When did she first learn to smoke? It seemed to be on New Year's Day of her freshman year. The three of them and several other classmates went to the square to count down the New Year's bell. On the way back to school, it was already one or two in the morning. They couldn't get a taxi, so they agreed to walk all the way back. Halfway through the journey, Wu Ying taught her to smoke while walking and feeling bored.
In fact, Wu Ying was also a half-baked person at that time. Wu Ying said to her: "Just take a puff and then spit out the smoke."
"Where does it come out, the nose or the mouth?" she asked curiously.
"Mouth, it's so uncomfortable to use your nose."
"Oh." She tried to do it again, but choked on tears.
Ma Yiyi said: "You two's rebellious period came a little late, didn't it?"
Unexpectedly, the man who introduced her to the industry quit smoking, but she still had this habit. However, she smoked very little and very secretly, and was almost never discovered by anyone.
Once Wu Ying celebrated her birthday and invited a bunch of classmates and colleagues to dinner and singing. She was in a bad mood that day and quietly walked to an empty private room next door to light a cigarette. Wu Ying came out to look for her. Zeng Li was so scared when she heard her voice that she threw the cigarette butt away. Wu Ying asked curiously after she entered the room, "Why are you here alone? And you didn't even turn on the light." Zeng Li replied in shock, "I'm just sitting here."
This was the closest she had ever come to being exposed.
And this little secret was actually discovered by Ai Jingchu.
She really smoked very little, and she would rinse her mouth after every cigarette. She also had her teeth cleaned for orthodontic treatment, so there should be no smoke stains on her teeth. Before going to the dentist, she was very careful about oral hygiene. If there was a flaw, it was only once, that was the day he came to the library to return a book.
Zeng Li pondered for a long time, but didn't know how to explain it, because after all, the impression was too bad. But then she thought, why should she explain it to him? So, she just didn't say anything with a broken jar mentality.
Songs were played one after another on the CD, one of which was Hao Lei's version of "Looking Back Again". Zeng Li had also played this version at Carol's, but she didn't have a deep impression of it.
Looking back, the clouds block the way home
Looking back, the thorns are dense
There will be no more unforgettable old dreams tonight
Looking back, it seems like a dream
Looking back, my heart remains the same
Only the endless long road accompanies me...
Such a familiar song sounded so different on such a night road. Zeng Li had some accumulated emotions in her heart and had to find someone to talk to. So she changed her usual reserved attitude and broke the silence, saying, "Teacher Ai, you don't seem to be married yet?"
"Um."
"Are you here with your girlfriend on vacation in Dongshan? Or are you here for a company event like me?"
"no."
"… "
He solved her three questions with just two words. So she turned away and didn't ask any more questions, nor did she continue to talk to him, which was boring.
The female singer was still singing the song in her unique hoarse voice, the wipers in front of the glass were shaking rhythmically in front of his eyes, and the air in the car was slightly different from before because of the smell of tobacco on him.
After a while, he said, "I'm here to accompany my family and stay for a few days."
It was pitch black outside the window, and nothing could be seen except the grass and trees under the car lights. The foggy and rainy night was so scary. Occasionally, when the car entered a bend, there would suddenly be a cloud of white smoke mixed with rain and fog blocking the road ahead, which scared Zeng Li several times. The scene was very similar to the wilderness described in Liao Zhai, where fox spirits and ghosts roamed.
Ai Jingchu looked ahead with calm eyes and continued to drive the car steadily.
After turning another corner and reaching a fork in the road, Zeng Li saw a sign on the upper right - altitude here: 1,800 meters.
Slowly, the rain seemed to slow down, hitting the windshield at a slower speed, but the raindrops became larger. After a while, Zeng Li saw the scenery next to him and suddenly realized that this was not rain, but snow.
"It's really snowing. I've never seen heavy snow before." Zeng Li put her face against the side window and looked out curiously. When she put her nose close to it and exhaled, a thin layer of mist covered the glass. She wiped it with her hand until it was transparent and looked outside again.
Ai Jingchu glanced at her and said nothing.
Zeng Li said to himself, "Is the snow on the mountain heavier?"
At this moment, Zeng Li's cell phone rang. It was Ma Yiyi calling. Ai Jingchu then turned off the speaker.
"Xiaoyu, are you back?" Ma Yiyi asked. Zeng Li's cell phone receiver was not loud, but it sounded unusually clear in this quiet and small space.
"You're early." Zeng Li said, "I'm in the hotel room."
"Was the colleague who drove you home a man or a woman?" Ma Yiyi asked with a wicked smile.
Zeng Li thought, if it wasn't for her, would he be so embarrassed? And how dare she come looking for gossip? In order to quickly put an end to Ma Yiyi's boring imagination, Zeng Li planned to answer "It's a woman".
