Yu Jiuqi was very familiar with all the restaurants and dining bars in Shicheng, large and small. To what extent? Whenever people around her were undecided about where to go, the first thing they’d think of was to ask Xiao Jiu. She could recommend several places based on their needs, rarely resulting in disappointments.

It wasn’t that she was interested in food or restaurant exploring. On one hand, it was work-related—besides sitting at the counter, she had also begun handling commercial loan business, where food service merchants were one of the most important customer groups, requiring precise development and regular maintenance.

On the other hand, it was because Wen Wen liked trying new things and had picky tastes. She didn’t like going to places full of smoke and miasma or reeking of alcohol and indulgence. She also didn’t like eating heavily oiled and sauced dishes or calorie bombs. So Xiao Jiu would regularly scout out some distinctive restaurants that could always surprise and delight her.

She often felt that if she could serve Wen Wen well, nothing could stump her. That was until Sun Xi asked on WeChat: **[Where should we meet?]** Yu Jiuqi buried her head in research for a full half hour, scrolling through her phone until it was burning hot, yet still couldn’t find a suitable place to meet him.

Since that last meal they’d had in Beijing—that astronomically priced fried rice that ended unhappily—calculating it now, Yu Jiuqi realized they hadn’t spent time alone together for over three years.

Not long, yet not short either. Three years was enough to change a person’s state of mind, yet unable to bridge even slightly the long-standing abyss between them.

After her phone’s temperature cooled down, Yu Jiuqi sent him back: **[Want to eat strawberries?]**

Sun Xi sat in the car, the heating making his cheeks somewhat flushed. He stared at that sentence for a while before replying: **[You decide.]**

Soon Yu Jiuqi sent him an address, saying: **[Let’s meet there then. I’ll arrive in about an hour and a half.]**

Sun Xi’s finger hovered hesitantly over the text box before saying: **[Okay.]**

After exiting WeChat, he searched the navigation. That address was only a forty-minute drive from him, so he didn’t rush to leave. He clicked open the destination introduction and scrolled through, then confirmed it repeatedly, unable to help but give a derisive laugh.

It was a remote, desolate, overwhelmingly negative-reviewed outdoor strawberry picking garden with only two stars.

Even under the first negative review was a spectacular exchange.

A customer gave it one star, saying: “Everyone avoid this place. The plants are wilted and listless, the strawberries aren’t even as big as the cherries my grandma grows. The owner is short but extremely rude. Whoever goes is a sucker.”

Below was the owner’s reply: “Who’s short? You weigh over two hundred jin and insisted on eating your fill in my garden before leaving. What, I can’t even scold you?”

That customer replied again: “Still scolding me? Why don’t you hit me then? Look how capable you are!”

The owner immediately chased with: “Come here, come here right now, and see if I hit you or not!”

Sun Xi hadn’t directly experienced this kind of bold and fierce expression style unique to his hometown for many years. He couldn’t call it endearing, nor did it feel uncomfortable—just slightly unfamiliar.

He arrived at the picking garden half an hour early, spending some time making a judgment about that exchange—partly accurate, partly somewhat exaggerated.

The owner was indeed a cold and sarcastic short middle-aged person, but the strawberries weren’t as miserable as described in the reviews. With a glance, you could still find several red and white fruits among the uneven green leaves. Though they didn’t look great, they were proportional to the relatively low prices.

Perhaps what she valued most was how desolate and deserted this place was, with no people.

Yu Jiuqi arrived right on time. She got out of a taxi, walked around the rear of the car toward the entrance lobby of the picking garden. Sun Xi stood outside the window of the lobby smoking, almost not recognizing her.

She wore a very thick white long down jacket, snow boots, a knit cap, with a tender yellow scarf wound twice around her neck. She wore a large mask, her entire body only revealing those pair of bright almond eyes. She glanced faintly at Sun Xi and went to speak with the short owner sitting at the cash register.

At this moment the wind had stopped. Though the air was dry and cold, the afternoon sunlight remained. Sun Xi didn’t think she was dressed like this simply because she was cold. Her furtive appearance actually quite openly conveyed some signals to him.

Sun Xi smoked waiting for her. Somehow, he suddenly remembered that New Year’s Eve after they’d reunited in Beijing.

