After a long time, she washes her face with cold water again, puts on a pair of glasses, and returns to the bedroom after confirming that they can cover her red eyes.
She stands by the window, looking at the night view outside, as if she has no thoughts and as if everything has an answer.
When she receives the message from Fan Si and comes out again, Cheng Zhou's words change again, with a hoarse voice, repeating: "I'm sorry, An An."
Zhou Ji'an laughs inexplicably, without any emotion, and then opens the door.
When Fan Si enters the door, he first looks at her with a complicated expression and then is attention by Cheng Zhou wrapped in a white quilt, and then he is startled: "Brother Cheng, what happened?"
Zhou Ji'an, who has regained her composure, makes a sound of 'ah', and finally realizes where the weirdness is. She clenches her right fist and hits the palm of her left hand: "Not dead, still alive."
In order to prevent Fan Si from feeling that she was abusing him and making those stupid remarks that normal people couldn't make, she blocks his mouth in advance: "I have no obligation to take care of him. It's kind of me to let him stay in the house instead of outside. Don't ask for more."
If she had known that Cheng Zhou was outside the door, she wouldn't have opened the door.
Fan Si opens his mouth, then closes it again when he thinks of what she said on the phone. He just glares at her in a condemning manner and then lifts Cheng Zhou with great effort: "He is not usually this heavy."
"Because he's drunk." Zhou Ji'an, with his hands folded on the other side, is unwilling to help at all.
"Hurry up and leave."
Cheng Zhou suddenly yells, "I won't leave!" Then he is silent.
The two people present are startled. Zhou Ji'an squints and looks at Cheng Zhou carefully, trying to tell if he is really drunk.
However, when her eyes touch the wetness in the corners of his eyes, she suddenly turns her head away as if she were burned: "Remember to tell him that no broken mirror can be put back together. A broken mirror is broken. Even if it is glued together, the cracks on it will never disappear, so don't bother me again."
It is said that drunk people are heavy, but except for the heavy lift when he first lifted him up, it looks like he didn't use much effort to carry Cheng Zhou away.
As soon as the door closes, Zhou Ji'an sighs and props her forehead with the back of her hand.
Time can heal everything, but it seems that it can't heal her.
She doesn't want to fall into the quagmire of emotions again, and she is really afraid that she can't climb out.
But if this collapse happens one or two more times, it will prove that she has returned to her original mentation. If this really happens, she could only save herself, and she must save herself.
But this time, maybe it is just a stress response after not seeing each other for a long time. Maybe there would not be a second collapse, she thinks optimistically.
Although she said so, Zhou Ji'an has already started to make a self-help plan in her mind without a feeling of sleep, just in case.
The first is to socialize, and the second is to avoid Cheng Zhou. But what she said just now was also very clear. Although he didn't listen, his younger brother would always tell him, and he probably wouldn't come to her again.
Speaking of socializing, she gets up from the bed and leans against the headboard. She hastily types the three words "Lu Zhining" in the search box and clicks it. Then her thumb suspends on the phone number.
She has taken this action countless times since she last met Lu Zhining. After so many days, she still doesn't start a conversation.
She thinks a little timidly: What should I say if I call him? If I don't call him, he probably won't contact me because of his temper.
After struggling for a while, she still dials the number. She is surprised that the call is connected almost immediately, but there is no sound from the other end. "Lu Zhining?"
The silence is so long that Zhou Ji'an almost thinks she has dialed the wrong number, and the sudden hang-up makes her feel extremely helpless.
Her mind is blank before the phone rings again: "Hello?"
He says stiffly, "What's the matter?"
Zhou Ji'an doesn't know what to say because of his cold tone. She is no longer as thick-skinned as she was when she was a child, and she is not afraid of being rejected.
But when she hears a continuous and regular knocking sound on the other end of the phone, which is his habitual action when he is anxious, she suddenly feels less uneasy in her heart because she is not the only one who has the same feeling. "I want to treat you to a meal. Do you have time?"
Lu Zhining was upset for a few days because she didn't contact him for a few days, but now he finally feels relieved: "Okay."
Zhou Ji'an is also relieved to hear that he agreed: "Then I'll go to your school to have dinner with you in the afternoon. It's convenient to eat there."
Lu Zhining hums, and after a long while, he doesn't say anything or hang up the phone.
Zhou Ji'an listens to the heavy breathing in her ears, and her ears are itchy and she is a little speechless. "Then hang up?"
Hearing this, Lu Zhining suddenly hangs up the phone.
This also saves Zhou Ji'an from embarrassment because she doesn't know what to say. They haven't met for many years. She doesn't even know how to treat him. She used to know Lu Zhining very well, but that was only limited to him in the past, in high school. Now this strange yet somewhat familiar feeling makes her feel a little at a loss as to where to start.