On that autumn morning, Zhou Wan woke to the sound of her alarm. She squinted, turned it off—eight o'clock. The curtains weren't fully closed, letting in a dim, grayish light. Barefoot, she stepped onto the cool floor, found her slippers, and walked to the balcony.
The rain had stopped; the air carried the damp scent of soil. She liked weather like this—no rain, no harsh sun.
There was still milk and bread in the fridge. She ate standing up, then drank half a glass of water. Makeup took only twenty minutes—her skin was good, just a light layer was enough. The girl in the mirror nodded back at her. She made a fist and whispered, "Zhou Wan, you can do this."
She lived on the third floor but rarely took the elevator. There were plants in the stairwell placed by neighbors; she noticed them every day. The parking area was emptier now; most electric scooters had left for work. The neighborhood was full of life; just around the corner were breakfast stalls.
"Xiao Wan, off to the shop?" It was Aunt Fang next door, carrying a grocery basket.
"Yes, Aunt Fang. Just back from shopping?"
"Ah, making breakfast for the kids. The ground's still wet—be careful on your scooter."
Zhou Wan smiled in acknowledgment, inserted her key into the electric scooter. The post-rain breeze was warm and gentle on her face.
The road was busy with traffic. She didn't notice the black Bentley accelerating and changing lanes not far away.
"Yan Yi, turn around. Head to Yuncheng First Hospital," the man in the back seat said coolly.
"Mr. Jiang, what about the Fengshi project…"
"Another day." He closed the file. "Drive faster."
The car sped through a puddle, splashing water everywhere.
Zhou Wan braked abruptly, muddy water drenching her. She looked up, only catching the retreating taillights.
"Think you're something special just because you drive fast?" she muttered, wiping her face.
Her phone rang—it was the shop. A customer wanted to order fifty cups of milk tea and asked for extra pearls.
"Wait for me five minutes. I'll be right there."
She glanced down at her soaked clothes and sighed. Thankfully, she'd worn a helmet. She rolled up her pants legs and started the scooter again.
---
Inside the Bentley, Yan Yi seemed uneasy.
"Mr. Jiang, I think we splashed someone back there…"
"To the hospital first," Jiang Chen said, looking out the window. "We'll deal with it later."
Hospitals were always crowded. He walked quickly through the lobby, ignoring the glances thrown his way. He heard the nurses' chatter but didn't pause.
His mother had low blood sugar and was already asleep. Lin Yan was jotting down notes beside her.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Didn't want you to worry," Lin Yan said with a light laugh. "Auntie is fine. She just needs a few days of rest."
Jiang Chen sat by the bed, watching his sleeping mother. He hadn't been home in six months.
His brother, Jiang Jing, rushed in and quieted under his gaze.
"Brother… you're here?"
"Shouldn't I be?" His voice was low, but Jiang Jing shrank back.
When their mother woke, she scolded him and missed him in the same breath. He peeled an apple for her, listening to her唠叨. As daylight brightened outside the window, he remembered the figure drenched by the splash.
"Yan Yi," he said, stepping out of the room, "find out who that was on the road today."
---
When Zhou Wan arrived at the shop, her clothes were still wet.
"Sis Wan, you're…" Xiao Ting stared at her in surprise.
"It's fine. Where's the customer?"
By the window sat a woman in a white shirt, poised and efficient-looking, in her early thirties. She was here to order milk tea—fifty cups, with extra pearls.
"A regular," Qin Yue said with a smile. "I just love your tea."
Zhou Wan gave her a discount. They added each other on WeChat. Qin Yue paid a deposit and left her business card.
After the customer left, Zhou Wan finally felt the cold. She let Xiao Ting mind the shop and went home to change.
On the way, she thought of her mother and called her. She wasn't returning for Mid-Autumn Festival; she'd mailed some gifts home. Her mother brought up her dropping out of school again, voice choking up.
"Mom, I don't blame you," Zhou Wan said, watching the traffic light. "I'm doing fine now."
Her mother rambled on, and Zhou Wan listened quietly. After hanging up, she watched the flow of people on the street. The sky was blue, clouds drifting as if melted by sunlight.
She remembered herself at nineteen, standing on a street just like this, both afraid and hopeful about the future.
