Chapter 33 Picking Up Flowers at Dusk
The weather in Wuqiao is getting colder day by day. Before we know it, snowflakes are piling up and collapsing, sliding down in a line.
My nostrils draw in the cold air, and I can smell the secrets of early winter about the first snow.
After the coffee shop hired new employees, Xu Yuewei rarely went there anymore. This latest absence from work lasted for a whole week.
She originally wanted to go to the store one last time to say goodbye to everyone, but not everyone was there, and it would take two or three trips to say goodbye to each person individually. In the end, Song Jinshu made the decision to simply close the store at 5 p.m. one day and have everyone have dinner together that evening.
Xu Yuewei hesitated for a moment: "Where should we eat? Could we find a restaurant that can have private rooms?"
Although she changed her hairstyle and stopped wearing that Chanel-style jacket, and Jiang Shiyan's vow to pursue her was overshadowed by a celebrity's drug scandal, she has developed post-traumatic stress disorder and is afraid of being exposed.
Song Jinshu sent a sad frog winking emoji: 【Don't worry, we're going to Xiao Han's house.】
Xu Yuewei then learned that Xiao Han had rented a house near the store, which explained why she rode her electric scooter at breakneck speed all day.
The day before the farewell dinner, Xiao Han posted the address in the group chat.
When Xu Yuewei saw the message, she was brushing her toothbrush up and down in her mouth. Her brain processed the meaning of the words before her body could react, and she choked and coughed violently.
Unconvinced, she clicked on the link, carefully examining every word of the address and even tracing the map, only to confirm a terrible, seemingly impossible situation.
The apartment that Xiao Han rented was in the same neighborhood as the one Jiang Shiyan rented back then.
A little toothpaste seemed to have leaked down her throat. She spent twice as long rinsing her mouth as usual, and her face gradually calmed down as she looked in the mirror.
The university town area is home to three prestigious universities, and is surrounded by mostly commercial buildings. There aren't many residential areas, and the closest and relatively inexpensive one seems to be that particular neighborhood.
The new district is alright, but the old district has a dilapidated feel to it. Interestingly, the rent is low, but there aren't many houses for sale. It's said that the buildings will be demolished sooner or later, and the homeowners are all waiting to receive demolition compensation. This rumor has been circulating for years.
After many years, standing at the entrance of the community and looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar jungle of buildings inside, Xu Yuewei nervously rubbed the callus on her left thumb.
When Song Jinshu returned from parking the car, she shoved a bulging plastic bag into her hand: "It's so heavy, help me carry one."
The weight of the object brought her heart to a place of peace and security.
They followed the navigation and took a road in a different direction than they remembered. When they went upstairs and knocked on the door, Xiao Han's voice calling "Coming!" could be heard from outside the door.
"I was going to go down and pick you up, but wow, you bought so much food, isn't that too much?"
Song Jinshu stepped inside first: "It's alright, easy to find. I bought a little extra, I'll save the rest for you. Oh right, about the raw steak, don't buy the synthetic kind, either buy the whole cut, or don't buy it if you're really craving it."
She took out two boxes of steak from the bag and asked Xiao Han to put them in the freezer first.
"Are you being so polite, treating me like an outsider?"
Xu Yuewei said softly from behind Jin Shu, "I'm the 'outsider,' can you let me in first? I'm so heavy."
Laughter echoed in the hallway, mixed with the sound of a television leaking from the apartment across the hall.
Xiao Han welcomed her in and muttered a complaint: "The old man across the hall is hard of hearing and listens to opera all day long. I can hear him from my room. It's so annoying."
A plastic mat was laid on the dining table, and four matching chairs and a chair that was obviously moved from the study were arranged together. A portable gas stove canister was placed in the middle of the table, and five sets of tableware were arranged around it.
Xiao Han continued washing vegetables, Song Jinshu nestled on the sofa playing a paused game, and Xu Yuewei went to the kitchen to help.
The sashimi she bought was already sliced. Xu Yuewei arranged the slices on a plate one by one, and then she thought of something important, though it was late.
"To be honest, I don't even know your full name."
Xiao Han continued slicing potatoes without stopping: "My name isn't nice, so it's best if you don't know it."
Xu Yuewei was somewhat surprised, but recalling her few words at the KTV last time, she could roughly guess what had happened.
She wanted to offer comfort, but nothing she said seemed appropriate.
“I’m not afraid of people laughing at me, I’m just afraid of people feeling sorry for me, especially you guys. I’m not saying you’ll definitely think that way about me, it’s just… haha.”
Xu Yuewei: "Okay, Xiao Han."
This time, Xiao Han laughed much more freely.
"Aren't you planning to change your name?"
"I don't have the household registration booklet."
If these conversations had taken place on WeChat, Xu Yuewei would definitely have retracted her previous statement.
