Zeng Li hid quietly in her living room, her mother's voice still echoing in her ears, thinking of the past with Yu Yi, her tears couldn't stop flowing.

She doesn't even know whether her stubbornness towards her first love so far is her reluctance to Yi, or her reluctance to herself in those years.

The place on her cheeks that had been wet with tears was dry and sore, so she had no choice but to get up slowly and go to the toilet to wash her face with cold water. When she raised her head and looked in the mirror, she found that her lower lip was smeared with scarlet. She opened her mouth with her hand, as if her lip was broken by the wire of the braces when she was beaten just now. When she moved, the wound opened again, bloodshot. Zeng Li licked it, pursed his lips, spit out a little with his saliva, and ignored it.

Zeng Li returned to the living room, locked the door from the inside, then took out the cigarette and lighter from the drawer, sat back on the sofa and lit the fire to smoke. She was a little tired from crying, and leaned her back gently on the sofa.

At this time, her mind became very quiet and blank. Occasionally, she could hear the crying of the neighbour's children downstairs, and the mechanically repeated cries from the horns of the carts pushed by vendors outside the window.

After a long time, she remembered that her bicycle was still at the gate of the community. When she met Ai Jing Chu just now, she was afraid of delaying his time, so she put it directly outside the security room. If she didn't get it back, she might lose it.

Thinking of this, she had to get up and pick up the key to go out.

It was very late, and the old people and children who took a walk after dinner almost all returned home, but her red bicycle was still parked alone. As soon as she approached, the security guard came out of the sentry box immediately.

"Why did you come here? You just said that you would only stop for a while and come to pick it up after eating, so I asked you to leave it. We are going to handover in a while, so I don't care if you lose it."

Zeng Li cheered up and smiled, and said sorry several times.

She unlocked the bike, pushed up the bike and turned around, walked a few steps and saw Ai Jing Chu not far away.

The street lamps in the community were dim and yellow, and there was only a layer of orange light within a radius of less than one meter under the lamps, and Ai Jingchu was sitting on a wooden chair under the lamps. She passed by him when she first arrived, and didn't notice him because she was so preoccupied with her car.

And he had obviously discovered her a long time ago.

"You..." Zeng Li was stunned, completely unaware of what he was doing sitting here.

"I'll watch the bike for you." He stood up, tilted his head, and smiled self-deprecatingly.

She pushes the bike and walked up to him.

"Just now I..." Zeng's mother stopped her with a dark face just now. Zeng Li knew what her mother's expression meant at that time, and was afraid that her mother would make Ai Jing Chu unable to step out in public, so she dragged her away, and hurriedly turned around to say goodbye to Ai Jing Chu quietly, but how should she explain at this moment?

"That person was my mother just now. She told me something urgent, so she hurried home." She lied.

"Yes." Ai Jing Chu replied.

"That's it. Sorry, I didn't have time to introduce you face to face."

She supported the bike, stood in front of him, raised her face and smiled, halfway through the smile, she suddenly remembered her own face, and retracted the expression guiltily.

"What's wrong with your mouth?" Ai Jing Chu noticed something strange.

Zeng Li became embarrassed, lowered his head, not daring to meet his eyes, and only said, "It's okay."

Seeing what else he wanted to ask, Zeng Li quickly changed the subject, "Where was that kid just now?"

Ai Jing Chu looked at her and paused for a moment before answering: "I sent him to the hospital, and I came back to find you after a few words of explanation. Your mobile phone was not working. Later, I saw that your bike was still there. I thought maybe you would come back to pick it up, so I waited for a while."

In fact, he managed to coax the child to go to the hospital before, and asked the nurses he knew to arrange a bed for the child, and told them to keep an eye on him, and then came to Zeng Li again. He could see the way Zeng Li's mother looked at him, and he felt something was wrong when he saw the mother and daughter leaving in a hurry. In addition, Zeng Li's phone wouldn't connect, so he felt uneasy. They visited this neighbourhood just now when they were storing bicycles, but he didn't know which building she lived in. Seeing that her bike hadn't been picked up yet, he simply sat down and waited for more than an hour.

He didn't say much, but just gave a rough outline.

Zeng Li brushed the hair in front of his forehead to block his sight, pondered for a while, and suddenly said, "Since you're here, why don't you come to my house?"

If it were before, she would definitely not have said this invitation, but Mama Zeng's words were like a shackle, and the heavier it was, the more she wanted to resist.

Ai Jing Chu was startled, and then replied: "Okay."

So, she pushed the cart, and he walked on one side, walking side by side. Once downstairs, she opened the unit door. Ai Jing Chu carried the bike upstairs for her, and she didn't refuse too much.

