It's winter
Three months passed, the summer heat had long been a distant memory, and winter was deepening.
After the harshness of winter completely took over, the air was filled with a biting chill, and the wind was occasionally mixed with rustling yellow leaves.
In the winter in the south, most tree species generally do not shed leaves on a large scale.
Zhou Jianxing changed into a fleece sweatshirt and wrapped himself up.
But the clothes that fit me well last year seem a bit empty when I put them on this year. When the wind blows in through the collar and cuffs, the fabric of the clothes can no longer stick to my skin and sways around, and even my heart in my chest sways along with it.
A gust of cold wind happened to blow past the door of the flower shop, causing her to subconsciously shrink her neck, and her eyes and nose wrinkled together.
"Look at you!" Chu Wei put down the violet he was trimming and reached out to grab Zhou Jianxing's wrist.
She wrapped her palm around the thin wrist bone, and when her thumb and middle finger lightly closed, a large gap appeared in the middle.
"Why are you still so thin? I told you to eat more, but you just ignored me, right?" Chu Wei's words were filled with obvious heartache and blame.
Zhou Jianxing tried to pull his hand back and said softly, "The weather was too hot recently, so I didn't have much of an appetite."
"What if the weather got cooler later?" Chu Wei asked without letting go.
"Later... later there was a lot of work and a lot of activities." Zhou Jianxing lowered his voice.
"You should eat more if you're more active! You've become so thin. You're so tall, but now you're as thin as a bamboo pole. I'm afraid you'll be blown away if the wind is strong." Chu Wei let go of his hand and sighed.
At the door of Wei Ran Flower House, Zhou Jianxing and Chu Wei sat side by side on two low wooden benches, with various fresh flower branches and green floral mud scattered under their feet.
In front of each of them was an unfinished flower basket base, and they were busy inserting the selected flowers into the moist floral mud.
The city is still running as usual, bustling with activity. New stores are opening every day, and weddings are being held every day, requiring beautiful flowers to decorate the joy.
The greenhouse business has therefore been good.
Zhou Jianxing gently retracted his wrist and lowered his head to continue the work at hand.
She picked up an orange-yellow cut rose, skillfully trimmed off a section of the branch diagonally with a pair of scissors, and then firmly inserted it into the fixed position in the floral mud.
"I'm really eating well," she emphasized, trying to sound more relaxed. "Look, I feel like I've gained a lot of weight recently."
Chu Wei didn't respond, but his eyes fell on the clear collarbone exposed by the wide neckline of Zhou Jianxing's sweatshirt.
Four months have passed, and Zhou Jianxing seems to have returned to normal. He goes to get off work and comes home every day, talking and laughing. He is still serious and responsible at work, and even when hanging out with her group of friends, she can be carefree and playful.
But Chu Wei knew that something was different.
The thinness and silence that comes from the bones cannot deceive anyone.
Zhou Jianxing seems to have never really gotten over that past.
"So," Chu Wei casually glanced at Zhou Jianxing's quiet profile, which showed no unnecessary expression, "Have you really told your parents everything? Have you come out?"
As she asked, she used her nimble fingers to insert a handful of pink baby's breath diagonally into the floral mud to create a fluffy layered effect.
"Yeah." Zhou Jianxing nodded without stopping his hands, and his tone was as calm as if he was discussing the weather today.
"After we broke up, they were always trying to find me boyfriends and set me up on blind dates. You have no idea how irritated I was. I was already in a terrible mood at the time."
It seems that everyone has recognized one truth: as long as they quickly get involved in the next relationship, they can quickly cover up the scars left by the previous one.
How does the saying go? As long as the partner changes quickly, there is no hurt, only love.
But Zhou Jianxing couldn't do it.
She seemed to be pinned to the spot by some force, still trapped in the relationship that had ended.
The love and hate, the pain and tears, came back to her belatedly, densely and overwhelmingly, sweeping over her.
She didn't react immediately at that time, perhaps because she was not ready for separation at all.
Of all the ways to break up, the cruelest is probably the abrupt breakup. One party is still planning the future with great anticipation, while the other party cuts off everything without any warning.
