Wu Yu

  I knew she would come looking for me.

  After going home, I took a nap and woke up before noon. I had a bowl of rice noodles at the store next door, frequently looking out towards the street while eating.

  She didnt come.

  In the afternoon, I was working in the store until sunset fell on the empty space at the entrance of the store, but her figure did not appear. I was a bit puzzled, wondering if she could be so patient? Or was there something else that delayed her? At around 8 or 9 oclock in the evening when I finished work and the other shop workers went home, just as I was about to pull up the rolling shutter door, I saw that orange-red car slowly driving over along the road.

  The technique is not very good, and when passing the curve, its as slow as a cow. So I didnt pull the rolling shutter door all the way up, leaving a gap for her, and walked into the small room behind the store.

  The boss lent me this room, only about ten square meters in size, and also let me take care of the store. A yellow light bulb hung from the ceiling, and my books were piled high on the table. I found two clean stools and placed them beside the bed. I sat down, staring at the noodles cooking in the wall-mounted stove.

  "Whoosh, whoosh..." Someone knocked on the rolling shutter door, followed by her voice: "Excuse me, is Wu Yu here?"

  I dont know why, but I felt a little like laughing, and loudly replied: "Come in."

  She quickly lifted the curtain and walked in.

  I glanced up at her, already clean and refreshed, with a radiant glow on her face. She was wearing a simple T-shirt and a short skirt. I felt like my eyes had been dazzled by something.

  The legs under the short skirt were slender, white and straight.

  The noodles are cooked.

  I turned off the fire and served out the noodles. She stood still by the door, I said: "Sit." She immediately sat down on that stool.

  Like a rabbit, sometimes clever, sometimes confused. Sometimes quiet, sometimes jumping out.

  I held the noodles, sat beside her, and ate with big mouthfuls. I felt her gaze fixed on my face. If she knew who I was, she probably couldnt have imagined seeing me like this. But I no longer cared.

  "Why have you come now?" I asked.

  She was taken aback for a moment and said: "I came as soon as I woke up."

  I glanced at the clock, more than ten hours had passed.

  Heart is big. So many things happened, I waited for her all day, she slept deservedly.

  Its okay.

  I put the empty noodle bowl on the table and took two bottles of mineral water from the corner of the wall, handing one to her. She twisted it open, took a sip, and then covered it up again. I tilted my head back and drank more than half the bottle, and when I put it down, I found that she was staring at me with a slightly shy look in her eyes.

  Suddenly a sense of unease arose in my heart, but the person who started it lowered their head and continued to drink water as if nothing had happened.

  "What did you want to ask me?" I said.

  She stared at me and said: "The question you didnt finish answering last night. Why did you appear there?"

  Memories of the past suddenly flashed through my mind like a fleeting light, leaving only the dark night outside the window. And her face, still as clean and fresh as it was back then. I smiled slightly, reached into my pocket for a cigarette, wanting to find a lighter, but couldnt feel one.

  She took a lighter from the table next to her and handed it to me. I thought for a moment and said, "Light one up for me."

  She said, "Okay." I held the cigarette and looked at her slender fingers in front of me. This lighter was a bit old, she slid it several times without igniting it. I reached out to hold her fingers, gave it a forceful flick, and lit it. I still held her hand, leaned my face over, and after lighting it, I just let go, and she threw the lighter back at me. I looked at her, her face was red, not looking into my eyes, but staring elsewhere.

  "Speak," she said.