Chapter 38: “Are You Going to Die If You Get a Little Closer to Me?” Part 2

It was like some kind of fuse. Qiu Yiran felt her eyes stinging. “What if we run into a situation where it’s necessary later?”

Hearing such a naive question, Li Wuhui looked up through her fluttering hair.

“Qiu Yiran.”

With the vast grassland and blue sky behind her, she gazed at her and said with a light laugh,

“Do you think it’s worse for me to never drive again for the rest of my life, or for you to never press the shutter for the rest of yours?”

Qiu Yiran was at a loss for words.

But Li Wuhui didn’t let it go there. She pressed relentlessly,

“If you can hide away in some place and never press the shutter for the rest of your life, then why can’t I just never drive again for the rest of mine?”

The question was so direct that in her shock, Qiu Yiran finally understood completely—

She couldn’t convince Li Wuhui in that moment.

Just as Li Wuhui couldn’t convince her with a few words either.

They had both witnessed each other’s past—the segment of history that might have been their most glorious, most cherished, or most youthful.

Perhaps out of pity, or perhaps out of guilt, they both hoped the other could move past that event and become the person they once knew and loved.

She had called Li Wuhui self-deceptive, but wasn’t she the same?

Yet when it came to this matter, they were still in sync.

They had both chosen the most stubborn, all-or-nothing approach.

They never expected it would lead them to cross paths like this, neither able to compromise easily.

“I get it,” Qiu Yiran said at last, after a long while.

Li Wuhui hummed in acknowledgment, then stood up. Her shadow fell over Qiu Yiran once more.

“If you can’t drive, we can rest a few more days until you’re fully recovered. I’m not in a hurry… Even if you still want to divorce me, don’t push yourself on this.”

“I know,” Qiu Yiran said softly. “I won’t push myself on this.”

Li Wuhui said nothing more. She urged her on.

“There are people coming and going here. After you wash up and eat breakfast, go to the car and apply your medicine first. I’ll pack up our luggage, say goodbye and thanks to the hosts, then come find you.”

She probably knew Qiu Yiran was especially sensitive about this, so Li Wuhui didn’t offer to help with the medicine.

With that, she turned and left.

Qiu Yiran didn’t linger there long either.

She moved like a robot that had suddenly had its spring removed.

Very mechanically, she did as Li Wuhui had said: washed up, thanked the hosts again midway, then took the medicine to the car.

Probably because of getting caught in the rain yesterday, a few spots on her residual limb had been soaked and chafed by the water.

They were still a bit red and swollen today, but not inflamed. It seemed Li Wuhui’s medicine really was effective.

Qiu Yiran hid in the car and applied the medicine to herself.

Then she started planning the rest of the journey.

To ensure the road ahead went smoothly without issues, she shouldn’t wear her prosthetic leg today.

Of course, not wearing it wouldn’t stop her from driving, but if she didn’t wear it, Li Wuhui would definitely notice. And Li Wuhui surely wouldn’t let her drive in that condition.

Just as Qiu Yiran hesitated—

Someone knocked on the car door.

Qiu Yiran snapped out of her thoughts, quickly smoothed down her pant leg, and lowered the window—

It was Chen Xuebing.

She blinked hard, her white head veil still fluttering. “Are you driving off today?”

Qiu Yiran shook her head. “Not sure yet.”

“You should get the car serviced in the nearest city first,” Chen Xuebing reminded her.

“Don’t hit the road like this, or something might go wrong.”

Only then did Qiu Yiran realize—Chen Xuebing must be the mechanic.

Before this, she’d assumed that tall, steady-looking Wangwang was the one who’d helped them with the car.

Chen Xuebing just looked too slender—shorter than the average white woman, too.

“Okay, thanks.” Qiu Yiran smiled at Chen Xuebing, then felt apologetic in her heart for her own stereotypes.

“No need.” Chen Xuebing leaned on the window with her hand and grinned. “Actually, I wanted to ask—if you’re heading to the city today, could you give us a ride?”

“Of course,” Qiu Yiran blurted out.

But the next second, she remembered something she hadn’t explained to Chen Xuebing. So she pointed to her leg and said hesitantly, “But you know I’m the driver, right?”

