The taxi was still waiting on the other side of the road. The driver had probably already agreed on a time with Lin Yingtao. Lin Yingtao entered the elevator. She was carrying her schoolbag and dragging the suitcase by herself. Jiang Qiaoxi wanted to help her at first, but when he saw that Lin Yingtao lowered her head and refused to let him carry her, he reached out to press the floor button. After pressing the button, he took a deep breath and stood side by side with Lin Yingtao in the elevator.
The atmosphere was frozen. Jiang Qiaoxi thought that the night view of Victoria Harbor would make Cherry feel better, but it didn't seem to be the case. Cherry seemed to have no interest in the beauty and prosperity of Hong Kong. The elevator reached the eleventh floor, and Lin Yingtao carried her suitcase out by herself. Her arms were so thin, and she was not afraid to walk with her luggage in the unfamiliar cheap apartment building in Hong Kong. She just walked forward without hesitation.
Jiang Qiaoxi got out of the elevator behind her. The lights in the corridor were dim and he looked at her back.
The door of the rental house opened, and Lin Yingtao walked in. It was still the same as when they left together in the afternoon. Jiang Qiaoxi walked in, turned on the light, and hung the suit and shirt that his cousin's wife had ironed on the closet door. He took off his schoolbag, threw it on the floor, and then closed the door behind him.
Lin Yingtao held the box with her hands, frowning. She couldn't help but look down at the small, stuffy room where Jiang Qiaoxi lived, and the narrow bed where Jiang Qiaoxi slept. Jiang Qiaoxi had lived in such a place for three years.
She turned around and saw Jiang Qiaoxi standing behind the door. He was a tall man with broad shoulders. He was leaning against the door, blocking most of it.
"Why are you leaving just after you got here?" Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at her and asked weakly.
Lin Yingtao heard a "beep" sound in the rented house. It was Jiang Qiaoxi turning on the air conditioner.
She loosened the handle of the suitcase in her hand. Lin Yingtao looked up. The ceiling was low and the light seemed oppressive, but this environment did not seem to have any effect on Lin Yingtao.
"I... I have never forgotten you," Lin Yingtao looked at Jiang Qiaoxi, her voice still a little tearful, and she whispered, "This is what I want to tell you first."
Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly heard her words and stood by the door without moving.
Lin Yingtao looked at him.
"Then, although I don't know what happened in your family, I probably heard a little bit when you answered the phone when you left." Lin Yingtao thought about it and swallowed her throat. "You were in the hospital in the middle of the night, right?"
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his eyes and looked at her. His eyelashes trembled and then drooped.
"I came to Hong Kong this time," Lin Yingtao looked at him, "just to find you. I want to know what happened to you. Why did you suddenly leave the year you graduated from high school? You didn't tell anyone and didn't answer my calls anymore. Your parents got divorced and moved away, so I couldn't find you anymore. Jiang Qiaoxi, I want to hear you talk about your life, and then..." She swallowed again, "I originally thought that if I couldn't find you this time, I would come back during the winter vacation—"
"Cherry, I'm sorry..." Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his eyes and sighed.
Lin Yingtao's eyes turned red again and she looked at him.
"You are so sorry for me..." She cried, "Now that I have found you, you still don't tell me anything... You live in such a shabby little house by yourself, and you book such an expensive hotel for me, what do you want me to do... Have fun in Hong Kong as if nothing happened, and then go back and continue to miss you, continue to not be able to find you, continue to wait, and continue to be unable to forget you?"
"No, I..." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
"Aren't you afraid at all that we might be separated like this..." Lin Yingtao asked him crying, "So what if I remember you!"
"I also want to fall in love... I also want someone to accompany me..." Lin Qile said aggrievedly, her nose turned red from crying, and she looked at him with tears in her eyes, "If you don't like me, I will never make calls that no one answers, and I will never send text messages that no one replies to... Anyway, I, Jiang Qiaoxi, have not only liked you since I was a child, I can also like others..."
Jiang Qiaoxi stood there stiffly, not saying a word.
"In the past, you were not allowed to fall in love too early in school. Now your cousin is sick and in the hospital," Lin Qile looked at him, "What about in the future? What will be the reason in the future? Even if I wait for you forever, how long will I have to wait?"
