Cheng Jun hung up on Tu Nan and immediately dialed Ruan Jiu Jiu, but when he called all he heard was “Sorry, the number you’ve called is not available.”
He snagged a jacket and went out, hailing a cab directly to the airport and looking up Ruan Jiu Jiu’s flight information.
……
Ruan Jiu Jiu slept too much.
She only felt like she had taken a long nap, but the plane still hadn’t moved.
At this time, the speakers sounded. A warm female voice unhurriedly said, “Passengers of this flight, due to the sudden blizzard at our destination, we are unable to fly due to the weather and can only cancel this flight. Sorry for the trouble this has caused…”
Just as the announcement sounded, grumbles of complaint rose and fell all around. No one had expected this situation to happen.
Typically the flight would be canceled around a day before, so how were they supposed to change flights now? It even didn’t need to be said, the other flights to H city were probably all canceled.
Ruan Jiu Jiu was also dumbstruck.
Her first thought was, Cheng Jun probably shouldn’t be stuck somewhere.
The flight attendant was still trying to comfort everyone in a gentle voice. The weather was an unpredictable variable, so there wasn’t anything that could be done about it impacting the flights. Ruan Jiu Jiu could only resign herself to the situation and take out her phone to cancel the flight, planning to go home to sleep.
The moment she turned on her phone, she immediately saw messages from Cheng Jun.
“I didn’t go on the business trip.”
“I got off the plane before it even took off.”
“I saw that the flight was canceled, where are you?”
“I’m at the airport.”
It was the first time Ruan Jiu Jiu ever saw Cheng Jun send so many messages one after the other, so she was a bit startled. Then she immediately reacted and ground her teeth. Cheng Jun didn’t actually go on a business trip? Then what was this guy doing?
Ruan Jiu Jiu followed the others off the plane and called Cheng Jun.
When she exited the door, she found herself amidst a flurry of snowflakes falling from the sky. Ruan Jiu Jiu shivered. She didn’t know when, but now the ground was covered in a vast sheet of white.
The phone screen showed that it was currently dialing the other side but hadn’t been picked up yet. Then in the next second the phone emitted a beep. It had been frozen so cold that it lost all its battery and automatically shut off.
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “!!!”
“Don’t die on me!”
Shit! She didn’t bring a charger!
Ruan Jiu Jiu’s heart was full of curses. She began to walk more quickly towards the airport, praying that she could find a charger to borrow later.
When she got back to the main hall of the terminal there were crowds of people everywhere. She couldn’t find Cheng Jun’s figure anywhere. Ruan Jiu Jiu turned her phone back on with a headache. Thankfully there was still 5% battery left so she was able to restart her phone.
She saw that there were many missed calls from Cheng Jun.
Ruan Jiu Jiu immediately facetimed him.
With a beep, it was picked up. Ruan Jiu Jiu said, “My phone is about to run out of battery, where are you?”
On his side, Cheng Jun also stood in the main hall. Behind him, people walked left and right and Ruan Jiu Jiu couldn’t tell where he was at all. Cheng Jun responded, “I’m at my original spot.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “Where?”
Her phone shut off again.
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “…” She didn’t even have the strength to laugh at herself.
Just when Ruan Jiu Jiu began to search around herself, the sound of Cheng Jun’s slow voice came from behind her. “What are you looking at.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu was so startled she almost jumped.
She turned her head. To her astonishment, Cheng Jun was calmly standing behind her. Not knowing whether she was pleasantly surprised or frightened, Ruan Jiu Jiu glared at him in reproach. “Why’d you come back? Why didn’t you go on your business trip?”
Cheng Jun looked to the side. “The weather wasn’t good so the flight was canceled.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “…Wasn’t your flight during the day?”
“Mm, it was canceled.”
Even though Cheng Jun’s response was very calm, Ruan Jiu Jiu’s sixth sense told her that Cheng Jun was definitely lying.
But…whatever. Originally it was to help him celebrate his birthday. The current situation wasn’t something anyone could have foreseen.
Ruan Jiu Jiu sighed. “Let’s go home.”
The two of them walked forwards. Ruan Jiu Jiu took a glance at Cheng Jun, and then another. Cheng Jun couldn’t help but check to see whether he was walking unnaturally.
“Hey.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu asked, “Did you come over in a rush?”
