Since we are all reborn, let’s arrest the senior!

Sunlight streamed obliquely into the pottery studio. As Jiang Yun added water to the clay, Lu Mingze's fingertips suddenly touched hers. "The pressure should be like this—" He held her hand and pressed the clay, his fingertips brushing against the calluses on her palm. "Were you this patient when you taught Lin Zhixia how to throw the potter's wheel last time?"

She laughed and poked his nose with her muddy fingertip: "Jealous?" He tilted his head, bit her fingertip, and gently shook it. Mud splattered on her apron, like a crooked little flower blooming on indigo coarse linen.

From the next table came Lin Zhixia's wailing: "Brother Lu, you're unfair! My cup is cracked again!" The little girl held up the crooked ceramic cup, her silver-gray hair splattered with clay. Lu Mingze picked up his tools and strolled over slowly, tapping the back of her hand with a trimming knife: "I told you to wait for the clay to fully set, what's the rush?"

Jiang Yun watched them bicker, chin in hand, sunlight gilding the top of Lu Mingze's head. He suddenly turned and winked at her, then, while Lin Zhixia was adjusting the speed of the machine, he sculpted a miniature bear out of clay and stuck it to the rim of her cup. The little girl noticed and chased after him, laughter echoing throughout the studio.

At one in the morning, Lu Mingze pushed the heated oden to Jiang Yun at the convenience store, fish cakes floating in the soup. She took a bite and suddenly remembered the last time she shared food with Lin Zhixia, the latter always picked out the radish and stuffed it into her bowl.

"Thinking about your little apprentice?" Lu Mingze wiped the soup from the corner of her mouth with a tissue. "She just messaged me saying the new plan was approved." The phone screen lit up, and Lin Zhixia sent a selfie: wearing the bear headband they gave her, holding up the design draft and making a peace sign at her workstation, with the green ivy behind her lying listlessly on the keyboard.

Jiang Yun replied with a string of emojis, her fingertips adding a period after "Go for it!" Lu Mingze suddenly grabbed her wrist and slipped a fruit candy into her palm: "Try it, it's lychee flavored, doesn't it look like the one we bought on our first date?" The candy wrapper rustled softly in the quiet convenience store. As he peeled the candy for her, his fingertips brushed against the curve of her palm lines.

The October rain came unexpectedly. When Jiang Yun rushed into the tea room with her folder in her arms, Lu Mingze was standing in front of the window wiping the coffee machine.

Through the rain curtain outside the glass, Lin Zhixia's figure, carrying a folder on her head, was particularly eye-catching, her short silver-gray hair plastered to her face by the rain.

"Go open the door for her quickly." Jiang Yun gently nudged Lu Mingze, but her gaze lingered on the ring on his ring finger for a couple more seconds—she had seen him take the ring out of the jewelry box and put it on before leaving home this morning.

The moment the metal door opened, a gust of cold wind blew in, carrying with it a drizzle of rain. Lin Zhixia shook her wet hair, clutching the folder tightly to her chest: "Brother Lu, look! The newly improved glaze formula!" Water dripped from her cuffs, leaving dark spots on the beige floor tiles.

Lu Mingze turned around, grabbed a towel from the shelf, and threw it at her: "Dry your hair first, how can you work if you have a cold?" His tone was like scolding his own little sister. Lin Zhixia stuck out her tongue, and just as the towel touched her hair, she suddenly cried out "Ouch!"—the folder slipped and several design drafts floated to Lu Mingze's feet.

He bent down to pick up the drawings, his fingertips tracing the smooth curves on the paper. It was a tea set design; the curve of the spout was strikingly similar to Jiang Yun's unfinished work "First Snow" from three years ago. "This spout angle tends to accumulate tea leaves," he said, tapping the drawing with his index finger. "Have you tried a 30-degree tilt?"

Lin Zhixia's eyes lit up, and she snuggled up to him. "Really? I felt like something was off when I was modeling yesterday!" Water droplets from her hair fell onto the back of his hand, but she didn't notice. She grabbed a pencil and quickly drew correction lines along the edge of the drawing. Lu Mingze turned away to avoid her hair, but when he saw that she had drawn the wrong proportions, he immediately snatched the drawing and circled the problem with a red pen.

