Stealing a chicken but losing the rice (1)
The old locust tree was in bloom, and beneath it lay a patchwork of purple irises. Although it was summer, this place could sometimes be hot, sometimes cold. Today, the temperature was just right. Song Shiwen stood there waiting for a long time. He didn't know when he'd developed such patience. A girl nearby was on the phone, scolding her boyfriend for keeping her waiting so long, and Song Shiwen couldn't help but smile. For the first time, he knew the feeling of waiting could be so peaceful. So many beautiful sights he'd never noticed before caught his eye and touched his heart.
A vague image gradually took shape in his mind. Yesterday, or the day before yesterday? It was a past day, and he couldn't help but reminisce. Though he couldn't quite pinpoint the specific memory or the exact time, ever since that morning, he'd been gripped by an urge to return to that time, though it was clearly unrealistic. Song Shiwen maintained a surface of clarity and composure. A friend invited him to go for a bike ride by the river, but he declined, guarding the secret on his hand alone.
I don’t know who left the words on the back of his hand: See you at the Iris Trail in Xiyuan at 12 noon on the 6th.
It was already 11:55, with only five minutes left. Who could this person he'd arranged to meet? Song Shiwen paced restlessly, feeling uneasy, pretending to casually glance at the faces of every passerby, but sadly, no one met his gaze. How would they meet? What would their first words be? Could that person... be the one he'd often dreamed of? He seemed to slowly recall the other person's back: a charming girl. Who would have thought that Song Shiwen could even have such a moment?
Just now, there was a constant stream of people coming and going, but in an instant, he was the only one left within a hundred meters. Song Shiwen's turbulent mood suddenly calmed down. He looked around, thinking that he might have been the victim of a prank.
The most beautiful flowers always bloom quietly, and only through twists and turns can they reach new heights. Song Shiwen kicked the nails on the board and turned around. A girl across from him stared at him as he slowly approached, a warm smile on her face.
Song Shiwen felt that he couldn't let the other party down, so he forced a smile.
"Are you waiting for me?" the girl said.
"Are you here to see me?" Song Shiwen asked quickly.
The girl's right hand extended from behind her, slightly clenched into a fist, the back of her hand facing upwards. Song Shiwen leaned over to look at the words on the hand, which were surprisingly the same as those on his own hand. However, the words on the girl's hand were clearly his handwriting, with his unique signature at the end.
"So you wrote this?" Song Shiwen looked at the words on his hand and couldn't help but fall into deep thought: What's going on between the two of them? Why doesn't he have any memory of the writing process at all? Is there really something wrong with his brain?
"Hey!" Zang Yue said dissatisfiedly, "You forgot about me so quickly?"
A certain route in his mind was instantly opened up, and the vague memories just now became clear all of a sudden. Song Shiwen suddenly became enlightened and could faintly smell the scent of incense in the temple.
"Of course I haven't forgotten! I'm trying to see if you have forgotten me." Song Shiwen used a lie to ease the embarrassment.
"I can't possibly forget you!" Cang Yue stared at the lake before her, where a pair of black swans were embracing. The words she spoke with such conviction fluttered away in the wind, leaving even her own disbelief.
"What are we doing today?"
"You still say you haven't forgotten?" Cang Yue complained, and turned to look at Song Shiwen's face. His eyebrows were tightly wrinkled like a caterpillar, which made Song Shiwen couldn't help laughing.
Cang Yue hit him, but Song Shiwen still couldn't stop laughing, but he covered the lower half of his face.
At this moment, the two men discovered that they were being secretly filmed. The man came over and showed them the video he had taken, "Hey, Brother Wen, this is my sister-in-law, right?"
"Hey, stop talking nonsense. We haven't even started yet, so just shut up." Song Shiwen snatched the phone, forwarded the video to himself, and then deleted the video and chat history from his friend's phone.
"This is the first time I see Brother Wen being shy...haha..."
"Get lost!" Song Shiwen apologized forcefully after his friend left. "Don't mind it. Those people just talk like that. They don't hold back."
I didn't expect that even though he spoke rudely, he was actually such a thoughtful and considerate person. Cang Yue didn't dare look at him at all, leaning on the railing and watching the rippling water. "You said you would find a way to help me and Hui Zifeng get closer..."
Oh, really? It turns out that all that joy just now was due to my having taken the wrong path. Song Shiwen couldn't smile at all now.
"Of course, I have many ways. But now, it's time to eat. Shall we go eat first?"
