Convenience Store on a Rainy Night (Part 1)
Zhang Xingxing's words struck Jiang Yichun like two thunderbolts.
"Xingxing, are you kidding me?" Jiang Yichun tried to make a last-ditch effort.
Yang Fei and Su Yanyue said in unison, "No, all three of us were there."
Su Yanyue raised her index finger: "However, in order to prevent Xiaochun from getting into trouble, we didn't do anything like recording or taking pictures."
“You were practically glued to Director He back then.” Yang Fei chewed on a fried dough stick, then casually placed the meat bun and soy milk she was holding on Jiang Yichun’s table. “Xiaochun, breakfast is on the table. You’re welcome.”
"After all, it didn't cost me any money."
Jiang Yichun felt dizzy and picked up his phone from beside his pillow, trying to escape the awkward atmosphere by playing on it.
As soon as she turned on her phone and unlocked the screen, several WeChat messages popped up.
Scammer: [Good morning, Xiaochun, have you had breakfast?]
I had Yang Fei bring these upstairs for you. Your favorite meat buns and soy milk.
Let's talk about what happened last night, shall we?
Jiang Yichun almost screamed. She threw her phone aside and buried her head in the pillow.
Although she experienced all sorts of messy and upsetting things in the first twenty years of her life, she basically solved them all on her own.
Aside from He Yinxin and this hot potato related to him.
After all, she had never hugged, kissed, or nibbled at a man before, or even pulled down his pants.
This was the first time she had ever wanted to ask someone for help.
"Help! I feel like He Yinxin is going to kill me!" Jiang Yichun's voice was muffled through the pillow.
She heard several bursts of laughter.
Yang Fei gently tapped the edge of her bed: "Okay, Xiaochun, Director He is known for his good temper. I often argue with him in the department, and he never gets angry, let alone towards a girl he likes?"
"What? What do you mean by 'a girl I like'?" Jiang Yichun moved her head off the pillow and simply put the pillow aside.
"He said he liked me?"
The three people under the bed nodded vigorously.
Zhang Xingxing sighed: "Xiaochun, did you block out everything I just said?"
"Otherwise, he wouldn't have kissed you first, right?"
"He even kissed me first?"
Jiang Yichun felt the high wall he had built in his heart gradually crumbling.
Perhaps at the moment she forcefully kissed him, a crack had already appeared in that wall.
And he actually planted a ring of ivy in that crack.
Memories of last night surged wildly in her mind, turning into a pool of spring water that completely overwhelmed her.
She seemed to have heard his confession, and she confessed to him before he could, saying, "I like you."
Jiang Yichun reluctantly got dressed, climbed out of bed step by step, sat on a chair, and ate his steamed buns and soy milk without saying a word.
Her mind raced, and finally she picked up her phone and sent a message to He Yinxin.
Everything is easy: [Can you guarantee my personal safety?]
fraud:【? 】
Jiang Yichun, stop reading novels about forced love and yandere characters.
Everything is easy: [Scammer, how do you know all this? Don't you only know those classic works?]
Scammer: [I wanted to know what you liked, so I went to look at it.]
You can't actually like that one, can you?
Everything is easy: [If I said I liked you, would you become like that?]
Scammer: [I don't think you'll like it.]
"I feel I need to consider my own personal safety now that things have turned out that way."
You will slap me.
Jiang Yichun stared at his phone screen, frowning: Why is this conversation getting weirder and weirder?
She quickly steered the conversation back on track: "Okay, okay. So when should we meet?"
I also want to make things clear with you.
Scammer: "[Can I go tonight? I'd like to go to the convenience store near the school. There's a small space there where I won't be disturbed.]"
Jiang Yichun stared at the message, swallowed hard, and rubbed her temples.
Her head was still spinning from the aftereffects of the alcohol.
She felt that her relationship with He Yinxin was becoming increasingly complicated.
That forceful kiss clearly signified breaking apart and a rupture, yet now it has only brought the two of them closer together.
She looked again at the empty box of cookies on the table, the red box containing some of her odds and ends.
Her feelings for him were like that box; even though she had eaten all the cookies inside, the box was still there and could still hold other things.
Something brand new.
Jiang Yichun took a deep breath and replied: 【Okay, then I'll meet you at the convenience store near the school gate at seven o'clock tonight.】
Scammer: [Okay. Got it.]
Jiang Yichun turned off her phone. She had finished the steamed bun in her hand, and her soy milk cup was empty.
Without saying a word, she turned to the three girls who were all busy with their own things: "This afternoon, could you... help me with my makeup?"
She met three pairs of bright, sparkling eyes.
"Of course!"
After cleaning up the mess he had made while drunk, Jiang Yichun put on a sun hat, left the campus, and went to a handicraft shop.
She pushed open the door, and the wind chimes in the shop rang in the wind.
Jiang Yichun's gaze fell on a few mint plants by the window.
Her mind was filled with the bag of mint leaves her father had sent.
Her father would send her mint every year and tell her that the flower language of mint is "I wish to meet you again".
Although it was a well-intentioned wish, she felt it was just a candy-coated bullet.
At that time, she casually poured the mint leaves into the candy jar she had bought. She had already eaten all the candy in it, so it became the container for the gift she gave to He Yinxin.
At that time, she didn't pay attention to the meaning of mint leaves. She just thought of He Yinxin's dark circles and wanted him to escape from his fatigue for a while.
Thinking back to his flushed ears at the library, it was probably because he discovered the meaning of the mint leaf.
Unwittingly, she touched his heartstrings with her simple concern.