The hallway was pitch black.

At the beginning of the construction of the community, due to some problems in the procedures, the owners have not obtained the real estate certificate and the land certificate. Many owners have nowhere to vent their anger and simply refuse to pay the property fee. The property management company often uses the excuse of not being able to make ends meet, and the service is even worse. Street lights are not bright.

When she first rented the house here, she also considered that the location was close to the unit and the rent was cheap.

There were no lights on all the way upstairs, she walked in front, and he followed behind with the car. She's familiar with it, and she turned around from time to time to remind him: "Be careful where you step."

The bicycle was unsinkable, but the corridor was pitch black and there were many sundries. It was difficult to turn around when moving, so he was more cautious and counted the steps silently in his heart.

When they reached the third floor, Zeng Li stomped her feet vigorously twice, and the dim yellow light on the fourth floor was turned on, and the light came through from the middle, one floor apart, faint and hazy, but still able to outline the outline of the stairs.

Zeng Li looked back at Ai Jing Chu, but unexpectedly Ai Jing Chu just raised his head, and she hurriedly said, "There is still one more floor to go."

Ai Jing Chu nodded.

Climbing to the fourth floor, Zeng Li stood at the door of her house, regretted the invitation just now.

She felt that her mind was flooded, so she impulsively asked Ai Jing Chu to come to her house for a sit-down. She smoked so much before she came out, the smell of cigarettes in the room must not have dissipated now. But she thought again, it's not that Ai Jing Chu doesn't know that she smokes.

So Zeng Li graciously opened the door and invited him in.

Ai Jing Chu put the bicycle down against the wall and looked around.

The dilapidated house and the corridor outside are obviously carefully remodeled, and the curtains, sofas, and chandeliers are full of the atmosphere of a little woman. On the wrought-iron flower stand under the window is an extremely dense pothos, with branches and leaves spreading almost vertically to the floor like a waterfall. There are a lot of things piled up in the corner, but they are neatly tidied up, but what is incompatible with all this is the residual smoke smell in the room.

Zeng Li yelled in the kitchen: "Sit down, I'll pour you water."

Ai Jing Chu didn't answer, so he sat down on the sofa. There were three things on the coffee table in front of him: a pack of women's cigarettes, a lighter, and an ashtray containing four cigarette butts and some ash.

Zeng Li came out with two glasses, and said apologetically, "I don't have tea at home, so we can only drink water."

The light in the living room was so bright that Ai Jing Chu could see her face clearly when she raised her eyes. She had obviously cried, her eye sockets were swollen, and there was a gash on her lower lip, new, broken as if her lip had been knocked against a tooth or an aligner.

After observing in this way, he turned his attention to her other facial features, and found that her face and nose were slightly swollen, and there were finger prints after careful identification.

Seeing him staring at her, Zeng Li felt a little uncomfortable, and explained, "I touched it by accident."

But he asked, "Did your mother beat you?"

Even if such a question happened between children, it would be difficult to talk about it, let alone two adults. Zeng Li blushed immediately, and quickly replied: "No."

After she denied it, she wanted to argue again, but felt that she was short of words, and all the sentences seemed so pale under his gaze.

"Because of me?" Ai Jing Chu asked.

"No." Zeng Li shook his head.

Ai Jing Chu stared at her without saying a word, not sure whether she believed it or not.

So, Zeng Li said again: "It's really not because of you, really."

She paused, and then said: "We had a fight, and I said something that hurt her, so she..."

In the middle of speaking, for some reason, tears fell, and she wiped them with the back of her hand. Just as she wiped her left eye, the right eye dripped out again. She loved to cry since she was a child, but she seldom shed tears in front of her family and people other than Yu Yi, but Ai Jing Chu seemed to be an exception.

Without saying a word, Ai Jing Chu stood up and took a tissue from the dining table for her.

Zeng Li said: "Sometimes I think my mother must be doing it for my own good. Maybe she is the only one who treats me so well in this world. She remarried again and again to give me the best family conditions. She interfered with my study, love and job search, and it was also for my own good. She must have had a hard life before and was afraid that I would repeat her mistakes.

"However, sometimes I feel that when she did all this, she never asked me if I needed it. She only treated me in the way she liked. Sometimes I also think, if I don't have such a family and parents with such a personality."

He didn't go along with her, nor did he comfort her, he just let her wipe away her tears quietly.

After a while, she calmed down.

"Let's go for a walk," he suggested.

So, she closed the door with him, went downstairs, left the community, and drove.

She didn't ask him where they were going, he just drove the car, and when he reached the river, he stopped the car.

