Chapter 13
她不留——但她不走了
She Does Not Stay, But She Does Not Leave
第三天。
苏茉从抽屉里拿出前老板的名片。
她看了很久。
然后拿起手机，拨了号。
接通了。
但不是前老板。
是 Lisa。
「Lisa，我不来了。」
「不是因为钱——是因为我还没找到那个问题的问题。」
Lisa 困惑：「什么问题？」
苏茉想了想：
「以前做 UX，问的是『用户需要什么』。现在我问的是——『人不知道自己需要什么，你怎么给他』。我还没学会这一道。」
Lisa 沉默了很久。
「那你学会了之后呢？」
「我回来。不是回答上一个问题。是问下一个。」
电话挂了。
下午两点。老太太来了。
苏茉给她倒茶。
老太太喝了一口，放下杯子。
没有问——她等着苏茉开口。
「我不走了。」
老太太：「我没问你走不走。」
「你知道我今天要打电话？」
「我不知道你要打电话。我只知道你昨天把名片放进抽屉。如果你要扔，你会扔的。如果你要答应，你会把名片放在手机上。你放抽屉——说明你还没想好。」
「那我现在想好了吗？」
「想好了。不然你不会告诉我。」
苏茉笑了。
眼睛先弯了。
但收回来的速度，比弯下去快。
不是因为好笑。
老太太从头到尾没有看那张名片一眼。但她看到了苏茉身上每一个细微的变化。
晚上八点。
苏茉站在后院，看着那块空地。
她下午从花卉市场买了一棵茶苗——
很小，屈指可数几片叶子。
她蹲在空地旁边，用手戳了戳土。
还没挖坑。
她只是把花盆放在地上。
「先把花盆放在这里，」她说。
「挖坑的事明天再说。」
第13章 · 完
Day three.
Su Mo took her former boss's business card out of the drawer.
She looked at it for a long time.
Then she picked up her phone and dialed.
It connected.
But it was not her former boss.
It was Lisa.
"Lisa, I am not coming back."
"It is not about the money — it is because I have not yet found the question inside the question."
Lisa was confused. "What question?"
Su Mo thought for a moment.
"Before, when I did UX, the question was 'what does the user need.' Now the question is — 'a person does not know what they need, so how do you give it to them.' I have not learned that yet."
Lisa was silent for a long time.
"And after you learn it?"
"I will come back. Not to answer the last question. To ask the next one."
She hung up.
Two in the afternoon. The old woman arrived.
Su Mo poured her tea.
The old woman took a sip, set down the cup.
She did not ask — she waited for Su Mo to speak.
"I am not leaving."
The old woman: "I did not ask whether you were leaving or not."
"You knew I was going to make a call today?"
"I did not know you would make a call. I only knew that yesterday you put the card in the drawer. If you were going to throw it away, you would have thrown it. If you were going to say yes, you would have put the card by your phone. You put it in the drawer — that means you had not decided."
"Have I decided now?"
"You have. Otherwise you would not have told me."
Su Mo smiled.
Her eyes curved first.
But they straightened faster than they had bent.
Not because it was funny.
The old woman had not glanced at the card once. But she had seen every subtle change in Su Mo.
Eight in the evening.
Su Mo stood in the backyard, looking at the empty plot of land.
She had bought a tea seedling from the flower market that afternoon —
Very small, just a few leaves you could count on one hand.
She crouched beside the empty plot and poked the soil with her finger.
She had not dug a hole yet.
She just set the pot on the ground.
"I will leave the pot here for now," she said.
"The hole can wait until tomorrow."
Chapter 13 · End
To be continued — Chapter 14: Heart Demon Tea Trial