02 0.2
Aunt sent a message asking Li Yaya if she had enough money as it was time to renew the lease for grandma's nursing home.
Li Yaya sighed. She calculated the surplus from her careful budgeting—6,000 yuan. She'd originally planned to use some of it to replace her third-hand electric bike. It was fine in warm weather; a full charge would give her just enough for a day's ride. Winter wasn't going to cut it. Never mind. It was still warm now, and by the time winter came, she'd have saved up some money.
Then he transferred the 6,000 yuan to his aunt. This was her responsibility on behalf of his father.
Since my father passed away, the responsibility of supporting my grandmother has fallen entirely on my aunt, who also has a large family to support. It's not easy for anyone.
Li Yaya knew that her aunt knew that she had been working to pay off debts in the past few years, and she would not ask for this unless it was absolutely necessary.
After transferring the money, she had less than 400 yuan left. Li Yaya was thinking about how to use the money to make it through to the next paycheck.
Today's afternoon shift means I just need to get to the cake shop at 2:00. I work from 2:00 to 8:30, and then I rush to the bar right afterward. It's not a big deal.
Li Yaya woke up after sleeping until 10 o'clock, lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling for a while. She often stared at the ceiling like this, and no one knew what she was thinking.
It wasn't until she heard the rumbling sound of her stomach that Li Yaya came back to her senses.
Luckily, we had plenty of noodles at home. She grabbed a handful and started cooking. After a moment's hesitation, she decided to add a poached egg. Li Yaya felt like laughing. These days, there's probably no one who hesitates over an egg.
I threw in some vegetables, the color, aroma and taste were all average, but the advantage was the quantity.
I took out the discounted milk I'd bought two days ago, only half a bottle left, and gulped it down. The milk, fresh from the refrigerator, was ice cold, and after finishing it, I felt much better. Then I started eating my noodles.
I didn't even realize that the milk had expired yesterday.
After finishing her meal and packing up, Li Yaya got on her third-hand electric bike and set out to work.
It was a little after one o'clock, the sun at its strongest outside. My electric bike glided along the scorching asphalt, and a small sauna gradually rose inside my helmet. Sweat beads started at my hairline and split along my solar plexus, one slid down the zygomatic ridge toward the salt-alkali land at the corner of my mouth, while the other spun into the folds near my cochlea. The sponge lining of the helmet soaked up the sweat, clinging to my forehead like a piece of wet moss. With every brake, I could hear the subtle sloshing of liquid.
The wind blowing in my face was like the hot air setting of a hair dryer, which actually dried the sticky sweat more evenly. The best part was that when we arrived at our destination, the helmet we took off and turned upside down on the seat had accumulated into a small cup of lightly salted water, which shimmered brightly in the sun.
I feel dizzy.
Finally, before this feeling reached its peak, I stepped into the cake shop.
The air conditioning in the shop was cranked up high, and the blast of air rushed in my face—like a red-hot iron suddenly plunged into ice water, my pores collectively screaming in silent shock. A shuddering chill crawled up my spine, the chill like countless transparent leeches, burrowing down my damp neck and into my collar. My body heat and the mechanically generated cold air engaged in a tug-of-war on my skin...
"Yaya, don't blow directly on the air conditioner vent when you just came in from outside, or you will get sick." Sister Honghong's voice came from behind, waking up Yaya who was almost dizzy.
Li Yaya stuck out her tongue playfully, walked quickly to the warehouse, put down her things, and in just half a minute, she was standing at her work station.
At around 5 o'clock, the bakery and pastry making work in the kitchen was finished, and Sisters Honghong and Juan were about to go home. Before leaving, Sisters Honghong and Juan took Li Yaya to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and found a small 4-inch cake.
"Take it with you when you get off work. Your sister Juan made this especially for you. Did you forget that today is your birthday?"
Li Yaya was in a trance, as if today was indeed her birthday.
"I wish our Yaya a happy birthday, may everything go smoothly and get better and better. I put your favorite chocolate hazelnut spread in the filling, make a wish while you eat it, it will definitely come true."
After saying this, the two of them left work.
Li Yaya's tears kept welling up in her eyes, but she tried hard not to let them fall.
The cake shop closed at 8 o'clock. After cleaning up at 8:30, Li Yaya carefully packed the cakes, put them in an insulated bag, added an ice pack, then closed the shop and headed towards the bar.
The bar wasn't busy at 9 o'clock, so she had plenty of time to eat before going to work.
Still at the back door of the bar, Li Yaya sat on the steps where she often sat to slack off, and carefully opened the cake box. Fortunately, it did not shake or melt.
The moment I put the candle in, I realized I didn't have a lighter. Just as I was about to get up to borrow one, a pleasant voice came from behind me, "Do you need a lighter? Here you go."
"Thank you." Li Yaya took the lighter and said thank you seriously.
Jiang Yi once again sat down next to Li Yayasheng without any hesitation, "Is it your birthday today?"
