Chapter 8 Bitter Summer: They Only Had the Past
When Lin Xiaqing dropped her off at her doorstep, both of them looked rather pale because of their earlier conversation about Xia Lin's illness.
Before leaving, Shen Qingli glanced at him several times, and finally asked hesitantly, "Can I visit Aunt Xia at the hospital often in the future?"
She thought that no matter what happened between her and Lin Xiaqing now or in the future, Xia Lin was a very important elder to her, and she hoped that Xia Lin could stay healthy, otherwise she wouldn't be at ease.
Currently, she is unsure of Lin Xiaqing's attitude towards her and dares not approach her rashly.
He probably didn't expect that after noticing her hesitant expression the whole way, he would finally ask her this question, so he was stunned for a moment and didn't speak immediately.
She clearly misunderstood his reaction, so Shen Qingli frowned slightly, her voice becoming noticeably softer: "If you mind..."
Upon hearing this, he shook his head. The tension he had felt earlier, thinking that she would ask him something else, gradually faded away. He then said, "No, my mother will be much happier to see you."
Although she didn't understand why he thought she would mind, what he said was indeed the truth.
"That's good." Shen Qingli didn't notice his emotions hidden beneath the sound of the rain. Seeing that he didn't seem to mind, she nodded and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
As the rain outside gradually subsided, the question she had wanted to ask at the hospital resurfaced in her mind. Shen Qingli glanced at her with a troubled expression, but just as she was about to blurt it out, she suddenly hesitated.
What if that answer isn't what she wants, or what if she shouldn't have asked at all?
Their relationship was different from before, she could sense it, so... after a moment of hesitation and agonizing, she finally gave in and urged him, "Then I'll go home first. Thank you for today. The rain is about to stop, you should go home too."
After saying that, she was about to turn and leave when Lin Xiaqing, seeing her about to leave, anxiously called out to her, "Wait..."
"What's wrong?" She turned around and found that the person in front of her had a small bottle of medicine in his hand.
As if noticing her questioning gaze, he cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, handed the item to her, and explained, "My mother asked me to give this to you."
As he spoke, he pointed to her arm and said, "Applying the medicine should help it heal faster."
"Oh..." She took the bottle of medicine in a daze, glanced at him again, and said, "Then remember to thank Aunt Xia for me."
"……Um."
"Then I'll go home first..."
Okay. Goodbye.
She clutched the bottle of medicine to her chest, said goodbye to Lin Xiaqing, and then casually walked into the house, disappearing from her sight.
After closing the door, she leaned against it, staring at the thing in her arms with mixed feelings. Her fingertips touched the transparent glass casing of the medicine. After a long while, she pursed her lips and gently curved them into a smile.
Perhaps it wasn't as bad as she thought? She wondered.
-
After the two said goodbye, Lin Xiaqing stood there and watched her walk into the house before she left.
On his way home, his pace inexplicably slowed down. When he reached the roadside, he received a call from Xia Lin.
"Hey, Mom. Why are you awake?"
"Xia Qing, have you arrived at...your dad's house?" Xia Lin's hesitant voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Not yet. I just took Shen Qingli home and I'm on my way back now."
As they were talking, the rain outside finally stopped lightly, and he closed his umbrella as he spoke.
After hearing his words, Xia Lin was silent for a few seconds on the other end of the phone before asking, "Did you talk to Qing Li? I felt the atmosphere between you two was a bit strange today."
"..." Now it was his turn to stop and fall silent.
"Xia Qing? Are you still listening? Why aren't you saying anything?"
After a long while, upon hearing her mother's voice, Lin Xiaqing finally spoke in a hoarse voice, "Mom, I'm listening... I... I don't think there's anything to say."
Hearing his answer, Xia Lin clearly expected her son to react this way. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh and said guiltily, "It's Mom who has dragged you into this."
"Don't say that, Mom. I did all of this willingly."
Hearing him say that, Xia Lin's voice choked with sobs on the other end of the phone: "Xia Qing..."
"Mom." Lin Xiaqing knew what his mother was about to say, so he interrupted Xia Lin, looked up at the warm yellow streetlights by the roadside, sighed silently, and said, "Don't think about anything right now, just focus on getting better. That's the most important thing right now."
"……good."
"You should go to sleep early, I need to go back now."
...
-
After saying this, he gave his mother a few instructions before hanging up and continuing on his way.
As he approached the entrance to the residential area, someone suddenly called out to him from behind.
"Lin Xiaqing?"
Upon hearing this, he turned around and found it was Luo Yiqiu.
"Why are you still out so late?" she asked as she walked up to him, holding a sheet music book in her hand.
He glanced at what she was holding, and instead of answering her question directly, he asked in return, "Aren't you here too?"
"Oh, I just came from your house. Uncle Lin invited us to dinner today, didn't you know?" She smiled awkwardly, as if trying to cover something up. Although she said this, it was obviously no longer dinner time, so her words sounded full of holes.
But Lin Xiaqing didn't care about her awkwardness. He shook his head and casually said, "I'm not sure."
“Oh, right, you’ve always been indifferent to everything.” Luo Yiqiu was already used to his aloof demeanor and didn’t mind at all. As she spoke, she looked down at the messages on her phone, and asked as if she remembered something, “But… why were you suddenly late today?”
"What?"
"Don't you always arrive early? If Uncle Lin finds out you're late..."
"Are you threatening me?" Lin Xiaqing looked up at her, her brows furrowing, and her tone became even colder.
"Hey, hey, no, don't stare at me like that, it's scary." Luo Yiqiu, seeing his expression, quickly waved her hand and explained, "Don't worry, I haven't told your dad about this, but whether we can keep it a secret depends on you. So..."
