Chapter 106: Tell me what you want to say or not, it’s all up to you, I’ll listen…
On a weekend evening, Chang Xile sat in a cat cafe in the school's snack street. She lay on the couch by the floor-to-ceiling window, her phone in hand, watching the trailer for a variety show called "Shuohe." However, the network connection was poor, and the transparent circle in the middle of the screen spun endlessly.
Anping stood behind the counter, tidying up the bookshelves. He tilted his head to glance at the bubbling kettle on the table and asked, "What would you like to drink?"
Chang Xile finally turned her gaze away, squinting at him. Seeing Anping in his human form had become increasingly difficult, and she couldn't tell whether that was a good or bad thing. Anping was adorable as a cat, but it was only as a human that he gave her an inexplicable sense of security.
"Ice milk, thank you." After making a difficult decision, she turned around and looked at the students of all kinds passing by outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
They seemed completely oblivious to Chang Xile, or even to this unique cat cafe nestled among the crowd. Only the small door in the corner, reserved for cats, would occasionally be pushed open by the kittens' heads, emitting the tinkling sound of bells.
"The weather forecast says it's 10 degrees with rain today. You still want something cold?" Anping glanced at her and didn't move. "I didn't turn on the ice machine."
"Isn't that how it's played on TV? You cultivators blow on water, and one breath makes it boil, another breath makes it freeze." Chang Xile joked, not really intending to let Anping waste his energy. She pushed herself up with one hand and said, "I'm going to the milk tea shop next door to get an ice cream cone."
These people simply don't understand how enjoyable it is to eat a bite of ice cream on a cold day.
However, Chang Xile tugged at the doorknob, but the door didn't budge. Unconvinced, she pressed her elbow against the wall, but the door seemed to be embedded in the wall.
Anping put a cup of hot milk on the table, glanced at her, and said, "Don't you know? This door is just a decoration."
So there's nowhere to go out?
Chang Xile let go of the door handle and recalled her first time at this cat cafe. She couldn't help but comment, "This is a scam!"
Anping wasn't some impoverished student working part-time at some on-campus store; he was the owner of this cat cafe. He was wealthy, with countless zeros in his account. He'd even taken 1,800 yuan from an innocent student as a tip. This was definitely a scam!
She thought angrily, completely forgetting the name she had given to the money she gave out of sympathy or pity -
"Consultation fee." An Ping seemed to see what she was thinking and corrected her with a smile. He took the initiative to say, "Our store is committed to customer satisfaction. If you are not satisfied, you can always refund your money."
"No wonder your shop is so deserted. If you run a business like this, you'll lose money." Chang Xile curled her lips and changed her mind. She sat down at the table and took a sip of the hot milk. It warmed her stomach. She sighed and said, "Forget it, I'm going to drink free drinks here every day until I've bankrupted you."
An Ping curled his lips and said, "I'm at your service anytime."
Suddenly, Chang Xile's phone rang. A gentle female voice followed the rhythmic rhythm of "dengdengdeng" music, "Do you have unfinished words to say to someone, but can't find the words to begin with? Is there someone you want to meet, but think you'll never see again?"
A middle-aged woman with ear-length hair appeared in the center of the screen. She looked very smart, wearing a gray-pink suit. She smiled at the camera and said, "Looking for my sister Zhang Liu from Hengzhou, I can mediate for you."
This program originated in Hengzhou City. In its early years, it became a hit due to several classic 8 o'clock evening family search plots, and it was well-known throughout China. Later, its subject matter fell into mediocrity and its popularity returned to the lukewarm stage. However, its audience was small but very targeted, so it has persisted in this way for 12 years.
The video then shifted, showing several clips of Yang Guisi's livestream with Zhang Li and others, and a conversation with a netizen claiming to know Yang Xue. The production team then briefly introduced Yang Guisi and Yang Xue's social identities. The overlapping photos of the two blurred the image, and if it weren't for the marks left on Yang Xue's face by time, one could almost mistake them for the same person.
