Chapter 79
The journey back was completely different from the journey there.
Qiao Xiaoxiao didn’t even want to drive and directly booked a plane ticket. Before she boarded the plane, she was still listening to Yang Feitang’s roar.
“You little brat, you finally turned on your phone? Is it so great to play missing?”
“I’m telling you, I’m very angry. A roast duck won’t be enough to coax me. I’m going to break up with you!”
“Before we break up, I have to break your heart. I have to tell you, in the few days you were gone, Xinrou was sick and hospitalized!!!”
“It was because of you that she was out in the rain all night!!!”
…
After Yang Feitang finished speaking, she hung up the phone with a smack. If she didn’t give her some strong medicine, this little brat would dare to run away again next time.
She turned around and saw Sophia, who had just helped to get the medicine, standing behind her, her eyes as wide as light bulbs, looking at Yang Feitang in disbelief. “I didn’t expect you to be such an ungentle sister. Is it easy for a child?”
Yang Feitang: …
Is it easy for a sister?
She had lost a full three jin from being tormented by the two of them recently. Her Xue always said that her hands didn’t feel as full anymore.
Holding the medicine, Yang Feitang returned to Chu Xinrou’s place.
Chu Xinrou had been listless these past few days. Today was the same. Although her cough had gotten a little better, she was still curled up on the sofa alone, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.
After Yang Feitang had poured the water, she walked to the side of the sofa and leaned against Chu Xinrou, looking at the ceiling from her perspective.
“Is Xiaoxiao there?”
Chu Xinrou’s body clearly stiffened. She slowly turned her head, her dark eyes staring straight at Yang Feitang. That gaze was so cold that it sent a chill down Yang Feitang’s neck. But she mustered up her courage and looked back, saying righteously, “I’m giving you desensitization training!”
The two of them still had to live under the same roof in the future. Looking at their current state, their feelings probably couldn’t be clarified in a short period of time. They couldn’t just not talk, right?
Chu Xinrou’s lips were pressed into a pale line, the corners of her mouth slightly drooping. “The person isn’t even here. What kind of training is this?”
Oh my.
Listen to that.
That little brat Qiao Xiaoxiao, with just one run, had turned the gentle, considerate, and generous Sister Chu into this.
Yang Feitang didn’t tell her that the brat was coming back. She put on airs on the side, took out her phone, and sent a WeChat message to Xiaoxiao, who had already turned off her phone and was on the plane.
—Xiaoxiao, come back. Your Sister Yang misses you so much.
With a swoosh, the WeChat message was sent.
Chu Xinrou stared at Yang Feitang.
After a moment, another WeChat message came in with a swoosh.
After seeing it, Yang Feitang laughed out loud and slapped her thigh. “Alright, Xiaoxiao said she’s coming back. She’s already buying a plane ticket!”
After she finished speaking, she looked at Chu Xinrou smugly, her eyes full of provocation.
—How about that? Sister Yang’s words still have weight, right?
Poor CEO Xue, who was in a meeting in the middle of her busy schedule, still had to cooperate with Yang Feitang’s acting.
Chu Xinrou looked at her as if she were a fool and, after a long while, said, “Xiao Qi already told me that they’re coming back.”
Yang Feitang: …
Oh my god!!!
This bastard, why didn’t she say so!
Chu Xinrou killed someone with her eyes and didn’t forget to add a heart-piercing sentence, “It’s so remote there. How could I be at ease? I had someone follow them a long time ago, Sister Yang.”
How could she be at ease? How could she be at ease?
Yang Feitang: …
Alright, alright.
Qiao Xiaoxiao is coming back, and she has the energy to bully her now, right?
It’s not like a few days ago when she was lying in bed playing dead?
Yang Feitang endured it. She looked at Chu Xinrou and showed a ladylike smile. “Since Xiaoxiao is coming back, shouldn’t we tidy up the house? And you…” her eyes were full of disdain, and she deliberately dragged out her tone, “how many days has it been since you’ve taken care of yourself? Your hair is all limp, and the scent on your body has faded.”
Chu Xinrou looked up, her gaze cool, as if covered in a thin layer of frost. “She ran out without a word. Do I have to line up to welcome her back?”
Yang Feitang’s lips curved into a smile. “You’d better do what you say!”
At a little past one in the afternoon.
Yang Feitang was lying on the sofa with her legs crossed, looking at her phone and eating potato chips. She would occasionally be amused by the content on her phone and would laugh out loud. And Chu Xinrou, dragging her “sick body,” was bending over to wipe the coffee table, her movements slow. In fact, the house was not dirty, just a thin layer of dust. But she still stubbornly mopped the floor once, tidied up the sofa cushions, and even arranged the remote controls on the coffee table neatly.
After she had finished tidying up, Chu Xinrou went to Xiaoxiao’s room for a look. The bedsheets and quilt cover were all ones she had changed, and they still had a faint, fresh scent of lavender. Everything was neat and tidy, and she was very satisfied.
