Chapter 6
Cheng Sangluo, coax me.
At midnight, the evening breeze finally dispelled the daytime heat.
Cheng Sangluo missed the last bus and couldn't bear to take a taxi, so she had to walk back to her rented room.
She walked alone on the bridge, the brightly lit up affluent neighborhood behind her, and the dilapidated old city before her.
This bridge is like a line that separates social classes; some people spend their whole lives trying to cross it, but they can never do so.
The salty, damp evening breeze billowed Cheng Sangluo's clothes.
She paused, resting her hands on the railing, gazing at the endless coastline.
The sea was black, the waves were black, and even the moon in the sky was covered with a layer of darkness, just like her bleak life.
“Investment company…” Cheng Sangluo pondered, seemingly lost in thought, before finally taking a step.
After walking for nearly two hours, I finally returned to my rented room.
It was a two-story residential building. The landlord was an old man in his sixties who ran a grocery store on the first floor. He would sit at the door every day to cool off and chat.
Upon seeing Cheng Sangluo, he waved his palm-leaf fan and greeted her, "Little Cheng is back."
"Aren't you asleep yet? It's getting late." Cheng Sangluo exchanged a few simple pleasantries before entering the room.
After climbing a few steps, you'll see a wooden ladder hanging on the wall; it's the only way to get to the room.
It's less a room and more an attic where a person can't even stand up straight, or it doesn't even qualify as an attic.
That was a small space that the landlord had built under the stairs.
The door was made of two mottled wooden planks with several holes drilled in them for ventilation.
On the yellowish wall, there's a wall lamp with poor contact on one side and a noisy fan on the other. The only other thing to mention is the electrical outlet.
The rent is only 15 yuan a day, including water and electricity. If you want to take a shower or use the toilet, you have to go to the public toilet on the second floor.
Although she was often woken up by footsteps, Cheng Sangluo was content, content with the cheap price and content with having a place to stay.
Cheng Sangluo is nearly 180 cm tall and quick on her feet. She climbed through the door in a few swift movements, using the walls on both sides as leverage.
Exhausted, she collapsed onto the mat. Her legs were too long, with a section hanging out. The door couldn't be closed too tightly, and without air conditioning, it was too stuffy, so she could only use this method for ventilation.
"oops!"
Cheng Sangluo slapped her forehead, smelled the stench on her body, and then shoved her way down the wall to take a shower.
How much worse can things get?
That's all there is to it.
Meanwhile, in another world where neon lights sway.
After the dinner, Lin Jin surprisingly refused any entertainment activities.
The driver helped her into the extended Range Rover and carefully asked, "Boss, are we going back to Linxi Terrace or the Lin Residence?"
Lin Jin's cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkled, and her body was as limp as water. It took her a while to answer, "Linxi Terrace."
Tonight's dinner wasn't exactly a business dinner, but she drank several bottles of red wine. People around her joked that President Lin was drowning her sorrows in alcohol, wondering which woman had broken her heart.
Lin Jin was petty and vindictive. She dragged out the person who had laughed at her and forced him to drink a whole bottle of wine to vent her anger.
The driver was terrified that his boss would get carsick, so he drove very smoothly.
Lin Jin leaned her head against the window, and the fake smile she had been maintaining finally came to an end.
"Who made me unhappy? It was Cheng Sangluo." She murmured to herself, her face full of loneliness, and she also blamed the person who didn't understand her feelings.
Lin Jin did not let the driver help her home.
I stumbled open the door alone, only to be jolted awake by the pain in my ankle.
The house was too big, and it felt deserted, unlike the height of summer; an unyielding chill enveloped the loneliness.
Lin Jin slumped onto the sofa, wondering when this house had ever been lively. Her memory stopped on the night she wanted to sleep with the puppy.
She raised her hand to shield her forehead and giggled.
That laughter, too, was lonely, echoing in the room and brewing a profound sense of desolation.
She struggled to sit up and looked around the living room again and again, only to find that the puppy had left behind nothing but a potted plant.