The boats on the river were lit with lights, and the lights flickered and undulated.

The sunroof and side windows of the car were opened, and the night river wind whizzed through the car, blowing Zeng Li's cheeks, making it very cool.

Looking at the dark night in the distance, Ai Jing Chu said after a moment of silence: "There are many things in this world that we can choose and strive for, but there are also many things that we can't do anything about. Family and parents belong to the latter."

After finishing speaking, he paused for a moment, turned his head to look at Zeng Li, and slowly added: "I am a posthumous child."

Zeng Li was a little dazed, and almost didn't immediately realise what the word meant. It took those words to turn around in her mind before she understood the meaning. She was extremely surprised in her heart, but she didn't dare to turn her face to look at him directly, but tried her best to hide her emotions, so as not to reveal the slightest strangeness and hurt him.

Ai Jing Chu cast his eyes on the river bank in front of him calmly, as if he was writing a manuscript, thinking about how to express his experience, his brows frowned slightly and then dispersed.

He said: "When my father was in love with my mother, he took her away because of the family's opposition. Not long after, he died of an accident, and then my mother found out that she was pregnant with a child. After my grandmother found out, he did everything possible to get her to give birth to the child. Later..."

His voice was low, narrating in a deep and colourless manner, as if he was talking about other people's family affairs, or as if he was retelling a story he heard, the summary was so concise and clear, but he stopped at the end.

Zeng Li finally couldn't bear to not look at him.

They were sitting in the car with the engine turned off, and the small light on the roof of the car was not turned on. In such a dark, moonless night, Zeng Li could clearly see the outline of his side face, but could not capture his expression.

He went on to say: "Later, the child was finally born, and both parties took what they needed."

There was no doubt that he was that child. However, he didn't explain what was going on with the "everyone gets what they need" in his mouth.

An unmarried woman was forced to give birth to a posthumous child by her mother-in-law who disliked her.

Zeng Li remembered that after she became a patient of Ai Jing Chu, she met him in the library that morning. He sat reading a book under the sunlight of the glass window. At that time, the words that Ma Yi Yi's mother often praised came to her mind: "How did a mother raise her son so well? It is really a blessing of eight lifetimes of cultivation!"

Now it seems that it is a kind of irony.

He raised his right hand by his side and gently held the steering wheel in front of him.

Zeng Li lowered her eyes and looked at his hands.

She didn't know if the skin on the back of his hand was caused by frequent disinfection and wearing gloves, but it was actually paler than the skin on his face and above his wrist.

Then, that hand loosened again, and instead hung down to hold the gear lever.

For some reason, Zeng Li felt an urge to cover it with her hands and hold it. Just like when he gave her strength, encouraged her, and comforted her over and over again.

"Zeng Li." He called her softly.

She was startled, and suddenly withdrew her almost bewitched mind, and also retracted her hand in midair.

He didn't notice her strangeness, and continued: "I tell you this, not for you to sympathise with me, nor to comfort you with my own experience. I think that a person's life must have different setbacks, pain, sadness, and crying. In the end, we still have to work hard to move forward. Maybe many years later, when we look back, we will find that the things we were obsessed with are actually very insignificant."

Zeng Li remained silent.

Ai Jing Chu said: "I'm actually not suitable to be a teacher, nor to reason with others, so..."

"I understand." Zeng Li replied.

At this time, Ai Jing Chu's phone rang in a hurry, and after he connected, he said a few words in a hurry and hung up.

Zeng Li saw that his complexion was not good, so he couldn't help asking: "What's wrong?"

"The hospital called, but the child ran away." Ai Jingchu replied.

He lit the ignition, ignited the car, and said to Zeng Li, "I'll take you back first."

"No need," Zeng Li hastily stopped, "I'll just take a taxi by myself, it's important." A University Hospital is completely different from her family, it's too troublesome.

Ai Jing Chu looked at his watch, and resolutely vetoed: "No. It's quite remote here, and you are alone. It's so late, I don't worry."

"Then you drive me to the crowded street ahead." Zeng Li said again.

He didn't speak anymore, just driving with his mouth pursed, just when Zeng Li thought he had acquiesced, he heard him say: "Follow me to the hospital first, and I'll take you home later."

"It's really not necessary."

"It won't take me too long, be good," he said.

His last words "be good" made Zeng Li blush instantly, not daring to argue with him anymore. She remembered that he also used this word when he coaxed the child in the evening. Could it be that the orthodontic doctors, because most of the patients they deal with are underage children, would use this kind of trick?

