Extra. Jiang Xi 2
Going to work on the ship was one of Xiao Qian’s wise decisions.
With a new environment and something to occupy herself, Jiang Xi became more cheerful.
The three of them lived in a small room in the lower deck cabin. On the first day, Jiang Xi and Xiao Qian replaced the bed sheets and quilt covers with new ones, and wiped the walls, tables, cabinets, and floors until everything was spotless.
After starting work, she was also full of drive.
There were dozens of cleaners on the ship. Seeing that she was new and young, they pushed the most difficult area, the one that was hardest to clean and most often drew scolding, onto her.
Jiang Xi was not angry at all, nor was she discouraged. After taking one overall look, she lowered her head and got to work with steady persistence. She was like the little cleaning robot in WALL-E, with nothing in her eyes but the work.
In the end, the area she was responsible for was completely transformed, neat and pleasing to the eye.
Once, when the manager passed by, she was almost dazzled and was very surprised. That area had always been the hardest to clean. She had not expected it to suddenly become so clean it seemed to shine, and she found it quite unfamiliar.
The manager called Jiang Xi over and discovered that she had made many small tools herself, some for wiping corners, some for scraping off stubborn grime. Small knives, little screwdrivers, small files, towels, square cloths, all sorts of things. Even the tools themselves were kept neat and clean.
The manager was amazed and asked, “You look quite young. How old are you?”
Jiang Xi answered according to Cheng Xijiang’s identity, “Just… twenty.”
The manager felt she did not look twenty, but said nothing, only leaving her with one sentence: “Don’t stay in housekeeping. Go to food and beverage.”
With the change in position, her wages tripled.
Jiang Xi still did not feel much excitement or joy. She blinked in a daze, changed her clothes, and once again buried herself in work.
She had just started and understood nothing, but she carefully memorized every step the supervisor explained, turning them over again and again in her mind. Then she followed the requirements strictly, carrying them out step by step.
Not the slightest bit of laziness, nor any sly shortcuts.
If the rules said plates must be wiped three times with a dry cloth, then she wiped them three times. How others cut corners had nothing to do with her.
If the four corners of the tablecloth had to hang at the same height, she would kneel on the ground and sight them carefully, adjusting again and again. How others muddled through did not concern her.
In Jiang Xi’s simple view, just as cultivating a plant requires sowing, watering, weeding, removing pests, and sunlight, doing anything is a process of cultivating and nurturing a result. No steps should be missing, and nothing should be done carelessly.
Every bit of laziness will show in the result. Like leaves that are not rid of pests will rot with holes, stems not watered will dry out, fruit not fertilized will shrivel…
A very simple principle.
It was also like painting. Miss a stroke here, miss a stroke there, and the whole painting cannot bear close inspection.
The manager said that she had brought that small waiter’s job to the utmost perfection.
She still did not quite understand what there was to praise so greatly, did not quite understand what “utmost” or “perfection” meant. She simply moved forward in a steady, earnest way.
The cruise ship they were on, a large white vessel, moved along the Yangtze River, stopping and going. Along the way were bustling cities, noisy in the daytime, dazzling at night.
When she had free time, Jiang Xi would sit by the railing and look at the scenery on the shore. She would occasionally still think of the past, but she did not think about the future.
She felt that staying on the ship, on the river, like this, was enough.
Xiao Qian still treated her very well. When not working, he would accompany her to feel the wind on the deck, accompany her as she kept Jiang Tian company, playing together. To anyone else, they looked like a happy family of three.
Cheng Xijiang!
Cheng Xijiang!
Everyone called her that.
She herself also felt that she was Cheng Xijiang now, a new person.
Only she knew how this name came to be: Xu (Cheng), Xiao (Xi) Lou, Chang (Jiang).
But the meaning behind the name gradually became unimportant. What mattered was that it had become a new designation.
“Jiang Xi” was gone. Only “Cheng Xijiang” remained. Cheng Xijiang, who worked to support herself. Cheng Xijiang, Xiao Qian’s wife.
Until Xiao Qian suddenly died, and such peaceful days were completely shattered.
That was the most painful, tearing day in the nine years after leaving Jiangzhou.
That day, Jiang Xi not only fully woke from her haze and completely understood that she was a member of the Jiang family, and in many people’s eyes, she bore “guilt”; she also understood that the world was dangerous, not just a place of safe ships and sheltered harbors.
