You Must Be Good 76

Chapter 76

The tear that fell on the back of her hand was like a hot spark, searing into the softest corner of Chu Xinrou’s heart.

Over the years, Qiao Xiaoxiao had shed tears for her studies, for her family, for the pressure, but never for her.

This was also what Chu Xinrou feared the most.

The Western-style dinner that night, which Qiao Xiaoxiao had spent a long time learning from a video, had lost its romantic feeling.

The candlelight cast a swaying dark shadow in the red wine, making the sound of the knife and porcelain plate colliding particularly clear.

Qiao Xiaoxiao’s eyes were downcast, her thick eyelashes still beaded with fine moisture. The fingertips holding the cutlery were trembling slightly, and even the silver knife was slipping on the steak.

All her strength seemed to have been stripped away.

Chu Xinrou cut the steak and handed it to her. “Eat up and rest early.”

Qiao Xiaoxiao nodded but still didn’t dare to look up at her. She was afraid that if she looked up, her sister would continue with the topic from before.

Chu Xinrou looked at her, and in a daze, it was as if she had returned to the scene of their first meeting.

She had become that sensitive and self-conscious little girl again.

In the following few days, the atmosphere at home was always cautious, and the previous laughter and joy were gone.

Many nights, Qiao Xiaoxiao would lie in bed, staring at the light and shadow on the ceiling in a daze. In a trance, she felt like a drowning person. She knew that what she was holding onto was just a floating duckweed, but she still refused to let go, letting herself sink bit by bit.

Occasionally, in the middle of the night, when she was tossing and turning, she would want to go to the rooftop for some fresh air, to let the night wind blow away the lingering stuffiness in her chest. But every time she reached the top of the stairs, she would stop.

Because that spot was already occupied by Chu Xinrou.

Chu Xinrou was leaning against the railing, a glass of red wine in her hand. The dark red liquid glinted coldly in the moonlight. She tilted her head up and looked at the night sky, her eyes deeper than the night, as if covered in a layer of mist that could not be dispersed, making it impossible to see through.

She hadn’t wanted to bother Sister Yang, but Qiao Xiaoxiao was so upset she was about to explode. She couldn’t help but make a video call to Yang Feitang.

On the other end of the video, Yang Feitang looked much more haggard, but her spirits were good. CEO Xue’s crisis had been resolved, and now it was just some tidying up. The two of them had been through this storm and had resolved many misunderstandings. Their love was stronger than gold, and they had unexpectedly completed the “weight loss” task that had been impossible before. She didn’t know how happy she was.

“What’s up? Is there a brat who misses me?”

Xue Youyou was organizing documents on the side. Hearing Yang Feitang’s voice, the corners of her lips lifted slightly.

In fact, she was grateful to Qiao Xiaoxiao in her heart. She was grateful that in the years they had been apart, Yang Feitang had had Xiaoxiao by her side. Otherwise, for someone who loved to be lively, who knows how bored she would have been.

In the past, Qiao Xiaoxiao would have definitely retorted. But now, she stared at Yang Feitang, her eyes full of grievance, and gradually, they filled with tears.

Yang Feitang was stunned. Her gaze lingered on her face for a moment, and her voice unconsciously softened. “She knows?”

This sentence was like a fine needle, accurately piercing Qiao Xiaoxiao’s most vulnerable spot. Her eyelashes trembled, and she choked out, “I… I don’t know.”

She didn’t know if her sister knew or not.

She didn’t even have the courage to find out the answer.

Yang Feitang was silent for a while. Looking at Qiao Xiaoxiao’s red-rimmed eyes, she said, “Wait for me to come back.”

She hung up the phone.

Yang Feitang’s eyes were downcast, and her whole being was as if her spirit had been drained. Xue Youyou walked over like a cat, her long legs crossed, and sat directly on her lap.

“You have to face it sooner or later, don’t you?” Her fingertips twirled the ends of Yang Feitang’s hair.

Yang Feitang’s Adam’s apple bobbed, her brows furrowed into a small knot. “That’s what they say…”

Her chest felt as if it were being pressed by something, so heavy she couldn’t breathe. Both Chu Xinrou and Xiaoxiao were people she held in her heart. Although she hadn’t gone back yet, seeing Xiaoxiao’s expression, these past few days must have been hard.

