Chapter 12: Black Umbrella

These days, Ruan Zhizhi had been a bit of confused. The press launch she had spent two nights dashing to finish was criticized by her boss on the grounds that her manuscript’s description of the case suspect’s psychological sickness was not correct sufficient. 

When Ruan Zhizhi obtained her boss’s suggestions, she was speechless. From childhood till now, her essential discipline of examine had nothing to do with the Division of Psychology. With regard to her private standpoint, the purpose of a press launch was to claim the important thing info. There was no have to be so exact about supplementary info. Nonetheless, within the eyes of her boss who all the time pursued perfection, solely declaring the info was inadequate. 

Since she had solely simply obtained a full place, Ruan Zhizhi didn’t dare make a incorrect flip at this juncture. Subsequently, she might solely take the manuscript again, meticulously scroll by sources on the Web, and make revisions by herself.

Now, it was already the tip of January. After this month, it could be February, the start of spring.

In latest days, the climate had been extraordinarily chilly. Exterior, it was bitterly chilly. If it wasn’t that she couldn’t discover the sensation at residence, Ruan Zhizhi wouldn’t have gone out in such terrible climate in any respect.

Presently, she was sitting in a café she frequented. Because of the frigid climate, the café—which was often very full of life—had few clients at current. It was exceptionally abandoned.

But it surely was additionally good like this. It was comfortable and quiet. 

Ruan Zhizhi ordered a cup of American-style espresso and a small field of macarons. Afterwards, she habitually walked to the window seat on the left aspect, sat down comfortably, and opened her laptop computer.

The primary content material of this press launch was to state {that a} younger woman had develop into pregnant earlier than marriage and was pressured to marry on account of household stress. After marrying, her husband had a foul mood and often beat and scolded her. Her husband’s dad and mom displayed much more contempt in the direction of her. Not solely was she not given the care she deserved as a pregnant girl, however she was not even assured three meals a day. Later, one might think about that the kid in her abdomen naturally miscarried. In the long run, the woman couldn’t bear the misery. One evening when her husband was away on a enterprise journey, she killed each of her in-laws of their sleep. Quickly after, she went to the police station to give up by herself. 

Nonetheless, when it was time to file her transcript, the woman behaved very abnormally. One second she claimed to have killed her father-in-law and mother-in-law, however then the subsequent second she utterly negated her total testimony. She erratically informed the police that she’d by chance heard her mother-in-law privately inform her husband that it was silly and pointless for her to remain on this residence. Her mother-in-law needed her son to divorce her, or straight discover a technique to make her disappear.

Later, after a forensic analysis, she was believed to have extreme schizophrenia. Subsequently, the case was nonetheless pending now.

Ruan Zhizhi couldn’t assist heaving a sigh at her laptop computer. She had already regarded up many reference supplies in regards to the signs of schizophrenia on-line, however to her exasperation, the lengthy checklist of phrases was actually troublesome to make sense of for a layman. 

Simply as she was wanting miserably on the returned press launch in her hand, she out of the blue heard a jingle of wind chimes on the door of the café.

Ruan Zhizhi didn’t care a lot. She was feeling a bit of dizzy, so she took out a peach-flavoured fruit sweet from her backpack, peeled off the sweet wrapper, and stuffed it in her mouth. 

“Howdy sir, what would you want as we speak?”

“A field of macarons, packed.”

“Okay, please wait a second.”

……

This voice was…

Ruan Zhizhi doubted her personal ears and subconsciously turned her head. Positive sufficient, she noticed a slim man in a black coat standing quietly to the aspect of the counter. Each of his fingers have been within the pockets of his coat, and his again regarded tall and straight. Very informal.

As a result of it was raining outdoors, the ends of his hair have been considerably soaked. Drops of water trickled down his brow, but he didn’t appear to seek out it embarrassing and was nonetheless inconceivably sleek.

Ruan Zhizhi watched him and additional verified her earlier guess.

Look, this man actually did have a particular fondness for the macarons on this store.

He appeared to note her gaze and turned his head nonchalantly. His eyes occurred to satisfy Ruan Zhizhi’s analyzing stare.

When he noticed her, his eyes out of the blue softened.