After her inspection, Chu Xinrou took her keys and was about to go out.
Yang Feitang glanced at her. “Where are you going?”
Don’t tell me the brat is coming back, and she’s going to run away again?
Chu Xinrou didn’t look back, her tone calm. “I’m going to get my hair done.”
Yang Feitang: …
Who said they didn’t care at all?
Walking on the road, with the wind blowing, Chu Xinrou was still telling herself in her heart.
She really didn’t care at all.
She was just really getting her hair done.
But… why was it that when the news of Qiao Xiaoxiao’s return came, even the wind brushing against her cheeks felt different?
Chu Xinrou’s gaze was a little dazed, her thoughts drifting far away. She had never been a person with strong emotions since she was a child. It wasn’t that she had no feelings, but that she maintained a restrained “degree” with everything, like an invisible boundary that always prevented her from truly indulging in anything.
She remembered that when she was a child, Xie Ying had been crazy about collecting the Water Margin cards from the Little Raccoon instant noodles. He had even bought them by the box, gnawing on dry instant noodles every day until his chin was sharp, just for that one rare card.
Chu Xinrou had stood on the side, watching, and had only found it incomprehensible. How could someone be so obsessed with a few pieces of paper?
And Yang Feitang was another kind of fanatic. Her obsession with lipstick was almost paranoid. Her dressing table was filled with all sorts of shades, from classic true red to niche nude pink, a dazzling array. Every time Dior, YSL, or some other big brand came out with a new product, she would be the first to rush to the counter, her eyes shining as she tried on the colors, and then she would buy it without hesitation.
Several times, Chu Xinrou had seen Yang Feitang and Xue Youyou have a tiff, to the point where they were about to throw their high heels at each other. But the next day, when CEO Xue had come in with that box of lipstick, Yang Feitang would cover her mouth and scream in an exaggerated manner, then run over with her slender waist and lie in her embrace very naturally. “Wow, CEO Xue, you’re so handsome.”
Chu Xinrou had watched them quietly, like an onlooker standing outside a lively crowd. She didn’t understand why they could be so invested, so passionately in love with something.
But now, she felt this emotion.
Is this love?
Chu Xinrou was not sure, but she could be sure that her feelings for Qiao Xiaoxiao now were definitely not just a simple “sisterly” affection.
…
Qiao Xiaoxiao stood at the airport exit, the cool evening wind carrying a familiar scent brushing against her cheeks. She looked at the swaying tree shadows in the distance and suddenly found that the corners of her lips had lifted at some point. This city, which had once felt so distant to her, now made her heart feel a trace of warmth.
It was strange.
Just a few months ago, when she had left, this place was just a temporary stop for her. But because of Chu Xinrou’s simple two words “come home,” a sense of belonging had quietly taken root like a seed, and now it had even sprouted.
But…
Her fingertips unconsciously stroked the handle of her suitcase. Qiao Xiaoxiao lowered her eyes. The anxiety and apprehension that had been deliberately suppressed were now quietly growing, like a fine spider web, wrapping around her heart. She suddenly realized that she was like a traveler who was afraid to return home, both longing for and fearing everything that was about to come.
Sure enough, the more enjoyable the escape, the more torturous the confrontation.
Bai Qi was dragging her suitcase behind her, her cheeks a little rounder than when she had arrived. She keenly sensed the change in Qiao Xiaoxiao’s aura. It was no longer just low and gloomy.
From the moment she had boarded the plane, her sister had sometimes been staring at the clouds outside the porthole in a daze, and sometimes unconsciously tapping her fingers on the armrest, like a sky covered in dark clouds suddenly letting through a ray of sunlight, the gloom and clarity alternating in her eyes.
“Jiejie,” Bai Qi suddenly spoke, her voice soft but firm. “I’ll take the bus back by myself.”
She was a sensible child. On this journey, although Qiao Xiaoxiao had not said anything, her forbearing eagerness had long since been revealed by her frequent glances at her phone.
Perhaps some reunions do not need an onlooker.
On this journey, she didn’t know how happy she was. Qiao Xiaoxiao had helped her realize the dream in her heart. After she came back, Bai Qi had already secretly sworn in her heart that when she grew up, if she had the ability, she would definitely repay her sister well.
As Qiao Xiaoxiao was walking out, she was looking at her phone, thinking of whether to call a ride-hailing service. A rose-red figure, carrying a fragrant wind, swept over, the hem of her floral dress fluttering like a butterfly. Before Qiao Xiaoxiao could react, a sharp pain came from her earlobe. Yang Feitang’s two slender fingers were accurately pinching her soft flesh, the rhinestones on her nails shining in the sun.
“Qiao! Xiao! Xiao!” Yang Feitang squeezed these three words from between her teeth, her willow-like eyebrows raised, as if she had caught a cheating spouse in the act. “You still know how to come back?!”
