Chapter 52
—Xu Qingzhou, I will still leave once Zhang Pengfei's crisis is resolved.
For a long time, this sentence lingered in Xu Qingzhou's mind, almost becoming her inner demon.
So much so that she couldn't eat or sleep at the time. She was terrified of hearing any news about Zhang Pengfei. Occasionally, when Chi Jun called out "Xu Qingzhou," her heart would tremble, fearing that his next words would be, "—Zhang Pengfei is like this now, so I have to leave."
But when did this sentence gradually fade from my heart, covered with layers of dust?
Did Chi Jun start washing dishes himself from the moment he took it upon himself to do so?
Or did Chi Jun consider himself a formal member of the small rental house and begin to take the initiative to repair the broken appliances in the small rental house?
Or... when she's unhappy, take her out to play the claw machine to cheer her up?
Or perhaps, as her older brother, he should warn her against dating too early, as it would affect her studies?
Xu Qingzhou couldn't quite explain it, but in short, the fear of "Chi Jun leaving" seemed to gradually dissipate as one small thing after another piled up.
Sometimes, she would even inexplicably feel that Chi Jun would stay with her like this for a long time.
However, at that very moment, Zhang Pengfei appeared unexpectedly.
He appeared as a corpse, coldly announcing to them that the crisis from Zhang Pengfei had been officially resolved.
That phrase, long buried deep in my heart, suddenly reappeared clearly and glaringly after a hurricane swept through, leaving behind a cloud of dust.
Xu Qingzhou, I will still leave once Zhang Pengfei's crisis is resolved.
I will still leave.
"younger sister."
"younger sister?"
Xu Qingzhou suddenly came to her senses and found Li Rui waving in front of her, while turning to ask Chi Jun:
"Was my sister scared? Holy crap, forget about my sister, I got startled just now when I suddenly saw a dead person. What bad luck on New Year's Eve—"
Seeing Xu Qingzhou's focused gaze and blinking eyelashes, Li Rui chuckled and quickly asked:
"Are you alright, little sister?"
Xu Qingzhou glanced quickly at Chi Jun.
In the dim light, a hasty glance was not enough to clearly observe the latter's eyes and expression.
Xu Qingzhou lowered his eyes and shook his head.
"Then let's hurry back?"
Xu Qingzhou nodded, and had just turned around and taken two steps when Li Ming stopped her again: "Zhouzhou, you dropped your doll."
Xu Qingzhou turned around and realized that her white fox doll had fallen to the ground at some point. She forced a smile, picked up the doll, patted it, hugged it back to her arms, and walked forward.
Li Rui walked behind, seeing Xu Qingzhou carrying the doll and walking quickly ahead. After thinking for a moment, he said to Chi Jun:
"Xu Jun, I think my sister was still frightened just now. Go back and talk to her properly. Xu Jun... Xu Jun???"
Chi Jun glanced at him.
Li Rui withdrew his hand, muttering to himself:
"What's wrong with you two, brother and sister? You both seem a bit off..."
*
In the second half of the journey, the two pairs of siblings went their separate ways.
Fifteen minutes away from the rental compound, Chi Jun and Xu Qingzhou walked in silence, the only sound the cold wind rustling through the leaves.
In the early hours of the morning, the rental compound was pitch black and quiet all around.
After entering the room, Xu Qingzhou placed the fox doll on the chair by the bed and began boiling water to prepare for washing up and going to bed.
The kettle had been boiling for a long time, but Xu Qingzhou just sat at his small desk, staring blankly at the exam paper.
It wasn't until Chi Jun returned from his shower that he reminded her, "The water's boiled."
Xu Qingzhou seemed to wake up from a dream. He stared blankly at Chi Jun for a moment, then hurriedly put down his pen and walked out. As a result, he poured the scalding hot ink into the basin and put his hand in without adding cold water, successfully scalding his little finger with a blister.
Are you going to boil yourself?
While applying ointment to Xu Qingzhou, Chi Jun couldn't help but complain.
Xu Qingzhou kept her head down, staring silently at Chi Jun's fingers as he applied the ointment to her.
Until Chi Jun suddenly called her name seriously:
"Xu Qingzhou".
