Jiang Nianzhi slowly opened her eyes to a dim, yellow glow. She gradually came to her senses.
Oh, it was a hotel.
Because she was so exhausted, she closed her eyes again. The warm bed was hard to leave, but just as she was about to drift back off to sleep, her eyes snapped wide open and her mind jolted fully awake.
Wait! Wasn’t she at the theatre?
Why was she in a hotel?
She reached back toward the side of her pillow.
Empty! Where was her phone?!
Jiang Nianzhi was instantly wide awake. Her mind and body snapped into gear, and she swept her hand across a wider area to search.
Still nothing!
She immediately flipped over and sat up. Before her eyes, the entire headboard area was empty. There wasn’t even her usual carry-on luggage, just the bare, solitary headboard of the hotel bed.
Sitting up, she scanned the room. Inside the dimly lit hotel room, there was no luggage anywhere. It looked like a model room, as if no one had ever lived in it before. Everything belonged to the hotel and was laid out neatly in its designated place.
The teacups, the remote control, the hairdryer, all were placed right where they belonged, untouched by anyone.
Jiang Nianzhi lowered her head to look at herself.
She was wearing a white coat that reached down to her knees. The hem of the coat was folded messily, its edges crumpled.
Jiang Nianzhi found it hard to believe. She had actually lain in bed wearing her coat. This was definitely something she would never do. Furthermore, this room was a very ordinary standard king room.
Unless the conditions on a film set were lacking, Jiang Nianzhi would never stay in a single-bed room.
At the very least, it had to be a twin room.
Sunlight leaked out from under the curtains, falling onto the gap beneath the window sill and tentatively creeping into her space.
With a sharp pull, Jiang Nianzhi drew back the curtains, only to be blinded by the intense sunlight, bringing tears to her eyes.
Once she slowly adjusted to the bright light, she opened her eyes again.
She was on a high floor, looking down at everything from above, giving her a panoramic view of the entire area. The unique red-brick buildings outside, possessing the neatness and beauty distinctive of Western architecture, struck her even more powerfully.
Not far away, colorful camping umbrellas were lined up along a bridge, where people sat in chairs drinking coffee.
On the road nearby, traffic flowed in a continuous stream. People strolled through the alleys, some pushing open doors to step inside carrying shopping bags, while others carrying backpacks walked out, embarking on their next journey.
She was no longer in her home country.
Jiang Nianzhi’s heart grew heavy. She reached into her pocket.
Fortunately, her phone was there. She reached into her other pocket.
Phew, thank goodness, her ID and documents were in there too.
Jiang Nianzhi looked down at her outfit. Surprisingly, it was the exact same set of clothes she had worn to the theatre that day.
It was as if she had come abroad directly wearing the clothes from that day.
She turned on her phone. The display showed that three days had already passed since the day she went to the theatre.
Jiang Nianzhi touched her head, trying hard to recall the memories of the past few days. But why was everything after the theatre a complete blank?
That missing stretch of memory nagged at her mind. No matter how much she pondered or searched, those disappeared memories seemed like countless voices reminding her that her condition had worsened to a point she was unwilling to admit.
Yet no matter what, Jiang Nianzhi could not recall that missing piece of memory.
She gathered her belongings, which were simply the IDs in her pockets.
The moment she stepped out of the room, she looked back at it once more. It remained completely empty, as though no one had ever been there.
Since she had no memory of any of this, Jiang Nianzhi decided to take a taxi straight to the airport, fly back home, and find a new psychiatrist for treatment.
After checking out at the front desk, she stepped out of the hotel. The instant the doorman pulled open the door for her, the clamor of the world rushed in.
The wind rustled the leaves, making a soft scraping music, occasionally accompanied by a few words of human conversation, but everything felt very slow.
People walked at a relaxed pace, and even the birds sang lazily.
Jiang Nianzhi paused as she headed toward the roadside bus stop, then turned and began walking along the sidewalk instead.
The moment she reached the corner, she felt somewhat relieved that she was wearing a white coat, which helped block out much of the cold wind.
As she walked, she looked around at her surroundings. For some reason, her originally tense nerves relaxed at a certain point.
However, her body still shivered uncontrollably, wanting to hide away.
Jiang Nianzhi noticed a dessert shop along the street, with customers pushing open the door and walking out every now and then.
Feeling a sudden sense of delight, she took long strides toward it. The exterior of the shop was surrounded by traditional woodwork, with deep brown timber encasing its outer walls, making it stand out as exceptionally unique on this corner and along the whole street.
As she approached, she got a clear look at the store front. Inside their display windows, wooden shelves were arranged in staggered layers, neatly holding various desserts: beautiful egg tarts, delicately made toast, sliced Basque cheesecakes, and simple cream cakes topped with cherries. Whenever a customer stepped out, a whiff of sweet, hot air drifted out from the shop.
