Rebirth of the Fashion King

Li Xun picked up the newly replaced espresso, took a sip, and then put it down.

He picked up his pencil again, opened his sketchbook, and turned to the page where he had just finished drawing.

Liu Yifei did not say anything more.

She moved her cappuccino closer to herself, the bottom of the glass making a soft scraping sound on the wooden table, and then she picked up a book.

"The Painter of Modern Life" by Baudelaire.

The sound of the pages turning was very soft.

Li Xun's pencil continued to move across the paper. This time, instead of drawing a ring, he was drawing a brooch, with dotted lines indicating the swing amplitude.

Liu Yifei turned to a page in the middle and started reading, but every minute or two her gaze would lift from the page, land on Li Xun's face, linger for two or three seconds, and then fall back onto the page.

She herself was unaware of this frequency.

Li Xun realized it.

He didn't look up, and the pencil didn't stop.

Liu Yifei couldn't help but look at his hand again.

The pen was held very loosely, and the movement of the pencil on the paper was almost silent, with only the slight friction of the pencil powder on the paper.

  

She never knew that painting could be so peaceful, nor did she ever imagine that watching others paint could be so comforting.

A kind of comfort that doesn't require speaking.

She turned a page of the book.

Baudelaire wrote: "Genius is nothing but a childhood that is intentionally recaptured."

She read the sentence twice, then looked up at Li Xun.

Li Xun was erasing an arc with an eraser. After erasing it, he brushed the eraser shavings to the edge of the table with his hand and continued drawing.

Suddenly, I found him even more captivating when he was painting.

Stable.

Focus.

Not urgent.

It's as if time belongs to him, and he can spend it however he wants.

Liu Yifei closed the book, took a sip of her cappuccino. It was already cold, and the milk foam had collapsed halfway, but the coffee flavor was still there.

She put down her cup, rested her elbows on the table, propped her chin up with her hands, and looked at Li Xun.

I'm not hiding anymore.

Anyway, he's drawing, so he won't look up.

Anyway, she's on the second floor, and nobody here knows her.

Anyway, she came to see him.

I held this position for about three minutes.

Li Xun's pencil stopped on the paper. He didn't look up, but he spoke.

"You've been watching me?"

Liu Yifei's elbow almost slipped off the table.

How did you know?

"Perspective."

Li Xun pressed the edges of the sketchbook with his middle and index fingers to flatten the paper before continuing to draw.

"You're turning the pages too slowly, it takes you five minutes to turn a page. My books aren't that hard to read, and this is an English version, not French."

Liu Yifei looked embarrassed, her face turning red from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears.

She quickly put her elbow off the table, reopened the book, flipped to a random page in the middle, and looked down at it, but she couldn't concentrate on a single word.

The words floated before her eyes, taking on shapes, but meaningless.

Her heart started racing again.

Three seconds later, she heard him say something else.

"No need to read anymore."

Liu Yifei raised her head.

Li Xun closed his sketchbook, placed the pencil beside him, and then leaned back in his chair, looking at her.

"Since you walked in, you've had four sips of coffee, turned six pages of a book, and looked at me eleven times."

Liu Yifei opened her mouth.

She wanted to speak, but the right words wouldn't come to mind.

She wanted to refute him, but what he said sounded like the truth.

How did you know it was eleven times?

"Just a guess."

"You seem to have guessed correctly."

Li Xun's lips twitched slightly.

Liu Yifei closed the book completely, pushed it to one side of the table, then pushed the cappuccino cup to the side as well. She put her elbows back on the table, crossed her hands, and rested her chin on them.

"I came here to see you."

Li Xun did not look away.

"You just said you were prepared for my absence."

"It's done."

"So you don't need to carry out that plan of wandering around the neighborhood until 6 p.m."

"right."

"So what are your new plans?"

"no."

Liu Yifei smiled and shook her head, her hair swaying as it fell over her shoulders.

"The most successful and perfect outcome in my plan is to find you. I haven't thought about anything else."

Upon hearing this, Li Xun's lips parted slightly. He looked at her for two seconds, then pushed his sketchbook to the side of the table.

"I'm not drawing today."

Why?

"Because you came."

Liu Yifei was stunned for a moment.

"You mean, I bothered you?"

"Of course not."

Li Xun put the pencil into the pencil case next to his sketchbook, rolled up the pencil case, and put it in his pocket.

"What I mean is, we can finish work early today."

Liu Yifei blinked.

"So, what time do you usually finish drawing?"

"It depends on my mood. When I'm in a good mood, I draw until the evening; when I'm not, I draw until three or four in the morning."

How are you feeling today?

"It's alright, but it's getting a bit late now, the sun is almost setting."

"Then why not keep drawing?"

"Because you are here."

"So I'm bothering you anyway."

"This is not a disturbance."

Li Xun picked up his espresso and finished the last sip.

"It's something more important than drawing."

