Feast of Flowers

A rich, milky white chocolate bar lay quietly in her palm, its sweetness permeating the air.

"Y-You… you woman! Do you not understand what restraint means?!" Peach Blossom Eyes held the chocolate in his palm, his hand trembling as if he were holding a stick of dynamite.

In the dim light of the stairwell, Hua Jin noticed the man's cheeks and ears were flushed. She had only spoken a few words, and he was already red with anger? It wasn't good for an adult to be so easily provoked.

Worried that he might lash out, Hua Jin leaned back and, before he could react, quickly descended the stairs, almost reaching the exit of the emergency stairwell.

"Wait!"

Hua Jin hesitated for a second between continuing or turning back. She looked at Peach Blossom Eyes: "Excuse me, is there something else?"

"Is the chocolate expired?" Peach Blossom Eyes turned his head to the wall. Standing against the light, he looked like a nobleman in an oil painting, handsome and refined, yet out of place with ordinary people.

Hua Jin blinked: "It's newly bought, not expired."

Peach Blossom Eyes stared at her for a long moment, then took a small bite, his face full of disgust: "Too sweet and greasy. Disgusting."

After saying that, he was about to throw it away, but after searching for a while, he couldn't find a trash can. His expression immediately soured. He looked at Hua Jin pointedly. Hua Jin continued to inch towards the exit.

Teasing should be done with caution; frivolous actions easily invite trouble.

It was all because he was too handsome, causing her to make the same mistake many others did.

"Mr. Pei, why are you here?" A slightly overweight man appeared at the second-floor landing of the emergency stairwell, his head covered in sweat despite the spring weather. Seeing Peach Blossom Eyes at the doorway, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, you weren't in the elevator. There was a problem with the elevator on the second floor just now. Mr. Yang Shao is trapped inside, and the staff are working on it." The overweight man, seeing Mr. Pei's unpleasant expression, assumed he was lost and therefore in a bad mood. "Mr. Chen's ward is on the eighth floor. Please come with me."

"Do you have any tissues?" Pei Yan asked.

"Huh?" The overweight man was stunned for a moment, then laughed awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I came down in a hurry and forgot to bring some."

"Forget it." Mr. Pei pulled a handkerchief from his suit jacket pocket, wrapped the chocolate in it, and casually put it in his pocket.

"You're…?" The overweight man watched this in confusion. Was that leftover chocolate he just wrapped in his handkerchief? Rumors said this Mr. Pei spent money like water, and many people liked to seek his investment. A couple of years ago, many people privately called him a fool. Who would have thought that this man was so lucky that most of his haphazard investments turned out to be profitable, surprising many.

He didn't expect the rumored free-spending Mr. Pei to be so frugal, even saving leftover chocolate. It was true that the richer one was, the stingier they became, not even willing to throw away half a piece of chocolate.

"Let's go." Mr. Pei glanced back at Hua Jin standing below, smiled, and gave her a small wave before slipping out of the stairwell.

"Mr. Pei?" The overweight man walked a few steps, realized he wasn't being followed, and worried he had done something wrong. He stopped and looked back at Pei Yan anxiously.

"Say… a woman walking by the lake, looking melancholic, eyes red, seemingly suicidal, what would she suddenly be doing at a hospital?" Mr. Pei suddenly asked.

"Perhaps she's seriously ill and facing financial difficulties?" The overweight man thought for a moment, then added, "Life is stressful these days. It can't be helped."

Mr. Pei thought that the woman was still in the mood to tease him, so she probably wasn't at the point of contemplating suicide.

"A few years ago, a colleague of mine committed suicide without warning. He seemed like a cheerful and normal person. Only after his death did we learn that his parents had passed away, and his wife had also died in an accident not long after." He sighed and gestured for Mr. Pei to enter the elevator. "None of us noticed he was going through so much. If we had noticed earlier and shown him more care, perhaps things wouldn't have come to that."

After speaking, the overweight man realized he had said too much. Seeing no change in Mr. Pei's expression, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Hua Jin didn't go to the shop but went home and slept the entire afternoon. When she woke up, it was already dark outside. She made herself a bowl of noodles, opened her phone, and browsed the web for a while before receiving a transfer from Yang Lin.

The transfer amount was 1200. Staring at the number for a moment, she smiled and replied with a "thank you."

Yang Lin: You're welcome. I found out I'm pregnant today, so I'm sending you a red envelope to share the good fortune.

Hua Jin smiled silently and replied: Thank you.

Yang Lin: I remember you used to like sharing in good fortune too. Once, at a wedding banquet, they gave us servers some wedding candies. You happily ate all the candies, saying it would bring you good luck.

