Chapter 71
Möbius strip
The warm sun shone on my skin, but it felt cold and had no warmth at all.
Li Miao guessed: Perhaps Zhao Rufei was just out exercising.
She sat at home waiting for someone to come home, but instead, she was greeted by a moving company hired by the Zhao family.
Li Miao dialed Zhao Rufei's number with trembling hands, but all she heard on the other end was a cold, official female voice saying, "Calling..."
Li's mother had been living a particularly comfortable life these days. That day, she left home early to visit Li Miao and Zhao Rufei.
When we were almost there, I got off the bus and picked out two boxes of white strawberries. These strawberries aren't cloyingly sweet; they have a gentle sweetness and a faint aroma of honeydew melon and peach.
She carried the strawberries downstairs, ready to call Li Miao.
My phone vibrated, and the screen lit up with Grandma Zhao's name.
She had no choice but to answer the phone, but the few words on the other end ruined her good mood that morning, and the smile on her lips came to an abrupt end.
"What? Your Zhao family wants to break off the engagement!"
"I...I..."
"But you, you all..."
"But my Li Miao truly loves Ru Fei. They're already engaged. Can't they just continue like this?"
"Beep beep beep—"
The call was abruptly ended by the other end.
She went upstairs in a daze and knocked on the door of the new house.
Holding her phone, she didn't know how to tell Li Miao that the Zhao family wanted to annul the engagement.
Originally, this house was bought for the two to cultivate their relationship, but after living there for only a few days, the Zhao family discovered that their house was just an empty shell, and it became a place of heartbreak.
"Mother, what brings you here?"
Before Li's mother could finish her words of comfort, she noticed the many busy figures in the house and couldn't help but ask, "Why are there so many people in the house?"
Li Miao looked dejected: "The Zhao family sent people to pack up Zhao Rufei's things; they already know."
Seeing that her daughter already knew about it, she didn't need to bring it up again.
Carrying strawberries, I walked into the house. The moving company staff worked diligently and busily, meticulously erasing every trace of Zhao Rufei's existence.
Seeing this, Li's mother didn't know how to comfort Li Miao.
Upon noticing the two boxes of white strawberries she had brought, she blamed herself for the problem.
"It's all my fault! Why did I buy white strawberries? They're unlucky!"
Li Miao looked like she was about to break down, and it took her a long time to ask, "Is the Zhao family really going to break off the engagement? Is there no room for negotiation?"
The resolute tone of Old Mrs. Zhao flashed through Li's mind, and under Li Miao's expectant gaze, Li's mother slowly shook her head.
With her last glimmer of hope extinguished, Li Miao sat on the sofa, head bowed, utterly dejected.
Li's mother sat down next to her: "I'll arrange blind dates for you later. There are many girls around your age in your circle. Meet more of them, and maybe you'll find someone you like better later."
Li Miao covered her face with her hands: "There won't be any more. Zhao Rufei is different from them."
She remained listless until the moving company left. She looked up and around, only to find that all of Zhao Rufei's belongings in the house had completely disappeared.
Li Miao turned around and threw herself into her mother's arms.
"Mom, I don't want to call off the engagement!"
"I don't want to break off my engagement with Zhao Rufei!"
She resigned herself to her fate: "If we keep dragging our feet on breaking off the engagement, the Zhao family can't do anything to us."
Li's mother advised her, "Why make things so embarrassing? The Zhao family is a respectable family after all..."
Li Miao exclaimed excitedly, "Even you won't help me!"
"I just didn't want to break off the engagement with her, what did I do wrong!"
She was emotionally unstable, sometimes crying and sometimes laughing, repeatedly saying things like "Don't call off the engagement" incoherently.
Li's mother dared not provoke her any further, and only instructed the aunt to keep an eye on the person.
He then went to the Zhao family to personally seek any possible recourse in the matter.
As a result, they couldn't even get into the Zhao family's house. After waiting for a long time, the butler finally spoke with a slight apology: "My old lady is not home. Please come another day."
"When will she be back?" Li's mother asked again. "What about Zhao Rufei? I can look for her too."
The housekeeper shut down all possibilities with a single sentence: "The old lady and she went out for a walk, and their return date is unknown."
Li's mother sighed heavily. "Child, it's not that I don't want to help you, but I've tried everything, and it's completely impossible."
She hadn't expected the Zhao family to discover the Li family's embezzlement so quickly. If she had known this would happen, she shouldn't have gotten engaged and slowly cultivated their relationship; instead, she should have had them register their marriage directly.
Returning home empty-handed, she immediately asked her aunt upon entering the house.
Where is Li Miao?
"Alone in the room."
"Auntie, you go and cook first, I'll go in and check on her."
Li's mother knocked on the door and said softly, "I'm coming in, you..."
Before he could finish speaking, the door was opened by the person inside.
"I'm fine now."
After spending half a day alone, Li Miao had composed herself and asked with certainty, "You went to the Zhao family."
"Judging from your expression, you haven't seen any members of the Zhao family?"
"The housekeeper said they went out for a walk to relax."
"It's just an excuse to appease you."
Li Miao's dejected state vanished, and she rallied, a new light shining in her gloomy eyes.
"We will not call off this marriage."
"I just learned that the Zhao family and the Jiang family have long since fallen out, and they're not much better off than us."
"What!" Mother Li exclaimed in fury. "Well, you've been hunting geese all day long, only to have your eyes pecked out by one!"