Her days would never be stable again.
If it could be said that for a long time after leaving Xu Cheng’s ship, she had not yet grown up, thanks to Xiao Qian’s protection, then Xiao Qian’s death pushed her completely into the adult world where the strong prey on the weak.
Jiang Tian exhausted himself, as if he did not know fatigue, not stopping even when his muscles cramped, carrying her on his back as they fled through the muddy ground and thickets in the night, fleeing, fleeing, fleeing. All the while, she wept, cried, wailed.
But upon reaching a new city, she wiped away her tears and went to wash dishes in small eateries, sort goods in small supermarkets, and go from ship to ship asking if they were hiring, whether they could give her a job. She said she was hardworking, ate little, and could do much work.
For more than half a year at the start, she lived very bitterly with Tiantian. Because she did not dare take jobs that required contracts, she could only drift around cheap places, at times even going without enough food.
But in the end, Jiang Xi found work cleaning on a ship. Though it was still hard, the ship owner was kind. Of course, it was also because she worked with such effort that the owner could not find anyone elsewhere who was as capable and willing to work as she was.
Only, Xiao Qian’s death left her with lingering fear. She would not stay long before moving elsewhere again. At the time, the owner was reluctant to let her go and even raised her wages to try to keep her.
Every time Jiang Xi changed cities, she would stay briefly on land before finding work on a ship.
Among those jobs, there was one Jiang Tian liked very much.
At that time, Jiang Xi worked at a hamburger shop frying chicken and French fries. Whatever was left at the end of the day could be taken home for Jiang Tian to eat.
Jiang Tian was incredibly happy. He thought his sister was the most capable person in the world.
Jiang Xi also quite liked that job then. When she saw students struggling financially, mothers with children, or elderly people in wrinkled clothes who still wanted to buy food for their grandchildren, she would secretly stuff their boxes of fries extra full, and put a little less ice in their cola.
Seeing them eat happily, she could not help but smile.
Just as when she worked as a cook on the ship, she would secretly ladle a little more meat into the bowls of thin, frail female workers.
She would feel a small, quiet happiness in her heart.
During those years, she learned many things. How to tell if meat had been injected with water; how to grow chili peppers and mint; the difference between a red wine glass and a champagne flute; how to use disinfectant and what precautions to take; what coating to use for fried chicken and what temperature the oil should be; what temperature was right for fries; how many types of river sand there were, which were of good quality and which were useless; what to pay attention to when loading rebar onto ships; what documents and procedures were required for large cargo ships to pass a dam; how cashiers balanced accounts at night; how to easily turn over someone who could not move; how to…
She met many kinds of people. White-collar workers, those who drove luxury cars, laborers, street vendors, students, merchants, waitstaff, men and women, young and old, from all walks of life. Everyone had happiness, and everyone had pain. It had nothing to do with what they possessed.
Perhaps that knowledge was not very useful, and the people she met were like passing clouds, but no matter what, she slowly grew.
So this is what the world is like.
Of course, she had been bullied and had cried. But she had also seen people tearing at each other in the street, disregarding dignity and face, crying and making a scene. She had seen people hiding in corners, clutching their heads and sobbing in silence.
It seemed that life was just like this: walking through long stretches of loneliness and pain in exchange for a little sweetness. Everyone was like this.
And she was still alive. Tiantian was still by her side. They depended on each other for survival. She had no great demands. After all, when she worked hard for a day and returned home, there were still clean cotton sheets, pink, pale green, or sky-blue curtains. When the weather was good, they would flutter in the wind, and she found them beautiful.
Compared to all that, Xiao Qian’s death caused her another kind of immense harm, something spiritual.
The longing for Xu Cheng when she had been on the brink of death caused her, after surviving, to fall for a time into self-loathing and hatred, hating him, and hating herself.
But she slowly carried out her own repair.
At first, it was a little difficult.
Especially at that time, when she had to work very hard just to maintain basic food and warmth for the two siblings.
On one side, a struggle for material survival. On the other, a struggle of the spirit.
But in the end, she won.
As life stabilized, her heart also stabilized.
She was not someone who loved to indulge in sentimentality or self-pity, nor did she ever place herself in the position of a victim, blaming heaven and others. Her heart remained simple and clear. With such a state of mind, her life also became simple and transparent.
