#55: My Cool Kid Should Live a Long and Healthy Life Without Worries…

Cheng Mi knew she had been deceived by Li Chu.

Si Tingyan’s words to her clearly indicated that he had not undergone a heart transplant.

Although they had been distant for two years, Li Chu still knew precisely how to get at her weak spot.

A weak spot easily makes people lose their minds, and Cheng Mi had fallen into Li Chu’s trap for a moment.

She didn’t have to think now to know what Li Chu was trying to do.

It was very dangerous.

Si Tingyan hadn’t come back into the room after leaving, but finding Li Chu was urgent. Cheng Mi had to go find Li Chu and immediately returned to her own room.

She didn’t know Li Chu’s exact location now. She took out her phone and searched online for the number of the bar that Chen Zhaochi and Li Chu often went to and called it.

Someone answered quickly. It was an employee.

Chen Zhaochi was their DJ. Cheng Mi asked if he was there.

The employee said he wasn’t. Having seen many girls flirt with Chen Zhaochi, he didn’t think much of it.

Cheng Mi said thanks and hung up the phone. She hurriedly grabbed her phone and jacket and left.

Her life was important, but Li Chu’s life was more important.

There was a chubby taxi driver in their building. Every time Li Chu went home, Cheng Mi had been paying attention to her and had seen her take this driver’s taxi two or three times.

The driver might know where Chen Zhaochi lived.

Cheng Mi went downstairs but didn’t see the green taxi.

The chubby driver was friendly and cordial. His face would wrinkle up deeply when he smiled at people. He had a wife. Cheng Mi remembered that he lived on a floor above them. She had run into him in the hallway a few times.

Cheng Mi lived on the third floor. She turned back into the hallway and went straight up to the fourth floor.

This old residential building had six floors, with several households on each floor.

Cheng Mi didn’t know which household the driver was in, so she knocked on the door of the nearest one.

The sounds of a child playing could be heard inside. Soon, footsteps approached the door, and it was opened from the inside.

It was an old lady. Seeing Cheng Mi’s unfamiliar face knocking on her door, she was clearly confused.

Cheng Mi asked her urgently: “Hello, do you know where the taxi driver lives?”

In the old, yellowing, cramped hallway, the light was blocked.

The old lady said: “Are you talking about Master Liu? The one with a lot of flesh who squints his eyes when he smiles?”

“Yes, the one who drives a green taxi.”

The child inside knocked something over. It was chaotic. The old lady was in a hurry to get back: “Upstairs, upstairs. He lives on the fifth floor. Go to the fifth floor and ask.”

Cheng Mi thanked her and quickly turned to go up to the fifth floor.

Below the hallway window, the traffic was honking, stuck together. It was the evening rush hour, and everything was restless.

Cheng Mi knocked on two more doors before she found the taxi driver’s house.

Master Liu’s wife had just come home from work. She was cooking when Cheng Mi knocked on their door.

Master Liu’s wife had the same smile as Master Liu. She remembered her as the young girl who lived downstairs and asked her what was wrong.

Cheng Mi asked her for Master Liu’s phone number: “I have something urgent I need to find Master Liu for.”

Usually, many people from the building came directly to their door to get a ride from Master Liu. Master Liu’s wife gave Cheng Mi the number directly.

“You can call him. He’ll answer quickly,” she said politely. “If it’s urgent, and he’s nearby, he’ll come over and pick you up quickly.”

Cheng Mi smiled and said okay. She called Master Liu.

Master Liu was usually very proactive in picking up passengers and answered the phone quickly.

“Hello, who is this?”

Cheng Mi said: “Hello, Master Liu. I live downstairs from you.”

The radio in Master Liu’s car was on: “Hey, what’s up? Do you need a ride or...?”

Cheng Mi said: “I have something to ask you. Do you remember the girl with the grandmother-gray hair who took your car downstairs before?”

Master Liu didn’t ponder for long: “Ah, are you talking about that very fair girl? The quiet one with a teardrop mole. She’s a very pretty kid.”

