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This year's rainy season seems to be particularly long.
The weather forecast shows that it will rain in the next few days.
The summer in the rainy season is a humid breath between heaven and earth. People are caught in it with every breath. If you don’t stay in an air-conditioned room, you will become sticky all over in just half a minute.
The store was not busy. Li Yaya stood at the door and looked up at the sky.
Lead-gray clouds hung low all day, like a piece of old, soaked cotton wool, ready to shed tears with a gentle twist. The rain always fell unexpectedly, first as a few tentative drops, tinkling against the tin eaves, then suddenly erupting into a torrential downpour. The air was filled with the fishy smell of turned earth, mingled with the sweet, rotting banana leaves, fermenting quietly between each thunderclap.
The asphalt road was a mirrored surface, reflecting the neon lights, brightened by the rain. Pedestrians' open umbrellas drifted silently in the rain like colorful mushrooms. The cicadas' chirping was extinguished, replaced by the croaking of frogs in the gutters. This damp rhythm concealed the insomnia of an entire season.
Some life always seems to be growing wildly at this time. Moss in the corners creeps up the windowsill overnight, and the roots of impatiens quietly break through the clay pots. Undryed shirts hang down like soft flags indoors, and as water drops drip from the corners, they tap out a rhythm on the tiles, syncing with the clock.
When the sudden downpour finally subsided, the world became a steamer. Water vapor rose from every corner, tangling around exposed skin like countless transparent leeches. When the setting sun suddenly pierced through the clouds, the entire city was bathed in a sickly red glow, like the ominous flush on the cheeks of a feverish patient.
This is a season soaked in water, all stories are covered with mold, and all memories are bleeding at the edges.
The rain had stopped when the cake shop closed.
The electric car shuttled through the night, the wind in my ears, even though it was still hot. While waiting for the traffic light, I glanced at the weather forecast, which showed rain from 12 to 2 o'clock.
This season, Li Yaya's large canvas bag is always stocked with slippers, an umbrella, and a raincoat. She bought the bag from a roadside stall. The owner wanted 35 yuan, but after some negotiation, Li Yaya managed to snag it for 25 yuan. She loves it.
Red has a vibrant life.
Jiang Yi hadn't been to the bar lately; I wondered what he'd been up to. After adding each other on WeChat, the two of them hadn't chatted. It was just Li Yaya, on her way to work every day, who'd occasionally glance toward the stage.
I didn’t see him yesterday, nor the day before yesterday, and I don’t remember anything before that.
Probably due to the weather, the bar wasn't crowded with customers, just a few scattered tables. With nothing to do, Li Yaya and Xiaodie went to the back door to fish.
Xiaodie lit a cigarette skillfully, blew her eyes, and asked Li Yaya if she wanted one.
Li Yaya waved her hand to refuse.
"Sister Yaya, do you also think it's bad for girls to smoke?" For some reason, Xiaodie lacked her usual energy today. The question was clearly about whether smoking was bad, but listening carefully, it sounded like she was asking someone, asking if I was a bad person.
Li Yaya thought for a moment. "Smoking costs money. Besides, it's not good for girls or boys to smoke. It's bad for the body. If we put that aside, there's no good or bad."
"Sister Yaya, my boyfriend broke up with me and he doesn't want me anymore." After saying that, Xiaodie sobbed softly.
Li Yaya then remembered that she had not seen Xiaodie's boyfriend for several days. She just didn't know how to say comforting words, so she could only pat Xiaodie on the back. Maybe she was really sad, or maybe she needed to express the emotions that had been suppressed for several days. Xiaodie leaned on Li Yaya's shoulder and continued, "Sister Yaya, you know, I, I had a big fight with my family because of him and ran away. Then he got together with a woman he had just met in the store a few days ago, and someone also hit on me, why, why did he leave when others just said something? Why is this? What should I do, what can I do..."
The sobs turned into quiet cries.
Yes, why? Li Yaya didn't understand. She had never been in love, never felt love or being loved. In fact, except for her late father, she had never spent any time with the opposite sex.
When she has some free time, she will look at the men and women in front of her and imagine that one day in the future, she will hold someone's hand, link their arms, and walk through the crowd while talking and laughing.
Love is complex and profound, beyond definition, in the private universe between two people that cannot be entered by a third person. She doesn't understand, and Xiaodie doesn't understand either.
"Come home, you're still young, at least you have a home to return to. The worst that can happen is you'll get scolded, or even beaten. Your parents still miss you."
Yes, Xiaodie at least has a home to return to, but what about Li Yaya? Where can she go?
Perhaps Xiaodie had already decided to go home, but she just needed someone to give her the courage to go back. Li Yaya happened to give her the courage.
Xiaodie resigned that day and said she wanted to go home.
On weekdays, when the cake shop isn't busy, they play Chen Li's "Fruit," a song Li Yaya loves. When there aren't any customers, she listens intently and even hums along.
The door opened and Lin said, "Welcome~" before he could finish his words. He saw clearly who was coming. It was Xiaodie.
