Running away from the Love-Brain

I'm Sorry

In April, the sun in Chengdu probably fights with the clouds every day.

During the day, when the sun wins, the entire city of Chengdu brightens up. In the evening, when the clouds triumph, rain threatens to pour, darkening the atmosphere like an old film in a darkroom.

Two bags of mangoes still sit uneaten, and after a period of downtime, Cui Xijin begins her regular commute to Love Lost Street, restoring her check-in routine.

Just like the sun and clouds battling, encounters in April happen almost every day.

One morning, the victorious sun emerges, and Cui Xijin arrives at the studio ten minutes later than usual. She sees Chi Buyu coming toward her, yawning and dragging a cloth bag. Upon noticing her, Chi Buyu abruptly stops yawning, adopts a serious expression, and marches up the stairs, dashing to the second floor. From that day on, Cui Xijin is late by ten minutes every day.

One evening, as the victorious clouds roll in, a light drizzle begins. Cui Xijin forgets her umbrella and has to jog to the record store. When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, a panicked voice calls out from the second floor, "Wait a minute!" Cui Xijin looks up, confused by the hazy rain—

Chi Buyu rushes down the stairs, shoving a bright blue umbrella into her hands before saying nothing and running back up. Cui Xijin, a bit dazed, opens the umbrella. The old film is suddenly brightened by the new blue umbrella. As the umbrella opens, the camphor tree stretches up to the second floor, droplets of water falling one by one onto the umbrella, creating a vivid blue. The air feels damp, and Chi Buyu peeks over the railing from the second floor, poking her hand out from her sleeve to cover her head, grunting—

"Return it to me tomorrow morning!"

From then on, every day when Cui Xijin finishes work and passes by the check-in point, she habitually looks up at the second floor. Sometimes Chi Buyu happens to be looking down at her, and sometimes she isn't there. Cui Xijin wonders what important things Chi Buyu has been busy with lately. So, she forgets to bring her umbrella every day and no longer hates the clouds as much.

After a few days, the sun and clouds declare a truce.

Cui Xijin's two phones that she carries every day finally ring—

It's the group chat for "Saving Cui Muhuo."

Since they returned from Leshan, the chat has been silent, reminiscent of their college days when Ruan Yan and Chen Wenran would argue, forcing the four of them to pick sides and not privately contact one another.

However, occasionally, Chi Buyu would quietly ask Cui Xijin how Chen Wenran was doing—is she still angry?

Or, when Cui Xijin saw Chen Wenran's gloomy face, she would reluctantly report to Chi Buyu—"Chen Wenran is worried that Ruan Yan hasn't thought about her these days."

Later, Chen Wenran and Ruan Yan broke up and got back together for the sixth time, finally learning to hold "breakup review" meetings on Tencent Meeting, gradually maturing through their on-and-off relationship.

Now.

It's still these four people, but their positions seem to have changed.

Ruan Yan posts: "The weather has been nice lately. Should we go out for a spring outing?"

Chen Wenran quickly agrees: "Exactly, what kind of spring is it if we don't go out in April?"

Then she starts tagging the remaining two people.

Chi Buyu doesn't respond.

Cui Xijin types several lines of text, deletes them repeatedly, and finally sends a dull message: