Feast of Flowers

Chapter 29: A Problem?

Pei Yan had a strange dream that night. In the dream, he was tightly wrapped in a long scarf and couldn't break free no matter how hard he tried. When he woke up, he took a few deep breaths and got up to put the discarded scarf he had left on the table deep inside the wardrobe. He closed the wardrobe door with a heavy thud, and the unsettled feeling in his heart quieted down with the closing of the door.

He went downstairs to get a glass of water and sat back on the sofa, not wanting to turn on the lights. Darkness brought fear to others, but sometimes it gave a sense of security. The light projected from somewhere in the room flickered and danced on the walls, resembling... glowing fish?

He remembered how Hua Jin fed the koi fish with fish food.

"Tsk." Pei Yan lowered his head and took a sip of water, completely devoid of sleepiness. He opened his phone and scrolled through his friends' updates, impatiently flipping through them. He came across a post by Hua Jin.

[Fan Hua]: Good luck comes with koi fish.

Underneath that post, Yang Shao had liked it.

Yang Shao was bound to suffer because of his weakness for beauty. Pei Yan threw his phone onto the sofa and turned on the television. Late-night programs weren't interesting, and they were replaying the opening ceremony of an awards ceremony. The male and female stars on the screen were competing for attention, but he soon grew impatient with it.

Insomnia was truly annoying.

He took the subway early in the morning and Hua Jin was still somewhat groggy.

"Hua Hua, you're here?" Tan Yuan's expression wasn't quite right. "When I was tidying up the shop just now, I found something missing."

"What's missing?" Hua Jin put down her bag and recalled the customers she had interacted with these past few days. "Should we check the CCTV footage from the past two days in the shop?"

Tan Yuan felt somewhat guilty. Hua Jin wasn't in the shop yesterday, and now something was missing, something that held great sentimental value to Hua Jin after she had just learned embroidery.

"It's the cloud-patterned scarf you embroidered. I remember you always kept it in this small drawer over here..."

"I brought that scarf home when I closed the shop the day before yesterday." Seeing Tan Yuan's disbelief, Hua Jin smiled. "I gave it to someone."

"Gave it to someone?" Tan Yuan slumped down on a nearby seat with a dejected look. "Hua Hua, you don't have to say that just to ease my guilt. I remember how dedicated you were when you embroidered that scarf."

Back when Hua Jin's mother became her teacher, her mother often praised her for being talented and hardworking. Tan Yuan was a bit jealous at first, but she later discovered that Hua Jin truly had a talent for embroidery. Moreover, she showed great respect for Tan Yuan's parents, which gradually led to their friendship.

She remembered five years ago when Hua Jin had been learning embroidery for less than a year. She had already mastered many stitching techniques and, apart from embroidery, she would spend her time studying and preparing for self-study university exams. At that time, Tan Yuan was in her second year of university and thought she knew more than Hua Jin. But when she tried to teach Hua Jin how to solve problems, she realized that Hua Jin had a clear thought process and was adept at solving complex problems. She could be called a top student when it came to answering difficult questions.

How could someone with such excellent grades not get into university? At that

time, Tan Yuan didn't understand, but later they became close sisters who could talk about anything, and she learned that not everyone was fortunate from the moment they were born.