"Sister Yaya~" Xiaodie smiled happily. This was the first time the two of them met in the daytime. It was also the first time Li Yaya saw Xiaodie without makeup. Her face had the sunshine and brightness that only a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl could have.
Young, beautiful and full of vitality.
"Sister Yaya, I have a ticket for the afternoon and I have to leave. I don't have many friends here except you, and I don't know when we will see each other again, so I just want to say goodbye to you." As he said that, he handed Li Yaya a bouquet of flowers, a small bouquet of sunflowers.
"For me?"
"I don't know what to get you. I can't afford anything too expensive. I just happened to see a flower vendor on the roadside. I think it's perfect for you. I hope you're happy."
"Happy, I'm very happy." The happiness on Li Yaya's face was not fake. She had never received flowers before, and even though it was a small bouquet, Li Yaya held it carefully in her hands, as if she were holding a treasure.
"Being happy is the truth. And Sister Yaya, you're too thin. It was uncomfortable when I leaned on your shoulder the other day. Although I don't know what you've been through, I know you're a very good person. Be nice to yourself and eat more. Next time I come to visit you, you need to gain some weight."
"good."
Before leaving, Li Yaya packed a few loaves of bread for Xiaodie, but Xiaodie didn't want them. After the two of them refused for a while, Li Yaya finally accepted them.
Sunflowers, with their bright yellow color, symbolize warmth, optimism, and vitality.
My mood throughout the day became particularly cheerful.
But when I go to work in the bar at night, I no longer hear the sweet voice of the chattering person calling me "Sister Yaya", and I feel a little uncomfortable.
But today, Xiaodie's boyfriend was among the customers. Li Yaya recognized him immediately. He was dressed completely new, looking particularly eye-catching.
Take a deep breath, pretend you didn't see it, and continue working.
But some people just don't want to do that. They just want to show off something and show off something in front of Li Yaya.
Li Yaya is usually quiet and seems easygoing, ready to be bullied by anyone. But she's actually not afraid of anything. Following the principle of fighting back, she scoffs at the teasing of her unfaithful ex-boyfriend Xiaodie.
With his eyes narrowed, he began to attack, until his opponent was speechless and wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
By the time Jiang Yi squeezed into the center of the crowd, Li Yaya had already reached the end of her story. Her final words were to the woman, "Based on the principle that the customer is God, I want to give my God a piece of advice. If he can give up others for you today, he can also give up you for others. Of course, you can say that you're just looking for something new now, but once the novelty wears off, it's hard to say who will want whom. Simply feeling sorry for a man and spending money on him will bring you lifelong bad luck. Be cautious when dealing with men."
It’s very clever that Li Yaya used the word “东西” to describe it.
Unconcerned with what happened next, Li Yaya walked out of the crowd and headed to the staff lounge to avoid the spotlight. Being able to bend and stretch is the true meaning of life.
Regardless of the commotion outside, Li Yaya rubbed her waist and felt a little hungry.
Li Yaya thought, should I take a break and go to the intersection to eat a bowl of wontons?
At the entrance to Houhou Street, a deserted alleyway in the middle of the night, under the dim lights, a number of small vendors set up shop. When Li Yaya gets hungry, she often comes here for a bite. It's delicious and affordable.
A large bowl of steaming wontons, with dried shrimp, seaweed, sesame oil, and a little chili sauce, was a feast for the eyes. Even though she'd break out in a sweat after finishing it, Li Yaya felt as if she were enveloped by the smell and feeling.
When Jiang Yi pushed the door open, he saw Li Yaya with her eyes closed, looking very happy. There was a cuteness in her that he had never seen before.
I didn't say anything, afraid to disturb the enjoyment.
Li Yaya had made up her mind to skip work and go eat wontons. But the moment she opened her eyes, Jiang Yi's face came into view. "Oh my god, I'm so scared!" Li Yaya staggered in fear.
Jiang Yi quickly reached out, trying to help Li Yaya, but Li Yaya dodged without a trace. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just wanted to see what you were doing."
From Jiang Yi's tone, one could hear a sincere apology.
Li Yaya came to her senses and relaxed. "I'm not doing anything, I'm just taking a break." Her tone calmed down. After she finished speaking, a "gurgling" sound was heard at an inopportune moment.
For a moment, it was a bit awkward.
Jiang Yi didn't take it seriously. Instead, he asked casually, "Are you hungry? Do you want to skip work and eat wontons? The wontons at the entrance of the alley on Houhou Street are delicious."
When she heard the word "wonton", Li Yaya's eyes suddenly lit up.
The lights in the staff lounge were dim. Jiang Yi stood at the door, facing the darkness inside. Light from outside spilled in from his side, floating in the light like countless tiny lives reveling. His shadow was elongated, half cast on the ground, half cast on Li Yaya.
The light was dim, but fragments of light appeared from his shoulders, elbows, and waist. The boundary between light and darkness meandered around him, as if embroidering an uneven golden edge.
If he moved his body slightly, the light would sway as well, as if retreating, or as if gathering strength.
And that sparkling gaze was also reflected in his eyes.
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