The transformation of emotions requires time and a process. Zhou Jianxing's love comes violently and passionately, but it does not mean that it can also disappear cleanly and neatly.
It felt like accidentally knocking over a bottle of corrosive chemicals. After the initial sting, the corrosion would quietly spread over time, leaving more and deeper pain.
Zhou Jianxing didn't know whether this pain could be healed by another person in the future.
Her current state is very much like a turtle that has just tentatively stretched out its soft head and limbs, preparing to carefully explore the outside world, but failed and suffered a heavy blow, and was so scared that it immediately retreated into its hard shell.
In a short period of time, I dared not take another step forward.
Besides, no one in this world is born with the obligation to heal the pain left by another person.
It's unfair to the new person to rush into another relationship before you've dealt with the ruins of the previous one.
Just like... just like what Wen Lingyi once did to her.
I have already been caught in such a freezing rain, how can I bear to tear up someone else's umbrella?
"So, I just told them directly." When Zhou Jianxing said this, there was a hint of subtle self-blame in his tone.
"I said I don't like men, and the person I dated before was also a woman." As she said that, she picked up a white lisianthus and gestured to the insertion position.
During this period, Zhou Jianxing always felt uncomfortable staying at home.
Her parents' cautious and hesitant attitude, and the complex emotions hidden behind their worried eyes, made her feel suffocated.
Although they didn't blame her for anything.
So she always liked to run to Chu Wei's greenhouse to take a break, whether she had something to do or not.
Zhou Jianxing thought that her parents must be very unlucky to have given birth to a child like her.
If only I had never met Wen Lingyi.
Zhou Jianxing did not lie to Chu Wei. During this period, she was indeed trying hard to eat well.
She made this decision when she fainted due to persistent hypoglycemia and was rushed to the hospital. When she woke up and saw her mother's eyes that looked like she had survived a disaster, she made the decision.
From that day on, she told herself that she must eat well.
Did you know that when people fall into a certain, persistent low mood, they will really lose almost all of their original desires?
Appetite and sexual desire have become dull.
What enabled Zhou Jianxing to work normally during that period was almost entirely due to her inherent professional ethics and dedication.
Of course, maintenance itself is also her hobby. She can temporarily immerse herself in the technical work that requires high concentration and divert her attention for a short time.
"Little Star," Chu Wei said casually, plucking the uncoordinated small bud from a Phalaenopsis orchid in her hand. Her tone sounded casual, "Do you like women because she... led you to like them, or do you prefer women?"
Before, although Zhou Jianxing had never shown any special interest or ambiguity towards any man, he had never liked women either.
Chu Wei hoped that if Zhou Jianxing chose this path, it would be because of her nature, rather than because of someone's accidental appearance.
This road is not easy to walk. As a friend, Chu Wei only hopes that Zhou Jianxing's life can be as simple, happy and pure as possible, preferably a smooth and easy road.
Zhou Jianxing took a deep breath, stopped arranging flowers, and his eyes fell on the colorful flowers in front of him.
"It should be... because he simply prefers women." The voice was not loud, but clear.
She paused and revealed the secret she had buried deep in her heart for many years: "It was the first time I had that kind of dream... I dreamed of my high school Chinese teacher, a female teacher."
After saying this, she seemed to feel a little relieved, but also a little embarrassed, and her fingers unconsciously twisted a green leaf that fell on her leg.
"But at the time I just felt very strange and embarrassed."
"My Chinese teacher is already married. How could I have such a dream about her? Since then, I have avoided her and dared not look at her."
After hearing this, Chu Wei stretched out his fingertips and gently poked Zhou Jianxing's forehead, a sly smile on his face: "You're really good at hiding it. I haven't even heard you mention it. If I had known that you liked women, I might have..."
Chu Wei stopped the car in time when he was halfway through his words. He should not make such jokes casually.
She put away her teasing expression, took out her cell phone from her apron pocket, unlocked it, and opened the photo album.
"Here, take a look at this." Chu Wei held the phone screen out to Zhou Jianxing. "This is an old client of mine, an industrial designer. He's around 30 years old, has a small social circle, and a very easygoing personality."
Zhou Jianxing moved closer out of curiosity.