Zang Yue turned her head and stared into Song Shiwen's eyes, as if she could see through his narrow-mindedness and judge him from a high position. Song Shiwen felt guilty being stared at, so he said stubbornly, "You have to eat. Even if you don't eat, I will eat too."
"I'm very busy." Zang Yue recounted her day's schedule to him. "I was handing out flyers on the street early in the morning to earn a couple of cents for food, then I came to ask for your help to deal with Hui Zifeng. After that, I had to go back to work to earn money, and tonight I had to look for my lost cat. If I can't find it, I'll probably suspect it was bitten by a dog."
"Your cat is missing too?" Song Shiwen was surprised. "Why didn't you tell me such an important thing earlier? Of course, finding the cat is important. Why do you care about Hui Zifeng? Let's go!" As Song Shiwen said that, he was about to pull Cang Yue away, but was pushed away by Cang Yue.
"Are you going to go back on your promise to me so soon?"
Seeing Zang Yue's serious expression as he was settling the score, Song Shiwen quickly admitted his mistake, "No, no, whatever you say is what I am going to do. The most important thing is to find Hui Zifeng."
"I heard that boys always find it hard to forget the person they kissed for the first time. Is that true?" Zang Yueji was thinking, with a bad look on his face.
Song Shiwen pursed his lips and bit his lip, with the same expression as constipation. After thinking for two seconds, he said, "It's true, but..." He leaned close to Cang Yue and whispered, "For someone he doesn't like, he will definitely hate you."
Come to think of it, it made sense. Zang Yue gave up the idea and followed Song Shiwen to carry out his plan.
The appointment was made for a dark and windy night. So in the afternoon, Cang Yue, after vehemently rejecting Song Shiwen's invitation to attend class together, went out to the streets to distribute flyers.
Fortunately, she met Hui Zifeng. Holding a smiling face, he handed a flyer to the next passerby. It was Shuixi. He raised his eyebrows proudly, pinched the colorful paper between two fingers, glanced at it, and then handed it to Cangyue, saying maliciously, "Thank you, I've read it."
The flyer was delivered to Hui Zifeng, who was standing behind Shuixi. He was concentrating on his camera when the paper suddenly appeared in his sight. He took a closer look and stammered, "Thank you...thank you." He took the flyer, folded it in half, put it in his bag, and continued walking. Zang Yue tried to stop him, but Hui Zifeng avoided his gaze, feeling uncomfortable. "Is there anything else...?"
"Why do you stutter when you see me?"
Cang Yue's behavior was truly that of a prostitute, as if she couldn't wait to get close. Hui Zifeng reached out to pull Shui Xi, but Shui Xi's mummy-like body wedged itself between them. Because her eyes were too small, Cang Yue couldn't discern his emotions, but she could sense Shui Xi's teasing intent.
"No way? Do you really want to use this trick? You will regret it."
"Then how can I play to find out who you are?"
Shuixi laughed sadly, without answering, and used her eyes to signal Hui Zifeng to leave. Hui Zifeng saw that the two knew each other, and he became suspicious. After walking a few meters away, he looked back and saw the girl waving and smiling at him.
"What's wrong with you? Are you moved?" Shuixi sneered.
Hui Zifeng took the opportunity to fight back, "Who else could be as heartless as you?"
Shuixi snorted coldly at these words, unconcerned. Hui Zifeng felt as if the cold water he had poured out had all been poured back on his head. He was the one without love. And if Shuixi wasn't a grateful and kind person, how could she have stayed with him for so long, willingly doing anything for him?
He turned around again and saw the girl standing there quietly. He no longer felt the same powerless and paralyzed feeling as before, but suddenly thought that with so many people in this world, not everyone can find their own salvation.
Zang Yue was about to continue chasing after him, but he noticed a boy nearby with suspicious movements, so he stopped where he was, wanting to deal with this trouble first.
Seeing that he was discovered, the boy looked at her, lowered his head, and walked over slowly, as if he was afraid that she would leave. He took two steps and looked at her again, and came to Lu Cangyue so shyly.
Based on years of experience, Zang Yue felt a tinge of nervousness. The boy's gaze shifted, clearly summoning the courage to do this. He masked his apprehension with an uneasy smile, finally speaking, "You've discovered..."
She just happened to see him standing behind the mailbox, looking at her. What did she notice about him? She tried to recall where she had seen him before. Why did he look like he knew her?
