It snowed lightly when I was hospitalized, and it snowed heavily when I was discharged.
On the first day of December, the stay-at-home order in Suicheng was largely lifted.
The entire city, like a giant beast that had been stiff for a long time, began to slowly and carefully shake the fleas off its fur.
After being forced to stay in the hospital to prevent miscarriage for a full month, Cao Xiaoyu finally got into a taxi with her husband to go home.
With the help of the Cultural Bureau, I received the compensation from the advertising company as agreed, and the fetus in my womb is developing normally this past month.
On that day, to celebrate regaining their freedom and the birth of their son, Jinzi and his wife decided to treat everyone to a meal at a friend's barbecue restaurant, which had been closed for two months, was facing bankruptcy, and desperately needed business.
Needless to say, Ha Yue and Xue Jing were among those invited, and even Director Zhao from the Cultural Bureau was on their banquet guest list.
The barbecue restaurant is small and is run by a young couple.
The decor here is outdated, the ingredients aren't fresh, and everywhere you look there are gaudy floral tablecloths and lace decorations. But the menu is very extensive. In addition to barbecue and spicy dishes that go well with drinks, customers can also sing karaoke and cook hot pot in the private rooms on the second floor.
In the dead of winter, the streets were covered in snow, but the barbecue restaurant's boiler was burning hot. A large pot of daffodils on the counter, mistaking the weather for the season, sprouted and bloomed ahead of time, growing vigorously under the embellishment of red ribbons.
To settle her family affairs, Ha Yue arrived the latest. After getting out of the taxi, she pushed open the heavy curtain of the small shop and was hit by a wave of heat from the smell of cumin, and the noisy voices were deafening.
Amidst the chaos, Xue Jing, whom we hadn't seen in a long time, had just gotten a haircut and was sitting in the leftmost booth, surrounded by a group of strong, middle-aged and young men offering him drinks.
Suicheng is known for its fierce and unruly people, and its drinking culture is prevalent. Everyone relies on the tradition of drinking to the brim and showing respect to others, which they have learned since childhood. Normally, Xue Jing would rarely attend such occasions where people drink to celebrate.
He came to see Ha Yue.
He was writing a book and didn't notice when the epidemic prevention personnel withdrew from the residential area in the early morning. When Jinzi sent him a message in the morning, he put down his phone and immediately pushed open the courtyard gate to knock on Ha Yue's door.
The two lived across the hall from each other, but Xue Jing felt a surge of excitement, like meeting her online love in person.
Unfortunately, neither Ha Yue nor Zhao Chunni were home. He called them and learned that Ha Yue had taken Zhao Chunni out to run errands after breakfast that morning, and they would probably be back after he went to sleep.
Unlike him, who was eager to meet, Ha Yue's voice on the phone was not enthusiastic. She said that it didn't matter whether she met sooner or later, and that she and her daughter had other plans for the afternoon. She told Xue Jing to rest first, and that they could meet again tomorrow if necessary.
After hanging up the phone, Xue Jing, who hadn't slept all night, should have gone home to catch up on his sleep. But he was dejected. He had just slipped on his slippers and floated across the entrance hall when he hurriedly retreated. He was startled by the "wild man Tarzan" in the mirror.
For more than a month, he hadn't shaved or gotten a haircut.
Not only because he didn't need to go out and meet people, but also because after Ha Yue left that day, he found a sticky note with a heart drawn on it on his computer screen.
On that note, Ha Yue's handwriting was delicate and neat, with only one line of text, but he held it in both hands and admired it for a full ten minutes.
"keep your imagination alive."
Keep your imagination alive.
It was just a casual word of encouragement, something I'd heard countless times over the years. It didn't necessarily mean anything by it. But because it was written by Ha Yue, it unexpectedly helped Xue Jing overcome a long-standing problem.
His writing process has been incredibly smooth these past few days.
Before turning on his computer each day, Xue Jing would pretend to be a ghost and meditate for ten minutes while looking at Ha Yue's sticky notes, then devoutly open his phone to check Ha Yue's reading notes for him, and finally start his day's writing in an orderly manner.
He could eat whatever he wanted, take showers whenever he wanted, and let his beard grow freely as well.
He has written more than 300,000 words in the past few days, and each chapter has the potential to be expanded, setting a new record for his writing speed and quality once again.
As a result, his own level of slovenliness reached new heights.
Like Tarzan falling in love, he tried every means to win over the beautiful Jenny.
Xue Jing hurriedly took a shower at home and carefully shaved in front of the mirror, but Ha Yue still hadn't come home. Asking Ha Yue what she was doing, what she was up to, and whether she wanted him to come with her, sounded like a sycophant. So Xue Jing got ready, put on a scarf, wrapped himself in a down jacket that reached his ankles, put on suede gloves, drove off, and searched everywhere for a suitable hairstylist to style his hair.
Hard work pays off; at least Suicheng has some skilled hairdressers.
After spending five hundred yuan to change his appearance and regain his energetic and noble demeanor, he was disheartened again when he got home. Ha Yue's tricycle was back, but he was still not there. Only Aunt Siqin stood between him and Zhao Chunni as always.
He was not allowed to go forward and exchange pleasantries.
Back in his car, he was so impatient he couldn't wait any longer. He stepped on the gas and drove straight to the party location, where he sat at the table closest to the entrance, waiting for the door to open.
Because Jinzi told him in the morning that his sister Hayue, who was addicted to alcohol, never missed an occasion where she could drink as much as she wanted.
Whether it was four years ago or four years later, Ha Yue had never drunk with him, and he was actually a little jealous of these young people from Suicheng.
