Conflicts are aroused
When Qi Xu got home, he found the house still dark. Just as he was about to turn on the light, he noticed a faint light coming from his own room.
She suppressed the urge to turn on the light, slowly walked towards the kitchen, grabbed a fruit knife, held it in her hand, and moved step by step towards the room.
Pushing open the door, the person rummaging through things seemed to sense something and suddenly turned their head. Qi Xu immediately turned on the flashlight, the beam of light shooting straight into the other person's eyes.
When she recognized the person as Ci Yan, her heart skipped a beat. Her gaze swept over the messy sketches on the desk, then fell on the father-daughter outfit on the floor—the only remaining memento in the family, now torn to shreds by scissors. The sketches were also completely destroyed; not a single intact piece remained.
Anger surged like wildfire, but Qi Xu held onto the flashlight tightly, the beam fixed on Ci Yan's eyes.
Ci Yan's eyes stung from the flashlight. She covered her eyes, stood up, slapped the flashlight out of Qi Xu's hand, and roared, "Are you crazy? Don't you know this hurts your eyes?"
Qi Xu approached with a fierce look in his eyes, brandishing the fruit knife in front of Ci Yan.
Ci Yan was clearly panicked, barely daring to breathe, shrinking back repeatedly, her voice trembling: "What...what are you going to do? Let me tell you, murder is illegal, especially since I'm your mother!"
Looking at her terrified expression, Qi Xu suddenly smiled, but his voice was as cold as ice: "What are you afraid of? Don't you always say I'm a coward? So what are you afraid of now?"
Ci Yan had never seen Qi Xu look like this before, her eyes fixed on the swaying knife.
"Do you think I'm easy to bully?" Qi Xu's voice suddenly rose. "You stole my work, and I didn't get angry; you ignored me when I was a child, and I tolerated that; you mocked me every day, and I tolerated that too."
"I admit I harbor resentment towards you, but out of respect for the years you raised me, I've always treated you with respect. But what have you done?"
"Cut up that father-daughter outfit, you're crossing my line! Tear up my artwork, you're wasting my hard work and insulting my achievements!"
She completely lost control of her emotions, and tears streamed down her face, but Qi Xu stared intently at Ci Yan, not looking away.
Tears and hatred mingled together, strangely fitting together.
Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, Ci Yan knocked the fruit knife away and slapped Qi Xu across the face.
Qi Xu slapped back immediately, this slap carrying all the grievances and hatred she had accumulated over the years, the force so strong that Ci Yan staggered.
Ci Yan stared at her in disbelief, as if she were seeing this "cowardly" daughter for the first time.
But when she met Qi Xu's gloomy eyes, her momentum inexplicably diminished, though she still relentlessly retorted, "You're just a cowardly piece of trash! That's a fact, and you won't even let me say it?"
Qi Xu suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, which sent chills down Ci Yan's spine, as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world.
"Do you know? Dad's illness could have been cured." Qi Xu's laughter stopped abruptly, his eyes turning venomous. "A year after Dad passed away, I found out that you had cut off his treatment. At that time, I really wanted to kill you."
Ci Yan's face paled, but she straightened her back and adopted a motherly demeanor: "I'm your mother! Have I mistreated you these past few years?"
"Mom?" Qi Xu seemed to have heard something foul. "You're going to have a relationship with someone who was bullied since childhood and has never experienced love? That's your biggest mistake."
"You should be glad that I didn't turn out badly and didn't tarnish your reputation."
Ci Yan was seething with anger. She was angry at Qi Xu for being rebellious, angry that she was out of control, and even more afraid that she would really become a threat to herself.
This girl was talented before, but at least I could keep her under my control. Now that she's vented all her anger, I'm afraid I'll never be able to control her again.
"Have you made enough of a scene?" Ci Yan waved her hand impatiently. "If you've made enough of a scene, then clean up the bedroom."
Qi Xu sneered: "I've never owed you anything. I didn't send you to jail for changing your medication; I've been obedient to you all these years, which is a long time since I repaid the so-called 'giving you a debt of gratitude.' Besides, what you gave me was just some cold, hard money, wasn't it?"
"Thinking about it carefully, I'm the one who lost out. You've already made a fortune."
After saying that, she bent down to pick up the flashlight and fruit knife from the ground, walked out of the bedroom, turned on the living room light, and put the knife back in the kitchen.
Back in her bedroom, she picked up the ripped father-daughter outfit and put it in a bag. She then stuffed her phone and charger into a small handbag, slung it over her shoulder, and left the room.
Ci Yan frowned and angrily scolded her from behind: "If you venture out into society alone, you'll get bullied sooner or later. Don't come back if you leave!"
Qi Xu scoffed, turning to look at her as if she were an idiot: "I've survived six long years, and I'm almost eighteen now, what's there to be afraid of?"
"You'll never amount to anything out there, you'll just die out there sooner or later!" Ci Yan said without thinking.
"Then we'll wait and see." Qi Xu raised an eyebrow. "Next time we meet, will your social status be higher than mine, or mine? Want to bet?"
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Ci Yan thought to herself. This girl was too young to accomplish anything in the short term, and she might have to come back to beg her for help in a while.
“If you lose, turn yourself in and admit that you switched the medicine and killed my dad.” Qi Xu stared into her eyes.
Ci Yan felt uneasy under her gaze, but still gritted her teeth and agreed.
“I lost,” Qi Xu paused, “All my drawings are yours, and I will never paint again in my life.”
“No problem.” Qi Xu turned around, took out paper and pen from the bedroom, wrote down the bet, signed his name, and pushed the paper and pen in front of Ci Yan.
Ci Yan glanced at the contents, thinking to herself that this girl was quite cautious, but still picked up the pen and signed her name.