Though Beijing’s deep winter wasn’t as frightening as the Northeast’s, the nighttime temperature was also below negative ten degrees. They fooled around beneath the Place shopping area with the mass of people, yet she wore only a gray lambswool coat over a black knit midi skirt and cropped top set, even faintly revealing her waistline when jumping.

Sun Xi walked behind her, asking her, are you cold?

At that time she lightly turned back, delicate light makeup on her face, the corners of her eyes slightly upturned. She looked at him for a while, as if thinking about something, then listening to the New Year’s bells, asked him another question.

She said: “Sun Xi, I forgot—which New Year’s is this that we’re celebrating together?”

…

“Sun Xi?”

Sun Xi suddenly froze for a moment, snapped back to reality and stubbed out the cigarette, looking toward the bundled-up figure before him holding two plastic baskets, frowning inquiringly—meaning what did you just say?

“I said let’s go, pick strawberries.” Yu Jiuqi simply repeated, walking straight ahead.

The picking garden had four strawberry greenhouses in total, almost all empty. Yet Yu Jiuqi directly led him to the innermost one. She pushed open the low plastic door of the warm greenhouse, walked in, handed Sun Xi a plastic basket, then took off her mask and loosened her scarf.

Outside, dripping water turned to ice, dry and biting. Inside the greenhouse was a fresh smell mixing damp earth and fruits and vegetables. Combined with the spacious yet stuffy environment, there was a sense of vacuum isolation from the world, illusory and ethereal, even making spoken words echo and seem much lighter.

Her face was bare, the temperature difference between cold and hot adding some red to her fair skin—not much, just enough to dilute and lighten those few fine freckles on her cheeks. She raised her hand to adjust the hair on her forehead, curved the corners of her mouth, her gaze and tone both polite: “Pick whatever you want. Put them in the basket when done, then go outside to weigh them.”

Sun Xi took that water-pink worn-out old basket but didn’t move, only asking two questions: “You’ve been here before?”

“No, first time.”

“You like eating strawberries now?”

“It’s okay.”

He said nothing more.

Yu Jiuqi walked on the narrow path in the middle, bending down to pick two strawberries. Neither was small, but one was red and white, not fully ripe, while the other was stained with wet mud and somewhat rotten. It was quiet all around. She wanted to take the opportunity to tell him tips for picking strawberries to break the awkwardness. Looking up, she saw his long arms and legs sitting on a small plastic chair at the edge of the field, elbows propped on his knees, head tilted slightly looking toward the outside of the plastic greenhouse.

She didn’t know what he was thinking, but Xiao Jiu was very certain that just like many times over many years, he was using a provocatively silent aloofness to express dissatisfaction or cover up unwillingness.

Yu Jiuqi regretted not lying just now—she should have said she came to this lousy picking garden often and loved eating these half-ripe fruits. Lying and covering lies, such small matters—shouldn’t she have already mastered them long ago?

At least making the atmosphere more harmonious would let her continue to the real purpose of asking him here. Why not keep up the act?

Yu Jiuqi lowered her head continuing to search for strawberries, her gaze falling on the sparse greenhouse plants, yet her whole body emanated invisible tentacles keenly stabbing toward his direction. Then as if casually making small talk, she slowly began speaking, coaxing and guiding.

“Is your cold better?”

After patiently waiting a while, he finally hummed in response.

“You’ve been back for about a week, right?”

“About that.”

“What about the hotel side?”

“Chen Mulin is managing it for now.” His tone was calm. “I asked him for annual leave, said I was going home.”

Yu Jiuqi nodded, asking again: “Are you two still each managing one location?”

“Mm.”

“You’re still at the Haidian one?”

“Mm.”

“It must be very busy now. Can Chen Mulin handle it?” She laughed awkwardly, randomly picking a half-ripe one. “It’s year-end, tourist season, various holidays piled up. My dad’s bathhouse is packed full every day. Hotels must be even busier, haha.”

Sun Xi probably found her laughter grating. He turned to look at her without speaking.

“So are you planning to spend New Year’s in Shicheng?”

Sun Xi still didn’t speak.

“Ah… staying to celebrate New Year would be nice too… after all you haven’t been back in so many years…”

“I’m leaving soon.” He suddenly interrupted her, then crisply added, “Don’t worry.”

Yu Jiuqi withdrew her tentacles, sensitively standing up, meeting his burning gaze directly: “That’s not what I meant…”

“Can you stop pretending?”

