Chapter 7: The Promise (Additional Update 3)
“… What’s there to be curious about? Didn’t I tell you that I’ll soon be fatherless like you?”
Frowning, Qin An didn’t expect this person to look for her just to ask such trivial matters.
By the way, was she concerned about herself? She wasn’t sure, but she probably wasn’t.
Her feud with Lu Zhiyin had been going on for too long. She had hit her more than once; how could she possibly care about herself?
“… Is it a serious illness? Or…”
Lu Zhiyin wanted to continue asking, but when she saw Qin An frowning, she swallowed the rest of her words.
She thought it must be a serious illness.
Lu Zhiyin herself didn’t have much money, so it was unlikely she could provide financial assistance to Qin An. Besides, seeing that Qin An could still afford to treat the thugs to drinks, she guessed she wasn’t short of money.
Perhaps her father had an incurable disease, and even money couldn’t cure it? She looked at Qin An with some… pity?
Someone who had been abused for a long time was pitying her abuser—it was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Lu Zhiyin herself thought she was ridiculously stupid.
Lu Zhiyin didn’t know she had misunderstood. Qin An saw the pity on her face.
Qin An noticed that she seemed to have misunderstood something, but she was too lazy to correct other people’s wrong ideas.
Rather, if possible, she even wanted to kill her own father.
Even so, she felt displeased by Lu Zhiyin’s pity.
She thought, “Lu Zhiyin, a cripple, what right does she have to pity me?” Her gaze shifted down to Lu Zhiyin’s crippled legs.
“Instead of making that face at me, you’d better figure out how to raise money. Although I haven’t beaten you these past two days, I’ll continue to collect protection fees next week. If you can’t pay, you’ll be beaten.”
Qin An said with a bad tone, casting a sideways glance at the tires of Lu Zhiyin’s wheelchair.
If she were to take apart Lu Zhiyin’s wheelchair, how miserably would this little cripple cry?
Thinking this with evil intent, Qin An noticed a dark red color on the tire tread.
Maybe it was paint? It didn’t matter, it had nothing to do with her anyway.
As Qin An was contemplating how to torment Lu Zhiyin next, Leng Qingqiu tapped Lu Zhiyin’s shoulder, indicating it was time to go.
“Here.”
Lu Zhiyin and Qin An’s conversation wasn’t actually long. After their exchange, the landlady had just finished packing Lu Zhiyin’s purchases and handed them to Lu Zhiyin.
Lu Zhiyin took a fried dough stick from the bag and handed it to Leng Qingqiu behind her, then handed a carton of milk to Qin An.
“Let’s go, Leng Qingqiu.”
Turning back and nodding at Leng Qingqiu, Leng Qingqiu began to push the wheelchair forward according to her instructions.
Just looking at this scene, a stranger might even think that Lu Zhiyin was the more dominant one in their relationship.
“… My condolences.”
As the wheelchair passed by Qin An, Lu Zhiyin said one last thing to her.
“…?”
Holding the still warm carton of milk, Qin An stood there for a while before coming back to her senses.
“I’m not grieving,”
She shook her head and murmured, looking at the milk carton in her hand. Qin An had intended to crush it, but since she had only bought two baskets of steamed buns and no drinks, she was too lazy to pay again, so she gave up.
She watched the backs of Lu Zhiyin and Leng Qingqiu, inserted the straw into the milk carton, and walked towards the school, drinking the milk unhappily.
…
“So many people…”
Pushed through the school gate, Lu Zhiyin looked at the crowd surging towards the teaching building, feeling a little emotional.
This was probably the latest she had been to school since coming to this world?
“Uh-huh, that’s what happens when you’re late, so you need to get up early.”
Leng Qingqiu snorted lightly and pushed Lu Zhiyin towards the elevator.
She rarely showed her girlish side, only occasionally exhibiting a slightly childish demeanor when she was in a good mood.
Once inside the elevator, Leng Qingqiu finally had the time to eat the fried dough stick Lu Zhiyin gave her.