Liu Yifei's heart skipped a beat, it really stopped for a moment...

She could feel her heart skip a beat in her chest, then start beating again, even faster than before.

She took her hand off the table, placed it on her knee, and pinched her palm slightly with her fingertips.

It hurts a little.

It's true, I didn't mishear.

"Li Xun," she said, her voice softer than before, but clearer.

"Can you please not talk like that..."

She paused, searching for words.

"What is this?"

"This is so hard to believe."

"What if you can't catch it?" Li Xun asked, looking at her.

"At once……"

Liu Yifei quickly looked out the window and then back at her.

"I won't answer."

"So, now?"

"I didn't catch it."

The two people stared at each other for two seconds.

Then Liu Yifei laughed first, this time making a sound. The laughter was still not loud, but it was very clear on the quiet second floor.

Liu Yifei covered her mouth, but her eyes were still smiling.

"Was I too loud again?"

"fine."

"You keep saying you're fine."

"There was nothing wrong to begin with."

"Are you this lenient with everyone?"

"No, these days, my words might carry more weight than the boss's."

Liu Yifei took her hand off her mouth, stopped smiling, and looked at him seriously.

"You just said something more important than drawing."

"Um."

"What is it?"

What do you think?

Li Xun leaned back in his chair and looked at her.

He didn't answer directly, but Liu Yifei understood.

"You're making me misunderstand," she said softly, her head down.

"What could be misunderstood?"

"Misunderstanding me is a little bit important to you."

"It's not necessarily a misunderstanding, and it's not just a little bit."

She suddenly looked up at Li Xun, her eyes filled with a complex mix of emotions: uncertainty, anticipation, nervousness, and a hint of wanting to escape.

"And what about you?" Li Xun asked with a smile.

"What about me?"

Am I important to you?

Liu Yifei answered directly and very quickly.

"important!"

When she said those two words, she looked directly into Li Xun's eyes without looking away.

"If it weren't important, I wouldn't have changed clothes several times before going out, I wouldn't have taken a deep breath downstairs before daring to push open the revolving door, I wouldn't have felt my heart pounding like I was going to die when going up the stairs, and I wouldn't have stood at the bottom of the stairs watching you draw for so long..."

As she finished speaking, her voice trembled slightly. She pulled all these things out in one go, pouring them out like beans, crackling and popping.

"I don't know if this is too presumptuous... Well, I wasn't like this before, but when I'm close to you, I become unlike myself. If I wasn't quite sure last time, this time, I'm sure, I..."

Li Xun raised his hand, preventing her from saying what followed, while Liu Yifei lowered her head and pouted.

Li Xun never took the initiative to contact Liu Yifei; it was always Liu Yifei who initiated contact. However, Li Xun knew that her purpose was different from that of others.

He couldn't see any ulterior motives in Liu Yifei's eyes. The time he spent with her was peaceful and comfortable, and she even took the initiative to come here...

The silence passed.

Li Xun took the initiative to speak.

"Socrates said that love is the pursuit of eternal beauty. I used to think it was too far away and untouchable, but now I feel that it is not that far away."

He looked at her with tender eyes.

"Seeing beauty in someone's eyes, feeling comfort in someone's personality, confirming something from the earnestness of someone who changes clothes several times and takes a deep breath downstairs before daring to push open the door, and from her saying that the most perfect outcome of her plan is to find herself..."

All these things combined, for me, marked the beginning of beauty.

"But love should be approached with care. True love should not begin hastily, nor should it end abruptly."

I don't want to start a relationship casually, wasting each other's time. If we're going to be together, it should be for the long term, and for us to see a higher level of beauty together.

You don't need to give me a complete answer all at once, nor do you need to be certain how far this path can go; no one can be certain.

Li Xun continued, "But I can be sure of one thing."

"What?"

I want to walk with you for a while, until we can't walk anymore.

"If we are together, we need to be prepared that this is not just about indulging in the joy of being together for a short time."

You accept my busyness, my studio, and the silence when I'm engrossed in drawing.

I am also ready to accept your anxieties and your tenderness, and prepared for all the gentleness and security that lies ahead.

"So, have you thought it through and decided to be with me? My lovely Liu, Qianqian."

Liu Yifei's eyes were already moist.

"So that's why you interrupted me? You thought I hadn't thought things through and was just acting on impulse..."

Li Xun smiled and shook his head.

"No, it's because I think it's better for boys to take the initiative when it comes to confessing, since you've always been the one to take the initiative before."

Liu Yifei wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked into Li Xun's eyes earnestly and said, "We will be together, and keep walking until we can't walk anymore."

She finished speaking and gave a slight smile.

The wind outside the window was blowing Liu Yifei's flowing hair at that moment.

Li Xun was very lucky, because he was the only one who witnessed this stunning scene.

Love rises with the wind, and when the wind stops, my heart remains unsettled; at dusk, in the sunset, and in the evening breeze, I think of you.