"… When it rains in Beijing, I worry about whether you have an umbrella. When there is a typhoon, I worry about whether you are safe. When I see someone getting into a car accident on the road, I wonder what if you are out there and what if something happens. I don't even know where you are…" Lin Qile cried and her lips opened, "I don't want to, I don't want to be like this all the time, missing you alone, without even a phone call. I don't care where you go to study, I don't care if you are rich. You wanted to go abroad before, and I thought, okay, I can wait for you for eight or nine years. So what if you don't have money? My parents are both workers, and my family doesn't have much money. Your cousin is sick, who wouldn't get sick? Who doesn't have a relative who gets sick at home? Why do you ignore me and don't want me for these reasons? You also said not to let me forget you. Even if I remember you all the time, what can I do? I'm in love, I'm getting married, I have my own family, and I still remember you, Jiang Qiaoxi, does this make sense?"
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head, stood by the door, and opened his lips to breathe like Lin Qile.
"Jiang Qiaoxi, I will forget you," Lin Qile said softly with tears on his cheeks, "Ten years old... I thought so when I was ten years old, we were still very young at that time... But now we are twenty years old, we can't be children forever, we can't keep doing stupid things..."
Before she finished her words, the doorbell rang.
In the dead of night, the only person who could ring the doorbell was the taxi driver waiting downstairs.
Lin Qile took off her schoolbag, lowered her head, opened it, took out a math book from it, and placed it on Jiang Qiaoxi's bed sheet. She turned around, put on her schoolbag and said, "I spent a lot of money on this trip to Hong Kong. I guess you won't want it even if I give it to you. I'll give it to your landlord."
She reached out and grasped the handle of her suitcase and walked to the door.
Jiang Qiaoxi was still standing behind the door. He was so tall, but in front of her, he looked so thin. He had almost no ability to protect her from the wind and rain. He could hardly protect himself, let alone give her a decent home and a promising future.
"I'm leaving." Lin Qile looked up at him and said in a low voice.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood behind the door for a while, then he moved away. He lowered his head and stood by the door without even saying a word of goodbye.
Lin Qile went to turn the doorknob, she held back her tears, and walked out pulling the suitcase.
Jiang Qiaoxi drooped his shoulders and suddenly leaned back against the wall.
Lin Qile walked out of the door holding the suitcase. She walked through the corridor, lowered her head and wiped the tears that were sliding down her face with the back of her hand.
The doorbell continued to ring, and Jiang Qiaoxi suddenly picked up the receiver. He said in Cantonese: "Drive away, no one wants to leave."
Lin Qile held back her tears in the elevator, and when the elevator door opened, she went out with red eyes and saw the taxi driver blocking the door. When the driver saw her, he started to speak Cantonese excitedly, pointing at his watch from time to time, his face red and his mouth spitting.
Lin Qile was stunned.
A tall young man came down from upstairs. When he walked out of the apartment, he saw Lam Chi-lok stammering in English and Mandarin explaining to the driver on the streets of Hong Kong late at night.
Jiang Qiaoxi hurried over, took out all the remaining money from his trouser pocket and stuffed it all into the driver's hand.
The driver cursed, looked down at the money in his hand, then looked at the young couple in front of him. He raised his hand and got in the car.
Jiang Qiaoxi hugged Lin Qile tightly and said, "Cherry, I beg you, please don't leave..."
There were still pedestrians on the streets of Hong Kong in the early morning. Homeless people sat on the roadside, covering their heads with newspapers and taking a nap, while tourists walked in groups of three or five, carrying shopping bags, drinking beer and laughing.
There are more ordinary people who are busy making a living. They move goods and prepare stocks from morning to night, from day to dark. Only at this time can they go home and reunite with their families.
Lin Qile turned around, and she was hugged by Jiang Qiaoxi desperately. He held her in his arms, and there was not even a gap between the two of them. Lin Qile was almost out of breath, her chin was on Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulder, Lin Qile closed her eyes, and tears flowed down her cheeks. She felt that his embrace was very warm. Jiang Qiaoxi's shoulders were shaking, and he said desperately: "Don't leave, I beg you..." Lin Qile raised her head, and she was kissed by him.
At first it was just a salty kiss. Jiang Qiaoxi took a deep breath and tightened his grip on Lin Qile's waist. Lin Qile put his hands on his neck and hugged his back. Lin Qile buried his voice in his shoulder: "I don't want to forgive you anymore..."
When Cai Fangyuan called at four in the morning, Lin Qile was bending over to wash her face in the public bathroom at the end of the corridor. She had cried too much that day and her eyes would definitely be swollen the next day.
Jiang Qiaoxi sat in the rented room, beside the bed, facing the small room, looking at Lin Qile's suitcase and schoolbag by the wall. Yingtao said she had checked out of the hotel. Jiang Qiaoxi inevitably began to worry again, he didn't want Yingtao to live in such a place.