At the same time, they despicably and unconsciously diluted their own pain with the pain of others.
She thought that although her name was not like Jin Shu's, which had been chosen by a fortune teller and blessed, the name Xu Shiheng gave her was still acceptable.
Shouldn't she be content?
That's terrible, how could she be so self-conscious at a time like this?
Many thoughts surfaced, and with a sense of atonement, Xu Yuewei confessed herself to her:
"Didn't you ask me before why I wanted to leave? My reasons for wanting to leave Wuqiao are the same as yours for coming here, or at least most of them."
Xiao Han's curiosity was piqued: "Oh? You've been pressured into marriage too?"
After cleaning the sashimi, Xu Yuewei washed her hands with dish soap. Her skin felt slippery, but after drying it, it felt rough.
She shook her head: "My dad loves his money the most in his life, followed by my brother, and then down the list, with my mom and me coming last."
“When I was a child, he was always busy with business, and my education and everything else were my responsibility. My father only cared about the results. If I made a mistake, he wouldn’t scold me. He would blame my mother for not raising me well.”
Xiao Han stopped what he was doing and looked at her with a sense of shared misfortune.
“My mom blamed me instead, so I felt that their bad relationship was all my fault, and I could only try to please my dad.”
Xu Yuewei shrugged nonchalantly, "They divorced because they blamed me for not being a boy, but I don't care anymore. It's easier to be done with it all."
Of course, there are other reasons why it's easy.
For the first half of her life, she was loved by her parents in a way that was neither particularly good nor bad. It was like lying in a calm pond when suddenly someone poured tons of water into it, creating a whirlpool that almost drowned her.
There's no need to tell Xiao Han these things.
“After my father passed away, I resigned and returned to Wuqiao, originally planning to stay with my mother. I thought that once a person dies, there is no more love or hate, but it seems that’s not the case. My mother and I are still not suitable to live under the same roof.”
She looked up and smiled at Xiao Han: "I rarely think about these things when I'm away from home, but I'm not in the right state of mind as soon as I come back. I think I should leave... Wuqiao wasn't good to me, but I hope she's doing well for you."
Calling you a freshman is an exaggeration; I just wish you all the best.
Xiao Han responded simply and sincerely: "You too."
“There should be some wine at this time.” Xu Yuewei made a gesture of squeezing a wine glass and pretended to clink glasses with her.
"Why drink that stuff? It doesn't do any good except to your own body. You just wait."
Xiao Han stormed out of the kitchen with a knife in his hand.
Xu Yuewei heard Jin Shu's voice from outside: "Han, you absolutely mustn't turn into a zombie right now!"
She smiled and obediently waited while continuing to prepare the other ingredients.
Xiao Han returned quickly, holding two lollipops in his other hand.
"This isn't very good for your health, but it's really sweet. Do you want grape or pineapple flavor?"
Xu Yuewei was both amused and exasperated: "Grapes, please."
Her hands were dripping wet as she held the vegetables. Xiao Han walked over and put a purple lollipop into her sweater pocket.
"Hey, you have something here."
That pocket was decorative; it was wide but shallow and couldn't hold much, so it should have been empty.
Xu Yuewei took out a tissue to wipe her hands and then took out a... Belgian Lotus caramel biscuit.
Xiao Han smiled knowingly: "So you like sweets too, then I'm relieved."
Xu Yuewei didn't correct her. She straightened the bag and her eyes were slightly vacant.
In Jiang Shiyan's lounge, amidst the pile of miscellaneous items on the table.
*
Half an hour later, Zhou Xu and Li Qianyi arrived. They were told not to buy anything, but one brought snacks and the other brought drinks.
Several people sat around the dining table. Xiao Han carried a soup pot that was half red and half white and walked over quickly and steadily, saying, "Make way, make way."
Zhou Xu followed behind her, distributing heat-resistant mats under everyone's bowls, and then sat down next to Xu Yuewei.
Song Jinshu brought over a few cans of drinks, which landed on the table with a thud, and sat down next to her in the corner.
The sound of soda bottles being opened echoed throughout the room as the five people clinked glasses and took photos.
Steam rose and swirled, the aroma both pungent and enticing. Xu Yuewei gulped down a mouthful of carbonated water to relieve the spiciness, wondering if she had been having an unusually strong affinity for hot pot lately.
It got dark early. After finishing their meal and cleaning up, the group didn't stay long and left Xiao Han's rented room together.
When they got downstairs, Li Qianyi called out "Sister, sister!" as she chased after them.
Xu Yuewei gestured for Song Jinshu to go first, then turned to the shorter girl and asked, "What's wrong?"
Li Qianyi reached into her small handbag and rummaged through it. First, she took out her phone, then a lip gloss, and finally something wrapped in a transparent bag.