No one knows why she would care about someone with a criminal record.
That secret was like a seed buried deep in my heart, growing wildly and unchecked by the passage of time, and now it has become a tangled mess that entangles my heart.
The alcohol was taking effect, and Lin Jin rubbed her temples, her breathing heavy.
She bent down and pulled open the coffee table drawer, rummaging through it until she pulled out a box of psychotropic drugs.
I couldn't remember the doctor's instructions, so I just swallowed a few pills randomly.
After falling back onto the sofa, she seemed to heed the dog's words and rested her injured foot on the armrest.
But it hurts so much! I just sprained my ankle, why does it hurt so much?
Cheng Sangluo, why?
Lin Jin frowned, groped around, and finally found the phone.
She kept scrolling through her contacts, then suddenly stopped, laughing at herself for panicking. Hadn't she already memorized that number perfectly?
*
Cheng Sangluo took a nice, relaxing hot bath.
As she hung the towel around her neck and prepared to climb back into the attic, she happened to bump into the landlord standing at the door.
The old man beckoned to him in a shushing voice, "Xiao Cheng, come here quickly."
Cheng Sangluo quite liked this old man. Despite his advanced age, he still loved to stay up late and always had a cheerful demeanor.
She followed the sound to the door, asking in confusion, "Uncle, is there something you need?"
The old man pointed to the fruit plate next to him, "I just killed a melon, but it's too big to finish. It'll spoil easily in this heat. Could you help me sauté it a little?"
Cheng Sangluo grinned, amused by the adorable old man's awkwardness, his concern hidden.
"Then I won't be polite!" She picked up a piece of chilled watermelon, squatted down, and ate it in big bites.
The old man, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, chuckled, "Is it sweet?"
"It's so sweet."
"Right! Hahaha! Eat more, eat more."
The warm atmosphere was disrupted by a cell phone ringing.
"Excuse me, I need to take this call."
Cheng Sangluo walked out of the alley with a watermelon in her mouth. The unfamiliar number on the screen kept flashing, stubborn and determined.
Cheng Sangluo answered the phone suspiciously, "Hello?"
"......"
"Hello?"
"......"
There was no sound from the receiver, but I could hear faint breathing.
Cheng Sangluo lost her patience, but still asked politely, "Did you dial the wrong number?"
"puppy."
The voice was so familiar that Cheng Sangluo's back stiffened. She thought to herself that the crazy woman was like a leech, impossible to shake off.
Now it was her turn to be silent.
"Say something, okay?" Lin Jin had lost her imposing manner from earlier in the day, and her tone became soft and indecisive.
Actually, she was relieved that the puppy hadn't hung up the phone.
Cheng Sangluo smacked her lips as she ate the watermelon, stuffing her mouth full. "Get to the point."
"Cheng Sangluo, my feet hurt."
Lin Jin completely lost her superior demeanor; when she cried out in pain, her voice became even softer, just like a little woman who needed to be coaxed and pampered.
Cheng Sangluo was stunned for a moment; she had almost never heard Lin Jin call her by her name.
Out of instinctive kindness, she simply repeated her instructions, "Ice pack, elevate your leg, what else can I do? I'm not a doctor."
"But it hurts so much." Lin Jin's voice was very nasal, as if she would cry out at the slightest provocation.
The next second, it turned into a heart-wrenching plea, "Can you please comfort me?"
Cheng Sangluo felt confused, but roughly guessed that Lin Jin was drunk. Was this considered drunken tantrum?
She leaned against the wall, and when she came to her senses, the watermelon had been eaten down to just the rind.
However, she was hard-hearted enough that even when she pleaded softly, the only response was "no".
"Soothe me..."
"I won't coax you."
"Soothe me..."
"Will this ever end?"
"Soothe me..."
Now things are really messed up. Lin Jin has become a stubborn repeater, and Cheng Sangluo is still holding a grudge.
The deadlock was broken by a cold, threatening voice: "I'm hanging up now, nothing else."