Jiang Yun's voice came from the break room: "Zhixia, come and have some ginger soup." The little girl then remembered the towel in her hand, and hurriedly wiped herself a couple of times, but the more she wiped, the more tangled her ponytail became. Lu Mingze suppressed a laugh and took out a hair tie from his pocket and handed it to her: "Tie it up, you look like a little madwoman."

Lin Zhixia looked in the mirror by the glass door, then suddenly turned around: "Brother Lu, can you tie my hair?" Her ponytail swayed behind her head. Lu Mingze raised an eyebrow: "Do you also work part-time as a hairdresser?" But he still took the hair tie, being extra careful as he ran his fingertips through her wet hair, afraid of hurting her.

"Alright, you little madman." He took two steps back to examine her; the hair tie was hanging crookedly at the end of her hair. Lin Zhixia smiled at herself in the mirror, revealing her dimples: "It's much better than the hair tie you did for Sister Xiaoyun last time!" Just as she finished speaking, Jiang Yun came in with a bowl of ginger soup. Her gaze lingered on the hair tie in Lu Mingze's hand for half a second, and a barely perceptible smile appeared on her lips.

Working overtime until 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Lin Zhixia stared at the blurry blocks of color on the computer screen and suddenly turned around: "Brother Lu, I want to drink oden!" Lu Mingze looked up from the pile of documents and saw the dark circles under her eyes. He remembered Jiang Yun's tone last night when she said, "Zhixia has been staying up late a lot lately."

"Come on, I'll take you for a late-night snack." As he put on his coat, he noticed her rubbing her eyes and turned off her desk lamp. "Looking at the computer for too long hurts your eyes." Lin Zhixia muttered, "Brother Lu is even more long-winded than Sister Xiaoyun," but obediently followed him downstairs.

Under the warm yellow light of the convenience store, Lin Zhixia hesitated in front of the warming cabinet: "Fish balls or seaweed knots?" Lu Mingze simply picked up a soft-boiled egg and put it in her bowl: "To supplement protein." She raised an eyebrow: "How did you know I like this, Brother Lu?"

"You drank all the soup when you video chatted with Jiang Yun last time." He added radish to his bowl, his tone casual. Lin Zhixia paused, biting into a fish ball, and suddenly remembered that one late night, when she and Jiang Yun were sharing oden, the other person had indeed smiled at the phone and said, "Lu Mingze also loves to eat this."

“Brother Lu,” she suddenly lowered her voice, “are you jealous?” The radish sloshed in the soup, and Lu Mingze looked up: “Don’t make wild guesses, you’re just a kid.” Lin Zhixia persisted: “That day at the studio, the way you looked at the photo of me and Sister Xiaoyun was off!”

He put down his spoon and looked at her seriously: "Zhixia, do you think Jiang Yun is happy lately?" The girl's smile froze on her face as she lowered her head to stir the soup: "She always says she's under a lot of pressure and is afraid the proposal won't be approved." Her voice grew softer and softer.

Lu Mingze took out a mint from his pocket and handed her one: "When she first entered the industry seven years ago, she worked just as hard as you. Once, she worked overtime for three days in a row and fainted in the studio." The candy wrapper made a soft rustling sound between his fingers. "I was just afraid she would forget that besides work, there are people waiting for her to come home."

Lin Zhixia suddenly grabbed his hand, her eyes sparkling: "Brother Lu, let's form an alliance! From now on, I'll make sure she eats on time, and you'll be responsible for making her happy!" The warmth of her fingertips carried the steam of oden. Lu Mingze raised an eyebrow: "What, are you afraid I'll steal her away?"

"No way!" she retorted stubbornly, but deflated when she saw him smile. "Actually, when Sister Xiaoyun talks about you, her eyes light up." The rain outside the window had stopped sometime earlier, and moonlight shone into the convenience store. Looking at her serious expression, Lu Mingze suddenly remembered Jiang Yun's gentle tone when she mentioned that "Zhixia is like a younger version of myself."

