#66: Qing Hang, Do I Make You Very Miserable?

Cheng Wanyue had also been scalded once, but hot oil is different from hot water.

That day, she accidentally scalded Chi Yue. Out of politeness, she should have shown concern, especially since she still owed him a favor.

Cheng Wanyue took some time to ask Chi Yue how he was. He replied quickly, only sending a photo without saying anything. She could tell he hadn’t gone to the hospital and probably hadn’t even applied any medicine.

This could very well leave a scar.

Cheng Wanyue called him directly. Chi Yue’s breathing was heavy. She almost thought he was in the middle of something. Only when she heard his voice before he hung up did she realize she had overthought it.

Although Chi Yue seemed like a carefree young master, he wouldn’t answer calls from the opposite sex while in bed.

“Just woke up?” It was still early; Cheng Wanyue hadn’t even finished work. “You’re not sick, are you? Chi Yue, don’t think you can use this to extort me; I won’t fall for it.”

He chuckled, deliberately drawing out his words, “My beautiful girl, you’re too heartless.”

Cheng Wanyue said distractedly, “That’s called being proactive, to make sure you have the intention but not the guts to do anything sneaky.”

“I wish I did,” Chi Yue murmured softly. He threw off the covers and got up to drink water, but there wasn’t a single drop left in the cup. He had to go to the kitchen to rummage through the fridge and grabbed a can of beer.

He changed the subject. “Aren’t you going to ask what I’ve been up to these past two days?”

“Not really interested.”

“I helped you with something.”

Cheng Wanyue stopped in her tracks. “...Helped me?”

“I’ll tell you in detail when we meet,” Chi Yue had intended to contact her yesterday, but he was delayed. “It just so happens you also need to sign something.”

The police, through surveillance, found the person who had been harassing Cheng Wanyue near the studio. By understanding his online connections, they realized he was more than just a “fan.” He had stalked Cheng Wanyue many times but had never been discovered.

Such a potential risk remaining near her would lead to trouble sooner or later.

Chi Yue asked someone to keep an eye out. After a thorough investigation, the police confirmed that this person was actually a fugitive from another province. He was successfully apprehended yesterday morning. The subsequent trial of the case would take a long time, but Chi Yue believed in the fairness of the law.

After Cheng Wanyue signed the document and left the police station, she still felt strange.

How did she manage to encounter such bizarre things?

Just a piece of surveillance footage from when she reported it allowed the police to follow leads and capture a suspect who had been on the run for several years.

“I even forgot about it myself. Thanks to you for paying attention.”

“You’re bold and carefree, not caring about this or that. Since I encountered it, I couldn’t stand idly by. Officer Li told me that you once bought that person a small steamed bun, which is why you were targeted.”

Cheng Wanyue thought for several minutes before a faint memory surfaced in her mind.

When she first came to Beijing, she saw a homeless person sleeping on the street, rummaging through a trash can. The weather was hot, and the discarded food had gone bad, emitting a foul odor. The homeless person was still picking at it to eat, so she went to a nearby snack shop and bought a portion of xiaolongbao (small steamed buns), which she placed on the steps where the homeless person was sleeping.

There’s cause and effect for everything. Since she didn’t suffer any harm, it could be considered a blessing.

Passing by a pharmacy, Cheng Wanyue went in and bought a tube of burn ointment, as well as medicine for fever and cough.

“Thank you,” she hung the plastic bag containing the medicine on Chi Yue’s hand. “Go back and rest quickly, and remember to take your medicine.”

Chi Yue smiled faintly. “Having only met a few times, the most words you’ve said are ‘thank you’.”

Cheng Wanyue said, “If your parents don’t care about you, then you have to care for yourself. Nothing is as important as your health. The more you pretend not to care, the more you’ll crave their concern. You’re only in your early twenties; life has just begun. Don’t trap yourself in a cage. With a free spirit and a broad perspective, nothing can confine you.”

A cold gust of wind blew by, and Chi Yue felt a bit dazed. “Is there anything you particularly want?”

She was very open. “No, everything I have now is the best.”

Chi Yue suddenly realized that perhaps he wanted too much, which was why he was unhappy.

“Beautiful girl, I have a practice room, fully equipped with instruments. You can play until 3 AM without anyone complaining about noise. Want to go play for a bit?”

“No.”

Chi Yue sighed. “Alright then, forget I asked.”

Cheng Wanyue stopped him. “You’re almost delirious with fever, and you’re not going home?”

“My home is too empty; going back means being alone. Might as well find some friends to drink with.”

“Drink what? Cold medicine with alcohol? Do you want to die? Chi Yue, I bought you medicine out of goodwill; don’t bring trouble upon me.”

Chi Yue coughed while laughing. “Just kidding. Repaying kindness with resentment will lead to no peace in the next life.”

Cheng Wanyue thought, this is just a rebellious kid starved of love.

“Is it far from here?” She relented. “Within two kilometers, I’ll consider going to see it.”

Chi Yue opened the passenger door. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Cheng Wanyue took the car keys. “I’ll drive.”

Chi Yue leaned against the car door, watching her walk around to the other side of the car. “My driving is decent.”

“But I value my life and fear death,” Cheng Wanyue always felt Chi Yue was quite sick. She’d rather drive herself.

Qing Hang had been working overtime for four days straight, coming home after 11 PM every night. She usually wouldn’t go to the hospital to disturb his work, but eating alone was quite boring.

Yesterday, there was actually a small disagreement over a very minor thing.

Chi Yue’s practice room wasn’t just for him; his classmates occasionally came too. The sofa was piled with messy things, and there was even a half-eaten bag of potato chips.

Messy, but not dirty.

