Lin Zhexia hurriedly pushed open the salon door, making the door ornament jingle.
She glanced at the hairdresser who was bending over, sweeping the floor, and the empty sofa chair where no one was sitting.
The male hairdresser, no longer as young as in her memory, straightened up and immediately recognized her: “Isn’t this little Xia? Here for a haircut?”
Lin Zhexia: “Not for a haircut, just stopping by to look. Sorry to disturb you, Meijuan.”
“I’ve told you countless times, my name isn’t Meijuan! Don’t keep thinking my name is Meijuan just because the shop is called Meijuan Hair Salon. That’s my mother’s name,” the hairdresser jumped up and down behind her, “I have my name, I’m called Daniel—Daniel!”
Lin Zhexia noticed the dog was missing before she left: “Where’s the dog?”
The hairdresser’s sweeping hand paused: “Gone. It’s been so many years, it’s gotten old, too. Taking it out for walks would make it wheeze. It passed away two months ago.”—
Finally, she found Chi Yao at the lakeside in the park.
The place where, from childhood to adulthood, she liked to hide whenever she encountered problems.
This was the last place she could think of.
If she couldn’t find Chi Yao here, she wouldn’t know where else to look.
Fortunately, as she approached the lake, she spotted a blurry but familiar silhouette from a distance. So familiar that she could recognize him just by the outline of his hair.
There was some shelter near the bench, but the rain was too heavy.
The young man was still soaked by the rain, even his hair was wet, and large patches of his thin hoodie were soaked through. One of his legs was bent, foot resting on the edge of the bench. He looked like some kind of disobedient, rain-soaked stray animal.
“…”
Chi Yao was looking down when an umbrella suddenly appeared above his head.
Lin Zhexia held the umbrella, tilting it toward him to block the rain pouring from above.
Raindrops hit the umbrella’s surface.
Making a “patter” sound.
Through the misty rain, he saw Lin Zhexia, panting and looking equally disheveled.
“So you’re here,” Lin Zhexia’s anxious heart finally settled the moment she saw him. Holding the umbrella, she said, “I thought… thought something had happened to you, afraid I wouldn’t find you.”
Chi Yao seemed surprised to see her there. He looked up at her with some astonishment, studied her for a long time, his Adam’s apple moving slightly, but in the end, he said nothing.
Countless street lights blurred in the rain.
Through the hazy light, he saw the girl’s hand on the umbrella handle, her slender, thin wrist, and above that, her bright eyes.
Chi Yao’s eyelashes were covered with raindrops. He blinked: “Why did you come?”
“I sent you messages, but you didn’t reply.” Lin Zhexia said, “So I went to your place to check.”
Hearing this, Chi Yao glanced at the phone beside him and uttered two words: “I replied.”
“?”
“Messages.” Chi Yao explained, “Probably bad signal, didn’t go through.”
Lin Zhexia was stunned: “You replied? What did you say?”
“Lied that I went to my parents’ place.”
Chi Yao said “lied” without the slightest embarrassment. He knew it was his birthday today, and Lin Zhexia would certainly look for him. Using this as a cover was the only way to avoid her. After speaking, he reached for his phone and fidgeted with it, then added: “Didn’t wait for a response, my phone died.”
He also wanted to say, “How could I not reply to your messages?”
But this sentence was too intimate.
These words turned over in his heart, but ultimately weren’t spoken.
The heavy rain that had lasted for an hour or two finally began to weaken.
Lin Zhexia wasn’t sure if she should ask further. After hesitating, she decided that if Chi Yao didn’t speak up voluntarily, she wouldn’t ask. Between them, too many explanations and clarifications weren’t necessary.
So she said, “You had the nerve to lecture me before, but I see your symptoms are much worse. Going out in the rain without an umbrella, sitting here getting soaked in the middle of the night—couldn’t you find a place with better shelter?”
Yes.
Why did he come here?
Chi Yao wondered.
This secret base of Lin Zhexia’s had somehow become his instinctive hiding place, too.
Starting from being intercepted by that group of people, the series of actions he took was very unusual for him.
Chi Yao tugged at his collar, and rainwater flowed from his jaw down into his collar.
—Are you Chi Yao?
—Chi Hanshan’s son?
—I’m not looking for you for anything special, just that your family has some issues. I don’t want to see him having too good a time, so I’m meeting you in advance. After all, if your father can’t pay back the money he owes me, we might have to see each other often.
—Oh, right, your mother fell ill because of this, you probably don’t know yet? I’m telling you out of kindness, you should thank me.
At that time, facing these people, he suddenly recalled Chi Hanshan’s retracted message on the bus more than two months ago, as well as that seemingly inexplicable phone call.
—”Be careful at home alone, don’t talk to strangers…”