Running away from the Love-Brain

Spring Rain's Daze

How many kinds of pretty candies are there in a 7-11 convenience store?

It seemed like Chi Buyu didn't know. But when they were checking out, Cui Xijin's brain automatically kept count—adding up the chocolates, throat lozenges, and the gum displayed on the counter...

There were 39 types in total.

After living in Chengdu for so many years, this was the first time Cui Xijin realized that the 7-11 at the end of Love-Lost Street had 178 kinds of candies, and of those, Chi Buyu had decided that 39 were "pretty." It was like suddenly noticing how the spring night in Chengdu was drenched in a never-ending drizzle.

Moisture fogged up the glass, and the wheelchair got stuck at the door. The umbrella, set down at the entrance, still seemed to drip mango-colored rain. The door of the convenience store chimed open and closed intermittently, and all the candies they bought were laid out in a row on the side table by the door.

Chi Buyu rested her cheek in her hand beside her, chewing laboriously on an apple-flavored candy wrapped in a green apple design.

With her mouth full, she mumbled, "Cui Muhuo, why did you suddenly show up?"

The night was heavy with humidity.

Countless people passed by in front of them, and Chi Buyu sat beside her, smelling like a freshly picked green apple.

Cui Xijin found herself suddenly enjoying watching the rain. Leaning back in the high stool, she absentmindedly replied, "I came out to watch the rain."

"Came out to watch the rain?"

Chi Buyu seemed perplexed by the answer. After chewing on the candy for a while and forcing it down, she said,

"When did you start liking rainy weather?"

Cui Xijin stared at the drifting threads of rain outside and then at Chi Buyu's reflection on the fogged-up window. Her outline was blurry, but her eyes were still red, no doubt from crying for a long time.

"I don't know," she said, propping up her chin.

Then she suddenly asked, "But just because I came out to watch the rain, does that mean I like it?"

Chi Buyu blinked in confusion.

Her eyelashes, damp like a rain-soaked green apple, fluttered as she thought for a long time before saying "you're so philosophical, Master Cui."

Cui Xijin laughed. She didn't know what she was saying either. In fact, rainy days would get her wheelchair dirty and leave the scent of some past rain on her clothes. Rainwater even splashed, sharp and sour, onto the surface of her flip-flops...

Now that she thought about it, rainy days seemed like a bad thing. Maybe she shouldn't like them.

With that in mind, she glanced at the candy on the table and shifted to a less chaotic topic.
"Did you find one? A candy to replace toffee?"

Chi Buyu shook her head, then unwrapped a coconut candy and popped it into her mouth. She smacked her lips and said "coconut candy is still the best."

"Coconut candy?"

Cui Xijin looked at the pile of brightly colored candy on the table and remarked bluntly,
"Then should I return all of this?"

Chi Buyu's eyes instantly widened.

She gathered all the candy into her arms like an offended pufferfish.
"You've already bought it for me—how could you return it now?"

Cui Xijin chuckled at her anxious expression.