Cheng Wanyue picked up drumsticks and played for a while, then found it boring.

She called Qing Hang, but he didn’t answer, which she was used to.

Chi Yue actually fell asleep while she was strumming the guitar. His arm was pressing on his jacket. She gently tugged it, and he woke up.

Cheng Wanyue: “I need to go back and feed the cat.”

Chi Yue ruffled his hair. “I’ll take you.”

“No, no, no, you get some good sleep.”

“I can at least see you out the door, can’t I?”

Cheng Wanyue wanted to say it wasn’t necessary, but her sense of direction wasn’t great, and she needed Chi Yue to tell her which way to go.

Opening the door, a cold wind blew straight into her clothes. Cheng Wanyue pulled her coat tighter, just about to tell Chi Yue not to bother seeing her off, when she looked up and saw Qing Hang walking towards them.

Before she could react, her wrist was gripped, and she was pulled, taking two steps down the stairs. The streetlights made Qing Hang’s face look pale, and despite the cold weather, his forehead was covered in sweat.

“Qing Hang, why are you here?”

“To pick you up.”

“Then how did you know I was here?”

“It might have been me who said it,” Chi Yue wasn’t fully awake yet, still yawning. “I just answered a call, and they immediately asked where I was. I thought it was my phone and didn’t recognize who it was. My apologies.”

Qing Hang helped Cheng Wanyue fasten her coat buttons before looking at Chi Yue. “She has a boyfriend. Please don’t take her home after dark in the future. You’re young, but you’re an adult. I shouldn’t have to teach you the proper boundaries between opposite sexes. She’s not guarded, but I’m not magnanimous.”

Cheng Wanyue was pulled away before she could speak. She wasn’t wearing high heels today and barely kept up with Qing Hang’s pace.

Qing Hang was silent the whole way. She still remembered what happened yesterday and didn’t initiate conversation.

Yesterday, she had just gone to a bar with friends for over an hour. She didn’t drink, but her clothes smelled of alcohol, and he lectured her for a long time.

By the time they got home, her wrist already had a very clear red mark.

He went to the kitchen to boil water, and she fed the cat in the living room. She was still angry, and he was angry too.

Qing Hang cooked two bowls of noodles and brought them out, but he didn’t touch his chopsticks. Cheng Wanyue also had no appetite and only ate the fried egg.

“Cheng Wanyue, you really can’t tell that Chi Yue likes you?”

“What do you mean?” She looked at him blankly. It took a few seconds for her to realize he had an ulterior motive. “Are you suspecting me of cheating behind your back? Qing Hang, if you have something to say, just say it directly. Don’t beat around the bush. I don’t have that many crooked thoughts.” His expression was cold. “Is it really that hard to be sure of your feelings? Is it also hard to keep a distance from other men?”

“Did I hold hands with someone or hug someone? Chi Yue helped a lot, and his fever is because of me. What’s wrong with me taking him home? At his doorstep just now, you had a look like you caught me in the act. I didn’t explain out of dignity. Don’t think that just because I love you, I’ll change anything for you.”

Qing Hang had just finished resuscitating a patient and called her back without even wiping his sweat. She had no idea how he felt the moment he heard Chi Yue’s hoarse voice when the call connected.

“Cheng Wanyue, I don’t want you to love me the most; I want you to only love me. If you can’t let go of other men, then don’t say you love me.”

“What do you mean ‘can’t let go of other men’? Are you going to deny me the right to have friends just because we’re dating? You might as well go find a robot; a robot won’t go out with friends and won’t make you angry.”

“Friends? Do you have the boundaries that friends should have?”

“Qing Hang, don’t stir up trouble. Haven’t we argued enough yesterday?”

She was already a bit impatient. Qing Hang looked at her like that, his mind filled with the scene of her walking out of Chi Yue’s house.

“Are you tired of me again, thinking of breaking up? Breaking up is fine. If we break up, I won’t have to worry about whether I did something wrong again. Every time your face changes, my first reaction is to apologize. If there’s a problem between us, I only look for the problem within myself. If you want to break up, then break up. If we break up, I won’t be like a neurotic person, constantly worried about gains and losses.

“If you’re annoyed with me, you can easily find someone else who won’t annoy you. There are plenty of them out there. They won’t care who you go clubbing with, they won’t care what time you come home, and they certainly won’t get jealous like me even when you go to a friend’s house. Cheng Wanyue, I hate this version of myself more than you do, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times. If I could, I wish I didn’t care.”

The silence in the living room lasted as long as it took Cheng Wanyue to process Qing Hang’s words.

His expression was weary, and even the look in his eyes was like a withered flower.

After a long time, she asked softly, “Qing Hang, do I make you very miserable?”

They had only been together for half a year since they met.

“Which sentence did I use the word ‘break up’? You’re the one who wants to break up, aren’t you?

“Yes, I admit I let down your feelings for three years. Now you want to get it back, right? How many ‘three years’ will it take to offset your past?

“You don’t know how many tears I’ve shed missing you. If we’re going to calculate it that way, shouldn’t you also give me back the tears I’ve shed? Shouldn’t I also abandon you once?”

The teacup rolled off the table corner and shattered on the floor, the sound piercing.

These were the matching couple’s cups they had bought on their last shopping trip. Qing Hang looked down at the glass shards, the self-mocking smile in the corner of his eye obscured by the dampness.

“That year, who abandoned whom? Who said ‘I’m fed up’? Cheng Wanyue, do you truly love me? Or have you just not met anyone better than me over the years? Or, after meeting in Beijing, did you think I didn’t like you anymore, and then you got excited? You tried it out and found that I’m just like them, not that much in love...”

Cheng Wanyue slapped him across the face, which stopped him from saying even harsher words.