Jiang Qiaoxi still has his pride and self-esteem, but his pockets are empty.
When they grow up, they need to learn to use their own feet to step on the ground.
Cai Fangyuan asked on the phone: "Sister, why did you answer the phone just now? Have you arrived at the airport?"
Jiang Qiaoxi was silent for a while, then he said, "It's me."
Cai Fangyuan suddenly fell silent on the phone.
"Oh my God, long time no see!" Cai Fangyuan said, his tone suddenly getting brighter.
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head and suddenly laughed.
"What's going on?" Cai Fangyuan wondered. "Ms. Lin Yingtao called me in the middle of the night and asked me in tears how to change my flight ticket!"
Jiang Qiaoxi listened to Cai Fangyuan's familiar accent. After so many years, the old classmate hadn't changed at all.
"I'm sorry." Jiang Qiaoxi said guiltily.
"No," Cai Fangyuan said hurriedly, "Lin Yingtao and I are very familiar with each other - no, Jiang Qiaoxi, why should you be polite to me?"
Lin Yingtao came back after washing her face and saw Jiang Qiaoxi with his head down, holding her cell phone in one hand and answering a call, while writing down the number on his own cell phone with the other hand.
Jiang Qiaoxi smiled and said, "You're a senior, right? Do you want to take the CPA exam too?"
Cai Fangyuan said over there: "Forget it, I can't take the exam—"
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his head and saw Lin Yingtao approaching him. He said, "Cai Fangyuan."
Lin Yingtao answered the phone, and Jiang Qiaoxi grabbed her wrist and pulled her to sit down, sitting in Jiang Qiaoxi's arms. Cai Fangyuan said in a strange tone: "Lin Yingtao, did you sleep with Jiang Qiaoxi?"
Lin Yingtao was stunned. She was afraid that Jiang Qiaoxi could hear what was on the phone. She said, "What? Nothing!"
Jiang Qiaoxi hugged her waist tightly and buried his head in Lin Yingtao's shoulder. He took a deep breath, as if he heard nothing.
Cai Fangyuan said, "Then why did you run out of the hotel crying so late at night and go to someone else's house?"
Lin Yingtao muttered: "I can do whatever I want, whatever I want—"
Cai Fangyuan said: "Okay, okay, go ahead and find your partner in Hong Kong. I'm going to sleep."
Jiang Qiaoxi entered the bathroom, closed the door, and took a quick shower. He changed into a new T-shirt and new trousers and dried his hair. He closed the door of the rental house and watched Lin Yingtao kneeling on the bed. The girl changed out of her T-shirt and skirt and put on a light blue nightgown with soft lace. Her long hair was down. She was playing with his mobile phone. Jiang Qiaoxi turned off the light.
The bed was only 1.2 meters wide, and there was only one pillow. Jiang Qiaoxi took out a spare blanket and folded it up to use as a pillow. He slept outside, so it didn't matter if he fell in the middle of the night. Lin Yingtao lay on her side inside, and Jiang Qiaoxi reached out and let her lean on his arms.
At night, it was impossible to tell whose face was blushing. Jiang Qiaoxi pursed his lips, pulled the blanket over and wrapped Lin Yingtao.
"Isn't the iPhone very expensive?" Lin Yingtao asked, her little face illuminated by Jiang Qiaoxi's phone screen.
Jiang Qiaoxi's hands were under the blanket, hugging her back under her nightdress: "My landlord changed to an iPhone 4, and sold this to me at a discount."
Lin Yingtao leaned on Jiang Qiaoxi and played with her cell phone. She could always forget unhappy things quickly.
"The screen is locked," she whispered.
"Your birthday..." Jiang Qiaoxi said in a daze.
He didn't sleep well yesterday, and he went to the hospital twice from morning to night today. As soon as he fell down and hugged her, he couldn't resist the sleepiness.
Lin Yingtao could hear his breathing, which was very soft. She typed in her birthday, and the screen really opened. With her eyes open after crying all night, she leaned against Jiang Qiaoxi and continued to read the memo written by Jiang Qiaoxi, which she had not finished reading just now. The title was "Cherry".
The author has something to say: －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Notes to this chapter:
＊Jiang Qiaoxi's mobile phone: iPhone 3GS, the third generation of Apple mobile phone released on June 9, 2009. It was discontinued on September 5, 2012.
＊iPhone 4: Apple's fourth-generation mobile phone released on June 8, 2010. It is considered one of Steve Jobs' most classic masterpieces. The operating system "iPhone OS" was renamed "iOS" from then on.