Zeng Li glanced at Ai Jingchu next to her awkwardly. She bet that he could hear every word they said clearly, so she reluctantly said, "It's a man."
"Is he handsome?" Ma Yiyi pursued relentlessly.
"Oh." Zeng Li responded casually and pretending to be calm, but his heart was about to collapse and he wanted to strangle her to death on the spot.
"You just said 'oh'? Is he handsome or not?" Ma Yiyi pushed her into a desperate situation.
"Is your grandma okay?" Zeng Li tried to change the subject with tears in his eyes.
"It was scary at first. She went to the toilet by herself and ended up sitting on the floor and couldn't get up. She didn't respond when we called her and just stared. My parents were scared to death. She was sent to Wu Ying's hospital and recovered as soon as she saw the doctor. The doctor asked about her condition and she said she didn't feel any pain anywhere."
"Then will you come tomorrow? They arranged for you to stay with me this afternoon. If you don't come, I'll be alone."
"I'll go if you introduce a handsome guy to me." Ma Yiyi's mood, like her grandmother's condition, had obviously improved. She heard Zeng Li's hesitation, so she continued, "We agreed before that you shouldn't eat alone."
"Bah!" Zeng Li hung up the phone unable to bear it anymore.
Zeng Li felt extremely guilty and could hardly imagine Ai Jingchu's expression.
She, Ma Yiyi and Wu Ying often get together to comment on the appearance of men. But those are just private conversations between girls, and no one would have thought that the person in question would be sitting next to them.
Just when Zeng Li was lost in thought, Ai Jingchu started coughing. At first he just coughed a few times, but later he coughed continuously for a long time, and even the car was forced to stop.
Zeng Li said, "Did you go buy some cold medicine just now? If you have any, take it right away."
Ai Jingchu recovered his breath and waved his hand, "Go back and eat, or you'll fall asleep."
"Oh." Zeng Li didn't know how to respond, after all, he was the doctor. She suddenly remembered, "Then drink some water to moisten your throat." After saying that, she unscrewed the cap of the mineral water in her hand and handed it to him, adding, "It shouldn't be cold."
Ai Jingchu took it and drank two sips.
It’s not cold at all.
The water had been held in her arms for a long time, and it was very warm due to her body temperature.
He took another sip.
Not long after, the second sign changed to - Altitude here: 2000 meters.
As the mountains got higher and higher, the snowflakes would no longer melt when they fell to the ground. Those white dots piled up on the trees and leaves, spreading over a larger area and finally onto the road.
Zeng Li had no experience of riding in the snow, but she had learned a little from TV, news, and the driver of the illegal taxi. As the snow piled up thicker and thicker, her mood gradually changed from curiosity to nervousness, and she even forgot to continue counting the altitude.
Finally, Ai Jingchu slowly pulled the car over to the side of the road, looked at the snowy road in front of him and said, "We can't go any further. It's not safe."
Zeng Li was stunned and had no idea what to do. "Then what should we do?"
He raised his hand to look at his watch and sighed lightly, "Let's walk. We're not far from the hotel." Then he got out of the car, walked to the back of the car, took out a flashlight from the toolbox, and tested the light.
Zeng Li then got off the car, and as soon as her feet touched the ground she realized how cold it was outside.
Ai Jingchu locked the car and walked ahead with a flashlight. There was no umbrella in the car, so Zeng Li put the hood of her down jacket on her head. She had a lot of long hair, which was tied into a high ponytail, so the hood couldn't fit on her head, so she had to let her hair down and gather it on both sides. When she did all this, she found that Ai Jingchu had walked several meters away. She was scared and hurriedly stumbled to catch up.
"Teacher Ai!" she called him breathlessly.
He looked back.
"I want to go ahead of you."
He stopped and let her go first.
When she was a child, Zeng Li had to go home at night. There was a dark road that she had to pass through. There were no lights or houses on the road. It was pitch dark, and the adults could only use flashlights. Even if a large group of people were walking together, Zeng Li had to walk in the middle of the group. She was timid and extremely afraid of the dark. Whenever this happened, she would imagine that something would quietly grab her from behind. The more she thought about it, the more creepy she felt. She had to run to the front of the group in fear. But she was also afraid to go to the front because a monster might come towards her from the darkness. If everyone turned around and ran back together, she would become the last one from the first one...
Later, Wu Ying threatened her, "Actually, the person in the middle is the worst off. If a man-eating creature comes, and the one in front walks too fast and hasn't done the preparations yet, and the ones behind can't catch up, and the people in the middle are densely packed, they can pounce on it accurately, every time they pounce, they can hit it accurately."