Forgiving you is important
Outside the car window, the camphor trees on both sides of Huiwen rushed past. Through the rear window, Lin Shiren saw Zhou T-lin still standing at the entrance of the convenience store. Her long eyelashes blinked, and she felt a slight unease.
After the car turned onto the main road, it quickly disappeared from sight. Shen Xuqing, sitting in the passenger seat, followed her gaze and looked back with suspicion: "Zhou Lin wanted to see you?"
She looked away and smiled gently, "It's nothing, I just happened to run into you."
Despite this, she was not as calm as she appeared, because she was in the wrong both emotionally and logically, and a sense of guilt welled up from every part of her body, almost overwhelming her.
Is there anything you'd like to eat?
Lin Shih-jen replied absentmindedly, "I'm not picky about food, anything is fine."
The car drove smoothly, and she sent Zhou Lin a WeChat message, but he didn't reply until she got out of the car.
Park Lane is a newly opened shopping mall this year. There happened to be a celebrity roadshow event on the weekend, and the central stage on the first floor was packed with fans. Lin Shih-Jen is not a fan of celebrities, so he didn't join the crowd. The two took the elevator to the fourth floor.
This Western restaurant was a rare quiet place amidst the hustle and bustle. Shen Xuqing suddenly felt a little embarrassed: "Actually, thinking about it, it was really presumptuous of me to ask you to help me ask about my mother's condition."
After learning that his mother was taking Reboxil, he did a lot of research and gradually calmed down.
Lin Shiren shook his head absentmindedly: "It's only right, you've helped me before."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them, as if helping was repaying a debt from that stormy night years ago, which was not what she really meant.
But Shen Xuqing had already heard it, and he was slightly taken aback: "Have I ever helped you?"
Lin Shiren's palms were sweating as he gripped the phone. He forced himself to explain, "There was a downpour when I first started high school. I forgot my umbrella, so you lent me one and even had your dad take me home."
As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Xuqing recalled that he was the class monitor at the time. After the whole school was suspended, he helped the teacher check the power supply and left late. When he came out, he saw a girl standing in front of the convenience store to take shelter from the rain, her clothes already half wet. From the time he borrowed an umbrella to the time he took her home, the girl never made eye contact with him, so he didn't see Lin Shiren's face clearly. He just thought he had done a good deed anonymously.
Hearing his response, Lin Shiren finally mustered up the courage to continue, "The umbrella you lent me is still at my house. It got damaged by the wind that day, and I got it repaired, but I haven't had a chance to return it to you. I'll bring it to you tomorrow."
Shen Xuqing smiled and said, "That umbrella isn't actually mine."
Lin Shiren was taken aback: "Not yours?"
He explained, "The umbrella belonged to Zhou Lin, but he went to another city to participate in a competition that day, and I took it with me when I left."
She hesitated before asking, "Should I return the umbrella to him?"
Shen Xuqing seemed to have read her mind and added, "It shouldn't be necessary. I returned the umbrella to him the next day and left it on his seat. It was black, and he didn't seem to notice. If you return it now, you'll have to explain a lot more."
My thoughts were jumbled for a few seconds.
The umbrella she had kept for two years actually belonged to Zhou Lin?
The waiter served the food, interrupting the conversation about the umbrella. Afterwards, Shen Xuqing got back to the main topic and took out all the documents he had found.
“My mom changed my phone password, and I found these in the car. Take a look…”
Lin Shih-ren listened very attentively to the matter, which concerned lives and deaths.
The meal lasted for more than an hour. Dessert was served late—a lime pie. The two chatted about some school gossip. By the time they left the restaurant, Shen Xuqing was in a much better mood.
The taxi stopped at the intersection of Nangang Street, and Shen Xuqing waved to her through the lowered car window: "I'll have to trouble your mother again."
Lin Shiren gave a polite eight-tooth smile: "It's alright, I'll let you know if there's any news."
As the car taillights disappeared from sight, her phone suddenly rang, and Lin Shiyuan's name appeared on the screen. She walked towards the entrance of the residential area and pressed the answer button at the same time: "Hello, Dad."
"Qiaoqiao, is there a holiday for the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Lin Shih-jen couldn't bring himself to lie, so he honestly replied, "I'll have a day off."
Lin Zhiyuan: "Then let's go to Grandma's house for dinner. Grandpa and Grandma haven't seen you in a long time and miss you very much."
She knew that her father's wishful thinking was partly involved in this thought, but she was used to seeing through it but not saying it. In addition, she didn't want Xin Xiaomei to be alone on the Mid-Autumn Festival, so she naturally declined: "Dad, I have a lot of homework lately. I finally have a day off, and I want to get a good night's sleep."
As I stepped into the building, the wailing of a naughty child echoed through the air. In the neighborhood, there was another parent driven crazy by homework: "You're so observant, you're trying to hear everything, but you just won't look at the questions! How many times have I explained them to you?"
The book was torn to shreds, and the pieces fluttered down. Lin Shiren caught one piece, on which was written: "A mother's deep love."
How ironic.
The neighbors surrounded the upstairs parents, offering all sorts of comments and criticisms about their behavior. But when they turned around and went home to beat their own children, they showed the same faces.
Lin Zhiyuan didn't press her further and told her that the child support payment for this month had already been deposited into Xin Xiaomei's bank account.
"Thank you, Dad."
Before going upstairs, Lin Shiren caught a glimpse of a black car parked under the camphor tree and wondered how it got in.
The car windows had privacy film, so people outside couldn't see anything, but those inside could see everything clearly. Zhou Lin sat in the back seat, staring intently at the slender figure as it disappeared.
