Perceptions differ from person to person, and that was exactly the case with Su Ziyan and Xia Zhi now.
In Su Ziyan’s eyes, today’s outing was just a normal trip accompanying a friend.
But to Xia Zhi, it was something completely different.
Even though she herself admitted there wasn’t a shred of romance in the atmosphere between them, she still saw today as her first date with Su Ziyan.
Because she had made up her mind to change, she never stopped exercising even at home, so she was in pretty good shape.
Su Ziyan had just assumed she was tired, but in truth, she wasn’t that exhausted—rather, she was still eager for more.
The reason she looked tired was simply that she was thinking about something and had fallen silent.
She kept feeling that today’s date was missing something, making it feel incomplete.
Was it a surprise?
No.
But the more a person tries to think of something, the less they can pinpoint it, so she couldn’t come up with the answer for the time being.
It wasn’t until she looked up and saw the flower shop across the street that she instantly realized what was missing.
How could a first date between two people be complete without flowers?
In this day and age, lovers always had to have the ritual of giving flowers, didn’t they?
Thinking this, Xia Zhi glanced at the traffic light, which had only a few seconds left.
Suddenly, an inexplicable sense of urgency surged within her.
She had never been someone who let reason override emotion.
A long, long time ago, she had actually been a very impulsive person—so impulsive that she would recklessly take on burdens that weren’t hers.
So in that moment, she suddenly thought: Su Ziyan didn’t seem to have a girlfriend.
In fact, over the past year of close contact, he had never shown any interest in other girls.
If she gave him flowers now, would she become the first woman besides his relatives to ever give him flowers in his life?
The moment that “first” crossed her mind, she could no longer stay calm.
By the time she realized it, she was already stepping onto the crosswalk, with only seconds left on the green light.
But she didn’t turn back.
Instead, she quickened her pace and broke into a run—the first time in years she had run in a public outdoor space—until she crossed the street and reached the door of the flower shop.
The shop’s owner was a kindly old lady with a gentle face, sitting on a rocking chair outside basking in the sun.
On the other side of the road, there was no rain.
This was normal for a sunshower, since it occurs when uneven ground heating creates a small-scale strong convective weather system, resulting in clear skies just across the street.
The famous poet Liu Yuxi’s “Bamboo Branch Song, Part One” includes the line “East side sunrise, west side rain,” which precisely describes this kind of weather.
And this kind of weather usually appears around the summer solstice, so it’s also called “summer solstice thundershowers.”
Perhaps heaven wasn’t being unkind after all.
Xia Zhi thought this in her heart, then mustered her courage and spoke to the old lady in front of her,
“Hello! I’d like to buy a bouquet of flowers!”
After she bought the bouquet and turned around holding it, Su Ziyan, with a grim expression, had just waited for the next green light and arrived in front of her.
It was the first time Xia Zhi had seen Su Ziyan frown at her, but she wasn’t sad at all—because this was just his way of showing concern.
So she smiled and handed the flowers to him.
She said it was a surprise, a souvenir of their first time hanging out together.
And then…
Then, predictably, she got a thorough scolding from Su Ziyan.
After that, Xia Zhi seemed to have unlocked some hidden potential.
Her social skills recovered exponentially, and the two of them had more “dates.”
Another year passed.
Xia Zhi had almost returned to the way she was before she fell ill.
She also went back to her parents’ company and started learning anew, hoping to use that share of stock as capital to try to reclaim what her parents had lost.
Things weren’t going smoothly, but they weren’t exactly hard either—because she had too much capital.
It was just that she had been too foolish and too impatient before.
Of course, being busy with work meant less time spent with Su Ziyan, but Xia Zhi thought this was just a temporary hardship.
Once a little more time passed, around the time Su Ziyan graduated from university, she should have a preliminary grasp of most of the company’s operations.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have Su Ziyan, fresh out of college, work under her as an employee?
When there’s work, the employee does it; when there’s no work…
Dreaming of such a bright future, Xia Zhi went home expecting the warmth she longed for, but instead found Su Ziyan’s betrayal…
Betrayal—wasn’t that the very thing Xia Zhi hated most?
She should have hated him to the bone.
Unable to sleep, Xia Zhi sat up in bed.
She suddenly thought that if she knew how to smoke, maybe she could relieve some of these tangled emotions.
She had dragged Su Ziyan back to her side to get revenge, hadn’t she?
But why?
Why, when she actually saw him—saw his blinded, cautious, pathetic appearance—
Why couldn’t she get out the harsh words she had prepared?
She had worked so hard for this day.
She had imagined it countless times…
But why, when she really saw him, did she feel less hatred in her heart?
All those days and nights, she had thought about revenge more than once.
Over the years, she had replayed his betrayal over and over, tormented by the bone-deep pain alone at night, wishing she could catch Su Ziyan and treat him like a dog…
But why?
Today, a simple meeting with him—
Why did the memories become different?
Why was she now thinking only of those beautiful days?
Her memories hadn’t been like that before.
In the endless pain of betrayal brought by those countless recollections, Xia Zhi had long believed that her hatred had made her forget all the beautiful memories.
But now, those memories surfaced again, every frame so vivid.
She could clearly remember that day’s date.
In that sunshower, Su Ziyan had rarely shown her a dark face, scolding her seriously, yet still accepted that “friendship bouquet.”
She had said “I understand” with a look of sincere repentance, but inside she was filled with secret delight.
Everything, every detail, was so clear.
East side sunrise, west side rain.
Though there’s no sunshine, there is warmth.
In truth, she still hated him, didn’t she?
But…
“I don’t know about hatred, because I don’t have anyone I hate very much. But love… love is a curse.”
Xia Zhi suddenly remembered Su Ziyan’s answer to her, and in the dead of night, she burst out laughing.
He was right.
Love is a curse.