He never expected that something so simple would have such a huge emotional impact on him.
Is this the Tin Man who discovered the heart? He reacted so strongly to such a trivial matter.
Jiang Yichun's gaze shifted from the mint leaves to the several glasses on the shop window.
Unfortunately, he accidentally broke the jar in the end, and the fool actually tried to put it back together.
As a result, the shards cut his palm.
How stupid! How could someone be so stupid?
Broken things can't be glued back together even with tape.
The shop owner sat to one side, fiddling with a ceramic jar.
Jiang Yichun pursed his lips and stepped forward: "Boss, do you still make glass jars?"
"I want to make one myself."
The shop owner chuckled and invited Jiang Yichun to sit by the window: "Come on, little sister, take a look and see what style you like."
Jiang Yichun's gaze swept across the table and immediately settled on the colorful glass jar.
Noticing her gaze, the shop owner placed the glass in front of her, its dazzling light captivating her.
Jiang Yichun nodded and pointed to the glass jar: "This one will do."
The process of firing the glass jar was quite simple. The shop owner taught her step by step, and Jiang Yichun learned step by step. In an instant, a small, colorful glass jar was frozen in front of her.
The image that flashed through her mind was that broken glass jar.
The jar of mint leaves was smashed, just like their relationship, heading towards utter destruction.
Humans cannot piece together the scattered fragments themselves.
But humans can use fire, and fire can remelt it into a new cup, or even other works of art.
Some things can only be reborn from the fragments and debris when they are completely torn apart and destroyed.
And she also wanted to get that glass jar back.
The shop owner handed her a paintbrush, smiling broadly: "Little sister, now you can draw something on this cup."
"After all, an empty glass doesn't look very nice, does it?"
Jiang Yichun stared at the paintbrush, nodded, picked it up, and began to sketch on the cup.
In her mind's eye was the pink bunny dangling from He Yinxin's bag.
It was clearly just a small item that he randomly picked up, not a luxury item, but that fool treated it like a treasure and held it in his palm.
"Stupid liar." Jiang Yichun dipped his brush in pink paint and smeared it on the little rabbit.
The pink paint slid down the side of the cup and gathered into a small pink circle inside.
The little rabbit absorbed too much pink pigment and turned into a pink, unidentified object.
Jiang Yichun clicked his tongue lightly and looked up at the shop owner standing to the side: "This... I think I ruined the painting?"
Her hand holding the paintbrush trembled slightly, and a few drops of pink paint fell onto her trouser leg.
The shop owner walked over slowly, shook his head, and said, "I think it's quite artistic. You painted a rabbit, right?"
"There's a bit too much paint. I have some napkins here; you can wipe it off."
Jiang Yichun took the napkin she handed him, blotted away the excess paint, and the outline of the little rabbit finally appeared.
However... the pink paint spread as it was wiped away, turning the neat little rabbit into a messy one.
Jiang Yichun frowned, sighed, but still put down his paintbrush and forced a smile at the shop owner: "It's fine as it is, it's still a bit ugly."
The shop owner laughed: "Imperfection is what makes it cute. It's already pretty good for the first time."
"Little sister, are you giving this jar away as a gift?"
Jiang Yichun pursed his lips and nodded: "This is for a friend. We had a fight and broke up. Today, I want to make things clear with him."
The shop owner pushed the cup in front of her, looking at Jiang Yichun: "Then I wish you success? After all, not everyone has the courage to make up with a friend."
Jiang Yichun lowered his eyes and softly replied, "That's right."
"It definitely takes courage."
"Thank you, sister, for helping me draw this little rabbit and for making this glass jar. I don't know if the recipient will like it."
The shop owner laughed again and patted her on the shoulder: "After all, I took your money. If a customer has a request, we in the service industry should provide timely assistance."
"If he's your good friend, he'll like it no matter what it's made of."
"Because the most important thing is the sentiment, not the price."
“The sentiment…” Jiang Yichun put down his paintbrush and muttered to himself, “Yes, the most important thing is the sentiment.”
Night fell along with the downpour. Jiang Yichun, wearing a light blue dress, with her hair in braids and light makeup, walked step by step in the rain.
She was holding that colorful glass jar in her arms.
Jiang Yichun stepped onto the puddles, clutching the jar tightly to his chest with the arm that wasn't holding the umbrella.
She never expected that the sky would be clear and sunny during the day, but a torrential rain would start at night.
To keep her promise to He Yinxin, she still opened her umbrella and headed to the convenience store at the school gate.
By the time she reached the convenience store, it was already 6:50 p.m.
She didn't see He Yinxin, so she had to buy a pack of instant noodles to fill her stomach.
Jiang Yichun carried the prepared instant noodles to the small table as agreed and ate them bite by bite.
The damp air made her feel sticky all over, as if she had been banished to a rice paddy and was being licked by an old water buffalo that was plowing the field.
She looked at her reflection in the glass; half of her carefully applied makeup, done with the help of three girls, had been washed away by the rain.
Jiang Yichun lowered his eyes, looked away from the glass, and continued eating his instant noodles, but his peripheral vision kept staring at his phone screen.
6:56, 6:57, 6:58, 6:59...
She looked towards the entrance of the convenience store, but the familiar figure did not appear; only fine raindrops fluttered in the cold light.
She stroked the glass jar in her hand, and a lump formed in her throat.
I dressed up so nicely today and even prepared a gift for him. He wouldn't...
Two tears instantly slid into her instant noodle soup, creating two ripples.
Welcome!
The convenience store door opened at that moment.
Her phone screen also showed 7 PM.
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