Chapter 44: From First Encounter to Reunion, Back to the Starting Point...
Chapter 44
After a long period of intermittent rain, the northern part of the city transitioned from autumn to winter in an instant.
The ginkgo leaves have all turned yellow, and the weather is getting colder and colder.
Before the world turned moldy, the sky finally began to clear up little by little. The long-awaited sunshine shone on the northern city, making people realize even more that winter had already arrived.
It was a beautiful sunny day; the afternoon sun was bright and clear, illuminating the world that had been gloomy for so long.
He texted her to wait for him under the overpass. They had been together for almost two years, and Wen Yining had waited for a car under that overpass countless times. Sometimes it was the driver who picked her up, and sometimes he was in the car too. In winter, in summer, in spring, with all sorts of moods and in all sorts of weather, but at that time, her destination was always to be by his side.
Perhaps people have premonitions; she wasn't happy or sad that day, just as calmly as if she were going to see an ordinary friend.
When she arrived, the car was already parked on the side of the road on the other side of the overpass; there was only one car there.
Wen Yining opened the passenger door, and a strong smell of tobacco wafted out of the car. Li Changjing, wearing an executive jacket and glasses, sat in the driver's seat, a cigarette between his fingers.
He's changed. He used to not smoke much and hated the smell of smoke in his car and on his clothes. He used to shower and change clothes immediately if he smelled of smoke after socializing.
Hearing the noise, Li Changjing turned his head and glanced at her quickly, then immediately turned his head away and stopped looking at her.
Wen Yining got into the car and fastened her seatbelt.
Looking at the crowds of people in the sunlight in front of the car, she felt she should say something, but her throat felt tight. Before, they could be inseparable even after many days apart, but this time, after only ten days or so, she suddenly didn't know what tone to use or what topic to bring up.
Li Changjing didn't say anything. He put out his cigarette in the car and turned the steering wheel to drive.
The car drove silently through the northern part of the city under the sunlight, gradually reaching the main road. Warm sunlight streamed in through the windshield, illuminating the road ahead, while traffic surged all around.
As she was driving, a piercing screech of brakes rang out, and the car screeched to a halt on the road without warning. Wen Yining leaned forward as the force caused her to lurch forward.
Immediately afterwards, horns blared and harsh shouts erupted.
Wen Yining subconsciously looked ahead, but there was nothing there. The car that had been driving in front of them had already driven away.
She steadied herself and turned to look at Li Changjing beside her. What came into view was his hand gripping the steering wheel, veins bulging, fingertips white. Her gaze slowly moved upwards, but Li Changjing still didn't look at her. He stared ahead, gritting his teeth, his profile taut.
Wen Yining felt as light as if she couldn't feel anything, and slowly drifted down.
The honking and cursing that followed were even more jarring.
"Let's go," Wen Yining said softly.
Li Changjing restarted the car.
After driving for a while, Li Changjing's usually deep and pleasant voice became hoarse, but it was still as gentle and tender as ever, so gentle that it made people want to linger. "Have you had lunch?"
After spending time with him, you'll realize that Li Changjing isn't a gentle person at all; in fact, he's the complete opposite.
When Wen Yining spoke, she realized that her voice had become hoarse. She nodded and replied, "I've already eaten."
He hummed in agreement and said nothing more.
The car kept driving forward, but neither of them spoke again. The car kept going and going, and the scenery outside the car gradually changed from a bustling and lively street scene to a desolate one, and the sunlight became thinner and thinner.
The car drove out of the northern part of the city and into the desolate and deserted outskirts of Beijing. No one knew where they were or what lay ahead. Li Changjing simply relied on his instincts to drive the car away from the northern part of the city.
The car drove to an unknown location, and the scenery outside became increasingly desolate and uninhabited. Not a single light could be seen, and the crescent moon hanging high in the sky could not illuminate the road ahead. The flat asphalt road grew narrower and narrower, and there were no houses in sight, only bare and lonely trees.
As winter sets in, darkness falls quickly, and soon it becomes completely dark. The only thing he can see is the road ahead illuminated by car headlights, so he keeps looking ahead.
But all good things must come to an end, and even the ends of the earth must come to a close. From the moment the alarm went off until the last drop of fuel burned out, the car came to a stop in a desolate and dark suburb, unable to move an inch further.
Li Changjing turned off the car lights, the road ahead disappeared, and the world was plunged into darkness.
The car was completely silent; both of them were extremely silent, as if waiting for the other to speak first.
After a long while, a "click" sounded in the car, and a flame lit up, illuminating a small patch of light and Li Changjing's profile. He put a cigarette in his mouth, lowered his head to light it, but didn't smoke it, and the car went dark again.
