#40: Why Can’t You Like Me The Way You Like Him...?

Leaving the hotel, everyone rode back in Li Yeheng’s car.

Cheng Mi, Li Chu, and Si Huiru sat in the back seat, while Si Tingyan was in the passenger seat. Throughout the ride, only Si Huiru and Li Yeheng’s voices could be heard conversing.

As they approached home, the car hadn’t yet reached the residential building when they saw a figure standing far off in the distance below.

The girl held a exquisitely ribbon-tied gift box. Her figure, with the slender, delicate charm unique to teenage girls, wore a short black denim jacket, a skirt that reached her thighs, and a pair of fair, slender legs that gleamed in the dark night.

A glance was enough to know who it was: Qi Yunmiao.

To Cheng Mi’s surprise, Si Huiru also recognized her. After getting out of the car, it was Si Huiru who called out to Si Tingyan, who was getting out of the passenger seat. She spoke over the car roof: “Xiao Yan, if I’m not mistaken, that young girl should be your classmate, right?”

Li Yeheng glanced: “Xiao Yan’s classmate?”

“Mhm, that young girl often comes to our house to ask Xiao Yan for help with homework.”

At this moment, Qi Yunmiao slightly stood on tiptoe, waving at Si Tingyan and calling his name.

Si Huiru said: “Xiao Yan, your classmate is looking for you. Go see what she needs. It gets cold out here at night, so invite her inside to sit down.”

After speaking, she and Li Yeheng went upstairs first.

Cheng Mi got out from behind Si Huiru, paying no attention to anything, and walked into the building after closing the car door.

Li Chu walked ahead of her.

Si Tingyan didn’t follow.

Back home, the house, usually empty and quiet with just the three of them, became much livelier after Li Yeheng and Li Chu arrived.

There were no spare rooms, so Cheng Mi and Li Chu shared one.

As Cheng Mi changed her shoes, Li Chu spoke up: “Which room?”

From the entrance, two doors faced each other. Cheng Mi said: “The one on the right.”

Li Chu pushed her suitcase over.

Cheng Mi glanced at her retreating figure, then looked away. After putting on her indoor slippers, she also went back to the room.

Li Chu didn’t close the door after entering the room, nor did she turn on the light. Only a patch of light from the hallway spilled onto the floor.

Several camera lenses came into view. Li Chu’s photography bag was spread open on the floor.

Cheng Mi walked in. Li Chu looked up, her features and complexion so cold they conveyed a sense of world-weariness.

She then lowered her gaze, continuing to organize her equipment.

Cheng Mi walked in. Li Chu didn’t like overly bright environments. She didn’t feel for the light switch on the wall; instead, she walked to the desk and turned on the desk lamp.

A thin layer of light instantly adhered to the dim walls of the room.

Cheng Mi turned around and leaned against the edge of the desk, her eyes on Li Chu.

Li Chu’s suitcase stood upright nearby; she had no intention of opening it to unpack. She must have known Cheng Mi was looking at her, but she didn’t look up.

The earring in her left ear was somewhat dazzling.

The wind blew outside the building, and the curtains on the windowsill stirred slightly.

Cheng Mi didn’t say anything either. She turned back and sat down at the desk, picked up her workbook, turned to the knowledge point covered today, and wrote with her pen to solidify her memory.

After a while, a rustling sound came from behind her.

The sound of cigarette plastic wrap being torn off, and then, nothing more, just the sound of something being rummaged for.

Cheng Mi didn’t need to turn around to know what Li Chu was looking for.

After smoking last night, she had casually tossed it onto the corner of the desk. She reached out, hooked it, pulled out a cigarette, put down her pen, and with her other hand, fumbled for her lighter.

She pressed it, a click, and a cluster of flame leaped up.

Cheng Mi held the cigarette loosely between her fingers, bringing it closer.

The tobacco glowed red. She released her hand, put the lighter back on the desk, and slowly walked to stand in front of Li Chu.

The cigarette tip was pointed towards Li Chu, lightly touching her lips.

Li Chu’s hair was tied high in a ponytail, that loose strand of hair curling against her left cheek. She looked up.

Her double eyelids were like two thin, sharp blades, slightly upturned, often giving her an air of cold arrogance mixed with sharpness.

Cheng Mi also looked at her.

The cigarette tip rested against Li Chu’s lips. A few seconds later, Li Chu’s thin lips slightly parted and lightly closed around it.

Cheng Mi then released her fingers from the cigarette, and suddenly asked: “What time is your flight tonight?”

Even though neither of them mentioned it after meeting, they both understood implicitly.