When he arrived at the hospital, because of the emergency, he didn't park the car in the underground garage, but directly outside the outpatient hall, gave Zeng Li a few words, left her the car keys, and hurried upstairs.

The dental hospital of A University was not built together with the affiliated hospital of the headquarters, but was built on another street and became independent. There are not many inpatients in the department of stomatology. There are 12 floors in total. The lower seven floors are the outpatient clinics of various departments of stomatology, and the upper floors are the inpatient department, hospital office and operating room.

Just now Ai Jing Chu temporarily placed the child in the maxillofacial surgery department on the ninth floor. At that time, Ge Yi's students happened to be on duty at night, so he handed the child over to them.

As soon as Ai Jing Chu arrived, the student who was fidgeting at the nurse's station said anxiously: "Professor Ai, I'm sorry, I just went to the toilet, and the child disappeared when I came back."

The nurse also said: "I was sitting here at the time, and I didn't notice when he slipped away."

Ai Jing Chu asked, "What time was it?"

"About half past ten, we will call you as soon as we find out."

Ai Jing Chu nodded, took out the phone to check the call time, wrote it down on a paper, and then asked the students to go to the security department to ask them to adjust the monitoring according to this time.

Ten minutes later, the student called to report that the child had slipped out of the hospital from the surveillance.

Ai Jing Chu was a little frustrated by this result, left the nurse's station and walked to the hall at the end of the corridor and sat down alone.

Blame him for being careless.

He should have inquired about the child's situation before he changed his mind, and then placed him carefully, instead of this, he failed to fulfill one of the coaxing words and threw him in the hospital at will.

At that time, he was so full of thoughts about Zeng Li that he didn't have time to think about it.

Suddenly, the elevator stopped on this floor with a ding. It was already past ten o'clock, and it was time for the inpatient floor to rest. In the empty hall, only the most basic lighting equipment was still on, and the light was a little dim.

So when the elevator door is opened, the inside is brighter than the outside.

Ai Jing Chu was attracted by the sound and light, looked up, and saw Zeng Li walking out from inside.

She sat alone on the chair directly opposite the elevator, and it was clear at a glance.

"What's the matter?" Zeng Li saw Ai Jing Chu and asked, "Did you find him?"

"No."

"There were a few cars leaving just now, and your parking space was blocking the road, so I drove the car to the garage." She hadn't brought her mobile phone with her all this time, so she couldn't contact him, and she was afraid that he wouldn't be able to find the car. Seeing that he hadn't gone downstairs for a long time, she came looking for him.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked again.

"It's been several months since I saw the child last time. He is already so old that he has already passed the best period of correction. His condition is quite serious. He has difficulties in pronunciation and eating, and it may affect his ears." He explained lightly, with regret in his tone.

When he said these words, the elevator door closed again, stopped in place for a short while, and then started to go down again.

Zeng Li frowned, thought for a while and said, "If you want to find him, maybe I can try."

Ai Jing Chu was puzzled.

Zeng Li explained: "I am a moderator of a website, and I have organised some activities to interact with poor children before. When we met that child this afternoon, there were several older children beside him, and one of them looked familiar to me. If these children are really always together, we should be able to find them."

"Thank you." Ai Jing Chu said.

Hearing his words, Zeng Li smiled, "Finally you have the time to thank me."

Ai Jing Chu sneered slightly, but didn't answer.

"However," Zeng Li didn't understand, "the boy I mentioned, he has parents, how could he be with street children?"

"Maybe none of them are orphans."

"Then why..."

"I took over a patient before, and it was the same situation. Some of them were not orphans, but were rented by their parents to other people in the village, and they came to the city to beg for money."

"Rent?" Zeng Li was surprised.

"Some have physical defects, and some have too many children to support. Generally, the rent is calculated on a per capita basis. Some are rented for the whole year, and some are rented for winter and summer vacations, and they go home after school starts."

Zeng Li didn't speak for a long while, before she sighed: "How can there be parents like this, who don't care about raising their children?"

Ai Jing Chu stood up, and was about to turn around and tell her to go, but didn't want to look down and see Zeng Li biting her lip. He was standing and she was sitting, so he could see clearly, so he quickly said softly, "Don't move."

Zeng Li didn't know why, nor what he meant, so she couldn't help being startled.

"Show me." After he finished speaking, he stretched out his hand, supported her chin with his index finger, pressed down slightly with his thumb, and opened her lower lip slightly according to the strength.

The lighting lamp was just above their heads, and Ai Jing Chu's shadow fell on Zeng Li's face, covering most of the light. So, he squatted down, moved closer to each other, and let out the light source.