On Saturday morning, when Lu Mingze was dragged to the studio by Jiang Yun, Lin Zhixia was looking at a pile of scrap clay, fretting over it. "Sister Yun said you're really good at throwing clay!" Her eyes lit up, and she grabbed a lump of clay and shoved it at him. "Can you teach me?"

“Learn to knead the clay first.” Lu Mingze rolled up his sleeves and demonstrated by slamming a lump of clay onto the potter's wheel. Lin Zhixia tried to imitate him, but because she used too much force, clay splattered onto her face. Jiang Yun laughed until tears streamed down her face, but he handed her a damp towel: “Relax your wrist, like this—” His hand covered hers, calloused from years of pottery work. Lin Zhixia could hear his even breathing and suddenly remembered the time at the convenience store when he said, “Jiang Yun was still clutching her design drafts when she fainted.” “Brother Lu,” she whispered, “do you know? Xiao Yun’s desk is covered with your photos.”

The clay strip slowly took shape on the potter's wheel. Lu Mingze gently pressed his fingertip against the rim of the cup: "She also said that you bite your pencil when you revise your designs." Lin Zhixia exclaimed: "Sister Xiaoyun even told you this?" He smiled without saying a word, watching her increasingly steady hand movements, and suddenly remembered that when Jiang Yun first taught him how to throw a potter's wheel, she had the same patience.

"Alright, the basic shape is out." He took two steps back, and Lin Zhixia looked at the crooked ceramic cup. Suddenly, she grabbed a strip of clay and sculpted a little bear, sticking it onto the cup: "This is for Brother Lu!" The little bear's ears were tilted to one side, but it was still adorable.

When Jiang Yun came closer, she saw Lu Mingze trimming the bear's claws with a trimming knife: "Doting on your apprentice so much?" He looked up at her, sunlight streaming in through the skylight, scattering golden dust on her hair: "After all, he's the future design director, you have to build a good relationship with him beforehand?"

Lin Zhixia suddenly raised her phone to take a picture: "Click! A photo of Brother Lu and Little Bear!" On the screen, Lu Mingze's trimming knife was suspended in mid-air, and Little Bear's shadow was cast on the back of his hand like a tiny cloud. She quickly sent it to their small group chat, with the caption: "Deep Master-Disciple Relationship.jpg"

Early Wednesday morning, amidst the rumble of thunder, Lu Mingze received a call from Lin Zhixia. "Brother Lu, Sister Xiaoyun is at the studio!" the young woman's voice trembled with tears. "She said the entire plan is ruined."

When he rushed into the studio, Jiang Yun was squatting on the floor picking up broken pottery shards, blood seeping from her right index finger. Lin Zhixia was circling around with a band-aid in hand, and seeing him was like seeing a savior: "Brother Lu, please talk to her!"

"Treat the wound first." He knelt down and took Jiang Yun's hand, his tone unusually stern. As the iodine swab was applied to the wound, she suddenly spoke, "Zhi Xia wasn't wrong, I am an idiot." Her voice choked with emotion.

Lin Zhixia suddenly knelt down opposite them, her knees pressing against the broken pieces of pottery: "It's all my fault! I didn't save the files properly." Lu Mingze frowned and pressed down on her shoulders: "Get up first, the ground is dirty." But when he saw the blood seeping from her knees, his eyes narrowed.

Jiang Yun looked at the bandages on their knees and suddenly laughed, "You two look like two injured puppies." Lin Zhixia threw herself into her arms, while Lu Mingze silently picked up the broken pottery shards, saying, "The plan can be redone, but people can't get hurt." As he turned around, a mint candy fell out of his pocket and rolled to Lin Zhixia's feet.

The little girl picked it up and suddenly remembered the night at the convenience store. "Brother Lu," she unwrapped the candy, "let's do it again! This time I'll be in charge of kneading the clay, you teach me how to shape it, and Sister Xiaoyun will be the general manager!" When lightning flashed past the window, her eyes were three times brighter than usual.

