The Kindhearted Girl Gets a Wife 40

Chapter 40

The pot was still bubbling. Pei Yunle, finding her white coat dirty, took it off and left it outside, then came back and leaned against the firewood.

She had nothing to do and nowhere to go. Even if the room on the second floor was empty, it no longer belonged to her.

Seeing Chen Qingtang take out a few carrots from the bag, Pei Yunle knew that she was also going to stir-fry a vegetarian dish for Grandma. She rolled up her sleeves and walked to her side.

“How is Grandma’s leg recovering?”

As soon as her attention was diverted, her movements slowed down. Pei Yunle naturally took the carrot from Chen Qingtang’s hand and washed it under the faucet. There was no water heater connected here, and the cold water drilled straight to her bones.

Chen Qingtang nodded.

Pei Yunle had wanted to say that she could take Grandma to do some rehabilitation exercises. She had learned a lot this year. But it had already been a year since the surgery. It was too late. She couldn’t even finish her own duties.

Pei Yunle placed the tip of the carrot back on the cutting board. When she turned her head, she met Chen Qingtang’s furrowed brows again.

She knew that she, the guest, had done something unnecessary again. She didn’t want to annoy Chen Qingtang, so she consciously lowered her hands, indicating that she would not move again.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Isn’t it good to have one more person to help you? Besides, this is something I should have done a long time ago.”

Hearing this, Chen Qingtang turned her head back, raised the kitchen knife, and chopped a carrot. A round slice of carrot rolled to the side and finally landed on the wooden board with a thud.

Chen Qingtang couldn’t speak, and she didn’t want to speak. This kind of repulsive emotion would come out of her cells. She didn’t know it, but others could feel it. The atmosphere in the kitchen was very oppressive. Pei Yunle couldn’t stay any longer. She hadn’t expected to feel this way when they met again.

“By the way, can I come here for dinner often in the future?”

Chen Qingtang finished chopping the carrot shreds, and her movements stopped, but she was still holding the kitchen knife.

Pei Yunle showed a harmless smile, afraid that Chen Qingtang would chop her. “Oh right, did I not tell you that I’m working at the Tongkang Community? There’s no cafeteria there, and because it’s a newly built building, there are no vendors selling food around yet.”

She was afraid that Chen Qingtang would ask her how she usually ate. Pei Yunle was afraid that her half-true, half-false words would not be convincing, so she took the lead and played the victim. “Don’t you think I’ve lost weight?”

With that, she pointed at her face, and her rolled-up sleeves revealed a section of her arm, the blue veins and meridians climbing along her bones and muscles.

Chen Qingtang didn’t miss a single detail, taking in Pei Yunle little by little. What a big liar. She had told her to eat well, but she herself had become so thin. If she stood on the street in the middle of the night, she would be mistaken for a skeleton.

Chen Qingtang’s expression was always easy to read. Pei Yunle pinched her small arm and then put her own next to it. Their skin touched lightly, and the 37-degree body temperature was comforting in the cold kitchen.

“Look, I’m even thinner than you.”

Thin? She couldn’t really tell. Pei Yunle’s words seemed to have a bewitching effect. Chen Qingtang agreed as if in a trance.

Pei Yunle was afraid that having three meals a day here would be too much, so she held up a finger and waved it in front of her. “Just take me in for dinner. I can handle the rest myself.”

Chen Qingtang looked at the skin clinging to her cheekbones, as if afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold on. She took an uncut carrot from the vegetable basket and handed it to her.

Then she took out two candies from her pocket. Two purple, grape-flavored hard candies lay in her fair palm.

Chen Qingtang still thought that glucose was grape-flavored candy. Pei Yunle smiled and took the candies. She held them tightly in her palm, afraid they would melt, so she ate them all in one go.

She held up the candy wrapper. “Please give me two candies every day. The effect of supplementing low blood sugar is excellent.”

Seeing her say it so seriously, and her expression was also very serious, Chen Qingtang had to nod.

Seeing Chen Qingtang being coaxed into a daze again, her serious thinking look made her look very obedient. Pei Yunle’s hands itched. She couldn’t help but want to pat her on the head and then lightly bite the soft flesh on her cheek.

But that would scare her away. Pei Yunle had to vent her energy on the carrot. She opened her mouth and bit down. The hard texture made her jaw ache.

One was cooking in a mess, and the other was foolishly adding to the chaos.

By the time the food was officially served, it had already taken an hour longer than usual.

Pei Yunle scooped three full bowls of rice and placed them in three positions.

“Aiya, why are there so many dishes today?” Grandma Liu came down the stairs and felt her heart ache when she saw the four steaming dishes.

It was too much for two people to eat four dishes, but when she saw the person sitting opposite her, she squinted and tried to make her out for a while, then grinned.

“Dearie, why are you back? It’s been a long time.”

Pei Yunle stood up. “Yes, I’m working here, so I came back to see you.”

“You found a job?” The old woman took the chopsticks, her neck couldn’t help but stretch forward.

“Yes, at Tongkang. The work is too much and too miscellaneous, but I’m half a doctor.”

Pei Yunle thought for a moment. There were too many things that had been completed to this day, so many that she didn’t even want to look back.

“It’s good to be a doctor. I told you you’d have a great future.”