By the time she drifted to Yunxi and Liangcheng, she was doing all right. When she went to Xicheng, life became a bit better. By the time she reached Yucheng, it was better still.
Only occasionally, when she was drawing with a hard pen, she would accidentally draw a boy. That boy.
How absurd. She had thought he was a ship for her, but he was a gun aimed at her heart.
And she had been thinking of that gun all along.
*
Seeing Xu Cheng again was an accident.
Jiang Xi had never imagined it would be under those circumstances.
Before, she had in fact imagined that if they were ever to meet again, she would accidentally spot him somewhere and then quickly slip away.
But she had not expected it would be when her prosthetic limb had just broken, when she had a severe cold, at her most disheveled.
At that moment, in the underground passage, when Xu Cheng crouched down, Jiang Xi sensed a pressing shadow.
The instant their gazes met, Jiang Xi’s heart stopped.
For a moment, she was dazed, as if unsure whether it was really him, as if she were dreaming. But in that instant, it felt as though time rushed past the two of them, and she was certain beyond doubt. It was him.
The boy from those years had grown up in an instant.
In that moment, she suddenly did not know whether more than nine years had truly passed, or whether time had never changed at all.
Had she truly lived through those past nine years?
She lowered her head. Her mind roared, and then seemed to fall suddenly silent. She did not know how she managed to apply the phone screen protector. She did not even remember whether she had finished applying it for the customer. Everything proceeded mechanically.
Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. She kept her head lowered, not daring to raise it. When Xu Cheng left, her heart eased for a brief moment, then hurt. He did not remember her, did he.
In that same instant, she became like a wound-up toy, suddenly set in motion, swiftly packing up everything on her small stall like a whirlwind, leaning on her crutch as she struggled to hurry away.
She thought of The Little Mermaid she had seen as a child. Every step she took felt like piercing pain.
But suddenly, she heard Xu Cheng’s shout: “Jiang Xi!!!”
He was roaring, “Jiang Xi!!!”
Her soul trembled in the cold wind. Jiang Xi?
For more than nine years, no one had called her that.
She did not dare turn back, but after getting into a taxi, she glanced at the rearview mirror. His figure was a very small dot, quickly swallowed by the night.
Running away was an instinct. Jiang Xi thought she did not want to see him again. But when she opened the door and saw Qiu Sicheng, she realized she was wrong.
She was still so hopeless.
After so many years, after so much grievance, sorrow, and hatred, she still wanted to see him one more time.
She was still that Jiang Xi, drowning in water, on the brink of death, wanting to see him one more time.
But she restrained herself, calmly suppressing these thoughts, and she did it fairly well.
Yet those strange instincts from back then returned.
She moved house, but she knew he would come find her again.
She encountered him and Jiang Qinglan on the ship, but she knew he had no other connection with her.
Walking through the alley, when she looked up and saw the streetlight had been repaired, she knew it was him.
Officer Xiao Gu said the city had newly installed surveillance cameras in the alley, and she also knew it was him.
He had been driven away, his car no longer appeared, yet she knew he was nearby.
But knowing changed nothing.
Too many years, too many things. She did not believe there could still be any intersection between them.
And yet, her heart could not help but think of him. Sitting at home, chatting with Jiang Tian, her eyes would drift to the curtains. Without lifting them, she knew his car was parked there in the dew-heavy night.
She would only lose focus for a moment, then turn her head back.
She knew she could walk her own path. These years, this was how she had lived. It was good.
But the day she was nearly kidnapped, her state of mind collapsed.
Years ago, the fear of death, of fleeing, of struggling to survive surged back. The helplessness and frustration of being toyed with by fate nearly crushed her. It was like a traveler pushing a small cart through a storm, struggling forward, pulling the rain cover tight again and again, putting herself in order and moving on, only to be violently overturned all at once.
That day, she thought of death.
And yet, the fireworks in the night sky were so beautiful.
That day, she saw Xu Cheng’s tears.
It was strange. Knowing that he, too, had lived in pain, she suddenly felt a measure of release, a measure of forgiveness toward him.
Before that, she had only seen Xu Cheng cry once, on the ship, when he had been severely injured by Ye Si and was burning with fever, crying as he called for his mother.
Jiang Xi also remembered the long scar on the boy’s body. It had been left because of her.
Once the heart began to soften, it could not be stopped.