Jiang Yun watched as Lu Mingze rummaged through the cabinet for spare clay, and watched Lin Zhixia tie on her old apron. Suddenly, her eyes welled up with tears. As the thunder faded into the distance, the hum of the potter's wheel returned. Lu Mingze's hand covered Lin Zhixia's, and Jiang Yun's hand rested above theirs. The three hands folded warm shapes into the clay.

“This way,” Lu Mingze said softly, “it won’t break again.” The clay slowly took shape on the turntable. The rain outside the window had turned into a drizzle. Moonlight shone through the clouds, casting silver edges on the overlapping shadows of the three people.

Lin Zhixia suddenly started humming a song, the off-key melody mixed with the sound of the potter's wheel, yet it was strangely harmonious. Jiang Yun leaned on Lu Mingze's shoulder, smelling the faint scent of cedar perfume on him, and heard him say in her ear, "Look, your little apprentice is even crazier than you were back then."

“But she has you teaching her.” She looked up at him and saw the warm studio light reflecting in his eyes, like a pool of spring water. Lin Zhixia suddenly turned around, her face covered in clay: “Sister Xiaoyun, Brother Lu! Let’s take a picture!”

In the phone camera's lens, all three are covered in clay, their eyes crinkling with smiles. Lin Zhixia stands in the middle, with Jiang Yun wiping her face on her left and Lu Mingze adjusting her apron strap on her right. In the background, the newly formed clay glaze gleams warmly under the lamplight, much like the gradually warming hearts of people on this late autumn night.

On the day of Lidong (the beginning of winter), snowflakes pattered against the windowpane. When Lin Zhixia rushed into the break room with her folder in her arms, Lu Mingze was making coffee, his apron covered in flour—he had secretly slipped homemade cookies into Jiang Yun's lunchbox that morning.

"Brother Lu!" She shook the snow off her hair. "The client approved it! Our tea set series!" The folder was slammed on the table, revealing a little bear sticker inside—a gift from Lu Mingze.

He raised an eyebrow: "Want to celebrate?" As he spoke, he took out a chocolate that he had kept hidden in the cabinet for half a month: "Jiang Yun said you like this." When Lin Zhixia tore open the packaging, she suddenly saw the blue fabric peeking out of his apron pocket—it was a scarf that Jiang Yun had half-finished knitting last year.

“Brother Lu,” she suddenly reached out and pulled out a scarf, “Sister Xiaoyun said you’re afraid of the cold.” The yarn twirled between her fingers, and Lu Mingze tried to snatch it back, but she nimbly dodged it: “I’ll finish knitting it for you! It’ll be a perfect thank-you gift!”

As the snow fell heavier, the three of them sat around a small table in the studio. Jiang Yun opened her lunchbox and found an extra chocolate next to the cookies. The wrapper had Lin Zhixia's handwriting on it: "Brother Lu's friendly sponsorship~" She looked up at him and noticed that the tips of his ears were slightly red.

Lin Zhixia was munching on a sandwich when she suddenly held up her phone: "Look! I've given the tea set series a new name—'Trio'!" On the screen, three little figures were drawn in the corner of the design draft: a girl with a ponytail, a man wearing a ring, and a little bear holding clay.

Lu Mingze picked up a piece of chicken breast and put it in Jiang Yun's bowl, while brushing the breadcrumbs off Lin Zhixia's face: "Eat your food and get back to work, little designer." The girl's protesting voice, mixed with the hum of the coffee machine, wove a warm net in the snowy studio.

Outside the window, the first snow fell on the ginkgo branches, like a handful of shattered diamonds. Jiang Yun took a bite of a cookie, the sweet and bitter flavors melting on her tongue. Suddenly, she understood: some misunderstandings are like cracks in clay; with careful repair, they can become unique patterns. Just like now, sunlight pierced through the snow curtain, illuminating the two people opposite her. Lu Mingze was demonstrating to Lin Zhixia how to mix glaze colors, and the little girl's ponytail brushed against the back of his hand, startling a shower of fine gold dust.

(End of this chapter)