If Ruan Zhizhi might nonetheless inform herself that it was a misperception prior to now, now that the 2 of them met increasingly ceaselessly, she might now not proceed the charade. As a result of each time Shi Yan noticed her, his apathetic and gloomy expression all the time turned tender.

She didn’t know why, nevertheless it was really like this each time. 

The down jacket Ruan Zhizhi was sporting as we speak was the identical one she’d worn on the bar in Lijiang with Shi Yan and Chen Jiayan earlier than. She watched Shi Yan take the macarons from the server’s fingers and unconsciously put her fingers within the pockets of her down jacket. Within the subsequent second, she felt the paper rose.

The paper rose he had gifted her a very long time in the past. Though she hadn’t saved it correctly, she additionally hadn’t thrown it away.

What did it characterize?

Ruan Zhizhi didn’t dare give it some thought. She didn’t have the time to consider it, as a result of she noticed the person who possessed an odd attraction as soon as once more coming to her.

It left her with nowhere to run.

“Working?”

Shi Yan carried the field of macarons in hand and walked over gracefully. He greeted her as if it was no large deal and sat throughout from her naturally. 

After all, she didn’t have room to refuse him, so she had no alternative however to observe together with the pleasantries: “Yeah. You don’t have class as we speak?”

“Morning class, simply completed.”

As he spoke, out of the nook of his eye, he inadvertently noticed Ruan Zhizhi’s press launch on the desk.

Ruan Zhizhi seen his line of sight and was struck with inspiration. Her tone out of the blue grew to become one in every of fawning: “Proper, Shi Yan, I’ll ask you. You’re in psychology. For schizophrenia, do you’ve got a extra detailed rationalization of the trigger and signs and so forth?”

Shi Yan took her press launch with ease, glanced at it casually, after which got here to the conclusion: “Certainly, it’s not very skilled.”

“……”

Did he must say it so bluntly?

“Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow at 5 o’clock within the afternoon, I’ll be speaking about a few of the signs and causes of schizophrenia in my class. In the event you’re , you’ll be able to come and sit in.”

Sit in?

An intense ideological battle instantly started in Ruan Zhizhi’s mind. After fascinated by it, she felt that this was a profitable deal. Anyway, the primary job at hand was to change this press launch. It might really be helpful for her to take a seat in on a psychology class taught by a professor of A College. 

Subsequently, she nodded and agreed very cheerfully.

As the 2 of them chatted, the rain bought heavier and heavier.

Ruan Zhizhi tidied up her issues and walked out alongside Shi Yan. She quickly realized the embarrassing scenario she was in—when she had gone out as we speak, she hadn’t introduced an umbrella.

Shi Yan glanced over. With none hesitation, he reached out and handed her his personal.

Ruan Zhizhi was shocked for a second, then shortly shook her head and declined: “No want, my home could be very shut by. It’s a ten-minute stroll at most. Anyway, I can simply look ahead to the rain to cease earlier than going again.”

Shi Yan was aloof, nonetheless sustaining the gesture of extending his hand. “It’s pouring, you’ll catch a chilly.”

Ruan Zhizhi mulled it over, however nonetheless couldn’t settle for Shi Yan’s umbrella with a transparent conscience. She couldn’t let him return within the rain, so she continued to refuse. “It’s actually not mandatory. Return to highschool shortly, didn’t you say there are nonetheless lessons within the afternoon?”

Shi Yan was quiet. The environment grew to become considerably heavy for a second. Neither of them spoke, and solely the sound of raindrops pitter-pattering remained. After a very long time, he spoke in a low tone that carried a thread of inexplicable disappointment: “Ruan Zhizhi, should you reject me?”

She didn’t know if it was raining too arduous, or if the tone of his voice contained an excessive amount of loss. Ruan Zhizhi bowed her head and checked out this prolonged hand greedy the umbrella. After some time, it was as if the demons and gods have been at work. She unexpectedly took it.

“Thanks.”

As soon as she propped the umbrella open, Ruan Zhizhi walked a couple of steps after which turned again. She hesitated for a second however nonetheless requested him tentatively, “How about we go collectively?”