Most people still thought that doctors, teachers, and civil servants were the chosen professions. No matter what they did, how much their salary was, as long as they were one of these three, they would have a bright face.

Pei Yunle smiled and said nothing. She put her chopsticks into the bowl of vegetarian melon and beans. She picked up a piece of already cooked soft melon. Her peripheral vision was on Chen Qingtang’s bowl, but the final melon was still put into Grandma Liu’s bowl.

If Chen Qingtang didn’t eat it, it would be too sad.

Pei Yunle convinced herself not to waste food.

This meal was very ordinary, but Pei Yunle ate three bowls of rice. By the end, Chen Qingtang didn’t dare to take any more pork ribs, afraid that this person would have no food to eat.

The moon climbed up the treetops, becoming the heart of the withered tree.

The sound of dogs barking came from outside again. There were no more cicadas this season. Because it was cold, people didn’t wander on the streets and went home early and closed their doors. It was cold and deserted.

As the night deepened, if she didn’t go back, the streetlights would be gone. Pei Yunle had no reason to stay here any longer, so she had to get up and leave.

Grandma Liu pointed to the second floor. “You’re not staying here?”

Pei Yunle glanced at Chen Qingtang. Even with the small light on under the eaves, it couldn’t illuminate every part of the courtyard. The person she wanted to see was in the dim yellow light. Other than a hazy outline, she couldn’t see anything clearly.

“No, Tongkang has built a staff dormitory, so I can live there.”

“That’s too far. You probably can’t get a taxi now. It’s too dangerous for one person. Just stay here.”

“Forget it, Grandma. I still have to clean the room and make the bed. I’d better go back. I’ll come and see you tomorrow.”

Grandma Liu was still reluctant. She had originally thought that this child was clever and strange. She had missed her after she left. Now that she was back, she wanted to keep her.

“What’s there to clean? Qingtang tidies it up every day. It’s very clean. Even the bedsheets are changed once a month. You can just go and stay.”

At her words, a jarring sound of wood scraping against the ground entered Pei Yunle’s eardrums. She saw Chen Qingtang stand up and go straight upstairs.

Pei Yunle looked up for a while and only heard the sound of a door closing on the second floor, leaving her alone, waiting in vain.

She counted three minutes in her head, a total of 180 seconds. The person upstairs didn’t even come out to look at her.

Okay, if you don’t care, then you don’t care. A person who says one thing and means another.

Pei Yunle turned around, the dark clouds on her face completely dispersed.

“No, Grandma. I’ll come and see you early tomorrow. I still have to work. It’s too far from here, I won’t be able to make it back tomorrow morning.”

It was the first time Pei Yunle had been so happy to say that she had a job. She hadn’t even slept on the second floor, but it was as if the entire Liu family had become her own.

She took her white coat. “Grandma, what do you want to eat tomorrow? I’ll buy the groceries.”

“What do I want to eat? Just some vegetarian dishes will do.”

Pei Yunle continued to smile. “Then remember to ask Chen Qingtang what she wants to eat. See you tomorrow.”

The old woman didn’t understand why Pei Yunle was so sad one second and so happy the next. Young people were really hard to understand.

After leaving the main gate, the night wind still carried the chill of late winter. The temperature was much lower than during the day. Pei Yunle shivered and quickly put on her white coat.

Although it was not much use, it was better than nothing.

Tongkang Community was not in the town, but almost on the edge of it. It would take a lot of time to walk back from here.

But Pei Yunle only needed to walk for twenty minutes to get to North Street and ride her small electric bike.

Lin Zilan had said she would buy her a car, which was much more convenient than walking. Pei Yunle had not agreed, not because she didn’t want it, but because once she continued to accept Lin Zilan’s financial support, Lin Zilan would always have the right to speak and control.

It was like this a year ago, and it would be like this a year later.

It took Pei Yunle more than a year to completely solve the problem of her living expenses. Although it was not much, at least her finances were not controlled by Lin Zilan.

The streetlights were still on. There were no more flying insects in the light, only dust.

Pei Yunle looked at the road sign, and her speed began to slow down. She took out her phone and opened WeChat.

Chen Qingtang’s profile picture was still there. Pei Yunle, not giving up, and with a glimmer of hope, wanted to send a message to the other person.

Are you there? Such an old opening.

What are you doing? At this time, Chen Qingtang must be sleeping.

It was the first time Pei Yunle had felt so pained to chat with someone. After much thought, she sent a message to the other person: The road is so dark.

The exclamation mark in front of the green chat box was so red.

Pei Yunle: …

The two of them had long since not been friends.

Pei Yunle knew, but she had never dared to open this remaining chat box, and she did not dare to swipe to delete it.

She did not dare to add, and she did not dare to delete. What if?

She walked out of the intersection and found her small electric bike. She put on her helmet and got on.

Before she twisted the handle, she remembered something again. She took out her phone again, opened her notes, and wrote a new to-do list.

The content was no longer the previous “find a job and make money,” but had become something that had existed before.

Pei Yunle wrote down two items with a flourish:

1. Make Chen Qingtang take the initiative to add me back.

2. Sleep back on the second floor (preliminary goal).

As for the ultimate goal, Pei Yunle looked up at the weather. It was easier to achieve on a rainy day. After all, the pity at that time was not feigned, but real.