Chi Qingya looked at Su Li, who clearly didn’t care about her at all, and her pride took a heavy blow.
She had already taken the initiative to apologize to Su Li.
She had even spent so much time carefully preparing a heartfelt bento for her.
Su Rui had no idea what kind of price she had paid to do all of this, nor how hard she had worked.
And now, despite her sincere and anxious apology, Su Li didn’t even take it to heart—she didn’t even have the patience to listen to her apology properly!
Suddenly… although she knew the bento she made didn’t look very appealing, and maybe it didn’t taste as good as the one Su Li had in front of her.
But this was her first time!
Her very first time!
She had worked so hard and was so eager to let Su Rui taste the food she made with such care, even going from restaurant to restaurant to find Su Rui’s figure.
Yet Su Li’s reaction and tone were so cold.
Chi Qingya’s cheeks flushed red, and looking at Su Li’s expressionless face, she was furious.
Again like this…
Again like this…………
Every single time it was the same!
No matter what she said or did, Su Li was always like this—expressionless.
Even though she had read so many psychology books, trying to understand Su Li’s emotions through her expressions, there was no way.
If it weren’t for Su Li, how could her life be such a tangled mess now?
Her life had been so wonderful, lived under the sun.
It was precisely because she had taken in the homeless Su Rui and given her a warm home that things had become so chaotic.
Repeated setbacks, constant emotional pressure.
Even the relationship with her girlfriends seemed to have developed a barrier.
If it weren’t for Su Rui, her home wouldn’t be in such disarray.
The bathroom drain wouldn’t be clogged either.
She wouldn’t have to face the mocking gazes or endure others’ cold stares.
Why was Su Rui now acting like nothing happened, already settled elsewhere, enjoying the bento someone else had carefully prepared for her?
While she herself was living worse than before.
Looking so disheveled.
Trying to do things she never would have done before.
She had already apologized seriously. She had even prepared a delicious bento.
Chi Qingya clenched her fists tightly, feeling a sour sting in her nose, a surge of wanting to cry swelling inside her heart—but she did not cry.
She just looked at Su Li with unwillingness and resentment.
“I was the one who gave you a home when you had nowhere to go, so you wouldn’t have to live like a stray.”
“Why is it that after you left me, you’re living so well, as if my past help meant nothing?”
Seeing Su Rui still showing no reaction, Chi Qingya’s voice trembled as she spoke.
Su Li swallowed the food in her mouth after hearing the quivering voice by her ear, then looked at Chi Qingya with her usual calmness.
Her face still showed no emotional fluctuation, as if she were a stranger watching an agitated Chi Qingya.
“What? In your heart, am I just a stray dog waiting for your grace?”
“I am human, not an animal. I am grateful you gave me a place to stay before, but that doesn’t mean my dignity is so low.”
“Besides, I don’t need your charity. I can live better on my own.”
“You say this is a meal you carefully prepared, but have you ever seriously tasted the food you made yourself?”
“Have you even bothered to learn how Boiled Fish is supposed to be made?”
“You’re acting like a child scribbling nonsense on homework, just moved by your own self-importance.”
“Take this disgusting food away. I don’t need your apology like charity.”
“Chi Xiangya, I don’t think I don’t have the right to pursue happiness.”
“You did help me, and I’m grateful for that. But that’s no reason for you to hold it over me. Besides, I don’t think I owe you anything.”
“During the time I lived in your house, I cleaned my room myself and bought my own food. Apart from the first week, you didn’t pay a single cent for me.”
“Moreover, the rent I paid while living there has long since covered the cost multiple times over. I think you know exactly how much the rent was better than I do.”
Su Rui said calmly, her gaze fixed on Chi Qingya, whose face was red and body trembling.
From her, there was no trace left of the girl who once took the initiative to help her.
Su Li couldn’t remember when Chi Qingya had turned into this.
But she didn’t care either.
Su Rui didn’t linger on Chi Qingya’s reaction, silently finishing the food in her bento box before standing up and leaving.
Since speaking to Chi Qingya, she didn’t even spare her another glance.
Chi Qingya’s body trembled continuously, filled with grievance.
She no longer heard what Su Li said after that.
Her mind went blank.
The gazes around her stabbed at her like sharp blades, and she felt tears filling her eyes without knowing when.
“Okay…”
Chi Qingya instinctively wanted to apologize, then crouched down, holding her head, but in the end, she held back the urge, tightly biting her lips to keep herself from sobbing or crying out.
She sat in the seat opposite Su Li, looking at the bento she had carefully prepared.
She had clearly put so much thought and effort into it.
She was willing to change for Su Li, to engage with things she never wanted to touch before.
She even tried many things she had no experience with.
Why had it still turned out like this?
Chi Qingya sat there and opened the bento she had made.
A pungent, unpleasant smell wafted up—like burnt coal.
She couldn’t help but feel like vomiting.
But Chi Qingya still forced herself to endure the feeling, picked up her chopsticks, and tried to eat all the food she made for the first time.
But at the very first bite, she grabbed the “scorched rice” burned in the iron pot and immediately gagged.
Chi Qingya was unwilling to give up. With tears streaming down her face, she put the bento into her mouth and tried to suppress her discomfort, struggling not to spit it out.
In the end, she swallowed the fish mince in her mouth.
It was awful…
Terribly awful…