This time, the "Z" shaped wound was exposed in Ai Jing Chu's sight. Just now, Zeng Li unconsciously bit her lower lip, and her front teeth were biting on the broken wound, so the wound was pulled and split, and bloodshot.

"The aligners tore the skin," he said.

He squatted in front of her, a little lower than Zeng Li who was sitting, but the two were very close. Zeng Li was a little embarrassed, and he was usually closer than this during treatment, but he was wearing gloves, a mask, and a uniform, which was slightly different from the current atmosphere.

Her cheeks were a little hot, but because his hand was still pinching her chin, she didn't dare to turn her face away.

Zeng Li's flushed face made Ai Jing Chu slightly taken aback, only then did he realise that her actions were presumptuous, and at the same time, he also noticed that she really loves to blush.

When she was blushing, her eyes were always drooping, not daring to look at him, her eyelashes fluttered slightly, and a thin layer of blush quickly spread to her face, even the roots of her ears.

So he withdrew his hand.

At the same time, his eyes wandered between her lips for a moment.

She pursed her lower lip uncomfortably.

At this moment, he wanted to kiss her a little bit.

Feel free to move.

He stretched out the retracted hand, held her side face, and quietly closed the distance between them.

He squatted, she sat, her face was higher than his, so he leaned forward, straightened his body, and raised his head slightly.

It's not that Zeng Li didn't have a premonition of what was about to happen, but she didn't dare to move, and she didn't dare to be affectionate, she just stared at him stupidly.

In the past, she just thought that Ai Jing Chu's facial features were very good-looking, but she didn't notice that his eyes were so attractive. At this moment, those eyes were like a pool of slightly rippling lake water, sparkling and crystal clear, making people unable to move their eyes away for a while.

That moment seemed as long as several hours to Zeng Li.

For a moment, she wondered if he was going to kiss her, and then she was shocked by her own thought. She suddenly thought of a sentence, "The princess is sick", maybe it can be applied to herself at this moment.

She often sees these words in forums, and hears Wu Ying say them from time to time. It is usually used to describe women who are difficult to serve and consider themselves noble.

Once she went to the hospital where Wu Ying worked for an electrocardiogram. The doctor was a man who coldly asked her to lift her clothes up above her chest. She gritted her teeth and did it several times but failed. Finally, the doctor said, "It's best to take off your underwear."

This matter has always made Zeng Li brooding.

Later, she went to Wu Ying once, and met the male doctor again in the office of Wu Ying's department. Zeng Li was determined not to come in. Wu Ying was puzzled, Zeng Li had to confess everything, and Wu Ying said: "There are indeed some doctors in this world who are scum, but most of them are very professional. During surgery, intubation, instruments, etc., most of them have to show their breasts. Who cares whether the lying breasts are flat or short? We also have male doctors in obstetrics. However, people look at female patients just like I look at male patients."

So every time she gets along with Ai Jing Chu, she always reminds herself not to think about the other party too complicatedly.

At this moment, in such a late night, in such a silent hospital, Ai Jing Chu's palm was pressing against her face, his palm was so soft, it made people feel like being loved in a trance.

It's a pity that even Yu Yi is not her lover, so how could Ai Jing Chu fall in love with her?

At this moment, the elevator stopped on this floor with another ding, and the student who was called by Ai Jing Chu to check the surveillance came out.

When he got out of the elevator, he looked up and saw Ai Jing Chu's back, and called out, "Professor Ai."

Ai Jing Chu didn't turn back in response, but calmly removed the hand that was on Zeng Li's face, and slowly got up from his side and said, "It's a good thing the braces didn't fall off, otherwise it would be easier to get injured these days." The whole speech and deeds were extremely calm.

Hearing his words, Zeng Li's tense nerves immediately relaxed.

The student said: "He walked out from the main gate, and no one paid attention to the people coming and going."

Ai Jing Chu said "Yes".

The students were a little afraid of him, always feeling that they had made a big mistake.

Zeng Li remembered what he promised Ai Jing Chu, so he hurriedly said to him: "Lend me your phone, I'll make a call, maybe there will be some clues."

She had to ask Ning Feng about this matter. He was one of the planners of the activity on the website last time, so he should know it well. But she didn't remember Ning Feng's number, so she dialed Wu Ying.

Wu Ying picked up the phone, and when she heard Zeng Li's voice, she asked, "Whose phone do you use?"

Zeng Li didn't bother to explain to her, and said directly: "I forgot to bring my mobile phone, give me Ning Feng's number, I need him urgently."

Wu Ying grinned and said "Hey", "You are looking for Ning Feng—"

Zeng Li heard Ma Yi Yi's roar from the receiver: "Ning Feng is playing cards with us!"

