three feet away

One evening when Christmas was approaching, Xu Nuo received a call from the director of the company, saying that Chuangjia Biotechnology Co., Ltd. had made an appointment with a partner in France on Christmas Eve, that is, December 24, to visit the factory, and a promise was needed. As an accompanying interpreter, let her contact the other party to find out the specific itinerary so as not to delay the other party's affairs.

At that time, Xu Nuo was sitting on the ladder in front of the bookshelf reading a book. When the phone rang suddenly, she hadn't been able to get away from the storyline of the French original document in her hand for a moment. After the other party confirmed whether she heard clearly, she nodded calmly in response, lowered her head in the blind voice of the receiver, looked at the book still open in her hand, and tried hard to recall what she heard just now, after that, sighed heavily .

The sound of children playing downstairs in the community came to her ears, disturbing her contemplation. She moved her stiff legs, slowly got down from the ladder, and paced to the floor-to-ceiling windows. The weather in Chengdu in winter is gloomy, and the air is humid and cold , before 06:30, the street lights in the whole city have been turned on. She was so obsessed with the plot of the book just now that she didn't even notice that the light coming in through the window was gradually dimming. Now standing in front of the French window, she was shocked to realize that daytime It's over.Standing in front of the window, she watched a Christmas tree decorated at an unknown time flickering in front of a coffee shop outside the neighborhood, and then suddenly remembered that it was almost Christmas, and it had been one year since she saw that person last time. half moon.During the past one and a half months, they have never been in contact. She doesn't even know Yan Ruyi's phone number and WeChat. When the supervisor mentioned it on the phone, she seemed to have forgotten that she had done an introduction translation for that product.

The second hand of the alarm clock on the bedside table behind her turned and made a slight ticking sound. She turned around and walked to the end of the bed, put a bookmark in the original document in her hand, put it on the bookshelf, put away the ladder, and finally opened it from the white painted glass. On the round table, he picked up his mobile phone and called Yang Liu.

While waiting for the call to be connected, Xu Nuo sat on the chair, holding the phone in his right hand, and gently stroking the pot of aloe vera on the table with his left fingertips. The weather turned cold, and it looked listless.Xu promised to buy this from the nearby flower and bird market on the day when she lived here. At that time, the market was full of flowers and bonsai that she knew or didn’t know, but she only noticed the unremarkable aloe in the corner. Plants have an obsessive love.

"Hello? Miss Xu?"

The phone is connected, and the promise directly expresses the intention:

"Hello, Ms. Yang, I would like to ask about the specific matters concerning the visit of your company and the representative of the French company to the factory on December 24th. If possible, I hope to get an itinerary."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Xu, I'm on a wedding leave recently, and the company's affairs are not very clear for the time being, you can ask my colleague about this, she is currently taking my place."

"Then I'm sorry to bother you, please tell me your colleague's contact information."

"I'll send it to you later."

"Thanks, bye."

Hanging up the phone, Xu Nuo breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and closed the curtains, got up and went downstairs to have a simple dinner and take a shower, and when he went upstairs again, it was already an hour later.

Yang Liu's message was quietly lying on the phone, Xu Nuo bent down and put the warm milk in his hand on the table, rubbed the wet long hair with a towel in one hand, and dialed the number of the new assistant with the phone in the other.

After hearing the blind tone on the phone for the third time, Xu Nuo finally sent Yang Liu a message explaining the situation. Less than a minute later, she received a reply from Yang Liu, which was a new phone number.She didn't suspect him, thought she had given herself the wrong number, and dialed it without any hesitation. A few seconds later, a man's elegant and calm voice came from the receiver:

"Hello?"

Xu Nuo was stunned for a moment, the voice seemed familiar, she seemed to have heard it somewhere, she pursed her lips slightly, quickly reacted, and explained naturally and generously: "Hello, I am Xu Nuo, the translator of Yiyun Company. Your company has done a translation of the description of biological products. I just got the news that your company will meet with the French company representative to visit the factory at Christmas. I need to accompany the translation, so I would like to trouble you to send me a copy of the itinerary for the day. I'm good at scheduling. Thanks."

“…”

After introducing himself in one breath and clarifying the purpose of the call, Xu Nuo held up the phone and paused for a few seconds, but the other party just remained silent and did not speak.Strangely, she held the phone in front of her eyes to make sure it was not disconnected, and then spoke again:

"Hello."

"...Uh, please wait a moment." Xu Nuo spoke again, and the other party finally seemed to realize what she said, and replied hesitantly.

"Thank you." Xu Nuo frowned when he heard the other party's voice, he was a little puzzled, but thanked him anyway, and waited with peace of mind.

There was the sound of slippers slapping the floor through the receiver, followed by a knock on the door somewhere, and she could vaguely hear the sound of running water, which was a bit noisy.

Xu Nuo didn't care to listen to someone's privacy, but she was afraid of missing important information. She felt that the other party's reaction was a bit strange, but she couldn't tell where the strangeness was, until the man's voice hit her ear again:

"Ruyi, it seems that the unit you are working with is calling to ask you something. It sounds anxious."

as one?

