Chapter 10: Lingering
She dreamed of the days when she lived in the old building again.
At the old and deserted stairwell, he was walking in front of her with his schoolbag on his back. His snow-white shoelaces had come undone, and they were stained with dust. They had even tripped her, who was unwilling to be left behind. She had almost sprained her ankle, and it was so painful.
He had turned his head, and his lips had parted and had said something. She had forgotten. She only remembered that he, who was wearing a school uniform, had squatted down to tie her shoelaces for her. She had stood on the steps and had looked at him. She had covered her mouth, and her heart had bloomed, and the bees were collecting honey.
The back of his neck was fair, and the warm sunlight had shone through the window and had dyed his soft and thick black hair a light gold.
At that moment, she had remembered it from morning to dusk.
…
A square window. The spring sun was warm and soft, and it was selflessly giving to every corner of the room.
The light had kissed her fair and slender ankle, and the corners of her eyes were slightly upturned. She had slowly opened her eyes, and the sunlight had rushed into her light brown pupils. She had woken up in a daze, and a soft blanket was on her, and on it was her familiar smell.
He Mu Qing was stunned for a few seconds, and she had suddenly come back to her senses. She had sat up from the sofa at once, and the blanket was thrown aside. Before she could even put on her shoes, she had stepped on the cold floor with her bare feet. She had first gone to the bathroom, and then she had gone back to the bedroom. Her heart was getting tighter and tighter in the increasingly quiet atmosphere of the house.
A fire was growing in her heart. She had gritted her teeth, and as if she didn’t believe it, she had run to the entryway. She had seen that the place where the shoes were placed was empty, and the water stains and mud prints that had been shaken off when she had come back yesterday were still on the ground.
Her whole person was in a daze. She had only heard a click in her heart. It had taken her slow brain a few seconds to digest everything in front of her. The flame had been extinguished at once, and then a chill had shot up from the soles of her feet to her head. A darkness had appeared in front of her, and she was dizzy. She had barely managed to support her frail body by holding on to the wall.
After a long while, enough oxygen had finally cleared her vision. But the tip of her nose was sour, and her slightly red and swollen eyes were red again.
She had returned to the living room with a pale face.
The sun was high in the sky outside the window. It was a rare and good weather. But the sunlight on her body only made her feel cold, and her hands and feet were cold. She had held the blanket tightly and had wrapped herself up. Her mind was in a blank state. She had slowly buried herself in the soft sofa. After a while, a muffled cry had come from under the blanket, and her tears had wet the fabric.
She was a little childishly thinking in the blanket. The sky was clear, and she had been crying endlessly. In the end, she was really tired of crying. After she had calmed down, she had vaguely felt that something was not right. She had suddenly pulled open the blanket and had sat up, but she had found that the sunlight from the window was blocked. She had subconsciously lowered her head and had looked at the tall and thin shadow on the ground in a daze.
When she raised her head to meet his gaze, a few tears streamed down her cheeks to the corners of her mouth. He Mu Qing subconsciously licked them with the tip of her tongue. They were salty. She suddenly had the urge to bury her head back in the blanket.
Su Yu squinted his eyes, looking with confusion at the girl crying intensely in front of him. Before he could speak, she beat him to it.
“Where did you go?”
He Mu Qing threw off the blanket and stood up from the sofa. Her tears hadn’t even dried yet, but her first words were an accusation. Her small fists were clenched tightly, and she stared at him, gritting her teeth, looking so fierce it seemed she wanted to bite a piece of flesh off him.
“I…” Su Yu swallowed, knowing the little girl was furious. “Well, I saw that our clothes and shoes were soaked yesterday, and the sun is nice today, so I just took them to the balcony to dry.”
“Hah…”
He Mu Qing’s teeth were itching with anger, but she laughed instead. In less than a day, because of the despicable guy in front of her, she didn’t know how many times she had lost control of her emotions. She rubbed her red and swollen eyes and grabbed the phone on the table and pointed it at Su Yu.
“Where’s your phone? Take it out. Put my number in. I’ll call you… you have to answer. You’re not allowed to disappear from my sight for no reason again…”
She paused for a few seconds and wrinkled her nose. “I’m just afraid that something will happen to you again, and you’ll be gone for a few years. If you dare to disappear again, I’ll tell everyone what you told me yesterday. I’ll definitely find you.”
He Mu Qing was righteously warning the other party, and at the same time, she was frantically despising herself in her heart. It should have been a heart-stirring vow, but why did some words change their taste when they came out of her mouth?
“You can add it. My number is…”
Su Yu took out his phone and gave her the number according to He Mu Qing’s wishes. Because he didn’t use it often, he wasn’t very familiar with his own phone number. In the end, he opened the phone book and found only one number, and it wasn’t his.
“Why is it taking so long…”
The little girl was standing on the side, watching him fiddle with his phone. She lowered her head and pretended not to care, but she couldn’t hold it for a few seconds. Her curiosity had easily broken through her self-control. She stood on her tiptoes and slowly moved to the side. Her eyes were slightly squinted, and she finally saw that there was only one number in the monotonous phone book. The name was two words… Qian Ge.
Her tiptoes paused for a moment, and then she fell back in dejection. Her pink toes were at a loss and were grabbing the floor. She looked at the name, her eyes lowered, and she was silent for a long time.
She herself didn’t even know what kind of tone it was at that time. It was only later that she realized that it was probably even more sour than the dark old vinegar in the kitchen. She had regretted it as soon as she had said it. But when her heart was being coy and awkward, it was as if even her brain nerves had been acidified, and she was speaking completely without thinking.
“You’ve only added her. I see… you still like her quite a lot. Otherwise, you wouldn’t still have her contact information.”
“I’ve found it. My number is…”
Su Yu had spent some effort and had finally found his phone number from the service provider. He had just started to say a few numbers when he was made a little uncomfortable by the girl’s straight stare.
He opened his mouth and then answered the other party’s other question. “My current identity can’t know too many people. And if I delete her… I won’t be able to find her.”
“Oh.”
He Mu Qing looked at him as he was answering her seriously. She had nowhere to vent, and her temper could only be suppressed by her. She answered in a muffled voice, but her heart was still sour. She gritted her teeth and thought for a while, then she reached out her hand.
“Let me use your phone.”
He handed her the phone.
She took the phone and then typed in the information with a fierce look. Her phone number, her name, were all stuffed into the empty phone book. She looked at it with satisfaction for a few moments before she returned the phone to Su Yu.
“Here, I’ve saved it. If you have anything in the future, just come and find me. Don’t be so gloomy. I’m anyway… yeah… always here. I’m very free.”
Su Yu looked at the page of the contact list, which was almost in every detail. He curled his lips and then dialed the phone.
She answered quickly. “Hello? Why are you calling me from so close?”
“Yeah, the number is correct.” He nodded and said softly by the phone, “Where’s the spare key to the house? The brown sugar in the refrigerator is used up.”
“What spare key?”
He Mu Qing held the phone to her ear and tilted her head. Her seaweed-like, soft and dark black long hair was draped down, and she looked at him with an innocent look.
The smile on his lips froze. He asked tentatively, “When you lost your key yesterday, you should have secretly kept a spare key, right?”
“Oh, right. I should have kept a spare key.” She was as if she had suddenly realized, and she slapped her head.
After a while, she hung up the phone. The redness and swelling around her eyes had not yet subsided, and a watery light seemed to be about to fill her eyes again.
“Then what should we do now?”
