As winter drew closer, Mu Jiang became a regular in the basement. Every day after school, he'd come in with his empty backpack. As for how he'd gotten the key to the basement, the story began last Saturday.
It was the last rain of the winter season that day. Mu Jiang called her, and the anxious voice on the phone startled her.
"Ouyang," Mu Jiang shouted loudly, "Did you forget that there is a parent-teacher meeting today?" He just received a message from the teacher saying that Ouyang did not attend the parent-teacher meeting.
Lying in bed, she blinked and checked the time on her phone. It was already nine o'clock. She hadn't slept well the previous night due to insomnia. "I forgot." The ringing of her phone had disturbed her heartbeat, and now she wanted to calm her excited heart.
"Where are you?"
Ouyang gave him her address, but on the condition that she not leave the house. It took Mu Jiang some time to find the place. There was no house number on the address, and while he knew it was in the basement, he didn't know how to get in. In the end, he had to let Ouyang come out to pick him up.
"Why do you live here?" In the aisle, there were piles of various things, making him think that this was a place that even homeless people would not want to patronize.
But when he entered the room, he thought it was quite nice; at least it was a quiet and relaxing place. This allowed him to get to know her better. Several photos on the wall caught his attention. He had seen Dongya before, but the other two left no impression on him.
"Did they live here before?" Mu Jiang asked.
Ouyang hugged the pillow, leaned against a soft chair, looked up at the photos on the wall: "Not now."
Seeing that she was in a bad mood, he could almost guess the reason why she stayed here alone: "It seems that you have been abandoned too." His word "also" made her gaze shift from the wall to him.
"What's wrong with you?" She didn't think that the disappointment he showed was because she didn't attend his parent-teacher meeting. "Don't even mention that you have no friends?" She couldn't believe it. His people were unstoppable.
He showed an ugly face: "Can I stay here with you for a few nights?" He had been tormented by the girl sitting at the same table recently.
Ouyang studied him for a while, but didn't find anything suspicious. She grabbed the key on the coffee table and threw it into his hand: "Just a few days." She needed to clean up now, but didn't want to look at him every day.
Mu Jiang put the key in his bag and walked inside, looking at each room. Each room had a similar layout and was very clean. Aside from Ouyang's room, he could choose any of the other three rooms.
Later, Ouyang found out that he was avoiding his deskmate, Luo Ya, whose enthusiasm was too much for him to accept.
Every morning, she would have her nanny bring a huge breakfast to his apartment, and later even forced him to eat lunch and dinner with her. Most importantly, she followed him wherever he went. When she sprained her ankle while helping out at the supermarket, he had to take on the responsibility of helping her up and down the stairs. Later, when a girl gave him a gift, Luo Ya actually negotiated with her, going to great lengths to prevent other girls from approaching him. This made him feel that Luo Ya was controlling his freedom, and he needed to have a formal conversation with her.
Ouyang didn't want to get involved in his problems, he just wanted to know that he went to and from school on time.
After he had basically solved the problem, he became a regular here. Mu Jiang saw that she was so depressed every day and thought she was heartbroken. Every time they ate, he would ask, "Who is he? Tell me, maybe I can help you."
Ouyang just glanced at him and continued doing his own thing.
One night, the first snow of winter fell outside. Mu Jiang braved the snow and went down to the basement from the apartment. He insisted on taking her to a nearby amusement park to ride the Ferris wheel.
"Everyone in school likes to come here," Mu Jiang said across from her, "They say that watching the snow here will make you feel better."
She admired the lights outside, which reflected on the falling snow, which was indeed a unique sight. Her mood also brightened, and she felt that her family could give her a different kind of warmth.
Before Mu Jiang's school holidays were about to begin, he suggested returning to Chongqing for the Lunar New Year. He didn't tell her why. This led to her contacting her godmother. When she told them about Mu Jiang's return, they were overjoyed, eager for his school holidays to end sooner so they could take him and experience the warmth of his hometown.
During this waiting period, she returned to her grandparents' home and spent some time with them, learning from them how to live life to the fullest. The quiet family life seemed to be her best antidote, which made her feel much more relaxed.
During this time, she received an overwhelming amount of bad news. Most of it was related to Dongya's disbanding of HDA. The system had indeed been shut down under his plan. There was no news from JO and Tao Wen, but instead, Tanghe and Shengda were locked in a fierce dispute over personnel.
The nickname "Miss Detective" truly stuck with her at that time. Some still hoped to collaborate with her, using various methods to contact her, only to receive only the reply: "It's not convenient right now." This also cast a veil of mystery over her.
Grandma loved to gather the whole family around the long table to make dumplings together. For this meal, Zhuo Qiang returned from the courtyard, lazily leaning back in a chair, watching his father busily busying around. Perhaps only at this time of year could he enjoy his father's cooking.
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