3 Chapter 3
The glass door downstairs was turning tirelessly, and through the glass you could see a man in a suit standing with his back to the door.
Chen Ying lowered her head, her heart beating suddenly faster.
She remembered Zhou Baixi who waited for her at Fanhua Station every day to go to school together during high school, and Zhou Baixi who waited for her at the classroom door after every evening study session to leave together.
In a blink of an eye, she recalled the night when the college entrance examination ended. The evening breeze was blowing, a little chilly. She was lightly dressed and waited in the wind until three in the morning, but no one came in the end.
"Chen Ying."
Zhou Baixi finally saw her and waited for her outside the glass door with a smile.
"Why didn't I see you laughing so much before?" she wanted to ask.
But the first thing he said was: "You... have something to ask me?"
"Why not look for him if there's nothing to do?" He grinned. "After all these years, it's not too much to ask an old classmate out for dinner, right?"
"No, I'll go home and eat by myself." Chen Ying refused subconsciously.
Zhou Baixi's smile deepened. "I mean, it's not too much to ask you to treat me to a meal, right?"
Chen Ying blushed and walked straight past Zhou Baixi.
Zhou Baixi took a long step and caught up with him. When he reached the restaurant door, he hesitated again.
"Shall we go to another restaurant?" he asked tentatively.
"If you don't want to eat it, then forget it." Chen Ying didn't even turn her head and didn't see the embarrassment on Zhou Baixi's face.
Zhou Baixi still followed him reluctantly.
Chen Ying regretted it the moment she sat down. She was so caught up in the awkwardness that she just picked a random restaurant nearby, forgetting that the lighting in this restaurant was too bright and ambiguous. It looked weird no matter how she looked at it, sitting there with Zhou Baixi.
Chen Ying was very upset. No wonder Zhou Baixi had just said to change to another one.
Zhou Baixi also felt uncomfortable, as if he had sneaked out to meet his lover for dinner, and it just so happened that his wife owned a restaurant.
Chen Ying was somewhat displeased, regretting not breaking up with him right then and there. No matter how much she liked him, Zhou Baixi had lofty ambitions since childhood, devoted to reading the classics. He had to let go, even if he couldn't.
Zhou Baixi fell silent after ordering the dishes.
Chen Ying didn't say anything either, just held the teacup and drank water.
"Chen Ying..."
"Um?"
He shouted and then fell silent.
This is fine, Chen Ying doesn’t know what to say anyway.
"Um...will your family be worried if you come home too late?"
"I live alone now." Chen Ying continued drinking water without raising her head.
Zhou Baixi asked again: "I just ran into an old classmate and was so excited that I forgot to ask if your boyfriend would be worried if you didn't go home so late."
Chen Ying smiled, looked at him, and said, "Can you find me a boyfriend?"
"Then find me a girlfriend, and we'll be even."
Zhou Baixi was still the same as before, wanting to be even in everything, and Chen Ying couldn't get any advantage from him.
"Zhou Baixi, why are you still as petty as you were when we were little?"
"You haven't changed, you're still so cowardly."
"I'm not afraid..."
These words were completely baseless, and Chen Ying immediately lost her temper. He was right, she was a coward. The only time she had been brave in her life was when she was stood up.
Chen Ying didn't say anything else and kicked it directly. After kicking it, she suddenly remembered the high heels she was wearing.
"Are you still scared?"
Zhou Baixi rubbed his calf and grinned. Chen Ying felt even more guilty. Just as she was about to apologize, she heard Zhou Baixi repeatedly shouting, "Don't be a coward, don't be a coward. I'm fine. I'm not hurt."
Chen Ying's apology remained on the tip of her tongue.
"Although it didn't hurt, you essentially kicked me. You have to treat me to a meal next time. To prevent you from sneaking away, I have to add you on WeChat."
This... Chen Ying had to admit that she was still a little looking forward to it.
In the following time, Zhou Baixi asked many questions, including but not limited to: work, health, life ideals...
