A cold snap arrived in late March.
Lin Jiang’s paternal and maternal grandfathers were similar in age, but their physical constitutions were worlds apart. Her maternal grandfather had just returned from the grasslands, yet within a few days, he was brimming with energy and off to Beijing for a trip. Her paternal grandfather, however, had always been frail. As soon as the weather turned cold, he fell ill with a persistent high fever and was hospitalized once again.
Lin Jiang went to visit him after her classes. By chance, she ran into Shen Yan, who was also there visiting. After staying in the ward for a while, the two of them walked out together.
While waiting for the elevator, a chocolate commercial was playing on the small television in the hallway. Lin Jiang looked at the shadows under Shen Yan’s eyes and asked, "Have you been busy lately? Your dark circles are darker than dark chocolate."
"Don't even get me started. Work at the firm is annoying enough, and now my mom is busy trying to set me up on blind dates," Shen Yan huffed with a laugh.
Lin Jiang smiled. "Wasn't it a wise move for me to move out?"
Shen Yan didn't commit to an answer, only saying, "I’ve been considering moving out myself lately."
Lin Jiang was about to say something more when the elevator doors opened. At that exact moment, a familiar voice drifted from the small television—resonant and powerful, yet piercing to the heart.
Lin Jiang’s eyes dimmed. She grabbed Shen Yan, intending to pull him into the elevator.
But Shen Yan wouldn't budge.
Lin Jiang watched as the elevator doors closed again. The commercial on the TV changed to the next one. Her eyes felt dry and stinging. She tugged at Shen Yan’s arm, cleared her throat, and said, "Let’s go."
Shen Yan stood still for a moment before finally looking down at her.
To Lin Jiang’s surprise, he flashed a remarkably bright smile. "I didn't finish what I was saying just now. I need you to do me a favor."
Lin Jiang hadn't expected him to suddenly bring this up. Looking at Shen Yan’s face, she felt an inexplicable sense that his smile carried a hint of "preferring to be shattered jade than intact pottery"—a desperate sort of resolve.
"What is it?" Lin Jiang followed his lead.
Shen Yan pulled back his expression. "Anyway, you’re the only one who can help."
As he spoke, he stepped forward to press the elevator button. "When the time comes, dress up a bit."
Lin Jiang felt he was changing the subject too quickly and asked again, "What exactly is it?"
But Shen Yan stopped responding.
Lin Jiang felt her temples throbbing.
***
After parting ways with Shen Yan that afternoon, Lin Jiang went home to work on her radio station. She had only recorded two scripts when the sky outside the window turned pitch black.
Lin Jiang stretched and went to the kitchen to forage for food. She grabbed a container of yogurt, but just as she peeled back the lid—before she could even lick it—Wang Jiaqian called her on a video chat, asking for help picking out an outfit for a client meeting.
They hadn't spoken for long when a man’s voice drifted from the other end. Wang Jiaqian’s expression shifted, her eyes turning evasive.
"Is that Qin Zhao?" Lin Jiang didn't pretend she hadn't heard.
"You recognized his voice?" Wang Jiaqian scratched her head, shifted her grip on the phone, and sighed.
But she clearly didn't intend to elaborate.
Lin Jiang didn't press further. She seriously helped her friend pick out a beige Korean-style suit and then hung up.
Setting her phone down, Lin Jiang leaned against the kitchen counter, slowly sipping her yogurt. She didn't know what she was thinking about, yet it felt like she was thinking about everything at once.
That night, she fell asleep listening to Jordan Chan’s "Exclusive Memory."
***
The next morning, she got up early for class. When she stepped out after the lecture ended, she was greeted by a sudden downpour.
A female student from her class stood beside her under the eaves. Lin Jiang turned and asked, "You didn't bring an umbrella either?"
Unexpectedly, the girl just looked down and smiled without saying a word.
About five minutes later, a lean boy suddenly ran through the rain holding an umbrella. The girl skipped joyfully into the shelter of his umbrella and gave Lin Jiang a shy look. "Teacher, we’re heading out first."
Lin Jiang suddenly felt the world was quite bleak.
She checked her ride-hailing app, but no one was accepting her request.
Gritting her teeth, she dashed into the rain.
She had only run a few steps when a car pulled up beside her.
Jiang Weifeng hadn't expected to run into Lin Jiang either. He had just been at the office, where his assistant had found Lin Jiang’s resume and brought it to him. After a moment of silence, he had started driving home. His usual route was congested, so he took a detour. Who would have thought that after passing a green light, he would see her through the mist and rain, running like a leaf fluttering in the wind.
The window rolled down, revealing a familiar face. His voice was calm. "Get in."
Lin Jiang looked at how drenched she was and waved her hands hurriedly. "I'm soaked. I shouldn't get in. I'll just take the subway up ahead."
He didn't say a word, just stared at her.
