The Little Duck 21p1

Chapter 21 p1

The dark gray curtains half-covered the window, making the bedroom somewhat dim.

Jian Xin couldn’t quite make out Yan Lu’s expression at that moment, only feeling that the atmosphere was inexplicably awkward.

But the next second, Yan Lu suddenly spoke, “I’ve read this book.”

The way she said it seemed to have no other meaning, just a casual remark.

“Is that so,” Jian Xin said, looking at the hand holding the book and couldn’t help but ask, “What do you think of it?”

“It’s alright. It’s basically about teaching people how to identify a ‘toxic personality,’ helping to determine if you’ve fallen into a deep obsession due to unwillingness to let go, and how to end a harmful relationship,” Yan Lu said faintly, leaning her body slightly against the cabinet door. “If you’re interested, you can read it. The summaries inside are quite interesting.”

Jian Xin blinked, quickly recalling the past in her mind.

—A toxic personality? That can’t possibly be me!

Jian Xin: “So, you’re reading this book to help a friend get rid of someone?”

Yan Lu: “No.”

Not a friend, so it must be for herself?

Jian Xin unconsciously bit the inside of her lower lip and tentatively asked, “Then—have you dated anyone else these past few years?”

“This is just writing material. Many of the situations cited in it are very typical,” Yan Lu said with a soft laugh. “You don’t think I’m so fragile that I need to rely on a book to escape someone, do you?”

Jian Xin opened her mouth but couldn’t come up with a reply.

Yan Lu: “Actually, for people who are truly trapped, reading any book is useless.”

Jian Xin: “Huh—?”

Yan Lu looked at the bewildered Jian Xin and continued calmly, “It’s like many people’s love-struck friends. No matter how many times they fight with their partner, no matter how many times they come to you to complain, you analyze it for them, advise them to love themselves. They seem to waver, but the moment they turn around, they’ll choose to forgive again—”

She said, “There’s no way around it. She’s already endured it so many times. She won’t be willing to accept that she’s suffered so much, yet still can’t get a good result.”

“Then…”

“That can’t be me,” Yan Lu shook her head and laughed softly. “The past is in the past—neither of us needs to keep it in our hearts.”

“…That’s true,” Jian Xin smiled, a little stiffly.

She was being sentimental again.

Yan Lu was doing so well now. How could she not have moved on from the past?

Who says that after a breakup, lovers who keep the songs they listened to together on their hard drives and secretly ask friends to introduce opportunities to each other must be unable to let go? Couldn’t it be that they’ve moved on to the point where they no longer care?

“Well, that’s good!” Jian Xin composed herself, her eyebrows arching in a smile that seemed very relieved. “Actually, I’m the same. I haven’t kept many things in my heart for a long time.”

“Mmm.”

“Actually, I always thought I’d never have the chance to see you again in this lifetime, but sometimes I’d suddenly remember some things, and then I couldn’t help but wonder, if we really did meet one day, how would we face each other,” Jian Xin said, shrugging and spreading her hands. “I thought of many possibilities, but in the end, I found that I was really overthinking it—it’s been so long, how many feelings could be left? Even if we did meet, it would just be a normal meeting, a normal conversation, not even a single tear.”

“Yeah,” Yan Lu replied softly.

Jian Xin pressed her lips together tightly. For some reason, she felt a little uncomfortable.

It was as if, they weren’t supposed to be like this.

Yan Lu turned around, closed the book in her hand, placed it gently back in its original position, and then casually took out a novel that wasn’t hers from the cabinet. In the dim light of the room, she lowered her head and began to read.

“Let me turn on a light for you,” Jian Xin said, reaching for the switch by the door.

The dim bedroom instantly lit up.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome—” Jian Xin replied, then couldn’t help but add, “The one you’re holding, I just bought it randomly. It’s not very good.”

“A good friend of mine wrote this,” Yan Lu said faintly.

“I’m sorry!” Jian Xin quickly tried to backtrack.

“I just meant… uh, I meant, it’s not really my cup of tea, but it’s not bad.”

“It’s just, it’s just not that good…”

“It’s been published, so it must have a considerable audience. It’s an excellent work…”

At this point, Jian Xin couldn’t help but take a deep breath, her expression awkward. “Can I take back what I just said?”

Yan Lu suddenly burst out laughing and looked back at her. “Just kidding.”

Jian Xin: “…?”

After a brief silence, Jian Xin came back to her senses and let out a huge sigh of relief.

She shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Yan Lu, you’ve really changed. You weren’t like this before!”

“Who doesn’t change?” Yan Lu said, continuing to read the book in her hand.

There seemed to be a smile in her eyes, faint and for no apparent reason, yet it made one want to understand.

Jian Xin didn’t realize she had been staring at Yan Lu—at the person who was so different from the one in her memory, yet who always managed to unreasonably occupy her entire line of sight.

