She hadn’t slept well the night before last, so the next day she couldn’t get out of bed. Close to noon, she was still woken up by the doorbell downstairs. Fu Xueli got up to find clothes, her right eyelid twitching non-stop. She thought something unlucky was bound to happen. After packing a few clothes and throwing them in her suitcase, she discovered her ID card was missing.

What the hell.

She anxiously jumped out of bed, opened the door, and shouted from the second floor, “Aunt Qi, I can’t find my ID card. Have you seen it? I have to catch a flight this afternoon.”

“Where did you put it?” Aunt Qi set down the groceries she’d bought, wiped her hands, muttering, “So careless. I’ll help you look for it. In this freezing weather, wearing so little, you’ll catch a cold sooner or later.”

Leaning on the staircase railing, Fu Xueli called Tang Xin again. When the call connected but before the other side could speak, she said directly, “I can’t find my ID card. I can’t make it back for a while. Is there anything urgent?”

As expected, she got scolded by Tang Xin. “Why do you have so many problems? You’re causing trouble right from the start. There’s an interview tomorrow. I don’t care—go to the airport and get a temporary replacement. Crawl back here if you have to!”

Then she hung up.

After lunch, Aunt Qi finally found the ID card. In the afternoon, Fu Chenglin had nothing to do, so he happened to have time to drive her to the airport.

As soon as they went out, Fu Xueli was hit in the face by wind and rain. She pulled her coat tighter, and her right eyelid twitched again.

Fu Chenglin stuck his head out. “Stand still there. I’ll drive the car over.”

The neighboring city was full of wind and rain, dark and oppressive. The sky was a bit too dark. Fu Xueli felt restless. She withdrew her gaze from outside the car. “I feel like today is particularly unlucky. My right eyelid keeps twitching.”

“What does that mean?” Fu Chenglin gripped the steering wheel with one hand and pulled out a cigarette.

“Left eye twitching means fortune, right eye twitching means disaster.”

Fu Chenglin said, “Superstition.” As he spoke, his right hand suddenly jerked the steering wheel as a black Volkswagen beside them swerved past, nearly hitting them. “Holy shit.”

Fu Chenglin broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing Fu Xueli not speaking, he said, “Did you get your mouth blessed or something?”

“So annoying.” Fu Xueli lowered her head to fiddle with her phone. “Don’t bother me for now.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been calling Xu Xingchun’s phone, but he won’t answer. Don’t know what he’s doing.”

“He’s probably busy for the moment.” Fu Chenglin had just been startled. Now he wasn’t even smoking and was driving with full concentration. “You can call him later.”

“I’ve been calling since this morning, couldn’t get through all this time—” Just as she finished speaking, it suddenly showed as connected. Fu Xueli answered joyfully, “Hello? Xu Xingchun!”

There was no sound on the other end at first. After a few seconds, someone responded to her, “Yeah, yeah.”

Fu Xueli looked down at the name displayed, then put the phone back to her ear. “Who are you? Where’s Xu Xingchun? Why is his phone in your hands?”

“I’m his friend. Brother Chun drank too much at noon and is sleeping right now…”

“Then have him call me when he wakes up, okay?”

“……”

Both were silent for a moment. Fu Xueli suddenly asked, “What really happened to him? Did something happen?”

After hanging up, Fu Xueli completely panicked. Fu Chenglin made phone calls to have people handle the procedures. He accompanied her to catch the fastest flight to Dali.

During the two-hour journey, her mind was in chaos. All she kept saying was, “Brother, they only told me that Xu Xingchun is being resuscitated in the hospital… I’m so scared… This big liar…”

Xu Xingchun really was a big liar… How could he do this…

She still had so much to say to him, waiting for him to come back.

By the time they rushed to the place, Xu Xingchun still hadn’t woken up. Several people sat outside. Seeing someone arrive, Ah Si stood up. “Are you… Brother Chun’s family?”

Xu Xingchun lay on the snow-white hospital bed with tubes inserted, completely motionless. The only sound in the room was the beeping from the heart monitor.

He lay there, too still.

So still that Fu Xueli didn’t even dare take a step forward.

People are always like this—some things, once in the mind, can never be forgotten. Like when Xu Xingchun had lain in the hospital to save her, she actually remembered it again.

All along this journey, Fu Xueli had thought about many things, thinking until her head hurt. But now that she was truly in front of him, she felt her mind go completely blank, a chill lodged in her throat.

Her lips trembled slightly. She opened her mouth but couldn’t say a single word. For a moment, she didn’t even know where to put her hands. She weakly supported herself on something nearby.

