Chen An didn’t receive a timely reply from Chen Xiaomu. With over an hour until his next meeting, he asked Tang Xin how the jewelry store where she’d shopped last time was, and whether they sold diamond rings.

Tang Xin nodded like a pecking chicken, saying if he was busy, he didn’t need to go there personally—they could deliver.

Chen An said: “I’ll go browse.”

Tang Xin then very thoughtfully called that store, having them prepare as much inventory as possible to avoid the boss making two trips.

The shop remembered the card Tang Xin had swiped last time had a centurion portrait on it. Before Chen An’s arrival, they urgently brought all the brand’s treasured pieces to the store and also had their best jewelry designer wait in the shop—truly making comprehensive preparations.

Chen An received excessive courtesy from the staff. His front foot barely entered before his back foot was invited into the VIP reception room. Several salespeople wearing gloves came in one after another, presenting dazzling, brilliant jewels for him to choose from.

One or two of them were about the same size as the pigeon egg Tang Wei wore in “Lust, Caution.”

Chen An recalled how Cheng Lele had nearly fainted from anger upon receiving the bag. He didn’t quite dare buy these luxury items, fearing that before the proposal succeeded, she would faint first. Other people fainted from happiness; she would faint from anger.

“Do you have anything more low-key, the kind that doesn’t look very expensive?”

The salesperson immediately presented several options, but Chen An still felt they were a bit exaggerated. Saying “Let me look outside,” he went to browse by the counter, finally settling on a pair of rings decorated with just a few small diamonds and a simple, elegant design.

The store manager had made such a big production—how could they accept a transaction of just twenty or thirty thousand? From the side, they kept hinting: “Mr. Chen, a woman only gets married once. If you buy something too mass-market and cheap, your wife will have opinions. Even Miss Zhang Yuqi says small diamonds aren’t valuable. If it’s for a proposal, the higher the carat count, the higher the success rate.”

Chen An thought, the woman I love is truly different from others. Unmoved, he paid.

Back in the car, he stared at the shopping bag in a daze for a while. Since he was sixteen or seventeen, he’d been thinking about how to propose to Cheng Lele, still without an ideal answer. Cheng Lele was so smooth at saying sweet things and creating romance. In this aspect, Chen An felt inferior. Perhaps he should have a planning company design it for him, but that seemed like a pay-to-win player buying items to cheat in a game…

On the other end, after Cheng Lele finished briefly exchanging WeChat messages with Chen Xiaomu, she left the office to see the person who’d come looking for her.

She hadn’t expected an uninvited guest.

Tong Zhe’s hair was slightly long. Tall and thin, he hunched his back, wearing a thin black cotton jacket, carrying an old denim backpack, looking like those solitary, shabbily dressed antisocial students you’d see on campus. He stood at the customer service center entrance. Seeing Cheng Lele come out, he instinctively tightened his backpack straps and called out somewhat timidly: “Sister Cindy.”

When Cheng Lele had first arrived in Taixi, Tong Zhe had called her many times, all of which she’d refused to answer. Later he stopped bothering her. Cheng Lele had forgotten about this person. She hadn’t expected that after so long, he would actually run to Taixi to see her.

Cheng Lele didn’t really want to reminisce with Tong Zhe, but when she walked up to him, feeling the gurgling cold air still rising from his clothes, her heart softened a bit.

Today the whole province had cooled down, with a feels-like temperature below zero. Tong Zhe was wearing far too little.

“I resigned.” Upon meeting, Tong Zhe launched right in with this statement.

“What?” Cheng Lele was quite surprised. Back then, Tong Zhe had been willing to distort the truth and frame her unjustly to keep his job. Now that Huang Tiangou had left, he’d actually thrown away the rice bowl he’d worked so hard to keep.

Cheng Lele looked at him with a bit of a headache: “Why are you looking for me after resigning?”

“Sister Cindy, you were the only person in the whole company who was good to me. When things happened, only you were willing to help me, but I was ungrateful and caused you to suffer unjust wrongs. I’m a heartless, disloyal petty person. It’s what I deserve that you won’t acknowledge me. But it really wasn’t easy for me. You know my situation—I had no choice at the time. I needed to survive…”

Tong Zhe’s eyes were large, his eye sockets deep-set. Because he was overly agitated, when he spoke his eyeballs bulged, making him seem somewhat neurotic.

Cheng Lele sighed slightly. Tong Zhe’s family circumstances were poor. His parents were farmers in the deep mountains who faced the yellow earth with their backs to the sky. They’d pooled all family resources to send him to university, relying on student aid to complete his degree. After graduation, Tong Zhe not only had to repay loans but also send money home to support several younger siblings. So he normally scrimped and saved, disliked socializing, to avoid all unnecessary spending situations.

He lived very hard, very difficult, but Cheng Lele had never pitied him. Because she felt that everyone who persevered in adversity and lived righteously and bravely by their own hands deserved respect, not others’ sympathy.

