Xiao Wu jumped off the bed, hugging Aheng's soft little body and shaking her vigorously. Oh my god! I just got some news from a high-ranking member of the forum: they've been dating for almost half a month, and they've been followed by paparazzi several times. Every time, they're seen holding hands and kissing passionately, wearing sunglasses and baseball caps, cruising around Beijing in their burgundy Ferraris. Waaaaah, I can't live anymore! Does that woman love you more than I do?!
Ah Heng said, "Calm down, they might be friends."
Xiao Wu pinched the child's face and yelled, "Damn it! Give me a break! Calm down! Why are you crying?"
Ah Heng wiped her face with her sleeve. Who was crying? Who was crying?
Upon inspection, I saw that my sleeves were dry. Emboldened, I shouted, "See? I told you I didn't cry!"
Xiao Wu continued wailing. Fine, fine, you're so brave. You didn't cry, but I will, okay? My man, are you so desperate for maternal love that you should find someone with a 36D bust…
Aheng said, "You should wish him well. Chu Yun is really good. He's beautiful. Look at him, how small his mouth is, how straight his nose is, how big his eyes are. Okay, don't glare at me. Although his eyes aren't as big as Chu Yun's, he has things that Chu Yun doesn't."
Xiao Wu burst into tears, lamenting, "Yes, he doesn't have a 36D."
Du Qing put on her woolen overcoat, lowered her head, put on her high heels, and asked Aheng, "Liu'er, what's the name of your bakery again?"
Ah Heng struggled out of Xiao Wu's bear hug and shouted the advertising slogan: "Xin Xin Bakery, top-notch cake chefs, guaranteeing you quality. Second sister, please patronize us often!"
Du Qing laughed. What nonsense!
He turned around and closed the door.
Gu Feibai had an entire day of experiments, so Aheng ate dinner alone. It was already December, and even in the warm south, the temperature had dropped significantly.
I heard it snowed in the capital. I heard it's very, very cold in the capital. I heard that people in the capital are staying home all day eating hot pot, and nobody goes out. Only a fool would drive a sports car around in the middle of the night.
So, did Chu Yun close the roof of the Faraday convertible when he was in it? Did anyone care if he caught a cold?
He said, "I promise you, I will never get sick."
Ah Heng chuckled, her breath coming out cold air. She sniffed, buried her face in her sweater, and walked through the crossroads.
Okay, I'll turn the conversation back to you eventually.
But who are you? I can hardly remember...
So, get out of here.
Finally, she chose a brutal and chaotic approach to dealing with a large section of severed memories. She walked through the cold winter, cursing and resentful, each segment turning into a cold wind that seeped into her stomach. When she arrived at the cake shop, she sneezed loudly, and finally felt better.
In front of the cake shop is a long staircase, the old signboard is teetering on the verge of collapse, and the new signboard leans against the glass window in the distance.
She remembered that her aunt had told her that the old signboard was too outdated and needed to be replaced with a new one.
She said to the aunt, "Auntie, why don't you finish replacing it? The old sign is hanging there like this. If it falls down, it could kill someone."
The auntie said, "I didn't want to either, but the workers who were doing the construction just finished dinner and said they'd be back to change things later."
Ah Heng laughed, "There are no customers in the shop right now, right? Wait a minute, I'll lend a hand and help pass the tools."
Auntie whispered, "No, you have to entertain the guests. Half an hour ago, a young couple came in. Oh my, you don't know, they're really good-looking. They ordered two coffees, and they were a real treat for the eyes."
Ah Heng peeked out and saw a tall, upright figure in a white sweater. On the other side, slightly off-center, was a girl with curly hair and delicate eyebrows.
That girl has a sweet tooth; she even ordered the pudding cake I saved for you.
The aunt smiled, walked a distance away, and wiped the new signboard.
Ah Heng remained silent, standing quietly behind the transparent glass.
The girl seemed to have seen her, smiling and raising her eyebrows, her beautiful eyes filled with a strange provocation.
She pouted and pleaded with the man carrying Aheng, "If you feed me, I won't eat."
Ah Heng pressed his fingerprints onto the glass, his fingertips touching the cold glass and turning pale.
The man reached out his hand, his fingerprints thin, and slowly brought a small, transparent spoon, filled with black, flowing chocolate, to the other person's lips.
The man stood up, lowered his head slightly, leaned close to his lips, and gave him a gentle kiss, his smile becoming even more playful.
The thing spreading from the corner of my eye looks like a sword.
He called out, "Qingqing."
Her tone was slightly cold, tinged with doting affection, but three degrees higher than her usual gentle, familiar voice.
My dear, Du Qingqing.