The two of them each took a copy and put it away. While Ci Yan was looking down at the agreement, Qi Xu quietly took out his phone and pressed a button on the corner where they could see their signatures. Ci Yan didn't see this; she didn't even bother to glance at the agreement after receiving it, so she naturally didn't notice Qi Xu's little trick.
When Qi Xu went out, he ran into Han Xue, who was returning home.
"Where are you going so late?" Han Xue asked, looking at her "gear" with a puzzled expression.
"My boss told me to go back and work overtime," Qi Xu casually lied.
"No, why would I call you back so late? What if something happens?" Han Xue's tone was full of disapproval.
"Don't worry, someone's coming to pick me up."
Han Xue sighed helplessly, "Alright then, be careful on the road."
"Hmm." Qi Xu turned to leave.
Han Xue wanted to walk her for a while, but she was really worried. However, Ci Yan stopped her, saying, "What are you doing going out so late at night? It's not safe."
Han Xue had no choice but to give up and took out her phone to send a message to Hao Nan: 【Qi Xu is leaving.】
Upon seeing the message, Hao Nan couldn't sit still any longer. He grabbed his coat and phone and rushed outside.
"Son, where are you going?" Hao's father's voice came from behind.
After he finished asking the question, Hao Nan had already slammed the door and rushed out, running wildly in the snow.
Why? Why did you leave without a word again? Where are you going? What are you going to do?
He understood Qi Xu less and less, and couldn't figure out what she was thinking.
He was running too fast, his foot slipped, and he fell heavily to the ground.
He endured the pain, got up, brushed the snow off his body, and continued running towards the Qi Xu family's home.
When we arrived at her building, the streetlights illuminated the snow, making the footprints on the ground exceptionally clear.
He followed the footprints all the way, running for a long time, but the footprints ended next to a big tree.
Looking left and right, no other traces could be found; it was as if Qi Xu had vanished into thin air.
Hao Nan stood there, staring blankly ahead. He took out his phone to send a message to Qi Xu, but the chat window remained stuck on "delivered" with no reply.
In the end, he could only walk back dejectedly.
Inside the car, Li Mofeng glanced at Qi Xu in the back seat through the rearview mirror: "Something on your mind?"
"How did you end up here?" Qi Xu didn't answer his question, but asked him instead, not wanting to talk about what had just happened.
"Just came over for a look around," Li Mofeng said casually.
"Big cities aren't enough for you, so you came to a small county town?" Qi Xu raised an eyebrow.
As soon as she finished speaking, her phone chimed. She unlocked it and saw a message from Hao Nan.
[Is your boss calling you back?]
Qi Xu replied: [Hmm.]
Will they come back?
【have no idea. 】
Let me know when you arrive.
【good. 】
After ending the chat, she exited the chat window and put her phone back in her pocket.
"Who are you chatting with?" Li Mofeng could see her expression clearly in the rearview mirror.
"friend."
"Good friends? Male or female?" he pressed bluntly.
Qi Xu ignored him, closed her eyes, leaned back in the seat, and wanted to take a short nap.
But he persisted: "Boyfriend?"
She was too tired to explain, so she mumbled an "uh-huh".
"Screech—" The car braked suddenly, and Qi Xu's body lurched forward, his forehead almost hitting the front seat.
"Why did you suddenly stop the car?" She rubbed her forehead, her tone impatient, like someone who had just woken up.
"You're not even eighteen yet, what are you talking about dating?" Li Mofeng's tone carried an inexplicable seriousness.
"When did I say I was in a relationship?" Qi Xu frowned. "Hurry up and drive, I want to go home and get a good night's sleep."
“I can sleep in the car.” Li Mofeng leaned back. “I’m tired too. I’ll rest by the roadside for a while and continue tomorrow.”
"Heh." Qi Xu was speechless. They were both men, so how could he be even more childish than Hao Nan? He couldn't even compare to him.
She was too lazy to argue anymore, so she just leaned back in the back seat, and drowsiness overwhelmed her. Regardless of whether it was comfortable or not, she fell asleep soon after.
Li Mofeng, sitting in the front seat, had his hands behind his head, staring blankly at the snowy scenery outside the window. After a while, he softly called out, "Seven Xu."
No one answered.
He called out again, but there was still no response.
Turning to look at the back seat, he saw that Qi Xu was breathing evenly and was really asleep. He then muttered to himself, "Is he that sleepy? He fell asleep in a second."
After confirming that she was fast asleep, he seemed to have unloaded a burden, his voice became even softer, and his thoughts drifted away:
"Qi Xu, actually I liked you the first time I saw you."
"I bought milk tea for the whole studio just so I could say something to you, thinking you would like it, but you didn't drink it and gave it to Hongming instead."
"Another time, I brought a friend to meet my sister. Everyone surrounded my friend and said he was handsome, but you weren't interested at all and buried yourself in drawing your character sketches."
“Whenever there’s an event, everyone else is having fun, but you’re always alone, quiet and unperturbed, as if nothing can bother you.”
“Your colleague took Hongming out to play, but you didn’t react at all, acting like you were indifferent to everything… I really felt sorry for you when I saw you like that.”
"I just can't understand it. How come no one wants to get closer to such a wonderful and outstanding girl like you?"
"After getting to know you better, I realized that it wasn't that no one wanted to play with you, but that you always maintained a gentle distance, and no one could get into your heart."
"I actually admire you for being so guarded at such a young age. To tell you the truth, I came to this small county town specifically to find you."
"I came for you."
"Get out!" Qi Xu frowned, and suddenly squeezed out a word from his throat.
Li Mofeng was startled and turned to look at her abruptly, only to see that her eyelashes trembled, but her eyes were still closed. It turned out that she was talking in her sleep.
He breathed a sigh of relief, sat for a while, and then started the car again, slowly driving into the night.
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