Jiang Nianzhi wanted a cup of hot chocolate.
Winter simply called for a cup of hot cocoa, after which any problem could be easily solved.
She walked toward the shop entrance. After the woman in front pushed the door open to leave, Jiang Nianzhi grabbed the door handle. Just as she was about to push it open, a figure inside suddenly approached at a quick pace.
Instantly, Jiang Nianzhi let go of the handle out of reflex and took two steps back.
The person inside pushed the door outward, and Jiang Nianzhi happened to step back right into the path where the door opened wide enough for someone to pass. Unavoidably, the two of them ended up face-to-face.
Jiang Nianzhi took another step back, but this time she looked up with a hint of displeasure.
Her eyes met another pair of eyes.
In an instant, both of them widened their eyes in surprise.
Sui Ning was quite shocked. Although this dessert shop she visited was very famous locally, how could she still run right into her here?
Jiang Nianzhi stumbled slightly as she stepped back, a flicker of bewilderment passing through her eyes.
Yet for some reason, Sui Ning didn’t act politely for once. She couldn’t help taking two steps forward, closing the distance between her and Jiang Nianzhi.
Jiang Nianzhi didn’t move.
For a moment, both of them remained frozen in place.
They were uncomfortably close. Noticing she was noticeably taller than Jiang Nianzhi, Sui Ning looked down at the person standing before her and couldn’t help impolitely examining every detail of her face, longing to gently brush over those striking eyelashes.
The long eyelashes fluttered gently like a butterfly, trembling with unease. Just as one might hope the butterfly wouldn’t open its wings and fly off, it fluttered up, revealing light brown eyes that met hers.
They were bright and clear, just like a cat’s eyes.
Watching the expression in Jiang Nianzhi’s eyes shift from shock to suspicion and then to defensiveness, Sui Ning felt inexplicably amused.
She glanced down at the bag in her hands, which contained desserts and two cups of hot cocoa. She mourned silently in her heart: Zhao Xiao, don’t blame me for not bringing you anything back. You just didn’t have the luck.
“Sorry?”
A foreign voice offering a polite reminder behind them brought Sui Ning back to her senses.
She released her grip on the shop door, making a motion as if holding Jiang Nianzhi by the shoulder, intending to nudge her along a couple of steps to make way for the person behind them.
Startled by Sui Ning advancing straight toward her, Jiang Nianzhi retreated several steps.
The two of them walked out of the shop and stood in front of the display window by the entrance.
Jiang Nianzhi felt somewhat speechless. Why was she running into her again?
The coincidence was just too ridiculous.
However, the cold wind outside asserted its presence far too aggressively. She couldn’t help pulling her neck in, stepping around the woman in front of her, intending to walk back into the shop.
Suddenly, her arm tightened. Jiang Nianzhi turned her head in that direction and saw the woman holding onto her arm.
Puzzled, Jiang Nianzhi looked at her, only to see the woman handing her a cup of something and saying, “Jiang Nianzhi, I bought extra. Do you want some?”
“…”
How old-fashioned.
Jiang Nianzhi looked down at the hot cocoa she was holding, watching the steam curling up from the mouth of the cup. That bit of warmth seeped through the cup into her palm, making it impossible to ignore the original owner of the drink.
She looked up and saw the woman standing sideways next to her. She was wearing a brown trench coat with an open collar, exposing her collarbones and slender neck as if she couldn’t feel the cold temperature at all. Her long hair was tied back neatly, looking clean and crisp, though her pale ears were slightly reddened by the wind. Her jawline was sharp, and her eyes sparkled as if she had spotted something amusing.
When she smiled slightly, stars seemed to ripple in the depths of her eyes.
Jiang Nianzhi glanced around. The cold wind on the street was still blowing fiercely. Many locals were wearing down jackets, bundled up with backpacks on, marching straight ahead against the chill.
Jiang Nianzhi pondered: this person was a bit uninteresting. Was she really going to sit here in the freezing wind just to drink this cup of hot cocoa?
What kind of ordeal was she putting herself through?
She looked at her cup again. Truth be told, this cocoa wasn’t quite to her taste.
A rustling sound came from nearby. The woman across from her was tearing open a brown paper bag.
With a sharp tear, Jiang Nianzhi assumed she must have ripped the bag open completely.
Then came another tear. She guessed the woman gave up on the paper bag and simply flattened it out to use as a placemat.
Jiang Nianzhi had always disliked situations like this, where she had to sit obediently while someone else served or shared food with her.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t wait; it was just that sitting there waiting felt a bit impolite either way. As a child, she hadn’t understood this and had simply tried to grab the food directly, earning herself a scolding from her mother.