She put the other things back and handed her the earring: "I wanted to give you this."
By the dim light of the streetlights in the neighborhood, Xu Yuewei could see that they were a pair of earrings.
Although the packaging was simple, the earrings were very well designed, like a pair of butterflies split in two and then folded, with the upper and lower wings overlapping. The slightly larger silver piece spread its wings, while the other wing was protected by gold thread and had a hollowed-out center.
Li Qianyi placed the earring in her palm:
“My sister is studying in South Korea. She has a favorite jewelry brand and went to the store to take pictures so I could choose a gift. I thought this would be perfect for you, so I asked her to buy it for me. I hope you don’t mind that it wasn’t packaged very well.”
"No, it's beautiful, thank you."
Xu Yuewei smiled with delight, but then her lips slowly curved back, and her expression became somewhat awkward.
She didn't prepare a farewell ceremony for everyone; that would be too formal, as if she had made some kind of vow. She came into this world easily, so she should leave easily as well.
Li Qianyi seemed to see through her thoughts and didn't mention saying goodbye: "You're welcome. I wanted to thank you. I was scalded by hot water that day. If you hadn't gone to buy me burn ointment, I would definitely have gotten blisters."
So that's what it was for.
Xu Yuewei smiled easily: "It's nothing."
The two walked side by side toward the entrance of the residential area, chatting idly.
A figure stood near the entrance of the building. Under the dim streetlights, the person was tall and slender, looking down at their phone. Suddenly, as if sensing something, they looked up and gazed in their direction.
Li Qianyi's eyes lit up, and she said goodbye to Xu Yuewei: "My boyfriend is here to pick me up, I'm leaving now."
She ran a few steps, then turned back and winked:
"I heeded your warning, but please don't tell the other older sisters!"
She was referring to their casual conversation at the karaoke bar that day.
Xu Yuewei smiled and shook her head: "Go ahead."
Li Qianyi ran up to the boy and turned back to wave goodbye.
The boy untied her haphazardly wrapped pink scarf, re-tied it into a neat knot at the neckline, and then looked in Xu Yuewei's direction, giving her a slight nod.
Xu Yuewei lowered her waving hand and watched them disappear into the blind spot.
For some reason, watching young people fall in love gives me a surge of energy.
She walked towards the door, but her face involuntarily turned to the left, as she was more familiar with the path leading to Building 16.
She stopped at the fork in the road between the buildings.
The old district was built before the standardization of urban construction. The ground floor houses with yards were more expensive, but Jiang Shiyan preferred to rent a ground floor house.
Xu Yuewei was heartbroken and felt incredibly guilty, but she didn't know how to tell him. Jiang Shiyan, perhaps seeing through her, deftly said that he was tired of living on the top floor and wanted to find a place where he didn't have to climb stairs to rest.
But Xu Yuewei couldn't help but think of the time she had told him that her old house had a large yard with a flower bed and a farmland.
She said she missed it very much.
The old house has a small yard, at most enough to grow a row of small flowers. They tried tulips and hydrangeas, but either they didn't survive or the ones they received were not as advertised. In the end, they learned from their neighbor and planted classic roses.
Although they later broke up during the rose blooming season.
Xu Yuewei came to her senses and had already walked some distance in that direction, leaving a long and heavy shadow behind her as she walked slowly.
Half-jokingly to myself, I thought that if the current resident happened to still be growing roses, I wouldn't be angry with him anymore.
She found the apartment without needing to use streetlights or moonlight to find the building number.
The building walls were later repaired and are no longer as dilapidated as they were back then. The paint is new, and the iron fence in the yard has also been repainted, giving off a cool blue hue at night.
One step, two steps, like the sound of a coin tossed high and falling, she restrained herself from expecting anything.
The heel struck one last time, and the coin landed on the back of my hand.
Xu Yuewei bent down and examined the branches and leaves that had no flowers.
It really is a rose.
The flowers had just finished blooming not long ago, and there were no withered flower heads or dead branches and leaves on the flower path and soil. Someone had tidied up, pruned, and cared for this intertwined rose bush to get through the upcoming winter.
She stood there, stunned, unable to recover for a long time.
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The author writes: "When I was young, I'd listen to the radio..."
This is a chapter that I'm personally very satisfied with; I listened to it the whole time while writing it.
If I had to choose a theme song for this article, it would definitely be "Yesterday Once More".
She's so afraid of starting over, yet she always unexpectedly receives gifts from the past. Could it be that at some point, she'll respond to the 99 steps that person took? [hugs]
By the way, let me also recommend Qianyi, who made a cameo appearance, and her childhood friend's story; the timeline is before this article [poor face].
Pre-order for this column: "Those Who Love Me Are Sweet" (the one with the green cover below) [heart]
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