An exceptionally familiar male voice rang out from behind her. Huo Chuxue jolted in surprise.
She hurriedly turned her head and saw He Qingshi standing behind her. His figure was tall and straight, the cold wind filling his trouser legs, giving him an aura of chilly solitude.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in astonishment.
“I came for my morning run.” He sat down beside her on the stone. The oversized tracksuit he wore only made him appear more slender.
The casual sportswear made him look younger, adding a touch of a student’s air.
She finally got to see him in a different outfit. She was tired of seeing him in suits and dress shirts every day, even if he wasn’t.
Huo Chuxue raised her voice to ask, “Don’t you have classes this morning?”
“I do. I’ll be heading back soon.” He Qingshi looked at her calmly, his tone gentle. “If you’re feeling bad, just let it out and cry.”
“Which of your eyes sees me feeling bad?” Huo Chuxue stood up from the rock and patted the fine dirt from her trousers, displaying a childlike stubbornness. “I’m not going to cry.”
She did feel a little bad, but more than that, she felt powerless. That kind of powerlessness that grew from the depths of her heart, that powerlessness in the face of reality. It was exhausting, and even more frustrating.
The man quickly stood up, faster than her. Unexpectedly, he reached out with his right hand, directly clasping her wrist. With a gentle tug, she fell into his embrace. His low, soothing voice sounded above her head. “Still saying you’re not upset? The rims of your eyes are red.”
Huo Chuxue: “…”
His strong arm wrapped around her back, holding her tight. Their bodies pressed close together.
She instinctively reached up to touch her own eyes, insisting, “I’m not upset.”
He held her tighter and whispered into her ear, “Don’t think about anything. Just close your eyes.”
Huo Chuxue struggled a couple of times but couldn’t break free.
She gave up, resting her cheek against his chest and slowly closing her eyes.
Her surroundings plunged into darkness, and her senses became sharper. The mountain wind howled beside her ears, filling his clothes and making them flap noisily.
The man’s embrace was warm, and he carried a familiar scent that could put a person at ease.
Gradually, the sound of the wind faded into the distance, and the whole world quieted down.
He Qingshi didn’t know what exactly had happened to her. In truth, he had seen her at the foot of the mountain. They had arrived at the base one after the other; he had followed behind her and climbed the mountain with her.
Her state seemed so poor, her emotions clearly off. She was completely immersed in her own thoughts and hadn’t noticed someone following her the entire way. It was exactly the same as the first time he took her climbing Yanshan.
She was always positive and optimistic, full of energy, like a little sun forever shining and radiating warmth. He rarely saw her in low spirits.
Seeing her so dejected now, she had most likely encountered some trouble. It was probably something at the hospital.
He didn’t need to ask, because he didn’t need to know what she had experienced. He only needed to give her a hug, right when she needed it most.
If there was anything that could cure a person’s bad mood, it was an embrace from someone they liked.
Held in his arms, feeling his real body warmth, able to clearly hear his heartbeat, she allowed herself a brief moment of emptiness, thinking of nothing. Soon, all the bad emotions were swept away.
This embrace lasted for a long time before He Qingshi finally released her.
“Don’t think a hug is enough to win me over,” Huo Chuxue said, pouting like a willful child.
He chuckled softly to himself. “I know you hold a grudge against me, but you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder for so long now, isn’t it about time you stopped?”
Huo Chuxue didn’t make a sound. Facing the wind, her long hair was blown into disarray, strands flying wildly.
She reached up to tuck it behind her ear. In the dim, hazy light, the sight was indescribably charming.
“At my age, with all these mental burdens, it’s inevitable to overthink things and get stuck in a dead end. But didn’t I go looking for you as soon as I figured it out?” He Qingshi watched her movements, lowering his voice.
Huo Chuxue: “…”
Talking as if he was so old! What a stuffy old man!
“Who are you trying to fool? When did you ever come looking for me?” Huo Chuxue wore an expression of utter disbelief.
The old man in question seemed as if someone had touched upon his most private matter, his face full of embarrassment. It took him a good while before he stammered out, “That day… I went to the hospital on purpose.”