Cheng Mi knew Master Liu was talking about Li Chu.

Cheng Mi had only ever seen Li Chu with grandmother-gray hair in this residential building, and Li Chu had a teardrop mole under her left eye.

Cheng Mi continued to ask: “Yes. I want to ask where she went when she took your car before?”

Cheng Mi said: “I have something very urgent to find her for, but her phone is not working now. I want to go and see what’s going on.”

“Did something happen?” Master Liu asked.

Cheng Mi replied: “I’m not sure. Where did she get off before?”

Master Liu might have had a very deep impression of that place. He didn’t have to think much: “That old shanty town. The roads weren’t very good there before. It took a lot of effort to get in.”

Cheng Mi was basically sure that was where Chen Zhaochi lived. She said: “I’m worried that it’s not safe over there for her. I need you to take me there to check.”

Master Liu was enthusiastic. As soon as he heard Cheng Mi’s words: “Where are you now, miss?”

Cheng Mi didn’t waste any time: “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

“Alright. I’m nearby. I’ll be right there.”

________________________________________

The doors and windows were closed, and the curtains were also drawn.

Chen Zhaochi’s bed was a metal frame bed. Li Chu’s hands were tied tightly to the headboard with a rope.

Without light or sound, her eyes, ears, lips, and nose—all her senses were drowned in the darkness.

After a while, Li Chu couldn’t even feel her own existence.

Her mind was hazy. She didn’t grab onto anything, just drifted in the chaos.

Her ears were very quiet, so quiet that she couldn’t hear the cars downstairs.

The place where Chen Zhaochi lived was indeed a very good place for committing a crime.

There was a little bit of dried blood on her left ear. It was from when Chen Zhaochi’s hand grabbed her chin during their argument. He had hurt her by accident.

Her earring was still hanging there.

Li Chu couldn’t even look at her phone. She didn’t know what time it was. Time was crawling slowly, and yet it seemed to be passing very quickly.

She just lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling she couldn’t see.

Her eyes were pitch black. The hollow feeling was endless.

But after who knows how long, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in her vision.

A glimmer of light that leaked through the crack of the door.

A fluorescent white light suddenly split the darkness.

This was followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

The air was still for a moment.

Then, a series of violent knocks on the door sounded, loud and banging.

Li Chu heard Cheng Mi’s voice: “Li Chu!”

The thoughts in Li Chu’s mind, which were deep in a daze, suddenly broke open. Another shout completely pulled her thoughts back.

Li Chu’s eyes slowly turned to the door, and she had a focal point.

The door was being constantly pounded by Cheng Mi. She was calling her name: “Li Chu!”

“Are you in there?”

Then, the phone next to Li Chu vibrated. The screen lit up. The buzzing vibrated on the bed.

Cheng Mi outside stopped knocking on the door and stopped calling her. She was probably listening for the phone vibration.

Sure enough, Li Chu watched the flashlight beam from Cheng Mi’s phone move from the door to the window. The light vaguely shone through the curtains.

Cheng Mi banged on the window: “Li Chu!!”

For some reason, Li Chu’s eyes felt a little sore. She couldn’t make a sound from her throat.

It wasn’t fear, but she felt a little uncomfortable in her heart.

After a few bangs, the window stopped shaking.

The light and Cheng Mi’s footsteps left the front of the window, but in less than a dozen seconds, Cheng Mi was back in front of the window again.

The houses here were old and broken. There were bricks and stones lying around everywhere.

The sound of something smashing against the window came.

Cheng Mi was using a brick to smash the window. The sound of each hit was muffled.

Li Chu knew the glass wasn’t broken. It had just cracked.

Cheng Mi didn’t call her again, just smashed the window. After another hit, Li Chu finally managed to make a little sound from her throat.

It wasn’t a cry for help or a reassurance that she was okay. It was her name.

“Cheng Mi.”

She was close to the window. No matter how hoarse her voice was, the person on the other side of the glass window could hear it.

