“That cup, I don’t know why, it used to be fine. She didn’t care about it at all. But lately, she’s been treasuring it like crazy. She won’t even let me touch it. She uses it for everything she drinks.” Yi Changhuan sighed helplessly.
She had no idea what had caused Yi Qingzhuo’s change.
Xia Qinyu clicked her tongue twice and glanced at the insulated cup. She shook her hand and walked toward Yi Changhuan, not pausing her mouth. “Could it be that someone she likes used it?”
For someone as easygoing as Yi Qingzhuo, if she suddenly became attached to an object, it meant that object had taken on special meaning for her.
Xia Qinyu’s casual remark seemed to strike a chord with Yi Changhuan.
This cup—aside from when she used it to deliver chicken soup to Shen Chaoyi—had never been lent to anyone. Yi Qingzhuo didn’t lend out her personal items.
In an instant, the knot of doubt in Yi Changhuan’s heart was cut loose by Xia Qinyu’s words.
She gave Yi Qingzhuo a complicated look, uncertain whether to feel sorrow or joy.
“Xia Qinyu, shut up!” Yi Qingzhuo scolded in a low voice, her eyes carrying a clear warning.
“I was just saying it casually. Why are you so worked up? Did I hit the mark? Who did you lend it to?” Xia Qinyu’s eyes lit up, practically glowing green.
What kind of person could catch Yi Qingzhuo’s eye? Xia Qinyu was dying of curiosity. What type was it?
Yi Qingzhuo was independent and strong-willed. Who could possibly tame her?
Yi Qingzhuo gritted her teeth, nearly defeated by her outspoken cousin.
She abruptly set down the insulated cup, grabbed Xia Qinyu by the collar, and said to Yi Changhuan, “Mom, I’m going to get the examination report. She’ll come with me. I’ll be back to eat in a bit.”
“Mm, go ahead,” Yi Changhuan replied.
Seeing Yi Qingzhuo drag Xia Qinyu off by the collar, she couldn’t help but add, “Don’t use too much force. Your injury.”
“Sis, sis, sis, where are we going? Can’t you talk nicely? You always drag me like this. Don’t I have any dignity?”
“Quiet.”
“Let me go first, and I’ll be quiet.” Xia Qinyu tried to reason with Yi Qingzhuo.
But Yi Qingzhuo’s face was cold and unmoved.
She led Xia Qinyu all the way to the safety passage before finally releasing her. “You. Don’t talk nonsense from now on, especially in front of my mom. Don’t bring up topics about liking or not liking.”
Xia Qinyu straightened her wrinkled collar, recalling how she had been dragged like a chick just moments ago.
Now, Yi Qingzhuo’s warning seemed to have zero deterrent effect on her. She crossed her arms. “So I guessed right? You have someone you like? Who is it? Do I know them? Probably not. Any chance I could meet them?”
Yi Qingzhuo felt a throbbing ache in her temples. Indeed, Xia Qinyu being too sharp in this area was a real pain.
“We’ll meet when there’s a chance later.” Yi Qingzhuo couldn’t lie, so she tacitly confirmed Xia Qinyu’s guess.
Hearing that, Xia Qinyu’s eyes went wide. She stared at Yi Qingzhuo like a piece of fat meat. “You really do have someone you like! Am I the first to know? Even Aunt doesn’t know, right?”
So what if she was across the ocean? She came back and was still the first to know. Yi Qingzhuo had someone she liked.
“Mm.” Yi Qingzhuo thought that if Xia Qinyu hadn’t blurted that out, Yi Changhuan probably wouldn’t have known. Now, she wasn’t so sure.
Since Xia Qinyu was happy to claim the title of being the first to know, Yi Qingzhuo let her have it.
With a heavy heart, she glanced at Xia Qinyu, who was practically bouncing with excitement. Suddenly inspired, she pulled her over. “I want to ask you something.”
“Ah, ask away. I’ll tell you everything I know.” Xia Qinyu was still beaming, her face almost splitting from joy.