What's the point of getting a master's degree and becoming a writer? What's the point of selling your face and courses every day?
The girl he liked had never drunk alcohol with him, and he didn't even know that Ha Yue liked to drink.
After waiting and waiting, Mr. Xue, who had a very low alcohol tolerance, could at first use his words to stop people from drinking. However, he was not Zhuge Liang, and his silver tongue could not defeat a group of scholars. As more and more strangers came to greet him, his seat was moved further and further away from the entrance.
The down jacket had long been thrown away somewhere, and even the cashmere cardigan underneath had been torn off by Jinzi and thrown onto the sofa in the corner because Xiaoyu was worried he would get too hot.
Xue Jing hadn't seen the sun all month, and because he was dressed in all black, his white skin looked almost fluorescent. In addition, he hadn't been eating properly while writing, so he looked even thinner than when he came to Suicheng. His clothes were too loose, which made him look even more like an otherworldly being.
But at drinking parties, nobody buys into his writer's aura; everyone just cares about how many bottles he can chug and how many steps he can take in a straight line when he's drunk.
Jinzi first took his hand and said with concern, "Brother, you've lost weight. Being single doesn't mean you can give up on yourself. You need to eat well and take care of yourself." Then she stuffed a big bowl of sour soup noodles into his mouth. But Xue Jing had only taken two bites when the drunken Director Zhao ran over and grabbed his other hand, saying, "Little Xue, you can't embarrass our Jida University. Why are you just hiding here drinking noodle soup? Come on, let me pour you some wine! Just observing isn't enough. Art comes from life, you have to immerse yourself in life."
"Which of the young men here doesn't know how to enjoy life better than you?"
Indeed, although Xue Jing has visited many cities in his life, he always travels by plane, first class, and only briefly visits each time.
In contrast, the friends of the man on the table were different. Each of them had traveled to Lhasa on foot after graduating from elementary school, without a penny to their name.
There were people who hopped on trains to avoid paying their fares, hitchhiked on the road, and even carried ten kilograms of bulk liquor, making friends and having fun while drinking.
Xue Jing wouldn't even dare to consider such unorthodox methods.
And so, Xue Jing sipped noodle soup on the left and beer on the right. In less than half an hour, his thinking became sluggish and his tongue felt short. Just then, he saw a few young men across from him with wicked smiles, who were enjoying the show and even gave him a Hero's Cup that was bigger than his face to play. Suddenly, the curtain in the distance was lifted and Ha Yue came in.
"Yueyue!"
Xue Jing was so drunk that he was completely out of his mind. His vision was blurry, and he blinked hard in Ha Yue's direction. Without thinking, he loudly called out her childhood nickname.
The people around him turned around and, in unison, called out in the direction of Ha Yue, "Yueyue?"
"Hmm, Yueyue. You guys don't know Yueyue?" Xue Jing nodded, her voice trembling like a propeller if she had a tail. She shoved Director Zhao out of the booth with one arm, stood up, and waved to Ha Yue, "I saved you a seat!"
"This way, this is closest to the heating." Not only that, this spot is also the furthest from the bathroom. These guys who drink sometimes don't even close the bathroom door, and he didn't want Ha Yue to smell anything unpleasant.
Director Zhao was already short, and with Xue Jing using brute force, he almost fell over when he bent over. Luckily, Jinzi reacted quickly and pulled the nearly flat-chested Director Zhao to the opposite seat to calm him down.
Ha Yue knew Xue Jing had been drinking as soon as she saw his red eyes. She walked over to the booth and saw the Hero's Cup on the table. She understood immediately: these people must have been trying to get him drunk.
This morning, Ha Yue took Zhao Chunni to a real estate agency to inquire about the price of the shop. Only after being reminded by the agent did she realize that she needed to update the owner's information on the individual business license before selling. In the afternoon, she went home to ask Aunt Siqin to take care of her mother, and then changed her clothes and went out again.
Because she was going to the building to handle some business, she dressed formally before leaving home and brought a few simple cosmetics with her in her bag. She applied light makeup in the public restroom on the first floor of the government affairs hall.
A well-tailored coat, a crepe belted shirt, crisp high-waisted wide-leg trousers, and a pair of kitten-heeled ankle boots.
As the saying goes, "Clothes make the man," and when Ha Yue took out the outfit she had kept from her time working in Jicheng, her aura immediately rose eight degrees.
Her small face, no bigger than the palm of a hand, was as bright as the clear moonlight.
With Xue Jing, who has a handsome face, standing beside them, they were a perfect match. No one expected that two dolls, the kind usually seen on wedding cakes, would appear at this simple gathering tonight.
A dozen pairs of eyes darted around, including Director Zhao's.
He exclaimed "Hey!" several times before recognizing the girl in front of him as the one who had been carrying piglets on the tricycle that day.
Director Zhao nudged Jinzi's arm, covered his face with his hand, and whispered in his ear, "Isn't this your neighbor? When did she become Yueyue?"
Jinzi was also full of worries. She thought to herself, "Wow, it's only been a month, and Teacher Xue and his sister Ha Yue can already call each other by their nicknames? Wasn't it said that the management was quite strict during the quiet period, with nucleic acid tests being conducted door-to-door and neighbors not even allowed to meet each other?"
When did they become so close?
Could it be that they actually helped Xue Jing and the pig by letting them ride in a tricycle together that day? If so, wouldn't he be a matchmaker?
Ha Yue took off her coat and plopped down on Xue Jing's right. She didn't try to hide their relationship from others and immediately started lecturing him without any politeness.
"Weren't you resting at home? You can't drink, yet you joined in the fun? Did you throw up?"
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