Huo Chuxue: “…”
Huo Chuxue suddenly understood. “You went to the hospital on purpose? So you weren’t actually sick?”
“The cold was real, but going to your hospital was intentional. You know how far Yanshan is from the First Hospital.” It was a north-south divide, completely opposite directions.
Huo Chuxue: “…”
In truth, ever since returning from Faci Temple, he had completely let go of his mental block and decided to live for himself once. So he immediately prepared to go back and find Huo Chuxue.
But he had hurt her so deeply. She had even said those harsh words: “If we meet, we won’t know each other; we’ll just be strangers.” He wasn’t sure if she had already given up on him. So he could only go and test the waters first.
For her sake, he traveled all the way to the First Hospital for a minor cold. He did see her, but Huo Chuxue was very cold. They locked eyes from a distance, and then she turned and left.
The few times they met after that, she was equally cold and simply ignored him.
After several such attempts, he felt quite discouraged and lost his patience. That night, he ended up getting drunk at the Japanese restaurant.
Thankfully he got drunk that night, otherwise, who knows how much longer it would have taken him to win Huo Chuxue over.
“You deliberately went to the hospital to engineer a chance encounter with me, but the hospital is so big. How could you be so sure you’d run into me?”
“I was gambling,” He Qingshi said softly. “I wasn’t sure if I’d run into you either. I could only take a gamble.”
As it turned out, he won his bet.
“Then why didn’t you talk to me?”
“I wanted to, but you turned and walked away before I got the chance.”
Huo Chuxue: “…”
Huo Chuxue looked as if a whole new world had opened up before her, her face a picture of shock. This old man really was scheming, hiding it so deeply!
She asked blankly, “So… the times after that were also on purpose?”
He Qingshi said, “The ones at the hospital were. That night at Xizi Renjia wasn’t. That was a treat from the department head at the institute.”
“He Qingshi, are all you old men this cunning?”
He Qingshi: “…”
He sighed, saying helplessly, “I had no other choice.”
“These past three months have been torture for me. Rejecting you didn’t make me feel relieved. On the contrary, the pain grew day by day. I found that I simply couldn’t let you go. I thought about you every day, wanting to see you. I’ve thought a lot during this time. I finally figured some things out. Perhaps it was fate that I met you, something I couldn’t escape. Lately, I’ve been thinking that if you still have me in your heart, I definitely won’t be so pretentious again.”
The mountain wind howled, whipping around them. The two stood in the wind, his voice low, deep, and mellow, clear to her ears.
Huo Chuxue listened quietly. Her heart felt as if it had been dipped in honey, sweet to the bone. So listening to an old man’s confession could be quite enjoyable too!
He had said a great deal, laying out his thoughts and feelings for her one by one. Yet Huo Chuxue still hadn’t made her own stance clear. Unable to grasp her attitude, He Qingshi grew somewhat anxious.
“What do you think? Can you give me an answer?” The man’s face showed his urgency.
Huo Chuxue actually tilted her head and giggled. Her laughter was clear and crisp, like wind chimes.
He Qingshi didn’t understand. “What are you laughing at?”
“I’m laughing at how you old men always say one thing and mean another. If not pushed, you’d never tell the truth.”
He Qingshi: “…”
She turned and started heading down the mountain. “I’m hungry. Let’s go get breakfast first.”
He Qingshi hurried to catch up with her. “What do you want to eat? There’s a place at the foot of the mountain that makes excellent oil-splashed noodles…”
The mountain wind carried their voices farther and farther away.
In the distance, the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and sunlight broke through. It was another bright, sunny day.
He Qingshi watched Huo Chuxue’s slender, graceful figure and a smile spread across his lips.
What Gui Shu said was absolutely right. He had been wrong from the very beginning. That day at Cenling Villa, when she rushed in uninvited, he not only let her stay for tea and a meal but also allowed her to walk into his heart.
Cenling was so vast, with countless tourists visiting every year, yet she was the only one who walked into his villa.
Just like what was written in Casablanca—
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
Fate and coincidence destined them to meet, and destined her to walk into his heart.