Chapter 10 Harmonious and Disharmonious Lives: The Real Reasons for Breakups...
The convenience store's automatic doors slid open to both sides, and the cool air coming from behind met the warmth of the outside. Wen Zhiling rubbed her arms.
As she turned the corner of the steps, she shoved the plastic bag into Zong Linhan's arms.
Zong Linhan was examining the rabbit ears when he was suddenly pushed into a full embrace, his soda can and rice ball crammed together in a plastic bag.
He glanced at her, then looked up again. Wen Zhiling walked silently toward the small park.
Zong Linhan followed leisurely, "Is this all you're treating me to?"
"Who said I was treating you?" Wen Zhiling found a bench and sat down, facing the shimmering lake in the twilight. "Transfer the money to me, it's seven yuan in total."
“That won’t do.” Zong Linhan twisted open a bottle of soda, handed it to Wen Zhiling, and sat down next to her. “I have to pay in cash.”
Wen Zhiling choked on her soda, and Zong Linhan calmly handed her a tissue.
Looking up from the hand holding the tissue, I saw slightly curved eyebrows beneath large black-rimmed glasses, a beautiful yet somewhat arrogant expression.
Yes, because she blocked all his contact information for three years.
Wen Zhiling pulled out a tissue and abruptly changed the subject, "Didn't you say you wanted me to explain why?"
This afternoon he waited for her at the back door, saying he was willing to talk about why she left three years ago after leaving a breakup letter.
Wen Zhiling unwrapped the rice ball: "Did you bring the breakup letter?"
Zong Lin sneered and typed on his phone. Wen Zhiling glanced at the screen and said, "You have a good memory. You recited it on the spot."
Zong Linhan handed over his phone, and Wen Zhiling glanced down at it. "Our sex life..." is not harmonious.
Wen Zhiling burst out laughing, bending over to hold her forehead. The rice ball in her hand trembled with her laughter. When she straightened up, tears welled up in her eyes from laughing. "No way, what kind of time is this to write jokes for me..."
Zong Lin coldly glanced at her, his smile forced and insincere.
Wen Zhiling's smile froze on her face. Three seconds later, she lowered her head, took two quick bites of her rice ball, and stammered, "It's not a joke..."
She glanced at Zong Linhan from below, "We should be quite harmonious, right..."
Zong Linhan's face darkened even more.
There still seemed to be some ambiguity. Wen Zhiling pondered the emperor's meaning and carefully changed her answer, "It's not very harmonious either?"
Zong Linhan gritted his teeth, "Don't you remember?"
Wen Zhiling swallowed the rice ball, struggling to survive, "I meant to praise... um, I meant well... it's up to you how you want to interpret it... have more confidence in yourself... never mind, I won't say anything more."
Zong Linhan took the rice ball from Wen Zhiling's hand, wrapped it in a tissue, and tossed it into the trash can across the street with a thud.
Zong Linhan: "You can come up with a new reason for me now."
"Oh dear, how could I 'make this up'..."
When people are nervous or embarrassed, their hands get itchy and they want to do something. Wen Zhiling diligently helped him unpack the rice ball, but Zong Linhan snatched it away and threw it back into the plastic bag, his eyes blazing as he stared at her, trying to think of a reason.
Wen Zhiling clenched her fists, once again avoiding Zong Linhan's gaze. She dawdled along the way, still unable to come up with a good reason.
The chaos in her mind was comparable to the ruins of a war zone, a scene of utter devastation. To be honest, all she wanted right now was to escape, to immediately join the doctors' organization, and become part of the moving army.
Neither the people from the Bureau of Surveillance nor her family can be trusted. They are rigorously trained and will only execute her on the spot or send her to a laboratory for experiments!
When Wen Zhiling lowered her head and remained silent, Zong Linhan was looking at her.
As the colors of the sunset faded, Wen Zhiling's thick eyelashes drooped in a low arc, much like her slightly aggrieved posture. Her hands were clasped in front of her, loosely holding a soda can, her right hand fingers unconsciously digging into her palm—a small gesture of unhappiness, irritability, and anxiety.
"Isn't it cute?" Zong Linhan suddenly asked.
"What?" Wen Zhiling looked up, stunned for a moment, then laughed until tears almost came out. "So cute, hahaha!"
Zong Linhan still had that arrogant expression, with extra-long black and white rabbit ears on his baseball cap. The upright, antenna-like rabbit ears swayed, bent over, and hung on the brim of the cap, making the already incongruous scene even more comical.
Zong Linhan raised an eyebrow slightly. "Isn't it much cuter than what you wear?"
Wen Zhiling wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
Zong Linhan bent down slightly. "Want to pinch it?"
Black and white rabbit ears were stretched out to her hand, and Wen Zhiling reached out to touch them, instantly closing the distance between them.
"Zhi Ling, you can trust me," Zong Linhan said in a low voice.
Wen Zhiling's hand froze in mid-air, somewhat afraid to look Zong Linhan in the eye.
He seized her momentary hesitation, and also took her outstretched hand, kissing it lightly. "Trust me?"
Wen Zhiling's heart skipped a beat.
Someone was running along the lake under the streetlights. The shimmering lake reflected the light, illuminating the surroundings. Although the light wasn't very bright, it brought a sense of security in the darkening night.
Zong Linhan didn't urge her. He leaned back on the bench, calmly watching the lake. The warm orange light fell on his long eyelashes, his skin was pale, and the shadows cast below his eyelids were like small brushes, lifting slightly before quickly falling back down.
