Luo Qi found a suspender dress from the closet and put it on, stood in front of the mirror, and combed her slightly messy long hair.
I don't know if my mother is asleep or not, she opens and closes the door carefully.
As soon as I reached the gate, the door of my mother's bedroom opened.
Jiang Yifang came out to go to the bathroom and saw her daughter change into out clothes, "Where are you going so late? It's not safe to be alone, mom will go with you."
"No need. Pei Shixiao is at the entrance of the alley."
"Shi Xiao is back?"
"Well, say it's a surprise for me."
People have already arrived at the door, so there is no reason not to invite people in.
Jiang Yifang went to tidy up the sofa in three steps at a time, "You let Shi Xiao sit at home, it's hot outside."
While quickly arranging the pillows on the sofa, he told his daughter: "Try to stay outside for a quarter of an hour, buy me some time."
"Mom, don't tidy up deliberately, the house is tidy and clean enough."
"That won't work." Jiang Yifang stuffed the odds and ends on the coffee table into a drawer, "Shi Xiao came back so late, I don't know if I have dinner. There is still food at home.
"I asked him if he would eat."
Luo Qi opened the door and went out, the cool rain fell down the patio, she ran out of the yard without an umbrella.
Pei Shixiao stood by the stone bridge and waited for her.
Backlight, can't see face clearly.
Luo Qi trotted towards him against the drizzle.
Pei Shixiao's fingertips were scarlet, and when he saw her, he put out his cigarette and walked over, "Be careful." He hugged her with one hand. He got out of the car and brought an umbrella. He was not used to holding an umbrella in the light rain, so he opened it to protect Luo Qi from the rain.
"It's raining, and I don't wear any clothes when I go out." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
Luo Qi didn't speak, clasping her hands behind his back.
Pei Shixiao lowered his head and pressed his lips against her hair.
After meeting, he found that he missed her, just like before.
"Why don't you talk?" He looked down at her.
Luo Qi felt his presence, but not all the familiarity came back.
She raised her head slightly, "Suddenly I feel like we don't know each other well."
"Unfamiliar?"
"It's just a feeling."
Pei Shixiao hugged her hard, "Blame me, I've been too busy these past few months, so I didn't see you."
Luo Qi shook her head, "I don't blame you. It will be fine next year."
She will go to Shanghai next year and end the distance. As long as the two of them don't go on business, they can see each other every day. It doesn't have to be like it is now, it is very difficult to meet each other.
"Have you had dinner yet?" Rocky asked.
"No. I'll go back for supper later."
"I still have food at home, go in and have some."
Pei Shixiao looked at his watch, and it was ten forty, "No, it's so late, I'm disturbing my aunt's rest."
Luo Qi stood up from his arms, "My mother is not asleep. There are still meals and vegetables at home, let me take you home to eat."
Pei Shixiao was not polite, "Then I'll try Auntie's cooking skills."
He smiled and said: "Finally I can go to eat at home openly, no matter how late it is. The first time I ate at your house, I was not full, and I was worried."
"still remember?"
"Remember, how could I forget."
Luo Qi also remembered that day, and she remembered everything that day. The first time Pei Shixiao went to their house for dinner was when she was eighteen years old. At that time, her company was in full swing and she lived in a detached villa.
Her parents held an eighteen-year-old coming-of-age ceremony for her, entertained relatives and friends, and on the weekend, her parents held a small birthday party for her and invited her classmates to come to their house to play.
Pei Shixiao went to the same high school as her, one year older than her, and he was the star figure of their school in high school, outstanding and dazzling. When she was in her third year of high school, he was a freshman abroad. I don’t know how he learned that she was going to hold a coming-of-age ceremony. He bought a plane ticket and flew back from abroad secretly without telling his parents. She celebrates her eighteenth birthday.
After graduating from high school, she also went abroad, and Pei Shixiao's school was in a different state. In order to chase her, he flew to see her whenever he was free on weekends and holidays.
At that time, he was young and enthusiastic, and his liking for her was straightforward and unscrupulous.
Luo Qi put away her thoughts, "Go, I'll take you home for dinner."
Pei Shixiao gave her the umbrella and asked her to hold it.
Luo Qi took the umbrella, and was about to walk forward, but before she lifted her steps, Pei Shixiao bent down, picked her up by the waist, and forced her to ask, "You don't know me well, do you?"
Luo Qi smiled, "Very familiar." She patted him, "Put me down, slippery road."
Pei Shixiao didn't let her go, and carried her all the way to the yard.
Rocky knocked on the door without the key.
Jiang Yifang was in the kitchen, came over to open the door, and warmly greeted Pei Shixiao to enter the room.
