Chapter : 24
Qiao Xiaoxiao’s casual “let’s race five kilometers” completely silenced Chu Fengyi. She stared at Qiao Xiaoxiao for a long time, her lips pursing and unpursing, but she couldn’t utter a single word of rebuttal.
Seeing that she had quieted down, Qiao Xiaoxiao continued to run while memorizing vocabulary. This semester, many of her subjects had improved at a rocket’s pace, except for English, which seemed to be stuck in a quagmire. Her written exams were fine, but her spoken English just wouldn’t improve.
As she completed the first lap around the perimeter, Qiao Xiaoxiao glanced back inadvertently and was stunned.
The pampered Second Miss had actually followed her, albeit as slow as a snail. In the morning light, Chu Fengyi’s cheeks were flushed, the hair on her forehead was damp with sweat, and the emotions in her eyes were a colorful mix of novelty, doubt, excitement, and sadness.
Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart softened, and her pace slowed unconsciously. After all, this was her sister’s sister. If it weren’t for seeing her push Chu Xinrou hard yesterday, she wouldn’t have held such a grudge against her.
After a short while, the snail-like Chu Fengyi caught up. After only four hundred meters, Chu Fengyi’s cheeks were already flushed, her forehead was sweaty, and the ferocity in her eyes seemed to have been blown away by the wind. She was panting heavily. Qiao Xiaoxiao ran alongside her, glanced at her, and asked, “Are you tired?”
Chu Fengyi shook her head, her mouth extremely stubborn. “Tired my ass, I can run another ten kilometers!”
Qiao Xiaoxiao nodded, very kindly. “I’ll accompany you.”
Chu Fengyi: …
Qiao Xiaoxiao: “Haven’t you run in a long time?”
Hearing this, a sarcastic curve appeared on Chu Fengyi’s lips.
Ever since she had lost her legs, she had been treated like a fragile glass doll by her family, imprisoned in a magnificent cage.
In her childhood memories, her world was filled with the smell of disinfectant and endless rehabilitation training. Every treatment was like rubbing salt in a wound. Later, when she returned to school with prosthetic limbs, she naively thought she could have a new life. But in PE class, the teacher’s “Chu can be excused,” and the pitying gazes of her classmates were like knives carving her heart. What annoyed her the most were the well-intentioned attempts to help her up. Whenever someone reached out to support her, she would be like a cat with its fur on end, fiercely shaking off their hand. She hated those eyes filled with sympathy, hated being treated with such caution by everyone. Even her parents’ overly protective care suffocated her.
Chu Fengyi just wanted to be a person, an ordinary person who didn’t need others’ sympathy and pity. She didn’t want to endure those piercing, pitying gazes, didn’t want to be treated specially, just to exist as naturally as a tree by the roadside or a cloud in the sky.
After all this time, only the “inhuman” Qiao Xiaoxiao dared to treat Chu Fengyi like this. Chu Fengyi turned her head and glanced at Qiao Xiaoxiao. “Hey, are you and my sister very close?”
Qiao Xiaoxiao looked straight ahead, as if she hadn’t heard. Who’s “hey”? She had made up her mind. Today, if Chu Fengyi didn’t call her Qiao Xiaoxiao, she wouldn’t say a single extra word to her.
Chu Fengyi was thwarted. She continued to run into the light for a while. The sunlight gradually became scorching, and sweat trickled down her neck. Chu Fengyi could clearly feel the blood rushing through her veins, and a slight stinging pain where her prosthetic limbs met her muscles. All these feelings were new and joyful. She looked at Qiao Xiaoxiao, her voice so soft it was almost lost in the wind. “Sister Xiaoxiao, are you and my sister very close?”
?!
This “Sister Xiaoxiao” made the usually soft-hearted Qiao Xiaoxiao’s foot slip, and she almost fell. She turned her head in surprise, but saw Chu Fengyi turn her face away, the tips of her ears a suspicious shade of red, her gaze wandering to the distant parasol trees, refusing to meet hers.
…
The Second Miss was just that adaptable.
She missed her sister so much she was going crazy.
To get some information about her sister, Chu Fengyi was willing to be like Goujian of Yue, enduring hardship and humiliation to achieve her goal.
For some reason, looking at her, Qiao Xiaoxiao suddenly thought of Nuonuo, who was thousands of miles away, and her heart softened.
