It was drizzling in Hong Kong.
Before Lin Yingtao had the time to take off the down jacket she brought from northern China, she hugged Jiang Qiaoxi tightly on the subway and she didn't care about anything else.
The subway was moving forward, and passengers were reading newspapers, checking their phones, or wearing headphones and closing their eyes to rest. It was dark outside the windows on both sides. Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head, and his nose rubbed against Lin Yingtao's long hair.
"I bought a bottle of very fragrant shampoo," Lin Yingtao raised her little face, "I wanted to use it this morning, but it was packed in a box when I got home that day, so it's hard to get it today because my mom wouldn't let me get it."
Jiang Qiaoxi started laughing as he listened. Lin Yingtao muttered, "Come here and use it again." She buried her face in Jiang Qiaoxi's body. Jiang Qiaoxi looked around and saw that no one else was standing there. He leaned against the railing, protected her back with one hand, and rubbed Lin Yingtao's sweet hair with the other hand, allowing her to lean into his arms more steadily.
Lin Yingtao listened to the sound of the wind as the subway moved along the tracks. She hugged Jiang Qiaoxi, closed her eyes, and even her breath was filled with the smell of his clothes.
She smelled it again. She had smelled it on him since she was very young, it was a bit like the smell of green grass after rain, very familiar and nice.
Lin Yingtao resisted the urge to cry, grabbed the clothes on his back with both hands, and hugged Jiang Qiaoxi tightly.
Jiang Qiaoxi kissed her hair several times before he looked at the door and said, "Let's go, get off the car."
"Have you sent a text message to Uncle Lin?" Jiang Qiaoxi asked, pulling her suitcase.
Lin Yingtao was carrying her schoolbag, and Jiang Qiaoxi held her hand and got off the train with her. This time, Jiang Qiaoxi came to pick her up, so Lin Yingtao didn't look at the map herself, and even lost the notes on how to transfer to the subway. She just followed him. "I forgot."
People were coming and going. Lin Yingtao and Jiang Qiaoxi stood face to face on the high escalator. She took off her down jacket and held it in her arms. She called her father. "I'm in Hong Kong, Dad!" she said, "I'm going back with Jiang Qiaoxi now. Let's put down our luggage and go eat!"
Dad told her and Qiaoxi to be careful on the road: "Is it cold in Hong Kong? Wear more clothes so you don't get a fever. Tell Qiaoxi to wear more clothes too so she doesn't get sick!"
Lin Yingtao ran across the overpass quickly. Hong Kong's roads are narrow, jammed with cars and pedestrians. Finally leaving the subway, Lin Yingtao stopped by the roadside. She was wearing the light pink sweater she wore when she was practicing splits in the dance studio last time. She took a photo of it for Jiang Qiaoxi to see, and Jiang Qiaoxi specifically said it looked good. Lin Yingtao leaned on Jiang Qiaoxi, she raised her head, her eyelashes trembling, and pulled his coat to kiss him.
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his neck and pressed his forehead against hers. The kiss ended, his breathing quickened, and he raised his eyes to look at Lin Yingtao's face.
Raindrops fell from the sky, hitting the awning and leaves, making rustling sounds. Lin Yingtao's bangs were all wet. She leaned on Jiang Qiaoxi on the subway, biting the straw and drinking the frozen Yuanyang he bought for her. When she came out of the subway again, the rain got heavier, and the raindrops bounced on the ground. Lin Yingtao looked at the rain and said, "I have an umbrella in my suitcase!"
Jiang Qiaoxi bought a handful from the exit. He was afraid that Lin Yingtao would get wet, and perhaps he also thought that Aunt Juanzi was right not to open the box in the morning, so he held up the umbrella.
"You know," Lin Yingtao said, holding her down jacket and a suitcase in her hands, as Jiang Qiaoxi held her under his umbrella. She and he walked on the way to Jiang Qiaoxi's residence, "Beijing has built a lot of new subway lines since 2007."
Jiang Qiaoxi looked at the falling rain outside the umbrella and suddenly understood why Lin Yingtao suddenly mentioned this.
"Was it repaired after the Olympics?" he asked.
Lin Yingtao turned to look at him and said, "You've never been to Beijing since then. Beijing has changed a lot now."
Jiang Qiaoxi swiped his card to enter the apartment and pulled her suitcase into the elevator. Lin Yingtao said to him, "Last time I went to my aunt's new home for dinner, I ate pork elbow with rock sugar, meat pie with door nails, Aiwowo and donkey rolls, and they also talked about you to me."