Chen Ying was filled with emotion in her heart: As expected, the more people experience, the more they talk.
When dinner was about to end, Zhou Baixi offered to take Chen Ying home.
Chen Ying couldn't refuse.
But he was stopped when he went out.
A bearded foreign man stood in front of them, speaking fluent Mandarin. He nodded slightly and said, "No wonder Mr. Zhou left in such a hurry after signing the contract."
After saying that, he burst into laughter, a hearty laugh.
That was Zhou Baixi's business partner. They had already started communicating in English. Chen Ying felt a little embarrassed and could only keep smiling.
The wind picked up in the evening, but it wasn't cold, but rather refreshing. It felt like riding a boat on a hot summer day, paddling on a lotus leaf, hiding among the lotus flowers, surrounded by the fragrance of lotus flowers, and fish swimming under the boat...
Chen Ying's thoughts began to drift away.
…There was more than one fish under the boat, and not just black ones. The water rippled, and more and more fish swam out from under the boat, more red than black.
"Chen Ying?"
Two of them started playing in the water, competing to jump out of the water. The small water droplets they brought out spilled into the boat and were quickly evaporated by the scorching sun.
"Chen Ying?"
The fish swam away in groups. Chen Ying still wanted to watch, but the lotus leaf above her head suddenly tilted down and just covered her eyes - why was the lotus leaf shaking?
Chen Ying came back to her senses when she heard laughter.
The foreigner had already left, and she was so distracted that she didn't notice Zhou Baixi calling her.
She had made a fool of herself twice in one day, both in front of the person she liked. Chen Ying smiled awkwardly and wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
After taking a shower in the evening, Chen Ying sent a message to Ye Jinyi as usual.
"Today he came to see me downstairs at the company and asked me to treat him to a meal."
"I don't know how he knew I worked there." This sentence had just been edited and before it was sent out, Ye Jinyi called.
"What's going on with him? How does he know where you work?"
Chen Ying touched the tip of her nose and said, "What a coincidence."
"So what happened next? Did you guys have dinner together?"
"Hmm..." Chen Ying had just finished speaking when she suddenly remembered Zhou Baixi's expression during the meal and hurriedly said, "But it was very awkward. That restaurant was a couple's restaurant and I wasn't familiar with it, so I didn't notice. He was very reluctant, but he still went with me."
"You guys went to a couple's restaurant?! He went?!"
"I went there very reluctantly."
Ye Jinyi slapped his forehead and took a breath, "My intuition tells me that he is interested in you."
Chen Ying was stunned and whispered, "Impossible. He barely managed to get in."
"You'll see, he'll come looking for you again."
Ye Jinyi let out a few wicked laughs, and Chen Ying blushed a little. She didn't want to talk about Zhou Baixi anymore, so she changed the subject.
Ye Jinyi told a few interesting stories about work, and the two laughed together for a long time through the phone. After hanging up the phone, Chen Ying took out her iPad and started drawing.
Her painting skills were mediocre and not as good as those of professionals, but they were good enough for her own entertainment. She would occasionally paint during her college years. Later, she was discovered by Ye Jinyi, who encouraged her to publish her works so that more people could see them. Thus, Chen Ying embarked on the path of amateur painting.
What Chen Ying is drawing now are the little stories between her and Ye Jinyi. She did not tell Ye Jinyi about the existence of this account, just to commemorate the warmth Ye Jinyi brought her over the years.
Tonight's painting depicts a night when the power went out. Ye Jinyi was clearly terrified, yet he was trying to act fearless. However, the more frantic he was one moment, the more terrified he was the next. In the end, he was so frightened that he peed his pants and crawled into Chen Ying's quilt.
Thinking of this, Chen Ying felt a little funny. In fact, she was very afraid of the dark, but when she saw Ye Jinyi was scared that day, Chen Ying suddenly became brave.
In the face of darkness, someone has to be brave.
Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered and then went out, and the night light on the bedside also stopped glowing. It was pitch black all around, and you couldn't see your hand in front of you.
