Chapter Eighty-Five: Perseverance and Happiness

After eating a hurried meal, I drove to the "Distinct Seasons" ice cream shop in the south of the city. The only thing on my mind was Sister Rose, who was also in the frozen-dessert business. I hoped she could help me find someone with real skill.

After getting out of the car, I looked at the shop before me and saw that there were still only a few customers inside. My heart sank a little, and the confident plans I had once held grew dim in the face of this reality.

When I stepped into the shop, the first person I saw was Sister Rose, beautiful and mature, yet faintly lonely. Today she wore a vivid red dress and sat quietly behind the counter, lost in thought. Only when I approached and softly called her name did she look up in surprise.

"You came. Sit down. Where is that little girl who keeps clinging to you? Didn't she come with you?" Sister Rose glanced behind me, seeming a little disappointed.

"She's busy during the day, so she didn't come," I replied awkwardly when I heard her mention Zhang Jiaxin. After I had listened to Sister Rose's story that day, Zhang Jiaxin had told me that we should go back to being ordinary friends, and I had gradually come to accept it. Instead of evasive words, it was better to face things frankly. After that, whenever she had some free time, she would come looking for me so we could go out for a meal, take a walk, or go shopping. Though we were only ordinary friends now, both she and I found in that plain, gentle companionship a fuller sort of comfort.

"Is that so? What would you like to have?" Sister Rose asked with a smile.

"A cup of sour plum drink, please," I said after a moment's hesitation. I still wasn't used to frozen desserts. The last time I tried ice cream, just to sample what Luo Qing liked, it felt more like forcing myself than truly enjoying it.

Sister Rose gave me a puzzled look, then nodded without saying much.

In the idle moments, I studied the customers and their ages. They were mostly young people. Only one table by the window held a middle-aged couple with their child, waiting for their cold treats. I knew this was exactly the first problem I would face once my own shop opened. What I had to do in the future was break through this age barrier: not only make things that could catch the eyes of young lovers, but also widen the range of customers so that my frozen desserts could be enjoyed by both the young and the old.

I kept turning over in my mind how to break such a rigid rule of an industry with such narrow limits, and just then Sister Rose's voice came again, pulling me back to reality.

"Do you have something on your mind?" Her tone was very gentle, like that of a caring older sister who was only a few years older than I was.

I nodded, but felt awkward bringing it up. In truth, the moment I stood before Sister Rose, I had already hesitated. I had planned to open a frozen-dessert shop, but I was short on both people and resources. Instinctively, she had been the first person I thought of for help. Yet I had ignored the most important question of all: she was in the frozen-dessert business too. If she really helped me, wouldn't we become rivals in the future?

Just as I was feeling foolish about my own behavior, Sister Rose smiled kindly and asked, "What's troubling you? Tell me. Let's see whether I can help."

I instinctively wanted to shake my head, but deep down there was still a sliver of hope. The awkwardness I feared was only in my own heart. Perhaps Sister Rose would not think so much of it herself.

"Sister Rose, actually I came to ask a favor..." I scratched my head, feeling a little embarrassed. "I'm planning to open a frozen-dessert shop in a while, but right now I don't have anyone around me with really good skills. I wanted to ask if you could help me think of someone in our area who has real experience making cold desserts. I'd like to invite them to help me out."

After hearing me out, Sister Rose's beautiful, delicate eyebrows drew together slightly, as though she were considering something.

Seeing the conflicted look on her face made me feel uneasy as well. Sister Rose must have thought of the future possibility too: if my shop took off, it would naturally take away some of her business and reduce her income. In truth, my relationship with Sister Rose was only that of a chance acquaintance. She had no reason at all to help a future competitor.

Just when I was feeling disappointed and ready to give up, Sister Rose suddenly spoke. "Let me think. I really do know someone in Yichun who is quite good at making frozen desserts."

"Really?" I cried, excited not only because such a person existed, but because Sister Rose was truly willing to help me.

"Yes." Sister Rose thought for a moment and nodded. "But this girl isn't easy to get along with. Her temper is a little strange. I don't know whether you'll be able to work with her... That's also why I've been hesitating to tell you. I was afraid you might not be able to accept her, and then blame me as the one who introduced her."

"How could that be!" From Sister Rose's tone, I could tell this person was a girl. I had met plenty of girls with strange tempers, and I did not believe there was any woman with a worse disposition than Miss Luo.

Seeing my excited expression, Sister Rose gave a wry smile and shook her head. "This girl really is hard to deal with. Are you sure you want to try?"