Tomorrow was Jiang Xunzhi’s death anniversary.

They both had to go see him.

Li Chu didn’t stay silent with her: “There’s only one flight to Jiashan tonight.”

Since those events two years ago, their relationship had always been lukewarm, never completely broken, but not warm either.

Cheng Mi nodded. When she was about to walk back to the desk to get her phone, she paused: “Smoke less.”

The newly opened pack of cigarettes was still in Li Chu’s hand. She tossed it back into her bag: “Didn’t you see? Just opened.”

Cheng Mi returned to her desk and picked up her phone, opening a web page.

The network was bad. The phone was stuck for a long time before finally booking a ticket for 11 PM.

Before exiting, she saw that flights from Li Chu’s university city to Jiashan required a transfer in Fengxun. No wonder she came back tonight.

11 PM, it was about time to leave.

She wouldn’t stay long there. Cheng Mi put down her phone, just took a change of clothes from the wardrobe, and grabbed a bag.

Soon, Si Huiru came over and called them to have some stew: “The stew was already cooked before we left. It’s still warm. I heard Yeheng say you’ll be going back to Jiashan later. Although it’s not far from Fengxun, it’ll be midnight by the time you get there. You’ll definitely be hungry on the way, so have some stew before you go.”

They had just finished eating, but Cheng Mi and Li Chu both tacitly agreed not to refuse Si Huiru’s smiling offer.

They both knew they would have a long relationship with Si Huiru in the future; Li Yeheng was truly going to spend his life with her.

________________________________________

The two walked out of the room, one after the other.

The door to Si Tingyan’s room opposite was closed; Cheng Mi knew he wasn’t there.

They had been in their room with the door open and hadn’t seen Si Tingyan return.

Li Chu walked ahead of Cheng Mi, heading towards the kitchen. Cheng Mi went to the bathroom.

Halfway through washing her hands, the bathroom door beside her was opened from the outside.

Cheng Mi didn’t turn to look back. She raised her eyelashes, her gaze falling on the mirror.

At the bathroom door, Si Tingyan’s eyes showed no surprise at seeing her, nor did he coldly ignore her.

He was clearly looking for her.

His brows were faintly veiled in a dark, calm, cold hue.

Cheng Mi’s fingers were under the cold water. She didn’t pause. After two seconds of eye contact, she lowered her eyes and continued rinsing.

After washing, she turned off the water but didn’t immediately turn around.

Water droplets trickled from her fingertips onto the tiles. She took a hand towel from beside her and meticulously dried her hands.

Before they were even dry, her wrist was tugged, and the hand towel fell to the floor.

Immediately after, her back hit the bathroom door.

The expected pain didn’t arrive; her back pressed against the clearly muscled back of a hand propped against the door.

The sound was quite loud. Someone outside heard it, and Si Huiru anxiously asked Cheng Mi what was wrong.

Cheng Mi was caught between the door and Si Tingyan, yet she showed no panic. Si Tingyan was the same; there wasn’t even a trace of anger on his face.

Neither side lost composure.

Si Huiru’s footsteps were approaching. Cheng Mi looked into Si Tingyan’s eyes: “Do you have something to say to me?”

Si Tingyan similarly stared into her eyes: “If I say no, will you go out now?”

Cheng Mi didn’t feign coldness; she was in a state similar to her usual self, not tense at all, even her eyes were still as they used to be, full of emotion.

But paradoxically, the more she was like this, the more heartless she appeared.

It hurt a hundred times more than a knife piercing her body.

She looked at Si Tingyan: “They can see us from outside.”

The upper half of the bathroom door was frosted glass; if one stood close, faint silhouettes could be seen.

Si Huiru was almost outside the bathroom door.

Si Tingyan, however, said: “And then?”

He stared intently into her eyes, and the next sentence almost froze Cheng Mi: “Are you afraid Li Yeheng will see?”

Cheng Mi’s expression finally paused slightly.

She looked at Si Tingyan, and after a few seconds, she finally spoke to stop the person outside.

“Auntie, I’m fine.”

Si Huiru’s footsteps stopped a few meters away: “Are you sure? Good, good. The tiles in the bathroom are slippery, you need to be careful.”

But these words didn’t reach the ears of the two people inside the bathroom at all.

Before Si Huiru finished speaking, Si Tingyan said in a cold voice: “What is he, Li Yeheng, anyway?”

Cheng Mi’s expression paused again.

Her reaction wasn’t due to the uncontrolled hint of anger in Si Tingyan’s words, but because she understood the position Si Tingyan placed Li Yeheng in when he asked that question.

