The Spring Breeze

Spring breeze

Xing Yue, having been teased, didn't offer any further explanation, treating it as just casual conversation. "Where's President Bai?"

She wanted to mention the address of the rental apartment, but seeing that Bai Yulun had already mapped it out, she skipped that step.

Thanks to Nani, the Bar owner really took good care of her.

The woman chuckled, her shoulders swaying slightly, causing her double-hoop earrings to clink and attract attention.

"I can adapt to any situation, whether I'm the attacker or the defender," she suddenly said seriously.

This answer reflects the reality for most women. In their world, homosexuals make up a disproportionately large percentage, roughly 80/20 of bisexuals, while the percentage of purely straight men and women is negligible.

Xing Yue suddenly thought of Madam Bu's mother, who had died young; she was an anti-gay poet.

The prevalence of homosexuality in this world stems from the centuries-old practice among nobles of interbreeding snakes of the same species, both female and male, for the sake of bloodline preservation. These marriages resulted in offspring carrying homosexual genes, which were passed down from generation to generation, leading to an ever-increasing proportion of homosexuals.

Given the state of society, this poet of the Misty Poetry School deeply abhorred the products of the aristocracy and even declared that he would never fall in love with a woman in his life, launching a fierce counterattack against aristocratic oppression.

Unfortunately, the poet's ending was not beautiful. She not only fell in love with another woman, but he was also the daughter of a hereditary earl, a family that took pride in bloodline and inherited titles according to the purity of blood, fully exercising aristocratic privileges.

Because of this, many people now have mixed opinions about her works, but Xing Yue is a steadfast and loyal reader of hers.

The poet returned from a remote mountain area years ago and was so ill that he couldn't even get out of bed, but he still wrote many articles for equality. In those small, remote mountain villages, people were basically snakes without bloodlines, and the charitable aid was distributed in different tiers based on bloodlines.

This leads to poor children becoming poorer, and children trapped in the mountains becoming even more impoverished.

Madam Bu's mother wrote many influential articles on this topic. Although racial discrimination still exists to some extent today, in that era, many people who could not leave the mountains were able to go to school thanks to the influence of poets. Xing Yue's mother was one of these people.

Therefore, Xing Yue's admiration for this poet has never wavered. On the contrary, the large number of netizens who are now blindly judging and criticizing her makes Xing Yue to roll her eyes.

*

Back at the rented apartment, Xing Yue didn't let Bai Yulun drive the car inside. Instead, he parked it at the alley entrance by the roadside. "Please get out here, thank you, Mr. Bai."

She unbuckled her seatbelt and was about to open the car door and get out.

Bai Yulun suddenly spoke up, "Aren't you going to invite me in for a while?"

Xing Yue froze for a moment. She was an adult and knew what those words meant, but Bai Yulun was so much younger than her, he probably didn't mean anything by it. If it were a more mature boss, she might have misunderstood.

"I'll invite Mr. Bai for tea another day," Xing Yue said, his brows furrowing slightly and his face showing embarrassment. "There's really no room at home, so it's inconvenient to entertain guests."

Xing Yue didn't make any excuses. Putting aside the inconvenient timing, it was true that the apartment she rented was too small. In this city where every inch of land is precious, even a 40-square-meter single room would cost her 2,300 yuan.

There are cheaper apartments, but they are in very remote locations. She doesn't have a car, and getting off work at three or four in the morning is too dangerous, so she can only rent one that is closer to her workplace.

Bai Yulun wasn't annoyed by the rejection, and just hummed twice. "Fine, goodnight, Sister Xiaoyue."

Xing Yue a slow-to-warm-up person and wasn't used to this kind of closeness. She nodded, unsure of how to respond, and then turned and walked into the alley.

The house has solid-color walls on the outside, which suits the aesthetics of young people, but the inside is a bit dilapidated.

Xing Yue lives on the sixth floor. Luckily, there's an elevator, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to climb up.

Back in her room, she was still not used to the unfamiliar environment. Although her body was exhausted and she felt like her bones had been broken apart, she was not sleepy at all.

The room was sparsely furnished, containing only a table, a chair, a bed, and a wardrobe. The appliances included an expensive air conditioner and a small refrigerator, but nothing else.

Xing Yue was lying in bed, her mind blank, when her phone rang with a familiar ringtone. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart tightened. This damned conditioned reflex...

The old phone still has her and He Zhiwen. Everyone else uses the default ringtone, but He Zhiwen has set a special one, so she can tell when He Zhiwen calls without even looking at her contacts.

Even after He Zhiwen broke up with her, she never changed her phone number. For two long years, she waited for He Zhiwen to contact her. As a result, whenever her old phone rang, her heart would tighten. Even if the ringtone wasn't He Zhiwen's, she would still fantasize that it might be He Zhiwen contacting her with another phone number.

But this time it was definitely He Zhiwen's ringtone...

Xing Yue was reluctant to accept the offer, but the other party seemed certain she would soften her stance, and tried again if once wasn't enough.

Her hand slid across the green button on the screen. "What is it?"

Xing Yue asked in a flat tone, making it impossible to tell whether he was in a good or bad mood.

He Zhiwen didn't mind; she always loved to smile, and you could almost see her smiling face through the screen, "A Yue, my mom made some zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and wants me to take them to you."

When they were dating, Ming Shushan would send Xing Yue zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) every Dragon Boat Festival. After they broke up, she stopped sending them. Perhaps because of the Xing Yue she had with Xing Yue last time, Ming Shushan felt a little guilty, so she started sending zongzi again.