She even hated herself a little. How could she so easily lean toward him again. Everything was just like when she had liked him back then, natural, effortless.
Clearly, in the hardest one or two years, she had hated him. Where had that hatred gone?
Clearly, she knew he had deceived her back then, that he did not like her. Yet hearing him now say that he liked her, she still shed tears.
Was it love, or guilt? Could he tell the difference? And could she herself tell?
Could she pretend not to know, accept it in confusion, deceive herself?
Emotionally, she wanted herself to feel better, wanted both of them to feel better. She wanted to close her eyes and say: let it be love. Accept it.
But rationally, she was so clear, so exacting. Her feelings had never contained any impurity, and she could not tolerate even the slightest impurity.
Otherwise, she would not be Jiang Xi.
She was torn, conflicted beyond measure.
That night on the ship, she had been a little drunk. She had wished to be more drunk, but she was not. She knew what would happen, and she let it happen, without resistance.
Before everything had been fully sorted out, she had already indulgently allowed it to happen.
In that moment, Jiang Xi finally realized that perhaps, deep in her heart, she longed for him. No matter all the external barriers, her heart would ultimately run toward him.
Her body and soul seemed to hold a primal desire for him. Once near, she was fiercely summoned. So intensely that all reason, hatred, resentment, restraint became useless, all overturned.
How could a person not want to draw near warmth.
How could a person stay away from the love of their life, not even by an inch.
She knew her defenses had completely collapsed, yet the madness of that night made her even more self-reproachful, guilty, and pained.
She thought of Xiao Qian.
Were feelings simply this unfair?
Some people could easily obtain what others could never gain, no matter how hard they tried.
Her guilt toward Xiao Qian would be a lesson she must face for the rest of her life.
How she wished she could let go of Xu Cheng, yet she could not.
She loved him, and she also hated him a little.
She wanted to stay away from him, yet also wanted to draw close.
What could it be compared to? Perhaps, like a flame.
Yes, a flame.
To draw near him was burning, was pain. To stay away from him was cold, was extinguishing.
And this flame clung to her relentlessly, just as she had once clung to him, even more so.
Jiang Xi thought that with this reunion, if not for his relentless persistence, refusing to let go no matter what, they might have had no possibility at all.
And within his relentless pursuit, though she was unwilling to admit it, she felt his love.
Whether there was guilt within it, it was still love.
How could a human heart not be softened.
She thought that perhaps it should be as Teacher Xiao Wenhui had said, that a person should not be trapped or tormented by the past. The living will, in the end, walk out of it, lift their heads, move forward, strive forward.
At the very least, she should try to do that.
After all, she truly did not know what she had done wrong.
She also had the right to pursue happiness, did she not?
Of course, Jiang Xi had struggled over whether Xu Cheng’s love back then had been real. Even knowing that he loved her now, she still could not completely walk out of the long pain of the past.
Love made people hesitant, dragging, unable to be clean and decisive.
But later, when all the truth surfaced, all those questions ceased to exist.
She did not know what to feel, nor how fate could play such a joke, pushing them apart for ten years. She felt such regret, missing those ten years.
If she had not gotten off the ship back then,
If she had made that call back then…
But Xu Cheng said that although he also regretted it, the past was already past. One should not indulge in it. To live each present day well, that was the only way to be worthy of that stretch of time that had been failed and let down out of necessity. And precisely because they had once lost it, they would cherish the future even more.
Very soon, Jiang Xi realized he was right.
Once they came together, everything followed its natural course, and all obstacles disappeared.
Her aunt had once opposed it, but later came to apologize to her of her own accord. “After I spoke to you that time, I could not sleep for days and nights. Just pretend I never said it. I was too selfish and muddled.”
Jiang Xi did not know what Xu Cheng had said to Fan Wendong or how he handled the procedures, but their marriage registration went smoothly without a hitch.
Not long after the wedding, Xu Cheng treated everyone on his team to a meal and introduced Jiang Xi to them.
After that, sometimes they would have plans to do something together after he got off work, and if he was delayed by work, he would have Jiang Xi go wait for him in his office.
At first, Jiang Xi felt embarrassed. Xu Cheng said, what is there to be embarrassed about, you are a legitimate family member.
Mm, family member.
So when she went to the Public Security Bureau to find him, everyone she met greeted her with friendly smiles: “Here to see Captain Xu?”