Seizing the moment, she finished the fried dough stick in two or three bites, and the elevator had just reached the destination floor.
The elevator door opened, revealing a bustling hallway.
In the day Lu Zhiyin was absent, the rumors about her had spread further and further. Now, practically the entire school knew she was a pervert, and most people looked at her unfriendly.
Lu Zhiyin hunched her shoulders, thinking that perhaps she needed to buy a mask. She couldn’t stand being stared at by so many people.
“…”
Turning her head, she looked at Leng Qingqiu again with a resentful gaze.
Even being hit by her, she could barely tolerate it. Why did she have to be humiliated like this? Lu Zhiyin couldn’t understand it herself.
Leng Qingqiu noticed Lu Zhiyin’s somewhat resentful gaze, reached out, and squeezed Lu Zhiyin’s shoulder.
The white-haired girl in the wheelchair then turned back, hunched into a ball, like a little wife who had been wronged.
Shaking her head, Leng Qingqiu pushed her childhood friend back to the classroom.
In the classroom, most people had already taken their seats.
Lu Zhiyin was already used to this scene. Although she didn’t interact much with the students in the class, she vaguely remembered these guys.
The only thing she wasn’t used to was probably the strange looks everyone gave her.
She simply pulled her hair down with her hand to cover her face.
Out of sight, out of mind. Escapism is shameful but effective.
“Classmate Zhiyin.”
As soon as she returned to her seat, a familiar voice called out.
Lu ZhiyinLifted her hair, and saw Long Qinxin, whose face was filled with worry.
“Good morning, classmate Qinxin.”
She greeted Long Qinxin and then began to rummage through her desk for textbooks.
“Can you tell me why you didn’t come to school yesterday?”
Long Qinxin’s voice was as soft as ever, as if she were afraid of doing something wrong that would anger Lu Zhiyin.
“Uh…”
Lu Zhiyin felt a bit awkward when Long Qinxin asked. She couldn’t tell her that she had been drugged at a bar, could she? That would be too embarrassing, and if she told the truth, Long Qinxin would probably be very angry? She shouldn’t make Long Qinxin unhappy.
After thinking for a moment, Lu Zhiyin decided to tell a small lie.
“It’s nothing, just a slight cold.”
Touching her nose, Lu Zhiyin began to feel fortunate that she wasn’t Pinocchio; her nose wouldn’t grow when she lied.
“Is that so? I heard yesterday…”
Without asking further, Long Qinxin took out a lunch box and a carton of milk from her schoolbag.
“Zhiyin, have you had breakfast? If not, I’ve prepared something for you.”
She placed the lunch box and milk on Lu Zhiyin’s desk, ignoring Leng Qingqiu beside her, and focused all her attention on her only friend.
“…Thank you.”
Not wanting to disappoint Long Qinxin, Lu Zhiyin accepted her gift.
“It’s nothing, you don’t need to thank me. Oh, right, can you meet me at the park behind the school this afternoon? I have something I want to tell you.”
Glancing sideways at Leng Qingqiu, Long Qinxin had already found a place for Lu Zhiyin to live.
She had begged her parents at home for a long time, and finally, her parents agreed to let her rent a place to live outside.
So, she rented an apartment near the school. This afternoon, she planned to have a good talk with Lu Zhiyin, and then take Lu Zhiyin to live with her, and take care of her, so that she wouldn’t have to be at Leng Qingqiu’s beck and call anymore.
“Ah… Can’t you say it now? But, no problem.”
Lu Zhiyin didn’t know about Long Qinxin’s plan. She actually didn’t want to go to the park; she should go to fewer unfamiliar places.
However, Long Qinxin was too good to her, so she didn’t want to trouble Long Qinxin any further and decided to go along with her wishes.
“Okay, then it’s settled.”
After Lu Zhiyin agreed to meet at the park in the afternoon, Long Qinxin visibly perked up. She happily turned back, envisioning the life they would have living together in her mind.