---
When Jiang Chen returned to the company, the meeting had just ended. The Fengshi project had been taken by the Wang family. Yan Yi was frustrated, but Jiang Chen only smiled.
"That project was a trap to begin with," he said, flipping through documents. "Let them jump in."
He asked about the splashed pedestrian. Yan Yi hemmed and hawed, saying they hadn't found the person yet. The surveillance footage only showed a figure wearing a helmet; the face wasn't clear.
"One week," Jiang Chen said, looking at him. "Enough?"
Yan Yi nodded quickly.
Zhou Wan's milk tea shop was called "Time Inside," located on Shangxing Street. It had a vintage style—warm lighting, wooden tables and chairs, flowers by the entrance. She loved it here. Every day, the first thing she did was wipe the tables.
Today, a girl came applying for a job—nineteen years old, named Li Qianchu. Zhou Wan saw her own past self in her. She hired the girl and asked her to start tomorrow.
At noon, she called her mother to say she wouldn't be back for Mid-Autumn Festival. Her mother cried and laughed, saying she was too懂事 for her own good.
"You'll always be young and beautiful, Ms. Sun," she coaxed her mother, her own eyes slightly sore.
The sky was clear blue, sunlight streaming through the glass, the air carrying a hint of the sea. She stood at the shop entrance for a long time.
---
In the evening, Tang Xiaoyun came to see her, saying she'd been fired. Zhou Wan took her out for barbecue.
Uncle Luo at the barbecue stall knew her well. Years ago, his stall had been trashed, and Zhou Wan called an ambulance for him. Later, his children made something of themselves and asked him to quit, but he refused.
"Gotta love the job you're in," he said, handing them skewers with a smile. "Unless you can't do it anymore."
Xiaoyun ate while complaining—a colleague had gotten involved with the boss and pushed her out. Zhou Wan opened a can of Wanglaoji for her.
"Look for a new job tomorrow. You can do it."
Xiaoyun drank a bit too much and brought up the robbery a month ago—how Zhou Wan had chased down the thief and retrieved her wallet. Back then, she'd been fighting with her family and had no money.
"Zhou Wan, how are you so brave?"
"Used to work in the fields—got some strength," she said lightly. "Eat up. I'll take you home after."
The night deepened, the city brightly lit. Zhou Wan gazed at the distant high-rises and sighed softly.
---
Jiang Chen stood before the floor-to-ceiling window in his office, watching the traffic below. Feng Yi came to see him, insisting he come to his birthday party tomorrow.
"Haven't seen you in half a year, Brother Chen. You can't be this heartless."
Jiang Chen looked at his silver-dyed hair and smiled. "Send me the time and location."
Feng Yi complained about being worked like a dog at his father's company. Jiang Chen said a few stern words, and Feng Yi settled down.
"You're right, Brother Chen."
Before leaving, Feng Yi suddenly turned back. "What if I can't protect the people I want to protect?"
"Then become stronger," Jiang Chen said, looking out the window. "What often defeats the enemy is yourself."
Feng Yi nodded and left. The office quieted down. Jiang Chen thought of the drenched figure. He told Yan Yi to keep searching—he had to find her.
---
Zhou Wan went to Jiangcheng to visit her younger brother. Zhou Shaofan wanted to open an auto repair shop and asked to borrow 500,000 yuan.
"Where would you get that much money?" she frowned.
"I'll pay you back, Sis."
She looked at her brother—he'd grown taller in half a year. She transferred the money in the end and bought him a lot of food.
"Work hard. No fighting."
On the way back to Yuncheng, she thought of her family. Her parents were aging; her brothers had just started working. She had to hold on.
The shop was busy; she had little time to overthink. In the afternoon, Jiang Chen came and sat in a corner working. He ordered milk tea but didn't drink it. Zhou Wan didn't approach him; she had Xiao Ting serve him.
He came every day, but she avoided him. Until one day, he stopped her.
"Zhou Wan," he said, looking at her, "I like you."
She froze.
"Why?"
"No reason," he said, his voice softening. "Give me a chance."
She shook her head. "We're not suited."
He looked at her, emotions in his eyes she couldn't decipher. "I'll wait."
After he left, Zhou Wan stood blankly by the counter. Xiao Ting asked what was wrong; she just shook her head.
That night, she received a text from an unknown number.
[I'm going crazy thinking about you]
It was received at 3:50 a.m.