Lin Jin also threatened, "Don't hang up, or I'll keep hitting you."
Cheng Sangluo teased, "Are you stupid? Don't you know there's a feature called a blacklist?"
Lin Jin muttered, "Then I'll change my number until you can get through."
Cheng Sangluo rolled her eyes. "Tch, could you be any more childish?"
A brief silence came through the receiver.
Who is that woman?
This was probably a question Lin Jin had been building up all night before finally asking.
Cheng Sangluo, with a melon rind in her mouth, was both angry and amused: "Who she is is none of your business."
"How can it not concern me... I can't sleep..."
Lin Jin had somehow managed to conflate two completely unrelated matters. She was being unreasonable, but her soft tone made it impossible to get angry.
Cheng Sangluo realized that every time she and Lin Jin were at each other's throats, it ended in nothing, except for tonight's phone call, which was slightly gentler.
She finally softened her temper, but her stubborn mouth could neither scold people harshly nor say anything nice.
"If you can't sleep, listen to the Great Compassion Mantra. This piece is 13 minutes long, and you can usually fall asleep when you hear half of it."
"Hahahaha—" Lin Jin's laughter was light and cheerful, and one could even imagine her crescent-shaped eyebrows and eyes at that moment.
Cheng Sangluo found the laughter both pleasant and mocking. "I clearly gave you very good advice, what are you laughing at?"
"You're so clumsy with words, even your attempts to coax people sound so forceful!"
Cheng Sangluo kicked away a small pebble at her feet and said angrily, "I've been nice enough to you right now, don't be ungrateful."
"So...you still haven't told me...who that woman is?" Lin Jin's voice turned even colder when she mentioned the woman.
It seems she'll keep pressing me until I get to the bottom of this tonight.
Cheng Sangluo gave a wicked smile and deliberately said, "She takes me to fancy restaurants, always likes to hold my arm, she's clingy and cute, and she even cares if I've lost weight recently, so what do you think is our relationship?"
After listening to a long, emotionally charged speech, Lin Jin responded with utter calm, "Cheng Sangluo, you are mine."
"The devil is yours." Cheng Sangluo couldn't stand this domineering CEO's words, but then she suddenly smiled mischievously. "Now you won't be able to sleep at night either."
She seems to really enjoy these little replies!
Lin Jin sneered: "Aren't you afraid I might do something crazy to that woman?"
Cheng Sangluo's joy turned to sorrow; how could she forget that Lin Jin was a madwoman?
"You really want to know who she is?" she retorted, then added cheekily, "I'll tell you if you pay for VIP membership."
"Hmph, this joke isn't funny at all."
"Hey, she's my good friend and comrade-in-arms. I'm warning you, don't do anything reckless!"
"Friend? Comrade?" Lin Jin pondered, half-believing, half-doubting. "Then why was she holding your arm?"
Cheng Sangluo protested, "Are you never going to stop? Can't your friend walk with you?"
"I'll trust you this once, but if you dare to lie to me, I'll never forgive you."
"Mind your own business! And why are you being so nosy!" Cheng Sangluo protested again, turning her head and walking towards the alley. "I've worked all day, I'm so tired, I need to sleep."
This time, Lin Jin didn't press the matter further, but still pleaded, "Cheng Sangluo, say goodnight."
Cheng Sangluo stubbornly replied, "I'm not saying goodnight, I'm hanging up."
But we still said it, didn't we?
When I got to the door of the rented room, the old man was still there, grinning happily: "You're in love now, aren't you?"
"No, I'm single." Cheng Sangluo's body stiffened, and he squatted down to start eating watermelon again.
"Usually only young couples talk on the phone for this long."
A chill ran down Cheng Sangluo's spine, and he shuddered, laughing and crying at the same time: "Grandpa, you're so gossipy."
Dating that crazy woman?
Ha, even dogs wouldn't talk about that.
[Author's Note]
Cheng Sangluo, just try to coax her!
Ha, what a fine example of someone who won't even talk about dogs.
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