Chapter Forty-Four: It Will Be Returned to You
Ever since her father’s accident, her mother sought her opinion on all matters, big or small. Now that it concerned the flower garden, caution was essential. She carefully instructed, “Mom, don’t agree to any terms yet. Wait until I return.”
Her heart felt heavy, as if weighed down by a stone. The flower garden was nearly everything to the family; most of her father’s medical expenses were paid with its earnings. Moreover, the garden held all her childhood memories. No matter how generous the offer, she would not be swayed. She feared that if her father ever woke up, she wouldn’t know how to explain it. Yet she couldn’t understand how a simple flower garden had suddenly become such a coveted treasure, and why her mother mentioned it only now, months after the issue first arose.
Everything was a mystery.
Early the next morning, Xiaoxiao packed her small luggage. Lin Shuo leaned against the car, basking in the sunlight. He looked at her tailored suit and high heels with an odd expression. Xiaoxiao glanced at his outfit—casual from head to toe—and then at the off-road vehicle parked nearby, perplexed. “Didn’t you say we had a social engagement? Is this what you’re wearing?”
Lin Shuo didn’t answer directly. Instead, he unexpectedly mocked himself, “Blame me for being quirky and not explaining properly.” He kept tapping away at his phone, then opened the car door. “Get in.”
She rarely dressed so formally, thinking it suited his social circle. But standing side by side, they were clearly mismatched.
“If only you’d stop being quirky, things would be easier. What do we do now?” she half-complained, half-joked, obediently getting into the car.
As they approached the city center, Lin Shuo parked by the roadside. Someone waiting nearby opened the door, helping Xiaoxiao out and escorting her into a store, with Lin Shuo following leisurely behind. The clerk handed Xiaoxiao the prepared clothes. She instinctively glanced back at Lin Shuo, who seemed utterly unconcerned, leaning against the cashier flirting with a pretty shop assistant.
After changing, she admired herself in the mirror. The clothes fit so well she forgot about the price tag. Lin Shuo watched from afar; in college, she used to dress like this—fresh, neat—and for a moment, it felt as if time had turned back.
The clerk asked, “Miss, are you satisfied?”
Before she could reply, Lin Shuo had already swiped his card, signing as he said, “Remove the tags. She’ll wear them out.”
Back in the car, Lin Shuo seemed pleased, a faint smile lingering on his face. Not until they passed the Kunming West toll station did Xiaoxiao speak: “I’ll pay you back for the clothes later. I saw the price—they’re not cheap.”
Lin Shuo pressed the accelerator, the speedometer needle inching to the right. He couldn’t understand why she always dampened his spirits at his best moments, why she insisted on keeping everything separate, why her expression was always so serious when she said such things.
“I don’t know how poor your company’s benefits are, but you’re helping me now. Wardrobe expenses are reimbursable,” he replied in a businesslike tone, dismissing her ridiculous notion.
The morning sun was unusually warm, but inside the car, the atmosphere was far from harmonious. She turned her head to gaze at wildflowers blooming by the highway and finally relaxed, saying, “Thank you for the clothes. They fit perfectly—really, perfectly…” Her heart ached. He must have chosen them himself, probably in a brief message before they got in the car. The moment she put them on, a bittersweet feeling rose up, especially with those shoes, which fit just right. So he remembered—yet he stubbornly refused to admit it. Perhaps, apart from memories, what remained after all these years was a pride neither would lower.
Loneliness is no time for love, Chapter Forty-Four: Will Pay You Back, completed.