He asked futilely. Wen Qingying looked at him and pursed his lips.
Tao Ling thought that he had crossed the line with that question, so he didn’t ask with words anymore, and just nodded.
The two people stood facing each other by the road in front of the community gate, silent. After thinking about it, Tao Ling took out his phone and tried to patch things up: “I was a little tired just now, so I was startled when you suddenly grabbed my hand.”
Wen Qingying smiled clearly and replied, “Sorry, sir. I’m just, I shouldn’t have done that. I was just afraid of sir having a misunderstanding.”
Tao Ling gritted his teeth and didn’t type again. Instead, he pocketed his phone and quietly said, “It’s not a big deal, even if we had a misunderstanding. You have your own life to live, it didn’t concern me anyways.”
After another moment of silence, he waved his hand and pointed to the community gate.
Wen Qingying once again revealed his little tiger tooth and nodded.
And like that, the two went their separate ways.
After entering the door, Tao Ling let out a long sigh. Just now, he felt embarrassed enough to make his scalp feel numb. Fortunately, Wen Qingying didn’t say much.
He was pure minded and probably wouldn’t understand Tao Ling’s inner embarrassment.
This feeling was unsettling, almost taking over Tao Ling’s control over himself.
It was already almost two when he got home. Tao Ling was a little surprised. He actually stayed with Wen Qingying for so long, and he didn’t know if Wen Qingying could open the shop tomorrow.
After taking a diazepam1medicine to treat anxiety, muscle spasms, and seizures, he lay down with a restless mind, gradually drifting into a daze.
The next day, before he even had the chance to turn on his computer, he received a call from Teacher Zhang, asking him to handle documents from the school. Tao Ling hastily finished his morning routine, then bought two steamed buns from downstairs and left.
It was already ten when he passed by the flower shop on his way, but the shop still wasn’t open.
Tao Ling usually left for work pretty early, so there had been times when Wen Qingying hadn’t opened up shop yet. But Wen Qingying was usually even earlier than him, so they could usually exchange greetings in the morning.
Guessing that Wen Qingying slept in today, Tao Ling didn’t pay any more attention to the matter, and entered the campus.
After he finished handling matters at school, it was already almost one. But the flower shop still wasn’t open.
Tao Ling entered the beef noodle restaurant next door. After eating the meal and taking another look, the door was still closed.
He looked back and forth. Unlike other shops, there were no contact details posted on the door, probably to avoid receiving calls from unknown people that he couldn’t answer.
After standing by the roadside for a while, Tao Ling’s phone rang. He turned around, answering it while heading towards home.
He originally planned to read a book, but he ended up wasting an entire afternoon at home. At night, the colleague from another department seemed bored, and sent him a message again. “Ling ge, are you free tonight? Let’s go drink together.”
Tao Ling was lying on the sofa as he replied bluntly: “Not going.”
The other party replied again: “Ling ge, you’re so cold towards me.”
Tao Ling: “……”
The colleague: “I’m just joking. So what are you planning to do tonight?”
Tao Ling thought for a while, then his gaze swept by the basins that were still on the coffee table. He sat up, then replied: “Going out to buy a vase.”
The colleague: “You’re even into flower arrangement?”
Tao Ling: “I can’t?”
The colleague: “You can, you can. You can do anything you want. You might as well also change your name to Tao Xing2Tao “Can”.”
Closing the chat window, he paused for a few seconds. Tao Ling got up, and changed his shoes to go out.
To buy a vase.
He walked along the usual route to work, because the closest place where he could buy vases was obviously Wen Qingying’s shop.
Turning at the street corner, the lights brightly illuminated the entire street. Tao Ling followed along the sidewalk, and three storefronts away, he could already see it clearly— the store was still closed.
Unexpectedly, it hadn’t opened all day.
He was about to reach the entrance, and although no one knew of his purpose, Tao Ling still felt embarrassed. He pretended to be passing by, as he expressionlessly walked straight ahead and entered the supermarket around the corner.
Three days of fishing, two days of net drying.3a saying meaning: not putting in the effort but also without a shred of worries, always taking breaks in the middle, will result in no work being done The flower shop was bound to close sooner or later.
From the supermarket, he picked up a bunch of useless household items before returning home to lie down on the sofa. Tao Ling suddenly felt very bored.
“Life is boring.” He often thought like this, but tonight, it was different. He realized with absolute clarity that it wasn’t life that was boring, it was him.
Tao Ling is a boring person.
This was the general evaluation of him, and he had heard it being discussed both in open and in secret.
Looking at the shopping bag from the supermarket, Tao Ling suddenly understood this statement.