"Yeah." The voice was familiar, and the face was familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen it before. Li Yaya had no choice but to remain polite and courteous.
Li Yaya remembered what Sister Juan said, "Make a wish while eating." After lighting the candles, Li Yaya clasped her hands together devoutly, closed her eyes, made a wish, and the Happy Birthday song played in her mind.
Suddenly, the song coming from my ears coincided with the lyrics in my mind, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you~"
It's him!
That new resident singer! Li Yaya's mind suddenly flashed, the boy standing on the stage singing "Bridge of Tears" seemed to be called Jiang Yi.
When she blew out the candles, Li Yaya said thank you again and gave the other person a piece of cake.
Jiang Yi didn't hesitate, and the two of them sat on the steps and started eating. Li Yaya thought, this was like having someone to celebrate her birthday with.
Jiang Yi finished eating quickly, "Li Yaya, we ate cake together, so we can be considered friends now."
"Yeah, yes."
"Then let's add WeChat."
"good."
Li Yaya took out her cell phone, and from then on there was a boy named Jiang Yi in her WeChat list.
"Let's have a midnight snack together after get off work."
"kindness?"
"You already treated me to cake, so as a friend, can I treat you to a midnight snack?"
Li Yaya quickly finished the last bite of cake and said, "It's too late. No need. I'll go in to work first." After that, she left without waiting for Jiang Yi to speak again.
Once again, Jiang Yi was left standing there.
Jiang Yi didn't seem to feel disappointed by being rejected. Instead, he started studying Li Yaya's WeChat.
Her WeChat name was Yaya, and her profile picture was a simple stick figure. Jiang Yi couldn't help but smile at the stick figure; it looked quite like her. Her Moments were fully visible, but there wasn't much content, just a forwarded message from a public account related to an esophageal cancer clinical trial.
I don't understand why.
After reading all this, Jiang Yi opened his phone's photo album and carefully examined a photo. It was a picture of Li Yaya clasping her hands, closing her eyes, and making a wish. Under the dim streetlight, Li Yaya's slender figure resembled a wisp of smoke. There was a sense of illusion, something elusive.
After thinking for a while, he decided not to send this photo to Li Yaya, but chose to keep it privately for the time being.
Then he stood up, brushed off the dust on his butt, and started working.
Inside and outside the bar, it seems like two different worlds.
The door to the bar is a barrier.
Outside the door lies a world of well-behaved people. Streetlights illuminate figures hurrying home, middle-aged men stand in the white light of a convenience store, buying mineral water. The evening breeze carries car exhaust and the clamor of the subway station. People maintain a proper distance, speaking at just the right volume, like a tamed pendulum, swinging along its predetermined trajectory.
Pushing open the door, a wave of sound washed over us. Lights wove a dense web through the smoke, enveloping everyone in a collective hallucination. A trapped figure in a suit crouched at the bar, his tie loose like a noose. In a dark corner, two young bodies exchanged secrets through their lips. The whiskey swirled in the glass, reflecting countless distorted worlds. The pianist's fingers flew across the black and white keys, playing the deepest, most venomous desires of the human heart.
Like a sinking cruise ship, all the carnival became a blurry afterimage on the seabed.
Li Yaya skillfully moved among the swaying crowd, as if she were an outsider.
Until Jiang Yi's voice came from the center of the stage, "I'm very happy today because I made a new friend, and today happens to be her birthday. I wanted to ask her out for a midnight snack, but she refused. I'm a little disappointed, but she is here with us now, so I want to sing a song for her, wish her a happy birthday, and hope that her wishes come true."
Li Yaya was stunned in the crowd and was almost bumped by a customer. However, Xiaodie was quick to catch Li Yaya and pull her aside.
Jiang Yi's singing voice could be heard from the stage, "There are always some surprising encounters. For example, when I met you, your gentle and clear eyes appeared in my dreams. My love is like a cloud, nowhere to stop in your sky. I long to turn into bursts of drizzle to moisten the land in your heart. No matter what the future holds, at least we are very happy now. No matter what the ending will be, at least the person I miss is you..."
It’s Xiaoyu played by Zhang Zhenyue.
"What are you thinking about?" Xiaodie's voice brought Li Yaya back to her senses. "This is the new resident singer I mentioned before. He's handsome, and he sings nicely. Hey, I don't know who this song is for, but it's definitely for a girl. Hey, who do you think is so lucky?" Xiaodie looked at the stage with longing.
Li Yaya followed Xiaodie's direction and looked towards the stage. She didn't know whether it was out of guilt or an illusion, but she always felt that Jiang Yi could see her, and even his eyes were on her at the moment.
She felt guilty because of Xiaodie's words, "I don't know who this song is for. Who do you think is so happy?"; she had an illusion because her eyes passed through the crowd and fell on Jiang Yi.
"I'm going to get busy first." Li Yaya seemed to be running away.
It seems like the rhythm is a few beats off.
It seemed like my heart was also in a state of confusion.
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