As she spoke, she winked at him, implying, "Tit for tat. Just pretend you didn't see what happened to me today, okay?"
Lin Xiaqing looked at her in confusion, then saw Zhao Yixiao walking towards them in the distance. So that was his idea. Although he was speechless, he did not object, which was taken as tacit agreement.
Luo Yiqiu clearly saw Zhao Yixiao as well. She glanced down at the sheet music in her arms and couldn't help but smile.
Zhao Yixiao approached, clearly not expecting him to be there, and paused for a moment.
"You're here too." He paused for only a second before walking over as usual and greeting Lin Xiaqing politely.
Lin Xiaqing had witnessed everything. He had no intention of getting involved in the affairs of these two, so he nodded expressionlessly and said, "They won't be here soon."
After saying that, he turned to leave, but Zhao Yixiao called out to him, hesitatingly saying, "Um, about what happened between us today..."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He glanced at the two of them, said this, and then left.
-
Reaching the villa's entrance, he took out his key and opened the door. The living room was pitch black. He walked over and turned on the light switch on the wall. Suddenly, footsteps came from upstairs.
He looked up and saw a beautiful woman in pajamas standing on the steps with an inscrutable expression; this was his stepmother.
She glanced at him dismissively and said sarcastically, "Back so late?"
He glanced up at the other person and nodded, lying without batting an eye: "Yeah, I was delayed at school for a while."
"Really?" The woman clearly didn't believe it, but she didn't care.
She glanced at the living room table, yawned, and told him in a nonchalant tone, "I didn't prepare dinner for you. If you're hungry, just take care of yourself."
After saying that, she turned around and went upstairs to sleep without waiting for Lin Xiaqing's reply.
The living room fell silent again. He silently turned off the lights and went straight back to his room.
He closed the door to his room, but instead of turning on the light, he sat blankly at his desk. The moon, partially obscured by dark clouds, peeked out from the night sky, its faint light shining into the room—the only light around him at that moment.
It had started raining again outside, and Lin Xiaqing watched as raindrops streaked across the windowpane, blurring his reflection. The rain seemed to be intensifying, and the streaks on the windowpane grew thicker, completely soaking the outside.
On such a quiet night, all around was still; he could only hear the sound of raindrops hitting the window, leaves, and ground outside.
For some reason, he suddenly remembered the question Luo Yiqiu had asked him during the day.
-
Did you know Shen Qingli before?
He and Luo Yiqiu were walking to the convenience store when the other person's sudden question startled him. He didn't even realize that he had taken a few steps off course. After several seconds, he managed to regain his normal tone of voice and asked, "Who?"
"That's the girl who was cleaning the playground with us just now, her name is Shen Qingli."
"Oh. Why are you suddenly asking this?" He glanced at Luo Yiqiu and asked casually.
"I was just curious because you guys worked together so well while cleaning the playground." Seeing that she really was just asking casually, he followed up by asking, "Is she your friend?"
"Yes, she's a new classmate, we've only known each other for a few days," Luo Yiqiu nodded in reply. "I quite like her."
"Really? How did you two meet?"
Luo Yiqiu recounted the entire story of how she met Shen Qingli on the first day of school, completely unaware that the person next to her, who usually didn't say much, was unusually talkative when it came to Shen Qingli.
After listening to her, it felt like a one-sided, nonsensical attempt at becoming friends. He found it absurd and asked her, "Why do you suddenly want to be friends with her?"
"Huh?" Suddenly asked this question, Luo Yiqiu was obviously hiding something. She looked away and tried to cover it up: "Because I think she is very beautiful, especially her eyes, which are so dark and bright."
"..."
Hearing her obviously insincere answer, Lin Xiaqing remained silent for a moment before retorting in a very soft voice, "Her eyes are amber."
"What?" Luo Yiqiu didn't hear him clearly and asked him loudly.
He belatedly realized what he had just said, lowered his eyelids, and said to cover it up, "It's nothing."
"Oh right, you still haven't answered me: do you two even know each other?"
The topic circled back to the beginning. Lin Xiaqing looked at the road ahead and said, "I don't recognize it."
His tone was so indifferent that it was impossible to discern his emotions, so Luo Yiqiu did not press him further.
After hearing his answer, she didn't know whether she believed him or not. "Then maybe I was overthinking it? But then again, you two are from completely different worlds, how could you possibly know each other?"
Hearing her words, Lin Xiaqing did not respond this time.
We're not from the same world...
He looked at the torrential rain outside, and Luo Yiqiu's words kept repeating in his mind, making him unable to help but let out a self-deprecating laugh.
She wasn't wrong; they were indeed from different worlds now. But he desperately wanted to argue that they used to be from the same world.
once.
These two words made his dark eyes gleam; it was no surprise that they would only have a past together.
-
Lin Xiaqing was indeed right. In the years that followed, as fate pushed them forward, even their past became blurred, but they had no choice.
They would no longer be from the same world. Even though he never said he was willing.
A note from the author:
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Ta-da! Ovo, you've been waiting for so long!
Guess how many sentences containing "I don't know" will appear in this article.
I've been writing about Pear and Xia Qing's past stories lately. Autumn is here, but it's still so hot = =. I inexplicably started experiencing chest tightness in the second half of this year. I have to admit that my condition has been a bit off this year. I'm definitely feeling particularly "fragile" this year.
But I still hope to have a fun and enjoyable serialization period with everyone TvT
Summer is over, but it's still so hot! Everyone, please take care of yourselves!
For now, I'll update every two days, but it won't be too long (don't worry, I shouldn't have any busy things to do during this year's serialization).
Once I have more drafts saved up, I'll update daily for everyone. (bows) [heart emoji]
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