Pei Shixiao has been to the old house a few times, and it was when he got engaged at the beginning of the year, when the house was not so trendy.
Luo Qi helped her mother put the porridge and vegetables on the table, Jiang Yifang chatted a few words, and gave the two children some space to be alone, she made excuses and went back to the bedroom.
Rocky propped her chin and sat at the dining table to accompany him.
Pei Shixiao picked up a small dish with chopsticks and fed it to her mouth, "Take a bite."
Luo Qi shook her head, "I brushed my teeth."
Pei Shixiao gave up and put it in his own mouth.
Luo Qi looked down at the suspender skirt on her body. In the past, when she wore any skirt, Pei Shixiao would always boast a few words when they met, and he would praise the clothes that he had praised a hundred times.
He didn't pay attention to what she was wearing tonight.
"What time are we going to try on the wedding dress tomorrow?" She looked at Pei Shixiao.
Pei Shixiao was slightly taken aback, scooped up a spoonful of barley porridge and put it back into the bowl.
Luo Qi understood from his hesitant eyes that he didn't have time, and trying on wedding dresses was not in his itinerary.
"It doesn't matter if you're not free, my mother will accompany me." The smile on her face faded a little, but she still gave her understanding.
Pei Shixiao took out his mobile phone and forwarded a copy of the itinerary sent to him by the secretary in the mailbox to Luo Qi's mailbox.
"It's not that I don't want to go with you." The second time she was disappointed, and the words of explanation came to her lips but she couldn't say them.
Luo Qi received the itinerary, which was a nearly two-week itinerary.
At ten o'clock tomorrow morning, he will attend a board meeting of a medical technology company. Their company invested in this medical technology company a few years ago, and he joined the board of directors.
She exited the mailbox, "Then you have to go back to Shanghai at night?"
"Well, I'm afraid I won't be able to catch up in traffic if I leave tomorrow morning."
Rocky put her hand on his wrist, always feeling that something was a little different between them, but it felt as if nothing had changed. He was still the same as before, rushing back just to see her and spend an extra half hour with her.
Pei Shixiao stayed until eleven o'clock to leave. Before leaving, he washed the dishes and chopsticks and put them in the disinfection cabinet.
Luo Qi sent him to the door, "Tell the driver to drive slowly."
Luo Qi wondered: "I have handled several important projects. Mr. Jiang has not recovered from his surgery. How could I have the nerve to transfer him at this juncture. If your assistant did this, wouldn't you be disappointed?"
Pei Shixiao was silent for a while and nodded.
Luo Qi wanted to send him to Shiqiao, but Pei Shixiao refused to let her go. He watched her enter the room and heard her lock the door behind him. He picked up the umbrella by the door and left.
In the early hours of the morning, the rain started to fall again.
It rained for a long time, and it lasted for several hours.
Luo Qi woke up several times in one night, she didn't sleep well, and just after five o'clock, she woke up again.
It was already daylight.
She got up and planned to walk along the river and buy breakfast for her mother.
Gently pushing open the door, the living room lights turned on.
My mother is sitting at the dining table, working on the computer. There is no study room at home, and the dining table is the workbench for parents to work overtime.
"Mom, did you get up so early?"
"I can't wake up and feel uncomfortable, unlike you young people who still want to go back to sleep." In fact, Jiang Yifang set the alarm and got up to work overtime. He made an appointment with the client at noon, and he had to show the design to the client before noon. Finish.
Luo Qi washed up, took the house keys and prepared to go out.
Jiang Yifang stopped her daughter, "Your aunt may call you today."
"What does my aunt want from me?"
"I called her last night and rejected her and your uncle's kindness, saying that you were married from home. Your uncle said that she would persuade you today. I said everything I should say, and I couldn't stop her from calling You, no matter what she says, just listen to it, don't worry about it. Mom has decided to marry from her own family. "
Luo Qi reassured her mother that she knew how to refuse, and would not ignore her father's feelings for her uncle, "Mom, do your work, I'm going out."
"Wait." Jiang Yifang called her daughter again, some things can only be kept a secret for a while, the daughter will know sooner or later, why not tell her herself.
"Your uncle paid off the money owed by our family in one lump sum two days ago, and asked us to save half a year's money to buy you a dowry. He also said that the money owed to him, after you get married, let us pay it back slowly. How much, there is no need to pay it back on a monthly basis, their family is not in a hurry to spend money."
It took Luo Qi a long time to catch her breath, and she didn't know what to say for a while.
At the beginning, the money owed by their family could not be repaid at one time. Later, after coordination with many parties, the other party agreed that their family should pay it back on a monthly basis, but the interest rate should be higher.
Now there is finally no pressure to repay every month. According to the current income of their family, they will be able to pay it off in four years at most. There is finally hope for life.