Chen Ying silently shrank her body and head down until she was completely wrapped up in the quilt, curled up into a ball.
It wasn't necessarily pitch black outside. Perhaps the moonlight was bright enough to let in some light, but the thick curtains blocked everything, and the room was still pitch black.
There was something unknown hidden behind the bed curtains. Chen Ying thought about it and decided that it would be safer to curl up in the quilt.
She flipped through her WeChat account and found Zhou Baixi. His WeChat name was his real name, but his profile picture was a dark sky with a single bright star.
Chen Ying thought to herself, "Other people use the traditional poses of successful people and use suits as their profile pictures, but he is the brightest star in the night sky."
But it was also true. Oftentimes, wasn't he the brightest star in the night sky? With all-around development in morals, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor, Chen Ying felt that she was just like any other girl, so it was only natural for her to fall in love with him.
"Don't blame me for my poor self-control, don't blame me for having a one-sided love for so many years, it's because he is too outstanding." She thought so.
At this moment, the phone screen suddenly lit up. It was a WeChat message from Zhou Baixi.
Zhou Baixi: [You're not going to work tomorrow, right?]
Chen Ying replied: [Yes.]
Zhou Baixi: [Are you free?]
Chen Ying's work was off on Sunday, and she thought about it and felt that there didn't seem to be anything busy.
【available. 】
Zhou Baixi: [There's a new amusement park on Fanhua Street. My relative's child is clamoring to go there, but you know, I've never been a fan of those things. I can only ask for your help.]
He also included an emoticon that looked like it was about to get punched.
Chen Ying wanted to say, "But I don't know how to take care of a child. Do you want your relative to take care of her?"
She was still hesitating, and Zhou Baixi said, "I'm the only one at home who has some free time right now, so I'll have to take her there."
Chen Ying had no way to refuse, so she could only agree.
But after she agreed, she started to get nervous. She had never taken care of a child before. What if the child didn't like her? Wouldn't that be awkward?
She knew that she had always been unpopular, but fortunately she had gotten used to it over the years. However, it would be really embarrassing to be despised by children in front of Zhou Baixi.
Zhou Baixi said: "That's it. I'll take my nephew to get off at Fanhua Station tomorrow."
Chen Ying flipped through the chat page, wanting to change her mind.
【I……】
Delete.
Can I regret it?
It seems too straightforward, so I deleted it.
【Children may not like me.】
It's a bit sad to hear these words come out of my mouth. Delete.
【she……】
Zhou Baixi sent a message: [Is there anything else I need to prepare?] After all, the six words "the other party is typing" had been flashing on his screen for almost five minutes.
Zhou Baixi: [My nephew is very well behaved and she likes you very much.]
Chen Ying: [How do you know?]
Chen Ying subconsciously felt that he was just fooling around.
Zhou Baixi: [She saw my high school graduation photo and said that the older sister standing in front of me—no, the aunt—was very pretty and she liked her very much.]
Their graduation photos were taken a month before the college entrance exam. As usual, Chen Ying stood alone in the far corner, her eyes filled with sadness as she thought of the uncertain future. When the photos were handed out, she was surprised to find Zhou Baixi standing behind her. He didn't smile, but simply looked over Chen Ying's head at the camera.
Everyone in the class was laughing, except Chen Ying and Zhou Baixi. The two of them looked like they had made an appointment, and there seemed to be a hidden secret behind their smiles.
At that time, Chen Ying had not realized that she had fallen in love with him. She just simply felt that when she, who was so thin, stood in front of Zhou Baixi, he was like a harbor and made her feel safe.
Later, no matter how she looked at it, something seemed wrong. She began to ignore the photo and stopped thinking about Zhou Baixi standing behind her.
In the photo, his front was less than five centimeters away from her back. It was too close, and even now my heart still beats faster when I look at it.
The corners of Chen Ying's mouth curled up gradually, and she didn't even notice it. The darkness didn't seem so scary anymore. This was the first time she could sleep alone with her head outside the quilt.
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