Chapter 191: Cell Phone

Noisy. A reckless sparrow outside the window had been chirping incessantly this morning, very noisy. Even with the window closed and wrapped in a blanket, its piercing voice still penetrated the glass and reached her ears, filling her with irritation.

Lin Zi abruptly sat up, got out of bed, and pulled open the curtains, scaring the bird away. She lay back down and closed her eyes. She couldn’t fall asleep anymore.

She turned on her phone… it was already eleven o’clock? She had gone to bed too late last night and slept all the way until now.

Tch. Her parents had gone to work again today. That was fine—anyway, Lin Zi didn’t want to see them. She hadn’t even gone downstairs to eat.

Since last night, she hadn’t left her room except to use the restroom. But she was indeed a bit hungry…

In her fluffy pajamas, Lin Zi stared blankly at the toy bear for a while. She felt that this thing probably needed to be washed.

It seemed to have been sitting for too long and had gotten a bit dirty… But for some reason, she was reluctant to wash it. Contradictory, very uncomfortable.

Come to think of it, didn’t Ye Xingmian say the day before yesterday that she was on her period? It was so cold—would she catch a chill? Did she go find Liu Yinuo?

I don’t know if she was faking it, probably was, right? But it was still cold outside—would she go? She would definitely go, right? After all, she seemed to really like spending time with Liu Yinuo.

When she had nowhere to go, it was only natural to go find Liu Yinuo. She definitely wouldn’t go. In weather like this, if she didn’t go, would she freeze to death? She couldn’t possibly go to Qin Haiyue—that girl treated her so badly. She…

No, what am I thinking?

Why do I care so much about her?

She probably won’t come back anyway. I should forget her. What use is there in thinking about this now?

But still, I’m a bit worried.

I remember she… I should call her Elder Sister—that name does sound better.

Elder Sister has always been frail, no strength, no body fat, not cold-resistant.

If Elder Sister gets sick, will Liu Yinuo take good care of her? Probably—after all, Liu Yinuo seems gentle and treats Elder Sister well.

If she really is willing to take her in…

Lin Zi felt that her thoughts were too chaotic. Sometimes she didn’t even know what she was thinking. She shook her head randomly and finally turned these thoughts into a sigh.

She had to go to school tomorrow. She would definitely be able to see Elder Sister there. She would definitely apologize properly then.

Elder Sister had a soft personality—if she were sincere, it would be hard for her to refuse. She would do anything.

The best would be to get her to come home… If she could get her to come home, maybe Elder Sister wouldn’t make too harsh demands.

Ha… She opened the door. At the doorway sat the tray her parents had left last night. The food was cold, inedible. They hadn’t even cleaned it up. Lin Zi stared at the tray for a while.

Luckily, it had a lid, so it wasn’t contaminated. If she reheated it, it should still be fine to eat—after all, it was still cold, and food didn’t spoil that quickly. In the past, Elder Sister would have gotten up early to cook and then come to call her carefully…

Lin Zi looked in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, and she had two big dark circles under her eyes, looking very haggard.

Why are there so many bloodshot eyes?

Strange—I only cried a little out of discomfort, but my surroundings feel full of some dry, suffocating atmosphere.

Maybe I really was wrong?

Was I too stubborn and too hasty?

Maybe my parents were right—they were doing it for my own good. I owe them an apology…

While heating up the food, Lin Zi thought.

But they drove Elder Sister away and stopped me from being with her, making me miss the best opportunity… They were so fierce yesterday, I’ve never seen them like that—stubborn and hard to resist.

While eating, she thought this. Until the end, she couldn’t make up her mind.

What should I do?

It’s like everything has floated up into the clouds, and I can’t reach it no matter how hard I try.

Maybe I should go to Elder Sister’s room and take a look. There should be some things she needs there. I should pack them up for her so my parents don’t throw them away.

After eating, she put the dishes in the sink and climbed up the narrow stairs to the attic. Opening the old, creaky door, a musty smell of dust hit her. This seemed to be only the second time she had been here.

The furnishings hadn’t changed—old furniture on both sides, a bed across the small hallway.

But the floor seemed to have a thin layer of dust, so thin it was almost invisible. If no one cleaned, this place would soon look like it had been abandoned for a long time.

Lin Zi entered the room, walked over to Ye Xingmian’s small bed, and sat down. The bed planks made a creak, creak sound. Perhaps she should have changed the bed planks long ago, or at least spent an afternoon repairing and inspecting them—it would have eliminated many safety hazards.

There was no power outlet on the wall. Apart from the switch for the light bulb, there was nothing related to electricity here. Naturally, there were no electrical appliances either.

Lin Zi stood up with a sense of loss, paced the floor, and then went to the wardrobe and opened it. Inside were mostly old clothes.

In her memory, except for the women’s clothes she had bought for Elder Sister recently, Elder Sister hadn’t worn new clothes for a very long time.

Some places had holes, some places had loose threads—all fixed by Elder Sister herself, but the stitches were a bit rough, not very pretty.

Maybe Elder Sister was once mocked for wearing these clothes.

No. Elder Sister had no friends, and no one usually paid attention to her—why would anyone mock her?

Like a wild flower by the roadside, no one appreciates it, no nutrients, just trying hard to live well.

These clothes, she didn’t need to pack them up. Lin Zi closed the wardrobe.

Besides these, the only other things worth attention were the pile of old stuff in the corner. Yeah, and the small schoolbag belonging to Elder Sister.

There didn’t seem to be any books inside? The bag looked empty. Lin Zi went over to take a look—nothing worth paying attention to. So she picked up the schoolbag.

As soon as she lifted it, the unusual weight alerted her.

“Huh?”

Through the abnormal weight, she quickly found a hidden small compartment. As for what was inside… She unzipped the bag and rummaged inside. The next moment, Lin Zi’s pupils constricted.

This was… a cellphone?

Elder Sister… how could she have this? It was hard to imagine, something completely unexpected. Lin Zi bit her lip and tried to turn it on. But there was no response.

She quickly ran downstairs carrying the schoolbag with the phone, went into her bedroom, and plugged the phone into a charger. The startup logo soon lit up. Surprisingly, it seemed to be a very new Apple phone.

Lin Zi’s eyes dimmed. She had a guess about the phone’s origins. The phone had no password lock—very much in line with her impression of Ye Xingmian.

After turning it on without any obstruction, she found that the phone even had a SIM card. So she opened the contacts. There were two contacts lying quietly inside: Qin Haiyue and Liu Yinuo.

She opened QQ, opened WeChat—both had only these two people. She checked their chat histories—nothing much either.

From the chat records, she could also tell that Elder Sister hadn’t had this phone for long.

However, it seemed she was gaining a deeper understanding of Ye Xingmian’s situation, understanding better what difficulties she was facing. But for now, that wasn’t what she cared about.

She found Liu Yinuo’s phone number, hovered her finger over the dial button for a long time. Finally, she pressed it. Unexpectedly, the call was quickly answered.

From the phone came Liu Yinuo’s slightly cool voice.