Chapter 229: I Was Not Very Sensible

Even though the trash had already been thrown away by Chi Qingya, the moldy smell in the Corridor was still pungent.

Chi Qingya stumbled and supported herself against the handrail as she moved her feet upward.

When her fingers suddenly touched the oil and Water dripping onto the handrail, she instinctively pulled her hand back.

Chi Qingya looked around and ended up lightly wiping her hand on her own Clothes.

Anyway, her Clothes were already completely filthy.

She might as well use them as a rag one last time.

Passing Su Li, she smelled that familiar citrus fragrance mixed with an unfamiliar perfume.

Chi Qingya’s trembling fingertips touched Su Li’s hem, then retracted as if burned.

The icy touch of the fabric reminded her of the frost condensed on the back wall of her Junior High School Classroom.

Rainwater always dripped down the back wall of that Junior High School Classroom.

Sitting in the back row, the Water from the roof would sometimes drip onto the top of her head, so she could feel it clearly.

Chi Qingya’s body trembled slightly, and her Heart pounded.

Even when she was checking her scores for the College Entrance Examination, she had not been this nervous.

Even though the distance between the two people was short, she felt it was incredibly far.

It was as if no matter how she tried to reach out, she could not hold Su Li firmly in her hand.

Someone who used to be within reach was now unattainable to her.

Su Li stood beside Bai Huizi, looking glamorous, while she was currently covered in dust.

Thinking of how her hands were now covered in the smell of trash, Chi Qingya slowly pulled them back.

“I — “

A hoarse Apology was stuck in her throat, turning into a rusty gasp.

She heard the crack in the peeling sole of her canvas shoes squeak.

This sound overlapped with the sound of splashing Water when Su Li had carried her through the rainy alley long ago.

But she could never return to that rainy night.

And she could never be carried by Su Li again.

If the relationship between the two of them could still be the same as before, perhaps she would not have had to rush into the Toilet in the Rain that day.

She would not have been Burning Up.

She would not have even needed to prepare Boiled Fish for Su Li as an Apology.

Even if she had been Burning Up later, she would have recovered quickly with Su Li there.

She would not have to be mocked by the Tenants of the entire building like she was now.

She was like a Student called out by a Teacher to stand in punishment, being watched by everyone else.

Chi Qingya glimpsed Bai Huizi holding Su Li’s arm.

Those hands had once helped her pick up broken porcelain pieces, but now they were gently brushing willow catkins off someone else’s shoulder.

She suddenly saw herself reflected in the fire hydrant’s glass.

Her messy bangs were oily, making her look exactly like a Stray Cat that had crawled out of a trash pile.

Su Li liked a Stray Cat.

But…

‘Su Li probably won’t like this version of me, will she?’

She was not a Cat after all.

Su Li might give a pet an Opportunity, but she would not give her one.

‘If I apologize to Su Li and she refuses to forgive me, what should I do?’

Chi Qingya suddenly understood why some people were unwilling to confess to their Friends.

They feared that after the confession, they would not even be Friends anymore.

And she was worried that after apologizing, Su Li would not even give her an Opportunity to be forgiven.

‘If that happens, what should I do?’

Chi Qingya fell into hesitation.

‘If I don’t apologize, maybe I can still have a glimmer of hope.’

But…

Su Li had finally appeared before her.

‘If I miss this, what if I never get another Opportunity to see her?’

Chi Qingya remembered the feeling of not being able to see Su Li in the Classroom this morning.

If it happened again, she did not want to endure that stifling feeling anymore.

‘If I miss this again, will I be satisfied?’

Such thoughts surfaced in her Heart.

She did not want to experience a life without Su Li anymore.

The light from the Corridor ceiling lamp cast small shadows on Su Li’s eyelashes.

She looked down and straightened her cuffs with the same focus she had when tying an Apron for Chi Qingya.

Only this time, Su Li was not straightening her own sleeve, but someone else’s.

Someone had replaced her position and was by Su Li’s side.

It was not that Su Li could not leave her, but that she could not leave Su Li.

Seeing Bai Huizi’s phone ring and her walk off to the side to answer it, Chi Qingya finally gathered her courage.

She gripped her crumpled Clothes and moved toward Su Li step by step.

“I am sorry.”

Her voice sounded like it had been scraped by sandpaper. These three words rolled around in her throat a dozen times before slowly being squeezed out.

Chi Qingya stared at the dust on Su Li’s sneakers, her nails digging deep into the old scars on her palm.

“I used to always make you clean up the trash… and I said a lot of terrible things…”

“I was immature.”

“I caused you a lot of trouble.”

The sound of Bai Huizi walking away to take the call made the Corridor suddenly and terrifyingly quiet.

Chi Qingya could clearly hear her own Heart pounding and the sound of her swallowing.

She gasped for air, her breathing tense.

When she summoned the courage to look up, she met Su Li’s face as she turned.

Those eyes, which were always calm, were now like a frozen lake, reflecting the tears swirling in her own red-rimmed eyes.

However, Su Li’s gaze was not on her, but on Bai Huizi who was currently on the phone.

It seemed she had not even noticed Chi Qingya standing beside her, let alone heard her Apology.

“On… on the day I kicked you out…”

She suddenly grabbed Su Li’s wrist, only to pull away like she had been shocked when the other woman frowned.

“I actually bought the Chestnut Cake you like, but it sat in the Refrigerator until it grew mold because I didn’t dare give it to you…”

Her voice trailed off, crushed by a sob.

Chi Qingya wiped her face haphazardly, the Malatang oil on her sleeve making her cheek itch.

She watched Su Li raise a hand to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. This familiar movement sent more bitterness surging up her throat.

“Are you finished?”

Su Li took a half-step back and leaned against the rusty fire hydrant, the cold metal seeping through her shirt onto her back.

Her expression was incredibly calm.

‘What “favorite Chestnut Cake”? I didn’t even know I liked that stuff.’

As for the part about it sitting in the Refrigerator and growing mold, Su Li believed that.

The Chestnut Cake was probably something Chi Qingya liked herself.

Then she had simply forgotten about it until it molded.

Su Li’s gaze swept over Chi Qingya’s shoelaces, which were stained with Delivery Food soup. “The person you should apologize to isn’t me.”

“Everything between us was just a Transaction.”

“An equal exchange.”

“I took care of you for long enough while living at your Home, and I even paid you several times the amount of the Rent.”

“Chi Qingya, we’re even.”

“Neither of us owes the other anything.”

Chi Qingya stared blankly at her empty palm, where the warmth of Su Li’s wrist still lingered.

Su Li looked at the steps dripped with oil stains and said, “The people you should apologize to are the neighbors.”

“After all, you’re the one who caused trouble for them, not for me.”