He said, "There's no road ahead."
Wen Yining looked at the long, indistinct road in the darkness. Was there no road left? Indeed, there was.
She nodded, then remembered that he was blind and hummed in agreement.
He opened the driver's side window a little, and a blast of cold air blew in.
Li Changjing turned to the side, stubbed out his lit cigarette on the car door, and crushed it. His calm, silent voice came from the darkness, "My family has arranged a blind date for me, and they're pressuring me a lot."
Wen Yining felt a sudden chill from the wind, and she began to tremble uncontrollably. She didn't want to remain silent, but she couldn't utter a word.
In fact, she never thought that the two of them could have a future. Dating and marriage are different. A smart and ambitious man like him would never give up marrying a daughter of an official of equal social standing to choose her. Even if he were willing, his family would never agree.
Moreover, he himself did not intend to choose her.
The gap between them was too vast; she lived in a remote, underdeveloped small city, while he was a third-generation member of the elite in the northern city. She couldn't give him anything.
In this world, social standing is far more important than personal feelings and love.
She was 19; she understood, but he understood even better.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Li Changjing turn his head slightly in the darkness, looking at her as if waiting for her answer.
She remained silent, and he waited on edge, his nerves on edge.
Wen Yining remained silent for a long time before she heard her own low, husky voice calmly say, "You're already 27, it's normal for your family to urge you to get married."
The cigarette in my hand snapped in my palm, the fragments slipping through my fingers.
This time, no one spoke. After a long while, Li Changjing took out his phone, sent a message, and then put it down. "I've already sent my location and arranged for someone to pick me up."
Wen Yining nodded. "Okay."
Li Changjing opened the car door with a lighter and cigarette case. "I'm going to get out and have a smoke." Before she could answer, he got out of the car, closed the door, leaned against the hood, and lit a cigarette.
Wen Yining sat trembling in the car, looking at the moon overhead and his blurry figure in front of the car.
The two of them stood outside the car and sat inside, waiting for the car to pick them up.
Soon, car headlights lit up in the distance on the dark and quiet road, and the sound of cars rolling over the hard asphalt in winter gradually drew closer.
Two cars arrived and stopped behind. Wen Yining opened the door and got out of the car. Her joints were stiff, like a stiff and rusty robot. She got out of the car stiffly and looked at the back of the person in front of her, which could be vaguely seen by the headlights of the cars behind. There were cigarette butts scattered all over the ground at her feet.
The car arrived, and the bodyguard quickly got out and ran behind him, stopping a short distance away. "Sir."
Li Changjing didn't turn around. He took out a cigarette from the pack and put it in his mouth. He took out a lighter with one hand, and the dark blue flame kept flickering. It took him a long time to light it.
He still didn't turn around, but waved his hand and made a gesture.
The bodyguard, who had served him for many years, immediately understood his meaning and turned to Wen Yining, "Miss Wen, let's take you home."
Wen Yining didn't move, just watched his back, watching as a chasm grew between them. She stood at the edge of the chasm, listening to the howling winds of reality.
She seemed to be cold; her whole body was shivering.
She wanted to speak to him, but when she opened her mouth, she realized her face was cold and she had been crying without even noticing. She smiled and looked at his back, her voice hoarse but her tone light as she called out, "Li Changjing, I wish you a bright future!"
The spark from his fingertip fell, rolled on the ground, and a few tiny sparks were instantly extinguished. Li Changjing suddenly seemed unable to stand and bent over, using one hand to steady himself on the front of the car.
Wen Yining turned and walked away, faster and faster, almost running to the car. She slammed the car door shut, and as soon as she sat down, tears streamed down her face again. She could no longer hold back and covered her face, crying loudly.
He almost cried out urgently, "Drive! Drive now!"
Yue Feng didn't look back, and silently started the car.
On a road, one car is moving forward while another car is stopped.
The front of the cars were all facing different directions.
Wen Yining had a high fever and stayed in her dormitory for three days.
Gu Lingling and Jiang Fengqing were terrified, and the counselor personally took her to the school doctor for an IV drip.
Three days later, Wen Yining gradually recovered. Her face was pale as she wrapped herself in a quilt and looked at the ginkgo tree outside the dormitory being blown down by the wind. Only then did she realize that she hated him.
She could understand him, but she hated him.
For the first time in my life, I hated someone intensely, so much so that I would wake up in the middle of the night with tears streaming down my face, gritting my teeth and regretting why I had been so composed and why I hadn't slapped him.
But with finals approaching, she didn't even have time to hate him. She was getting busier and busier, and her life returned to how it was before she met him in her freshman year. Every day, she spent her free time in the library, classroom, and dormitory with him. She no longer had to live in fear of being discovered by her classmates and becoming the subject of gossip.