“Let’s go, let’s not run anymore. I’ll take you to eat.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao knew that Chu Fengyi was about to collapse. She took her to a small shop downstairs. Sometimes, when Chu Xinrou went out early in the morning to sketch, and she didn’t have time after her run, she would come here for a bite.
The hole-in-the-wall restaurant wasn’t big, with four or five greasy square tables crammed into the cramped space, but it was packed with customers.
The Second Miss was disgusted by the greasy corners of the tables and frowned. “I’m not eating.”
“Really not eating?”
“Really. I, Chu Fengyi, will never eat in a place like this!”
Qiao Xiaoxiao held a basket of soup dumplings and glanced up at her. “My sister often comes here to eat.”
One sentence hit the nail on the head.
Qiao Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow. “Are you eating?”
Chu Fengyi nodded obediently. “I’m eating.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao: “What are you eating?”
Chu Fengyi craned her neck. “I’ll have whatever my sister usually has.”
Five minutes later, steaming hot tofu pudding and crystal-clear soup dumplings were placed on the table. The light fragrance of the tofu pudding mixed with the savory aroma of the meat filling filled the small space.
The Second Miss, who had just sworn she would never eat at such a roadside stall, not only polished off the breakfast in front of her but even took off her jacket because she was hot. Qiao Xiaoxiao looked at the greasy corners of her mouth and couldn’t help but smile. “Are you full?”
Chu Fengyi licked her lips, her eyes still glancing at the steamer. “I could probably have another basket.”
…
When they pushed open the door of the shop, the morning sun had already risen above the clouds. The golden morning light shone gently on them, and even their stomachs felt warm and comfortable.
Chu Fengyi took a deep breath, feeling the pleasure of breathing freely for the first time in a long time. She squinted and announced, “I want this chef. I’ll have him start working at my house tomorrow.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao didn’t understand the lives of the rich. She held out her hand and calculated seriously, “Two baskets of soup dumplings, one tea egg, and a cup of soy milk, a total of six yuan and eighty cents. Pay up.”
The corner of Chu Fengyi’s mouth twitched. She frowned. “Actually, it was greasy and not good at all.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao smiled and shook her head, not continuing the conversation. The south gate morning market should be open by now. She had to hurry and get a good spot. By the time she had deftly set up her small stall and displayed the bracelets she had woven herself, she looked up and met Chu Fengyi’s intense gaze again.
Qiao Xiaoxiao: …
Why is this young lady sticking to me like a piece of candy?
Chu Fengyi playfully fiddled with the bracelets on the stall, the glass beads clinking against her fingertips. “How much is this?”
Qiao Xiaoxiao raised her eyelids. With this kind of rich and foolish customer, it would be a waste not to rip her off. “Fifteen for one, thirty for two.”
“So cheap!” Chu Fengyi’s eyes lit up, as if she had discovered a treasure. “How many do you have here? I’ll take them all!” She took half a step closer. “Stop setting up your stall and tell me about my sister.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao just rolled her eyes at her and took out a red string from the drawer. Her slender fingers flew, and an exquisite concentric knot gradually took shape. She hummed an out-of-tune little song, completely ignoring the Second Miss in front of her.
The sunlight filtered through the shadows of the trees, casting a dappled light on the stall, making the red string look particularly vibrant. Qiao Xiaoxiao’s knot-tying technique was so skilled it was dazzling. The complex knots seemed to come to life in her fingers. Occasionally, a passerby would stop, and she would look up and show a professional smile. “Three yuan for one, five yuan for two.”
Chu Fengyi knew she was being ripped off but wasn’t angry. She saw that Boss Qiao was immersed in her business and was ignoring her. She stood there hesitating for a long time. She knew that if she wanted to get any information about her sister from Qiao Xiaoxiao, she had to show some sincerity. She picked up a red string and put it on her wrist, shouting, “Come on, don’t miss out! Ancient knot-tying, a thirty-year-old traditional stall! It’s going to be demolished tomorrow! The last day of the big sale, the big sale!”
Qiao Xiaoxiao’s fingers, which were tying a knot, suddenly paused. She stared at Chu Fengyi, dumbfounded.
What???
…
When Ah Sen reported to Chu Xinrou that the Second Miss had been taken for a run by Qiao Xiaoxiao early in the morning, had eaten at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and was now selling things as a vendor on Fumin Street, the usually composed Chu Xinrou shot up from her easel. “What?”