He didn’t go out on Sunday, so the next time that he saw Wen Qingying was on Monday. When Tao Ling passed by the flower shop after work, Wen Qingying smiled at him.
Everything was the same as it had been before.
There were customers in the store, so it wasn’t convenient for them to communicate. Tao Ling also didn’t want to waste Wen Qingying’s time, so he only randomly picked up a bouquet.
When he paid, there was someone poking Wen Qingying, wanting him to look at their phone.
Tao Ling scanned the QR code, and raised his feet to leave as he was paying the bill. Wen Qingying hurriedly picked up a small card from the shelf and stuffed it in his hand.
Fingers that inadvertently brushed against his palm.
Tao Ling looked back. Wen Qingying gave a smile, then turned back and continued to keep himself busy.
At the street corner, Tao Ling opened the card. In it was a sketch of a bouquet of flowers, similar to the ones he held.
The card read: “Sir, these are hoary stocks, belonging to the cruciferous family. When inserting, cut the stem at a 45-degree angle, keep the water clean, avoid getting the petals and leaves wet, and place them in a well-ventilated area so they can last longer.”
Signed at the bottom right, “Wen Qingying.”
When did he start this service? Wen Qingying really had too much free time. Tao Ling was a little puzzled, buying a bouquet came with its own corresponding card? And if a girl was buying, would it be changed to “madam”?
That’s right, there would always be other sirs and madams buying flowers.
The noodle restaurant that he often went to downstairs wasn’t open today. Tao Ling prepared to cook at home himself, but he didn’t expect that finding ingredients at home would be more difficult than mining.
The refrigerator was empty, with only one last egg remaining. But when he cracked it open, it had already gone bad. The egg yolk leaked everywhere, blurring the boundaries between it and the egg white.
The beginning of decay was permeation.
After a thorough search, he had finally found only half a pack of noodles and an already sprouted potato.
As he was about to throw away the potato, his hand paused for a moment. He ended up grabbing a bowl and tossing it in, planning to bury it somewhere with soil tomorrow. Maybe it could accompany the Chinese roses, allowing a lowly peasant to mingle with the aristocrats.
If he knew, then he would’ve bought food instead when he went to the supermarket the night before.
While waiting for the water to boil, Tao Ling suddenly remembered Tao Jun’s previous lament: “What would you do if I weren’t here? You’d probably live a mess of a life.”
Fuck you, Tao Jun. You already knew my life would be a mess without you, but you still left? The more he thought about it, the angrier Tao Ling became, almost seething with rage.
The water had just boiled when the phone on the side rang.
Tao Ling placed the noodles in the pot, hastily grabbed a tissue to blow his nose, and answered the call, only to be greeted with an advertisement from the other side: “Hello, sir. Do you have children aged six to ten at home? We provide…”
“Do you provide services for a miracle childbirth out of thin air? If you do, send one over, and then I’ll place an order.” Tao Ling said quickly before hanging up the phone.
Tao Ling finished eating the noodles in anger. At night, his stomach suddenly started to hurt. He initially wanted to endure it, but after a while, it became increasingly uncomfortable, so he got up to boil some water.
After taking some antacids4stomach medicine to relieve indigestion, he curled up in the corner of the sofa to continue reading. Coincidentally, he came across a sentence: “The things we least want to lose are the easiest to let go.”
Tao Ling closed the book and stared at the cover in a daze.
He used to rarely read books. The bookshelf at home was divided into two halves, with the left side being niche and the right side being popular. It wasn’t until this year that he started exploring Tao Jun’s half, reading from left to right, from top to bottom, one book after another.
This was the thirty-first book.
Thirty-one, exactly the age Tao Jun was when he left.
His stomach still aching, Tao Ling put down the book and curled up on his side. He absentmindedly picked up his phone and started browsing aimlessly.
Eventually, he opened the school’s online forum and came across a very prominent post: “Breaking news! The owner gege of the flower shop across from the west gate (ptoo! Not my gege anymore) is a scumbag! Two-timing! There are pictures and evidence!”
Tao Ling: “……”
The author has something to say:
【Note】The book Tao Ling read today was “On the Right Bank of the Ergun River”, which is also the source of the “things we least want to lose” phrase.
The translator also has something to say:
An interesting thing I noticed is that the flowers this chapter, hoary stocks, have the meaning of a “happy life and contented existence.” The irony, huh?
![Cannon Fodder Scum Gong’s Whitewashing Manual [Quick Transmigration]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CFSGWM.jpg "Cannon Fodder Scum Gong’s Whitewashing Manual [Quick Transmigration]")