Xue Youyou’s fingertips suddenly poked her cheek, forcefully pushing up the drooping corners of her mouth into a familiar curve. “This dejected look doesn’t suit you.” She leaned in, her nose almost touching Yang Feitang’s. “Didn’t you say you were going to be their guardian angel?”

The warm breath brushed past her ear, carrying a familiar scent of perfume. Yang Feitang closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her eyes finally had a bit of clarity.

Yang Feitang had made a lot of plans on the way, thinking of what to say when she got back to make them relax, or to change the subject.

But when she got home, Chu Xinrou was not there.

In the empty living room, Qiao Xiaoxiao was curled up in a corner of the sofa. The light from the ceiling was shattered into mottled spots in her pupils, and the suppressed sobs in her throat were particularly clear in the silence. She bit her lower lip hard, and it wasn’t until she tasted the rusty taste of blood that she realized her lip was broken.

Hearing the sound of the lock, Qiao Xiaoxiao immediately looked towards the door. When she saw Yang Feitang, she held it in for a moment, but in the end, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She walked forward, buried her head in Yang Feitang’s embrace, and tears streamed down her face.

She knew… it would be this result…

But the imagined pain was not even a ten-thousandth of the reality.

Yang Feitang gently patted her shoulder and comforted her softly, “Alright, alright. Don’t be sad, okay?”

She was clearly comforting Xiaoxiao, but her eyes also turned red.

Chu Xinrou was not at home.

These past few days, she had always been fleeing in a panic. Every time she faced Qiao Xiaoxiao’s wet eyes, her chest felt as if it were being wrapped in thousands of threads, strangling her so much she could barely breathe. Only by hugging her drawing board and fleeing to a deserted corner could she get a moment’s respite.

A brush never lies.

In the past, Chu Xinrou’s palette was always filled with warm orange and yellow, and her canvases were covered with golden waves of wheat or blooming roses. But now, she was standing on the edge of a cliff, letting the biting wind mess up her long hair, her bluish-white fingertips smearing large areas of lead gray and pale white on the paper.

“Are you crazy? Painting in a place like this!” Yang Feitang climbed up the rock wall, panting, her calves trembling. “The wind is so strong. Aren’t you afraid of being blown down? You—”

“Have you seen Xiaoxiao?”

Chu Xinrou suddenly interrupted her. The brush was suspended in mid-air, and the congealed paint dripped onto the paper, spreading into a dark mark. She didn’t turn around, just tilted her face slightly. Between the strands of hair blown by the wind, a pair of eyes, even dimmer than the canvas, were revealed.

Hearing that her primary concern was still Xiaoxiao, Yang Feitang was slightly relieved and nodded. “I have.”

She walked over and pulled Chu Xinrou from the edge of the cliff. When she held her hand, it was bone-chillingly cold.

Yang Feitang cupped her bluish-white hands in her palms and gently rubbed them, blowing hot air on them. The wind carried a sigh and drifted away. She looked at Chu Xinrou’s pale profile, her voice a few shades softer, and said helplessly, “You two, is it necessary? Do you have to make yourselves so miserable?”

After Yang Feitang came back, the air in the house finally came alive. She clamored for hot pot, and Qiao Xiaoxiao went out with a vegetable basket. The room returned to silence, leaving only Chu Xinrou alone on the sofa, like a frozen sculpture.

She still couldn’t figure out how things had turned out like this. The little girl who always tugged at her shirt, the younger sister she wished she could hold in her palm and protect, how could she have developed such feelings for her?

In Chu Xinrou’s world, Qiao Xiaoxiao’s weight was even heavier than her own. But it was precisely this heavy cherish that had now turned into the sharpest blade, cutting her heart until it was bleeding.

Yang Feitang had been her friend for so many years and knew her temper.

This was their business. She could only watch from a distance and give them warmth when they needed it, but she couldn’t intervene.

The hot pot was bubbling on the table, the red oil churning in the pot, but it only made the dining table seem even more deserted.

In the past, Yang Feitang loved to eat the bubbling hot pot, drink beer, and chat with the three of them. That was the most relaxing time.

But now, Qiao Xiaoxiao was mechanically eating her food, and Chu Xinrou had no appetite either. She had just moved her chopsticks a little and had put them down. “You guys eat.”