Even though from the phone call, she had vaguely guessed the extent of his injuries and had mentally prepared herself. But seeing it with her own eyes, Fu Xueli simply couldn’t accept it for the moment, only feeling as if her heart had died along with him.

She turned her head away. Her eyes first reddened around the rims, then she still cried in spite of herself. Her legs went weak, and Fu Chenglin beside her supported her.

Fu Xueli grabbed the doctor nearby, still in a daze. “Doctor, how… when will he wake up?”

Ah Si looked at Fu Xueli, then thought of Xu Xingchun, roughly guessing their relationship. While feeling shocked, his heart also held an indescribable feeling.

When they rushed in, they had just seen the scene of Xu Xingchun lying on the ground. He had already gone into hemorrhagic shock. Someone was stomping hard on his shoulder, the gun in their hand already loaded and aimed—just a few seconds away…

Ah Si smiled bitterly, then felt he couldn’t smile. He walked to Fu Xueli’s side. “This fell out of Brother Chun’s pocket. I guess he was preparing to give it to you.”

Fu Xueli took it in a daze, looking at that ring. She felt tears continuously flowing down her face.

The two of them shouldn’t have ended up like this.

At four in the morning, Xu Xingchun woke up for a while, not very conscious, then fell asleep again. This sleep lasted until the afternoon of the next day.

During this time, several people who looked like leaders came to visit but didn’t stay long before leaving.

Around two or three in the afternoon, the doctor came to make rounds, leaning in to gently call him. Fu Xueli immediately rushed to the bedside.

The moment she saw him open his eyes, she couldn’t hold back anymore and threw herself at the edge of the bed, crying.

The tight string relaxed a bit.

She hadn’t cried so image-lessly in a long time. Even the doctor beside her was caught between laughter and tears, thinking she was afraid, and comforted her, “Nothing serious. As long as he’s awake…”

Xu Xingchun struggled to lift his hand. Fu Xueli immediately grasped it back, not daring to use too much force. She crouched down beside the bed. “Xu Xingchun, does it hurt? Does it hurt…”

“Stop crying.” His throat was like it had been sanded, dry and hoarse.

That evening when he woke, the tube assisting his breathing was removed. But his energy still hadn’t recovered, and the doctor wouldn’t let Fu Xueli stay too long. Before leaving, she quietly leaned close to his ear. “Xu Xingchun, I have enough savings. I don’t need you to make money anymore. Can you promise me you won’t do such dangerous things in the future?”

Unfortunately, before she got a response, she was pulled out of the ward.

Xu Xingchun’s recovery took over half a month. Fu Xueli ignored Tang Xin’s frantic calls and pushed aside all activities to stay by his side, not leaving day or night. Liu Jingbo and his group received the news and rushed from Shencheng to visit him, sighing, “Ah, did Captain Xu offend the gods this year? More than half the time spent lying in hospitals.”

In the evening, Fu Xueli also sent the special assistant away. Only the two of them remained in the ward.

The time they spent together was so scarce. Moments like this were rare.

“What happened here? What’s with your shoulder? It’s still not healed.” Fu Xueli leaned over, carefully pulling open the collar of his hospital gown. A large area of visible redness and swelling, and many small scars on his back.

Xu Xingchun’s skin tone was pale, his blue veins prominent. Such marks were extremely shocking to see.

She used to be keen on asking about his past, but now didn’t quite dare to pursue it. She also vaguely had a premonition that hearing about those past events would make her heart ache.

She wanted to cry again… Fu Xueli felt she was really careless, to think she had never thought to care for him properly before.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” Fu Xueli couldn’t hide her low spirits. “A while ago, my brother told me my uncle was hospitalized for high blood pressure. I felt really uncomfortable. Although our relationship hasn’t been good these past few years, I was still upset, you know? My parents left me very early. Actually, I’m very afraid of something happening to people around me.”

Xu Xingchun leaned against the headboard, looking at Fu Xueli. His heart felt silently squeezed. He had been negligent, not taking good care of her emotions. He sighed, his gaze meeting her eyes. “Once this case is resolved, I’ll apply to the higher-ups.”

She frantically suppressed her urge to cry. “Really…”

“Mm.”

Xu Xingchun embraced her, kissed her face lightly a few times, and asked, “Why so salty?”

Fu Xueli immediately fell silent. After a long while, she muttered, “I just cried!”

The day before discharge was rare good weather. The evening breeze carried warmth, the sunset hung on the horizon. Fu Xueli supported Xu Xingchun as they walked to the park downstairs from the inpatient building.