“Mm—”
The first time Jiang Xi went to his office, she was quite excited. She sat in his office chair, spinning in circles, lay on his desk twirling a pen, and looked at the three photo frames on his desk.
One was a photo of the two of them as teenagers, one was their wedding photo, and one was a “family of three” photo with Jiang Tian.
Every photo held bright, radiant smiles.
Just as she was looking with great interest, Xu Cheng returned, entering with a stern face, moving with force. He had just been interrogating a suspect, and his whole bearing was cold and severe.
For no reason, Jiang Xi immediately sat up straight like a well-behaved student, silent as a cicada in winter.
When Xu Cheng saw her, his expression softened a little, but only a little. He said, “Wait a moment.”
Even his tone was cold.
Jiang Xi nodded quickly.
He picked up the landline, pressed a string of numbers, and spoke sharply to the person on the other end. It sounded like the person had repeatedly made low-level mistakes.
After putting down the phone, Xu Cheng’s anger had not yet subsided. He stood to the side flipping through the folders on the desk.
Jiang Xi lowered her head, pretending to be a little quail. After a moment of silence, she realized she was occupying his seat while he stood working, and she immediately moved aside.
But she heard him give a faint laugh. “Sit. Why are you standing up?”
Jiang Xi looked up. His expression had already relaxed.
She pressed her lips together and smiled. “You’re working. You sit.”
“You sit. It’s not like I’m missing a leg.”
Jiang Xi glared at him. His smile grew a little wider, and the fierce criminal police officer from just now was already gone.
After going there more often, Jiang Xi gradually got used to how he was at work.
In his daily interactions with colleagues and subordinates, he was calm and natural. But when serious, he carried the authority of a captain. Small mistakes he overlooked, big mistakes he would harshly criticize, lenient and strict in proper measure. Toward criminals, he was even more unyielding.
Jiang Xi said, it’s a good thing you’re not like that when you’re with me, otherwise I would be scared to death.
Xu Cheng laughed. Come on, your courage is not that small.
Jiang Xi added, but you like that, it’s actually quite… sexy.
Xu Cheng’s face immediately darkened, his voice turning cold. “Is that so?”
Jiang Xi gave a small cry. “Hey, don’t come over—”
Xu Cheng always kept work and life clearly separate, and he handled the balance between the two very well. He never brought the frustrations and tension of work into life. At his post, he was composed, calm, rigorous, strict, yet he kept all his gentleness, softness, and attentiveness for her.
No matter how busy work was, he would still have breakfast with her every day and go to sleep with her at night. At noon, he would also find time to go eat with her.
Whatever small things he encountered, he would tell her about them. She was the same. When flowers bloomed or the moon was full, she would share it.
Even when he was on a business trip, they would still chat over video.
If she was busy drawing, he would quietly watch.
At home, he would watch from the reclining chair. When they were apart, he would watch through the screen.
Occasionally he would ask, what color was that just now?
She answered.
He gave a small “oh.”
She had her back to the mirror, so even through the video, he could see both her face and the painting reflected in the mirror.
As Jiang Xi painted, she lifted her eyes to the phone screen and saw that he was still watching her. She smiled.
“What are you smiling at?”
“I thought you left.”
“Where could I go,” he said. “Focus on your painting. Don’t get distracted.”
“Mm!”
She painted for a long, long time. When she looked at her phone again, Xu Cheng had covered himself with a blanket and fallen asleep curled up on the sofa.
Right, they also often went to exhibitions together, discussing the paintings.
Only then did Jiang Xi realize that during the years they had not seen each other, he had looked at many paintings and learned a great deal related to them, so that the two of them now had many more shared topics.
Of course, there were times when things were not so pleasant. But they were all small quarrels, nothing that escalated.
Once, for some small reason, neither even remembered clearly, one word led to another, and they began arguing.
A little annoyed, Jiang Xi said, “Stop. Don’t talk anymore. If you keep going, you’ll make me angry.”
Xu Cheng said, “How would I dare provoke the young lady? I provoke you once, I have to hide for ten years. A few more times and I’ll be in the grave.”
Jiang Xi could not help but laugh, and the matter passed.
Another time, it ended more unpleasantly. She did not want to pay attention to him, stubbornly refusing to speak. He kept trying to make peace, but she pressed her lips tightly together and would not say a word.