Nor had she been particularly good to Tong Zhe. Honestly, she herself was like a clay Buddha crossing a river—how could she have the spare energy to spread love? At most, when occasionally improving her meals, she’d share a little food with Tong Zhe. That was all, not worth mentioning.

As for when Huang Tiangou was randomly attacking people and she stood up to help—that was just out of basic human decency. Later refusing to answer his calls was just feeling disappointed in this person. She hadn’t secretly cursed him as ungrateful or heartless.

It wasn’t that she was saintly or magnanimous, but hatred also consumed energy. If she dwelled on every not-so-beautiful thing, her heart would have enlarged long ago. Could she still live her life?

She hadn’t expected that while she, the victim, hadn’t dwelt on it, Tong Zhe, who’d done bad things, had nearly worried himself sick.

A theater let out. The lobby instantly filled with many people.

A big man nearly six feet tall hanging tears was too conspicuous. Cheng Lele frowned and said: “Come with me to the office. Drink some hot water to warm up first.”

Tong Zhe looked up, like an abandoned child receiving his mother’s care again. He fiercely wiped his face and nodded heavily.

Entering the office, Cheng Lele poured water for Tong Zhe.

Tong Zhe stood stiffly against the wall. Cheng Lele handed over the water: “Sit. Why are you standing?”

Tong Zhe took it and, not caring if it was hot, drank it all in one gulp.

Cheng Lele asked: “Want more?”

Tong Zhe licked his lips: “No need.” After drinking water, his tone was a bit calmer: “Sister Cindy, after you left, I didn’t have it good at the company either. Everyone treated me like a transparent person. No matter what I did, nobody paid attention to me. I felt like a ghost floating in the air. Really, every day I lived worse than death. The worse off I was, the more I could recall how good you were to me. I wronged you. Now Old Yellow Dog is gone, I’ve also resigned. We’ve both received our due punishment. Can you forgive me?”

This really didn’t warrant reaching this point, but Cheng Lele didn’t want to entangle in explanations. She simply said: “I forgive you.”

Tong Zhe hadn’t expected Cheng Lele to forgive him so quickly and seemed to scrutinize her in disbelief.

Cheng Lele smiled: “It’s true, I don’t blame you. As the saying goes, fortune and misfortune depend on each other. If that incident hadn’t happened, I might not have gotten to work in Taixi. I’m living much more comfortably here than at headquarters. Tong Zhe, you should also turn the page. Let’s both look forward, okay?”

“Mm.” Tong Zhe seemed to have gotten the answer he most wanted and finally showed a satisfied smile. Tong Zhe’s complexion was pale, and due to long-term malnutrition, he looked somewhat sickly. When he smiled, it didn’t make people feel warm but rather gave them chills.

Cheng Lele asked: “Now that you’ve resigned, what are your plans going forward?”

Tong Zhe hurriedly asked: “Sister Cindy, it’s almost the end of the year. You must be very busy, right? Do you need help? I can do anything…”

Cheng Lele heard Tong Zhe’s intention and refused straightforwardly: “Tong Zhe, you’re a top student. The world is vast—it’s all yours to go to. Why demean yourself working as a server in a small county cinema? You don’t owe me, and I don’t need you here to atone. Today we’ve spoken openly. You should let go of your hang-ups, adjust your state, and go back to Beijing to find a proper job, okay?”

Tong Zhe hung his head in silence. His long bangs covered his eyes. Cheng Lele couldn’t make out his expression.

After a long silence, Tong Zhe suddenly said: “You actually look down on me in your heart, don’t you?”

Cheng Lele felt that whole pile of words had been said in vain. With a headache, she said: “I don’t look down on you, nor do I particularly look up to you.” Cheng Lele walked a step or two, helplessly rubbing her temples. “Tong Zhe, how others see you isn’t important. What’s important is how you see yourself. You’ve studied and ventured in society—you’re an adult. I’ve said all I can. Don’t make the scene too awkward. Part on good terms, okay?”

Tong Zhe said nothing, sitting there blankly.

The phone rang. It was Chen An calling to check in. He asked Cheng Lele what she planned to eat for dinner. Cheng Lele, given there was still someone in the office, lowered her voice: “Haven’t eaten yet.”

After a while: “I’ll just eat something.” “Mm, I know.” “Little Brother, you’re a bit naggy. I’m hanging up.” “There’s someone here. Give me a break.”

Her tone was very soft and gentle, slippery, as if without applying some force it would slip away. It reminded Tong Zhe of the first time in his university materials class when he’d touched silk—pale pink, exquisitely patterned, beautiful, high-class, completely incompatible with his world.

He suddenly awakened from his silence: “I’m sorry, Sister Cindy. Coming here this time was rash of me. Regardless, I thank you for standing up for me back then.” Then he stood up, extending his right hand, “Farewell.”

Cheng Lele secretly breathed a sigh of relief, extending her hand to shake back: “Farewell. I wish you all the best.”

Cheng Lele only treated this brief encounter with Tong Zhe as a small episode, like a tiny ripple emerging in a life like rivers and seas that didn’t draw her attention. After seeing Tong Zhe off, she turned and threw herself into preparations for Christmas Eve.