Lin Yingtao remembered that when she was little, Jiang Qiaoxi lifted her mosquito net and suddenly squeezed into her little world. Jiang Qiaoxi kissed her lips and took away her first kiss.
Little by little, he occupied her childhood, her youth, and her heart.
From the lipstick on her lips to the pair of shoes supporting her feet, even the cherry amber filled with beautiful wishes given to her by her aunt, was unknowingly transformed into the necklace given by Jiang Qiaoxi, which still hangs on her chest.
Lin Yingtao couldn't imagine what she would do if the person she would be with in the future was not Jiang Qiaoxi.
"Cherry, are you scared?" Jiang Qiaoxi asked her in the tiny rented house that was like a cave.
Outside the window, someone was singing on the streets of Hong Kong. Lin Yingtao stayed in Jiang Qiaoxi's arms. She shook her head, and her sweet long hair rubbed against his shoulders.
Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head and kissed her face.
Lin Yingtao felt that she would never forget Jiang Qiaoxi in her life.
She was like the little rabbit that he had hypnotized, falling into his hands, unable to move. She felt very painful and kept crying. She said softly in Jiang Qiaoxi's arms that it hurt. He kissed her until her face was covered with tears. Lin Yingtao's wrist was pressed between the two of them. She wanted to push him away, but she was afraid that he would really leave. She was hugged by Jiang Qiaoxi.
Lin Yingtao's face rested on his chest. She didn't know why, whether it was because she was feeling uncomfortable or because her heart was filled with happiness, but she couldn't stop crying.
Lin Yingtao woke up in the middle of the night. She was dazed. When she opened her eyes, she first smelled the sweet fragrance of her hair, and then the familiar smell of Jiang Qiaoxi. Lin Yingtao was exhausted and was wrapped in a thin blanket, which was very warm. Lin Yingtao turned her head and saw Jiang Qiaoxi was right next to her, sleeping facing her, with one arm resting on Lin Yingtao's blanket.
Jiang Qiaoxi was sleeping soundly. His broad shoulders blocked Lin Yingtao's side, preventing her from falling.
It was only half a night since they last met, and when Lin Yingtao looked at Jiang Qiaoxi's face again, she was no longer looking at someone she could easily say goodbye to.
Thinking back to last night, Lin Yingtao still felt a little dizzy. She only remembered that it hurt a lot at first, but then it didn't hurt that much. In the middle, she leaned on Jiang Qiaoxi's arms and drank the iced Yuanyang milk tea he bought. Jiang Qiaoxi asked her if it still hurt. In fact, it still hurt, but not as much as the first time, but Lin Yingtao learned to be strong, so she didn't say anything.
Lin Yingtao felt very sorry that the lace dress she bought was broken after she wore it only once. "It's so expensive," she said to Jiang Qiaoxi, "You don't know how to take care of it..."
Jiang Qiaoxi smiled. He seemed to be in a good mood. He kissed Lin Yingtao's face and let her criticize him.
Lin Yingtao felt like one of those sad housewives in TV dramas, married to a man who had no idea how difficult life was.
She might have fallen asleep in Jiang Qiaoxi's arms, because she had no memory of covering herself with a new quilt. At this moment, Lin Yingtao opened her eyes, her cheek pressed against the pillow, and she quietly looked at Jiang Qiaoxi's eyebrows, the curve of his nose, and his thin lips at night - when she first met him, Lin Yingtao probably could not have guessed that she would be kissed like this by him when she grew up.
There were too many things that Lin Yingtao could not guess. She snuggled up to Jiang Qiaoxi, and when she woke up again, the sky outside the window was dim. Lin Yingtao opened her eyes, and she could not tell whether it was early morning or she had overslept and slept until the afternoon or evening of the next day. Jiang Qiaoxi also woke up. When Jiang Qiaoxi lowered his head and saw her, he turned over, and the bed sank. He and Lin Yingtao kissed across the quilt.
The small plastic box fell under the bed. There were five small packages in total, with the last one left. Jiang Qiaoxi forgot about it at first, so he backed out halfway, reached under the bed in a hurry, found the last package and quickly tore it open.
It was already daybreak, and Hong Kong was crowded with people and cars outside the window. It was another busy workday. But what did this have to do with the young couple clinging to each other in their rented apartment
The adult behind the wardrobe has been sleeping soundly.
Lin Yingtao shed tears and tried her best to breathe oxygen, but even that became a luxury.
Jiang Qiaoxi walked out of the rental house, he was covered in sweat, and his sweat was stained with the sweet fragrance of Lin Yingtao's hair. He went to the bathroom to take a shower with his upper body naked.
He brushed his teeth, looked in front of the mirror, opened his eyes that had not been slept for long but were not at all sleepy, looked at his face, and then shaved off the stubble that had appeared in the middle of the night.
Jiang Qiaoxi received a call from his cousin's wife in the hospital, saying that his cousin had woken up today and his voice was clearer than last night. Jiang Qiaoxi couldn't help but laugh. He hadn't told Yingtao about this yet. He had planned to take Yingtao to the hospital early this morning to see his cousin and let Yingtao know about this happy event.
"Let's... go again in a few days." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
My cousin asked, "What's wrong?"
Jiang Qiaoxi stood in the laundry room, put in a coin, and stuffed the dirty sheets and a few clothes into the washing machine: "Cherry, I'm not feeling well."
My cousin's wife asked worriedly, "Is he having a fever again?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said "hmm" ambiguously, and then heard his cousin's wife blame him: "Why can't you take good care of girls?"
Jiang Qiaoxi looked down at the laundry detergent that Lin Yingtao had chosen yesterday after “repeatedly comparing prices” in the supermarket. He waited for the call to end, put away his phone, and squeezed a pile of laundry detergent onto the bed sheets.
Lin Yingtao was still sleeping in bed, probably really didn't want to care about Jiang Qiaoxi anymore. Jiang Qiaoxi thought about it and guessed that she would wake up hungry around ten o'clock. He put on a coat and went downstairs to the nearby supermarket to buy some things that were out of stock at home.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood by the road and put the change into his pocket. He suddenly felt the urge to smoke.
Perhaps only Jiang Qiaoxi himself knows how addicted he is.
In the past, he was used to pretending to be a serious person, used to being a person who had to be uninterested in all happiness and joy since childhood, not jealous, not complaining, and not competing with his deceased brother.
But people's minds are very strange. Jiang Qiaoxi walked along this road, turned an intersection, and looked for a place to smoke. He recalled that the first time he remembered the little girl Lin Yingtao was because she asked him, "What color do you like?"
Lin Yingtao didn't care about Jiang Mengchu at all, nor did she care about his math grades. In Lin Yingtao's eyes, there was only him, and only him.
Even the name that her father gave her perfunctorily, which made Jiang Qiaoxi feel chilled and hateful every time he mentioned it, became "from a particularly beautiful poem" in Lin Yingtao's heart. The way Lin Yingtao pronounced it made people's hearts soften.
If there is any addiction that Jiang Qiaoxi cannot quit, it is far more than just smoking.
Jiang Qiaoxi bought a pack of cigarettes, opened it, took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, lowered his head and lit it. He took a long puff.
Cherry finally belonged to him completely. From the beginning, it belonged to Jiang Qiaoxi alone, and it would belong to him in the end.
Suddenly, Jiang Qiaoxi didn't want to doubt anything anymore.
Can his cousin's disease be cured, can he have a good future, can he and Cherry continue to be together, can he give her a better life... There is no whether or not, he must do it.
Jiang Qiaoxi put out the half-smoked cigarette in the trash can and took a deep breath of fresh air.
The author has something to say: Happy Lantern Festival!