Hua Jin put down her phone, finished her slightly soggy noodles, and went to the kitchen to wash the bowl. This house was too old; if used dishes weren't washed immediately, they would attract bugs.

After tidying up, she posted photos of a few finished embroidery pieces on Weibo. She didn't have many followers; occasionally, one or two people would like or comment on her posts, but most of the time, it was just for her own enjoyment.

Two days later, as Hua Jin was finishing the carp embroidery piece, she received a text message.

"Miss Hua Jin, thank you. My wife passed away today. She loved the quilt you embroidered. Thank you."

Seeing this message, Hua Jin felt a lump in her throat. She got up and poured herself a glass of water, taking several large gulps to suppress the feeling. Through the transparent shop window, she looked at the passersby outside, taking deep breaths.

"Wow, I didn't expect embroidered bags could be so beautiful."

Hua Jin looked towards the entrance as a man and a woman walked in. The woman who spoke was wearing a belted dress with a scarf around her neck. Her eyes curved slightly when she smiled, beautiful and playful.

She saw Hua Jin and pointed to a bag on the shelf: "Can I take a look at this bag?"

"Certainly." Hua Jin took the bag down and handed it to the customer.

The customer held the bag and looked at herself in the mirror several times: "This bag is so beautiful. What are these patterns? They're so vibrant yet not at all gaudy. It's truly rare."

"The patterns are mainly peaches, lotuses, and bats. The entire embroidery is called 'Blessings and Longevity.' It not only has a good meaning but is also very beautiful and vibrant." Hua Jin glanced at the woman's fair skin. "But for a beautiful woman like you, with such fair skin and bright features, any bag is just an accessory."

The customer was delighted by this compliment and ended up picking out a shawl and a lacquered jewelry box before leaving with a smile. Before she left, she learned that Hua Jin also made other embroidered items and added her on WeChat.

No one can resist beautiful things; it's human nature.

The man used the dragon and phoenix quilt that his wife had caressed in her last days to gently wrap the urn. He had come to the big city to treat his wife's illness. Countless people had told him that even coming to a big city hospital was just a waste of money, and even his wife herself didn't want to come.

Coming for treatment offered a sliver of hope; not coming meant waiting for death.

He had been married to his wife for over twenty years and hadn't been able to provide her with many good things, which he already felt guilty about. How could he let her endure the pain day and night, waiting for death just to save money?

At least in the hospital, there were painkillers and injections. At least he had brought her to see the most prosperous city, and there was this dragon and phoenix quilt he had promised her for so many years.

"Big brother, my condolences." The young man who escorted him to the station claimed to be someone he met online. He didn't know how he heard about his wife's illness but insisted on donating money. After he refused, the young man often came to visit and even helped him buy a high-speed train ticket on his phone.

The man shook his head, hugging the urn tightly: "This is for the best. She doesn't have to suffer anymore."

The young man looked at the man's weathered face, deeply moved: "Can I share your and your wife's story with others?"

"What kind of story could people like us have?" The man's face was filled with fatigue and sorrow, but his eyes were bright. Bringing his wife's ashes home was the breath that kept him going.

"You spent all your money for your wife, eating steamed buns and drinking plain water every day. If others knew about this, many would be touched."

"What's so touching about that? We're husband and wife. Isn't it natural to take care of each other?" The man gently wiped the surface of the urn, even though it was already spotless. "Being married means being together for a lifetime. Being good to your own people, what's there to talk about?"

"Besides, although hospitalization was expensive, health insurance covered part of it. I'll work for a few more years and pay off the debt. We still have our house; I haven't sold it. It's not like I've spent everything."

The man left with his wife's ashes. The young man watched his slightly hunched back, his heart filled with complex emotions.

That evening, he went home and wrote down the story, posting it on Weibo.

He wrote the story plainly, without sensationalism or deliberate exaggeration, because the story itself was a form of emotion.

In real life, he was a relatively successful white-collar worker; online, he was a relationship blogger with hundreds of thousands of followers. After this Weibo post went up, it sparked a lot of reposts and discussions.

Every character in this story was lovable and heartwarming.

The poor husband who spent all his money for his wife, who refused to accept charity even though he was broke; the doctors and nurses who cared for the couple; the blogger who wanted to help them; and the embroidery shop owner who worked late nights on the dragon and phoenix quilt without charging much.

Some netizens said this wasn't a love story but a touching and heartwarming story of human kindness.

Author's Note:

Mr. Pei's Little Lesson: Children, don't litter~

ʕ◉ᴥ◉ʔ

Love what you read?