"I originally wanted to get along well with the Zhao family so that I could climb up to the Jiang family, but who knew I would choose the wrong path from the start."
She didn't understand: "Then why not take this opportunity to annul the engagement, instead of continuing to be tied to the Zhao family?"
"Mom, do you really think that if even the Zhao family, who are not well-informed, know that our family has already lost money, the other families wouldn't know?"
"In this situation, you should naturally bind to whichever company you can."
*
A gentle breeze blows, and the air is filled with the fragrance of osmanthus.
Clusters of bright yellow osmanthus flowers hang from the branches and leaves, their tiny buds, like stars in the sky, shimmering with golden light in the morning glow.
Jiang Fengyi was drunk the night before and did not arrange any work for herself the next day.
She slept until the sunlight bathed the ground in golden light before slowly waking up.
The sheets beside her were already cold, and Xu had woken up early but was nowhere to be found. Jiang Fengyi got up to wash and saw a sticky note in front of the mirror.
There are sandwiches on the table, remember to eat them when you wake up (●''●)
Jiang Fengyi's attention was hard not to be drawn to the hand-drawn emoticon at the end of the sentence; it was too eye-catching but rather cute upon closer inspection.
After finishing breakfast, she unlocked her phone, wanting to ask Xu when he would be back.
Before the dialog box could even be edited, the door was pushed open with a "beep".
She walked towards the door: "Where have you been?"
"Ta-da!"
Before he could even close the door behind him, Xu couldn't resist taking something out of his arms.
"I've made you a ring!"
The small, silvery Möbius ring was held between Xu's two fingers. With a turn, the curved surface shimmered with a warm luster, as if moonlight had shed its outermost veil, scattering its restrained, clear light upon the mortal world.
Without the dazzling sunlight or the scorching heat of starlight, she purely and calmly presented her most authentic self to Jiang Fengyi.
Like a frozen, silvery mountain, it is quiet and undisturbed, waiting for someone to set foot here.
“The Möbius strip symbolizes eternity.” Xu slipped the ring onto Jiang Fengyi’s left ring finger; it fit perfectly, not too big, not too small.
Jiang Fengyi raised her hand, examined it from left to right, and found that the size of her fingers fit perfectly. She then asked, "When did you measure my finger circumference?"
Xu was embarrassed: "I secretly measured it after you fell asleep last night."
Jiang Fengyi stared at the ring on her ring finger and murmured, "No matter where the Möbius strip starts, it will travel to every place and eventually meet you."
"I really like this ring!"
She pulled Xu Que towards the door, but Xu Que, whose hand was being held tightly, hurriedly asked, "Where are we going?"
"Rings should be in pairs."
"A single Möbius strip is too lonely."
Jiang Fengyi pulled Xu back to the DIY shop.
There weren't many customers in the handicraft shop, and the owner sat at the cashier looking sleepy.
The shop owner still remembered Xu Que. She was outstanding in appearance and would come in to make rings as soon as the shop opened in the morning. Why would she return so soon after leaving?
The shopkeeper took a closer look and noticed that there was another person next to her this time, and the person was wearing the ring that she had glimpsed when paying for Xu's bill that morning.
Only when Jiang Fengyi spoke did the shop owner realize that a returning customer had brought a new customer into the shop. He immediately stepped forward to greet the two warmly.
With the help of the shop owner, Jiang Fengyi used tools to measure Xu Que's finger circumference.
Wearing goggles and with her head down, she carefully hammered the silver bar on the workbench, shaping it into the desired form.
"This time, it's my turn to give you a Möbius strip!"
After the prototype was completed, Jiang Fengyi used tweezers to pick up a small piece of silver solder, placed it at the joint of the silver bar, and applied flux around it.
With the shop owner's help, Jiang Fengyi used a torch to heat the welding area. After the solder melted into liquid silver and filled the joint, she immediately put it into water to cool and set.
Finally, the welded ring is slipped onto the ring bar and finely polished.
Jiang Fengyi used different amounts of sandpaper to remove the scratches that had accidentally appeared on the ring. The dull silver ring in her hand gradually shone with a silvery brilliance.
She remained seated at her workbench, turned around, held up the ring, and smiled as she spoke to Xu.
"Try them on."
Xu solemnly extended her hand, her emotions running high, and for a moment she didn't know whether to extend her left or right hand.
"It's the left hand."
Jiang Fengyi gently pulled Xu Que's hand with the hand that wasn't holding the ring, slowly separating their tightly clenched fingers.
"Relax."
The cool silver ring slowly slipped onto her slender ring finger. Jiang Fengyi turned it around; the measurement was accurate, and the ring was securely in place.
She held Xu Que's hand in hers, examining it carefully, a bright smile radiating from the corners of her eyes, showing her satisfaction with the ring.
She asked Xu Que, "What do you think?"
The moment the silver ring was slipped onto her fingertip, Xu's heart felt as if it had been shackled by the other person. No one but Jiang Fengyi could open that door to her heart.
She had completely become Jiang Fengyi's possession, her heart clearly imprinted with her master's name.
Xu gripped Jiang Fengyi's hand tightly, which was also adorned with a ring. The two rings collided, producing a crisp "ding".
He pulled her clasped hands to his front, placing them over his violently trembling heart.
Beneath the two Möbius strips lies the ceaseless pulse of life and an inexhaustible, fervent passion.
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