When school started, Du Qing said, "Hello everyone, my name is Du Qing, and my nickname is Qingqing, which means 'to be crazy for you'."
There's no such line in the seven-character quatrains; where did this phrase come from, "daring to betray the world for you"?
She smiled radiantly and said, "Don't say that. There wasn't originally a Qingqing. There was just a fool who, when learning to speak as a child, could only pronounce reduplicated words, and that's how Qingqing came to be. Only with Qingqing could I become crazy for her."
Ah Heng was in a daze, and suddenly remembered that a long time ago, someone had also reached out those hands, with very faint fingerprints, and said, "Wen Heng, these two characters, from surname to given name, are mine."
But where is Qingqing? Where is Qingqing...?
Whose is Qingqing?
Suddenly she turned around, spoke, her expression hurt, "Auntie, you said you'd save me pudding cake, Auntie, you said that yesterday."
He looked just like an immature child.
However, Gu Feibai, who loved wearing white, had a phobia of germs, and always stood very straight, was someone she felt tenderness and was moved by even his back, someone she wanted to hug all the time. Even when he was young and didn't understand things, he had once said...
Wen Heng, you don't have to love me. Even starting from the next second, at 22:08:03, you'll be three years too late.
That day was an autumn evening last year. He had drunk some wine and inexplicably said a lot of things, but this sentence was the clearest.
He was preoccupied with something that she had pondered deeply, racked her brains over, and remained completely baffled by.
She looked at the two people and suddenly felt small and pained.
The aunt suddenly froze, her expression turning terrified. Be careful!
Ah Heng looked at her, "What? Be careful of what?"
Looking up, the old signboard seemed to fall from the sky, crashing down straight to the ground.
Then, the inescapable distance.
The air was thick with the smell of dust and rust.
She tried to block it with her hand, but all she could smell was blood and the stench of breaking bones.
Lying in a pool of blood, my mind was a blur, the pounding of my heart and the sound of my breathing were so loud, it seemed easier to stop than to continue.
I opened my eyes, but the sky was gone.
She thought to herself, "I'm such a jinx."
She thought, "Am I going to be crushed to death by a sign with a big cake on it?"
Suddenly, I felt an urge to cry. I couldn't remember Gu Feibai, I couldn't remember my second sister. I cried out loud, like a madwoman.
Auntie, Auntie, give me your phone number, I need to make a call.
A sound that seemed to tear the throat.
In just a few seconds, she felt a large number of souls pass through her body, breaking free completely through the dark metal sign.
When all the burdens were removed, only Gu Feibai's eyes remained.
His face was stiff, his white coat was placed on the wound on the back of her head, and his hands were held in place.
She saw the blood on her face, stained her black hair, and his almost unfocused eyes in his eyes.
How terrible.
Gu Feibai remained expressionless and said, "Hold on, you're far from dying."
Death is not that easy.
Gu Feibai took out his phone, but the three numbers 110 seemed as distant as an eternity.
He was trembling.
Ah Heng looked at the thing in his hand, and suddenly tears welled up in her eyes.
I really want to say something more.
What are you saying?
In high school, my English teacher said that a phone is a sound from afar. Back then, during class, she hunched over, held the phone to her ear, and hesitantly began, "Be good, be good, listen to me, I'll go home right away with the seven-linked rings, don't hug Little Gray, it tickles, okay?"
Over there, there was silence, silence, endless silence.
But she knew that he had been obediently nodding and smiling the whole time.
And so, the sound from afar, so very far away.
Longing suddenly welled up like blood from her heart, but it wouldn't flow. She wept bitterly and clutched Gu Feibai's white sweater.
She said, "Could you give me your phone number? And then, Feibai, I can't be sad anymore, okay?"
He inhaled the cold air and coughed violently, feeling icy cold all over.
He said, "Why? I don't understand what you're saying."
She watched him weep, her gaze filled with helplessness, even despair.
He squinted at the approaching ambulance in the distance, his expression blank. He said, "You've finally become a thorn in my side."
How deep, how painful.
Then, gently place the phone in her palm, whether it's cool or warm, like spring flowers in bloom or a cold wind blowing for miles.
Only eleven digits remained swirling in her mind, like a blank world, yet distorting space and time.
Does sending it trigger a reversal of time, causing things to turn back and start anew?
Then, a solo performance takes place, a dark comedy.
How ridiculous.
Time is just a thin sheet of paper; it either soaks and blurs the words, or it crumples up and stuffs them into the air-raid shelter in your heart.
She looked up at Gu Feibai, then gently released her grip, and something fell to the ground.
She said, "Never mind."
never mind.
Curled up on the ground, in the position of a baby.
Eventually, he lost consciousness.