"I...want to...thank...thank...thank...sister..."
Why is he stuttering like Hui Zifeng?
"Why are you laughing at me?" the boy asked nervously.
Huh? Suddenly he stopped stuttering? Zang Yue apologized and explained, "I was thinking of someone who just passed by here, and it was a little funny, not you. Are you looking for me?"
"Well... let me help you..." The boy wanted to take the flyer from Zang Yue's hand. Seeing that he was so cautious and shy, Zang Yue couldn't bear to refuse him, so he followed his wishes. Anyway, they would go their separate ways after the event and no one would know each other.
The setting sun was radiant, filling the streets with warmth. The boy awkwardly handed out flyers to passersby, while Cang Yue encouraged and guided him. Soon, the boy grasped the essence of the technique. With a broad smile, he greeted people enthusiastically, nodding and bowing, and quickly dispersed most of the flyers in his hand.
During the break, the boy took the opportunity to ask, "Sister, have you been working here all the time?"
"No. I'll go wherever there's work." Zang Yue didn't like being asked about her situation, but she didn't refuse easily because she thought the other person was a weak, shy, and good kid. "The whole world is my home, haha."
"So what you said at the police station was true?"
She had a deep memory of the police station. After trying so hard to recall it, she looked at the boy's face and remembered who he was. His attitude immediately became much more friendly and sincere than before. The boy caught her emotional change, and his face turned a little unhappy. After a long silence and a mental struggle, he asked, "I've been kind to you, but I didn't expect you to forget me so quickly."
"Your name is Tan Songqi, right?" Zang Yue thought her acting was top-notch. "Of course I remember. But at this hour, you should be in school, right?"
"I have a fever, and the teacher asked me to come out to see a doctor."
"Fever?" Zang Yue's expression tightened, and she immediately went forward to touch his forehead. The boy tried to hide at first, but Zang Yue grabbed him, immobilizing him. "It's my fault, it's my fault. I just thought it was the sunlight that made your face so red. Why didn't you tell me you had a fever earlier? Why didn't you go see a doctor?"
"It's okay. I'm leaving first."
Tan Songqi shoved the remaining flyers into Cang Yue's hands and immediately turned to leave. He lowered his head, his frail body looking as if a gust of wind could blow him over. Sure enough, the wind blew, sweeping Cang Yue's hair into his eyes, and the boy's helpless and lonely figure fell with him. Seeing this, Cang Yue didn't even think of asking for his wages. He hurried to Tan Songqi's side, and with the help of a passerby, he carried him on his back and walked away.
Unexpectedly, the child refused to go to the hospital. They had no money, and they sought help from many people along the way, but they kept running into obstacles. Zang Yue heard Tan Songqi chuckle from his back and said, "Is this your first time here? You knew you'd run into obstacles, yet you chose to be humiliated."
"Not everyone is like that," Cang Yue retorted immediately. She didn't like others thinking that way. Everyone had their own difficulties, and if they were able, they would definitely do their best. Why force someone who was just trying to protect themselves to help? "My family is very nice."
"Then why did you come here alone?"
Zang Yue mentioned something he shouldn't have mentioned, and suddenly felt a pang of pain in his heart, so he stopped talking. Tan Songqi understood and reached out to touch Zang Yue's neck, seeming to admire but also to feel regret. "You have a scar here. Did you get beheaded?"
In ancient times, beheadings were carried out from the back of the neck. Cang Yue's shallow scar was right there on the back of her neck. She felt offended by the sudden touch. She was about to refuse, but then she thought about the poor child with a high fever, who seemed quiet and perhaps had lost his composure in socializing because he had no friends. She convinced herself to forgive him. The most important thing now was to find a path she'd been on before, where a few pots of medicinal herbs grew in front of a house.
Sure enough, Zang Yue had found the right place. The herbs were still growing vigorously in the pots. Zang Yue laid the boy on the ground, letting him lean against the lamppost. He stretched his arms, supported himself with one hand, pushed off with one leg, and nimbly climbed over the low courtyard wall to pull the herbs.
"This is very effective, you should try it." Zang Yue plucked two or three stalks of lush grass into several pieces and handed them to Tan Songqi. "Just eat the leaves. The grass stems are too hard to chew."
Zang Yue was looking around to make sure no one noticed their sneaky behavior. At this moment, he heard a noisy sound coming from a nearby alley. He suddenly remembered that he had an important date at this time and place. He was so nervous that he ran over there.
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