These two words stung Xu Nuo's eardrums, and she suddenly remembered why this voice made her feel familiar. She had heard it in the toilet of the hot pot restaurant a month and a half ago, and at that time, he also called out so gently. Two words: as one.

Such a sudden crash into Yan Ruyi's private life made Xu Nuo a little at a loss for a moment, her thoughts were disrupted in an instant, and only one picture circled in her mind, Yan Ruyi was taking a bath, and that man was helping her answer the phone. ...

"Hello, I'm Yan Ruyi." Yan Ruyi's gentle but polite voice came from the receiver.

"..." Throat was stiff, unable to make any sound, Xu Nuo bit his finger, listened to the voice in the receiver, felt that the voice seemed to have a thin invisible thorn, the thorn pierced into the heart, and it hurt, Bleeding too, but can't see the wound.

"Hello? How are you?" Without waiting for an answer, Yan Ruyi spoke again, with some doubts in his voice.

"..." The lip biting on the finger slowly loosened, the nail cover was short of blood for too long and suddenly congested, the blood hit the edge of the nail bed, and the pain like a needle prick jumped and became more obvious.Xu Nuo couldn't guarantee a rational mind and thoughts to talk to Yan Ruyi in this situation, so she hung up the phone silently.

When the blind tone appeared, her waist went limp and she fell to sit on the edge of the bed. Her heart seemed to be pulled apart from the bleeding point just now. Under the severe pain, she could only hold her chest and keep crying. Take deep breaths to make yourself feel better.For many years, she had dealt with different people countless times during her work-study program in France, but it was the first time that she hung up the phone in such a hurry and impolitely. But, it happened to be her again.

Yan Ruyi's call came in a minute later, Xu Nuo sat by the bed, hesitated for more than ten seconds, took a deep breath against the pain in his chest, and was about to answer it when the phone hung up.

She breathed a sigh of relief, got up and walked to the bed with her mobile phone, turned off the light, tucked herself into the bed, curled up and looked at the curtains for a moment, the thick curtains were closed and could not let in any light, she hid in the In the darkness, there is a sense of security hiding in a closed castle.

The phone next to the pillow screamed and vibrated vigorously again, the noise was so loud that Xu Nuo felt as if her scalp was in pain, she bit her lip, stared at the screen and watched the flickering number on it, after all, Taking a deep breath, he reached out and grabbed the phone.

Before connecting, she took a deep breath, then changed herself from a lying position to a sitting position, cleared her throat again, tried to make a sound and found nothing wrong, and then slid the connection button.

"Hello."

"..."

The other end of the phone was silent, without any sound, promised to put the phone close to his ear, and heard the almost inaudible breathing sound with his sharpened hearing in the dark.

She knew that it was Yan Ruyi's breath, and she guessed that Yan Ruyi had already guessed that it was her phone number, but she didn't understand why she didn't speak when she made this call, she was silent for a moment, and promised to speak in a calm tone again Said: "Hello, I am Xu Nuo, the French translator of Yiyun Company, I want to..."

"I'm Yan Ruyi..."

The unfinished words were blocked by Yan Ruyi's unintelligible words that were neither urgent nor slow, Xu Nuo held up the phone, paused for a moment, evoked a polite yet distant smile on the phone, The voice became colder: "Hello, Director Yan. I'm sorry to bother you after work. Could you please send me a copy of your company's schedule for the 24th, so that I can arrange the time in advance."

"..."

There was no response, and the other end of the phone fell silent again. This time, Xu Nuo heard a sigh, so depressed that he seemed to be exhausted to the extreme.

Pursing the corners of his lips, Xu Nuo lowered his head, clenched and loosened his left hand in the dark, loosened and clenched again, then, with a chuckle, he asked again in a polite tone: "Hello, are you listening? Is it?"

Finally, there was a voice from the phone again, Xu Nuo was very familiar with that voice, it was taking a deep breath, she squeezed the phone tightly, and was so quiet that she couldn't even consciously suppress her breathing, just like this for a long time, her heart finally Some sparks were ignited, she didn't understand what Yan Ruyi meant, what was she trying to express with such a silent phone call, maybe she really disturbed her off-duty life, but she called back the call, she didn't speak but sighed, It was also her, she couldn't figure out what she wanted to do, which made her extremely irritable.

Feeling a little overwhelmed, Xu Nuo became irrational again, she no longer spoke in the tone of Party B to Party A, but let her voice become infinitely indifferent with her mood and said: "If it is inconvenient, I will I'll call your assistant tomorrow, sorry, I didn't know it was your call in advance, sorry to bother you."

After finishing speaking, Xu Nuo wanted to hang up the phone. The moment she took the phone from her ear, she heard Yan Ruyi's wet voice choked up and said another five words: "I'm Yan Ruyi."

The irritable emotions in my heart were completely ignited, and I promised that I could no longer suppress my emotions, like a bloodthirsty beast that sees blood and does not recognize its relatives, and let out a manic roar:

"So? You are Yan Ruyi, and then what? What do you need? Do you need me as your former student's respect for you, or do you need me as the blessing of your family harmony? ! ! Yan Ruyi, you are the nightmare of my life! You can't get forgiveness from me, let alone expect my blessing, I will only curse you, forever!!"