Chapter 14
In order to avoid the issue of "leaving," Xu Qingzhou did some things that he considered "somewhat shameful."
She said to Chi Jun, "If you dress like this, people will think you're a pervert."
Without saying goodbye, she left Chi Jun in this small rented room and spent the whole day in a bookstore, lying that she had gone to school.
Even though she did all these things, what's meant to happen will happen.
She couldn't keep Chi Jun.
At that moment, Xu Qingzhou realized this deeply.
The clear moonlight spilled into the courtyard, illuminating the ground under the eaves and casting a soft, hazy filter over Chi Jun's face.
He had a very handsome face with clear and well-defined features. His phoenix eyes seemed to be smiling, and a faint smile always lingered at the corners of his mouth beneath his straight and delicate nose.
When he looks at someone, his gaze is focused, his eyebrows will unconsciously lift slightly, his eyes will smile, and he will exude a carefree and relaxed atmosphere. You will unconsciously feel that he has a very good temper and can take a joke, and your mood will also relax.
However, it was precisely that smile on that face that made Xu Qingzhou feel uneasy time and time again.
Because she knew very well that Chi Jun's smile did not carry any tenderness or consideration.
On the contrary, his smile revealed a carefree and indifferent attitude towards life, as if he had no attachment to anyone or anything, nor would he be bound by anyone or anything.
Like a gust of wind, it scatters fallen leaves and carries away the fragrance of flowers, but never looks back.
Even so, Xu Qingzhou wanted to seize this opportunity.
Even if it's destined to be futile.
She also wanted to give it a try.
Chi Jun waited for a while but didn't get a response from Xu Qingzhou. He slightly raised his eyebrows, put his hands in his pockets, and turned to leave.
Two steps later, a series of hurried footsteps came from behind.
Chi Jun frowned slightly.
Sure enough, the next second, Xu Qingzhou slightly opened his arms and blocked his way.
Most of the time, her expression was one of almost numb indifference; this was the first time Chi Jun had seen so many emotions on her face at the same time.
Anxiety, fear, anticipation, sadness... all these intertwined, yet ultimately converged into a resolute expression on his face.
Chi Jun looked at her.
After a few seconds of eye contact, Xu Qingzhou seemed to realize his abruptness.
She lowered her hand, slowly clenched her fist, and then, as if gathering some courage, slowly raised her head and looked at him with bright eyes.
Don't go.
She mouthed the words to Chi Jun silently and earnestly.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly, and his eyes held a silent longing.
Chi Jun stared at Xu Qingzhou and understood her lip movements.
There was a brief, almost imperceptible pause in the smile in his eyes, but it was only a fleeting moment before he quickly returned to normal.
"Why won't you let me leave?" he asked.
Why.
From last night to today, Xu Qingzhou has thought about this question countless times.
Was it because she painstakingly raised the fox for more than two months?
Or was it just a brief acquaintance she had with Chi Jun, which lasted less than ten hours in total?
None of the answers she received were enough for her to confidently voice. The former could be considered a one-sided effort on her part, since the fox hadn't actively asked for anything from her. As for the latter, could there really be any "friendship" built up in that short period of time?
She didn't respond for a long time, so Chi Jun waited patiently.
"Um?"
He saw that Xu Qingzhou's eyes were darting around nervously, as if he was trying to find a foothold.
However, this support point is destined to be hard to find.
After waiting for a while, Chi Jun smiled and sighed.
As if sensing that he was about to leave, Xu Qingzhou subconsciously raised her hand to stop him again. After a pause, she took out paper and pen from her pocket and began to write.
By the moonlight, Chi Jun could clearly see what was written on it—
I'm afraid of bad people.
Chi Jun smiled.
He bent slightly, placed his hands on his lap, and looked up to meet Xu Qingzhou's gaze. His tone and expression were playful, as if he were teasing a child.
Is it possible that I am a bad person too?
Xu Qingzhou shook her head, as if she had already considered this question. Without the slightest hesitation or consideration, she lowered her head and wrote on the paper:
You helped the twins that day.
Chi Jun was stunned.
He stared at Xu Qingzhou and suddenly understood why Zhang Pengfei had suddenly gone mad last night after a period of peace, and why his words and actions showed extreme hatred for Xu Qingzhou.
It turned out that she had indeed discovered the clues of Zhang Pengfei's inappropriate behavior towards the twins in just half a minute that morning.
He was so bold as to risk Zhang Pengfei's retaliation by telling Xu Qinjia what had happened.
Chi Jun frowned slightly, and his expression as he looked at Xu Qingzhou became more complicated.
"So...you're afraid of Zhang Pengfei?"
Xu Qingzhou knew that the reason of "being afraid of bad people" was just as untenable as the two excuses that had been rejected before.
