Time flies, like a flick of a finger, seven years have passed in the blink of an eye.
It was autumn, and the streets were sprinkled with orange sunshine. A bleak autumn wind passed by. Pedestrians hurried past and were enveloped by an apricot tree. The shadows at their feet were stained with apricot-colored fallen leaves. For a moment, it was difficult to tell which tree was which. The shadows of trees are still the shadows of people.
Opposite the apricot tree, there is a milk tea shop with good business. The old plaque on the door of the shop, which has been in disrepair for a long time, is gradually fading. However, customers still come in every once in a while and queue up in a long line just to buy a cup of milk tea to warm their stomachs.
There was a rustle of wind outside the shop door, and people passing by the shop stepped on the apricot leaves lying on the ground, looking towards the shop from time to time.
The boss who was settling accounts sat inside, his temples covered with a thin layer of frost, and a lot of white hair mixed with black hair.
What is evocative is that the boss always has a computer with a black screen beside him, which he does not use to settle accounts or play games.
No one knows what the value of this computer is.
"Of course, I remember it. I have opened a store on this street for decades. I have seen both real and fake ones with my own eyes."
The boss raised his finger and tapped the table, chatting with the guests with energy, without looking at the computer next to him that had a very low presence.
The customer sitting opposite him is named Zhao Quan. He is a real office worker. He often comes to this shop to buy milk tea. Over time, the two of them have naturally become familiar with each other.
"There used to be a building there. After a sudden fire scared them out of their wits a few years ago, no one dared to live in it, and it was later demolished."
The boss knew everything. While talking, he opened the wooden cabinet on the top floor and took out a stack of account books. The corners of the folded paper were a bit rough.
Zhao Quan was attracted by his topic and suddenly became interested: "The fire didn't burn anyone to death, right?"
"No, there was an unsolved case. There was an eighteen-year-old girl living there. Her head was cut off. Her death was quite miserable. The murderer has not been caught yet."
The boss sighed softly, with a rather regretful tone, "However, this girl's sister was a good fortune teller and was rescued. However, I heard that she was too frightened and was a little mentally disturbed. She insisted to the police that the murderer was not a human being."
Zhao Quan took the tea he handed and took a sip: "So how is she doing now?"
"She was taken away by the police. She must have grown into a big girl now. Any female students passing by this street maybe her."
Due to reflexes, Zhao Quan glanced at the various passers-by on the street, and he really spotted the female student.
There was a row of stone bricks across the street, and there stood a young girl at some point, carrying a bulging schoolbag. Judging from her face, she was undoubtedly a high school student.
The warm autumn sun shines with golden light.
The girl glanced back inadvertently, raised her hand and flicked away the apricot leaves covering her shoulders. Her fingers were white and her skin was made of snow. The cold wind stirred her shadow on the stone bricks.
She lowered her head, lowered her bangs and buried half of her face. The eyes underneath were covered with light, like frost, and the black pupils were burning. The shadows of her eyelashes were raised, showing off her beauty, and her chin was so soft. Too much.
Her appearance is so beautiful that no one can take their eyes away no matter how hard they look at her.
It would be great if time could freeze at this scene, Zhao Quan thought to himself.
However, the next second he overturned his idea.
The girl on the street put down her schoolbag and took out a rusty lighter from the side pocket of her schoolbag.
She bent her slender fingers, placed her fingertips against the lighter, and rubbed the edge repeatedly.
While tapping the lighter continuously, she took off her own coat, which was wrapped in a white school uniform shirt.
Bucha.
The flickering sparks went straight up, and a pinch of fire was embedded in the lighter, causing a wave of fire. It was a stunning sight. It followed her hand and trailed the light. The shadows leaked from the side, and the whole face was red. The fire rose to the center of the eyebrows, and the eyes were wet. The mist is filled with firelight.
She turned the lighter gracefully and burned the coat she held up.
Zhao Quan: "..."
His pupils couldn't help but dilate, and he looked again in disbelief, his face almost touching the glass of the milk tea shop.
Yes the girl burned her coat.
The first thing I saw was the light of fire, and the irregular rustling sound, accompanied by smoke, filled the sky above the streets in strands.
The girl seemed unable to smell the smoke, turned her face sideways and raised her coat to the front.
Zhao Quan was completely dumbfounded.
If you don't want that coat, can you give it to me? An office worker roared madly in his heart.
With a crackle, the girl closed the hot lighter, and a section of the flame lost its temperature, disappearing in her eyes in an instant.
She squatted down and picked up the mineral water on the other side of her schoolbag, unscrewed the bottle cap and poured it down, successfully extinguishing the fire in her coat.
After the matter was settled, she pursed her lips, as if she had just realized that she was thirsty, and her eyes flickered to the milk tea shop opposite.
Zhao Quan watched the girl walking with light steps.
The boss is naturally much calmer. In terms of hospitality, he has never seen any customers.
"Have a cup of milk tea, without ice."
The girl took out the banknotes in twos and twos, but her eyes fell on the computer beside the boss.
I saw a string of English on the back of the computer.
Weareanonymous.
The girl squinted her eyes slightly, as if she was thinking about something.
Zhao Quan sharply noticed that there was a school badge pinned to her school uniform, with red fonts in the outline. Part of it was accidentally blocked by the end of her hair, but the three words could be vaguely distinguished.
Su Qian.
Is this her name? When Zhao Quan rested his head, a cup of warm milk tea was thrust into his hand. When he raised his head, he met the boss's loving eyes.
The boss motioned for him to pass the milk tea to the girl.
The weather was not too cold, but Zhao Quan shivered when he handed it over. He avoided the girl's eyes as soon as he touched it. His hands shook for a long time and he almost couldn't hold the cup steady.
Su Qian raised her eyes slightly and said without any emotion in her tone: "Do you have a sore waist or back pain?"
Zhao Quan choked, his hands froze, his thoughts turned over and over again, and he didn't know how to answer.
Seemingly losing her patience, she frowned, stretched out her hand to take the milk tea steadily, pulled the straw and drank it.
Zhao Quan was a little depressed when he saw this. Wasn't he frightened by the scene where she burned her coat in the street? The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I became, so I might as well ask the person involved for clarification.
"Little sister, why did you ruin a good coat? If you don't want it anymore, you won't use a lighter..."
"Oh, you discovered it."
Su Qian bit the straw, leaving a clear tooth mark along the plastic surface.
As her lips opened next to the straw, the tip of her tongue was coated with the color of milk tea, adding a bit of sweetness to her.
However, what she said was not so beautiful.
"I feel that the lighter has not been used for so long after I bought it. I want to find something to do with it."
Listen, is this human talk?
Are you a human?
Is this how lighters are originally used?
Without waiting for Zhao Quan to express his position, Su Qian stroked the bottom of the cup, raised his brows lightly, and spoke in a neither salty nor cold tone.
"And I'm not the little sister."
After that, he turned around and left.
The sunlight gradually passed through the fluffy hair, coating her ears with a layer of gold. The hair strands were tightly entangled with brilliance, slowly lengthening the scorching shadow.
Zhao Quan stared at her in confusion, but little did he know that the boss was also looking at her back in a daze.
"Boss, this female student seems a little weird."
"She..."
The boss gradually withdrew his gaze, lowered his head to adjust the account book, spread out the pen refill, and wrote down a few scrawled words, "She just suddenly wanted to drink milk tea."