"You guys?" The two actually went to play cards together after riding the bike, they developed fast enough.

"That's right, Ma Yi Yi lost badly." Wu Ying smiled.

"You give Ning Feng the phone, I have something to talk to him about."

Unexpectedly, Ma Yiyi intercepted the phone halfway, and shouted at the phone: "Stop talking, you can come directly. Xiaoyu, I can't stand Pan Siyu sitting opposite me, you hurry up and save me. Immediately! Immediately!" Then, she hung up the phone involuntarily.

Pan Siyu was the little brother who clung to Ma Yi every day and persisted.

Zeng Li took Ai Jing Chu's mobile phone and smiled awkwardly at the master and apprentice who were looking at him.

"I have to go there." Zeng Li said.

"I'll see you off." Ai Jingchu replied.

So, the two left the hospital together.

Along the way, Zeng Li told some interesting stories about playing cards with Ma Yiyi, "Others see her as a beautiful woman, and think she must be flirtatious and not easy to mess with. In fact, it's only after getting close to her that I realize that she is honest and easy to bully."

Ai Jing Chu didn't take the initiative to speak, but only responded lightly. Judging from his usual attitude towards people, this can be regarded as enthusiasm, but he seemed vaguely absent-minded.

Zeng Li thought he was thinking about the child, so he didn't care.

As everyone knows, his heart is far from being as peaceful as it appears on the surface.

The coffee shop is very close to A University, but it is separated from the dental hospital by the campus. His car had a pass from A University, and he passed directly through the campus of the school and arrives in a short while.

Zeng Li pointed, "That's where the bright signboard is in front, I'll just get out here."

There is a community on this street, and the parking spaces for owners are tight, so at night, private cars are parked on both sides of the road, squeezing the original tree-lined avenue into a one-way street. His car couldn't turn around, so he could only let her cross the street by herself.

Zeng Li unbuckled her seat belt, said goodbye to Ai Jing Chu, and then opened the door to get out of the car.

Ai Jing Chu watched her quietly from his seat.

Zeng Li walked past his hood, looked left and right, when a battery car happened to pass by, she carefully avoided it, and then walked over there.

The side of the road was full of small cars, one next to the other, and she stood on tiptoe, turned sideways and passed through the gap between the two cars. After she stepped onto the sidewalk opposite, she inadvertently brushed the hair that had slipped to her forehead with her hands, and then walked towards a glass door with a dark green lattice frame.

Ai Jing Chu saw her push open the door and walk in before re-igniting the engine.

Inadvertently, he glanced at the building again.

A small five-story building, below which are small shops. Zeng Li and the others rented two of them, the upstairs and the downstairs, and opened a coffee shop. The exterior walls, doors and windows were painted a deep dark green, and the lights were on inside, but they were blurry. The most conspicuous thing is the signboard, a round orange light box with a coffee cup painted on it, and an English word on it, "Carol's".

Ai Jing Chu was stunned.

Carol.

An ordinary name, he has met many times in his study abroad and teaching career, but...

He is such a keen and intelligent person, he went through all the past and past events in his mind in a flash, and the truth came to light.

Carol, Zeng Li.

Zeng Li, Yu Yi.

He sat in the car for a long time without moving.

The engine did not stop, making a slight noise.

There was a long silence.

He didn't put into gear until a car came from behind and honked his horn hard, and drove the car out of that street.

When he got home, he found that the old man was still awake, listening to music in the study while reading a book with a magnifying glass. Aunt Li came out of the kitchen when she heard the noise, "Xiao Chu is back? Your grandfather said he couldn't sleep because of insomnia, so I made red bean soup for him as a supper, and you can eat some too." This Aunt Li is actually the niece of Grandma Ai's natal family.

Ai Jing Chu called "Second Aunt" calmly, washed his hands, sat down and drank a bowl of sugar water in a leisurely manner, and then went to the study to see what the old man was reading.

Aunt Li looked at him and always felt that something was wrong, but it seemed to be the same as usual, so she went back to her room wonderingly and asked her husband: "What's wrong with this child?"

"What's wrong?" Lao Liu asked.

"I said I would go out to play in the afternoon, and then I called and said I wouldn't go home for dinner. Weren't you all very happy at that time?"

"It's not too bad now." Old Liu looked at Ai Jing Chu with his head, "You think too much."

After everyone went to bed, Ai Jing Chu went upstairs and returned to his room.

After taking a shower, he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes to force himself to sleep immediately.