Cheng Jun rarely broke out in a sweat, but at this time, the roots of his hair were a bit damp and sweat dripped down from his neck, soaking his collar. When walking he was silent, as if he was just as unhurried as usual. But the little clues on his body told Ruan Jiu Jiu that just now, he was definitely doing some extreme physical activity.
Cheng Jun was quiet for a moment, then he responded in a calm voice. “It’s because it was snowing.”
“Oh I see.”
Ruan Jiu Jiu understood things with a tinge of disappointment. When she thought about it, how was it possible for Cheng Jun to sprint around because of her? He was used to doing everything with a slow, leisurely pace. Even when competing with others he could casually get a cup of water. With a personality as calm as that, he probably didn’t ever feel worried.
When the two of them exited the doors, their faces were hit with a flurry of snowflakes.
When they had rushed to the airport, there wasn’t a single hint that it was about to snow, but in just a short amount of time, the streets were all covered in white.
Cheng Jun called a taxi and the two of them sat in the back. Neither of them had the intent to be the first to say anything.
Ruan Jiu Jiu glanced at him. “You aren’t curious why I wanted to go look for you?”
“You wanted to go out to play.” He responded with the most likely answer.
The first thing Cheng Jun did was eliminate the possibility that Ruan Jiu Jiu would run over to another city for him.
“Wrong guess.”
The driver had turned on the radio. The host was currently counting down the seconds, ready to broadcast a song to celebrate New Years. They were right on the verge of entering a new year.
Even though right now wasn’t the most fitting time and place, without a cake, without a good atmosphere, without singing “Happy Birthday”, and with snow falling endlessly outside the car window hiding the sky…
At this moment, Ruan Jiu Jiu’s heart suddenly moved.
When the radio host was counting down to the last digits, she took out from her bag a small piece of cake that was leaning crazily to one side with the frosting messily smushed everywhere, and turned to Cheng Jun to say, “Happy Birthday.”
“…”
The first measures of a happy song began to broadcast from the radio. The driver had turned the volume up pretty high, practically covering up Ruan Jiu Jiu’s voice. Cheng Jun’s eyes were originally downcast, but when he heard what Ruan Jiu Jiu said, they instantly shook and that pair of long and slender eyes turned to fix themselves on Ruan Jiu Jiu without a single word.
When his pitch black pupils gazed at you, it would give the subject of his stare a kind of nervous feeling. At this time, Ruan Jiu Jiu felt it too.
She gave a dry cough. “You aren’t going to say anything? Mister Cheng?”
“…”
“It can’t be that you disdain my cake for being too ugly?” Ruan Jiu Jiu lowered her head to look at the drooping cake and thought to herself, hm, it was a bit too ugly.
She decided to put it back in her bag.
But Cheng Jun suddenly took it from her, just like before when he suddenly accepted Ruan Jiu Jiu’s “dung beetle ball”. He held it in his hand and opened the lid, then took the fork and ate a bite.
“You’re not allowed to say that it doesn’t taste good ok, even though there weren’t that many slices left in the cake store this piece was definitely the prettiest before it got ruined so…”
“It tastes good.”
His brows and eyes were smoothed out and his voice was very low. Saying that, he took another big bite. Ruan Jiu Jiu was truly scared he was going to choke on it.
What she didn’t know was, ever since his mother passed away, Cheng Jun had never celebrated his birthday again. To him, birthday cake was something that was already a memory from many years ago. The sweetness at the tip of his tongue was something that tasted familiar yet also strange.
Ruan Jiu Jiu let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Even though she knew Cheng Jun was a foodie, something like birthday cake was more dependent on the feeling.
She said, “Did you know, I canceled the movie and restaurant reservation I booked. It really made me mad. If you didn’t end up cancelling your flight too, I would really question how stupid you are.”
“Cough cough…” Cheng Jun suddenly began to cough.
Cheng Jun, who was in the middle of eating his cake, suddenly realized that if Ruan Jiu Jiu saw the dinner that was clearly already set up at home, it was likely that a tempest would immediately descend on their home.
Ruan Jiu Jiu: “??? What’s wrong with you?”
Cheng Jun: “I think I’m choking. Let’s go to the hospital, I need emergency treatment.”
His response was Ruan Jiu Jiu’s death glare.
“…Are you taking me for a fool?”