Jiang Qiaoxi chuckled and said, "It's been so many years."
"We went to their old home in 2007," Lin Yingtao looked up at the floor number on the elevator, "It's been almost four years."
As soon as she entered the rental house, Lin Yingtao turned on the lights and air conditioner by herself. She took off her backpack and put her down jacket in Jiang Qiaoxi's closet. She turned around and saw Jiang Qiaoxi standing behind the door, holding the box in his hand.
It is no longer the large suites in five-star hotels in Beijing as it was in 2007, but only rental houses of less than five square meters in Hong Kong.
"Cherry." Jiang Qiaoxi looked at her, he suddenly smiled, and hesitated to speak.
Lin Yingtao looked at him and walked over. As if she was afraid that he would say something else, she reached out and hugged Jiang Qiaoxi's waist. "I don't want to stay in a hotel!" Lin Yingtao said coquettishly.
They went to Queen's Road Central for wonton noodles at noon. While eating, Lin Yingtao used the memo on Jiang Qiaoxi's phone to write down what she wanted to buy that afternoon. "I brought slippers," she said, "so I don't need to buy them. I brought most of my things."
Jiang Qiaoxi said that his cousin's wife came to his place a few days ago and said she wanted to buy him some new things. "Buy him a quilt." He thought of it and looked at her.
Lin Yingtao has never been to Hong Kong in winter, but she feels that Hong Kong is very warm: "Do I need to cover myself with a blanket at night?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said, "I don't have one, buy one."
Lin Yingtao could only stay in Hong Kong for fourteen days at most. She estimated that she would need sanitary napkins, so she walked back and forth between the shelves, holding a bag of laundry detergent in her hand. When she turned around, she almost bumped into Jiang Qiaoxi.
Jiang Qiaoxi came over, put his arm around her, and stood in front of the shelf: "Do you want to buy anything?"
His tone was very ordinary. He was a tall boy, very conspicuous, standing in front of a counter of women's products filled with sanitary napkins. He just asked casually and Lin Yingtao blushed.
Lin Yingtao thought that maybe she needed to live with him longer before she could slowly adapt.
In the cart that Jiang Qiaoxi pulled over, there were all kinds of daily necessities, besides a box of beer, a few cans of sweet drinks, and miscellaneous potato chips, candied fruits, dried fruits, and candies for the New Year.
A set of duck down quilts, moisture-proof pills, a clothes drying rack, two seat cushions, and several back cushions - Jiang Qiaoxi originally thought they were to be placed on the floor, but Lin Yingtao said that the bed also needed a back cushion so that she could lean on it to read, use the computer, or play with her phone.
Jiang Qiaoxi worked and spent all his time in the library. He didn't enjoy much in life, so Lin Yingtao bought whatever she wanted.
In addition, there are sets of bowls, plates, chopsticks, spoons and forks, two pairs of porcelain cups, coasters, placemats and tablecloths, several empty photo frames that can be placed on the windowsill, and the night light that Lin Yingtao wanted to buy.
Lin Yingtao checked the things in the car by comparing them with the memo in Jiang Qiaoxi's phone. These were all things she had thought of. She found an extra box of bed sheet sets in the car.
It was probably put in there by Jiang Qiaoxi just now.
"Is this a three-piece set or just bed sheets?" Lin Yingtao picked up the box and studied it carefully. She thought the box looked very expensive.
Jiang Qiaoxi looked away, but then he felt that Lin Yingtao had been studying it for too long, so he wanted to take it back.
Lin Yingtao said disdainfully: "Why don't you look carefully when you buy things? There are only bed sheets in here. How can you use six bed sheets?"
As she said this, she was about to find a shelf to put it back.
Jiang Qiaoxi said without any temper: "Give the extra to my cousin's wife!"
Lin Yingtao looked back at him and then realized: "Oh."
"My mother told me that it's not appropriate for you to buy things when you live alone," Lin Yingtao walked beside Jiang Qiaoxi, talking incessantly, "but with my cousin's family, I can still buy big boxes of family-size items at a very low price..."
"Think about what else you want to buy." Jiang Qiaoxi stood at the end of a row of shelves, pulling a cart behind him, and he looked at her.
Lin Yingtao stood in front of him and looked at both sides of the supermarket again.
"Have you bought everything?"
Jiang Qiaoxi looked over Lin Yingtao's shoulder and glanced behind her.
Lin Yingtao turned around.
She turned her head, held back her laughter, and turned her face away.
Jiang Qiaoxi held the cart behind him with his hands and just stood there, not moving. He raised his eyes to look at Lin Yingtao, as if waiting for her answer.
