Chapter 121 Not Suitable for Sharing a Room
We didn't get to have dinner as planned.
Zhuang Bieyan felt both pain and anxiety when he saw her "I'm fine, I'm okay" expression. He rolled up his sleeves and headed to the kitchen, trying to ease the tension: "Are you hungry? What would you like to eat? I'll make it."
He had just opened the refrigerator door when he heard the doorbell ring.
Qu He walked faster than him to the door, and after a while, she came in carrying two takeout bags.
“No need to bother,” she said flatly, without any discernible emotion. “I’ve already ordered takeout.”
Zhuang Bieyan closed the refrigerator door and nodded: "Okay, takeout is fine too."
As he spoke, he naturally walked to the dining table, sat down opposite her, and waited for her to share the meal with him.
But Qu He acted as if she didn't see him and opened the takeout bag on her own.
As Zhuang Bieyan looked at the food she brought out, his heart sank deeper and deeper.
A salad, a pasta dish, and a large iced milk tea—all single-serving portions—there wasn't even a spare pair of chopsticks.
"Ahe, where's mine?"
Qu He was breaking the chopsticks apart when she looked up at him as if she had just realized something.
She forced a smile, her tone dripping with sarcasm: "I forgot, but you probably don't like this kind of food either, since you've probably eaten a lot of pasta and pizza in England."
She deliberately dragged out her words, and after speaking, she took a big gulp of iced milk tea.
Zhuang Bieyan frowned as he looked at the cup of milk tea full of ice in her hand. "Ahe, drinking something so cold at night will upset your stomach."
Upon hearing this, Qu He raised her eyelids and glanced at him.
She pushed the milk tea away a little, forcing a smile, "Okay, I won't drink it anymore. Is that alright, Mr. Zhuang?"
She deliberately slowed down her speech for the last sentence, mimicking Yan Shu's aggrieved yet restrained tone from not long ago.
Zhuang Bieyan felt as if his heart had been violently clenched, a mixture of sourness and bloating.
He abandoned all pretenses, his voice pleading: "Ahe, can you please stop? I know you're angry. You can hit me or yell at me, but don't do this to yourself, and don't... talk to me like this."
Qu He seemed not to hear her and stood up directly: "I'm full, I'm going to take a shower first."
The night was deep.
When Zhuang Bieyan came out after taking a bath, the bedroom was empty.
My heart clenched suddenly, and panic spread without warning.
He quickly walked out of the bedroom in his slippers and saw Qu He curled up on the sofa in the living room, video chatting with someone.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
But after hearing another male voice, her heart, which had finally calmed down, was in high suspense again.
The person on the other end of the screen is Zhou Shi'an.
The two were talking about something, and Qu He had a smile on her face that he had never seen before that evening.
After seeing Zhuang Bieyan come out, the smile on her face faded a little, and she said to the other side of the screen, "Brother Shi'an, let's leave it at that for now, I'll call you back later."
Zhuang Bieyan felt a tightness in his chest, a bitter and indescribable ache.
We've been chatting for so long, are we going to have to fight later?
He stepped forward, about to speak, but Qu He had already stood up, not even looking at him, and walked straight past him.
He watched her walk towards the second bedroom, his heart sank, and he chased after her, reaching out to stop the door just a second before she closed it.
“Ahe, you…” His voice was hoarse.
Qu He seemed to just remember something, and exclaimed "Oh!" with a sudden realization, "I forgot to tell you, we'll be sleeping in separate rooms starting tonight."
Alternating rooms?!
Zhuang Bieyan felt a sudden darkness engulf him, as if the sky were about to collapse. He instinctively asked, "Why...why?"
Does she not want him anymore?
Qu He raised her eyes and looked at him seriously, "Because Tao Baibai said that Pisces and Leo are in conflict from today onwards, and it is not advisable for them to sleep together."
Who is Tao Baibai?
What is Mercury retrograde?
What does "clashing" mean?
Zhuang Bieyan stared blankly as the door slammed shut in front of him, and he even heard the soft sound of it being locked from the inside.
He raised his hand, froze at the doorway, and finally let it fall limply.
Zhuang Bieyan tossed and turned all night, barely getting any sleep.
Although the soundproofing in Wanhua Garden was very good, he could still faintly hear Qu He and Zhou Shi'an laughing on the phone coming from the second bedroom.
Every tiny sound was amplified several times over during this sleepless night. When he closed his eyes, all he could see was Qu He's angry back. He finally managed to fall asleep around three or four in the morning.
The next day, he got up to make breakfast according to Qu He's wake-up time.
But when breakfast was served, there was no movement from the second bedroom.
Zhuang Bieyan specially changed into the shirt that she had praised a couple of days ago, carefully tidied herself up, and then went to knock on the door.
No one answered from inside.
A bad feeling slowly rose from the bottom of his heart. Zhuang Bieyan took out the spare key from the safe in the study and opened the door to the second bedroom.
She's not here.
He immediately checked the surveillance footage and found that Qu He had already left home at the crack of dawn.
She actually got up so early just to avoid him?
When he returned from the company that evening, Qu He was still sitting in the restaurant eating the takeout and milk tea she had ordered, just like the day before.
She only glanced at him briefly, and after taking a shower, she returned to the second bedroom and locked the door.
