Chapter 111 — A Joyful Reunion After a Brief Parting

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Winter had finally arrived. It seemed that after turning twenty, the rapid passage of time became a perfectly normal thing.

Yishu woke up early and saw, in the flowerbed downstairs, the last remaining petal of the only rose-colored monthly rose, withering away. Red had retreated from this world, leaving behind a colorless blend of yellow-brown and dark green, almost bordering on black.

Yishu felt like a failure. After more than five years, she still hadn't fully understood Guo Yamei.

The moods that flickered across Guo Yamei's face were beyond anyone's control—even the most accurate weather forecast could not easily predict what her next second would bring.

—I'm back in Shanghai.

Just as Yishu was about to ask about Tang Chao's health—after all, they had known each other, and leaving him completely unasked-after would be somewhat heartless—she opened her phone and received his text message.

Tang Chao had been skipping class for a long time now. All his teachers had reported his situation to the class advisor and the counselor. College teachers these days had plenty of experience dealing with students who skipped, cut, or found stand-ins for class. Sometimes, faced with hundreds of students, they would call roll in batches, sparing no effort.

For certain missions that were destined to be accomplished, the greatest mercy one could offer was only a few extra days of grace.

Yishu stared blankly at that brief message he had sent, lost in thought.

Such an excessively concise expression didn't seem like his style. In her memory, he was someone who enjoyed taking idioms apart and explaining them piece by piece.

Should she reply to his message? At the very least, she could say "Okay," or say "Take care on the road."

In the end, she never sent it.

Actually, what she was agonizing over wasn't which message to send, but whether she should send one at all—whether she could, whether she was allowed to.

Kaisheng's Singles' Day results were impressive. When Liu Hanzhang reported the performance before her superiors, her spine remained straight and upright the entire time. She was receiving praise and honor, naturally different from the times before when she'd hang her head low, waiting to be scolded.

Yishu and Guo Yamei, after listening to Liu Hanzhang relay all the matters assigned by the leadership, let out a synchronized sigh of relief. The two of them, reading each other's minds, caught sight of the identical expression on each other's faces and curled their lips in mutual amusement.

At the end of her speech, Liu Hanzhang added one final line—November is already in the past. Pull yourselves together and prepare to face December.

Although she knew that every year, the end of November was merely the beginning of December, hearing it spoken from Liu Hanzhang's mouth still made the blood vessels carrying blood through her heart tighten with a forceful squeeze.

After entering December, the physical store's business gradually improved. Chinese people have a habit of doing extensive renovations and tidying up their homes near the end of the year. Even though the lunar New Year was still more than two months away, traces of welcoming the new year were already visible. At the very least, Christmas had arrived a step early to test the waters.

So, these past few days, Yishu and Guo Yamei's performance had stayed firmly in first and second place. Most of the time, Yishu ranked first, with Guo Yamei in second by a narrow margin. So much so that when she casually asked Yishu about her ranking, she could only tug awkwardly at the corner of her mouth, at a loss for words.

The bitter battles they had once fought over rankings were still vivid in their memories. Could it be that after all this time apart, they were about to make a comeback?

Yishu didn't answer, and Guo Yamei didn't press further.

When news of their outstanding achievements spread through Kaisheng's customer service department, the two of them instantly became the talk of the town. Yishu hadn't expected that, five years later, she would once again ascend the company's list of notable figures.

Near the end of the workday, five or six customers flooded in online with inquiries. Yishu glanced at the time in the bottom right corner of her screen—there was no way she could reply in time. Among them, one had already exchanged a few words with her, and judging by intuition, he would be a high-potential major client.

After Guo Yamei finished the day's report, she packed her personal belongings into her handbag, stood up, and said, "It's time to go. Are you leaving or not?"

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"Oh." Yishu glanced at her and answered absentmindedly. "I'm leaving in a bit." No matter how big the deal was, if the timing of the inquiry was off, it was destined to become someone else's meal.

At 5:20, the Textile City was nearly empty. Only a few sluggish salespeople dawdled about, turning off the lights, pulling the power switches, locking the doors... Yishu and the others were among them.

