Chapter 172: A Night at Five Degrees Below Zero

I turned to look at Mi Cai with a bit of pride and said, “Have you seen my skills now? I advise you to give up the idea of taking a taxi. Bring me another taxi driver, and I’ll get rid of him the same way.”

Mi Cai ignored me, turned around and walked stubbornly into the wind and rain again.

I sighed inwardly, but still followed her, having made up my mind to keep following her no matter where she went.

We walked the entire street until Mi Cai suddenly stopped. I, who was right behind her, couldn’t overcome my inertia in time and crashed straight into her. Both of us staggered but, thankfully, neither fell.

I looked at her somewhat awkwardly; she seemed already exhausted and asked, “How long are you going to keep following me?”

“As long as you walk, I will follow.”

“Don’t you think you’re being annoying?”

I shook my head, “I don’t think so. I just believe there must be some misunderstanding between us!”

Mi Cai ignored my mention of misunderstanding and asked, “Do you know what the temperature is now?”

“Five degrees below zero.”

“You know it’s five degrees below zero, right? Please, stop clinging to me. I’m really cold now and just want to go home and sleep.”

I replied off the cuff, “Then I’ll go with you.”

“How can you say that so easily? You’ve already occupied my old house, and now you want to take over another house of mine?”

I was speechless.

“Go keep your friend with her period company. I think she needs you more… I’m leaving, don’t follow me anymore.”

I still instinctively wanted to follow her when she turned around again and said, “Zhaoyang, it’s five degrees below zero now!”

The words “five degrees below zero” from her mouth seemed to freeze my limbs, leaving me stiff in place, watching helplessly as she walked to the side of the street and finally left in a taxi.

I sighed heavily, took out a cigarette from the pack, but my hands were frozen stiff in the cold night and dropped the cigarette.

Another sigh escaped my lips as I finally turned and walked back the way I had come.

…

Back at the old house, I was surprised to see a note on the coffee table left by Leyao: “Zhaoyang, I’m sorry I caused you trouble again. I’ve gone to a hotel!”

I was amused yet exasperated. Wasn’t this proving that humans are born to be lonely? In the end, on this freezing night, only I remained in this house.

I sat alone on the sofa for a long time before taking out my phone to send a message to Leyao, reminding her to keep warm while sleeping, especially since she was still on her period and her body was much weaker than usual.

Leyao replied quickly, “Okay, I won’t catch a chill… By the way, where is Mi Cai? Did you catch up with her?”

“Do you know the temperature tonight?”

“Five degrees below zero.”

“Yeah, so I couldn’t possibly keep clinging to her on a night like this, right?”

Leyao sent a pitiful emoji: “Sorry, I didn’t expect her to come back suddenly.”

“Don’t apologize. After all, there’s nothing between us now… Nothing between me and her either.”

“But you can’t deny that you like her, right? And from what CC said, she went to America and came back suddenly to give you a surprise.”

I rubbed my tired face with my cold hands before replying, “Well, let’s just say good things take time.”

A long time passed, and Leyao didn’t reply again. In my confusion, I finally went to the bathroom to prepare a basin of hot water to soak my feet, still hesitating whether I should call Mi Cai. If I couldn’t clear up the misunderstanding just now, it felt like something stuck in my throat.

Finally, I decided to call her when my phone suddenly rang. I instinctively thought it was Mi Cai calling. Picking it up, I found out it was Bandie.

I answered the call, somewhat nervously asking, “Bandie, you’re calling so late, you’re not about to tell me something important, are you?”

“It’s almost the New Year, are you coming back?”

Bandie’s tone still had no emotional color, and I couldn’t tell whether he hoped I would return or not. After a long silence, I finally asked cautiously, “I hope I won’t be a burden to you if I come back?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Bandie, you must have heard about my mom calling me a few days ago?”

“I know.”

“Do you know she told me to find a girl more reliable than Xiao Yun and then come back home? I really don’t think she was joking.”

“Then just do as she wishes and find someone.”

I complained, “Do you think a reliable girl is like a product that you can find whenever you want?”

Bandie ignored my complaint and said, “Didn’t I ask you to bring Xiaomi home for the New Year last time?”

I scratched my head in frustration. If it hadn’t been for today’s incident, I might have gone back to Xuzhou with Mi Cai for the New Year. But now I had messed it up completely. Added to Mi Cai’s unpredictable temper, who knew how long it would take for her to forgive me.

So I sighed and said, “You’re my father, so I won’t hide from you. Comrade Xiaomi is really angry with me now!”

“Did you do something stupid again?”

“I swear on heaven and earth, I really didn’t. It’s just a misunderstanding, but she absolutely won’t listen to my explanation. What do you think of a girl like that? She’s got too much princess syndrome!”

Bandie immediately scolded in a low voice, “She’s a girl with no support, it’s normal for her to lack a sense of security in love. You need to be patient.”

Scolded like this, I thought Bandie made sense and changed my tone, “You’re right. Actually, she’s sometimes quite nice and reliable!”

“She’s definitely more reliable than you.”

I felt a bit embarrassed. Thinking about it, it was really my fault. If I hadn’t been messing around with other women, there wouldn’t have been tonight’s incident.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt I was wrong. I asked Bandie for help, “Then, what do you think I should do?”

Bandie answered concisely, “Show more sincerity and patience.”

“I understand… I will definitely try my best to bring her back to Xuzhou for the New Year on the first day of the new year. You also need to help me with my mom.”

“Whether it’s Xiao Yun or Xiaomi, your mom only hopes that you can live well. Just don’t mess up in the future, understand?”

“You’re right. From now on, I will look in the mirror every day to remind myself to be steady and reliable.”

After ending the conversation with Bandie, I reexamined the events of the day from Mi Cai’s perspective. The more I thought about it, the more I felt she had been wronged. Finally, I made a crazy decision with gritted teeth: On this freezing night, I would wait outside her residential complex with absolute sincerity and perseverance until she could forgive me for tonight.

…

I drove against the bitter cold toward the upscale residential complex where Mi Cai lived, then sent her a WeChat message telling her that I was waiting outside her complex until she was willing to come out.

To show my sincerity, I didn’t stay in the car but paced in the corridor of the security booth at the entrance of the complex, waiting for her. But she still didn’t reply or respond.

I became anxious, fearing she had already gone to sleep and hadn’t seen the message, or that she was testing my sincerity. In this freezing weather, I became increasingly conflicted…

Shivering from the cold, I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and wanted to call her to find out exactly what state she was in!

If she didn’t answer, she was probably asleep. If she rejected the call, maybe she was testing me. As long as I remained patient and continued to wait, she wouldn’t let me freeze to death on this freezing night, because I still believed she liked me a little, even though I wasn’t that reliable…