Chen Ying looked worriedly through the gap in the curtains, unable to see anything clearly against the background of the dark night. She slowly crouched down the wall by the window, and finally sat down on the rug with rolled up edges around her. It was a tweed carpet with a cluster of white roses painted in the middle of a crimson background. The two feet of the carpet near the window were still covered with golden tassels, which were now worn down to the knots used to tie the tassels.

"Chen Ying, it's me." This time, there was another knock on the window. She heard Wang Yi's voice, looked through the edge of the curtain, and saw him standing alone on the balcony.

She opened the curtains and was about to open the iron bolt on the window frame. But he waved his hand again and again to stop her.

"Did it scare you?" He said through the window, "I'm sorry. ”

"Stop jumping around, this is the second floor after all." She reminded as calmly as she could.

"This—a trifle." He grinned, "I don't want to be alone on a night like this. I saw that you didn't respond just now, and I thought you were asleep. Later, I was afraid that you would suspect that someone had burglarized the house, so I came to make it clear to you. ”

"Hmm." She studied his face by moonlight, weighing the credibility of these words.

"Can you talk to me?" He pulled over the only chair on the balcony and sat outside her window. She pulled up three-quarters of the curtains, just in time for the moonlight to let in the room. She sat on the carpet with her legs curled up, her hands clasped around her knees.

"Maybe it's a birthday, and I always want to find someone to talk to." He began to say, looking occasionally at the Vltava River at night, the whole river was now black, and the bridges that spanned it shone with light as the figures of pedestrians moved. "Every time I have a birthday, I feel like the days go by quickly. In a hurry, a year is gone. We are afraid that we are idle, and we always feel that it is a sin, and only busyness can reflect value. We keep moving forward, constantly looking for the direction of extension, constantly seeking innovation and change, lest we be eliminated by the times because we don't know some things. There is too much knowledge that is recognized, consumed, and discarded like disposable cutlery – the mind becomes a filter, busily filtering, leaving new knowledge and weeding out old ideas. ”

"Maybe people need to forget, and if all memories are not allowed to let go, life will become overwhelming." Chen Ying said.

"You're right. But strangely, people have no initiative over their own memories, and time will erase some and strengthen others. ”

"Like what?"

"Like I love you." He said serenely, "I can't forget you since I first saw you." Even if I hypnotized myself many times, I still can't forget it. I don't want to live without you – no matter what identity you exist. ”

Chen Ying watched as he drew an irregular circle crookedly on the outside window.

"I saw a Chinese tour group in the Netherlands, and there was a girl in it who had the same long hair as you." He continued, "It's in the Van Gogh Museum. I followed them from the first floor to the third floor, looking through all the manuscripts and paintings. Finally they stopped at the shop at the entrance, presumably intending to buy some souvenirs and go back. She insisted on choosing a copy of "Starry Night", and a person who looked like her boyfriend paid for it. I didn't follow after that moment because I knew it wasn't you. ”

She listened quietly, her head resting on one shoulder. He stretched his legs and looked up at the stars.

"Then I went to The Hague." He said to himself, without looking at her, "I went to Scheveningen again with two other classmates." Probably because it was winter, the wind in the North Sea made our teeth chatter. The two of them didn't stay for a few minutes before shouting to go back. I walked around the beach and picked up a fairly intact puffin feather, which was worth the trip. ”

"Coming back from The Hague, they planned to go to Paris, and I followed." He continued, his left hand against the glass and caressing the contours of her cheek, "It was a bad decision." It was a honeymoon mecca, the fashion capital of the world. Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Champs-Élysées ...... Needless to say, you can find pictures of them online. I don't think I'm fit to go to such a romantic place, neither Disney nor Notre Dame excite me in any way. On the first night, the other two people clamored to see Paris at night, and I was alone in the hotel surfing the Internet, just wondering where you were. ”

"I made a sudden decision when I left the Netherlands, without informing anyone." She explained.

"I know. So as soon as I saw your reply, I immediately decided to come to you. After he finished speaking, he smiled wryly, "The ticket booked at the last minute was just bought and there were no vacancies." ”

Chen Ying stood up and touched his fingertips through the window.

"But I think it's worth it." He stood up and looked her straight in the eye, his black eyes glittering, "Watch you in your old apron as you go about the kitchen in your old apron, picking up fruit, cooking soup, or something else." Even the mud you brush sticking to the carrots looks beautiful. You hate the hard tail of shrimp, and every shell of shrimp has to be carefully stripped bare. Having you cook my birthday dinner in such a family hotel makes me feel that Prague is the warmest place in the world. ”

Chen Ying looked at him, the moonlight leaving a long shadow on the side of his body. His exhaled breath sprayed on the glass window, leaving a white mark. She silently opened the painted plugs on the two floors of windows and looked at him steadily. He reached out and gently stroked her slightly thin face.

"Your fingers are so cold." She said.

He strode into the house in the late night of early winter in Eastern Europe and took her in his arms. She clung to his chest, almost suffocating from him. His head hung over her shoulders, cheekbones rubbing against her forehead. He stroked her long hair, which was draped behind her, and wrapped her whole body in his clothes. She lay in his arms, listening to the sound of her trembling heartbeat. Moonlight poured in from the balcony, casting a silvery veil over the furniture.