Zongzi... Xing Yue was in a daze. Was it already Dragon Boat Festival? She thought of her mother who had been calling her for the past two days. She really didn't dare to answer. Every time she called, it was to urge her to get married. She probably didn't even know that she was being cyberbullied and had terminated her contract with the company.

Xing Yue felt a pang of sadness, and even more lonely. "Yeah, you can deliver it tomorrow, it's very late now."

"It'll be spoiled if I send it tomorrow..." The voice on the other end of the phone murmured softly, "The zongzi were made yesterday, but I didn't know whether I should send them to you. I know you've been very busy lately, and I was afraid of disturbing you. I've been agonizing over this until now."

The weather is very hot now. Cooked food will start to taste a bit after being in the refrigerator for a day, and it will probably spoil after two or three days.

Since eating the zongzi wasn't absolutely necessary, Xing Yue simply declined, saying, "Tell Aunt Ming I'll take the zongzi. You can eat it yourself or give it to your colleagues. It's so late, I don't have a car to pick you up, and taking a taxi here would take a long time and isn't safe."

She knew what Aunt Ming was thinking, so she let He Zhiwen tell a small lie to prove that she had accepted it, and Aunt Ming wouldn't keep brooding over it.

"It won't be long. I've been transferred to Silent City. The school shouldn't be far from you, about a fifteen-minute taxi ride," He Zhiwen insisted on delivering the zongzi to Xing Yue, then explained, "The police haven't caught Jiang Yue yet, and I'm afraid she'll find me. My mother has already moved, so I applied for a transfer here..."

Seemingly afraid that Xing Yue would worry that she would pester him, she quietly explained many reasons for moving to Silent City.

After experiencing these things, He Zhiwen became even more gentle than before. She always spoke and acted in this way, taking things slowly and unhurriedly.

He Zhiwen's personality is actually quite compatible with Xing Yue's. Xing Yue likes quiet and a slow pace, and listening to He Zhiwen speak is a pleasure, like a gentle stream that can soothe one's restlessness.

This is also why the two of them were able to date for seven years.

Since He Zhiwen insisted, Xing Yue couldn't refuse any longer and sent him an address.

After hanging up the phone, she cleaned the already clean rented room again. He Zhiwen had been with her through her predicament and difficulties, from when she had nothing to when she had a house and a car. Now, she was back to square one, which made Xing Yue feel inexplicably uneasy.

He Zhiwen arrived shortly after.

The woman standing at the door had clearly lost weight; her already petite frame now looked even thinner. In her hands, besides carrying zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), she also had a bag of flowers wrapped in newspaper—small wildflowers and pink lisianthus—and a small porcelain vase.

She came in, put the things on the table, and went to unwrap the zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) to warm them up for Xing Yue, remaining silent about the meager amount of furniture in the room.

"Not long after the incident, Jiang Yue kept brainwashing my mother, saying that you kidnapped me," she looked at Xing Yue apologetically, her face pale and sickly, "Don't be angry with my mother, she was too hasty."

In that situation, even if someone said something full of holes, Ming Shushan would probably believe it without a doubt. At this age, the worst thing is for an elderly person to bury their child.

Xing Yue had received many gifts from Ming Shushan before. In winter, she received sewn socks and cotton shoes, and in autumn, she received mooncakes and pomelos. Although they were all inexpensive little things, they were all the old woman's affection for her daughter's partner.

The misunderstanding I made about her that day is not enough to erase the feelings I've had for her over the past seven years.

"I didn't take it to heart," Xing Yue said calmly.

He Zhiwen placed the zongzi on the steamer, and now he just needs to wait three minutes after the water boils.

She went back to the table, spread a tablecloth, arranged the white porcelain vase, and placed a few sprigs of lisianthus and some wild clover as decorations.

Xing Yue looked at the tablecloth, green with small floral patterns. The room, which was originally cold and lifeless, became warm and inviting after being decorated like this, like a spring breeze.

She deeply appreciated He Zhiwen's love for life. He loved handicrafts and flowers, treasured all the greeting cards his students gave him, never complained about having too many or too few classes, and even found growing moss interesting.

Xing Yue couldn't help but ask, "How are you feeling?"

The woman in front of him seemed to be very ill, but Spirit Snake don't get sick; they only suffer from mental illness or physical abuse, which can cause physical injuries.

He Zhiwen shook his head, his breathing weak. "It's nothing serious, just a bit of anxiety and I haven't been sleeping well..."

Jiang Yue went on the run, colluding with the boy from the inside. The boy was arrested, but Jiang Yue is still at large. Moreover, the boy insisted that he was the mastermind and that Jiang Yue was being threatened by him.

Even if Jiang Yue is caught, she will only get a maximum sentence of ten years. The man, on the other hand, might be executed by lethal injection. His relatives are harassing her, trying to get her to write a letter of forgiveness.

She couldn't sleep or eat well every day.

Xing Yue came up with a solution. "You could apply for police protection."

He Zhiwen smiled wryly, "I'm already a high-priority protected individual; I can't expect the police to eat and sleep with me."

The conversation ended there, Xing Yue didn't say anything more. He Zhiwen looked at her with bright eyes, as if expecting something. Xing Yue didn't say another word until all the rice dumplings were finished.

He Zhiwen wasn't one to push his luck. Although somewhat disappointed, he didn't press the matter. He stopped there, cleared the dishes, and waved to Xing Yue, saying, "See you tomorrow."

"Wait a minute," Xing Yue called out to her, "What do you mean, 'see you tomorrow'?"

The woman lowered her eyes, speaking obediently, "My mother also wants to make you hibiscus pastries, osmanthus cakes, candied longan, lotus leaf soup, rose cheese..."