, but the touchscreen was freezing cold and there was no response when I tried to press the buttons.

She initially judged that the battery might have run out of power due to the low temperature or the internal contacts might have been damp and condensed.

So she squatted down, opened the toolbox, and found a portable heating pad from it. She first stuck it near the battery compartment to warm it up slightly, and then used a screwdriver to remove the compartment cover.

The old battery is cold to the touch when you remove it.

After the new, highly cold-resistant battery was installed, she waited for a moment. The indicator light on the door lock finally beeped and lit up a faint blue light. The screen also slowly displayed the battery level.

"It may be that the low temperature caused the battery performance to decrease, or there was slight condensation inside. Now that I have replaced it with a cold-resistant battery, it should be fine." She tried to explain in a calm and steady voice.

As Zhou Jianxing spoke, he quickly took two steps back, once again widening the distance between himself and Wen Lingyi, who had been leaning against the door frame.

"Please try opening the door now to see if everything is back to normal."

How strange. Before, when she smelled the perfume on Wen Lingyi, she would think it was very pleasant, and it would even attract her to get closer and savor the rich changes in the fragrance.

It was as if the scent of perfume emanating from Wen Lingyi's pores mixed with the unique fragrance of Wen Lingyi's body, filling her nostrils and making her feel as if she was completely enveloped by Wen Lingyi.

But now, when she smelled the perfume on Wen Lingyi again, her stomach suddenly felt physically uncomfortable and disgusted, almost making her want to vomit.

Physiological aversion.

After all, it’s not the perfume itself that has changed its smell, but the mood of the person who smells it has already changed.

Wen Lingyi's gaze lingered on Zhou Jianxing's slightly curled hand at his side.

The exposed skin on the wrist turned red due to the cold wind.

Just now, when Zhou Jianxing was concentrating on holding the screwdriver to disassemble and inspect, she saw the blue veins on the back of her hand rising and falling with the movement, which were clearly visible even through the gloves, and the protruding bones on her wrist were so sharp that they seemed to cut people.

She has lost a lot of weight.

There was originally a soft curve on her face, but now in the cold air, the lines of her cheeks look cold and hard.

The sigh sounded like a fallen leaf being blown by the cold wind and gently falling to the ground.

Wen Lingyi turned around and gently pressed her fair fingertips on the fingerprint recognition area of ​​the door lock as she was told. A slight opening and closing sound was like playing an old accordion.

The door was opened.

"If that's all right, I'll be leaving."

She had already packed up her toolbox behind Wen Lingyi, put everything back in its place, closed the lid, and held the handle tightly in her hand.

She turned her head to look at Wen Lingyi's huge garden, which still showed signs of being maintained, but the greenery was now covered with a layer of gray and cold tones, revealing a sense of withering and loneliness.

"How can I give you the money?" Wen Lingyi turned around and shook the phone in her palm towards Zhou Jianxing. She was still blocked by Zhou Jianxing.

"Mrs. Wen, the home visit fee has increased from 20 yuan to 30 yuan, and the replacement cold-resistant battery is 15 yuan each." Zhou Jianxing began to calculate the expenses in a businesslike manner.

"Although it didn't involve any specific maintenance work, the company stipulates that this kind of basic maintenance is charged by the hour. My hourly fee is 80 yuan, and the whole process takes about..."

She took out her phone and checked the time, her movements slightly stiff from the cold. "It's less than half an hour, so it'll be 40 yuan."

Zhou Jianxing calculated the expenses carefully and meticulously.

"The total is eighty-five yuan," Zhou Jianxing pulled up the WeChat payment code and held it up in front of Wen Lingyi, "Just scan it."

With a "ding" sound, a cold electronic female voice announced that the WeChat payment had arrived.

Zhou Jianxing was about to leave with the toolbox, but suddenly a soft, boneless body pressed against his back, followed by an overwhelming smell of perfume.

She froze in place, as if struck by lightning.

"Zhou Jianxing," Wen Lingyi rested her chin on Zhou Jianxing's clavicle, her delicate and smooth cheek pressed against Zhou Jianxing's profile, "Will you listen to my explanation?"

…

She heard Zhou Jianxing's breathing, which rose and fell subtly, and then almost stopped.

"Mrs. Wen, you don't have to explain anything to me." She turned her face away from Wen Lingyi's cheek, "I don't want to listen." Her voice sounded more mature than before.

The voice is still as sweet as before, which is due to the sound quality and vocal pattern.

But there were no longer lively points of light dancing in the voice; each syllable fell at a precise but lifeless position, and was blown away by the cold wind.

It's as if the voice has also been disciplined and become mature.

After saying that, she pried open Wen Lingyi's hands that were wrapped around her lower abdomen one finger at a time. Her movements were very gentle, but she had no intention of stopping.

"It's cold outside, go in early." After saying that, she left without looking back.