The location 037 provided was on a fairly secluded street that looked unremarkable. More reassuringly, it wasn't too far from the Lu family home.
Since it was the middle of the night, Lu Xiaoxiao didn't wake the family driver. She hailed a taxi right outside the house and headed toward Ji Yunhuai as quickly as she could.
Traffic was much lighter at night than during the day. At Lu Xiaoxiao's request, the driver accelerated to the speed limit. The streets outside flew past, and they soon arrived at her destination.
Finding Ji Yunhuai went more smoothly than Lu Xiaoxiao had imagined.
Following 037's directions, she wound her way past several alley entrances before finally finding him at a relatively open intersection.
-He was sitting against a stone railing beside a streetlamp, his clothes none too thick, his hands tucked into his pockets. His head was tilted back slightly as he gazed into empty space, utterly motionless.
Ji Yunhuai had clearly been there for a long time. Snow had nearly buried him.
It covered his body, even his eyelashes.
When Lu Xiaoxiao spotted that familiar figure, she stopped some distance away.
She had found him, and there was relief in knowing that at last.
But an even stronger ache immediately welled up.
Lu Xiaoxiao suddenly began to regret arguing with Ji Yunhuai that day.
Neither of them had known during their argument that tragedy would strike that afternoon, and the two things were fundamentally unrelated. Still, Lu Xiaoxiao couldn't help feeling remorseful.
She kept wondering whether, if they hadn't argued, Ji Yunhuai might feel just a little better than he did now. Even a tiny bit.
Perhaps then he would have come to her right away to talk, and she could have comforted him sooner.
...Rather than her finding him like