[They're clearly not relatives, yet they look remarkably similar. What truth did the heavy snow that closed the mountain that year hide? See you tonight at 8 o'clock.]
Chang Xile watched the trailer several times, and couldn't help but sigh as he saw its number of views and comments growing.
"Why are you sighing?" Anping asked her.
"I don't know how Guess is doing now." Chang Xile finished the last sip of milk, handed it back to Anping, and then lay on the table with a melancholy look.
This program is recorded and broadcasted, but the time interval between recording and broadcasting is not far. It is said that the main program will be broadcast at 8 o'clock in the evening, but Yang Guisi went to the program set this morning.
In other words, she should have seen Yang Xue by now.
"Are you worried about her?" An Ping tried to analyze. "Most of the time, these programs just let the guests chat with each other. Yang Guisi and Yang Xue don't have any grudges, so she shouldn't be in any danger."
"I'm not worried about her safety." Chang Xile's melancholy mood was swept away by his words. She said angrily and amusedly, "I'm worried that she'll be sad."
Not everyone can accept that the parents they have considered their parents for 18 years are not their biological parents, even if they are not worthy of being parents at all.
Maybe Yang Guisi will know the truth today, but Junyi is not around. She is alone. Can she really bear this?
Looking at Chang Xile's somewhat sad eyes, Anping probably understood something.
After a while, Chang Xile's phone rang again.
She picked it up and saw that it was a private message from Fang Xinai.
Xiao Ai: [Are you going back to the dormitory today?]
(＾v＾): [reply]
Xiao Ai: [Hmm... Do you know if Gus will reply?]
(＾v＾): [I don’t know… did you see that trailer too?]
Xiao Ai: [Not only that, I also watched your last live broadcast.]
Xiao Ai: [Ren Mei and I are a little worried about Guise. Is she okay recording the show alone in Hengzhou?]
Chang Xile was just about to reply when another message from Fang Xinai came in.
Xiao Ai: [!! She’s back.]
(＾ｖ＾): [I'm going back to the dorm now!]
Chang Xile shoved her phone in her pocket and ran to the door. Anping moved her fingers, and the doorknob opened. She turned around to look at him one last time and mouthed, "See you tomorrow!"
Before Anping could say anything, the door slammed shut in front of him. The small cat cafe suddenly became very quiet. He stood there for a moment, stunned, and finally sat down in the chair she had just sat in—and began to wait.
Seeing this, the orange cat who was occupying the lazy sofa got up, used the small stool to jump onto the table in front of him, and asked: "I'm hungry, do you have cat food?"
Anping glanced at it and ruthlessly exposed it: "She just fed you a lot. If you eat more, your stomach will be bloated."
Seeing that it couldn't fool him, the orange cat simply lay down and coiled in circles. Seeing that Anping had returned to his previous absent-minded state, it asked, "What are you doing?"
Anping watched the sky gradually darken outside the window and told it, "Waiting for tomorrow."
…
After Chang Xile opened the door and walked out, she happened to run into a couple passing by. They were startled by her sudden appearance and looked back at her after walking a few meters, probably confused about where she came from.
She looked back at the wall. Where was the cat cafe with large floor-to-ceiling windows?
But none of this mattered. Chang Xile rushed to the side of the road. It was the rush hour for classes to end. She quickly spotted the last small blue bike on the road and rode shakily to the dormitory under the angry glares of the people around her.
It was around seven forty when she opened the dormitory door.
Only Fang Xinai and Ren Qing could be seen in the dormitory. Chang Xile looked around and asked breathlessly, "Where's Guisi?"
Fang Xinai gestured towards the balcony. Chang Xile looked in that direction and, through the floor-to-ceiling glass door, saw Yang Guisi lying on the railing with his back to them.
"She became like this as soon as she came back, and we didn't dare disturb her." Fang Xinai whispered to Chang Xile, "We can only wait for you to come back. Aren't you best friends with her?"
Chang Xile hesitated for a moment and did not go up immediately. Instead, she went back to her seat and started fiddling with the machine.