Holding his hand and walking around, Fu Xueli suddenly said, “I’ll take you to a good place.”

The good place was something she’d discovered a few days ago—the rooftop terrace at the top of the hospital building. There was no railing there. They walked a few steps and stopped. Half the city was spread out below their eyes.

“Xu Xingchun.” Fu Xueli suddenly called his name. “During this time, I’ve been thinking about a lot of things.”

He wore a slightly thin jacket, turned his head somewhat puzzled, and happened to look into her eyes.

The sky’s edge had turned red, the evening breeze lifted her hair.

“Do you know why I like you?”

Seeing Xu Xingchun remain silent, Fu Xueli said earnestly, “Because you’re different from everyone around me.”

These words went through her mind once before she spoke. “These past few years, thinking of you, I’m always both happy and sad.”

Xu Xingchun’s heart softened. He was silent for a while, then turned his head. “Do you feel that being with me is boring?”

“How about this.” She brought her arms together and extended them. “If you don’t believe me, you can handcuff me.”

Xu Xingchun looked at her with amusement.

From the nearby square drifted Zhou Huajian’s song: Love in haste, hate in haste, all past events drift with the wind…

Taking two steps forward, she hugged Xu Xingchun’s waist, rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers disobediently slipping inside. Xu Xingchun just indulged her movements.

Feeling the muscles of his waist and abdomen tense slightly, Fu Xueli sniffled. “When I was little, I used to wonder what freedom was. I didn’t think about anything else, didn’t understand.”

When she was young, she didn’t understand his love.

Really didn’t understand.

Never thought about what it would feel like to lose Xu Xingchun one day.

It was just that one day, when she turned back across the crowd, she could never find Xu Xingchun again.

Then one day, watching the traffic come and go on the roadside, she suddenly missed him so much. She suddenly realized she seemed unable to like anyone else.

Fu Xueli continued, slowly talking to herself, “Then I slowly came to realize that the freedom I thought I wanted, compared to Xu Xingchun, wasn’t that important.”

Forehead against hers, nose tip too. Xu Xingchun turned his head, kissed her lips, then pulled back, his voice severely hoarse. “Wait a minute, Fu Xueli. Wait a bit. If you keep talking, I might not be able to be discharged tomorrow.”

Her heart pounded. Fine beads of sweat emerged densely. She suddenly looked up at his face, so close at hand. Fu Xueli’s hand trembled slightly as she took out her phone.

Her fingertips pressed the screen a few times. After a black screen for a few seconds, a clock appeared in the center. She placed it before his eyes. “Xu Xingchun, watch carefully.”

The instant the words fell, the clock’s second hand and hour hand began rapidly moving backward.

Time also followed, bit by bit beginning to go back, continuing backward.

Finally, it stopped.

Xu Xingchun had already realized something, yet couldn’t make a sound. His hand tightened slightly, then released.

Actually, Fu Xueli was also a complete mess, her mind muddled and confused. She didn’t know if what she was doing was right, whether it was too hasty. But her heart also felt that she had to do this now, so she wouldn’t regret it later.

“Do you… still remember this day?” Fu Xueli’s hand trembled, then she took out that ring and handed it to Xu Xingchun. “Ten years ago, you once asked me if I could marry you.”

She used almost all her strength, her eyelashes a bit wet. “Now, can you ask that question again?”

With almost no hesitation, Xu Xingchun grasped the back of her neck, pulling her entirely into his embrace. Just holding her quietly like this.

The wind by their ears seemed to still. Fu Xueli heard him ask, “Fu Xueli, shall we get married? Let’s be buried together in the future.”

If there hadn’t been that midsummer, Xu Xingchun’s indifferent and calm thirteen years old, he wouldn’t have met that bad yet beautiful girl.

In the small alley covered with vine leaves, a few lovely morning glories bloomed. The sun was strong. He had a cigarette in his mouth when she blocked his path. “Xu Xingchun, guess what I’m doing.”

Fu Xueli at that time was a bad student not accepted by teachers.

Wearing not-quite-white canvas shoes, a blue short skirt, beautiful smooth long curly black hair, doll-like big eyes, long eyelashes. Without waiting for his answer, she said with a smile, “I’m waiting for the wind.”

Roadside were trembling dense tree shadows. He felt her fingers touch the base of his ear. The instant her flower-like lips pressed over, the wind blew past. Xu Xingchun was burned by the temperature of her breath, then heard the whisper he could never forget for his entire life.

-I’m waiting for the wind.

-Waiting for the wind to kiss you passionately.

END