Sour and Bitter

“So, you decided to break up?” Gao Yan asked Chu Xia.

“What else can we do?” Chu Xia asked back.

At their age, two years was pivotal. Even if he was willing to wait, what about Liang Shiyun?

After this year, she will be thirty. For a woman, thirty was always a hurdle. Even if she didn’ care about what others think, what about Fang Yuan? It was undoubtedly unwise to persist in a hard long-distance relationship without knowing what might happen.

If they were both two years younger—but when he was younger he was the bastard who proposed to break up. Was there any reason to ask Liang Shiyun to persist in the long-distance relationship?

“You don’t want to fight again?” Gao Yan seemed a little disappointed.

Chu Xia smiled wryly, saying that he didn’t want things to be phony. As for fighting, Liang Shiyun didn’t give him a chance at all

It was her who made the decision.

On the second day, Chu Xia was still thinking about how to solve the situation. However, Liang Shiyun had already come to his apartment to pack her stuff.

When Chu Xia opened the door, Liang Shiyun was obviously surprised for a second. She probably didn’t expect him to come back early, so she greeted him with a, “You’re back?”

She was sitting cross-legged, with two boxes beside her. One was about to overflow and the other was half-full. She was reaching out from the overflowing box and throwing some things into the half-full box.

“What are you packing?” Chu Xia responded. He handed her the clothes she had on the sofa, but was taken aback when he saw the things in the box.

Who packed like this? Even insignificant things were being packed up and taken away.

The half-full box was garbage that was about to be discarded, but she insisted on taking it with her as well. It was as if she was afraid that if it wasn’t cleaned up cleanly, it would lead to loose ends.

In an instant, Chu Xia felt unhappy. At the same time, he felt that she was being unreasonable.

Finally, Liang Shiyun spoke up, “There are too many things to do in the company right now that I have to discuss with my dad. I plan to move back home.”

The tone of her explanation was a bit rough, but very calm—Chu Xia felt that it was not so much an explanation, but a tactful indication for them to break up.

For adults, there were some things that didn’t need to be said clearly.

Sometimes a look in the eyes could confirm a relationship, and the same was true for breaking up.

Liang Shiyun went abroad at the end of August.

On the day she left, Chu Xia’s studio opened, so he didn’t go to see her off.

It’s fine, he thought. Saying goodbye was too dramatic, and more importantly, he was afraid that he would ask her to stay.

Chu Xia and his work partner and a few newly recruited colleagues had been busy all day. They took advantage of the dinner to get drunk, but then used the rest of the night to recover from the headache. After that, they turned around and started to get busy with work the next day.

Life still had to go on.

The studio projects and the joint space with Gao Yann were also launched shortly thereafter. Chu Xia was busy until October when he finally took his first vacation.

National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival collided with each other for a long holiday.

In July, because Chu Xia met Liang Shiyun’s father, he planned to have his parents meet Liang Shiyun. He proposed for his parents to visit during National Day

Fortunately, he didn’t say directly that it was for them to visit their future daughter-in-law.

Chu Xia invited them to come and visit. He accompanied them to go to scenic spots around the city. It was only a seven-day long vacation. His parents were on their third day of vacation when they received news about a distant relative’s death, so they had to go back early to attend the funeral.

Chu Xia sent his parents off, and he was suddenly bored with his free time.

Because he was planning to spend time with them, Chu Xia finished all his work ahead of time. He also turned down invites that happened during National Day

As soon as his parents left, the huge apartment suddenly became somewhat empty.

The clock in the living room was ticking, and Chu Xia was sitting quietly in the room. He suddenly thought of Liang Shiyun.

It had been two months since they broke up.

Almost everything she used in the room was cleaned up. Yet, the entire apartment was full of traces of her presence.

Chu Xia could almost imagine her sitting cross-legged on the sofa, standing in front of the windows, bending over the bathroom…

People who were going through heartbreak were most afraid of having nothing to do.

It was fine when he was busy before. He spent most of his time in the office, and when he returned to the apartment, he just took a shower, went to bed in a hurry. He could still control himself to not to think about what he had.

Now that he was free

When he suddenly had nothing to do, he discovered that he could no longer suppress those emotions.

He suddenly wanted—really wanted—to see Liang Shiyun.

He knew that there were no benefits of seeing her when they had separated.

But he just couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wanted to see her, or just to hear her voice

He clicked on her Wechat avatar, and there were no new posts in her Moments. The message he sent her only had a short reply, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, and there was nothing further.

Chu Xia sat on the sofa, watching the night gradually engulf the entire apartment. He couldn’t stop himself from clicking on the chat box.

Let’s make a video call, no, a regular call is more appropriate. I’ll just tell her that I can’t find something, and ask if it’s at her place. Even though this excuse was extremely lousy, he pressed the call button.

It’s morning in California, right?

The moment the call was ringing, Chu Xia thought about it and wanted to hang up. However, she had already picked up.

“Hello—” Liang Shiyun’s voice was slightly hoarse, as if she had just woken up.

“Did you disturb your sleep?” Chu Xia apologized. Just after exchanging a few words, his work phone next to him suddenly rang. The caller ID was a customer, but he had no intentions of hanging up and did not know if it was an important call.

Liang Shiyun heard it too, and brought it to his attention. “Your phone is ringing.”

Chu Xia had no choice but to say, “Wait a minute, I’ll call you later.”

He picked up the phone and went to the balcony. When he came back, he saw that the WeChat call was still on. Liang Shiyun hadn’t hung up.

She was waiting for me?

This realization shocked Chu Xia. He hurried over to pick up the phone. He wanted to continue the topic just now, but heard music playing faintly over there.

“… Me drinking from my broken cup, And ask me to, Open up the gate for you…”1

It was a very old song. Chu Xia recognized the song, but was not sure. He wanted to confirm it with Liang Shiyun, but he heard another voice.

“Do you like to listen to record players?” It was a man’s voice. “Or do you like collecting them? I thought only older people would like to listen to this.”

“I thought I was already considered an old person.” Liang Shiyun laughed.

Then there was a rustling sound. The man who had just spoken was humming along with the music while joking, “Then I have to keep up with you.”

They were talking and laughing, and it was obvious that their relationship was something more.

Chu Xia, who was jumping for joy just now, suddenly felt that he had fallen to the bottom of the valley.

It’s Bob Dylan’s I Want You Link

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