A second after she spoke, the smashing sound on the window stopped. The two of them were separated by one window.

But this silence only lasted for one second. Soon, Cheng Mi reacted and asked her: “How are you? Are you okay?”

Chen Zhaochi had choked her neck quite hard just now. The impact was too strong. Li Chu’s throat hadn’t recovered yet, and her voice was very hoarse.

She said very calmly: “I’m fine.”

Cheng Mi said to her: “Can you open the curtain from inside?”

Li Chu said: “I can’t. My hands are tied by Chen Zhaochi.”

There was a moment of silence from Cheng Mi outside. She said: “That’s okay. Move to the side a little. I’m going to smash the window. Don’t let the glass get on you.”

Li Chu looked at the light on the curtain: “You can smash it. It won’t get on me.”

After she said that, Cheng Mi outside didn’t say anything more. She slammed the brick on the window glass.

This house of Chen Zhaochi’s was too old. The window style was also old. It was a four-pane window that opened outward. One small pane was as big as a window in Si Huiru’s house now.

Cheng Mi only smashed the bottom left pane and didn’t bother with the other three panes.

If this bottom left pane was smashed, it would be big enough for her to climb in.

The glass wasn’t very durable. It broke in a few hits. Glass shards fell down, landing on Cheng Mi’s hands and feet.

Once the window glass was broken, Cheng Mi roughly ran the red brick along the edge to grind off the broken glass. Then she casually threw the brick back on the ground, reached in, and pulled open the curtains.

The curtain was pulled back. The light from her phone’s flashlight shone into the room without obstruction, as did Li Chu’s face.

Cheng Mi’s gaze immediately met Li Chu’s.

Li Chu’s high ponytail was slightly messy. Loose hair was scattered in her hair. Her face had no color.

But she didn’t look miserable or pathetic. Instead, her hands, which were tied tightly to the headboard, showed a hint of stubbornness.

The light from the phone flickered. Cheng Mi tossed the phone onto the bed.

Then she climbed over the window. Because there were still a lot of broken glass shards on the window frame, the back of Cheng Mi’s hand was cut with a long, thin gash as she climbed in.

Li Chu saw it and said flatly: “If your face gets a scratch, don’t blame me.”

For a moment, it felt like they were back to their old bickering days.

Cheng Mi looked up at her, landed on her feet, and smiled: “I’ll definitely make you pay for it.”

She said, walking over to Li Chu and reaching out to untie the ropes on her wrists.

But the knots were tied so tightly by Chen Zhaochi that they couldn’t be undone at all. The ones on her ankles were the same. They were tied in a dead knot that couldn’t be undone.

Li Chu said: “Chen Zhaochi was serious. How could he let me go?”

So he used a lot of force, and there was no way she could escape.

Cheng Mi didn’t waste any more energy and asked Li Chu: “Where’s the light?”

Li Chu gestured to her: “The switch is on the right side as you enter the door.”

Cheng Mi used the phone light to find the switch next to the door and flicked it on. The room was suddenly bright. Both of them had been in a dimly lit environment for a long time and were unaccustomed to the sudden strong light. They both squinted slightly.

Chen Zhaochi’s rented room was not big. Luckily, there wasn’t a lot of stuff, so it wasn’t too crowded.

There was a bed, a table, and a cabinet. A curtain was pulled to the side. Through the crack, Cheng Mi saw pots and pans.

Li Chu couldn’t cook, so it must have been Chen Zhaochi. Chen Zhaochi could cook?

But Cheng Mi didn’t ask and didn’t care to ask. She walked over to the table: “Are there any scissors in Chen Zhaochi’s room?”

“I don’t know,” Li Chu said. “You can look.”

Cheng Mi opened the table drawer. Inside, just like the room, there wasn’t much.

The first one she opened had no scissors. She pushed it closed.

She went to open the middle one. It also had no scissors. Finally, she opened the bottom one and found a folding knife that was casually thrown inside.

Having something was better than nothing. Cheng Mi took the small folding knife and went back to the bed.