While she was lost in thought, a piece of brown paper was placed beside her hand, followed immediately by an egg tart that resembled a mini cake.
An aluminum foil cup cradled the outer shell of the tart. Within the layers of flaky crust sat a few blueberries, topped with a small piece of strawberry.
Just looking at it made one imagine its crisp texture.
Jiang Nianzhi looked up at the woman, meeting her eyes, which had clearly been waiting for her to look over.
Jiang Nianzhi understood the gesture of sharing, but she was still a little confused. Inviting her for cocoa was just for the sake of sharing an egg tart?
Sui Ning seemed to read her confusion and spoke up, “I bought too many. My treat.”
Sui Ning couldn’t quite explain her own mindset either. Usually, others used such crude lines to flirt with her, so why had she resorted to such a clumsy tactic today?
Especially considering this was technically only their second formal meeting.
Looking at the woman’s eyes filled with subtle doubt, she still couldn’t resist opening her mouth time after time, driving herself into awkward situations.
Just as Jiang Nianzhi was about to reply, a foreigner suddenly hurried over from the side.
The woman had beautiful red curly hair that looked much like a mermaid’s, but she looked straight at Jiang Nianzhi and suddenly babbled out a stream of words.
She spoke so fast that Jiang Nianzhi felt as if she were back in a high school English listening exam.
Frowning, Jiang Nianzhi tried hard to pick out the words she recognized. Her foreign language skills were actually fine for daily use, but this woman was speaking far too fast, and she only managed to catch a few keywords:
“Cold, your girl, cold.”
Jiang Nianzhi couldn’t help looking at the woman sitting across from her. Sui Ning was listening attentively, initially replying with a smile as they exchanged a few words back and forth, though her eyes remained fixed on Jiang Nianzhi.
Jiang Nianzhi felt bewildered by the gaze. To be honest, she wondered if this was someone trying to flirt with her, but the foreign woman’s behavior left her uncertain.
As the conversation went on, Sui Ning’s expression inexplicably turned colder and colder, until she finally shook her head, refusing to continue the dialogue.
Jiang Nianzhi was left even more baffled. Sui Ning, now with a free hand, suddenly smiled at her, picked up the other egg tart, and brought it to her lips. “Darling, the weather is too cold.”
Jiang Nianzhi looked on in complete shock. How had the battlefield suddenly shifted, and what on earth had just happened?
Looking at the egg tart right at her lips, she didn’t know whether to eat it or not.
Meanwhile, the foreign woman refused to leave, standing nearby watching the two of them with an intense gaze, as if staring at her prey.
In particular, the woman’s eyes had been fixed on Jiang Nianzhi from the start. Even though things had reached this point, she still refused to move, flipping her phone back and forth in her hand.
Jiang Nianzhi merely glanced at the foreign woman.
The egg tart pushed against her lips moved a step closer. This time, the sweetness seeping past the crack of her lips snapped her out of her daze.
Jiang Nianzhi lowered her head and took a gentle bite of the tart’s flaky crust. A rich sweetness flooded her mouth, blending the tart sweetness of the blueberries with the creamy aroma of the custard.
With just a slight press of her tongue, the bite melted away.
Jiang Nianzhi subconsciously took another bite, tasting the custard filling this time. The milky flavor was even richer, while the slightly sour blueberry complemented the sweet tart perfectly.
Suddenly, Jiang Nianzhi remembered that this egg tart was being held by the person opposite her.
She immediately pulled back a bit and took hold of the egg tart herself.
She looked up at Sui Ning once more.
Sui Ning was still smiling at her, though her expression was somewhat peculiar, as if she were watching a little kitten or puppy, making Jiang Nianzhi shudder slightly.
She immediately pulled back to a comfortable distance, holding the egg tart with both hands, though her eyes remained filled with confusion as she looked at Sui Ning.
However, both of them were stubborn: one wouldn’t ask, and the other wouldn’t explain.
The strange foreign woman glanced at the two of them again, looking as though she had suddenly realized something, and said a few more words with a smile.
Only then did Sui Ning spare her a glance, though it was strictly limited to a single glance.
Jiang Nianzhi finished the egg tart completely. She dusted off the crumbs from her hands and looked up only after feeling her hands were clean.
This time, she didn’t say a word, simply staring at Sui Ning opposite her.
Her round eyes were wide open, curiosity practically spilling out, yet she refused to speak.
In the end, Sui Ning was the first to give in. Propping her face on one hand, she raised an eyebrow and looked at Jiang Nianzhi sitting across from her, saying with a touch of helplessness, “Do you know what she just said to me?”