She stood up and left. Qiao Xiaoxiao’s gaze followed her for a few steps, then dimmed. She also put down her chopsticks.

—How did it turn out like this?

This oppressive atmosphere, not to mention Xiaoxiao, even Yang Feitang felt so suffocated and irritable that she was about to scream.

Yang Feitang looked at Xiaoxiao. Xiaoxiao looked at her and forced a smile with tears in her eyes. “Jiejie… she probably needs some time to think. Sister Yang, I’ll go to the school to live for a while… I won’t be coming back. You take good care of her at home.”

Yang Feitang wanted to persuade her, but what could she say?

At this time, the two of them did need some time alone and quiet, and they needed to think things through.

Qiao Xiaoxiao had always been busy. It had been like this since her first year of high school. So, when she returned to school, as long as she wanted, there were countless jobs waiting for her.

The little partners at the Qingxin studio were all shocked by the boss’s “dedication to her work.” They all worked overtime with her, and the turnover was soaring.

Besides work, Xiaoxiao also picked up her brush again. After the “Love at First Sight” bestseller, she had rarely designed any new styles.

Now, her canvas was covered in a menacing dark red, the twisted lines like blood vessels, writhing across the surface.

Those abstract color blocks would sometimes entangle and sometimes tear, like a heart that had been forcefully torn open. A thick black color spread at the edges, gradually swallowing the dark red, just like the night swallowing the last ray of the setting sun. In the texture of the piled-up paint, faint tear marks were visible.

When Qiao Xiaoxiao was about to launch this “Weeping Heart,” everyone had voted against it.

Yuan Lu was the first to stand up and disagree. “Qingxin has always been youthful and vibrant. Why are we doing something so gloomy?”

That combination of black and red, just looking at it, felt oppressive.

Xiaohua didn’t understand design. Looking at the “Weeping Heart” in Qiao Xiaoxiao’s hand, she pressed her lips together. “If it were me… I wouldn’t buy it.”

Who would wear something like that on their hand?

Bai Qi had just arrived. She never easily expressed her emotions. In fact, she quite liked it in her heart. She felt that the bracelet was like expressing her own usual emotions.

But Wang Ning was very supportive of Xiaoxiao. “Let’s give it a try. We can put a small batch on the store first to see. The kids these days are very open-minded.”

Things are diverse.

The moment “Weeping Heart” was launched, in just a few days.

It let all the employees of the Qingxin studio know how many sad people there were now.

In less than half a month, the sales had already been catching up to the shop’s treasure, “Love at First Sight.”

Yuan Lu organized everyone to go to a celebratory banquet to sing. One was to celebrate the success of “Weeping Heart,” and the other was that everyone had been quite busy recently, and they were thinking of relaxing.

Everyone was holding a microphone and wailing. Qiao Xiaoxiao was as if she were tired, sitting in a corner the whole time, her eyes half-closed.

Wang Ning stared at her for a long time, sighed, took off her own coat, and covered her with it.

The moment her face was covered, Xiaoxiao’s tears slowly slid down the corners of her eyes.

In the past, Xiaoxiao had always longed for success, longed to grow up, and had told her sister that she could protect her.

But now… all success and glory, to her, seemed to have lost their original color.

That night, Nuonuo’s call came in. She was speaking more and more fluently now. “Jiejie, look at me.”

She raised her wrist, which was adorned with a “Weeping Heart.”

Qiao Xiaoxiao had no energy and didn’t say much.

It had been like this recently. No matter what Nuonuo said, her sister would be in a “half-dead” state.

Qiao Xiaoxiao had told Nuonuo several times, “You study hard. Don’t call me all the time. Don’t you still have a little girlfriend to hang out with?”

Nuonuo was very stubborn and would call her sister without fail. No matter if she paid attention to her or not, she would just keep talking.

“Now ‘Weeping Heart’ is so popular. Basically everyone has one.”

Sometimes, the decisions of a small group of people still couldn’t reach the general public. Only by putting it on the market could the truth be tested.

The black and red design, in Xiaohua’s eyes, was oppressive and low-key. But in the eyes of the young people, it was a way to show their personality, a brilliant oppression. How unique.

Qiao Xiaoxiao’s eyes were lowered.

