Chapter 11 Lin Huimei 1
For Huimei, the most painful thing is to revise the draft. The process is like a couple going through the adjustment period, with the urge to break up at any minute. Especially in the cold winter, when the hands and feet are stiff and can't move. Huimei feels like being cut by the cold every time she revise a stroke, after all, the city library does not turn on the heating.
"Why is this winter so cold?" Huimei exhaled and warmed her stiff hands. Because she needed to hold the brush to depict the details of the characters, she could only expose her hands to the air. She flipped through the various materials she borrowed on the table, referring to the character design in "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and some strange essays.
It usually doesn't snow in this city in winter, but this winter, for the first time, it snowed a little. Huimei was wrapped in a thick scarf, a woolen hat to protect her ears, and a thick gray cotton jacket that made her look even rounder. Her stiff hands were exposed, and they were dry and cracked. She looked up at the snow outside the window, turned around slightly, rummaged through the backpack next to her, and took out the hand cream from it and applied it carefully.
A gust of wind blew in from the window, and the drawings that were not held down by anything flew up in the wind and fell into different corners of the library.
"My drawings!" Huimei hurriedly threw the hand cream back into her backpack and clumsily picked up the drawings scattered on the ground.
Because of this abominable wind, she met Albert Ou, the boy who would occupy her life little by little in the future.
"Why is it floating so high?" Huimei looked at the last drawing.
The drawing landed safely on top of a tall bookshelf. It was a row of two-meter-high bookshelves, which Huimei couldn't reach with her height.
Huimei looked around and found a bench for taking books. She stepped on the bench and reached for the drawing, but still couldn't reach it, so she jumped a few times and finally reached the drawing.
"Hey! Be careful!" A male voice sounded beside Huimei's ears.
Huimei missed her step when she reached for the drawing, and she slipped sideways and fell off the stool. To her surprise, she didn't feel any pain when she fell, but felt something soft. She touched it and found it was not only soft, but also warm.
"Miss, if you're okay, just stand up and stop touching my butt." A voice came from under Huimei.
Huimei looked down and found that there was a boy lying on the ground acting as her meat cushion.
"Oh, sorry." Huimei grabbed her drawing and hurriedly stood up from the ground with the help of the bookshelf.
The boy who served as her meat pad also stood up. He brushed off the dust on his body. The sign hanging on his chest read "Temporary Administrator". Below those words was his name - Ou Weiming.
“Don’t climb so high next time. If you have any problems, it’s best to find an administrator. If something happens to you, we will be held responsible.” Ou Weiming frowned and scolded the girl who didn’t know how to live or die.
"I understand." Huimei lowered her head embarrassedly. Even though the other party had no right to say anything to her, she couldn't help but behave well.
When Huimei looked up, Albert Ou had already walked away. His black down jacket was stained with dust, and his tightly wrapped upper body was out of proportion to his slender legs. Huimei glanced in his direction and pouted, then sat back in her seat to continue revising her drawings.
Huimei thought she would never meet Albert Ou again, but she didn't expect to see him at the checkout area when she went to the supermarket to buy things the next day. He still had a temporary worker sign on his chest. This made Huimei curious about what he did and why he was always working as a temporary worker.
“The total is 587.5 yuan. Cash or card?” Ou Weiming looked down at the unit price displayed on the computer.
Huimei then remembered that she had to pay, and she hurriedly fumbled for her wallet in her bag. Strangely, the compartment where the wallet was placed had been cut, and all the things inside were gone.
“Oh no, my wallet and phone seem to have been stolen.” Hui Mei shouted anxiously, and only then did Albert Ou look up.
is her?
"My wallet seems to have been stolen. I don't have money to pay for these things. Can I return them all?"
“But it’s already been credited to the account. If I want to withdraw it, I’ll need to find a supervisor, which will be very troublesome.” Albert Ou was a little embarrassed, but when he saw Hui Mei’s even more embarrassed expression, he softened his heart.
“Then what should I do? How about I go home and get the money? My home is behind this supermarket, in that Sunshine Apartment, you know it?” Hui Mei anxiously pointed in a direction outside the supermarket, her nervous and clumsy look made Albert Ou couldn’t help but smile.
"Do you have anything to do this afternoon?"
“Huh? Nothing, I’m not going to work today.” Hui Mei hesitated for a moment, only to see Albert Ou take money out of his pocket and put it into the cashier, and then issue a receipt.
"Then sit on the chair over there and wait for me to get off work. I'll go home with you and you can pay me back then."
"Oh, okay, okay." Huimei took the receipt and the goods in the plastic bag, walked to the bench behind the cashier window and sat down.
Albert Ou continued to check out the next customer, his attentive look was heart-throbbing. Huimei sat not far away and watched him for the whole afternoon. He glanced in Huimei's direction from time to time, not knowing whether to see what she was doing or to see if she had run away. Every time their eyes met, Huimei would deliberately look away and pretend not to be looking at him. This behavior was obviously too obvious, and Albert Ou couldn't help but smile every time he looked over.
When Albert Ou got off work, Hui Mei had already fallen asleep against the wall, holding a bulging backpack, like someone on a journey.
“It’s dawn.” Albert Ou, who had taken off his work clothes, leaned close to Hui Mei’s ear and whispered.
Huimei trembled all over and woke up from her dream. She rubbed her eyes, yawned drowsily, and stretched.
"How long have I slept?" Huimei looked at the sky outside the window. The sky had become dark.
“It’ll only be a day or two.” Albert Ou nodded seriously, frightening Hui Mei so much that she quickly rolled up her sleeves and checked the time and date on her watch. Albert Ou looked at her panic and burst out laughing, “I’m kidding. Let’s go, I’m off work.”
Huimei stared at him blankly, pouted, grabbed her backpack and walked in front of him. They walked out of the supermarket, walked around a busy commercial street, and stopped at the door of a small apartment standing between high-rise buildings.
"Will you wait for me here, or come up with me?" Huimei added without waiting for the other party to reply, "You'd better come up with me, so as not to worry about me not being able to come down after going up."
Ou Weiming was speechless, but thought to himself, this little girl has a very rich imagination, no wonder she can draw those strange characters.
Huimei was still walking in front, and Albert Ou was following behind her. When she opened her door with her key and went in to get the money, Albert Ou was no longer at the door. Huimei looked around for a moment, wondering where the boy who had just stood at the door had gone.
Just when she was about to give up looking for him, the door of the next room suddenly opened. Huimei always thought that the next room was an empty room, because she never saw anyone coming in and out of it, and it was very deserted. Driven by curiosity, Huimei carefully looked into the open door, wanting to see what kind of person her neighbor was.