The woman in the photo has a standard oval face, willow-shaped eyebrows, long straight black hair that reaches her shoulders, and wears a pair of decorative black-framed glasses.
She is very beautiful even without makeup. It is a very stylish kind of beauty, the kind that is pretentious.
"It's quite beautiful." Zhou Jianxing's gaze stayed on the photo for a moment and quickly moved away.
"But not interested," he added flatly.
After saying that, she bent down and picked up another piece of green floral mud that was soaked with water from the bucket on the ground, stuffed it into the base of the wrought iron flower basket, and then began to pick and choose from the pile of fresh branches on the ground.
"What about this one?" Chu Wei slid his finger to the left on the phone screen and brought up another photo.
Zhou Jianxing looked at the photos of beautiful women sliding through Chu Wei's phone album and couldn't help but start to wonder: "Sister Wei, why do you have so many photos of girls saved on your phone? Who has a straight girl like you?"
Chu Wei rolled her eyes at her: "Isn't it for you? I even asked my friends about the reliable circles."
She continued to scroll down, and her finger suddenly stopped on a video.
The video started playing automatically, and Zhou Jianxing's eyes were immediately drawn to the screen. He froze and didn't move.
"Oh," Chu Wei's expression became a little awkward, and he immediately wanted to take the phone back. "Forget it, don't look at it. If you keep looking at it, I'm afraid you'll be so embarrassed that you'll want to find a hole to crawl into."
"Good for you, Sister Wei!"
Zhou Jianxing reacted very quickly. He quickly grabbed Chu Wei's wrist with one hand, and held Chu Wei's arm with the other hand. He put his forehead close to Chu Wei's forehead, his eyes fixed on the phone screen.
"You actually took photos secretly! You are so bad!" Zhou Jianxing shouted loudly.
The scene in the video is obviously the night of Ajie and Xiaomin's engagement party.
The picture was a little shaky and the lighting wasn't very good, but it was clear that Zhou Jianxing was obviously drunk. She was hugging a stranger girl who was also drunk and crying loudly, with tears and snot all over her face.
The girl cried because she was reluctant to see her best friend Xiao Min get married, while Zhou Jianxing cried because of his own unforgettable relationship that ended hastily.
The video is not long and it ends quickly.
Chu Wei quickly pulled her hand back and explained a little sheepishly, "Seeing you that day... so pitiful and cute, I couldn't help but record a short clip. I thought it would be really interesting to watch when I'm older."
"Sister Wei~" Zhou Jianxing was also amused by his own embarrassed and funny appearance in the video. His face felt a little hot and his voice was a little embarrassed.
She grabbed Chu Wei's arm with one hand and began to shake it from side to side, dragging out her voice and begging, "Delete it~ Please, delete the video? Okay?"
Being drunk is actually not that scary. What is scary is that someone not only witnesses it with their own eyes, but also kindly records it for you and may intend to keep it forever.
Chu Wei raised his other hand and patted Zhou Jianxing on the head.
Whenever this child needed something from her or felt embarrassed, he would call her "Sister Wei" in a soft voice. His mind was simple and direct, like a blank sheet of paper, with all his emotions clearly written on his face.
"No." Chu Wei deliberately put on a stern face and acted serious, then quickly stuffed the phone back into the deepest pocket of his apron.
Then she looked at her nose with her eyes and her heart with her nose, lowered her head and concentrated on fiddling with the almost finished flower basket in front of her. No matter how Zhou Jianxing shook her arm or tried to coax her, she pretended not to hear or see.
She missed most of Zhou Jianxing's love affair, failed to give early warning, and failed to stop it halfway.
But now, at least she can stand by like a war correspondent, recording every moment of her friend's healing and new beginning.
ยท
"Ajie, what was your high school Chinese teacher like?" Chu Wei still couldn't help but be curious and wanted to know Zhou Jianxing's preferences.
"That?" Ajie was a little confused. "The skin was very white, the hair was very black, and I can't remember what the face looked like."
"Anyway, she looked very gentle. Now that I think about it, it's like there's a filter." He lowered his voice embarrassedly, "And a little sexy."
Wow, it turns out Zhou Jianxing likes this type.
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