Rose Dust

Chapter 3 – A Familiar Face

The next day, she met Anyang Chunyuan face-to-face at the entrance of the classroom. As she pondered about whether to say hello or not, he already sidled up and walked past her.

She paused in her steps, somewhat aware that these distant encounters were nothing. 

After class, she hurried back to the store to deliver flowers to a nearby medical school. She didn’t live in a dormitory, nor was she familiar with her classmates. 

A few fairly close classmates invited her to sing, but she embarrassedly refused. Yet their disappointed eyes also felt unscrupulous.

It was all expected, so she didn’t feel hurt.

The work clothes of “Orange Stem Night” were a navy blue long apron with jeans and a white shirt. Tan Fei always wore a dress that looked like a tuxedo, and her occasional smile was always polite to every guest, regardless of gender.

Unfortunately, she was already in her senior year and was about to prepare for internships and graduation thesis, so she stopped coming to the shop two days before the end of September. 

Her father was also a bit worried, always trying to find another beautiful face to replace Tan Fei’s position.

“What are you thinking about?”  Tan Fei nudged her.

“It’s nothing.” Despite answering, she sighed and posted the job information on the glass. Looking up for a while, she said nonchalantly, “Sister, it would be great if you take the postgraduate exam.”

After looking up for a long time, she saw Tan Fei’s sad face on the glass reflection and felt a twitch in her heart. Knowing that she shouldn’t say such capricious words of retention, she smiled again. 

The huge crown and fine shadows of the locust trees on the roadside fell on their heads.

“I can see you often, even when I’m working.”

“Well, I know.”

“I can help over the weekend, without charging. Uncle Tian Tian will probably die out of happiness.”

“Well, then you have to come over often.”

“You should also make more friends. Don’t refuse when your classmates invite you to dinner or sing or just to hang out. You are twenty years old, not twelve, so you don’t have to be a good baby every day. You haven’t even been to a bar. Uncle Tian Tian is too awful, putting you in a flower store every day; then how can you meet a boy?”

“Actually, I am not interested in those things.” Ye Jiegeng thought for a while and said, “It’s not easy for my dad to take me to live with him, and it’s nice to be in a flower shop.”

“I know, little housewife.”

Ye Jiegeng also responded with a pleasant smile. She knew that her senior sister was good to her, so she didn’t say anything that would spoil her fun. 

Apparently, a regular coffee shop patron called and ordered a hundred red roses. The distance was not very far. So after loading it on a cart, she slowly walked along with the green shade. 

For those who had a keen sense of smell, the smell of hot air and floral scents on the street was not very pleasing. She reluctantly delivered the flowers and collected the money. 

On her way back, she felt dizzy and couldn’t help but find a corner in the alley behind the store, and she threw up against the wall for a long time.

She heard a strange movement behind her, and before she had time to look back, her whole person had been forcibly hugged hard by the impact. The strength was not small; it was neither light nor heavy. Ye Jiegeng felt half of her life had been knocked away, and her arms folded behind her back.

Ye Jiegeng, who had never encountered this kind of situation, was immediately frightened with a barely audible voice that was particularly unreliable: “Who are you, you, let me go quickly….. let go…… I’m going to scream—”

The person behind her didn’t speak but laughed at her instead. She felt a creeping sensation in her ears as a result. Before her brain could recover from the shock, that person teasingly bit her ear. It didn’t hurt very much, but it undoubtedly set fire on her body, so startled that she screamed with dismay.

“Let go of me! Let go of me!” She was frightened to death.

“Hey, you – ouch – heck who hit me -“

In an instant, Ye Jiegeng got rid of the grip, her legs became soft, and she knelt along the wall. Upon returning to her senses after a few seconds of dizziness, she looked back and saw a strikingly good-looking young man sitting on the ground. 

In front of him was another person wearing a casual white short-sleeved shirt, silver-rimmed glasses which reflected the light, with pursed lips, and a reddened face revealing a wave of thin anger.

It was Anyang Chunyuan who saved her.

Anyang Chunyuan walked over in two steps, and lifted Ye Jiegeng from the ground, and asked, “Are you okay? Can you walk?”

Ye Jiegeng felt annoyed but wasn’t afraid anymore. Her leg was still trembling, and said, “I’m fine, just scared.”

In fact, it was not just a “hop” at all, she was really lucky to have survived the disaster. 

The light in the alley dimmed as the culprit stood up from the ground. He rubbed the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. 

He also knew that his prank had gone too far, but he said with a smile, “Hey, Ye Jiegeng, I was just kidding. If I really were a rapist, wouldn’t I have knocked you down with a stick to keep your little mouth from yelling and screaming?” 

Hearing his voice, Ye Jiegeng felt it was familiar but couldn’t remember it.

Seeing her confused state, he stepped forward a couple of steps. The person who appeared in the light had slightly long blonde hair. In the light, it looked like silk. 

In her memory, his facial features always showed a gleam with picturesque brows, always smiling, looking very innocent. 

Ye Jiegeng used to count the holes in his jeans and how many classes he could sleep through in a day. He sat on her right-hand side for three years, but the conversations between the two never lasted more than three hundred sentences.

“You–” Ye Jiegeng’s eyes widened in disbelief, “Rong Qingxia?!”

“Well, what do I say?. How can you not remember me? I, Rong Qingxia, am also a school grass in Wenyang High School. For three years, I have been trying to maintain a perfect attendance record in order to improve my aesthetic level for the girls in the class.?” 

Wiping the oozing blood, he showed his teeth to smile and exclaimed at Anyang Chunyuan, “Your boyfriend?”

Only then did she remember that Anyang Chunyuan was still by her side, and her face flushed into red and said, “What are you talking about? He’s my classmate.”

Anyang Chunyuan folded his arms and didn’t interrupt. Rong Qingxia was also very sensible, nodded at him, and said to Ye Jiegeng, “How come an old classmate gets punched as soon as they meet? This is really bad. I’d better get going. I just left a little white rabbit on the side of the road.”

“Ah, are you really sure you won’t get lost first?” Ye Jiegeng was more anxious than him.

“Haha, why are you still as stupid as before? Young Master Rong is leaving. I’ll see you later.”

Ye Jiegeng could only watch him leave not knowing whether to cry or laugh and thought about how this person hasn’t changed at all. 

Reminiscing about the past, Anyang Chunyuan helped her push the trolley. Seeing that her face was still unnaturally pale, he said, “Let’s go, I’ll take you back.”

She wanted to refuse and was about to open her mouth, but she couldn’t bear to miss the opportunity to get along with him.