Southern Red Beans

Southern Red Beans

Reply [2]: How many people have seen those red beans that are as red as cinnabar and shaped like hearts?

Growing high on the tree, it falls to the ground when the autumn air is crisp and clear. After a long wait, it is finally picked up by a kind-hearted person, carefully washed clean, wrapped in a piece of silk, and presented to their beloved. Then, they watch with trepidation for the other's reaction, as if offering not just a tiny bean, but their own sincere and passionate heart. That tiny bean represents a heartfelt promise and a long-lasting longing.

I. Red beans represent my heart

"Let's break up," Cheng Zhiyun said calmly to Zhang Xuan. She tried to use a flat tone, hoping to minimize the hurt.

KFC was bright and clean, bustling with people and making a lot of noise. Zhang Xuan gestured to her, made a microphone with his hands around his mouth, and asked loudly, "What did you say? I can't hear you."

Cheng Zhiyun shook her head, indicating that she didn't say anything. Why? It's always the same.

Zhang Xuan took her hand and led her out of the store. "Where should we go? How about Baina? They have a new game there, and I heard it's really fun. I'll teach you once I know it." Baina was his favorite computer store; getting there from here required two bus transfers. Cheng Zhiyun didn't say anything. She never said that she didn't really want to go.

They stood at the crowded bus stop, the southern sun beating down on them intensely. Cheng Yunzhi, as usual, stood behind Zhang Xuan. He was a native southerner, dark-skinned, cheerful, and always full of energy. He loved to play and knew how to have fun; even as a graduate student, he was still hopelessly addicted to those damned computer games. He was always a fan of Nice bags and Adidas shoes. As for herself, it was obvious she wasn't from the south; her fair skin never tanned, and in her G2000 business suit, everyone knew she was a white-collar professional. Student and office worker, Zhang Xuan always seemed like a child who never grew up, while she was aging rapidly. Only half a year had passed, and she had changed so much. People used to laugh at them for being a "black and white couple," and she didn't care, but now it felt very awkward.

Zhang Xuan suddenly asked, "Why haven't I seen you wearing that chain lately?"

Cheng Zhiyun was momentarily speechless, and could only manage a weak reply: "I left it in my office." She reached into her pocket; it was there. The bracelet, strung with twenty-four bright red beans, was a birthday gift from Zhang Xuan for her twenty-fourth birthday.

Zhang Xuan said there was a tree in his hometown that, in autumn, would drop many red beans from its pods—these were love beans. Zhiyun said she had never seen them before, so he specially went home to find them and strung them into a bracelet with a small awl and silk thread for her. At that time, she was incredibly touched and wore it everywhere. But now she doesn't wear it anymore, because whenever her colleagues in the office look at her peculiar bracelet with a smile, she notices that they are all wearing sparkly diamond jewelry.

"Oh," Zhang Xuan replied casually. "The bus is here, hurry up and get on." He reached out to pull her. Many people wanted to catch that bus, and Zhang Xuan finally squeezed to the front thanks to his burly figure. Just as he was about to get on, he suddenly realized that Zhiyun's hand had let go.

"Why are you letting go? Come on, I'll pull you up."

"I'm not going." She stood there, staring blankly at him, her eyes filled with tears. "My wallet was stolen."

After calling the police and explaining the situation, the officers left. The two remained standing on the bustling street, at a loss.

"If I had hit you earlier, this wouldn't have happened," she said, feeling wronged.

"Who knows? Taking a taxi is too expensive."

Cheng Zhiyun's emotions finally erupted. The volcano of pent-up emotions could no longer be contained. She yelled at Zhang Xuan, "You're always like this! You never consider other people's feelings! Do you know how much I hate sweating buckets on the bus right now? And I've never liked playing video games, and I've always hated going to Baina, but you never ask me if I like it or not! Have you ever respected me? Have you ever asked for my opinion? Like at KFC just now, I actually prefer the Old Beijing style, but you ordered Mexican food according to your own idea. Have you ever thought that I have my own opinions? I'm not that clueless country bumpkin anymore, you know that?" Her voice grew louder and louder. Under everyone's gaze, Zhang Xuan blushed and stood awkwardly to the side, at a loss for what to do.

"I'm sorry, Zhiyun, well... I'll take you home." He tried to take her hand, but she dodged it.

“Zhang Xuan…” she looked at him and said, word by word, “Let’s break up. I’m sorry, I don’t love you anymore.” With that, she took out the crimson chain from her pocket; its vibrant red remained unchanged. But love, in the face of cruel reality, had lost its rosy beauty and gradually revealed its hideous side.

Zhang Xuan was stunned. He looked at the beans in his palm, as if they were pieces of his own heart that had been torn apart.

The two remained silent, wanting to say so much, yet feeling so powerless that they could not utter another word.