Not an elder, not a stepfather.

But rather—

Cheng Mi’s chin and neck were clasped by Si Tingyan’s tiger’s mouth, his long knuckles resting beneath her ear.

“Am I not good enough for him?”

Dark thoughts clouded his eyes.

“You do whatever he tells you to do. What am I?”

Yes, he didn’t treat Li Yeheng as an elder at all, but as a man.

A man who could compete with him for affection.

This wasn’t the first time Cheng Mi had seen this emotion in Si Tingyan’s eyes. In the past, she often couldn’t understand it.

But today, she knew.

Si Tingyan knew about her past feelings for Li Yeheng.

Cheng Mi was surprised, but not so surprised that her emotions were out of control. She stared intently into Si Tingyan’s eyes, wanting to reach out and touch his face, touch him, as she usually would.

But Si Tingyan dodged.

Cheng Mi’s hand met empty air.

Si Tingyan looked directly into her eyes: “Cheng Mi, before you came to this house, did you always think you’d never met me?”

Cheng Mi looked at him: “What do you mean?”

Si Tingyan said: “You saw me in the ward three years ago. Did you ever think about it?”

Cheng Mi’s gaze didn’t leave his face.

Three years ago, that memory felt a bit distant.

That year, Cheng Mi only went to the hospital frequently for a certain period. Li Yeheng was hospitalized due to work-related health issues, and she would go to the hospital every other day.

But at this moment, Cheng Mi didn’t recall that past event because of this, but because of the handsome face in front of her.

This face that had always been dormant in her memory, ready to be awakened at any time.

Unlike those passersby whom one forgets after a glance, and whom one tries not to remember.

Cheng Mi suddenly realized she had always remembered Si Tingyan’s face, and recalling it now, it was terrifyingly clear.

She remembered how neat the hospital gown looked on him, his pale complexion at the time, and those black eyes that, though seemingly calm, felt dangerous.

She even vaguely remembered that can of Wangzai Milk, which she didn’t know how it ended up in his hands.

But recalling it now, Cheng Mi’s deeper memories were of other things: that day by the window, she saw Li Yeheng and Si Huiru walking downstairs. At that time, Cheng Mi didn’t even know Si Huiru’s name was Si Huiru.

And—

She suddenly understood why Si Tingyan knew she liked Li Yeheng: “You saw it?”

He saw her intending to leave a kiss on Li Yeheng’s face when he was asleep, only to stop in the end.

That sentence, however, seemed to stimulate some nerve in Si Tingyan. Cheng Mi’s lips were suddenly covered by a scorching heat.

Then, her two lips were ground against his in a torturous manner, as if he were trying to carve something out of her body.

Cheng Mi let him kiss her.

Si Tingyan’s breath lightly brushed her lips: “Back then, every time you looked at him, I truly wanted him to disappear from your sight.”

Cheng Mi knew that if she just frowned, Si Tingyan would leave, but she didn’t.

At this moment, she truly wanted to melt completely into Si Tingyan’s flesh and blood.

She ran her five fingers through Si Tingyan’s short hair, stroking his head.

“Did you fall for me back then, too? I’m sorry, Si Tingyan.”

Utterly gentle, yet also utterly hurtful.

She was falling, but she was also always clear-headed.

“Is that why you’re unhappy every time Li Yeheng is mentioned?”

And it wasn’t just once.

As the words fell, Cheng Mi’s voice was suddenly bitten into heavily, unable to make a sound.

Si Tingyan pulled away slightly, possessiveness wanting to drag Cheng Mi down with him: “Don’t let me hear you say those three words.”

The image of her obediently listening in the hotel corridor seemed to still be before his eyes. Si Tingyan tightened his grip on her chin, forcing her: “Now go tell him you like me.”

Cheng Mi’s five fingers were still in his short hair, gently stroking: “Be sensible. Auntie and he are getting their marriage certificate in a few days.”

Her eyes met his: “If what’s between us gets out, what will Auntie think?”

“Will they even get married?”

The hidden darkness in Si Tingyan’s eyes began to surface: “Are you just going to listen to him like that?”

Cheng Mi appeared gentle, but in reality, no one was tougher than her when she was ruthless.

Regarding Si Tingyan’s question, she remained silent, not responding.

Si Tingyan had the ability to make her lose control momentarily, but she clearly knew what she needed to do.

But even so, the next thing Si Tingyan said made her slightly stunned.

Si Tingyan looked at her, his voice faintly carrying a suppressed emotion, barely noticeable unless one listened carefully.

“Cheng Mi, why can’t you like me the way you like him?”