Xu Qingzhou's heart tightened. After a moment, she cautiously raised her head and looked at Chi Jun.
Chi Jun stared straight at her, as if he had something to say.
Xu Qingzhou's mind flashed to Zhang Pengfei's corpse with one shoe missing. He couldn't help but hold his breath, his mind stretched to its limit, waiting for the other party's next words, which sounded like a judgment.
However, after a few seconds of eye contact, Chi Jun simply reached out and lightly flicked her forehead.
"What are you thinking about?"
He stood up, tightened the ointment, and gestured towards the bed: "Go to sleep."
Apart from that, Chi Jun said nothing more.
Xu Qingzhou watched him silently as he went to put away the ointment, pursed her lips, and ultimately said nothing. She quietly got into bed, pulled the covers over herself, and closed her eyes.
*
Xu Qingzhou did not sleep well that night.
With her eyes closed, all she could see was the scene of Zhang Pengfei's body being carried up, and in her dream, Chi Jun coldly looked at her and said, "Didn't I say that once Zhang Pengfei's crisis is over, I will still leave?"
Without waiting for her reply, he instantly turned into a wisp of transparent smoke and vanished completely in the wind.
Xu Qingzhou was awakened at that moment.
She turned her head and stared at the gray curtain hanging in the center of the bed. After a long while, she finally mustered up her courage and, very gently, very gently, lifted it a little from underneath—
Chi Jun is still asleep.
Xu Qingzhou didn't move the hand that was lifting the curtain, but he clearly breathed a sigh of relief.
After lying in bed in a daze for a while, Xu Qingzhou slowly sat up and got out of bed to cook breakfast.
For breakfast today, I cooked red bean paste with small glutinous rice balls, which is Chi Jun's favorite.
When Chi Jun got up, Xu Qingzhou had already left.
The cooked red bean paste was placed on the small dining table, turned upside down on a plate, with a note underneath:
I went to the bookstore to study and should be back tonight. Lunch is ready and in the pot.
Staring at the note, Chi Jun suddenly remembered that the day after he transformed into a human, Xu Qingzhou had also left a note like this, then hid from him in the bookstore for a day before finally returning home in the evening.
He frowned, crumpled the paper into a ball with one hand, and threw it into the trash can.
The weather was pretty good today, sunny and bright, but the temperature was a bit low. Laughter from children playing and laughing on holiday could be heard from the courtyard below.
While Chi Jun was eating red bean paste at the table, he received a WeChat message from Li Rui, saying that after playing ball in the morning, they had added a skiing activity for the afternoon.
Chi Jun agreed.
When I put down my phone, I don't know what I was thinking, but my eating motion suddenly froze.
Until a gust of wind blew past, lifting the stray hairs on her forehead.
Chi Jun looked up and saw the male ghost appear with a look of surprise on his face.
"Brother Jun! Zhang Pengfei is dead! He's really dead!"
This is undoubtedly good news for Chi Jun.
However, just as the male ghost had secretly feared, Chi Jun simply hummed indifferently, "I know."
The male ghost's joyful expression froze.
He stared intently at Chi Jun, trying to read his thoughts from his face. After a long while, he tentatively asked:
"Brother Jun, aren't you happy?"
Chi Jun paused, the spoon he was about to bring to his mouth, and looked up at him with a blank expression.
"Happy."
Um... that expression doesn't really show any happiness.
The male ghost originally wanted to say, "Then can you leave the little mute girl and we can leave together?" But the vague sense of unease that had been lingering in his heart for many days seemed to be confirmed to some extent when he met Chi Jun's eyes.
Some things only need to be mentioned once or twice before.
Bringing it up again will not only annoy the other person, but also make you feel pointless.
Chi Jun's reaction after learning of Zhang Pengfei's death is, in fact, a direct answer.
So the male ghost opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't repeat the same old story.
He felt that this matter might need to be handled in a different way.
Simply reminding Chi Jun might not work...
*
Lianghua Middle School is a key middle school in the town. The shops around the school are mostly related to education. In addition to the necessary stationery stores and small restaurants, there are four or five bookstores of various sizes.
Around noon, Xu Qingzhou finished a math test and subconsciously rubbed his neck.