Zhuang Bieyan stared at the tightly closed door, his heart feeling as if it were being soaked in acidic water.
The next morning, Qu He was woken up by her alarm clock. Two consecutive days of sleep deprivation left her feeling dizzy and dazed.
Before dawn.
Qu He groggily forced herself to get up, wash, and change her clothes. As soon as she stepped out of the bedroom, she saw the silent figure on the sofa.
Zhuang Bieyan sat alone on the sofa in the center of the living room. He did not turn on the light, and his whole body was trapped in the space where natural light and shadow met.
In the dim light, it resembled a lonely mountain, enduring wind, frost, rain, and snow alone in a forgotten wilderness.
He turned around when he heard her footsteps.
As darkness turned to light, the dim light shone on his profile, revealing an intense weariness and desolation in his eyes.
Those usually deep eyes now seemed shrouded in a gray mist, losing all their luster, leaving only a cautious dimness and pain.
He just stared at her like that.
“Ahe”.
He spoke, his voice dry and hoarse from a sleepless night, "You don't need to hide from me like this."
He paused halfway through his sentence, his voice tinged with a near-humble compromise, each word seemingly drained of all his strength: "From now on, I will wait until you leave the house before I come out of the bedroom."
Every word he uttered seemed light and airy, yet it weighed a ton in Qu He's heart.
It felt like something was blocking her throat, and she couldn't say a word.
Before he could react, Zhuang Bieyan had already struggled to his feet, supporting himself on the sofa armrests.
Perhaps because he had maintained one posture for too long, his body stiffened noticeably, and he staggered as he stood up.
At that very moment, the dawn light suddenly pierced through the clouds and shone in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
It illuminated the grayness of the room, as well as Zhuang Bieyan's haggard face and the bluish stubble on his chin.
Qu He's heart sank deeper and deeper.
Could it be that Zhuang Bieyan sat motionless in the living room all night?
She felt a sudden tightness in her chest, making it difficult to breathe, and her heart ached and felt swollen.
What are they doing?
Are we torturing each other?
She was angry at herself, but even angrier at him for not taking care of himself.
Zhuang Bieyan had already reached the door and smiled slightly, "It's still early, why don't you go back and get some more sleep? I'm heading out now."
......
In the following days, Qu He stopped getting up early to avoid him, but she still ate takeout, drank iced milk tea, and slept in the second bedroom by herself.
The only change was that Zhuang Bieyan started coming home earlier and earlier in the evenings, always having prepared a table full of her favorite dishes before she even got home, even if she didn't eat them.
The two were locked in a silent tug-of-war.
That evening, Qu He brought in takeout as usual.
The aroma of preserved plum ribs wafting from the kitchen was irresistible, but she still gritted her teeth and took the takeout to the dining table.
She poked at the rice in the bowl; it was bland and tasteless, like chewing wax.
Compared to the dishes prepared at Zhuangbie Banquet, this takeout is far inferior.
My stomach felt empty, but I had no appetite at all.
But she refused to give up and forced herself to put it in her mouth.
She remembered how Zhuang Bieyan used to cook for her in different ways. She loved sweets, so he would put extra sugar in the ribs. She had a sensitive stomach, so he would stop her from drinking iced milk tea. But now?
The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt. Ever since they started sleeping in separate rooms, she hadn't had a good night's sleep. The bed in the second bedroom was empty and cold, and she could only drift off to sleep in the middle of the night.
I can't eat well, and I can't sleep well either.
Zhuang Bieyan knew perfectly well that she was angry, but he didn't try to coax her, apologize, or explain. He didn't say a word, acting more wooden than a block of wood!
All I do is cook a table full of dishes every day to tempt her, and then watch her eat these awful takeout meals!
My nose tingled, and tears fell without warning, large drops landing in my rice.
She took a bite of rice in a fit of pique, tears streaming down her face. The salty, astringent taste spread through her mouth, both sour and salty, and it tasted awful!
She took a big gulp of iced milk tea, the cloying sweetness making her throat hurt, but she couldn't suppress the bitterness in her heart.
Her throat felt both sweet and astringent, just like her mood.
Seeing that Zhuang Bieyan had already brought the dishes out of the kitchen, Qu He didn't want him to see her in such a disheveled state, so she got up and threw the takeout, which she had barely eaten, along with the milk tea, into the trash can.
As soon as he came out, she turned around and went back to the second bedroom, slamming the door shut.
Outside the door, Zhuang Bieyan frowned as he looked at the takeout food that she had barely touched.
In the middle of the night, Qu He was awakened by a sharp, agonizing pain.
Her stomach felt like it was being kneaded and pounded by several fists at the same time. Her stomach was churning, and the pain made her curl up on the bed, sweating profusely.
She knew it must be because she had been drinking iced milk tea for several days in a row, not eating properly, and was also feeling down, which caused her old stomach problems to flare up again.
People are always particularly vulnerable when they are sick; the strength they have been pretending to maintain crumbles at this moment.
She bit her lip and sobbed softly, then her emotions collapsed, a mixture of grievance and pain, and her cries grew louder and louder.
Through her teary eyes, she heard the door open once, followed by familiar footsteps that grew closer and closer, filled with anxiety.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