She didn't have many things; they were all left there. She didn't want them because she didn't want to step into that house again. He could do whatever he wanted with them.
Although they didn't ask, they roughly knew what had happened from her demeanor. They were unusually silent and didn't ask anything. His name, which they used to mention often, completely disappeared from the dormitory.
At the beginning of class, while taking notes, her eyes would suddenly well up with tears. She would see the tears fall unexpectedly onto the paper, blurring the writing, and only then would she realize that she was crying. Unable to hold back the sudden tears and not wanting her classmates to notice, she would lie on the desk and pretend to be asleep.
Seeing familiar places or places we went together makes me want to cry, and remembering things related to him makes me want to cry.
Once, when they went out to eat together, she suddenly remembered that once after they finished eating, they ran into one of his friends. He took a cigarette from his friend, lit it, and the two walked out together. She asked him curiously what it felt like to smoke. He suddenly teased her childishly, took a deep drag, and blew smoke rings in her face, which made her cough.
It's strange. She used to be a very quiet and reserved person, but somehow, after being with him for a long time, she suddenly became a bit willful.
She coughed from the choking, frowned, and without thinking, raised her fist and lightly punched his chest. He coughed violently as a puff of cigarette smoke got stuck in his trachea. She hurriedly patted him, and as he coughed, his eyes reddened, he looked at her with a gentle and doting smile, and said intermittently, "Heroine, have mercy."
She didn't know how she got through those two months. Time just passed by, day after day, sunrise and sunset, unaffected by the mood of anyone in the world.
The first snow fell, the sky cleared, then it snowed again, and before we knew it, it was holiday time.
Time is a powerful healer. In just two months, she rarely thought of him anymore. When she walked past the street corners they had walked together, she no longer burst into tears without warning. She no longer hated him.
Beicheng is really big. She never saw him again after the breakup. She had deleted all his contact information long ago, and his friends also disappeared from her life along with him.
On the day she left school, Wen Yining dragged her suitcase to Beicheng West Station. She hadn't ridden it in a long time, and she was almost rusty with it.
I remember the last time I took a train was during summer vacation. They broke up, and he ran onto the train to chase after her, standing with her for more than an hour.
But this time he will never come again.
After putting my luggage away, I sat down in a seat by the window.
The carriage was bustling with noise, filled with unfamiliar passengers. No one knew anyone else, each with their own story and their own persistence.
Wen Yining got up from her seat, walked through the aisle into the restroom, covered her face, and desperately tried to hold back the sobs in her throat.
After a while, her eyes were slightly red, and she walked out calmly, sitting down in an empty seat and looking at the scenery outside.
The train left the sunny northern city. As the sun set, the sky gradually became overcast. When it reached a desolate plain, suddenly, the first snowflake fell from the sky. As the first snowflake fell, it seemed that in just an instant, the outside world turned into a flurry of goose feather snow.
Pure white snowflakes drifted down from the dark sky, thousands of them fluttering and landing on the barren grassland, as if falling from another world.
The carriage instantly became even more lively, with someone excitedly talking about the heavy snow outside.
Wen Yining stared blankly at the heavy snow outside, then smiled genuinely and easily.
The evening sun shone brightly in the northern part of the city.
Warm sunlight streamed in through the window, casting shadows of the wooden window frame on the solid wood floor. Li Changjing stood in front of the large dressing mirror, slowly buttoning his shirt one button at a time, then carefully tying his tie and putting on his suit jacket.
After slowly and methodically completing all of this, he stood in front of the mirror, looked at himself in the mirror, and then opened the door and went out.
Secretary Feng, also dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase, and his bodyguard were waiting at the door. As he came out, they immediately followed him out.
Li Changjing walked ahead, followed by his secretary and bodyguards, through the sunlit courtyard. The light shone on his shoulders and pale profile, then the light flashed as he led his men into the shadows of the steps.
*
Wen Yining looked at the heavy snow outside the window and smiled, feeling a sense of ease she hadn't felt in a long time.
She no longer hated him. All the efforts he made as a child, all the dreams and hard work he poured into them over the years, the first twenty-odd years of his life—it wasn't something she could easily let go of.
She used to be headstrong and deeply entangled in this relationship, but from now on, all her feelings end here.
From then on, he was still him, and she was still her.
That's it. From now on, she won't participate in his glamorous and extravagant life.
And she will move forward and have her own life.
I wish him happiness, and I wish myself happiness.
In her heart, she said: Goodbye, Lee Chang-kyung.
Author's Note: I suddenly realized it's quite a coincidence that this chapter is exactly chapter 44.
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