Xu Cheng had no choice. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly unbuttoned his shirt and showed her the scar from when Ye Si had slashed him in his youth. He said, “Hey, look here. You still haven’t compensated me for this.”
She froze for a moment, reached out to touch the scar, and they made up.
But Xu Cheng only used that method once. Because that time, as she touched the scar, she began to cry.
He never brought it up again.
Jiang Xi’s university years went very smoothly. Systematic, professional study, along with broader and richer faculty and platforms, gave her great support. Of course, she herself was also extremely hardworking and diligent. Aside from time spent with Xu Cheng and Jiang Tian and the routines of daily life, she spent almost all her remaining time studying and painting.
Her efforts finally bore fruit.
By her third year, she had already begun to gain a reputation.
In the past, Jiang Xi only knew the simple joy of immersing herself in painting, tracing lines and colors stroke by stroke, sinking into a state of flow, entering a free realm as if no one else existed. Now, Jiang Xi experienced the joy of her work having influence, especially as she gradually gained admirers. They said they found calm, encouragement, emotion, inspiration, or the enjoyment of beauty in her paintings.
Jiang Xi realized that she was closely connected to this world.
She could also observe distant places and people from afar.
She felt even more encouraged and resolved to keep pushing herself forward, to walk this path better and better, constantly surpassing herself.
At that time, although Jiang Xi was already married, she did not need to take care of a household. She and Xu Cheng took care of each other.
And with Xu Cheng sharing the responsibility of caring for Jiang Tian, she was much more relaxed than before and had more time and energy to devote to her painting career.
She also had no in-laws to constrain her.
After Cheng Xiang found Xu Cheng, she would occasionally call to check on them, but she was an open-minded mother who never interfered in their affairs or offered unsolicited guidance.
Xu Minmin was closer, but what she mostly did was prepare large amounts of Jiangzhou food for them. Of course, she had also cautiously asked when they planned to have a child.
Jiang Xi did not answer. Xu Cheng spoke instead.
They did not plan to have children.
Their energy was just enough for their lives, for each other, for their work, and for taking care of Jiang Tian.
Their plan for the future was that Xu Cheng would have a stable job resistant to risk, Jiang Xi would strive in her career as a painter, and Jiang Tian would always be their family, never to be abandoned.
That was enough.
Moreover, having missed nearly ten years of youth, they only wanted to spend more time together, belonging to each other, to properly be together and make up for the lost time. They did not want to have a child before they had spent enough time together, only to have the focus of the next twenty years shift to the child, and then, when they were old, think about traveling the world or accompanying each other. That would be too late.
More importantly, neither of them had grown up in a complete family with parents by their side. Faced with the major responsibility of raising a child, neither felt certain.
So, for now, this was good.
Xu Minmin sighed. “Suit yourselves. Sigh, even with a child, there’s endless worry. Think about Aunt Yuan, Teacher Xiao… and me. Your cousin, having her is like not having her at all. Just talking about her makes me angry…”
Xu Cheng mentioned something that had happened on their way back this time. Their car had boarded a ferry to cross the river, and he and Jiang Xi were standing by the car, feeling the wind.
Suddenly, someone fell into the river. Xu Cheng immediately jumped in and pulled him out.
It was a very handsome, pale boy.
Everyone thought it was an accident, but Xu Cheng saw that it was a suicide attempt.
Xu Cheng said, “Raising a child is a great responsibility.”
Xu Minmin also sighed. From then on, she never brought it up again.
Day by day, life passed, plain yet happy.
There were no major events in their daily life. Occasionally, something like a broken window or a kitchen circuit failing would happen… all small matters, which Xu Cheng could handle.
The new neighbors upstairs did chaotic renovations, and water leaked down. The other party was even aggressive about it. Xu Cheng stepped in, resolved it smoothly, and had them both compensate and apologize.
It seemed there were no other troubles.
Until early 2020.
At that time, Xu Cheng was working in Yucheng, also taking care of Jiang Tian. Jiang Xi, meanwhile, was in a mountainous area in North China, participating in a four-week outdoor sketching program organized by her school.
They video-called every night. Everything was normal.
But one morning, Xu Cheng suddenly called her. His tone was urgent. “Jiang Xi, how many days are left in your program?” Without waiting for her answer, he said directly, “No matter how many days, come home right now. Take leave and come home immediately.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I think what happened yesterday is a bit serious.”