This is a skill he has practiced before. When working night shifts in the hospital, there is no time for people to brew sleep, and they cannot follow the schedule and biological clock. If there are ten minutes and you only sleep nine minutes, the remaining minute is wasted. Because they will be called up at any time, and they can continue to sleep after finishing their work.

However, this time it seems to have failed.

In the darkness, Ai Jing Chu closed his eyes and didn't know how long it had passed, but he still didn't feel sleepy at all. His heart had never been so restless, it was a feeling he had never experienced, as if he wanted to grab something, but let it slip out from his fingers again and again.

He got up, went downstairs, went out, drove.

When the car got on the highway, he opened the sunroof and lit a cigarette.

The speed is a little fast.

At the beginning, he was aimless, and even he himself didn't know where to park. Then he suddenly saw the warning sign of Dongshan exit, so he changed lanes and entered the toll booth.

Every year on the anniversary of his grandmother's death in January, he would stay with the old man for a few days.

But this time, it wasn't for that.

His car didn't hesitate, turned a few corners and passed the mountain gate before driving up the mountain.

In such weather, the mountain road is very easy to walk.

The night wind is blowing slowly, and the moonlight is getting brighter and brighter.

Along the way, there is only the sound of the motor of the car climbing the hill, which breaks the tranquility of the night here.

The car drove past Dongping Temple and continued to drive forward. It stopped only when the lights of Dongshan Hotel could be vaguely seen. He turned off the ignition, took out the key, and got out of the car.

On the side of the road, there is a long stone bench.

The last time he sat here was that snowy night, when he had a high fever, was tired and exhausted, and couldn't move, so he stopped to rest where he was, unexpectedly seeing Zeng Li rushing over after a while.

Zeng Li, who was more afraid of the dark and timid than most people, would blush when she was embarrassed, and Zeng Li, who never dared to fight back when he was bullied, at that time, ran to chase him alone at night.

Ai Jing Chu raised the cigarette between his fingers, put it in his mouth and took two puffs, and then, the blue smoke dissipated from his nose with his breathing.

So Zeng Li was not his.

At this time, the mobile phone in his pocket rang softly, Ai Jing Chu took it out and looked, it was a warning sound of low battery.

He couldn't help opening the mailbox of his mobile phone, and opened the text message at the top, which was the photo Zeng Li sent him during dinner.

In fact, apart from Wu Wan Xia, ​​there is another person in the photo—Zeng Li herself. The photo seems to be a selfie of two people facing the camera at work. Zeng Li is wearing a blue sweater and smiling slightly at the camera. She always smiled shyly, pursing her lips carefully, because when she moved her mouth, the metal aligners would emerge from between her lips.

Ai Jing Chu lit another cigarette, through the smoke from his fingertips, he frowned and stared at the photo for a long time.

Finally, he took a drag on his cigarette and pressed delete on the text message.

He still remembers the letter from a girl named Carol.

That month, the boss was away, and Ai Jing Chu went to the research centre in Boston to listen to the report.

Boston is a bit far from Philadelphia, so he took a ride with a friend on the way out, and planned to take the train on the way back, but the government issued a blizzard warning, and he delayed returning to school for several days.

He returned to Philadelphia, visited the lab before returning home. The house he rented was near the school, and many students from the University of Pennsylvania lived upstairs and downstairs. He originally lived alone, but later a Chinese student from the same school couldn't find a place to live temporarily, and he was a fellow villager, so he nodded and agreed.

That person is Yu Yi.

Before he went to Boston, Yu Yi returned to China because of his mother's tumor surgery.

The aftermath of the snowstorm is not strong, and the snow on the main road has been shoveled away a lot.

Arriving at the place of residence, just about to climb the stairs, Ai Jing Chu met the Korean students who often meet each other. The Korean was surnamed Li, with small eyes and a high nose, and he was very enthusiastic when he saw everyone. In fact, he doesn't live here, he's just chasing a girl upstairs, so he goes here every day.

Both Ai Jing Chu and Yu Yi didn't like this guy very much. He almost pursued all the single Asian girls of the right age in the medical school. This is not the point, the point is that he will continue to chase all foreigners endlessly to ask them to learn Korean, and then take the initiative to be a free tutor, door-to-door service, regardless of gender. It seems that his most important task here is not to study medicine, but to promote the culture of his country.

Ai Jing Chu nodded and passed by him. After walking a few steps, the Korean stopped Ai Jing Chu again, "By the way, I found a letter for you and brought it to you tonight."

When Ai Jing Chu heard this, he thought it was an invitation letter, a bill, an advertisement, etc., and didn't take it to heart.

Until the evening, the Korean really came to knock on the door and handed him the things, "It was windy and snowy in those days, which made a mess downstairs. I picked it up under the snowplow, and there were Chinese characters on it, so I think it should belong to you."

