Chapter 73
After leaving Candy's house, Chengshi deliberately went to Paradise Bar Supermarket on Gongti North Road to buy a few drinks and sat there for a while. This bar suddenly became famous during the pandemic due to negative news, and now it has become the best bar in the area, which is quite ironic, just like the irony of his relationship with Candy.
But no matter how many drinks Cheng Shi drank at Paradise Bar, he couldn't shake off the images of Candy's house from his mind. Perhaps because he was drinking on an empty stomach, Cheng Shi felt extremely hungry, exhausted, and dizzy on his way home. However, on the subway, he refused to close his eyes for a short rest. Instead, his gaze was unfocused, and his mouth opened and closed as if he were continuing to reason with Candy in his mind.
The next morning, when Narumi was so worried about how to face Candy that he didn't press the 15th floor button when he got on the elevator, he suddenly remembered that Candy had started her annual leave yesterday, and it was a whole week's leave—Come to think of it, Haosikai is pretty good to new employees when it comes to annual leave, Narumi thought.
Then, with this thought in mind, Chengshi pressed the button for the 15th floor and began to fantasize about Candy at this moment: Would she go to Qingdao to find Apple and their classmates? Chengshi thought probably not; he felt that she was more likely to use this week's vacation to find a new job.
Regardless, Cheng Shi was almost certain he would never see Candy again—wasn't that obvious? Even if she couldn't find another job and had to stay in Haosikai, she would definitely ask to transfer departments. How could a girl with no connections have the courage to stay after something like this? She wasn't the class monitor's favorite, and even the favorite eventually left. Thinking this, Cheng Shi first breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately felt a wave of disappointment: if he never saw Candy again, when would he have the chance to explain to her, when would he have the chance to deliver his calm, unrepentant, and utterly unapology-free speech?
And just like that, it was the weekend again.
All of Saturday, Candy's situation troubled Narumi. As he laid the gravel path under the scorching sun, as he made up various excuses to leave Napa Valley 5, as he drove aimlessly, he muttered to himself, "Should I call her? Or send her a WeChat message?"
It wasn't until Sunday, when Chengshi said he was going to the gym but ended up driving into the mountains, that he finally muttered, "Oh well, let it be."
So this Sunday was a beautiful day. Under the warm sunshine, Chengshi drove up Mangshan Mountain. Driving on the tree-lined mountain road, Chengshi suddenly burst into laughter, pounding the steering wheel with his fist as he laughed—it's all in the past now, what's the point of thinking about these things? It was just a brief chapter in his life that had already ended—a short, insignificant, even laughable little episode.
But Cheng Shi's mind was still replaying these images, whether he had seen them or imagined them: Apple angrily dragging her suitcase to the side of the road; Candy jumping off his lap completely naked; him chasing after Candy by a smoking pot, explaining... These images shrunk and shrank on a huge computer screen like a PowerPoint presentation, until finally shrinking into a tiny black dot, and then a large banner appeared across the screen: "Bravo!"
Chengshi parked the car on the viewing platform by the mountain and burst into laughter again, laughing until he was hoarse. Then he felt that all the bitterness that had been building up in his heart had been released, and he turned around and went home.
it's over!
Back at the Central Parkway, Cheng Shi decided to only think about the good things, such as the rare good weather today, the work plan that had been sent to An Zheyuan's email, the extra 300,000 yen in salary each year, and even the evaluation meeting she would be having with An Zheyuan tomorrow morning... In any case, this summer was pretty good!
Now, getting closer and closer to Napa Valley 5, Narumi couldn't wait to take a nice hot shower, change into clean clothes, and drink an ice-cold beer—the thought of beer made him swallow hard.
For the rest of the evening, Cheng Shi just wanted to scroll through videos on his phone. He figured that once night fell, if everything went smoothly, he could have a rational and calm discussion with Huang Ruoyu about her sleeping on the sofa every day.
Chengshi optimistically believed that after their conversation, all the problems troubling Huang Ruoyu would be resolved. However, Chengshi also felt that if he had sat down and talked to her sooner, the problems might have been solved much earlier. But he had to deal with them one by one. He didn't have three heads and six arms!
“Little Fish,” Cheng Shi planned to start his conversation with Huang Ruoyu with this, “It’s been a crazy summer. I know we’re both under pressure. I know you feel lonely and confused right now. I know things seem a bit tricky, but you have to believe me…”
Across the artificial lake, Chengshi could already see the sandy yellow villa at No. 5 Napa Valley—from a distance, the villa didn't look so bad, just as Xie Yiling said: "It looks like there's a human presence."
Yes, Central Park isn't a paradise. It can be chaotic at times, but it can also bring happiness, especially when "Bravo!" pops into your head. It's like this crazy summer; although it can be lonely and confusing at times, and things can seem hopeless, in the end, everything will be alright!
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