Cheng Zhiyun finally broke the silence, "You...you're a very good guy, and a graduate student too. In the future, there will definitely be many great female students pursuing you...I...I...I'm leaving."

She turned and walked into the crowd, Zhang Xuan followed closely behind, earnestly saying, "Zhiyun, don't go."

Cheng Zhiyun silently pushed his hand away. She didn't know why she could suddenly become so cold. At this moment, she felt that Zhang Xuan was too immature. Since there was no hope, why beg? A lover who has changed their heart is the most unfamiliar stranger in the world. No matter how much you beg, they will not come back to your side.

Zhang Xuan grabbed her hand again, eager to put the bracelet back on her wrist. "Zhiyun, is it over just like that? Four years..." Cheng Zhiyun flipped her hand, took off the bracelet, and put it in his hand, answering, "Yes, it's over. Four years."

Zhang Xuan was unwilling to give up. So the two of them lingered on the side of the road for a long time, one putting on the beads and the other taking them off. Finally, Cheng Zhiyun lost her patience, tore them apart with both hands, and with a whoosh, the beads fell to the ground, rolling everywhere. Finally, they had a complete break.

Zhang Xuan fell silent. Cheng Zhiyun had never seen him look at her like that before.

So, feeling somewhat ashamed, she lowered her head and left without looking back.

She didn't turn around to look at him even once. If she had, perhaps she would have saved Zhang Xuan's life or seen him one last time.

Zhang Xuan bent over, frantically searching for the red beans he had left on the ground. They weren't valuable, but with people coming and going, they could easily be kicked and landed somewhere. He finally found twenty-three, leaving only one.

He thought with frustration, "Perhaps this is fate?"

No, to his surprise, the last one landed on the yellow line in the middle of the road. He carefully walked over, about to pick it up, when a huge container truck roared in and took him to another world.

In his hand, he still tightly clutched the twenty-three red beans, as red as cinnabar and shaped like hearts. A relieved smile still lingered on his twenty-four-year-old face. Death, so swift yet so merciful, had gently taken him away.

Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [3]: II. You will not have a good outcome.

The MBA classroom at G University was still quite empty, perhaps because it was still early. Cheng Zhiyun felt extremely tired. She hadn't had a good night's sleep for days. Every time she closed her eyes, she would think of that expanse of white, snow-white, the most despairing white, the white that represented the end of life. Zhang Xuan's cold, snow-white face, the snow-white sheets on Zhang Xuan's body, Zhang Xuan's relieved smile.

She could almost hear Zhang Xuan calling her name, "Zhiyun, don't go... don't go..." If she hadn't left then, or even just turned back to look at him, perhaps he wouldn't have died. But she didn't, and everything was beyond redemption.

Time flies like an arrow. Cheng Zhiyun tried to remain indifferent so she could concentrate on the lesson.

A woman walked into the classroom and waved to Cheng Zhiyun, calling out, "Cheng Zhiyun! You're here early today!" She then sat down next to Cheng Zhiyun. Cheng Zhiyun smiled faintly and said, "Just arrived. Jiongying, you're here early too."

Jiong Ying smiled and replied with emotion: "For someone who has too much time and only uses their years to kill time, only by constantly learning many things can they avoid feeling the pain of waiting."

"Waiting? Who are you waiting for?"

Jiongying's eyes suddenly became empty, her expression infinitely desolate, as if she were looking at a very, very far place, with a hint of despair and a glimmer of hope. This expression flashed by, and then she smiled again and said, "Now I'm waiting for the professor to come."

The two looked at each other and smiled. Jiongying put down her large schoolbag and said mysteriously to Zhiyun, "I brought a little thing with me today because it said it also wanted to attend the class." After saying that, she untied her schoolbag, and a fat, black cat actually crawled out.

"Oh, what an adorable kitten! What's its name?"

“Call it Blackie. Hey, have some manners, okay? Call me 'older sister'!” Jiongying said the last sentence to the black cat, her expression serious, not at all like she was joking. Cheng Zhiyun was about to laugh when, to her surprise, the black cat actually gave her a soft "meow~".

"Ah, it can actually understand?" Zhiyun exclaimed in surprise.

"It not only understands, it even calls you 'beautiful lady.' This lecherous cat was female in its past life, but it was reincarnated as male in this life, and it goes berserk whenever it sees a beautiful woman!" Jiongying said with dissatisfaction.

Yes, this is the black cat from "Cat Charm," who has experienced a century of vicissitudes and been reincarnated as a cat. It is now with its new owner, Jiongying, starting a new life—no, a cat life. This Ms. Jiongying is the same savage beauty who drove away the original owner of 501—the pitiful Shu Yan.

The black cat obediently let Zhiyun hold it in her arms, and even rubbed against her

……