“What?”

“You don’t need to be like this with me, Yu Jiuqi.” He squinted, looking at her darkly. “If you have something to say, just say it directly.”

Yu Jiuqi turned to look at the other side, heavily and slowly sighing softly. Suddenly a wave of sadness hit, yet she couldn’t say clearly for whom she felt sad. She looked toward the murky transparent plastic greenhouse exterior. The sky was darker than before. Time pushed forward moment by moment, bright then dark, dark then bright. Everything will pass, Xiao Jiu thought.

So she turned back, lowering her eyes slightly to look at Sun Xi sitting on the small plastic chair, only saying: “You should be able to guess that it was my mom who had Fu’an Mall sue your uncle, right? My mom and Little Boss Fu, oh, Little Boss Fu is the one from that day at the cold noodle restaurant…”

“I know who he is.”

Yu Jiuqi continued: “Then do you know when and why my mom suddenly decided to sue your uncle?”

Sun Xi stared tightly at Xiao Jiu, his gaze bright: “Because of me?”

“Yes, because you came back.”

At noon in Yu Kaixuan’s office, he told Xiao Jiu he had just called Wen Wen. After beating around the bush for ages, he finally figured out that Wen Wen was leaving no room for survival precisely because Sun Xi had returned. If Sun Xi hadn’t come back to handle this matter, she hadn’t intended to make things big.

Wen Wen’s exact words were: “If he doesn’t come back I’d find it boring. To fight you need to find a cricket with hard wings to fight with, right? How interesting.”

Xiao Jiu had wanted to ask Yu Kaixuan another question then but weighed it and didn’t speak it, only vaguely promising him she wouldn’t cause more trouble. Turning around, she still messaged Sun Xi to arrange a meeting.

She didn’t think she was causing trouble. On the contrary, like most people, she hoped this grudge would end here. And she was clear that no one was more suitable than her to discuss this matter. Even if sneaking around, she could handle things well.

After concisely explaining everything she knew, she looked at Sun Xi only two steps away in the plastic greenhouse, waiting for his reaction.

He first fell silent for a while, seemingly unsurprised: “So as long as I leave, she’ll let my uncle go?”

This question was also the sentence Yu Jiuqi hadn’t spoken in her father’s office.

She looked at him, tacitly agreeing.

Sun Xi still sat on that somewhat comical small plastic stool, but his posture was rigid, his whole body tensed with force, looking extremely awkward. He remained awkwardly stiff for a while longer, staring at Xiao Jiu with obscure meaning. As the sky gradually darkened, his gaze was especially bright.

“You went through all this trouble just to tell me these things.” He said in a suppressed voice. “Just to make me leave?”

Yu Jiuqi never avoided his gaze, standing there holding a plastic basket with only a few strawberries, saying: “Yes.”

“Fine, anything else?”

“No.”

“Then I’m leaving.”

Sun Xi suddenly stood up, pushed open the low plastic door beside him, bent and strode out with big steps. The door swung back, swaying twice before closing.

Yu Jiuqi gently exhaled, stood in place for a while, took out her phone to check the time, then slowly walked over to pick up Sun Xi’s empty basket, preparing to go weigh these few strawberries with the owner. Though they didn’t look tasty and she didn’t like strawberries at all, the picking garden’s rules still had to be followed.

But suddenly, the door was pushed open again. She thought it was the owner seeing Sun Xi leave early and coming to check, worried they’d skip payment or something. Just about to turn and explain, she froze, seeing those wolf-like eyes appear before her again.

Sun Xi took two rough breaths, seemingly helpless: “Let me take you back first.”

“Ah, no need. I’ll take a taxi.” Xiao Jiu said politely.

“It’s too remote here, hard to get a taxi.”

“I’ve arranged it already.” Xiao Jiu dodged, not looking at him. “The same taxi I came in—I arranged with him to pick me up in an hour. It’s about time.”

The air instantly quieted, not even breathing could be heard. Then suddenly, a cold laugh broke the silence. Then as if finally unable to bear it, he stood outside the door, looking down at her from above, voice laced with sarcasm as he suppressed it and rambled through a speech.

“You really are thoroughly thoughtful. Aren’t you tired, Yu Jiuqi? You arranged to meet me in this deserted wilderness, covered up tightly, pretending to pick fruit, already arranged the return car, even timed it—just one hour. Ridiculous. Aren’t you tired?”

