078 I Can’t Bear to Leave You
IFS Center, 11th floor, Design Department V.
“Achoo!”
The graceful OL girl suddenly sneezed, startling Sister Sun, who was staring at her computer and eating a snack, into choking.
“Cough cough! Little Cheng, did you catch a cold?”
Sister Sun pulled a tissue to wipe her oily red mouth, and with a hissing sound, she tore open a new bag of mountain pepper flavored “konjac crisp” and handed it to Cheng Siyu.
“Here, super spicy. Fight fire with fire.”
“No, no, thank you, Sister Sun.”
“Alright~”
Seeing that Cheng Siyu was lost in thought, Sister Sun took a big slurp of her snack and comforted her vaguely.
“Little Cheng, relax. For something like today, where you heard the project needed to keep an eye on the renderings and you took the initiative to come to the company to learn and observe, it doesn’t really count as overtime. Just take a look if there’s a message in the group chat, or sit next to me and see how I reply. If there’s no message, just play on your phone.”
“Mhm, mhm. My brother… uh… Engineer Qin also told me that. I was just…”
Cheng Siyu wasn’t not relaxed. It was just that a woman’s sixth sense told her that the sneeze she had just had was a sign of something. Her girlish heart fluttered a little, and she began to wonder if someone was thinking of her or cursing her.
Mmm…
It was unlikely that someone was cursing her. Little Orange was usually the most likable. And besides necessary social interactions, she didn’t know too many people. It was unlikely that she had offended someone to the point of being cursed behind her back.
Then someone was thinking of her.
Who?
Hmph… first, rule out the idiot brother-in-law. Then it’s my sister.
Cheng Siyu was about to send a message to her sister on WeChat to casually ask, but Sister Sun proposed another possibility.
“Who are you messaging, Little Cheng? Let me tell you, a sneeze doesn’t necessarily mean someone is thinking of you or cursing you. It could also be that someone you care about is going through something.”
“Going through something?”
“Mhm! It could be a good thing, or a bad thing. It could be a big thing, or a small thing. Anyway, there’s a high probability that they’re experiencing some melodramatic event.”
Sister Sun might be in her late twenties, but who doesn’t have a girlish heart? Especially in her generation, when they were in school, it was the time when all kinds of street magazines about horoscopes and blood types were rampant. She could still say a thing or two about this.
Cheng Siyu couldn’t help but worry.
Someone I care about…
Although there were quite a few people she cared about, like her parents and her sister, the two words that came to mind immediately were still just [Brother-in-law]…
According to Sister Sun’s theory, could it be that Qin Ren was in some trouble?
Or… had something good happened?
Like cheating?
…
———————
While his little sister-in-law was letting her imagination run wild at the company, her brother-in-law’s actual situation at the moment was a little more awkward.
After settling his sister, he left the bedroom, closing the door properly this time. Then he went to the bathroom door and saw that familiar figure.
As graceful and tall as ever, but lacking some of her usual energy. Her hands were rummaging through the storage cabinet above the sink, her movements random and slow, without her usual competence, only faintly revealing a strange powerlessness, which made Qin Ren’s heart skip a beat.
“Yourong.”
He took a deep breath and walked over.
“Ge…”
Yu Yourong’s movements didn’t stop, nor did she look at him.
“…What’s wrong?”
This girl… she’s already been exposed so carelessly. Is she still planning to pretend she didn’t hear?
She wanted to pretend, but Qin Ren didn’t, and couldn’t. He got straight to the point.
“You heard everything just now?”
“…”
Qin Ren could only see a little of Yu Yourong’s side profile. Her long, upturned eyelashes trembled, and her lips clearly parted twice, but in the end, she chose to remain silent.
Just like the act of her being exposed for eavesdropping and then forcefully playing dumb, it seemed both stubborn and clumsy.
…
So, what genius girl? When she’s being stupid, she’s even worse than her master.
…
Qin Ren sighed inwardly, then changed the subject slightly.