The blade was sharp. It took only a few seconds to cut the rope. The rope loosened suddenly. Li Chu’s wrists were exposed. They weren’t fair. They were red from the rope rubbing against them.

The small folding knife in Cheng Mi’s hand went to Li Chu’s feet. She untied the rope that was tightly tied around her ankles.

With her hands and feet no longer tied, Li Chu felt her bones and muscles ache when she moved.

There were still red marks from being choked on her neck, as well as intertwined hickeys.

Cheng Mi saw them, but now was not the time to ask about these things.

They couldn’t stay here for long. Chen Zhaochi could come back at any time.

Neither Cheng Mi nor Li Chu had time for sentimentality. Cheng Mi helped Li Chu up: “Let’s go. I had Master Liu stop nearby downstairs.”

Li Chu stepped off the bed. When she walked toward the door with Cheng Mi, she asked casually: “The taxi driver who lives upstairs from us?”

“Mhm.”

When Li Chu saw Cheng Mi here, she had originally wanted to ask how Cheng Mi found this place.

Now, she didn’t have to ask. The answer was obvious.

The two of them left Chen Zhaochi’s rented room. Not far downstairs, the taxi’s lights were on. Dust was kicked up in the darkness.

As Cheng Mi and Li Chu were about to go down the stairs, they ran into Master Liu coming up from below.

Master Liu saw the two of them: “Oh, you girls really scared me. I heard the window being smashed downstairs. I almost thought something had happened to you two.”

There aren’t many good people like him now. It was already good that he didn’t run away. He even came up to see if they were okay.

Cheng Mi smiled at Master Liu: “Thank you, Master. It’s nothing. Let’s hurry and go downstairs.”

“Okay, okay.” Master Liu’s chubby body turned around and went downstairs.

Cheng Mi and Li Chu were behind him. The green taxi’s lights were noticeable in the night. The three of them walked toward the taxi. Then, they opened the doors and got in.

Not long after, the taxi started. The engine roared, and the tires rolled away, kicking up dust from the ground.

________________________________________

Master Liu’s car was not quiet. The radio had a pleasant and soothing female voice, occasionally interspersed with a few emotional songs.

Outside the car window, the dim streetlights streamed backward like a river, alternating between bright and dark on their faces.

Cheng Mi had opened the window a little. The night wind blew in, rustling their hair.

That place was not suitable for talking, but this car was.

Cheng Mi hadn’t forgotten the scene she saw in the rented room. There were red marks on Li Chu’s neck from being choked. She moved her gaze from the staggered lights outside the window to Li Chu: “Did you try to attack Chen Zhaochi?”

She could only see Li Chu’s profile. Li Chu’s hair was messy, but her ponytail was still tied high. A few wisps of fine hair fell on her neck.

When Li Chu heard her question, she didn’t turn her face back. Her eyes were still on the window outside. Her thin lips moved: “Do you remember something I said to you a long time ago?”

Cheng Mi looked at her. She didn’t even guess. She just blurted out the sentence that Li Chu was referring to by instinct.

“I understand you even better than Jiang Xunzhi did.”

She said it so quickly and so confidently.

This, in turn, surprised Li Chu, who turned her face back and looked at her.

But after a second thought, she didn’t feel surprised. She and Cheng Mi had always been like this. They would always understand what the other was thinking very well.

Li Chu looked at Cheng Mi: “I can’t hide it from you.”

She had hidden the fact that she was going to get revenge on Chen Zhaochi from Cheng Mi. She was cold to Cheng Mi, said things she didn’t mean, and even aimed the arrows of rumors at her.

But no matter how excessive she was, no matter how fierce her face was, she never hid the fact that she was approaching Chen Zhaochi for revenge.

Cheng Mi had never doubted her and trusted her because they knew each other too well.

So, not only could she not hide it from Cheng Mi, but Cheng Mi naturally couldn’t hide it from her either.

Li Chu’s eyelashes were black and dense. The black eyeliner at the corner of her eye was slightly winged up. Her eyes were a little negative, but not downcast. They had a cold, aggressive quality.