The Textile City was shrouded in the veil of night. It looked as though the clouds overhead were about to unleash a torrential downpour. In Yuncheng, located in the south, the weather in the second half of the year was mostly favored by overcast skies and rain.

In the distance, Yishu spotted an egg-yolk-yellow bus with three glowing digits on its roof crossing the bridge and coming closer. She couldn't make out the numbers displayed, but judging by the time, it should be the one she needed to take.

In the carriage, packed as tightly as an air-raid shelter, she let the continuously streaming passengers press her deeper into the already crowded space. Her knees were bent from being pushed against.

Never before had she felt these few kilometers stretch on for so long.

With a hobbling, lurching gait, she squeezed out of the airtight carriage.

As she stepped out of the elevator, she saw a dense black mass curled up at her doorstep.

"Shixi?" Her voice carried uncertainty. "You're back?"

"It's me. I'm back." He raised his head. "But I'm not your Shixi."

"Didn't you only leave for Shanghai this morning?" Yishu rummaged through her bag for her keys, too impatient to wait for him to explain slowly.

"Class ended, so I came back." He smiled mischievously, with an air of complete unconcern.

The world of the wealthy is something those who have grown up at the bottom can never truly experience or understand—just as they, in turn, would never understand why their own lives always seemed to tread along rugged, muddy mountain paths.

Can't relate? Get used to it. "Then go back to your own place." Yishu brushed his arm aside and inserted the key into the lock.

"Don't be like that." Tang Chao followed her inside. "It's just me alone there—cold and empty. And here, it's just you alone, equally cold and empty. Why don't we huddle together for warmth?"

"There's air conditioning. No need." Yishu didn't bother to close the door behind her. Perhaps she knew that with her own strength alone, she couldn't close the door behind her. Or perhaps she didn't want to.

"You'll need it." Tang Chao's tone was almost certain.

Yishu shot him a glare. Every time she talked to him, it was like being in a debate—she had to rack her brains for powerful and eloquent words.

Tang Chao, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the back-and-forth between them. Having words was better than having none; arguing was better than the silent treatment.

"Is your cold better?" She came out of the bedroom, having changed into a light set of loungewear, then tied on an apron and went to the kitchen to wash the rice and vegetables.

"Long gone." His voice boomed. "Look at who I am—a mere cold, how could it possibly knock me down?"

Yes, what a laughable and unnecessary question to ask. Five or six days had already passed; surely he had recovered long ago.

The two of them once again sank into the quagmire of silence.

She didn't say much, having had her fill of frequent exchanges with customers all day. Coming home, all she wanted was quiet and few words.

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He didn't say much either, except when he was gaming and would curse loudly at the computer screen. But when facing her, it seemed he would always have an endless stream of words.

Tang Chao received a WeChat message from a classmate, saying he absolutely had to get online to support his comrade-in-arms. Not even bothering to grab his military-green down jacket trimmed with raccoon fur from the sofa, he rushed back upstairs to his own place.

After Yishu finished cooking, she carried the dishes to the dining table.

At that moment, the door was pushed open.

"You really know how to time things." She assumed Tang Chao had calculated the time, finished his game, and come back down.

"Huh?"

The voice was off—it wasn't his voice. She looked up, and seeing him, said, "Shixi, why have you come back?" You're finally back!

Her excitement stirred every cell in her body. Her left big toe collided heavily with the leg of the dining table. She bit her lip hard, trying to distract herself from the piercing pain in her toe.

They embraced.

They kissed in a world of their own, with no one else around.

They drew from each other the traces that proved their love for one another.

They released the maddening longing and bitter obsession that had consumed them.

"Were the problems in Rongcheng resolved?" Yishu gazed at him, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Resolved." The tears filling his eyes were no fewer than hers. "In the days without me, did you take good care of yourself?"

Yishu nodded continuously.

In truth, without him, how could she possibly have lived well at all?

He had grown thinner, haggard, even older. The colorful radiance that had once surrounded him had been replaced by a dim gray light.

The newly grown stubble on his face seemed like an act of defiance against his age.

A strange feeling rose in Yishu's heart.

Then, the stubborn teardrop lingering at the corner of her eye finally trickled down her cheek and landed on his heart.

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