Chapter 6 — Old Love Can't Be Patched

Seeing me, his eyes lit up and he almost ran over. "Hoa Hoa." I smiled faintly. "Let's go for a walk." We arrived at the village in the city where we used to live. Half of that place has been demolished, the wonton shop at the beginning of the alley is still there. The landlady didn't recognize us anymore. I ordered two bowls of wontons. Bui Tu Viet looked at the table, his voice was very light. "Before, we didn't have money, so we only ordered one bowl." "You eat wontons, I drink soup." I nodded. "Remember." Then he said: "When I have money, I will let you eat delicious meals every time." Later, when he had money, we rarely ate a meal together. After eating, he took out a small box from his pocket. I opened it. Inside was that gold bracelet. "This time I accepted it." "I took it back because it was my grandmother's thing." "But I won't wear it anymore." I pushed the box in front of him. "Bui Tu Viet, look closely." "It used to be broken." The inside of the bracelet has a new weld mark, because it was cracked when Hua Man wore it. Even though the bracelet has returned, the weld will forever be there. Bui Tu Viet stared at that cold spot, tears immediately flowing out of his eyes. "Sorry." I looked at him calmly. "Before, I always felt that as long as you still remember how we passed, I can forgive you." "Later I discovered, it's not that you forgot." "It's that you blame those days for losing face." He shook his head, his voice cracking. "No, Hoa Hoa, no." "I'm just afraid that I'll return to the past." "You risk your life to crawl." Go up, crawl to the end, even your brother will be lost." I said softly: "That's right, so don't crawl back anymore, I'm no longer in the same place." Bui Tu Viet reached out to pull me, but I took a step back. His hand stopped in mid-air. “Can we start again?” “I don't need the company anymore, I don't need the money anymore.” “I only need you.” I looked at him. Eight years of love doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. He used to be really kind to me, would carry me through standing water on a rainy day, and would leave the last piece of hot rice for me. Will buy me a small piece of cake when I'm so poor that I can't pay the electricity bill. But later, he also personally trampled every bit of those good things. I said: "Bui Tu Viet, things that were once broken, even if mended, still have scars." "We are the same." Tears fell from his eyes. "Before, you said you would stay with me forever." I smiled faintly. "You also said before, you won't let me lose." I stood up and left. This time, he didn't chase me. 9 After that day, Bui Tu Viet didn't come to look for me anymore. But I still see him on the news. Thinh Vien Capital held a takeover press conference. On the large screen, customer data from the company's founding stage was shown. The first person to sign the contract was me. The person who wrote the first business plan was me. The person in charge of connecting the first three core customers is still me. There was even a hospital bill. That's a record of when I drank to the point of stomach bleeding, and as soon as I left the emergency room, I rushed back to sign the contract. General Director Tran stood on stage and said: "The Bui brand can come to this day, it is not a myth of someone." "Ms. On Hoa is the earliest co-founder of this company." The lens swept under the stage, Bui Tu Viet sat in the first row. His face was pale, his eyes were red. The past he hated the most when others mentioned it. In the end, he became the root he couldn't deny in front of everyone. Someone took a picture of him leaving the hall. The big screen still stopped at that hospital bill. He walked to the door, put his hands on the wall and bent down. When I raised my head again, tears were streaming down my face. Hua Man also

on the news. The day she was taken away, she was still wearing that white business suit. Only this time, no one was standing in front of her. She was the one who understood the rules the most, and eventually died within the rules. The day the verdict was announced, my friend took a photo and sent it to me to see. She used to be the best at writing clauses. In the end, every article on the judgment was written more clearly than her. A week later, I received a huge transfer. The note had only one sentence. "Grandma's bracelet, sorry." I looked at that money and was silent for a long time. Finally passed it to my mother. "Help me set up a student support fund." "Use my grandmother's name." Mom asked me: "Have you really thought about it carefully?" I nodded. "Think carefully." Later, listening to friends, Bui Tu Viet sold all the remaining shares and left Giang Thanh. Someone once saw him in Nam Thanh. Said he stood for a long time outside my shop. In his hand he held a bag of cooled roasted chestnuts with sugar. In the end, still didn't step in. Half a year later, I opened an old furniture restoration shop in Nam Thanh. The shop is very small, with a wooden sign hanging in front of the door. "Broken things can be repaired, old loves cannot be mended." On the first opening day, a young girl walked in holding a broken gold bracelet. Her eyes were red. “Shop owner, can this be fixed?” I took it to see. “Maybe.”