“I knew yesterday,” Chen Xuebing said, propping her chin and blinking at her. “So, will you take us?”

“Sure…”

Qiu Yiran smiled, then pressed her leg, hesitated a few seconds, and asked,

“Does anyone among you know how to drive?”

“I do!”

Chen Xuebing agreed immediately, then gave Qiu Yiran a thumbs-up and said some awkward Chinese: “My China good friend, I never forget you forever.”

Her accent was so off that Qiu Yiran couldn’t stop laughing.

Afterward, Chen Xuebing told her to wait a bit—they’d pack quickly and come over.

Qiu Yiran agreed.

Once Chen Xuebing walked away, she suddenly noticed from the rearview mirror how messy the back seat was—

Since hitting the road, they’d never planned for passengers in the back, so their warm blankets and essentials were all right there within reach.

Now Wangwang and Xuebing wanted a ride.

Qiu Yiran hurried out of the car.

She went to the back seat and stuffed everything that could fit into the trunk.

Finally, she cleared space on the back seats—but a warm blanket from the passenger seat earlier remained, along with their used sleeping bag and a big jug of drinking water.

Qiu Yiran could only squeeze it all onto one seat.

By then, she was a bit out of breath.

But the others hadn’t arrived yet.

In a gap, she glanced at the lumbar pillow on the passenger seat.

That was the one she’d prepared for Li Wuhui.

Because Li Wuhui’s back wasn’t great. When it acted up before, her face always went pale from the pain.

Before setting out, she’d worried about the long journey bothering Li Wuhui’s back.

She’d thought of all sorts of solutions.

She didn’t know if they’d worked.

Li Wuhui hadn’t mentioned it once on the road.

After some thought, Qiu Yiran figured there was no way Xuebing was driving with Wangwang in the back—they always seemed inseparable.

So.

She pursed her lips and glanced toward the distant yurt. No one was coming.

She breathed a little easier.

Slowly, she got out of the car.

Went around to the front.

Picked up the lumbar pillow from the passenger seat.

Then sincerely apologized to Wangwang in her heart.

She placed the lumbar pillow on the outer back seat, adjusted it into position, and felt a bit relieved.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind her without warning:

“What are you doing?”

Qiu Yiran jumped.

She nearly fell right into the car.

But in that instant—

The woman behind her quickly reached out and gripped her wrist firmly.

She steadied herself by the door, still shaken, and looked at the person who’d caught her—

It was Li Wuhui.

Qiu Yiran let out a breath of relief.

Li Wuhui looked like she’d come after packing, holding Qiu Yiran’s prosthetic leg in hand.

Once Qiu Yiran was steady,

She first put her personal bag and the prosthetic leg in the car, then asked suspiciously,

“What are you doing? Why do you look so guilty?”

“Nothing.” Qiu Yiran denied it, gripping the door tightly for balance.

“Wangwang and Xuebing said they want a ride, so I was tidying up the back seat luggage.”

Li Wuhui said “oh,” her gaze sweeping around before landing on the lumbar pillow on the back seat. She suddenly asked,

“So you’re kicking me to the back to make room for who in your passenger seat?”

“Huh?” Qiu Yiran didn’t catch on and answered offhandedly, “Wangwang, I guess.”

Li Wuhui narrowed her eyes. Seeing Qiu Yiran’s utterly unmasked, guilt-free expression, she laughed in exasperation.

Qiu Yiran figured talking by the door wasn’t convenient, so she got in the car first.

She squeezed the prosthetic leg and bag onto the other seat space, added her crutches too.

The back was packed now, but she still exerted herself to make a bit more room, then looked out at Li Wuhui, breathing unevenly.

Li Wuhui’s hand still rested on the door.

She hadn’t expected Qiu Yiran to sit in the back too, rather than just kicking her out of the passenger seat alone.

For a moment, her darkened expression hadn’t cleared.

Qiu Yiran thought Li Wuhui minded the cramped back space and having to sit together.

So she tried to explain the situation.

“Xuebing said she’d drive, so I figured Wangwang should take the passenger seat.”

