Jiang Ju, who was sleeping in the second bedroom, was still asleep. It was unknown if it was because of what Du Xi had said before she slept, but she had the most peaceful sleep in months.
Du Xi put the window aside and quickly ate the wontons before walking into the kitchen. When he bought the wontons at the morning market, he wanted to buy a serving for Jiang Ju, but he was afraid that the wonton outside wasn't sanitary, so he didn't buy it.
He washed the rice skillfully and cooked other dishes while waiting for the rice to be cooked. He cut up the asparagus and lean meat. He prepared to cook when the child woke up. This way, she could eat warm food. After he was done, he sat on the sofa. As soon as the phone's network was turned on, an overwhelming amount of messages flooded in. Beep beep beep beep beep. It chimed for more than ten minutes. There had been a lot of things going on at the construction site recently. He was busy day and night every day. A few construction sites were urged to finish construction as soon as possible. He was so busy that he wished he could create a few clones of himself.
He had been busy at the construction site for the entire day yesterday. At night, he had planned to stay in a small hotel near the construction site for the night, but for some reason, while lying on the bed in the small hotel, he felt uneasy and rushed back from the other side of the city. Even after he knocked on the door for five minutes, no one came out to open the door and her phone was also switched off, so he knew that something must have happened.
When he came in through the broken window, as expected, the child was nestled under the blanket and her body was burning. Fortunately, he didn't come back too late. Otherwise, he wouldn't know how high the child's fever would have been. If his high fever didn't subside, it might turn into viral pneumonia. As expected, a child in her early twenties couldn't live on her own. It had only been a few days, but she already had two problems.
He sat on the sofa as he replied to WeChat messages for more than half an hour. The people at the construction site couldn't wait anymore and started to call him to urge him. Du Xi glanced at the second bedroom, then took his phone to the bathroom. Before he picked up the phone, he closed the bathroom door. After taking the call, he entered the second bedroom and took Jiang Ju's temperature. After confirming that her temperature was fine, he left a small note for her by the bed before rushing to the construction site.
When Jiang Ju heard the door close, she slowly opened her eyes. She got up and saw the note on the bedside table. After picking it up and reading it, she was stunned and didn't come back to her senses for a long time.
Du Xi had been really busy recently. He was so busy that he didn't even have time to repair the window, so he handed this matter to a worker at the construction site. Worried that Jiang Ju would be afraid of strangers, he sent a WeChat message in advance and asked her to sit in his room for a while. The worker who came to repair the window took the time to rush over during the lunch break. Repairing a window wasn't difficult for construction workers like them. It only took him seven to eight minutes to change the window.
Before entering to repair the window, he had specifically put on shoe covers and laid dust sheets on the floor, so that when Jiang Ju returned home, there was no dust in the room. The newly changed window looked very bright when the sun shone in. It was many times cleaner than the old window.
Jiang Ju picked up her phone to ask about the price of the window. She would give Du Xi the money when she got better. However, she stared at his profile picture in a daze for a long time but still couldn't organize her words. She decided to give up. The two of them met often anyway, so she would think about it when the time came.
However, she didn't expect that Du Xi would leave for more than a month. She didn't see him on the third floor for more than a month. He was so busy that he didn't even have time to call. He only sent her a few WeChat messages occasionally to ask if she had eaten and slept well.
Without Du Xi in her life, Jiang Ju returned to her previous lonesome days. Other than occasionally going out to buy groceries, she stayed at home. At the beginning of the month, after collecting the rent, she planned to go out and buy a week's worth of groceries. At the same time, she would save a portion of the rent.
As soon as she walked out of the small building, he bumped into Du Xi, who she hadn't seen for more than a month. After more than a month of exposure to the wind and sun, Du Xi's tan skin had become even darker. Other than his white teeth, everything else seemed pitch-dark.
His hair had also grown longer and was tied into a messy braid. There was also stubble on his face. He looked a little disheveled and tired.
Jiang Ju wanted to ask him why he hadn't returned home for so long, but on second thought, the two of them were just neighbors after all, so she didn't have the appropriate identity to ask. When they made eye contact, Jiang Ju didn't know whether to stand there or leave. Not knowing where to go next, she blushed and stood rooted to the ground.