The cars behind them began honking incessantly. Lin Jiang bit her lip, opened the door, and sat inside.
She was wearing a white top that day. Now that it was soaked through, the white camisole underneath was clearly visible. Strands of her hair were dripping water, trailing from the tips of her hair to her collarbone, and then soaking into her clothes.
Lin Jiang awkwardly crossed her arms and stole a glance at Jiang Weifeng. He was focused on driving as if she didn't even exist. Only then did she breathe a quiet sigh of relief.
He was wearing a suit today, which felt completely different from his usual casual wear. He possessed an inexplicable air of refined nobility; in this silence, one could hardly find a trace of mundane "fire and smoke" about him.
They drove like this for a while without any conversation. A few minutes later, he made a turn and stopped in front of a flower shop. He said to her, "Wait a moment."
Lin Jiang nodded. Taking advantage of his absence, she hurriedly pulled out her cushion compact to touch up her makeup. By the time she had tidied herself up a bit, he still hadn't returned.
Lin Jiang looked around Jiang Weifeng’s car. It was very clean. Aside from a bobblehead flower on the dashboard, there were no other decorations, and certainly no traces of another woman. Just as this thought crossed her mind, she suddenly felt something prick her.
She shifted slightly and felt around the seat cushion for a while. Suddenly, her fingers brushed against something hard. She pulled it out to see a blue stud earring—she had seen a female celebrity wearing this style on Weibo before.
Lin Jiang’s heart instantly plummeted. Her hand holding the earring trembled slightly. After a moment’s thought, she placed it next to the bobblehead flower.
Jiang Weifeng happened to return at that moment.
Before he had even fully stepped into the car, a bouquet of fiery red roses arrived first, wafting a faint fragrance.
Lin Jiang glanced at the earring, then at the flowers. A wave of bitterness washed over her, and her posture stiffened considerably.
"For you."
Jiang Weifeng entered the car and tucked the bouquet into Lin Jiang’s arms. He immediately sat upright, one hand lazily ruffling his damp hair while the other unfastened a button on his shirt.
Lin Jiang’s heart hammered like a drum. At that moment, she wanted to take back the word "noble." He was clearly a sophisticated rogue.
"Why are you giving these to me?" After a few seconds of daze, she still couldn't figure it out.
"You left your bouquet in the car that day." He looked at her sideways, his voice neither warm nor cold.
Lin Jiang let out an "oh" and added, "Thank you."
She wanted to say more, but then she thought that if she appeared too joyful, he might misunderstand and think she was reading too much into it. So she simply held the flowers in silence.
In the quiet, she counted them. There were twenty-one.
With the flowers in full bloom along the way, Lin Jiang asked Jiang Weifeng to stop at the hospital.
"My grandfather fell ill again a couple of days ago, so I'm here to see him," Lin Jiang explained before getting out.
Hearing this, Jiang Weifeng told her to wait a moment and got out with his phone.
Lin Jiang didn't know what he was up to, but she didn't overthink it. She sat in the car, obediently waiting for him to return.
It took only ten minutes. He returned but didn't get back in the car. Instead, he walked to her side, opened the door, and helped her unbuckle her seatbelt.
Lin Jiang hurriedly stepped out. Once she was steady, she saw him holding a beautiful fruit basket and a transparent raincoat.
She was slightly stunned, but he thrust the fruit basket toward her. "A small token of my regards."
"This is too much. I've already troubled you to drive me, and now you've spent money," Lin Jiang said sincerely.
Jiang Weifeng’s eyes flickered with a playful glint. He let out a short laugh. "Lin Jiang, has anyone ever told you that you’re too stiff?"
She was taken aback, looking at him blankly.
He smiled again, looking utterly casual. "Don't be so polite."
Lin Jiang lowered her head. The roses made her face flush a deep red; for a moment, she didn't know what to say.
He glanced at her again and handed her the raincoat, his tone softening significantly. "Go on up. The rain has stopped for now, but who knows when it'll start again."
He had bought a raincoat, not an umbrella.
Lin Jiang noticed this detail and thought of the homophones. The rain outside had stopped, but the rain in her heart was falling tempestuously, soaking her through.
She took the raincoat, still at a loss for words, only able to stare at him blankly. In front of him, she always seemed to lose her ability to speak.
Jiang Weifeng’s eyes were deep, but his tone remained casual. "Are you carrying too much? Should I walk you up?"
"No need!" That sentence made the rain in her heart stop instantly. Lin Jiang’s awkwardness vanished as if by magic.
After blurting it out, she explained, "I mean, I’ve already troubled you enough today."
Jiang Weifeng arched an eyebrow.
Lin Jiang felt deflated, hating herself for being "stiff" again. She practically fled the scene.
Jiang Weifeng watched the girl’s retreating back.