She noticed Shi Yan smile softly. Raindrops moist his smile, trickling down his chin into his neckline. He was a handsome mess. His good-looking look made her tremble in worry, her coronary heart alarmed. And when he started to talk, his tone was awfully agency: “No want, I’m going again to highschool for sophistication. See you subsequent time.”

After he completed talking, he didn’t give Ruan Zhizhi any probability to induce him to remain. He circled and entered the downpour of rain alone.

Ruan Zhizhi stood in place, her fingers unconsciously clenching the deal with of the umbrella. Her coronary heart was filled with guilt. 

Simply now…she actually shouldn’t have taken the umbrella out of her worry of disappointment. 

Altogether, it solely took Ruan Zhizhi seven or eight minutes to stroll again residence from the espresso store. She walked inside, discovered a clear umbrella cowl, and thoroughly sheathed the black umbrella. As she positioned it by the door, she considered returning it to Shi Yan when she attended his class tomorrow afternoon.

Her residence had all the time been chilly and cheerless, with out the slightest hint of heat.

Resulting from her poor structure, in addition to the truth that it was overcast and wet, Ruan Zhizhi’s fingers and toes have been freezing now. It was extremely troublesome to bear. She kneaded the area between her brows, walked to the lounge, and steeped herself a cup of brown sugar ginger water. She held the cup as she sat on the couch. The steam warmed her ice-cold physique a bit of.

After sitting blankly on the couch for a bit, she estimated that Shi Yan ought to have returned to the college by now. Ruan Zhizhi took out her cellular phone, opened WeChat, and went to Shi Yan’s WeChat account. She hesitated for a very long time, her fingertips going forwards and backwards in the direction of the keyboard repeatedly. In the long run, she nonetheless opened the chat interface and despatched him a WeChat message. 

“Did you get to highschool? Thanks for the umbrella.”

After about 5 minutes, Shi Yan answered: “I’m right here, no want for thanks.”

Having obtained a reply from the opposite get together, Ruan Zhizhi let loose a sigh of reduction. Her fingertips repeatedly deleted and edited from her telephone’s keyboard earlier than she lastly despatched out the strains: “Once you get residence, drink some banlangen. In the event you catch a chilly, I’ll really feel very apologetic.”

This time, the opposite get together responded fairly shortly: “If I catch a chilly, will you take care of me?”

The fingers resting over the keyboard froze. Ruan Zhizhi stared at her telephone display screen for some time, then tentatively replied: “As a pal, for those who’re in want, after all I’ll handle you.”

En…this type of reply shouldn’t be incorrect, proper?

“If that’s so, it’s additionally superb.”

This was his reply. Ambiguous and imprecise.

That evening, Ruan Zhizhi suffered from insomnia once more.

She tossed and turned restlessly in mattress, even making an attempt every kind of strategies to resolve it, however she nonetheless couldn’t go to sleep.

Watching her cellular phone on the nightstand, Ruan Zhizhi considered it for a while and at last couldn’t assist stretching her hand out.

She unlocked the display screen and opened the Weibo interface. Then, she discovered Li Sichen’s Weibo.

It appeared that she hadn’t peeked at Li Sichen’s web page for a very long time. So lengthy that she virtually thought she was a standard individual. 

In her unconscious thoughts, she all the time felt that she ought to let go of Li Sichen. However each time she thought she was about to succeed, her earlier efforts would go down the drain, and he or she’d as soon as once more observe a path that led to failure. 

Typically she additionally considered abandoning herself to despair and surrendering herself to the person who she couldn’t overlook. Nonetheless, she couldn’t be reconciled to waste her treasured time on somebody who didn’t love her. 

Li Sichen hadn’t shared any information currently. His most up-to-date Weibo publish was nonetheless the one she’d seen final time: Metropolis A, I’m again.

Final time once they ate barbecue, Gu Nian had additionally informed her that Li Sichen can be returning to China quickly.

However two individuals who had no destiny collectively, even when they lived in the identical metropolis, wouldn’t be capable of come throughout one another fairly often.

If she didn’t see Li Sichen, that would really be the very best favour to her from the Heavens. But when they ever met, what ought to she do?

In reality, she was actually anxious that she would panic and run away. If she did, it could be too humiliating.

……

On this manner, Ruan Zhizhi drifted into the land of desires amidst such unrealistic entanglements and imaginations.