Chapter 44 The Puppy
Xu Yuewei took the subway all the way to the tea cake shop. It was a street-front shop with various flavors of freshly baked tea cakes displayed under a glass dome. A woman who looked quite young was skillfully cutting them into small pieces and putting them into tasting dishes.
"Beautiful lady, would you like to try a piece?"
Perhaps due to the flu, or perhaps because it was lunchtime, there were no other customers. In the past, whenever she came, the store was always very busy, with long queues.
Xu Yuewei sensed a lucky premonition, stepped forward, and took a deep breath: "...Give me a box of cranberry Longjing flavored ones, please, thank you."
The woman raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Are you a regular customer?"
“Yes, I used to work at Hua Yi Bilingual Primary School and I often came here to buy.”
"Oh, that's very close." The woman smiled. "I've only been here for three months and haven't seen you yet."
Xu Yuewei smiled, fiddling with her phone case somewhat awkwardly: "Have you seen someone like this in the last couple of days...?"
She didn't know how to describe it, and the woman didn't know what she was going to ask. She stared at her warily for a few seconds.
"...Excuse me, uh, could you please give me another box of the original flavor?"
"Okay, just a moment."
While waiting for the staff to pack her food, Xu Yuewei turned around and looked at the sky.
The first snow in Guangyang had already fallen long ago. Today was a bright sunny day, without a single cloud. The sky was a grayish-blue, and it looked even farther away than the sky over Wuqiao.
On the way there, Xu Yuewei had plenty of time to think about how to start a conversation with the shop assistant. She even considered showing them Jiang Shiyan's photo directly, but when the time came, she failed.
But it would be a miracle if it succeeded.
Her courage was only enough to get her to this place; any more and she wouldn't be able to hold on.
Taking the two boxes of tea cakes from the woman, Xu Yuewei returned the way she came, continuing to send messages to Jiang Shiyan while walking on the sidewalk:
If you're hoping to bump into me at that tea cake stall, you're probably out of luck. I won't be going there again.
So you should go back.
Inside the subway car, Xu Yuewei gripped the handrail and closed her eyes to rest. The mask made her feel suffocated, and just as she was drifting off to sleep, her down jacket pocket buzzed.
She immediately took it out to look, and Jiang Shiyan replied with a single word:
【No. 】
A period was added.
Xu Yuewei thought for a while and replied carefully:
I watched the sunset that day.
Jiang Shiyan didn't reply for a long time, so Xu Yuewei first told Pan Mingxuan and got in touch with him on WeChat.
She didn't receive any new messages until she returned to her rented apartment.
I only said I'd see you off; I didn't guarantee I wouldn't come after you.
Xu Yuewei couldn't help but roll her eyes, and all her worries about him disappeared.
Tell me the truth: the day we went back to No. 1 High School, you kept talking about our last memories, making it all so emotional. Were you already planning to come to Guangyang then?
No, I only regretted it after you left.
The chat window remained silent for a moment, then Jiang Shiyan sincerely added: "Really."
Seeing that she hadn't replied for a while, he added: "[It was while watching the sunset.]"
Xu Yuewei stared at the two square characters for "sunset" for a while, then lay back and threw herself onto the bed.
She guessed that his next question might be, "Do you even think about staying?" He was always like that, a master at pushing his luck.
But his sword obediently retracted into its sheath: "Don't be angry."
Xu Yuewei replied expressionlessly: "I didn't."
She felt that wasn't cruel enough, so she added: "You're not worth me getting angry at."
Finally, in a businesslike manner: "You should call your friend back right away; he's very worried about you."
After saying that, he shoved his phone under his pillow and sighed helplessly.
As expected, gambling won't work. To make contact, we need the inevitable thread of fate entangled in the past.
The phone vibrated again. Xu Yuewei pretended not to hear it, and after a few minutes of silence, it vibrated again.
She made up her mind to turn off the silent mode, but it could automatically unlock with facial recognition. On the chat interface, a few minutes earlier he had said, "My throat hurts so much I can't make a call."
The last one is an emoji of a puppy kneeling on the ground crying, with blue tears streaming down its body.
Separated by the internet cable and unable to see each other's faces, Jiang Shiyan seemed to transform into this little dog, becoming less annoying.
Xu Yuewei couldn't help but smile slightly, but her reply remained cold and hard:
Do you really have the flu? Do you have any medicine?
[The takeout arrived, and I ate it.]
"Then take good care of yourself. Once you've recovered, go back to Wuqiao."
After a while, Jiang Shiyan actually replied: 【Who are you?】
【？】
Xu Yuewei sat up abruptly from the bed, raised her right leg (wearing pajama bottoms) and pounded the bed, causing her injured ankle to ache.
She really wanted to consult a fortune teller again to see if this person was born to bring her bad luck.
What exactly do you want? What do you mean?
Just pretend I don't remember anything.
Let's start over, okay?
He sent another emoji, still the puppy series, staring at her longingly.
...What a dog, a gambling addict. Is he betting that she'll be soft-hearted? she wondered.
But he just pressed the restart button without her consent. She felt her palm warming as she held the phone, as if she had returned to being sixteen years old, on a school morning when he slipped her a note with his phone number on it.
After sunset, a new day begins.
Xu Yuewei felt she needed to calm down. She exited the chat window, told Pan Mingxuan to figure out how to bring the person back himself, then silenced her phone and switched to her tablet to distract herself.
About half an hour later, she unconsciously reached for her phone again.
She thought she just wanted to see if Assistant Pan had replied.
In the upper right corner of Jiang Shiyan's portrait, there is a striking red background with white lettering, the number eight.
