Will you become someone beyond reach?
Will you go far away?
Will you leave?
He had long forgotten when, or who, had spoken these words to him, one by one, beside his ear.
His heart felt like it was being squeezed tight by a fist, pumping all the blood into his legs. But even with the fastest speed and greatest strength, there were still countless things separating them. He could only watch helplessly as she became smaller and smaller in his field of vision.
His elbow nearly knocked over stacked foam boxes, stepping through muddy water mixed with rotten vegetable leaves. Resistance welled up from the bottom of his heart. What was the point of catching up? What was the point of seeing her? Unknown fear and panic repeatedly sounded the retreat in his heart.
But his limbs seemed to explode with instinctive reaction. He had to catch that figure. He wanted to shout, but he opened his mouth then closed it, his tongue pressing against his palate, unable to make a sound.
What... what should he call out?
"Excuse me! Please let me through!" The crowd at the market entrance was like congealed porridge. Old farmers carrying shoulder poles, women pushing baby strollers, men with cigarettes haggling, densely packed and blocking the road.
"Hey! Are you blind?! Watch where you're going!" He nearly tripped over a bamboo basket, stumbled a few steps, had no time to respond, and scrambled to his feet again.
A fragment suddenly flashed through his mind: a girl with twin tails under a large locust tree, covering her scraped knee with tears in her eyes. He touched her head, blowing on her wound while sunlight filtered through leaves onto her pristine face.
But the proper form of address was stuck in his throat, as if rusted.
That black figure appeared and disappeared in the crowd. Her right hand was held by a woman, the black hem of her dress occasionally brushing past streetlights. That wrist gripped tightly by the woman was white and delicate. It matched, overlapping with the wrist he had held countless times in memory, reassuring to hold.
"Wait!" He finally shouted, but his voice was ridiculously hollow, only drawing backward glances from passersby, while she still didn't turn around.
He wanted to call that name, but the words got stuck at his lips, his mind blank except for dull pain.
But a certain long-forgotten afternoon suddenly flickered in: the girl holding up a half-eaten popsicle, eyes shining with anticipation, and he had carefully taken a bite.
That conspicuous patch of black was getting smaller and smaller in the crowd, about to disappear! Xie Ci finally broke through the crowd. Looking at that black silhouette in the distance, his brain suddenly began to heat up: mottled red brick walls, her face red from cold, holding up a wrinkled certificate and calling him brother, eyes shining with hope, suddenly jumping up and leaving a lip print on his cheek...
"Wen Ruohan!"
This name finally broke through the ice layer of memory. His head split with pain. Just remembering this name had already exhausted his mental strength. His vision became blurred, and just when he was completely drained, he finally saw that black-clothed back.
Wind carrying the rotten smell of vegetable leaves rushed into his nostrils. He supported himself on one knee, gasping heavily, while his other hand tightly gripped a wrist.
Finally, he had caught her.
"Wen Ruohan..."
Xie Ci spoke that name with a trembling voice. He heard the girl slowly turning around, mixed with his own heavy breathing.
But... she seemed to be wearing high heels?
"Excuse me, who are you? Are you being a pervert? These obsessive fans nowadays really..."
The girl didn't speak, someone else spoke first.
The girl beside her had a more aggressive personality. Seeing Xie Ci appear out of nowhere and suddenly grab her hand, that girl was like a lit powder keg, her words full of gunpowder.
"Ha! Do young people nowadays get handsy when hitting on girls?"
"Oh my, how bold!"
...
Xie Ci suddenly had a strong sense of foreboding.
He steadied himself and forced his eyes open.
At first sight, Xie Ci was even slightly dazed. That excessively delicate face was fair and smooth, a pair of beautiful cat eyes slightly narrowed, examining Xie Ci who was gripping her wrist.
Her figure was tall and well-proportioned, her long legs wrapped in opaque black stockings were slender and straight, her waist slender enough to encircle with one arm, her waist-to-hip ratio perfectly proportioned to arouse desires from the depths of people's hearts.
She wore a pure black short dress with a slightly short hem, paired with over-knee socks. Every detail was perfect, like a carefully tailored plant.
Gray-green eyes that captured myriad charms with a single glance, yet carried mystery and aloofness, exquisite yet mysterious, beautiful in an unfathomable way.
Even though she had been suddenly grabbed by a strange man, not a trace of her delicate expression wavered.
Xie Ci suddenly felt very tired.
So it wasn't her.
So that section of wrist was just similarly slender and pale, so that black dress hem just happened to be of similar style, so he had frantically chased half a street, and what he held in his hand was just a stranger.
More and more gazes gathered around them, chattering voices surging like a tide.
"Probably a madman."
"Did you see how wildly he was running... really scary..."
Xie Ci no longer knew what he was thinking. Regret? Unwillingness? But even if he had caught up, what then? That was just a name that had suddenly appeared in his mind, just a stranger who had brushed past in the vast crowd.
All emotions were blocked in a narrow space, becoming increasingly dense and congested, but with no outlet.
Xie Ci actually forgot to let go for a moment.
"Please let go quickly. It won't look good if this gets out of hand." The other girl beside her saw more and more people gathering around and quickly pushed Xie Ci's hand away. "Hey! Stop looking! Don't you all have anything better to do?" The other girl cooperatively dispersed the crowd.
"Sor... ry." He heard his own voice trembling, his throat dry as if smoking.
Xie Ci opened his mouth, wanting to say "I mistook you for someone else," but those words stuck in his throat, impossible to voice.
What if I… Take another look?
Xie Ci didn't know why he was so fixated on a stranger, but he had no energy left to think about it.
He must look quite pathetic right now, Xie Ci thought.
His eyes carried endless disappointment, yet for that sliver of hope, added a pleading expression.
Looking up, he suddenly met those gray-green beautiful eyes. Within them was no disgust or similar emotion. She touched her reddened wrist, her expression calm, even with her lips slightly curved as she examined Xie Ci.
Yes, examined. That gaze veiled in mist reminded Xie Ci of Ye Li when they first met. Unreadable, unfathomable, like being separated by a layer of gauze. Only after lifting this gauze could the real her be revealed.
But who knew if there would be a second layer of gauze?
Suddenly, the corners of her mouth curved into a smile. She tucked a strand of fallen black hair behind her ear, gave Xie Ci a meaningful look, and smilingly pulled out a business card from the black crossbody bag, placing it in Xie Ci's hand.
"Nice to see you again, Student Xie Ci,
"I'm Fujiwara Chiyasa."
She touched her chin with her finger, thinking slightly.
"I suppose I could be considered your senior."