She looked at Cheng Mi: “You can’t hide it from me either.”

Everything that was happening now was never what Cheng Mi wanted.

The debts that Cheng Mi was forced to incur, she never hid behind them. She never pushed people out to take the blame for her.

She would rather take the hit herself than let these problems implicate others.

Two years ago, she didn’t do a good job. Li Chu and Jiang Xunzhi were both dragged into the abyss.

Cheng Mi couldn’t repeat her mistakes. She could only take the risk to stop the nightmare from happening before it repeated itself on this old path.

Only this time, Li Chu had fallen out with Cheng Mi to get close to Chen Zhaochi. Chen Zhaochi could no longer use Li Chu to threaten Cheng Mi.

But Cheng Mi had a new weak spot: Si Tingyan.

Some things could not happen a second time after the first. If it happened again, none of them would be able to live. Their souls would fall apart.

So she had to deal with Chen Zhaochi herself.

Just as she had been honest with Si Tingyan in his classroom this afternoon.

To let her resolve the grudges and conflicts with Chen Zhaochi herself.

Before they could endanger Si Tingyan, she had to take a risk and destroy all of them.

This idea of hers didn’t escape Si Tingyan, and it naturally didn’t escape Li Chu either.

But someone had already acted before her, before Chen Zhaochi could even get to her.

Cheng Mi said to Li Chu: “So you went to provoke Chen Zhaochi before they could do anything to me.”

Li Chu denied it, looking out the window: “Chen Zhaochi is not that easy to deal with. How could he be killed by me just like that?”

The implication was that she hadn’t.

But Cheng Mi looked at her: “Then you switched over and let him deal with you.”

If she couldn’t kill Chen Zhaochi, then she would let Chen Zhaochi kill her.

As long as he killed her, Chen Zhaochi couldn’t expect to live.

Premeditated murder. If not the death penalty, it would be the rest of his life in prison.

Li Chu seemed reluctant to talk about this. The taxi happened to stop downstairs. Li Chu pushed the car door open and got out: “Let’s go. We’re home.”

Cheng Mi looked at her back until Li Chu closed the car door, then she also looked away. She paid Master Liu and then opened her own car door and got out.

The bustling atmosphere of the city had been largely dispersed by the increasingly cold night wind.

After dinner, the lights also became more and more sparse.

There weren’t many people downstairs, only the two of them. The streetlight not far away was broken. There was no light, only a thick darkness.

Li Chu walked in front of Cheng Mi. Cheng Mi was walking when she suddenly spoke: “Do you remember something Jiang Xunzhi said to you?”

After Cheng Mi said that, Li Chu’s steps slowly stopped.

There was a tree as tall as a two-story building downstairs. The wind blew, and the leaves rustled.

Cheng Mi looked at Li Chu’s back: “You told me.”

Li Chu was wearing a loose black jacket. The dried blood on her left ear was where she was wearing the earring that Jiang Xunzhi gave her.

Back then, after Jiang Xunzhi put the earring on her, he patted her head. His clear eyes smiled very gently, and he made a birthday wish for her.

— My cool kid should live a long and healthy life without worries.

This sentence made Li Chu happy for a whole year. Now, she would remember it for the rest of her life.

Cheng Mi knew that Li Chu went to find Chen Zhaochi today because she must have thought about dying in Chen Zhaochi’s hands to find Jiang Xunzhi. That’s why she was avoiding this topic with Cheng Mi.

Cheng Mi walked up and stood face-to-face with Li Chu. She gently embraced her.

Li Chu didn’t say anything.

Cheng Mi pressed her face against Li Chu’s and said to her: “You have to listen to Jiang Xunzhi.”

Li Chu slowly raised her hands and hugged Cheng Mi back, from a light touch to gradually using more force.

“He wouldn’t want to see you until you live to be a hundred years old.”

The night was still dark and long. In the future, there would not only be nights but also days.

They all had a long, long time and countless days ahead of them.