Xiaoxiao hissed in pain, but even at this point, she didn’t dare to be stubborn. “Sister Yang, I’m sorry.”
That little bit of homesickness she had just had was completely scattered by this pinch. She smelled the familiar scent of perfume on her Sister Yang, and in a daze, her nose tingled a little.
“Hmph.”
Seeing that the brat had lost weight and had gotten tanned, Yang Feitang still felt sorry for her. Originally, on the way, she had thought that if she saw Qiao Xiaoxiao, she would definitely make her cry and apologize before she would let her off. But with just this one pinch, her heart had softened.
This poor brat must have suffered a lot on this journey.
Her ear was being pulled, and Qiao Xiaoxiao’s eyes were looking around. Yang Feitang immediately poked her. “Stop looking around. Xinrou didn’t come. She’s just like you, both expectant and timid, both angry and happy.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao: …
Her Sister Yang was really a talent.
Her complex emotions on this journey had been easily described by Yang Feitang.
She was a little disappointed.
But more than that, she was relieved.
Qiao Xiaoxiao took a deep breath and suddenly opened her arms to hug Yang Feitang tightly. She buried her face deep in the other’s neck, her voice muffled and trembling. “Sister Yang… I’m sorry…”
This apology was soaked with a vulnerability she had never shown before.
Since she was a child, reality had told Qiao Xiaoxiao that she had no right to be willful, no capital to be insensible. No one would back her up, no one would tolerate her mistakes. She had to bear everything alone.
So, she didn’t dare.
But at this moment, this woman, who had no blood relation to her, had given her the confidence to be reckless and willful.
Yang Feitang’s originally tense expression instantly softened. She felt the slightly trembling body in her arms and heard the tearful apology. In the end, she let out a long sigh.
She tightened her arms and gently patted Qiao Xiaoxiao’s back. Finally, she pinched her cheek. “Oh, I must have owed you two in my past life…”
When Yang Feitang had come to pick up Qiao Xiaoxiao, Chu Xinrou had specially given her a deep look. “You know what to say.”
Yang Feitang had taken it. “What not to say, of course I know. Xinrou, don’t worry!”
Yang Feitang, who had confidently made a promise, this little mouth of hers, had not stopped since she got in the car.
“I’m probably old. I don’t understand your kind of romantic and fateful feeling of running out in the rain for love. I only know that she had an IV drip for three days.”
“Hmph, you know to feel sorry for her now? Weren’t you very happy to just up and leave when you left?”
“Let me tell you, you are the most heartless person in the world. Fortunately, the studio is still alright. I went to take a look. I was very dissatisfied with Wang Ning at first, but now that I look at it, she’s much more reliable than you. It’s running very well. I think you can abdicate and let her take over!”
…
Yang Feitang chattered on. These words were like a fine rain, moisturizing Qiao Xiaoxiao’s uneasy heart.
Her Sister Yang was just like this, saying the most hurtful words, and doing the best things.
“And Chu Xinrou.” The moment she mentioned her, Yang Feitang was full of complaints. “You tell me, you were the one who ran away. She’s not willing to get angry at you, so she takes it out on me all day, ordering me around like a poor girl. As for your return, she still wants to put on airs. What airs is she putting on? She’s been a dead body for so many days. This morning, she was cleaning and doing her hair. When she left, I saw that she had even arranged herself in an elegant posture on the sofa. Her heart is probably pounding like a pestle.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao’s eyes and brows completely relaxed.
Yang Feitang raised an eyebrow. “And you, your expression when you came out of the airport was so twisted it was like a wet rag. Are you happy now? You dare to run away without a word again and see what happens.”
She wouldn’t dare, and she wouldn’t again.
Qiao Xiaoxiao had learned her lesson. Being pressed down by such a basket of complaints, she lowered her head and pretended to be pitiful, not daring to make a sound.
As they were about to get home.
Yang Feitang lowered her voice and reminded her, “Xiaoxiao, you’re young and don’t understand many things. Xinrou… she’s been through too many storms. She can’t be as righteous and reckless as you. Go a little slower. Give her some time.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao’s eyes were moist, and she nodded vigorously.
Her heart was already pounding like a drum.
And at this moment, Chu Xinrou in the living room had long since stopped flipping through the pages of her book. She maintained a stiff sitting posture, even her breathing becoming cautious. That sound of footsteps, from far to near, each step was as if it were stepping on the tip of her heart.
Finally, the door opened.
It had been three years, and they had never been separated for so long. The two of them, whose hearts had been as if fried in a pan for so long, were reunited.
Chu Xinrou had originally wanted to pretend to be calm and say very calmly, “You’re back?” And Qiao Xiaoxiao had also wanted to rush over, just like the many times her sister had picked her up from the high-speed rail station, and bury her head in her embrace, saying, “I’m back.”
But neither happened.
The moment their eyes met, all pretense crumbled.
