Chapter 6725
She's Waiting for Me
The first rays of dawn, like a sharp sword, forcefully pierced through the thick clouds.
A faint golden hue tinged the sky.
At this moment, Xiao Chen slowly raised his hand.
I gently pushed open the rusty, creaking iron gate at the entrance of the old residential area.
That door seemed like a weathered old man from the long river of time, its opening and closing accompanied by painful groans.
As soon as the door opened, a pungent smell, a mixture of dampness, mold, and the sour stench of the garbage dump, rushed out like a tidal wave.
Xiao Chen subconsciously frowned, his brows furrowing so tightly they looked as if they could trap a fly.
He casually raised his hand and lifted the worn-out canvas bag on his shoulder.
That canvas bag was like his loyal companion, accompanying him through countless days and nights, but now it looked rather worn and tattered.
His shoes touched the steps, where the water from last night had not yet completely dried.
With each step, a few specks of mud would be splashed up.
The mud droplets, like mischievous little sprites, danced briefly in the air before settling onto his faded jeans.
Dark spots spread out, as if they were unique marks left on his body by the years.
This old neighborhood was a place he deliberately chose to disguise himself.
He knew that in this complex world, he didn't want others to easily know exactly where he lived.
The dilapidated state and chaotic environment here act as a natural camouflage, perfectly concealing him.
Every day, he would return here as usual, and then use a method that no one else could detect to quietly return to the luxurious villa.
His gaze slowly extended forward, and at the end of his line of sight, a gleaming Bentley Mulsanne was quietly parked under a sycamore tree.
The car body was as smooth as a mirror, and the chrome trim gleamed with a cold yet dazzling light under the sunlight, as if it were a luxurious existence from another world.
It stands in stark contrast to the surrounding dilapidated residential buildings, like a dazzling pearl fallen into a pile of broken rubble.
The car's surface reflected the peeling paint on the wall. Those mottled marks, set against the car's backdrop, resembled a distorted and bizarre abstract painting, as if telling the story of the community's vicissitudes and desolation.
Beside the car stood a young woman wearing a white silk dress.
Her chestnut-brown curls cascaded down her shoulders in waves, elegantly tucked behind her ear with a delicate pearl hair clip.
Under the sunlight, the pearls radiate a soft and warm luster.
The jade bracelet on her wrist gently clinked together as she paced back and forth, producing a crisp and melodious sound, like a beautiful symphony played by nature.
She kept looking down at her watch anxiously, her red high heels shuffling across the floor, leaving tiny crescent-shaped marks, a reflection of her restless state of mind.
Despite her exquisite makeup, the anxiety in her eyes was impossible to conceal.
"Hey, look at that rich woman, what's she doing here?" A middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap said, munching on sunflower seeds and gesturing to his companion.
His voice carried a hint of curiosity and teasing. On the stone table beside him lay half a pack of cheap cigarettes, the crumpled cigarette box seemingly telling a story of life's hardships.
There were also a few crumpled beer cans next to it, like fragments of time that had been carelessly discarded.
"Hey, we must have taken the wrong road!" An old man wearing a loose vest slowly fanned himself with a palm leaf fan.
The gold characters "Advanced Individual of the Neighborhood Committee" on the palm-leaf fan have long been blurred beyond recognition due to the erosion of time, as if time has secretly erased its former glory.
The old man sneered loudly, his wrinkles crinkling into a tight knot with each laugh.
"Those guys who drive luxury cars like that have their eyes on the top of their heads. They wouldn't even look at our run-down place! If you ask me, they're probably here to give money to some nouveau riche who just got rich overnight. These days, all the young girls are thinking about taking shortcuts and marrying rich men..."
He deliberately dragged out the last syllable, his head swaying as if he had seen through all the vanity and restlessness of the world.
Several middle-aged women who were watching nearby, who were originally sitting on small stools picking vegetables, also sighed when they heard what the old man said.
The way he was picking vegetables slowed down unconsciously, and his eyes were full of complicated emotions, including curiosity about the woman and dissatisfaction with the current social atmosphere.
On the second-floor balcony, several old T-shirts hanging on the clothesline swayed gently in the breeze, as if they were dancing a lazy dance.
Someone's radio was playing the morning news, and the slightly hoarse voice drifted intermittently through the air.
The sounds of conversation from the elderly downstairs blended together to create a scene full of everyday life.
Just as Xiao Chen was about to take a step, he suddenly stopped as if frozen in place.
His gaze was fixed on the jade pendant in the woman's hand. The outline of the pendant was clearly the same mutton fat jade from the Ming Dynasty that he had seen at the antique market the day before.
At the time, he was strolling around the antique market when he was immediately attracted by the warm luster of the jade pendant and couldn't help but take a second look through the glass.
But the stall owner looked disgusted and yelled at him, "You poor wretch, get out of the way! If you can't afford it, don't waste my time here!"
That voice still echoes in his ears.
At this moment, the jade pendant swayed gently between the woman's fingers, its warm luster creating a strange contrast with her anxious expression, as if the jade pendant carried some unknown secret.
A thought struck him, and he took two steps forward, saying in a deep voice, "You've all guessed wrong."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly creating ripples.
Everyone turned their heads in unison, their eyes scrutinizing the young man dressed in faded cloth clothes and old cloth shoes like searchlights.
The man in the baseball cap glanced at him sideways, his eyes full of disdain and mockery, a contemptuous smile playing on his lips: "Oh ho, where did this greenhorn come from? Pretending to know everything here, do you know about cars or women?"
Several middle-aged men beside him joined in the laughter, their shrill and unpleasant sounds revealing teeth stained yellow from smoking, as if mocking Xiao Chen's overestimation of his abilities.
“I don’t understand luxury cars and watches, nor do I understand the complicated things you all think about, but I know she’s waiting for me.”
Xiao Chen's tone was as calm as the water in a deep pool, without a ripple, but his gaze was like a nail, fixed on the woman's face, as if he wanted to engrave her expression into his heart.
His fingernails still bore traces of stubborn black grease from last night's stove-repairing work, glaringly dark in the sunlight, utterly out of place with the luxurious scene before him—like an ugly duckling lost among swans. (End of Chapter)