Ai Jing Chu accepted the letter suspiciously.

It's not so much a letter, it's more like a stack of papers, all of which are water stains left after being soaked in water and air-dried, there are several sheets, probably because they were not separated and dried immediately, all stuck together, appearing thick.

Ai Jing Chu took a cursory glance.

Except for the excess nationalism, the Korean was fine and warm-hearted. He immediately explained to Ai Jing Chu: "I don't know who cut the envelope when tearing up the stamps. Afterwards, it must have been soaked in snow water for a long time. It was dirty and wet, so I threw the envelope away."

Ai Jing Chu thanked her and closed the door.

He looked down, but didn't look up the letter, because the first page had disappeared, and the Chinese characters on it were beautiful and lovely, but they were written in a completely unfamiliar handwriting.

Afterwards, he turned back to the kitchen to turn off the fire, and sat on the sofa to read the strange letter carefully for the first line.

Most of the handwriting on the paper had been smeared due to the soaking of the paper, and one page was stuck to another. It took great care and patience to separate them completely, but it still did not hinder his reading.

The person who wrote the letter wrote a lot of family chores when she was a child, and the details of getting along with "you". From the beginning of remedial classes in junior high school to the divorce of her parents, what is revealed between the lines is not only a confession of feelings, but also a young girl's yearning for love.

Seeing this moment, Ai Jing Chu had fully confirmed that the person to whom the letter was to be delivered was not him, but Yu Yi.

Not long after Yu Yi moved in, the Koreans didn't know much about the situation, so they thought that Ai Jing Chu was the only Chinese in this building, so they mistakenly thought that the letter must belong to him.

After reaching this conclusion, he didn't continue to read it, but quietly put the letter on the desk, and turned to do other things.

A few days passed after that.

During that time, the boss went to the UK, and there were not many patients in the outpatient clinic, but there were many volunteers.

There are many children in the hospital vying to be volunteers. Some volunteers not only work for the nurses, but also accompany the hospitalized patients to pass the time.

There was an old lady on the second floor who had a tumor on her left cheek and lived in the hospital for a long time. She was a retired Chinese teacher and she was very enthusiastic about Ai Jing Chu. When Ai Jing Chu went to visit the old lady, the little volunteer girl had just finished reading a novel to her.

The little girl sighed: "It's too bad, why didn't she tell him first?"

The old lady replied: "This is the puzzling part of love."

"He doesn't even know her, how can she love him so much?"

"That must be because the leading actor is as handsome as Ai." The old lady smiled.

Ai Jing Chu didn't pay attention at first, but when he heard the old and the young bring the topic to him, he asked casually, "What are you talking about?"

"The novel just now." The little girl handed out the book in her hand.

Ai Jing Chu took it over, turned the book forward a few pages, and saw the title.

He has little contact with literary works, so apart from the necessary things, he basically doesn't know much about them. But for some reason, when he saw these words, he became curious.

"What was written?" he asked.

"A writer received a strange letter on the morning of his birthday. It was a confession letter from a strange woman." The little girl thought for a while, and then said, "But before the letter was sent, the woman was already dead."

Hearing this sentence, Ai Jing Chu's hand that turned the book paused.

For the whole day after that, he was a little absent-minded.

When he got home at night, he took off his coat and scarf, and went to get the letter he had left on the desk a few days ago.

With hesitation and hesitation, he continued to read the letter. At the end, he let out a long sigh of relief, luckily he didn't see any bad news. But what followed was a strange emotion, maybe it was empathy, maybe it was pity.

A young girl's love seeps out between the lines, so sincere, so shy, so clean, it is not unenviable.

He checked the time, dialed the domestic number that Yu Yi had left for him, but no one answered.

When he went to the hospital early the next morning, he met a Chinese school girl he knew well. She asked Ai Jing Chu, "Why haven't you seen Yu Yi recently?"

"He returned to China temporarily." Ai Jing Chu replied.

"I saw that he had a letter from China. It had been there for a long time. Later, when I passed by your apartment, I put it in your mailbox downstairs. Did you lose it?"

"No." Ai Jing Chu replied.

After turning around, he remembered what happened yesterday again, and called Yu Yi's phone for the second time, but still no one answered. In desperation, he went home, found the signature and phone number written by the girl at the end of the letter, and called.

After more than ten rings, the other party was connected.

"Hello—" a girl's voice came from the other side of the earth through the radio waves, soft and waxy, hesitant.

"Are you Carol? I'm Yu Yi's roommate." Ai Jing Chu said.