---
**Continuation and Ending**
Zhou Wan didn't reply to that text. She deleted it, like deleting a dream that shouldn't have begun.
The next day, Jiang Chen didn't come. Nor the day after. "Time Inside" returned to its usual rhythm, except that occasionally, Zhou Wan would glance toward that corner.
A week later, Qin Yue came to pick up her order. Casually, she mentioned recent upheavals at Jiang Corporation—the Wang family's company had collapsed, dragging out old matters.
"They say Mr. Jiang handled it himself—decisive and fierce," Qin Yue stirred her milk tea. "A man like that—I wonder what kind of woman could ever catch his eye."
Zhou Wan only smiled and didn't comment.
A few days later, Tang Xiaoyun visited, radiant with joy from her new job and a man. He was her colleague, named Chen Xu—steady and gentle, his eyes soft when he looked at her.
"Zhou Wan, I'm in love," Xiaoyun said, blushing. "It turns out, letting go of the past really does lead to someone better."
Zhou Wan made them two cups of milk tea, with extra pearls. Watching Xiaoyun's happiness, something in her own heart quietly loosened.
As autumn neared its end, her brother's auto repair shop opened. Zhou Wan went to help, busy all day. At closing time, Shaofan handed her an envelope.
"First month's dividends, Sis," he said beaming. "I'll do even better."
On the drive back to Yuncheng, a light rain began to fall. Zhou Wan drove, windshield wipers swaying. At a red light, she spotted a familiar figure on the roadside. It was Jiang Chen, umbrella-less, standing in the rain, staring at a shuttered dessert shop.
On impulse, she parked, grabbed an umbrella, and walked over.
The rain pattered softly. He turned, saw her, and seemed startled.
"Why no umbrella?" she asked, lifting the umbrella over him.
"Remembered my mother loved this shop's cakes," he said, voice slightly hoarse. "Then she got sick, couldn't eat them. Later, the shop closed."
Zhou Wan was silent. Raindrops dripped from the umbrella's edge, forming ripples on the ground.
"That text," he said suddenly, "it was from me."
"I know."
"Did I scare you?"
"No," she gazed at the distant neon lights. "I just thought we were from different worlds."
"The world is vast, but also small," he turned to face her. "What matters is whether you want to step into someone else's world."
The rain gradually stopped. Clouds parted, revealing a crescent moon.
"Zhou Wan," he said softly, "I won't push you. I just hope you'll give me a chance—and give yourself one too."
She looked at this man before her—the sharpness of the business world faded, leaving only weariness and sincerity in his eyes. She remembered him sitting silently in her shop day after day, the text sent in the early hours, him standing in the rain now.
The wall around her heart crumbled slightly.
"My shop is small," she said. "Only fits four tables."
"I know."
"I'm busy every day—brewing tea, doing accounts, looking after my brother."
"I know."
"I might… not be that great."
Jiang Chen smiled—the first time she'd seen him smile so gently, the corners of his eyes curving as if filled with moonlight.
"Zhou Wan," he said, "you are great. Better than you know."
He reached out, palm up, an invitation.
Zhou Wan looked at his hand, then into his eyes. Then, she gently placed her hand in his.
His hand was warm, firmly enveloping her slightly cool one.
"Let's try," he said. "What if?"
Zhou Wan looked up. The crescent moon hung like a hook, starlight faint. The city was still bustling, but in that moment, she seemed to hear a quiet that belonged to her.
"Okay," she nodded. "Let's try."
Later, Jiang Chen still came to "Time Inside." Sometimes he ordered milk tea; sometimes he just sat with his laptop. Zhou Wan no longer avoided him. Occasionally, she'd give him an extra portion of pearls.
Xiao Ting and Qianchu giggled secretly, saying Sis Wan's "reserved seat" had finally found its reserved person.
Then, one spring afternoon, the sunlight was perfectly warm. Jiang Chen helped Zhou Wan close the shop. As the lock clicked shut, he asked softly, "Have dinner at my mother's tonight? She said she'd like to meet you."
Zhou Wan paused, then smiled. "Okay."
She knew the story was just beginning. The future was long, but having someone willing to walk it with her slowly was enough.
When the wind rose, the wind chimes by the door jingled softly, as if playing a gentle overture for their future.
[The End]