The news the day before had reported an unknown pneumonia.
Jiang Xi froze. “Isn’t it very far from us?”
“I had a dream yesterday. I dreamed you got pneumonia again, almost…” Xu Cheng said in a low voice, “Hurry back.”
Jiang Xi was silent for a moment, thinking he was a bit overly nervous. But Xu Cheng had always supported her in everything she did and never made unreasonable demands. She said, “Okay.”
They were still on the call as they began searching.
“There are no flights left.”
“No train tickets either.” She thought for a moment and said, “How about I leave the mountain first, take a car to xx, and see if there are buses there to go back to Yucheng?”
Xu Cheng only thought for two seconds before saying, “I’ll drive to pick you up now.”
Jiang Xi was startled. They were more than 1,300 kilometers apart. Even driving nonstop would take at least fifteen hours.
Jiang Xi said, “Driving that long, you’ll be exhausted.”
Xu Cheng said, “Jiang Xi, I want you home. Right now.”
She had suffered pneumonia several times growing up, and he still felt lingering fear because of it.
She understood, nodded firmly, and said yes.
Xu Cheng hung up and set out immediately. That day, he drove for fifteen hours. When he reached the mountains, it was one in the morning.
Jiang Xi was waiting for him outside the mountain guesthouse.
The moment Xu Cheng got out of the car, he pulled her tightly into his arms. His eyes were full of red veins.
His voice was hoarse. “Jiang Xi, your health isn’t good. You can’t get seriously ill again. You absolutely can’t.”
That night, after eating instant noodles, Xu Cheng collapsed into sleep. Early the next morning, they set out again, another fifteen-hour drive, arriving back in Yucheng at dawn.
Along the way, Jiang Xi looked at the endless highway ahead, feeling at ease and safe.
After returning, the first thing Xu Cheng did was replace all the drainage pipes and ventilation outlets in their home. Then he checked the first aid kit for alcohol, masks, gauze, medicines. Seeing everything was sufficient, he still bought more before finally feeling a bit reassured.
Not long after, Yucheng also went into lockdown.
Soon, there were not enough public personnel, and everyone was assigned to epidemic prevention posts.
Xu Cheng stopped going home, staying in the unit dormitory with his colleagues. They were outside every day, in contact with large numbers of people. No one knew when they might be infected, and they could not risk bringing it home.
Jiang Xi understood all of this. But after staying at home with Jiang Tian for more than a month, she still missed Xu Cheng very much.
“When can you come back?”
“I don’t know. I’m afraid of infecting you. Your health is so poor. Maybe it will be over soon.”
“I miss you. I miss you so much,” she said, clinging.
“Jiang Xi, be good, okay.”
“Mm…”
“Jiang Xi.”
“Mm?”
“Come to the window.”
Jiang Xi walked to the window and saw him standing downstairs, wearing a mask, waving at her. Looking around and seeing no one, he pulled down his mask and gave her a bright smile.
Jiang Xi smiled too, immediately waving her arms hard at him, and called Jiang Tian over as well.
Two days later, he called her happily. “Today I’ve been assigned near our neighborhood to do testing.”
“Really?!”
“Mm…”
When the time came, Jiang Xi immediately put on her mask and took Jiang Tian downstairs. Their area tested by time slots, so there were not many people in line.
The medical worker was covered from head to toe, only a pair of eyes visible. But Jiang Xi recognized Xu Cheng at a glance.
He saw her. Light sparkled in his eyes.
Jiang Xi wanted to look at him a little longer, so she let Jiang Tian go first.
After Jiang Tian was done, he said, “Xu Cheng-gege.”
Xu Cheng nodded.
Jiang Tian obediently went to the side.
When it was Jiang Xi’s turn, his eyes curved in a smile. She took off her mask. “Ah—”
After finishing her test, seeing that she was still looking at him eagerly, he said, “Put your mask back on.”
“Mm…” Jiang Xi smiled, reluctantly pulling her gaze away.
She took Jiang Tian’s hand and walked for a while when people behind them began discussing, “That medical worker just now was so handsome! Did you see?”
“I did, seriously handsome! Even just his eyes and brows were super good-looking.”
“Just don’t know what he looks like without the mask.”
“But why did he only smile at the girl in front? He was expressionless with everyone else.”
