Cheng Buxi stared blankly at the dozens of messages on her screen. The red notification numbers were alarming, the timeline clearly marked, leaving her frozen in place.
If it had been anyone else, she would have silently praised them as a brave soul! Then clicked her tongue, wondering if this person was tired of living... daring to ignore her brother's messages.
Unexpected.
Dead snake.jpg
Was playing dead still an option?
Ahhhh
Just as she was panicking, another message came: [Are you on Chang'an Street?]
She jolted and immediately replied, [Bro, my phone was on silent. I just saw it. I-I'll take the subway back now QAQ]
The other side went silent.
But Cheng Buxi felt it was the calm before the storm.
Scrolling up, the messages with clear timestamps made her even more reluctant to look:
(20:58)
[Have you gone back?]
...
(21:07)
[?]
[Location?]
(21:33)
[What time is it now?]
(21:59)
[Answer the phone.]
[Address]
[Where are you]
...
The last few clearly showed anger.
She glanced at the time: 22:04. It was already this late.
When she was a child, if she played late and came home late, ignoring her Xiaotiancai smartwatch, her brother would locate her all over town. When he found her, he wouldn't say anything, just cold-shoulder her until they got home. Later, when she realized she was wrong, she would red-eyed and pouty, carefully sidle up to him, acting soft and cute, begging him to smile and not to frown because she was scared. And the result? She still ended up sleeping alone in a cold bed, or worse, locked in a dark room. Now that she was older, she still couldn't escape.
It was like the midnight bell ringing; no matter how reluctant she was to leave the colorful outside world, Cinderella had to return to the dark, cold home.
Cheng Buxi: "..."
She thought, it's over. Totally over this time.
"What's wrong?" Ning Ci asked, holding a sugar-coated hawthorn stick she had just bought.
"I, I have to go back..." The color drained from her face, and she looked unnatural.
Ning Ci paused, then said, "I'll walk you."
Cheng Buxi refused. "I'll go back by myself. You..."
"Where do you live?" she asked.
"Just at the loop entrance, a worthless little bungalow." His expression and tone were calm.
"Alright..."
"Next time I'll ask you out again..." She looked up, meeting his eyes, her tone sincere.
They had come from completely opposite directions, one north and one south, and the return was the same.
Why did she look so troubled? It was just arranging to meet up again. Ning Ci smiled. "Sure."
The sugar-coated hawthorn sticks were finished, and they reached their parting spot.
Just as she was about to step into the subway entrance, "Cheng Xiaoman," he called.
Cheng Buxi paused, turned back. "Huh?"
"Nothing." He grinned, the wooden stick from the hawthorn still in his palm, twirling it lightly like a sword flower. Amid the flowing crowd, he stood out the most—the most flamboyant, the most unrestrained, the sharpest. "Just calling your name. Go on."
Cheng Buxi was dazed for a moment, then waved at him.
He pulled his hoodie string to the top, making her inexplicably think of a poem: "Xiao xiao su su, shuang lang qing ju." (Graceful and free, bright and noble.)
...
Only after getting on the subway did Cheng Buxi calm down. After replying to her brother, he only said "Wait for me at the subway entrance" and then went silent.
When she calmed down, she thought of Ning Ci. During dinner, Ning Ci said he worked several jobs every day, very hard, and described it vividly. Cheng Buxi immediately chimed in that she was about to start an internship at a factory, uncertain about the future. The two had a surprising tacit understanding when it came to pretending to be poor.
But later she found out that the "worthless little bungalow" he mentioned was actually a siheyuan in the eastern district! And he wasn't poor at all—he was the second young master of the Ning family, a well-known pharmaceutical group.