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Autumn Wind is not actually interested in whether Li Gu has a girlfriend; she simply does not want her life to be disrupted by his girlfriend. This thought might be what Leo refers to as selfishness.
It turns out that when you interact with the opposite sex, regardless of whether the other person truly has a partner, as long as they verbally indicate that they are available, you can escape major responsibility when something happens.
Looking back, Autumn Wind's biggest mistake with Yao Guanghao was not asking about his true relationship with his partner. Such situations are quite common; if you sit in the backstage dressing area, nine out of ten gossip stories are related to relationships, and six out of those nine involve a third party intervening. However, very few people dare to tell their partners that they have separated from their original partner.
Not everyone knows how to handle ambiguity. If done well, it can create romance; if done poorly, it leads to trouble.
Autumn Wind does not want to delve too deeply into Li Gu's life; she only wants to secure a job related to Guanqing. As for his offer of accommodation, Autumn Wind believes it to be true. From his social media profile, she knows he has a house not far from Shanda University. Even if it's rented, it should at least provide her with a place to stay for a while.
The day before checking out, Autumn Wind packed up the clothes she brought from Taiwan and sent them to Qiu Feng. The shipping cost was less than 1,400 New Taiwan Dollars, which she found reasonable compared to leaving them behind in mainland China or paying extra for overweight luggage on the flight.
At this moment, Autumn Wind is determined to live without Qiu Ruolan and Qiu Mowen in her life. But will she really get her wish?
Carrying a suitcase with hardly anything inside, Autumn Wind checked out. On the winter morning, the greenery was covered with a layer of white frost. She quickly found Li Gu's copy shop on Shanda East Road. The shopfront was small, with a green sign displaying yellow letters: Li's Copy Shop—a rather plain name.
Perhaps Autumn Wind arrived too early; the storefront had not been cleaned and was covered with a thin layer of dust and numerous square advertisements.
Occasionally, someone rode by on a tricycle selling goods. After resisting temptation several times, Autumn Wind finally gave in and bought a sweet corn. To avoid burning her hands, she kept switching between both hands; it was too cold in winter for the hot corn to stay warm for long. So she squatted at the shop entrance and greedily started munching on it.
This scene felt nostalgic; it seemed that at some point in the past, Autumn Wind had experienced something similar while squatting by the roadside.
After about ten minutes, Li Gu appeared just as Autumn Wind was trying to dig out corn stuck between her teeth with her fingers.
It was so awkward that Autumn Wind froze up, unsure of what to do as her eyes darted around.
Li Gu looked at Autumn Wind and then cheerfully moved the suitcase placed at the shop entrance aside. To spare her embarrassment, he did not turn back to look at her but simply bent down and opened the roll-up door: "Your suitcase is quite light!"
This isn't really awkward for Autumn Wind; the most embarrassing part is that she only remembered to take her hand out of her mouth after entering the Copy Shop.
To cover up her awkwardness, she placed her hands behind her back and began commenting on the equipment in the shop, trying to mask her earlier embarrassment. "The store isn't big, but I didn't expect there to be so much stuff inside! One... two... three, wow, three photocopiers!" Autumn Wind scanned the entire shop with an exaggerated tone.
The shop was a bit shabby, with various photocopied advertisements plastered on the walls—lost and found notices, job postings, and various ads. Li Gu found a nearby seat with a backrest. He didn't engage in Autumn Wind's topic but just smiled shyly and said, "I didn't expect you to really come to work!" His dimples were still deep, making him even more charming.
"Of course it's real!" Autumn Wind leaned on the table as she replied to Li Gu. "How long have you been running this place?"
"Not long, just a year or two. I originally co-owned it with my cousin! He left early on!"
"Why? Was business bad?" Autumn Wind was a bit curious and also somewhat worried about her new job.
"Ah, he found a new path! He's going to be a star!" Li Gu sighed heavily and then lightly added, "You can use this computer!" He pointed to the computer behind Autumn Wind. "Don't let its looks fool you; it's the best one here!"
Autumn Wind turned around and sat down. At that moment, Li Gu reached out in front of her and helped her turn on the computer. Autumn Wind thanked him repeatedly.
Li Gu chuckled softly. "So polite! No problem... Just get familiar with the workflow today, and you can stay at my place tonight!" His eyes glanced at Autumn Wind's luggage. "Is that really all you brought?"
"Yeah, there's just a computer inside; everything else was mailed back to Taipei!" Autumn Wind replied honestly.
Li Gu's eyes widened in surprise, his mouth slightly agape. "Taipei? You went to Taiwan?"
"Yeah, did you forget?"
"What do you mean forget? You hardly showed up after fourth grade. After that summer vacation, you just disappeared. I thought..."