“What are you looking for?”
“A loofah.”
Qin Ren pondered, his brow furrowed slightly. He moved a little closer to her and handed her the unopened loofah on the cabinet, which was clearly within her reach.
And so, her rummaging hands suddenly stopped. The girl’s absent-mindedness was completely laid bare. Then, for the first time, a watery sheen flickered in her eyes, like the water of a pond in late summer and early autumn, clear and slightly cool.
“Ge…”
She spoke, her voice strained with suppression, her eyes quickly turning red.
“…I’ll cook another meal tonight, and then I’ll leave…”
“Sigh, don’t talk nonsense.”
…
Admittedly, Qin Ren also knew that Yu Yourong was in a relatively sensitive state, which was why she had uncontrollably taken those words he had used to coax his sister to heart. Maybe she would figure it out on her own later.
But her current emotions were also genuine.
In the past, Qin Ren might have laughed at her for being silly. But this silly girl’s eyes could really speak. It was the first time Qin Ren had seen her with such an expression. He couldn’t even manage a smile. Her fragile, glass-bead-like, crisp murmur fell into his ears, and all he could feel in his heart was a stinging pain.
“Yourong, listen to me.”
Qin Ren had deeply learned the lesson of “not thinking ahead.” He closed the bathroom door tightly, hesitated for a moment, and then reached out and gently lifted her lowered face.
“I was just coaxing my sister just now. Those words don’t count. You’re not your master. Don’t take them seriously.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Yourong’s heart felt even worse. She bit her lower lip, and her reddened eyes immediately became moist.
“Ge, I’m not stupid… If I listen to what you’re saying now, then I’ll really become like my master…”
“No, you…”
The genius girl had accidentally gotten stuck in a rut. Qin Ren thought to himself that this had become a chain of suspicion.
“So you just think that what I said to Qing’er just now was the truth, and now I’m just coaxing you?”
“…”
Yourong did think so. She didn’t say anything. Her soft eyelids blinked gently, and a small teardrop fell, not much, but it was cool on Qin Ren’s hand.
“You believe that nonsense about painting a snake and adding feet?”
Yu Yourong thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I do.”
“Only Luo Yao would believe that!”
Qin Ren tapped Yu Yourong’s forehead lightly, just like he usually did with the Pixiu, then lowered his old face and said in a low voice.
“That… to be honest, your feet… are actually very pretty. Not superfluous at all.”
“…”
Yu Yourong tilted her head, temporarily not believing him.
“Really.”
Qin Ren looked back at the door, then leaned closer to Yu Yourong’s ear.
“Prettier than my sister’s.”
“…”
“And you’re not superfluous either. My sister is the superfluous one.”
“…”
Qin Ren’s face was calm, his heart steady. He waited until Yu Yourong was stunned by his words, and her brewing tears had also dried up in a daze, before he spread his hands nonchalantly.
“See? These are the words I’m using to coax you. The words I said in front of my sister just now, I can also say in front of you. So, Yourong, are you sure you still want to take what you just overheard seriously?”
“I…”
“Or…”
Qin Ren decided to be a little scheming. He sighed with some disappointment.
“…because of your conflict with Qing’er, you want to just leave…”
“No! It’s not!”
The feelings that had just been instantly suppressed were released in a flash.
In terms of emotions, Yu Yourong’s hundreds of years of cultivation were not as rich as these past few days.
This world was too complicated, with too many messy emotions. There were many things she didn’t understand. At this moment, hearing Qin Ren’s words, she could only turn them all into teardrops and let them flow out.
“Ge…”
Her vision was blurry. She didn’t know where she got the courage, but her body leaned forward, and her arms wrapped tightly around Qin Ren.
“Ge, I don’t want to go…”
“Mhm, don’t go.”
“…Yourong can’t bear to leave you anymore…”
“How should I put it…”
Qin Ren smiled and gently patted her back.
“…I think I’m probably the same.”