"We have to try!" The more she said that, the more interested I became in whether I could work with this girl.

Sister Rose said no more. She had me save the contact information on my phone, then gently set the sour plum drink I had ordered on my table.

"Sis, if you're not busy, why not sit with me for a while? I could also learn more from your experience." I took a sip of the chilled sour plum drink and felt much more refreshed.

Sister Rose was not one for lengthy refusals. She nodded, stepped out from behind the counter, and sat across from me.

"Why do you want to open a frozen-dessert shop? The business in this line really isn't ideal. Right now I can only just barely break even, and I'm afraid I'll be losing money this winter," Sister Rose said, resting her chin in her hand. Her fair face and delicate features, mature yet touched with a graceful ease, were truly enchanting.

"Because..." I hesitated, then decided there was no need to speak any false or hypocritical words. She had treated me so kindly; if I still could not be sincere, even I would look down on myself. "Because my girlfriend likes frozen desserts, and I also thought through the pros and cons of this business myself. Whenever I can't sleep, I always plan out many strategies for how it might be run in the future. I'm confident I can do it well."

A trace of surprise appeared on Sister Rose's lovely face. "Because your girlfriend likes them..." she murmured, and then she actually covered her sexy little mouth and laughed.

Her laughter made me feel awkward. "Do you think I'm too childish?"

"No..." Sister Rose stopped laughing and let out a soft sigh. "I just think you're very great."

Hearing her call me "great" made me even more embarrassed. It was only a simple thought, after all. In matters of love, this was hardly anything at all. Every happy relationship depends on careful tenderness and effort. I was only trying to do what I could. It had nothing to do with greatness.

"If I had been even half as serious about love as you are, maybe I wouldn't be living alone now, still wandering this city of glittering lights and wine." As she spoke, Sister Rose turned her face away and looked out at the bright sunlight beyond the window, sighing softly.

"It's all right. Everything will get better. As long as you keep believing in your heart, you will surely find happiness!" I couldn't bear to see Sister Rose look sad. I knew her story, and I knew that one mistake had completely altered the course of two people who loved each other. Now I didn't know where the male lead in that story was, or whether he still remembered the woman who had been waiting silently for him all this time.

"Do you think so too?" Sister Rose heard me out and forced a smile, though I caught a glimmer of tears in her eyes.

"Yes!" I nodded hard. I believed it would be so. I firmly believed that lovers would eventually be united, because I believed in love, and I believed that fate has its quiet hand in all things.

After that, we both fell into silence. I sipped the sour plum drink in my tall stemmed glass little by little, while Sister Rose kept gazing out at the scenery beyond the window, lost in thought. I didn't know whether she had again remembered that painful past.

"Sis, thank you. Though we have only met once, you have still treated me with such kindness." Even now I could not fully forgive myself. I kept feeling that my behavior had been improper.

"You... aren't you worried that in your heart we're already destined to become competitors, and that if I help you, you'll feel pressured?" Sister Rose seemed to have seen through my hesitation.

"To be honest, Sis, I really do think that way. You are helping me so selflessly, and yet I might be using your kindness to hurt you!" I lowered my head, unable to meet her eyes.

"You foolish boy, you're overthinking it..." Sister Rose gently patted my shoulder and smiled. "At the end of this year, I don't plan to keep the shop open anymore..."

"Why?" I looked up in surprise at Sister Rose, who seemed to have reached a point where nothing mattered to her anymore.

"First, I've waited for him too long. I'm a little tired. Perhaps our fate ended back then. I ought to reflect on myself, and whether I should let go..." She paused. "And second, frozen-dessert shops really don't make money."

Sister Rose stood up and went behind the counter to ring up the middle-aged family.

Looking at the empty glass before me, I felt a little lost. Every love carries some degree of hurt, but no matter how great that hurt is, can it compare to never seeing one another again for the rest of this life?

"Go back and call Xiaoyu and have a good talk. Maybe she really can help you after all," Sister Rose said, waving me off to indicate that I didn't need to pay.

I gently pressed the money into Sister Rose's hand and said with complete seriousness, "No matter what plans you have in the future, I, Yang Chen, wish you happiness. You will surely be with the one who truly loves you!"

Sister Rose smiled. "I'll take that as a good omen."

For some reason, learning that Sister Rose no longer intended to continue running the frozen-dessert shop only made my resolve burn brighter. I would open my own shop with all my seriousness and make it a success. It was not only because so many hopes and dreams were invested in it, but because I had to prove one thing: as long as one keeps believing, happiness will surely come.