Jiang Xi: (°ー°〃)(⊙o⊙)… because he’s my husband.
That night, Xu Cheng sent her a sticker of a little cat opening its mouth wide, “Ah—,” and said: “When you opened your mouth it was so cute. It’s the first time I’ve seen your tonsils and uvula.”
Jiang Xi: “What the hell! Taking advantage of your position to peek at other people’s tonsils and uvula! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻”
Xu Cheng: “Very cute. Even my Xi-bao’s uvula is cute. When you said ‘ah,’ it was moving.”
Jiang Xi thought for a moment, then faced the mirror and went “Ah—.” It really was moving. It was indeed cute.
But Xu Cheng only stayed outside for a month and a half. Everyone missed their families, so they came up with a solution, using transparent plastic film to divide the home into two halves. That way, even with a layer in between, they could still be under the same roof as their family.
For them, that was already a great comfort.
After another three months, Xu Cheng left the epidemic prevention post and no longer frequently went out on assignments. The layer of plastic film was removed.
Jiang Xi graduated soon after and began graduate school, attending classes online. Her studies and work were not greatly affected.
Over those two-plus years, she worked intermittently on her first art book.
Jiang Xi put great care into her first published collection, preparing dozens of new paintings, refining each one to the utmost.
She held herself to high standards and gave herself great pressure.
Sometimes, when she was tired from painting, exhausted, or began to doubt herself, Xu Cheng would play board games with her, chat with her, encourage her, coax her, comfort her, even pull Jiang Tian in to praise her together.
He said that once she finished her manuscript, he would take her to the Netherlands to see The Little Street.
Jiang Xi immediately felt energized again.
The day she completed the manuscript was late at night. She told Xu Cheng she had one last detail to finish and that she would be done today. Finally.
But that one detail, she ended up working on for several hours without realizing it.
She was immersed in it, completely unaware of time, yet subconsciously she knew Xu Cheng was waiting for her, waiting with Jiang Tian.
She herself did not think there was anything to wait for, but Xu Cheng said it was an important moment in life, and that the whole family should stay together for it.
When Jiang Xi closed her iPad, let out a long breath, and stood up, it was already two-thirty in the morning. Xu Cheng, who had been reading in the living room, looked up. “Finished?”
Jiang Xi nodded vigorously. “Mm!”
Xu Cheng’s smile spread. He stood and went toward her. She threw herself into his arms, holding him tightly.
He kept rubbing her head. “You’ve worked hard, you’ve worked hard. These two years have been so hard. Congratulations, A-Xi, congratulations on finishing!”
Her eyes almost filled with tears. In his arms, she bounced a couple of times.
Jiang Tian said, “Xu Cheng-gege said we should celebrate!”
Jiang Xi’s eyes lit up. “How do we celebrate?”
“If you want to eat at home, we can make you a yogurt bowl. Nuts, fruit, honey, yogurt, crushed biscuits, everything is ready. If you want barbecue, we’ll go downstairs right now, open cola, open beer, clink glasses. How about it?”
“I want both.”
“Then I’ll order takeout now and make the yogurt bowl. Miss, satisfied?”
“Very satisfied!”
That night, they sat on the carpet around the coffee table, eating, chatting, clinking glasses. Before they knew it, they talked until dawn.
A few days later, Jiang Xi and Xu Cheng boarded a plane to Amsterdam.
Jiang Tian had severe claustrophobia and could not fly, so he was temporarily looked after by Xu Minmin.
On the second day in the Netherlands, Jiang Xi saw The Little Street with her own eyes.
The painting was a bit smaller than she had imagined, a small piece hanging on a deep blue wall.
A small, quiet painting.
Xu Cheng stood behind her, holding her in his arms.
She looked at the painting for a long, long time.
For no reason, tears streamed down her face.
Around her were tourists from all over the world. They did not know how long, how far a road she had walked to come here with him.
She had already found the Little Street in her heart.
At that moment, Jiang Xi smiled faintly. Xu Cheng, I am very fortunate to have met you.
If she could do it all over again, even if nothing in the course of events could be changed, she would still hope to meet him.
She hoped that on April 11, 2003, he would push open the door of her studio, stand in the early summer sunlight and green shadows, in the wind passing through the hall, and say, “You’re the one here who needs a model?”
Yes.
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