It wasn’t until her phone rang, signaling the arrival of the takeout she had just ordered, that she realized she had been in a daze. She quickly went to the door to get the food.

The two of them ate the meal in silence.

They had ordered too much and couldn’t finish it. Yan Lu used a bowl from the house to pack the leftovers for Jian Xin, covered it, put it in the fridge, and turned to remind her, “If you can’t finish it this afternoon, just throw it away. It’s all vegetables, try not to keep it overnight.”

“Uh-huh!” Jian Xin replied.

“Then if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going,” Yan Lu said, walking to the door, picking up her small bag, and reaching for the doorknob.

Jian Xin subconsciously opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn’t get a single word out until the door had closed.

She stared blankly at the closed door, an indescribable impulse rising in her heart.

At that moment, her phone was clutched tightly in her hand, every second seeming to stretch on for an eternity, pulled by her accelerating heartbeat.

Yan Lu had just gotten out of the elevator and found her car in the underground parking garage. Before she could even open the car door, her phone started ringing incessantly.

She looked down. It was a voice call from Jian Xin.

After a brief hesitation, she answered.

There was no sound from the other end. Yan Lu couldn’t help but ask, “Is there anything else?”

“Yan Lu.” The person on the other end seemed to take a deep breath and asked her carefully, softly, “If everything is really in the past, can we still be friends?”

“…”

“I mean… the kind that contacts each other often…”

Yan Lu’s fingers, which were on the car door, paused slightly, her vision blurring for a moment.

After a brief silence, she adjusted her breathing and replied nonchalantly, softly, “Okay.”

The person on the other end seemed to laugh. “Then if I chat with you for no reason, will you get annoyed?”

Yan Lu: “No.”

The conversation paused there.

After a brief silence, Yan Lu seemed to hear a soft, almost inaudible sniff from the other end of the line.

“Then you should hurry home and get some rest!” Jian Xin’s voice came from the other side again, her tone light. “Be careful on the road!”

“Mmm,” Yan Lu replied, waiting by the car door for a moment longer.

The voice call on the other end didn’t hang up, but she didn’t say anything more.

She thought for a moment, then pressed the hang up button.

After the call ended, Jian Xin lay in bed in a daze for a long time.

She hadn’t slept well last night, and she had spent the morning at the hospital. Her body was tired, but her mind was frighteningly clear.

The more she thought about the things she had said to Yan Lu today, the more she felt that something was not right.

Jian Xin thought and thought, then couldn’t help but take the still-unopened copy of Endless Rain from her bookshelf and lean against the bed, flipping through it page by page.

She didn’t know what was going on, but the words that she couldn’t get into before suddenly became comprehensible at this moment.

The story was not long. The novel platform showed that it was only 190,000 words in total.

Jian Xin held the physical book and became more and more engrossed as she read under the lamp.

By the time the story ended, the night outside was dark, and the back of her hand, her arm, her pillowcase, and her summer blanket were all soaked through.

Damn it—

How can someone be both heartbroken by a novel and so full of regret that they want to find a hole to crawl into?

The plot she had told Yan Lu about today, it was actually an original plot from the drama version, a drastic change that made the character’s core different from the original text!!!

No wonder Yan Lu had smiled so ambiguously at that time. She had clearly seen through it and was deliberately laughing at her!

—Can anyone save her?!

She couldn’t stay on Earth anymore. She wanted to go to Mars!!!

“…” Forget it, I’m a little hungry.

I should eat first, then think about escaping Earth.

Jian Xin kicked away the wheelchair by the bed, put on her slippers, and hopped on one leg to the kitchen. She heated up the leftovers from lunch in the microwave.

As she ate, she scrolled through the original novel fans’ complaints about the drama adaptation of Endless Rain.

As she read, her vision blurred, her head drooped, and a chopstick fell to the floor.

The sudden noise startled her. She instantly opened her eyes and sat up straight.

No, no, I can even fall asleep while sitting. It would be rude not to go to bed now.

With this thought, Jian Xin hopped into the bathroom for a quick wash-up, then hopped back to bed and closed her eyes peacefully.

In a daze, she had a dream.

In the dream, she was still in university, spending every free moment rehearsing with her bandmates.

She loved the feeling of singing on stage so much.

The band had taken on a few commercial gigs locally, and a couple of their live performances had gotten hundreds of thousands, even millions of views online. They were somewhat famous.

They pooled their resources and rented a very good factory, preparing to hold a concert together.

No one was willing to pay to see them, so they stood under the scorching sun, drenched in sweat, promoting and giving out tickets all over the streets.

That was the best of times.

The hearts of the young were full of dreams, never caring about gains or losses.

On the day the concert began, she and her bandmates stood together on that dream-like big stage.

The moment the spotlight fell, the audience was lively, filled with unfamiliar faces.

—They cheered, they applauded.

But her eyes were only on one person.

Quiet and gentle, sitting in the audience, looking at her with a gentle smile in her eyes.

*