Nuonuo looked at her for a long time and said slowly, “Jiejie, if you’re tired, you should ask for leave from school. Let’s go back to Wuliu Village. I’ll go back too. We can go herding cattle together, okay?”

Hearing this, Qiao Xiaoxiao was silent for a moment. She looked up at her and smiled faintly. “Alright, you’re so small. Don’t worry about me. Study hard and get a hundred on your tests for me.”

Nuonuo looked at her sister with worry.

Since she was a child, she had never seen Qiao Xiaoxiao in such a low state. It was as if she were smiling at her now, but Nuonuo felt that her heart had been drowned in tears.

…

When she received Chu Xinrou’s call, asking Xiaoxiao to come home for dinner, it had already been a month and a half since the two had seen each other.

Qiao Xiaoxiao didn’t know how she had gotten through this month and a half. So, just because of a few simple words on WeChat—”come home for dinner”—Xiaoxiao, who was in a meeting, was so excited that she stood up at once, her heart racing.

Everyone was stunned by her. Because Qingxin’s scale was getting bigger and bigger, the studio was now facing the same problem that Bai Fei had faced back then. If they expanded, should they buy or rent a factory?

“Meeting adjourned!”

Qiao Xiaoxiao had no mind to listen to the rest of the report. She waved her hand and “dismissed” everyone.

She was in such a hurry that she took a taxi home directly.

Xiaoxiao had already gotten her driver’s license. She had originally wanted to buy a car recently but had been strongly rejected by Yang Feitang. “Do you think you’re in a state to drive? Qiao Xiaoxiao, I don’t care how you two are fighting. If it threatens your life, you’d better not even think about it.”

Yang Feitang’s face had never been so dark.

Qiao Xiaoxiao had temporarily shelved her plan to buy a car.

On the way home, she had even specially gone to a flower shop to buy her sister’s favorite lilies. She had carefully held the bouquet in her arms, afraid of knocking off a single petal.

The clear and cold fragrance of the lilies mixed with her rapid breathing, a warm fragrance spreading in her chest.

A few dewdrops slid down the stems and wet her cuffs, cool and refreshing, but it made the flame of anticipation in her heart burn even brighter.

The moment she pushed open the door, Qiao Xiaoxiao’s breath hitched slightly.

Chu Xinrou was standing with her back to her, tidying up the green plants by the window. Her light white linen long dress was dyed in a soft light in the afternoon sun. A few stray strands of hair had fallen from her casually tied bun, swaying gently with her movements, revealing the slender lines of the back of her neck. Hearing the door open, she turned around, the hem of her dress swinging in a gentle arc, like a cloud blown by the wind.

“Jiejie!”

Qiao Xiaoxiao happily handed the lilies in her arms to her.

Chu Xinrou took them, her eyes not looking at her. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes! I want to eat noodles!”

The current Xiaoxiao could eat whatever she wanted, but during this time, what she wanted to eat the most was the noodles Chu Xinrou had personally cooked.

Chu Xinrou nodded. Her fingertips trembled slightly as she took the lilies, and water droplets snaked down the glass vase. “Wait a moment. Xie Ying will be done soon.”

The smile froze on her face. Qiao Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment. She looked into Chu Xinrou’s eyes. “Xie Ying?”

Chu Xinrou lowered her eyes and tidied the petals, her eyelashes casting a trembling shadow under her eyes.

Xie Ying in the kitchen heard the call. He was still holding a spatula. He walked out and smiled brightly at Qiao Xiaoxiao. “Are you tired? Your brother Xie has made a full Manchu-Han imperial feast for you today. Just wait and eat!”

He was smiling brightly, but Qiao Xiaoxiao’s face quickly turned cold.

She didn’t even look at Xie Ying but stared at Chu Xinrou.

The fragrance of the lilies suddenly became pungent, mixed with the smell of cooking fumes from the kitchen, making one feel dizzy.

Qiao Xiaoxiao stared at Chu Xinrou, who kept her head down and wouldn’t look at her.

Xie Ying saw this and took a step back, one step at a time, and retreated back into the kitchen, as if he had never appeared.

After who knows how long, Qiao Xiaoxiao’s red-rimmed eyes choked out, “Jiejie, is this the reason you called me back?”