The next day, Chi Qingya slowly woke up.
She felt like she’d just had the best sleep of her life.
As if she’d suddenly found direction in life.
Even her current state felt better than ever before.
Chi Qingya stretched lazily and walked toward the living room, ready to enjoy Su Li’s breakfast like she always did.
But she quickly noticed Su Li sitting on the couch, and next to her was the small bag she had packed yesterday.
From the look of her, it seemed like Su Li had been sitting there waiting for her for quite a while.
The table was spotless—there wasn’t a single thing on it.
But her eyes were quickly drawn to a trash bag nearby, already tied up and filled.
Su Li had already eaten breakfast and even cleaned up afterward.
“Where’s my breakfast?”
Chi Qingya looked down at Su Li, her tone haughty and full of displeasure and anger.
“We’re not what we used to be anymore.”
Su Li said slowly, her face still calm and expressionless, just like always.
Chi Qingya frowned slightly, her fists clenching tightly as she stared hard at Su Li.
Her chest rose and fell violently from the rage, and it took several deep breaths before she could calm herself.
Remembering what her girlfriends had told her, Chi Qingya immediately understood—Su Li was trying to take advantage of the situation to push back against her.
If she gave in now, Su Li would only keep pushing, demanding more and more.
“What gives you the right to talk to me like this? Do you think you’d have the life you have now if you’d left?
Could you afford to live in a place with 24-hour hot water, Wi-Fi, and unlimited electricity?
Could you even afford to go to school?
Could you sneak off and eat your precious 89 yuan spicy boiled fish?
Without me, you’d be no better than one of those stray cats and dogs on the street.
Oh, maybe someone would take a liking to your body, and in exchange for a night with you, give you a place to sleep.
It’s only because I was kind enough that you were spared that kind of life, and now you say this to me? How could you?
How can you say that and still face your own conscience?”
As Chi Qingya spoke, her body suddenly heated up, and her cheeks turned red.
Even when arguing with people online, she’d never gotten this worked up.
Su Li, with just that indifferent expression, had made her so angry her head was spinning.
“Weren’t we going to talk about money today? Name your price.”
Su Li’s voice was calm as ever.
She looked at Chi Qingya’s twisted expression without any emotional reaction.
People like Chi Qingya—trying to squeeze out as much as they could—were nothing new to her.
Besides, she didn’t believe for a second that she couldn’t survive in this world without Chi Qingya.
At the very least, there were plenty of 24-hour places she could crash at for a night.
It wasn’t that hard.
She had hands and feet, she could work, earn money—she wouldn’t starve.
Sure, Chi Qingya had helped her, but that didn’t give her the right to control her.
Looking at Su Li’s composed, unbothered face, Chi Qingya took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself.
She wasn’t in the right mindset for a negotiation.
Besides, she didn’t believe Su Li could actually pay. All of this calm confidence—she thought it was just an act.
A tactic to catch her off guard, to make her relax—it was all part of the game.
Su Li couldn’t afford to pay.
All she could do was retreat to advance, try to use threats to change Chi Qingya’s attitude.
Her girlfriends were right: help someone with a little and they’ll be grateful; help too much and they’ll turn on you.
She had clearly been Su Li’s benefactor, and now Su Li was acting like she was the one who’d been doing the helping.
You can’t go easy on someone like that.
She needed to be taught a harsh lesson.
“Oh, so you think you’re really that capable? Fine, fine, maybe I really misjudged you back then.
If you’re so great, then give me fifty thousand yuan. After that, we’re square—you go your way, I’ll go mine.
Even if you kneel and beg me later, I won’t forgive you.
Once you walk out that door today, it’s over between us. No more ties, nothing at all.”
Chi Qingya said angrily. She didn’t believe Su Li could come up with fifty thousand yuan.
Besides, Su Li’s rent for this whole time hadn’t even come close to costing that much.
No regular college student—unless they came from a wealthy family—could just casually cough up fifty thousand yuan.
Even with money from their parents, scraping together that much would be difficult, let alone someone like Su Li, who didn’t even have a home.
And the moment Su Li tried to haggle, she’d fall right into Chi Qingya’s hands, where Chi Qingya could make sure she never rose again.
Fifty thousand yuan—Su Li wouldn’t be worth that much even if she were sold.
“Are you serious?”
Su Li’s voice was still calm, making it impossible for Chi Qingya to read her expression or understand what she was thinking.
So… she really was intimidated by the fifty thousand?
Chi Qingya’s lips curled into a sneer. She smirked with disdain and taunted:
“That’s right, fifty thousand yuan. You think you can afford that? Scared now, aren’t you?”
Su Li fell silent for a moment.
She had expected Chi Qingya to ask for an outrageous amount.
Fifty thousand was a lot, sure, but considering the rent for this place and how long she had stayed, it wasn’t completely unreasonable.
And when weighed against everything she had done for Chi Qingya, it might even be generous.
But to Su Li, fifty thousand yuan wasn’t a big deal.
She looked at the smug girl in front of her and found it impossible to reconcile her with the girl who had once quietly asked if Su Li had nowhere else to go.
Chi Qingya had helped her when she was at her lowest—given her a place to stay, a place to belong.
She’d also guided her through many of the rules and pitfalls of this world.
To use fifty thousand yuan to sever those beautiful memories… it felt cheap.
But… maybe it was time to let it go.
Su Li turned her gaze back to Chi Qingya, then slowly stood up, slinging her small backpack over her shoulder.
“Then let’s end it here. Thank you for everything you did for me. Let’s not contact each other anymore.”
“But I guess you’ve long been fed up with me anyway. You’ve probably been wishing I’d just leave and never come back, haven’t you?”
Her backpack was now free of the clothes Chi Qingya had once tossed to her. It felt much lighter.
She didn’t own much in this world to begin with—everything she had could fit in one bag.
Now, there was even more space left.
“What do you mean?”
Chi Qingya stood frozen, stunned by how things had turned out.
She stared in disbelief at Su Li’s retreating figure.
Su Li gave her phone a little shake, like a customer casually showing a receipt to a cashier after paying for a meal.
When Chi Qingya looked down at her own phone, her heart skipped a beat.
Su Li had actually transferred her the full fifty thousand yuan—not a single cent short!
And the message just above the transfer was from days ago—Su Li asking if Chi Qingya would be home that evening.
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