The other things were fine, but running? How could Yiyi’s leg handle it?
Ah Sen nodded with a grave expression. “That’s right, Eldest Miss.”
Seeing that Chu Xinrou was anxious, Yang Feitang said from the side, “Hey, hey, hey, don’t let your concern cloud your judgment. Although that little brat Xiaoxiao can be a handful, she knows what she’s doing. She must have been pestered by Yiyi.”
That wouldn’t do either. If anything happened to Yiyi’s leg again, Chu Xinrou couldn’t bear it.
She anxiously started to walk out. Yang Feitang was worried and followed her. When the two of them arrived at the morning market, they were shocked by the scene before them.
Because she was too idle, Yang Feitang would often come to Qiao Xiaoxiao’s stall to chat. She knew that even on her best days, she would only sell twenty or thirty bracelets. But now, her stall was more than half empty.
And the one shouting in front of the stall was actually Chu Fengyi. Her wrist was wrapped with seven or eight bracelets, shining dazzlingly in the sun. “Look, in natural light, it’s even more beautiful. And these beads, they’re like colorful glass, so beautiful. Young man, aren’t you going to buy one? This is practically a microcosm of your love, beautiful and pure.”
The girl immediately turned to look at her boyfriend, whose arm she was holding. With the words hanging in the air like that, if the young man didn’t buy it, he probably wouldn’t see the sun tomorrow. He was just about to take out his money when Chu Fengyi’s slender fingers picked up another bracelet. “Let’s get a matching couple’s set!” She gently tapped the two bracelets together, the glass beads clinking. “Like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, it’s only complete as a pair~”
The Second Miss had really opened Qiao Xiaoxiao’s eyes today. The bracelets she had previously sold for three yuan, the Second Miss had raised the price to twelve. And even then, Chu Fengyi wasn’t satisfied. “If you register a brand, do some advertising, and some marketing, you could easily sell them for over a hundred.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao’s eyes lit up, and she praised her sincerely, “You’re so smart.”
The corners of Chu Fengyi’s mouth began to lift uncontrollably.
Qiao Xiaoxiao: “The profit doubled today. You’re so amazing.”
The corners of Chu Fengyi’s mouth were already uncontrollable, grinning from ear to ear. Well, has the country bumpkin’s eyes been opened? Has she witnessed the power of the Second Miss?
Qiao Xiaoxiao: “You’ve given these bracelets a new soul.”
Chu Fengyi was already so proud she was starting to shake her prosthetic leg. She was gradually losing herself in the praise.
The time was right. Boss Qiao revealed her true intentions. “Then… the brand marketing you mentioned, can we cooperate?”
Chu Fengyi: …
The onlookers in the distance, Chu Xinrou and Yang Feitang: …
Boss Qiao had made the Second Miss, who was new to the business world, feel the “dangers” of being a small person.
The two of them were busy all morning. Originally, Qiao Xiaoxiao was afraid she would be too tired and couldn’t take it, and wanted to close up the stall early.
But who knew that the Second Miss had OCD and insisted on selling everything before leaving. The chair she was given, she would sit for a moment and then immediately get up when she saw a customer. Qiao Xiaoxiao couldn’t take it anymore. “Just stay seated.” If her leg was uncomfortable, her sister would be heartbroken.
Chu Fengyi: “Is that how you treat customers? We’re not just selling bracelets, we’re selling service.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao was silent. To be honest, she had really learned a lot from Chu Fengyi today and had also seen the gap between them.
Finally, they had sold almost everything. At lunchtime, Qiao Xiaoxiao looked at the Second Miss and asked, “What do you want to eat? My treat.”
The Second Miss remembered the embarrassing incident from the morning and patted her stomach. “I’m not hungry yet. I’ll just have something light.”
So, Boss Qiao took Chu Fengyi to a congee shop. She ordered a bowl of century egg and lean pork congee and served the Second Miss a bowl of exceptionally light and free plain congee.
Chu Fengyi: …
The Second Miss ate the bland plain congee and looked up at Qiao Xiaoxiao, who was eating and calculating her accounts. She was about to speak when Qiao Xiaoxiao handed her a stack of money. “Count it. This is from the bracelets we sold this morning. We’ll split it.”