But they suddenly owed the uncle's family more than 10 million yuan. If the uncle's family needs money urgently someday, where will they go to collect the 10 million yuan.
Luo Qi only thought about these words in her heart, but didn't say them out.
She can understand the feelings of her parents. Over the years, her parents have been blaming themselves for dragging her down. They always say that when she should enjoy life the most, she has to pay off their debts every month.
If the debt is repaid on time every month, it is true that there will be no money left to buy her a dowry. This is my father's heart disease. Now that my uncle has given my father a life-saving straw, my father will definitely not let it go.
If it was not a last resort, my father would not accept uncle's kindness.
This is a great favor.
Favors are the hardest to repay, and also the most fatal.
Jiang Yifang breathed out softly, "Your uncle...sometimes he truly loves your father and wants to make your father feel better."
"I know."
Luo Qi walked over and hugged her mother, "Mom, life will be easier in the future. I'll buy you breakfast."
On the trail along the river after five in the morning, there are only a few people who get up early to exercise.
Rocky took a long-handled umbrella and walked aimlessly along the road.
In the hotel suite five hundred meters away, Jiang Shenghe woke up from a dream, and the phrase "Jiang Shenghe" in the dream is still very clear.
It was Rocky calling him.
We ate barbecue together last night, so I had a similar dream at night. In the dream, Luo Qi stood in front of the barbecue stall and asked him back: "Jiang Shenghe, what do you want to eat?"
The first time she called his name, it was finally no longer Mr. Jiang.
He was about to answer her when he woke up suddenly.
If the dream could last another five seconds, he would be able to return to her in time.
Jiang Shenghe touched his phone to check the time, it was 5:11.
I completely lost my sleepiness.
After washing up, I found a set of sportswear from the suitcase, put it on, and went downstairs for a morning run.
Almost instinctively, Jiang Shenghe chose the road that passed by Luo Qi's house.
The air is humid, with a layer of water vapor floating on it.
After running two laps, my back was soaked.
Jiang Shenghe stopped and walked slowly, and went to a nearby convenience store to buy water.
Coming out of the store with water, he slapped his feet, Luo Qi turned around from the road, carrying breakfast, holding a small bunch of sunflowers in his arms, only five or six.
It never occurred to me that I ran into her here early in the morning.
Luo Qi hadn't seen the person in front of her yet, she was looking down at the sunflowers in her arms, the flowers were bought at the stalls in the morning market, which was cheaper than in flower shops.
The home is too dull, and sunflower vases can make the narrow and humid room more alive.
After walking forward for more than ten meters, a black figure appeared in her line of sight, with a tall and straight figure, she suddenly stopped.
She was no less surprised than when Jiang Shenghe saw her just now.
"Morning, Mr. Jiang." Luo Qi greeted him first as he approached.
The boss has the habit of exercising. She knows that before in the hospital ward, he accompanied him to exercise.
And it was normal for him to choose this road for morning jogging.
There are relatively few people here, and the scenery is better than the other road.
Jiang Shenghe drank half a bottle of water, took down the bottle, "I didn't work in the morning, so I got up so early?"
Luo Qi chose her words carefully, thinking about how to respond.
It was the first time to go on a business trip with Jiang Shenghe. Although Secretary Ju said that the boss never looked for them when he gave them vacations, everything was in case.
In case the boss thinks that she has nothing to do at home and calls her to have a meeting in advance, and she is trying on the wedding dress, she will be very passive at that time.
So she said truthfully: "I have to go out for a stroll in the morning, so I got up earlier."
Jiang Shenghe thought that she had an appointment with Secretary Ju to go shopping, so he said by the way: "The meeting won't be until two o'clock in the afternoon, so you and Secretary Ju can arrive on time."
Luo Qi explained: "It's not shopping with Secretary Ju. Secretary Ju will stay in the hotel in the morning to handle some work. It's my own private affairs. I just happened to go to try on the wedding dress when I have nothing to do in the morning."
She sincerely thanked: "Thank you, Mr. Jiang, for taking half a day off, otherwise I would have to go back to Sucheng."
There was a moment of silence.
Naturally, when you get married, you need to order a wedding dress, and you know that she is about to get a certificate, and you are counting down to her wedding date every day, but knowing and listening to her are two different things.
Jiang Shenghe seemed calm, pretending not to know, "When is the wedding date?"
Luo Qi said the approximate time: "Mid-December."
Jiang Shenghe nodded, expressing his understanding.
No one wants her to be happy more than him, and he will do his best to keep her away from all unspoken rules in the workplace without causing her any trouble, but he can't say what he wishes for a new wedding that doesn't go against his will.
He looked at her and only said, "Congratulations."