"Thought what? That I was sold into trafficking? Oh please, I'm too smart for that... Li Gu, can I ask you something?" Autumn Wind pretended to act casual as she looked up at Li Gu. His body slightly turned towards her, his face showing he was ready to answer any questions. So Autumn Wind continued, "Back then, it seems like you told quite a few lies to the teacher for me. Why was that?"
"I? Lie? Don't joke around!" Li Gu immediately responded, but his memory quickly reminded him that he had indeed done things to maintain Autumn Wind when he was in school. It was a time when a boy had just begun to realize the differences between boys and girls. He did not deny that he had unconsciously tried to please Autumn Wind, fearing that she would be scolded by the teacher, but his actions had never yielded any results.
Thinking back to those youthful days, Li Gu's face turned red. He couldn't help but stutter, "Don't... don't mess around, I... I just..." Halfway through his sentence, Li Gu stopped. He turned away from Autumn Wind and said, "You can look it up online yourself! Get familiar with it!"
The shop was unexpectedly quiet in the morning. As the clock approached ten, Li Gu let out a heavy sigh. Then he stood behind Autumn Wind, pointing at the computer and photocopier to teach her the simplest operations. "These are all very simple; you'll learn them quickly. There's a document on the desktop for basic printing operations; take a look at it... It's not busy right now, but it will be after school!" He gestured toward the university across the street.
Then he began to share stories about his clients, his entrepreneurial journey, and many things that seemed interesting to him. Li Gu had developed a sufficient number of regular clients at school, and many printing requests came directly from the internet.
Li Gu stretched his arm long and took the mouse to start operating the computer in front of Autumn Wind. He was going to help her apply for a new work account. The keyboard clicked as he typed: "In the future, I'll send you some materials directly... Look, your nickname will be Wall-Climbing Princess. How does that sound?" As he spoke, he brushed his hair back. Autumn Wind met his gaze and nodded.
He was so close to Autumn Wind that she could smell his faint fragrance and see the perfect eye bags under his eyes. They moved slightly as he spoke, causing her imagination to wander, worrying whether a caterpillar might crawl out from inside and then transform into a butterfly and fly away.
Lost in thought, Autumn Wind couldn't help but laugh. Li Gu was startled by her laughter: "What's wrong? Don't you want this name? Didn't you used to skip class by climbing walls?"
Autumn Wind stopped laughing: "No, no! I really like it!" Afraid he wouldn't believe her, she nodded vigorously: "Really! Truly!"
He returned to his position: "Alright, you take a look yourself; don't ask me!" After saying that, he kept clicking the mouse. However, after a few seconds, he turned to Autumn Wind again, his eyes widening as he repeated his earlier question: "You really came back from Taiwan?"
"Yes, what's wrong with that?"
"Your parents went to Taiwan, right? So you really did come back; I always thought you were lying before!"
Autumn Wind surprisingly nodded; she genuinely couldn't remember if she had ever told a lie related to Taiwan. Perhaps she had always had a premonition that Qiu Ruolan would take her away or maybe Li Gu just remembered incorrectly.
The entire afternoon passed without a single customer in the shop, yet the photocopier was busy with class notes sent online by clients: "Don't worry; it'll be busy during lunch; exams are coming up!"
Autumn Wind nodded in partial understanding. Sure enough, just past eleven o'clock, a group of people inexplicably arrived at the shop. Autumn Wind nervously operated the machine she had just learned how to use, repeatedly performing the actions. The familiar customers of Li Gu kept joking around about Autumn Wind's presence.
"Wow, out with the old and in with the new, huh? A new girlfriend? She looks pretty good!"
"Hey, people strive for higher places while water flows to lower ones. Why aren't you sad at all about your breakup? Turns out you have a backup!"
Faced with his friends' teasing, Li Gu's face turned red again. "Stop joking around! This is my classmate who has come to help me recently! Her name is Autumn Wind, nice to meet you!"
"A classmate? Childhood sweethearts, huh!" someone continued to joke.
Li Gu's expression changed at this, and his friends immediately noticed, quickly putting away their smiles and greeting Autumn Wind seriously: "Hello! Nice to meet you!"
The term "childhood sweethearts" sounded familiar to Autumn Wind, and she quietly wondered about it. Feeling a bit awkward, she smiled at everyone. From the earlier conversation, she gathered that Li Gu had just gone through a breakup.
Among those friends, it seemed like their joking words were questioning her connection to his breakup, which made Autumn Wind feel a bit scared.
This fear lingered as she kept busy throughout the day and extended into the evening. Fortunately, winter nights came early; by nine o'clock, the darkening sky quickly made her forget her fears, replaced by a longing for the new life about to begin.
After finishing work at nine o'clock, Autumn Wind naturally followed Li Gu home. His place was in an old building on a hillside, looking quite worn down. The Virginia Creeper vines were wilted and clung to the house, creating a dark and gloomy atmosphere.
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