Lin Yingtao turned her face over and looked at him secretly.
For a moment, Lin Yingtao suddenly felt that the Jiang Qiaoxi who was full of vigor and seemed determined to win everything had returned a little bit.
Lin Yingtao was stared at by him for a long time. Lin Yingtao lowered her eyelashes and looked back secretly.
"Why is there strawberry flavor?" she asked.
Jiang Qiaoxi laughed.
The cart with the "new home" was placed sideways. Jiang Qiaoxi reached out to the shelf behind Lin Yingtao and picked something up. He picked up a box of condoms, took a look at it, put it down, and changed to a box of a different size. Lin Yingtao still didn't look at him, not even when she was paying the bill, and she still didn't look at him when he held her.
At night, Lin Yingtao would hold her clothes bag, wear her own slippers, and go to the public bathroom at the end of the corridor, where the door lock had been repaired, to take a shower.
She stood in the dim light, in the old curtain, listening to the rustling sound of the shower. She opened the newly bought shampoo and rubbed her hair. Lin Yingtao saw the yellow tiles in front of her, but her heart was filled with Jiang Qiaoxi, only anxiety, confusion, and some unknown expectations.
Jiang Qiaoxi went to the hospital again so late. His cousin didn't know what happened. His cousin's wife called him. Jiang Qiaoxi hung up and left in a hurry. He said he would buy frozen mandarin ducks. He didn't know what Lin Yingtao was preparing. Lin Yingtao could only stay with Jiang Qiaoxi for more than ten days this winter vacation. She wanted to cherish every day. Lin Yingtao came out of the shower, put on her coat and ran back to the rental house. There was no one around, so she opened her suitcase, took out the makeup mirror and put it on the table.
Lin Yingtao sat cross-legged on the newly bought cushion. She applied the face cream carefully and blew her hair with a hair dryer. Soon she could smell the sweet fragrance, which even Lin Yingtao herself thought was so fragrant.
Lin Yingtao took off her coat, stood up, and bent down to take the underwear she bought that day from the box. It was not the white and pink student underwear that Lin Yingtao was used to wearing, but the "sexy" underwear that "women" wore. Lin Yingtao held onto the bed and tucked her drooping hair behind her ears. She put on one piece of clothing, straightened up, and put on another. She looked down at herself, her skin color that looked milky white, and then raised her head again.
When she thought about being seen like this by Jiang Qiaoxi, Lin Yingtao began to panic and worry again.
She put on a white silk suspender nightgown with a V-neck front, just revealing the jeweled cherry on her chest, and the hem covered her thighs. Lin Yingtao sat on the bed and began to apply body lotion on her legs and ankles.
Jiang Qiaoxi was sitting on the city bus on the way back from the hospital. He was holding the milk tea he bought for Yingtao. He looked out the window with tears in his eyes.
He walked down the hall and fished his keys out of his pocket. When he entered the room, he found it dark.
Only a small night light at the end of the bed emitted a faint glow, as if it was left for Jiang Qiaoxi.
On the bed, the blanket was bulging, and Cherry seemed to have fallen asleep. Jiang Qiaoxi smelled a sweet fragrance in the rental house. He put down the milk tea in his hand. He unzipped his coat in the dark and took it off. Jiang Qiaoxi opened the closet door and took out a new T-shirt from inside and wore it as a change of pajamas.
He went out, took his toiletries to the bathroom to take a shower, and then shaved off the new stubble to avoid scratching her tomorrow. Jiang Qiaoxi stood in front of the mirror, brushing his teeth, thinking about his cousin, and recalling Cherry's cute reaction to him buying condoms in the afternoon.
Jiang Qiaoxi thought that reaction was really interesting. He hadn't decided when he could use it. His cousin was getting better and better, and this winter, Jiang Qiaoxi got the internship opportunity he wanted. He was slowly walking back, trying to turn his disordered life back to normal.
Maybe he could ask Cherry one day if she could accept it, if she was afraid, whether she was mentally prepared, or if she had to wait until she got married before she could do it.
Jiang Qiaoxi was not wearing a T-shirt. He pushed open the door of the rented house and narrowed his eyes. The light in the room was turned on without him noticing.
Lin Yingtao was sitting on the bed, her hair was messy but smooth, she was sleepy, wearing a nightgown with suspenders, her chest was round and firm, and one of the suspenders had slipped off her shoulders. Lin Yingtao rubbed her eyes, then opened them and looked at him.
"You're back..." she said.