“You’re doing all this just to make me leave, right? Then just message me to get lost like before!”

“After all these years, none of them know you and I were together—more than once.”

“Oh right, almost forgot—who was it that called me back that night?”

Yu Jiuqi had intended to keep her head down and endure it, feeling at fault, not talking back. Suddenly provoked, she looked sharply at him: “Didn’t I explain that call? I said I drank too much, wasn’t clear-headed, was fooling around! How else do you want me to explain!”

Sun Xi stepped closer: “When fooling around you call people asking to date? To get back together?”

Yu Jiuqi didn’t dodge: “I knew you wouldn’t agree.”

Sun Xi stared at her tightly: “What if I did agree?”

Yu Jiuqi also didn’t give an inch: “Are you saying you changed your mind?”

He looked at her, something dark flashing through his eyes, unconsciously clenching his fists: “Can’t I change my mind? What makes you think I’d still wait for you? One phone call from you and I have to come back—on what basis?”

She lowered her head, as if not daring to look at him, saying coldly in a low voice: “Fine, I was wrong. I’m sorry, okay?”

“Did I ask you to apologize?”

“Didn’t I also lend you money?”

Yu Jiuqi suddenly raised her eyes, a forest of coldness in them. “I don’t want the money anymore, okay? Can you stop talking, Sun Xi!”

Sun Xi looked at her once, turned and left, never coming back again.

…

Yu Jiuqi wasn’t worried about anything. She knew Sun Xi wasn’t truly angry. She’d seen him truly enraged—this was nowhere near one-tenth of that.

She went alone to settle the bill simply, not spending much. Then checking the time, the taxi should arrive soon. She stood at the entrance of the picking garden waiting. Winter days in the north darkened early. The sky had already grown dark now. She chose to stand under a streetlight, which would be more conspicuous.

At the agreed time, the taxi didn’t come. Xiao Jiu stamped her feet, rubbed her hands to warm them. When leaving she’d felt overdressed, but now was grateful that her guilty conscience had made her bundle up so thoroughly. Life is always like this, she suddenly reflected—even the worst decisions have their reasons when looking back.

After twenty minutes passed, the taxi still hadn’t come. She stood in the middle of the deserted highway, behind her the picking garden with lights already out, no bright lights left or right, passing vehicles all speeding by urgently.

Her heart panicked a bit, her face also frozen and painfully cold.

Yu Jiuqi wound the scarf around once more, covering most of her face, then took out her phone, found the taxi driver’s number she’d saved earlier and dialed. After the other party answered, he apologized repeatedly, saying the roads were slippery and he’d just collided with a private car in the city center. He was now at the traffic police station arguing. He could find a colleague to pick her up, but she’d have to wait another half hour.

Her phone sounded an alarm. Xiao Jiu picked it up to look—only ten percent battery left.

A huge wave of sorrow suddenly surged over her, deflating her like she’d lost all energy. It wasn’t about worrying for her safety, but a fear of being abandoned that made her utterly desperate.

Suddenly, without warning, two beams of glaring light lit up from a gravel path on the right, pouring toward her like a flood, instantly illuminating a small patch of heaven and earth. Like a miracle in a desperate place, extremely unreal, yet it also startled her.

After steadying herself, she covered her eyes and looked over. They were two car high beams. Looking more carefully, she recognized both the model and license plate.

Almost without hesitation, she walked toward that Beijing-plated Audi SUV.

Sun Xi unlocked the car when she walked up close. Yu Jiuqi directly opened the rear door, sitting diagonally behind him.

The overwhelming cold air rolled into the car with her. She asked nothing, so Sun Xi said nothing either, turned up the heat, and drove directly back to the city center.

Silent for a long time, when passing a gas station, he finally spoke. But all the sharpness from the picking garden was completely gone, restored to his usual calm, rational, coldness, sparing with words and concise.

He said: “Don’t worry, I’m leaving.”

Then added: “Just like nine years ago.”

Yu Jiuqi sat in back, looking out the window: “Okay.”

“Also.” He glanced at the rearview mirror, eyes pressed downward. “If a man likes you, he won’t borrow money from you.”

He emphasized again: “A man who likes you won’t borrow money from you. Do you understand?”

Yu Jiuqi suddenly wanted very much to cry, saying softly: “I know.”