In her desperation, this was the only thing she could think of.
Because she found it so outrageous and absurd, she even felt her face getting slightly hot while writing it.
What does her fear of bad people have to do with Chi Jun?
Do you want him to stay and protect her?
She knew better than anyone that he had no such obligation.
However, when Chi Jun asked the question, Xu Qingzhou couldn't help but feel a tiny glimmer of hope. She pursed her lips and nodded gently.
Chi Jun turned his head away and chuckled.
"But I'm also afraid of Zhang Pengfei, what should I do?"
It's like teasing a child who doesn't yet have mature thinking ability; they're too lazy to even make up lies.
However, compared to a direct refusal, this kind of joking refusal seems to be more embarrassing.
Xu Qingzhou's face flushed red instantly.
She bit her lip, trying to calm herself down, and then, mustering her last bit of courage, wrote on the paper a sentence: failure would only make her more embarrassed.
Would it be safer if the two of us lived together?
The smile on Chi Jun's face slowly disappeared.
He looked at Xu Qingzhou in silence for a while, but in the end he still didn't answer the question. He straightened up and reached out to rub her head.
"I'm leaving now, bye-bye."
After speaking, he brushed past Xu Qingzhou.
Xu Qingzhou was stunned for two seconds before she reacted. In her haste, she took two steps to pull him up, but as soon as her fingertips touched him, a surge of air rushed through the dim light and vanished in an instant.
Xu Qingzhou was stunned.
There was nothing in front of me.
*
They couldn't keep them.
As expected, they couldn't keep him.
Xu Qingzhou stood blankly in the corridor. A cool breeze blew from the side, ruffling her hair and making it stick to her face. Her expression was wooden as she stood there, futilely holding a pen and paper in her hand, without moving for a long time.
It wasn't until a neighbor behind him asked, "Xiao Xu, what's wrong?" that Xu Qingzhou snapped out of his daze, turned around to look at the other person, shook his head, and walked step by step into the house.
The lights were on in the small rented room, and it was quiet as usual.
This is a small single room of only 15 square meters, containing a double bed, a small desk, a cupboard, a dining table, and some miscellaneous items neatly arranged in the corner.
Several times before, when Xu Qingzhou bought household items and put them in the room, she always felt that the room was too small, so small that she had to put some things under the bed in order to make the room appear more spacious and tidy.
But now, standing at the door, why does this room feel so, so empty?
The air felt so thin that it made it hard for her to breathe.
She leaned against the door frame, standing with her back against the corridor for a while.
The situation inside the small rented room was no different from before the meal.
The small dining table is placed in the center of the room, and we haven't had time to move it to the wall yet.
Xu Qingzhou twitched his fingers, walked forward, and silently picked up the small dining table, placing it back against the wall. As he looked down, he noticed the floor was a little dirty.
So she picked up a broom and carefully swept the floor, the hallway, and even under the bed.
Sweeping wasn't enough, so I also used a mop to thoroughly mop the inside and outside.
She was like a robot suddenly put into "cleaning" mode, her eyes searching the small room for anything that needed tidying or cleaning.
An hour later, the cupboard was spotless, the pile of odds and ends in the corner had been sorted and put back into different boxes as needed, the sheets were neatly arranged without a single wrinkle, the blankets were folded into perfect squares, and even the books and test papers inside and outside the small desk drawer were neatly stacked.
Finally, Xu Qingzhou simply couldn't find anything else to do.
She looked around and finally carried the bowl and chopsticks to the sink in the corridor.
Turn on the tap.
The water gushed out instantly.
Xu Qingzhou took the already clean bowls one by one and rinsed them under running water with a sponge.
The flowing water, laden with foam, continuously flowed into the sewer. The plate was already spotless and sparkling clean, but Xu Qingzhou seemed oblivious. He gripped the sponge tightly and mechanically scrubbed along the edge of the plate, washing it incessantly.
Water droplets splashed onto her arms and clothes.
Unaware of her surroundings, she pursed her lips, her gaze focused, yet her thoughts seemed to have already wandered far away.
When the last plate was washed and put away, it slipped off the stove and shattered into pieces on the floor with a crisp cracking sound.
As if startled awake by the sound, Xu Qingzhou suddenly trembled.
She looked down, stared at the broken plates on the ground for a while, then slowly squatted down and reached out to pick up the broken pieces of porcelain.
One piece, one piece.
As I picked up the third piece, my index fingertip was suddenly scratched by a sharp point.
Blood droplets slid down the porcelain shards, their redness starkly contrasting against the white background.
However, Xu Qingzhou seemed oblivious to the pain, staring blankly as the blood slowly slid down the broken plate, drop by drop, landing on the ground and splashing up tiny blood flowers.
She squatted down, as if her acupoints had been acupunctured, and didn't move for a long time.
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