Fang Xinai and Ren Qing looked at each other, somewhat surprised.
But after a while, Chang Xile, clutching a roll of something in his hand, pushed open the balcony door and went out.
Yang Guisi was staring at a leaf on the big tree in front of her. She felt that there was someone beside her. She knew it was Chang Xile without looking.
She was inexplicably nervous, afraid that Chang Xile would ask, but also afraid that she would not ask anything.
But Chang Xile really didn't say anything, and she felt inexplicably disappointed.
What happened today really made her want to scream and curse the world. But she couldn't. Such language would probably be muted by the program crew, and it was really not a good thing to do, so she held it back.
After a while, Yang Guisi felt something cold being stuffed into her right ear. She didn't struggle, but after a while she heard a string of music.
The melody of this song was very melodious, like the spring wind blowing through the grass, or the birds sleeping in their nests in the early morning, which calmed Yang Guisi almost instantly. As the woman's little tune washed through her heart like a tide, Yang Guisi felt her arms wet.
She thought it was raining and looked up, but the sky was clear blue, without a single cloud. Someone next to her handed her a tissue, and Yang Guisi realized she had been crying.
She took the tissue and wiped her tears before finally saying her first words after coming back: "Don't you want to ask me something?"
In the "Shuohe" channel, in the comments on Guisi's account, and in everyone she met along the way who knew her, curiosity was written all over their faces. Some of them expressed concern, some sympathy, and some just wanted to watch the fun.
Chang Xile didn't look at her, but stared intently at the leaf in front of him and said, "I won't ask."
There was silence between the two for a while. Late autumn was different from midsummer. Without the chirping of cicadas, the air seemed even quieter.
"But I can listen to what you want to say." Chang Xile thought for a moment and added.
Yang Guisi shook her head: "I've said too much today." Her voice was a little hoarse, and she didn't know if it was because she had cried or because she really had said too much as she said.
She gently took off the headphones and returned them to Chang Xile, then turned around and opened the balcony door. Fang Xinai and Ren Qing were originally looking at the two people's backs with concern, but when they heard the noise, they turned back as if nothing had happened.
"Okay, I know you're worried about me." Yang Guisi couldn't help laughing. She touched the skin under her eyes again and said, "But I'm fine."
The two of them then turned back and looked at her with some worry, their gaze shifting back and forth between Yang Guisi and Chang Xile.
"I don't know how to explain it, so why don't you just watch the show?" Yang Guisi glanced at the watch and said, "It's almost eight o'clock."
"Let's watch it together on my computer?" Yang Guisi was not joking. She took out her computer and directly switched to the "Shuohe" online channel. There was only one minute left before the show was broadcast.
Familiar lines sounded, and Sister Zhang Liu appeared on the screen again. After she gave a brief summary of the previous events, she invited Yang Guisi and Yang Xue to the stage respectively.
Yang Guisi had seen many photos of Yang Xue online and was quite certain she was his aunt, whom he had not seen for many years. However, when he actually met her, his feelings were completely different from what he had expected.
Just as she was about to speak, she heard a noise from the audience below.
"Bravo!" In the audience, a foreign man and a little foreign girl with blond hair and blue eyes were applauding.
The little girl smiled and shouted in her broken Chinese: "Mom! Go on TV!"
Yang Guisi was a little surprised. Yes, this was the husband that Yang Xue was rumored to have met in a foreign country.
Yang Xue smiled at the audience, then she restrained her expression and looked at Yang Guisi.
Perhaps the amount of emotion a person can offer in a lifetime is limited. Her expression no longer had the complex and profound meaning she had when she saw the twins. She simply asked in confusion, "Is it just you? Where are your sister, your parents?"
Yang Xue remembers that when the program team contacted her, they only said that this was a family-finding theme and would help promote her magazine.
There are no disadvantages and benefits, so she came.
Yang Guisi's expression was strange. She said calmly, "Junyi is dead."
There was a crisp sound, and Yang Xue broke the teacup beside her.
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