I stared at my phone screen for a long time before finally dialing Mi Cai’s number, waiting for her to pick up. To my surprise, her phone was already switched off.

I dialed her number again, but the result was the same – her phone was off.

Suddenly, I started to worry. This worry quickly turned into wild speculation. But I didn’t know any other way to contact her. I couldn’t possibly go to Suzhou right now to find out what was going on.

I turned off the light and lay down on the bed, trying to shift my attention to my recent work, to suppress this unsettling worry. But all sorts of negative assumptions still uncontrollably dominated my thoughts.

I became increasingly restless and finally couldn’t help but take out my phone and dial Circle’s number.

Circle picked up the phone quickly, seemingly already resting, and asked with a yawn, “What’s up? Why are you calling so late?”

I hesitated, feeling that if I asked him about Mi Cai directly at this late hour, he might misunderstand. So I said, “I’m getting engaged.”

“What? Say that again.”

“I’m getting engaged.”

Circle reacted, and I could hear the excitement in his voice as he said to Yan Yan, “Wife, wake up… Zhao Yang says he’s getting engaged!”

Yan Yan hummed in response, seemingly waking up suddenly. She took the phone from Circle and asked me with even more excitement, “Zhao Yang, Circle says you’re getting engaged? My God…”

I laughed and said, “It’s true, don’t get too emotional.”

“When? When? Is it with Li Xiaoyun, the girl you were set up with?”

“We’re getting engaged after the New Year, and we’re going to buy engagement jewelry tomorrow,” I said succinctly.

Yan Yan was silent for a long time, probably fully awake in the silence. Then she exclaimed loudly, “God is fair, Zhao Yang, you’re finally settling down… I want to cry!”

“Then you go find a place to cry for a while, and give the phone back to Circle. I have something else to ask him.”

After Yan Yan cursed me for my “behavior”, she handed the phone back to Circle.

Circle chuckled and said to me, “Let us know a week before your engagement, so Yan Yan and I can prepare.”

“Um…” I paused, then pretended to suddenly remember something and asked Circle, “By the way, have… have you seen Mi Cai recently?”

“Why are you asking this?”

“I can’t reach her by phone, just concerned about her. Don’t overthink it, I don’t mean anything else, just caring about her like a normal friend.” I emphasized the term ‘normal friend’.

“I didn’t overthink it, you don’t need to explain so nervously.”

“Who’s nervous? Just tell me, have you seen her or not?”

“I really haven’t. She’s a high-level executive at Zhuomei, not someone we can see whenever we want. Last time, I had to ask several people to arrange a meeting with her just to tell her about your help,” Circle said with a sigh.

I wanted to ask Circle to inquire about her again, but in the end, I didn’t. Firstly, Mi Cai’s phone might just be out of battery. Secondly, if I seemed too anxious, it would appear that my motives were not pure.

After a brief silence, I said to Circle, “Alright, I mainly wanted to tell you about my engagement. It’s late, I won’t disturb your rest.”

Circle responded, and after saying goodnight to Yan Yan, I hung up the phone.

After ending the call, I turned off the light in my room again. The bright moonlight outside the window shone on the opened curtains. I lit a cigarette in the moonlight, surprised at why I was so worried about Mi Cai. Perhaps it was really because I sympathized with her unfortunate background. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her, because that would be unfair to her. She had already lost her family, and she deserved compensation from fate, a happy life… I sincerely hoped that she could find a man who would love her with all his life.

I put out the cigarette in the ashtray, constantly telling myself: she just ran out of battery, or didn’t want to turn on her phone to disturb her rest… In this repeated self-comfort, my mind gradually calmed down, and I fell asleep shortly after.

…

The next morning, I was woken up by my mother. She handed me a bank card and said, “Zhao Yang, there’s 30,000 yuan in this card. Take it and buy engagement jewelry with Xiaoyun this afternoon.”

I felt a bit embarrassed. After all, I had only been working for just over a month and didn’t have much savings. I took the card from my mother and said, “I’ll consider this a loan from you. When I save up some money, I’ll pay you back.”

My mother gently patted me and said, “What are you talking about? We can’t take our money with us when we die. As long as you work hard and treat Xiaoyun well, that’s the best repayment for us!”

I was touched and nodded heavily. After my mother told me that breakfast was ready and left my room, I picked up my clothes from the side of the bed and started to get dressed. Suddenly, I remembered that I still hadn’t been able to contact Mi Cai. Before I could put on my pants, I picked up my phone and dialed Mi Cai’s number again.

The result was still disappointing. Her phone was still off, and my mind was instantly filled with unease, just like last night.During breakfast, I was still somewhat distracted, only realizing in a daze that today was the weekend. Perhaps Mi Cai was still in bed at this moment, and I didn’t need to worry too much. Maybe by noon, if I called her, she would answer.

I finished my breakfast in another round of self-comfort, took a break, and then went for a run. By the time I finished running, it was almost 10 in the morning. I guessed that Mi Cai should be up by now, so I made another call to her, but it still couldn’t get through.

After that, I called every half an hour, keeping this rhythm until one in the afternoon, but still couldn’t get through. The unease in my heart grew stronger, but I managed to keep my composure. I remembered CC, Mi Cai also liked to eat at the “Empty City” restaurant, maybe she had been there recently.

Without further thought, I immediately dialed CC’s number, and after a short while, CC answered the call.

This time, I cut straight to the chase and asked CC, “CC, has Mi Cai been to your restaurant recently?”

“What’s wrong?” CC asked in confusion.

“Just tell me if she has or not.” My tone became increasingly urgent.

CC thought for a moment before saying, “She came once more than half a month ago, but she hasn’t been back since. What’s wrong with her?”

“I haven’t been able to reach her since last night. She’s all alone in Suzhou, and I’m really worried that something might have happened to her!”

“Really?”

“Here’s what, CC, you go to her place now and check. Today is the weekend, she should be at home if there’s nothing special, maybe she just forgot to turn on her phone.”

“Okay, I’ll go right away. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know as soon as I have any news.”

“Good, make sure to notify me immediately.” I emphasized again.

CC reassured me and then hung up the phone. I prayed in my heart, hoping that I was just overthinking! But I was even more eager to know the answer CC would give me later.

—————–

I just watched Ultraman, waited for a long time, and the monster that came out was just a washing machine.