The air conditioner vents were operating at a low frequency, and the cold air rushed into my nostrils, but it couldn't extinguish the restlessness. My cold, white fingers rhythmically pressed the lock screen button, and the screen went dark and then brightened, then went dark again.
The driver looked around at the surroundings and then observed Zhou Lin's expression in the rearview mirror, still full of questions.
Didn't I make plans to have lunch with my classmates?
Where is he?
How much longer are they going to wait here?
The driver's name was Li Rui. He was usually responsible for Zhou Heyu's transportation, while Zhou Lin rarely used the car, so he was quite surprised when he received the call. Zhou Lin said he had made an appointment with a classmate for dinner and asked him to give him a ride, but for some reason, he didn't get to eat and instead ended up acting as a doorman in this old, run-down place.
He tentatively suggested, "Xiao Lin, do you want to call your classmate?"
The young man's brows were hard and cold, and he chuckled indifferently: "No need, she should have already eaten."
"Oh! Didn't you make plans?"
Zhou Lin didn't answer, but instead asked another question: "Uncle Li, under what circumstances would you forget a dinner appointment with someone?"
Li Rui didn't dare to answer casually, and hesitated for a moment before asking, "Is it because there are other more important things to do?"
"More important?"
Zhou Lin looked out the window. The sky was shrouded in a grayish hue due to the privacy screen protector. He lowered his eyelids and his gaze fell on Lin Shiren's latest message.
Lin Shih-ren: "∑"
...
While lying in bed, Lin Shiren couldn't help but open the chat window with Zhou Lin again. The message he sent that afternoon asking for reconciliation had once again gone unanswered.
Why are you so stingy? Would it kill you to eat next week?
Okay, it's wrong of her to stand someone up, but Zhou Lin didn't have to be so aggressive.
For the sake of that umbrella, Lin Shiren decided to coax him. She hesitated for a few minutes before typing on the keyboard: "Did you see the moon tonight? It's so round and bright."
After clicking the send button, I waited, but the words "typing" never appeared at the top of the dialog box, causing a slight ripple to appear on my eyebrows.
Is he already asleep?
It was so embarrassing that no one picked up on the joke, so she forced herself to keep typing.
"Round and bright, bright and round"
"Yuanliang, please forgive me~"
After typing the last two words, Lin Shiren rolled around on the bed in shame, his mind filled with Zhou Lin's sharp and cold gaze.
no!
She crawled out from under the covers and leaned over the foot of the bed to retract the message, but the first one had already timed out and couldn't be retrieved. There were still two "You retracted a message" messages left in the chat box, making the whole combination look even stranger.
Just as she was scratching the bed with her toes, Zhou Lin's message finally arrived belatedly: "What does it mean to withdraw the two 'round and bright' comments?"
Staring at those two straight words, Lin Shiren could imagine his expression even through the screen. His eyes were half-smiling, and the curve of his lips was impossible to suppress. He was clearly watching a joke. Even the way she typed on the keyboard was filled with anger.
"My apology has an expiration date. Since you haven't accepted it, I have no choice but to withdraw it."
Zhou Lin: "You're truly a model of saving your breath."
This person is still so sharp-tongued!
Seeing that things were taking a turn for the better, Lin Shiren suppressed the urge to beat him up and, bearing the humiliation, resent the two messages that had just been withdrawn.
Zhou Lin didn't answer whether she forgave him or not, but instead changed the subject: "Is treating Shen Xuqing to dinner more important than treating me?"
He has always been single-minded and never gets entangled in the quagmire of love and romance, so only he knows how much thought was hidden in this pointed probing.
Lin Shih-jen stared at the line of text on the screen, somewhat surprised.
Is this just childish competitiveness between boys?
It's just a meal, how did it escalate into a question of who's more important?
She recovered from her earlier joke and reverted to her obedient daughter demeanor, honestly replying, "It's not that he's more important, it's that what he needs to talk to me about is more urgent."
Lin Shiren didn't want to reveal Shen Xuqing's privacy, but he also didn't want Zhou Lin to have any grudges.
A few seconds later, Zhou Lin stared at the four words that appeared on the screen and suddenly smiled. If he didn't know her innocent and naive nature, he would have suspected that this was some kind of brilliant trick he had never seen before.
Lin Shih-jen replied: "You are very important."
...
Perhaps shocked that the umbrella belonged to someone else, T dreamed of Zhou Lin that night.
At the convenience store near the school gate, a torrential downpour began, soaking her skirt and shoes. Through the rain, she looked at the empty street.
The boy emerged from the school building holding an umbrella, the umbrella obscuring his face and making his expression indistinct.
He reached out to her, his dark eyes locking onto her: "Lin Shiren, I'll take you home."
Lin Shiren's tears were still on her face. She didn't know why she was crying, but she felt a sense of grievance that she couldn't express. The two stood silently facing each other in the rain.
Snake-shaped lightning flashed in the clouds, and thunder roared far into the sky. In her dream, she no longer hesitated and reached out to place her hand in his palm.
The boy's fingers were long and slender yet strong and powerful, firmly holding her hand. His low, slow voice rang out again: "You owe me another meal."
When I woke up again, it was already broad daylight.
Her long hair was sticking messily to the pillow. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was an unread message on her phone screen. Her expression was a mix of surprise and astonishment.
Zhou Lin: "I want a tuna sandwich, a soft-boiled egg, and banana milk."
The nightmare has come true?!
This line of text left her mind blank for three minutes before her gaze fell on the time the message was sent—3:32.
So he stayed up all night, and this was the only way he could think of to get back at her?
That's so lame.
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Author's Note: 50 red envelopes
Renren's corny joke completely charmed Rin-ge into becoming a little embryo.
I changed the cover, do you like it?
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