Her black hair bounced against her shoulders with every step. Her white top billowed slightly in the breeze, revealing the camisole underneath. He had noticed it while in the car—her waist was very slender. Now, as she moved further away, she looked as though she might drift away with the wind at any moment.
Jiang Weifeng waited until she was out of sight before getting back into the car. He felt a restless, itchy sensation in his heart.
He rolled down the window and was about to pull out a cigarette when a familiar figure caught his eye.
"Besides the fruit basket, what else should we buy?" Shen Yan was standing in front of a car.
"You decide," a woman inside replied.
"Right then."
Shen Yan took a long stride toward the fruit shop.
Jiang Weifeng hadn't even lit his cigarette, but he lost the urge to smoke. He stared blankly, lost in thought. A moment later, Shen Yan came out empty-handed and asked through the car window, "Lin Jiang said she already bought a fruit basket. Should we still get one?"
The woman in the car sounded a bit impatient. "What Lin Jiang buys is her business, what we buy is ours..."
Jiang Weifeng let out a cold, mocking laugh and drove away.
***
That afternoon, Jiang Weifeng spent two hours skateboarding with Gu Xiang at Guangming Plaza—the first time they had done so in a long while. Afterward, the two men sat on the steps under a nearby corridor, watching the young men and women on the open ground making their boards clatter loudly, sending rainwater splashing everywhere.
Gu Xiang, panting heavily, cursed and kicked his board with a laugh. "Even though we're only in our twenties, compared to these teenagers, we really can't keep up anymore. I almost messed up that backside 180 just now."
"The only one who can't keep up is you." Jiang Weifeng pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
"Yeah, yeah, you're still in your prime. Plenty of girls out there were saying how handsome you are. Tsk tsk..." Gu Xiang laughed, then glanced at him. "But if you keep smoking like that, you probably won't be 'in your prime' for much longer."
Jiang Weifeng blew out a smoke ring. "Since when did you become so talkative?"
"I'm looking out for you, you know? If something goes wrong with your health, how is a brother supposed to make a living at the company?" Gu Xiang said with a long face, waiting for the man beside him to respond.
Jiang Weifeng unhurriedly blew out another perfect smoke ring, giving no reaction.
Gu Xiang opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking clearly hesitant.
While he was struggling with himself, he suddenly received a kick.
"Sss—" Gu Xiang’s features twisted in pain. "Are you crazy?"
"Speak," Jiang Weifeng uttered a single word.
Gu Xiang swallowed and sat up straight. "What else could it be? It's Zhang Yijia."
"I'm telling you this because I truly see you as a brother, so don't blame me for being blunt..."
Jiang Weifeng stared at him. "And?"
"He doesn't have any major flaws, and he's not a bad person, but he's just not... well, he's not on the same path as us—or rather, me. They say people on different paths shouldn't make plans together. I just can't get along with him; our values are different." Gu Xiang used an example. "Take the way he schedules your work. I'm your manager, so why does he get to interfere with your bookings? Look at your schedule—he's treating you like a cash cow now, taking every job that comes along. That shoot at the reservoir a couple of days ago? In my opinion, you really didn't need to do that."
Once Gu Xiang started, he couldn't stop.
Jiang Weifeng’s eyes darkened. He remembered that when he arrived at the office this morning, Zhang Yijia had also suddenly given him a long lecture.
These two—one was blunt and lethal, the other was subtly dangerous.
"I was the one who wanted to go to the reservoir," Jiang Weifeng said.
"What! No way? Are you serious? You're not just saying that to keep the peace and fool me, are you?" Gu Xiang couldn't wrap his head around it. "I mean, it's not like you're some kind of saint?"
"Get lost." Jiang Weifeng raised his foot and gave Gu Xiang another kick.
Normally, Gu Xiang would have howled in fake agony after such a kick, but right now he didn't have the time for that. He asked again, "I didn't mean it like that. Think about it—when you were on break before, you didn't even take that film offer from Zhong Hui..." Zhong Hui was, after all, a second-tier "it girl" born in the mid-80s. Turning that down resulted in a significant loss, which had made Zhang Yijia... and Gu Xiang himself, fume with rage.
Hearing this, Jiang Weifeng’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
Some stories are destined to have no audience.
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
倒春寒 | Late spring cold snap | A sudden drop in temperature during early spring.
端着 | Acting stiff / Being formal | To behave in a reserved, overly proper, or slightly pretentious manner.
清贵 | Refined and noble | Describes an aura of high-class elegance and purity.
风流雅痞 | Sophisticated rogue | A trope describing a man who is charming, stylish, and slightly rebellious.
张益嘉 | Zhang Yijia | A business partner or associate of Jiang Weifeng.
顾翔 | Gu Xiang | Jiang Weifeng’s friend and manager.
钟慧 | Zhong Hui | A fictional actress mentioned in the text.
光明广场 | Guangming Plaza | A location where they go skateboarding.