Chu Fengyi was stunned for a moment. She looked at the money and then at Qiao Xiaoxiao. “I don’t want it.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao glanced at her. “What, you look down on poor students?”
Chu Fengyi’s spoon gently tapped the rim of the bowl, making a crisp sound. She looked up at Qiao Xiaoxiao and asked, “Didn’t my sister already decide to sponsor you? Why are you still working so hard?”
She had seen too many examples like this. Her sister had sponsored many students over the years. At first, they all acted very motivated, but over time, that enthusiasm would gradually fade.
Human nature is lazy. This was a truth she firmly believed in.
Before she came, she had specially had someone investigate Qiao Xiaoxiao. The information showed that this girl was indeed just “temporarily staying” with her sister, and all her expenses were earned by herself bit by bit. At that time, Chu Fengyi had sneered, thinking it was just for show. But after following Qiao Xiaoxiao around for half a day, she was completely silent.
Qiao Xiaoxiao looked at her quietly and suddenly asked in return, “That day, why did you push my sister?”
This question pierced Chu Fengyi’s heart. Her eyes immediately turned red, and her voice was low. “I didn’t mean to.”
At that time, she was too emotional because she had found her sister and seen her.
No matter what, her sister was injured, and it was her fault. Afterwards, she was stubborn and didn’t even ask, even though her heart was aching.
Qiao Xiaoxiao stared at Chu Fengyi and asked softly, “Do you know why my sister sponsors so many people?”
Chu Fengyi looked up, her eyes still red, a trace of confusion in them.
Diagonally behind her, Yang Feitang, who was eavesdropping, was also stunned. She subconsciously looked at Chu Xinrou. They had known each other for many years, but she had never delved into the reason why Chu Xinrou sponsored these children, only thinking it was out of her kindness.
Chu Xinrou was still holding a cup of freshly brewed floral tea. Her figure looked particularly thin under the light, and her expression was blank for a moment.
Qiao Xiaoxiao picked up a glass and took a sip of lemonade, the water droplets sliding down the side of the glass. Her voice was very soft, as if she were talking to herself. “In the past, I would just look at her paintings and guess…”
Her sister’s paintings, the ones exhibited to the public, were always of bright landscapes, sunshine, seas of flowers, and distant mountains, the brushstrokes warm and bright.
But when she was alone in the art studio, those lines would suddenly twist, the colors repressive and gloomy. Qiao Xiaoxiao couldn’t understand those abstract paintings, but she had engraved each one in her memory.
All the guesses and doubts were like scattered pearls, falling into Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart. It wasn’t until the moment she saw Chu Fengyi that all the pearls were strung together.
“My sister is atoning, isn’t she?”
She wanted to use these good deeds to fill the void in her heart, and also to help these children.
Because they could still be helped, and Chu Xinrou’s help could still be meaningful.
Chu Fengyi’s tears finally fell. She asked in a trembling voice, “How do you know all this?”
Qiao Xiaoxiao was silent for a long time. “Because what she went through, I’ve been through too.”
That year, Nuonuo had a high fever that wouldn’t go down, and it damaged her throat. Facing the overwhelming accusations and the hostile gazes of the entire village, she was all too familiar with those hellish days. It was precisely because of this that she could so truly understand the pain hidden in the twisted lines of Chu Xinrou’s paintings.
Now, Qiao Xiaoxiao had also roughly unraveled the long-held doubts in her heart, understanding why Chu Xinrou was so good to her.
Perhaps it was because when her sister saw her, she saw a past version of herself.
She was just one of the many “pearls” that needed to be saved in her sister’s life.
This realization brought a bitter taste to Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart, but she also felt a strange sense of relief. “You and your sister are related by blood. This innate bond makes you take it for granted, right?” Qiao Xiaoxiao’s gaze drifted into the distance. These words had been buried in her heart for a long time.
“But it’s different for me. From as far back as I can remember, all I’ve known is insults, beatings, and discrimination. I never dared to imagine that someone like me could meet a good person like my sister.”
“She’s really too good.”
“I don’t want our relationship to just be at the stage where she sponsors me through my difficulties.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao choked up, unable to say the rest.
Even if she was just a pearl on her sister’s path to redemption, even if this warmth would eventually dissipate, she was willing to accept it. To have it for even one more second… was good enough.