Before clicking, she thought it was just because of her obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Did he really burn his brain?
But your gaze will slide down, stop at a certain point, and you'll start reading involuntarily.
When I was in high school, I had a crush on someone. She seemed a bit aloof at school, but only I knew she just didn't want to cause trouble.
She hates trouble, but unfortunately, I'm always the one causing trouble.
I like seeing her show some different expressions.
She probably doesn't know that it was the first time I'd ever liked someone. It's probably hard for her to tell, since I'm not very good at expressing my feelings.
Language truly has a magical power. By using the third person, Xu Yuewei seemingly transcended her own identity and became a detached observer of the past.
She fell for the trap, quoting the second-to-last point, and asked: "Is that why you like her?"
Jiang Shiyan replied quickly, as if he had been watching the screen the whole time: 【No.】
Back then, I was arrogant and rejected the debut invitation from a record company. I focused on writing original music, hoping to forge my own path. I just loved music, not being a star... but in the end, I achieved nothing.
One day, I decided to give up and submitted one of my favorite piano pieces at the time—which now seems quite naive—to the school radio station. They regularly selected songs from the submissions to play during class breaks, and I thought, if even that doesn't work, I might as well give up.
Later, someone added me through the WeChat ID I left, saying, "It sounds great, but why can't I find the name online? Only the source file is available."
I was too embarrassed to tell her the truth, so I pretended to be cool and said I just wrote it all down. You can take it if you want.
Later, I found her real name in a large school group chat. It turned out she lived downstairs from me—what a coincidence! That's when I started paying attention to her.
The piano piece is called "Apple Tree on the Milky Way." After I gained some fame, I revised it and released it. The response was quite good; you can go listen to it.
Xu Yuewei remembered the story of her meeting with him, but she never expected that the truth behind it was like this.
It felt as if a balloon was hanging in her chest, and with each breath she took, she was inflating it. She gently patted her chest, trying to pop the balloon, but it wouldn't listen and kept escaping inside.
[These words were typed via voice input. My hands are too weak, and I'm afraid she'll ignore me if I type too slowly.]
This time, the puppy's tears flowed in the shape of fried eggs:
My throat hurts so much.
Then they asked: "And you, Miss Anonymous, what is your dream?"
The balloon slowly deflated and collapsed. Xu Yuewei blinked her sore eyes, staring at the last message, lost in thought.
They had never talked like this before, nor had he ever asked such a question.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that almost no one has ever asked her what her dream is.
Because she played the guqin well, everyone thought it was only natural for her to take this path. So when she decided to leave Wuqiao, the teachers at the guqin society all tried to persuade her, but in her heart, they seemed to be saying, "What other advantages do you have besides this? What else can you do?"
She undoubtedly loves the guqin, but it doesn't seem to be enough to call it a dream.
She answered honestly:
【I have no idea. 】
[Perhaps, even your frustrating experience is something some people envy.]
She thought he would probably argue back, saying something like, "What's there to envy?" or "You can have this good fortune."
But he said, "I understand."
Xu Yuewei was suddenly struck by a remark.
No one had ever said such a thing to her: being understood is much rarer than receiving love.
Tears welled in my eyes, blurring my vision, but the tears didn't form beads and didn't fall.
After a short pause, less than five minutes later, he sent the puppy again, quoting the previous line about people ignoring others because they type slowly: "I knew it."
Xu Yuewei was both amused and exasperated. She typed: "[I wouldn't call it a dream, but I think her current wish is for you to go to the hospital for a checkup and get well soon.]"
"Really? Don't you want me to burn myself mute?"
She's very kind, okay?
It wasn't her, it's my fault.
Many years ago, I said some very hurtful things to her.
"Just let me burn it for a few days, it's actually quite pleasant."
Xu Yuewei thought that she must find a professional to clean the air conditioner before the end of the year.
Otherwise, why would her eyes still feel sore and watery, like she has an allergic reaction?
After a sniffling sound came from inside the room, the air conditioner stopped working.
Xu Yuewei took off her pajama pants again, preparing to change into her outdoor clothes.
Okay, let's stop.
Where are you right now? I'll take you to the hospital.
*
Jiang Shiyan sent her location information. It was pure luck; they were in the same district, so she didn't have to take the subway for so long.
Hospitals are crowded now, so it doesn't really matter which one you go to. Xu Yuewei chose a non-tertiary hospital that was closest to his location and made an appointment there, while she took a taxi there herself.
Before leaving, she opened the box of original flavor tea cakes and stuffed two into her bag.
At the main entrance of the hospital's outpatient building, there is an arched ramp, designed to make it easier for cars to drive up for people with mobility issues.
Flower beds were built next to the slope and below for aesthetic purposes, although there are no flowers left.
As Xu Yuewei walked in that direction, she saw a familiar figure sitting on the edge of the flower bed in the distance. The figure was wearing a long black down jacket, with a hat and a white mask on, and his legs were bent and touching the ground, as if he didn't mind being short.
Then it dawned on me that he was so weak he couldn't even stand up.
She jogged a few steps, and Jiang Shiyan seemed to have seen her too. He freed one hand from his pocket and used it to hold onto the edge of the flower bed, trying to stand up.
Don't come any closer, sit down.
Jiang Shiyan resumed his posture, sitting there tall yet weak.
Perhaps because he used puppy emojis so many times, in her eyes, it suddenly looked like a large dog.
But he didn't pounce.
It's her, it's her who's doing it step by step...
In response to his arrival.
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Author's Note: Oh, my darlings [pity]
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