She folded the test paper and put it into her schoolbag. Just as she took out a steamed bun to eat quickly, her eyes fell on the person who came out from behind the bookshelf, and she was stunned.
Chi Jun strolled over, sunlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and shining behind him, as if coating his entire body with a halo. This caused two or three lower-grade students who were sitting on the floor reading books to freeze in surprise and stare at him.
Xu Qingzhou was also staring at him.
However, I wasn't amazed by his appearance; rather, I was... shocked.
After all, Xu Qingzhou knew in his heart that besides the convenience of browsing materials, there was another reason why he came to the bookstore to study today... it was indeed partly to avoid Chi Jun.
Even so, Chi Jun still did something unprecedented: he chased her all the way to the bookstore.
An ominous premonition welled up from the bottom of his heart, causing Xu Qingzhou's hand, which was holding the steamed bun, to freeze.
The steamed bun, which had just been bitten into, fell to the ground, rolling and tumbling all the way to Chi Jun's feet.
"..."
Two girls nearby started laughing, seemingly mocking Xu Qingzhou's loss of composure.
Xu Qingzhou felt quite embarrassed. He leaned forward to pick up the bun, but when he reached out, the bun was picked up by another hand with distinct knuckles.
"Is this all we're having for lunch?" Chi Jun asked, looking at her.
Xu Qingzhou took the steamed bun he offered, nervously pursed her lips, and nodded reluctantly.
Chi Jun didn't say anything about Baozi, but squatted down in front of her and said, "I made plans to go skiing with Li Rui and the others this afternoon, so I might be back a little late tonight. Don't cook for me."
Xu Qingzhou nodded and continued to look at him.
Chi Jun also looked at her.
After staring at each other for a while, Chi Jun finally spoke: "What, do you have something to say?"
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
He came all the way to the bookstore to find her, didn't he have something to say to her?
But then I realized that Chi Jun did say something earlier.
So... he specifically came to the bookstore just to tell her not to cook his dinner tonight?
Xu Qingzhou was a little confused.
While bewildered, I also felt a sense of relief.
Seeing her strange expression, Chi Jun looked at her for a while but didn't say anything. He just frowned and stood up, saying, "Then I'll be leaving."
He turned and took a few steps, but then remembered something, paused, turned back, and took out fifty yuan from his pocket to give to Xu Qingzhou.
"Here, go to the little restaurant next door and get something to eat."
As he spoke, he glanced disdainfully at the dusty bun in her hand.
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
*
After Chi Jun left, Xu Qingzhou didn't go to any small restaurants to eat. Instead, she tore off the dusty bun wrappers and finished the two buns.
After studying intermittently at the bookstore for another afternoon, Xu Qingzhou packed his bag and went home at five o'clock in the evening.
Although Chi Jun appeared once at noon and did not mention leaving, Zhang Pengfei's death was an undeniable fact, and Xu Qingzhou was not at ease because Chi Jun "did not mention it for the time being".
As Xu Qingzhou walked towards the rental compound, his heart felt heavy, as if a stone was pressing down on it.
When she got home, she put down her schoolbag and saw that there was no food in the rabbit cage, so she turned around to get some carrots.
As a result of being absent-minded, he mistakenly picked up a long spoon and put it into the rabbit cage.
rabbit:"……"
She scratched the cage hard with her claws twice. Xu Qingzhou heard the sound and suddenly realized what was happening. He slapped his forehead in frustration, put the long spoon back, and picked up a carrot instead.
The rabbit thought the little girl looked strange, as if she had something on her mind.
But afterwards, Xu Qingzhou cooked, ate, washed dishes and pots without any further problems.
The rabbit didn't take it to heart.
After Xu Qingzhou finished tidying up and sat back down at the desk to study, just as he was about to take his pencil case out of his bag, the pencil case suddenly jumped out with a "bang" and landed on the desk.
Xu Qingzhou was startled and instinctively moved back a little.
But the panic didn't stop the strange things from happening. The pencil case opened by itself, and a pen jumped out and started writing on a notebook next to it, wobbling.
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
rabbit:"……"
It's so late at night, it's like seeing a ghost.
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