Li Wuhui didn’t speak.

Qiu Yiran asked nervously, “Should I sit up front instead, and you and Wangwang in the back?”

“No need.” Li Wuhui answered quickly.

Then she got in deftly and slammed the door shut with a thud.

Sitting side by side in the back felt completely different from their previous front-seat arrangement.

As soon as Li Wuhui got in,

Qiu Yiran realized she’d thought this through too simply.

The back space was taken up by too much stuff, so they were practically shoulder to shoulder.

The closeness made her uneasy.

Luggage poked her on the left, and the woman who made her breath catch was on the right.

In the end, Qiu Yiran could only hug the jug of drinking water to her chest and lean as far as possible toward the luggage side.

Li Wuhui watched the whole time as she preferred cuddling a cold jug of water over getting close to her.

She laughed in anger again, then simply crossed her arms and sat there coldly silent.

They hadn’t even set off, and Qiu Yiran already felt tormented. She sat quietly hugging the big jug of water, looking like a very aggrieved and stiff barrel.

Until a third person finally appeared in the car.

Wangwang naturally opened the passenger door and saw the two of them with sour faces in the back.

She greeted them cheerfully and took the passenger seat. “Morning.”

Li Wuhui smiled faintly.

Qiu Yiran managed a nod.

The two of them really gave off heavy divorce vibes, like they were always mad at each other over nothing. Wangwang covered her mouth, laughing hard.

Tap tap—

Suddenly, someone knocked on the window by the luggage.

Qiu Yiran reached over with some effort and rolled it down.

Chen Xuebing stood outside, eyes darting around, then she shook her head.

“My China good friend.”

Chen Xuebing put her hands on her hips and pointed at the two in the back, giving a very authoritative explanation.

“You’re sitting too far toward the luggage side right now. It could make the car uneven on both sides and cause us to flip.”

With that,

Without checking if Qiu Yiran understood,

Chen Xuebing hopped into the driver’s seat on her own. She and Wangwang tacitly buckled their seatbelts at the same time, then both turned to glance at Qiu Yiran—

Qiu Yiran froze.

She pursed her lips and eyed the chasm between her and Li Wuhui, like a dividing line.

Then she looked at Li Wuhui.

Li Wuhui wasn’t looking at her. She gazed at the scenery outside the window, arms crossed, as if she was still angry—or perhaps pretending to be aloof and uninvolved.

Just then, Xuebing said from the front seat, “Then I’m driving off!”

It was like some automatic reaction triggered by an emergency.

Qiu Yiran automatically shifted a little toward Li Wuhui’s side while hugging the water bucket.

Now the weight should be balanced, right?

She thought cautiously.

At that moment, Xuebing seemed to notice the movement in the back seat. She grinned, started the car, and shouted loudly, “Let’s go!”

The car started up smoothly and wobbled its way onto the wide avenue.

No rollover.

Qiu Yiran breathed a sigh of relief.

She hugged the big bucket of water in her arms tightly, trying hard not to topple onto Li Wuhui amid the shaking.

Not long after they set off—

Xuebing and Wangwang sang boisterously up front, while wind and sunlight whipped in from all directions.

Qiu Yiran went stiff all over.

Hugging that big bucket of water felt like punishment for some wrongdoing.

After who knows how long, she heard a very faint laugh from beside her.

She blinked in a daze and looked over at Li Wuhui.

For some reason, the car rocked and swayed as it passed through grasslands under a blue sky, sunlight pouring in through the window.

Li Wuhui propped her elbow on the car window, blowing in the wind idly, as if she was still mad at her.

Qiu Yiran thought she’d misheard.

She silently lowered her head.

“Idiot.”

This time, she was sure she hadn’t misheard. She looked over at Li Wuhui again, puzzled.

Li Wuhui muttered “idiot” under her breath, and her anger finally faded.

She turned her head, arms still crossed, and locked eyes with her under the sunlight for a moment.

“Qiu Yiran.”

In a cool tone, she took the bucket from her hands and pulled it onto her own lap. Then she tilted her head, looked at her, and sighed.

“Are you going to die if you get a little closer to me?”