His hand covered hers, giving her unexpected courage even in the darkness of falling night.
“You know…” Wen Zhiling hesitated for a moment, deciding not to use the term “Supernatural Investigation Bureau” and instead using a more outsider-like, more open-ended description, “Are there strange creatures in this world?”
Zong Linhan squeezed Wen Zhiling's hand tightly. "You bumped into something? Are you hurt?"
"No!" Wen Zhiling denied instinctively. "I just saw it and was startled."
She quickly realized how illogical her explanation was, so she quickly added, "You, you let me think. The things I've experienced... seen are a bit scary. Let me sort out my thoughts and figure out how to explain it to you."
She realized how risky her move had been; it was no small matter. She felt as if she had been suddenly placed on a tightrope, with twenty meters to go forward, but a slight step back would bring her back to safe land.
Wen Zhiling pulled her hand away. "Give me a little more time. You know, these kinds of things are always hard to talk about and hard to recall."
Zong Linhan gazed at her expression, his voice softening, "Alright, how long do you need?"
Wen Zhiling belatedly realized a very important question: "Are you busy with your upcoming schedule?"
Zong Linhan is going to Meilan Island to look for clues about the aperture. If he finds it, he will immediately follow up with a series of studies. This is something that absolutely cannot be delayed.
"I might be away from home for a month, but I'll come back often."
Wen Zhiling tried her best to remain calm: "When are we going?"
Zong Linhan: "Next week."
Wen Zhiling stood up and said in one breath, "Give me two days to sort out my thoughts. How about this Saturday? Come to the store and I'll tell you everything."
Zong Linhan noticed that her palm hadn't loosened its grip from beginning to end. Her actions and relaxed tone clearly didn't convey the same meaning, but he concealed his doubts without showing any emotion. "Okay."
Zong Linhan escorted Wen Zhiling back, passing through winding alleys before stopping in front of a building.
Zong Linhan: "The environment is better than before."
Wen Zhiling: "This is only 20 square meters, while the original was 30 square meters. The rent loss is still much greater. But you think it's good just because there's no construction nearby? Is the standard for judgment noise?"
Zong Linhan: "Want to stay somewhere else?"
Wen Zhiling: "I signed a six-month contract at once."
The two people who used to go upstairs together now face each other downstairs. Time does leave irreversible marks, no different from moss on the wall or peeling paint.
The two parted ways; Wen Zhiling entered the building, while Zong Linhan walked out of the alley.
Ten minutes later, Wen Zhiling came downstairs, carefully looked around to make sure no one was there, and then walked in another direction. As her figure turned out of the alley, Zong Linhan looked down at the scene from the corridor extending from a building across the street.
Zong Linhan kept a distance that was neither too close nor too far, following Wen Zhiling all the way to the bottom of her building. He watched her enter the building and then saw a light on in the window of a house on the right side of the third floor.
Wen Zhiling upstairs hung up the phone. "Yes, I'll come find you tomorrow."
Wen Zhiling barely slept all night. She collected the clothes drying on the balcony, folded and packed them into suitcases. She took what she could from the coffee table and closet, and packed what she couldn't into cardboard boxes, separating the ones she would throw away and the ones she could still use to send to Aunt Qiao the next day. She had bought two large boxes of instant noodles when they were on sale, but they couldn't fit in her small suitcase. Wen Zhiling circled the boxes twice, feeling extremely distressed.
She then wrote a letter to Aunt Qiao, drafted her resignation, made up a reason, and planned to ask the store manager for early payment of her salary the next day.
As she finished doing all this, the sky began to lighten, casting slanting rays into the small bed. Countless mornings she had pulled the covers over herself and curled up inside to block the light. This was the last time. Wen Zhiling took a few precious glances, then, feeling unbearably hot, she moved to a darker spot. She had an artistic temperament, but unfortunately, it wasn't much of a thing.
The day's work was no different from usual. To avoid Zong Linhan coming for coffee in the next couple of days, Wen Zhiling deliberately didn't tell anyone about her departure, only quietly telling the manager during her lunch break. Although the manager was unhappy, grumbling about how troublesome it was to find someone at the last minute, he was generally a kind-hearted person. Seeing that Wen Zhiling was eager to go to another city to find her relatives, he still settled her wages in advance.
Time flew by, and Wen Zhiling was still a little dazed when it was time to leave work.
The doctor asked her to meet him at the pier at eight o'clock. Wen Zhiling took a taxi home, got out of the car and went upstairs to get her luggage.
She turned the key and opened the door, letting out a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of relaxation as if a long-distance race had come to an end.
She habitually tossed her keys onto the cabinet in the entryway, making a crisp clinking sound.
She closed the door, still thinking that people's habits are really hard to change.
The living room was empty, with her suitcase by the door and two stacked cardboard boxes, half a person's height, piled on the floor. They were to be sent to Aunt Qiao. The red glow of the sunset cast long shadows, and dust floated in the air. It was so quiet that it was as if no one had ever lived there.
Things returned to normal. Wen Zhiling encouraged herself, telling herself that once a decision was made, there was no going back. She moved her things outside to wait for the delivery, ready to start a new life.
The crisp snapping sound was amplified in the quiet environment.
Wen Zhiling looked up and saw a shadow extending from the kitchen. Then, a tall figure slowly appeared in her field of vision. Zong Linhan leaned lazily against the door, taking a bite of an apple. "Where are you going, baby?"
A note from the author:
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