Yi Qingzhuo held down her fidgeting hands. “Do you know what it means when someone says, ‘The lily on the windowsill has bloomed, it’s beautiful’?”
“Isn’t that just a confession? The flower is beautiful, I really like it, just like I like you. But a lily? Shouldn’t it be a rose? Did you memorize it wrong?” Xia Qinyu thought for a moment.
A lily? Usually, people used roses to symbolize the person they liked, right?
Yi Qingzhuo pursed her lips, fighting the urge to toss her outspoken cousin out. She enunciated each word. “I didn’t memorize it wrong.”
A lily. Because she was also a woman. So when two women loved each other, using a lily was more romantic than a rose.
“Online, everyone uses roses, baby’s breath, and the like for confessions. She used something different. That at least shows she didn’t just copy something off the internet. She put real thought into it, didn’t just pick a random line to brush you off. Sis, your taste is pretty good.” Xia Qinyu raised her hand as if to pat Yi Qingzhuo’s shoulder approvingly.
But as soon as she met Yi Qingzhuo’s frost-covered eyes, she quickly withdrew it as if stung.
Even though Yi Qingzhuo had never laid a hand on her and always tolerated her, Xia Qinyu had an inexplicable, deep-seated wariness of this cousin.
Sticking out her tongue, Xia Qinyu gave an awkward laugh. “What’s with that look? I didn’t say anything wrong. That is a confession. It’s saying she likes you.”
Upon getting a confirmed answer, Yi Qingzhuo’s heart became even more tangled. Countless thoughts knotted together, her mind a chaotic mess.
She straightened up and lowered her eyes. “I understand.”
“And then?” Xia Qinyu shrugged.
“Then you can go back,” Yi Qingzhuo said flatly.
Xia Qinyu’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Sis, you dragged me all the way out here just to say this? You use me and then mercilessly discard me?”
Callous woman.
“You can also choose to stay here.” With that, Yi Qingzhuo turned, her Martin boots tapping on the steps. She smirked without warmth. “If you talk nonsense to my mom when you get back, I’ll throw you into the lake outside the hospital.”
It was clearly a joke, but Xia Qinyu shuddered. She quickly covered her mouth and rolled her eyes at Yi Qingzhuo. “Always bossing people around. I wonder which brave soul is fearless enough to confess to you.”
Even as she said it, she took two quick steps to overtake Yi Qingzhuo, deliberately walking ahead to assert herself.
Turning her head, she immediately spotted the “brave soul” she had just mentioned.
Xia Qinyu quickened her pace, her face lighting up. “Doctor Sister, we meet again so soon!”
Shen Chaoyi had just finished treating a burn patient when she heard Xia Qinyu’s voice. She turned and also saw Yi Qingzhuo walking unhurriedly behind her.
Yi Qingzhuo’s expression was leisurely, her steps graceful—each one felt like a clear breeze and bright moon passing through a sea of flowers.
How much of her book had she read? Had she seen that “annotation” she had left after hesitating for so long?
Shen Chaoyi immediately tried to read Yi Qingzhuo’s expression, not noticing that Xia Qinyu had already reached her side.
Full of enthusiasm, Xia Qinyu said, “Doctor Sister, when you put on that white coat, you look even more like a fairy descending to earth. I feel like I should change how I address you—call you Fairy Sister?”
Shen Chaoyi snapped out of it and laughed smoothly. “It’s not that exaggerated. You have such a sweet mouth.”
With a personality like that, she was sure to thrive in the workplace.
Xia Qinyu stood on her tiptoes. “Doctor Sister, have you had lunch yet?”
“Not yet. I just got out of surgery. Have you two had lunch?” Shen Chaoyi said, then looked at Yi Qingzhuo.
Yi Qingzhuo felt her steps become unsteady under Shen Chaoyi’s gaze. One step light, one step heavy, she could only steel herself and walk up to Shen Chaoyi.
She hadn’t figured things out yet. Seeing Shen Chaoyi at this moment left her feeling at a loss.
