Chapter 42: Qin Father’s Break Promise
Taking Lu Zhiyin and her wheelchair downstairs, Qin An hailed a taxi. The taxi driver was a rather sleazy man who occasionally cast indecent glances at Lu Zhiyin, but he restrained himself after Qin An threatened him verbally.
Upon reaching their destination, Qin An helped Lu Zhiyin and the wheelchair out of the taxi and paid the fare promptly.
“Honestly, I thought you weren’t going to pay,” Lu Zhiyin said with a hint of mockery in her tone as she tilted her head towards Qin An.
“Damn it, can you not think of me as that terrible?” Qin An ran a hand through her hair, cursing again. Her blue eyes were filled with displeasure.
“You’re far worse than I imagined,” Lu Zhiyin’s tone turned cold as she reminded herself that Qin An was a despicable bully.
Lu Zhiyin’s words calmed Qin An down, and she lowered her hands.
“…Mm.” She gave a dispirited hum, agreeing with Lu Zhiyin’s assessment. She knew how awful her past actions were, so she had no reason to argue.
A brief exchange was followed by a long silence until the taxi drove away, revealing a restaurant across the street.
“My father booked a private room and told me to wait for him,” Qin An said, walking towards the other side of the street. Lu Zhiyin followed without much hesitation.
They entered the exquisitely decorated restaurant, took the elevator to the third floor, turned into a private room in the corridor, and Qin An sat down behind the round table, facing the door.
Perhaps because Qin Father had made prior arrangements, the restaurant staff paid no mind to Qin An’s actions, and soon, a waitress in a cheongsam brought two cups of hot tea.
“…Do you mean you want me to wait in the private room to meet your dad with you?” Lu Zhiyin picked up the transparent glass cup in front of her and took a sip of the pale yellow tea. The aroma was rich, and even though Lu Zhiyin disliked tea, she couldn’t fault the liquid before her.
“Is that not okay?” Qin An finished the tea in her cup in one gulp. Lu Zhiyin frowned at her slightly uncouth action.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. If I stay here, it probably won’t improve your impression in your dad’s eyes. Also, I think you should brush up on your table manners. Who drinks tea like you?” Lu Zhiyin put her hand to her forehead and turned her wheelchair. “I’ll just wait in the corridor outside the private room.”
With that, Lu Zhiyin left the private room without looking back. Qin An instinctively reached out her hand, then quickly retracted it. She said nothing.
…
Time ticked by. Lu Zhiyin, who had been waiting in the corridor, began to have a bad feeling. She took out her phone to check the time; it was already approaching the afternoon. She and Qin An had been waiting there all morning.
… She pressed her eyes, thinking that Qin An’s father was probably going to break his promise. She glanced at the private room door and decided to leave the restaurant with her wheelchair. She moved her wheelchair slowly, trying not to disturb Qin An inside the private room. She could anticipate that Qin An would be in a bad mood upon learning that her father had broken his promise, and she had to seize this opportunity to gain favor.
Images of Qin An smoking in the past flashed through her mind. After leaving the restaurant, Lu Zhiyin found a convenience store and spent a hundred yuan at the counter to buy a pack of soft-pack ladies’ cigarettes and a cheap windproof lighter. She returned to the restaurant’s private room with these two items.
“…Little cripple…” When she returned to the private room, Qin An was clutching her phone tightly, her head bowed. She only looked up when she heard Lu Zhiyin enter.
“…What’s wrong? And I have a name, it’s not ‘little cripple,’” Lu Zhiyin said, her hand brushing against the cigarettes in her pocket.
“My father said his adopted son had been in a car accident and was injured, so he has to go to the hospital and can’t make it,” Qin An said in a low voice, speaking slowly, her words filled with fatigue and helplessness. Lu Zhiyin knew how much Qin An valued this meeting and understood how downcast Qin An must be feeling. Being stood up by a family member is indeed frustrating, regardless of the reason.
“Mm, is that all? It’s not a big deal. We’ll have another chance to meet later,” Lu Zhiyin said in a very calm tone. She wheeled herself over to Qin An and slipped the cigarettes and lighter into Qin An’s hand.
“…?” Qin An looked at the unfamiliar brand of cigarettes in her hand, then at Lu Zhiyin, a look of confusion on her face.
“Have a smoke, I think I saw you smoking before. Have a smoke, and then cheer up.” Lu Zhiyin patted Qin An’s shoulder. These were ordinary words meant to comfort a friend, but they held great significance for Qin An. She rarely received comfort and had no true friends.
“…Mm…” Qin An opened the cigarette pack, took out a cigarette, put it in her mouth, and lit it with the lighter. A somewhat acrid smell began to spread in the private room, making Lu Zhiyin a little uncomfortable.
“Cough, cough, cough… cough, cough… cough…” Qin An was equally uncomfortable. Qin An was not good at smoking; she only smoked before to relieve stress. She was stimulated by the strong smoke and coughed incessantly. Lu Zhiyin patted her back at the right moment. By the time Qin An’s coughing subsided, tears were streaming down her face, though it was unclear whether they were from coughing or from the pent-up sadness and distress in her chest. Lu Zhiyin was not sure, and it made no difference to her.
“You’re acting like a little girl now. Why weren’t you this weak when you were hitting me?” Lu Zhiyin feigned a complaining tone, and while Qin An was emotionally vulnerable, she gently patted Qin An’s face. She received no response; Qin An just cried silently. After crying with her head bowed for a while, the cigarette was almost finished, and Qin An finally began to normalize. Well… not entirely normal?
“Thank you…” The wicked bully was now apologizing softly. The word “thank you” seemed to have drained all of Qin An’s strength, and after speaking, she fell silent again. As a bully, she was being comforted by someone she had bullied, and she was thanking her. Such an event would indeed shatter Qin An’s sense of shame.
“Feeling any better? If you are, hurry up and take me home. I can’t go upstairs by myself.” Pushing the tissue box on the table towards Qin An, Lu Zhiyin left the private room alone and waited quietly on the street outside the restaurant.
Before long, Qin An chased after her. She seemed to have regained her usual flippant demeanor, but upon closer inspection, there was a subtle difference. Her expression had softened considerably, no longer as unrestrained as before. Lu Zhiyin was pleased with her change, and even more pleased by Qin An’s thank you. Her favorability… it should have increased, right? Lu Zhiyin wasn’t entirely sure.
