The distant clock tower chimed midnight, indicating the time had passed 12 o’clock in the early morning. The post I shared on my social media was still receiving likes from some idle people. To shift their attention, I posted another update, informing them that tomorrow would be the day of the public welfare event, and encouraging those with time to participate and contribute to the vulnerable groups.
Shortly after posting this update, I received a private message from Jian Wei. She asked me, “When will tomorrow’s event start?”
“It starts at 6 p.m. … Are you planning to attend?”
“If I have time, I might go. Not sure yet.”
“Oh, it’s already 12 o’clock, haven’t you finished work yet?”
“I’m already home. I just finished taking a shower and am lying in bed now.”
“Then you should rest early.”
Jian Wei didn’t seem to care about my reminder and sent another message asking, “Did you take the wrong medicine today? You haven’t posted anything for months, and now you’ve posted two updates in a row!”
“Does my behavior make you think something?”
“Besides thinking you took the wrong medicine, I also think you’re being overly sentimental…”
“Are you referring to the post where we were in that dirty place, making you feel sentimental?”
“Isn’t it sentimental?”
“It is sentimental, but I like being sentimental now…”
“Haha… I’m going to sleep.”
“Go ahead and sleep.”
My conversation with Jian Wei suddenly ended in an inexplicable way, but this didn’t affect my mood. It seems I’ve become accustomed to such inexplicable situations. I still held hope that Jian Wei might go to Xitang to participate in this public welfare event, after all, the more people, the more strength. Moreover, I believed that after the trials of time, we had completely moved past the past and could now face each other with a calm attitude. Therefore, I was not averse to meeting her now.
…
The next morning, I received two replies. One was from Leyao, who said, “Zhaoyang, your skin is really not just thick in general. Last time you left me alone in Suzhou, and this time you actually dared to invite me to Xitang. You’re a rare kind of person!”
The other reply was from the woman in red, who said, “If there’s no particularly important matter, I will attend the event in Xitang.”
After replying to the woman in red with, “Okay, looking forward to your participation,” I started thinking about how to respond to Leyao’s message. After reading her message, I also felt that my skin was indeed thick.
After some thinking, I finally replied, “For the sake of public welfare, what grudges cannot be forgiven? After all, everyone understands right and wrong and knows how to be reasonable. They won’t cling to trivial matters!”
Leyao replied with a bloody knife emoji, no extra words at all. Her fierce attitude scared me so much that I dared not reply to her message again, thinking to myself, “You better not come. I just want to live a good life enjoying the benefits of reform and opening up, and I don’t want to end up in your hands!”
After ending the conversation with Leyao, it was only eight o’clock in the morning. I made some breakfast, and at this time, Mi Cai walked out of her room, tidying her hair while heading to the bathroom.
I stopped her and asked, “Has your cold gotten better?”
“Yeah, I just caught a chill yesterday, nothing serious.”
“Then you should go wash up soon. After breakfast, I’ll drive you to work.”
…
During the breakfast with Mi Cai, she brought up the public welfare event that would be held in Xitang tomorrow, as she had also seen my later social media post.
I asked her, “Do you have time to attend tomorrow night?”
Mi Cai smiled and said, “I’ll make time even if I don’t have it. I missed the last one.”
I nodded, and then both of us fell into a brief silence, each focusing on our breakfast, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
I felt puzzled. In fact, besides the delivery, very few people visited this old house. I asked, “Who could it be at this early hour?”
The knocking sound suddenly stopped, obviously because my voice startled him. After a while, he asked in return, “Who are you?”
I was just about to answer when Mi Cai, with a serious expression, tugged at my sleeve and whispered, “It’s Weiran.”
I frowned, then put down my chopsticks and stood up to go to the door, but to my surprise, Mi Cai had already run ahead and blocked my way. She shook her head, signaling me not to open the door first, and then said to Weiran outside the door, “Go away. I don’t want to see you.”
“Betsy, I know I was wrong yesterday, and I’ve been reflecting all night. I came here early this morning to apologize to you. Can you open the door first? I bought you breakfast!”
“No need. I’ve already eaten with Zhaoyang. You should leave now.”
Weiran didn’t give up and continued to speak to Mi Cai outside the door, “Betsy, can’t you act less like a child? We can talk about things properly.”
Yesterday, Jian Wei called me sentimental, and now Weiran was being even more pretentious, which made me increasingly annoyed. Finally, I couldn’t control myself and coldly said to him, “Don’t come here acting like a fool so early in the morning. This house doesn’t welcome you, and neither do I.”
Weiran didn’t get angry at all and spoke to me in a calm tone, “I’m just coming here as a friend to apologize to Betsy. Why do you have the right to reject my apology on her behalf?”
Once again, his flawless words put me in a difficult position. I couldn’t lash out, but not lashing out made me feel even more frustrated. Mi Cai seemed to sense my mood, so she grabbed my hand to calm me down and then said to Weiran, “If you have anything to say, let’s talk about it at the company. Don’t keep bothering me here, okay?”
Weiran outside the door remained silent for a long time before speaking in a low tone, “We’ve been close friends for so many years. Can you really completely reject me just because of an impulse yesterday? … Think about it from my perspective. Don’t you feel even a little sympathy for me?”
Weiran’s melodramatic self-redemption made me feel nauseated, but Mi Cai, after all these years of friendship, eventually softened her tone and replied after a while, “I’m not trying to blame you, but I really don’t want to see what happened yesterday again. Give me some space, let me calm down, okay?”
“Of course, I’m willing to give you whatever you want… I left the breakfast on the mailbox outside the door. If you want to eat it, come out and get it… I won’t disturb you two anymore. Goodbye.”
After Weiran finished speaking, footsteps were heard descending the stairs from outside the house, indicating he had truly left. However, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of irritation in my heart, not knowing how to vent it, nor could I vent it because I would be labeled as lacking grace. But I really disliked his intentions. Although he always claimed to be a friend whenever he was around Mi Cai and me, I clearly knew the deep-seated possessiveness he harbored inside, and he himself knew it even more clearly…
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