Chi Qingya felt like she had been cursed with nothing but bad luck lately.
One misfortune after another kept coming her way.
There were clearly a few moments when things had started to improve, but she hadn’t been happy for long before her life plunged back into the abyss.
She didn’t know why, but this matter definitely had something to do with Su Li…
Feeling the turmoil churning in her stomach, Chi Qingya finally asked the teacher for leave and went home.
Since she hadn’t brought an umbrella, by the time she got home, she was soaked through.
With the cold wind blowing, she felt a chill creeping up from below.
Chi Qingya didn’t immediately change into dry clothes.
Instead, as her stomach twisted again, she ran straight to the bathroom.
Lately, it seemed she had diarrhea more often.
Something that had never happened before.
Sure enough, when people were unlucky, even drinking water could cause trouble.
After finally taking care of her needs, Chi Qingya glanced into the bathroom mirror.
Her drenched long hair stuck to her face like soaked kelp strips, the few streaks of highlights had faded into a grimy gray.
Her eyeliner was smudged into panda eyes, fake eyelashes drooping half-lifted on her lids, making her look like she’d just taken a punch.
Foundation had run down her cheeks in little rivulets, revealing the sunburned red patches on her nose and the clogged pores on her chin.
Her lipstick was smudged onto her canine tooth, looking like she’d just bitten into bloody beef.
Her lace blouse had become half-transparent from the wetness, bra straps crookedly digging into her collarbones, the hem dripping water spots onto the floor.
At this moment, she looked like a lost, beaten dog.
Even back when she found homeless Su Li at school, the other girl hadn’t looked this miserable.
Before she could even feel sorry for herself, a violent wave of nausea hit, and she bent over the toilet to vomit.
The scene was identical to when she had celebrated Su Li’s departure.
The only difference was the absence of the foul stench of spoiled food in the house.
Overall, her condition seemed to have slightly improved?
Chi Qingya wanted to laugh but couldn’t.
Right now, she looked just like a dog.
Suppressing the discomfort in her body, Chi Qingya still managed to take a shower and change into clean clothes.
She didn’t even know how she had managed it.
Unlike when she first came home, she was now aware of just how bad she felt.
Even forcing herself to think about anything was incredibly difficult.
She only vaguely remembered carefully preparing a bento for Su Li, and then everything became like this.
If…
If she hadn’t eaten that…
If she hadn’t prepared the bento for Su Li…
Chi Qingya thought to herself.
If she hadn’t prepared that bento for Su Li, maybe she wouldn’t be in this state now?
It seemed that when she went to deliver the bento to Su Li, she hadn’t even prepared Starbucks or Sufulei?
She couldn’t recall such details anymore.
Chi Qingya felt like a furnace radiating heat.
Stumbling back to her room, she collapsed onto the bed, not even noticing when she accidentally bumped into the bedpost.
She just wanted to lie down.
Chi Qingya curled up on the wrinkled sheets, her face burning red like a rotting peach.
Her cheekbones flushed an unnatural crimson, while her nose tip and eyelids were pale and bruised.
Sweat-dampened bangs stuck to her forehead, revealing cracked lips between strands of hair.
Her eyes were half-open, trying to fall asleep but feeling like she had forgotten something, eyelashes clumped together by sweat, her pupils hazy as if behind frosted glass while she surveyed her familiar room.
“Water…”
Chi Qingya whispered softly, as if recalling something.
She felt thirsty and wanted to drink.
But her body felt like it was filled with lead, completely immobile.
Her fingers gripped the corner of the sheet, trembling violently, fingernails tinged purple, veins pulsing beneath the thin skin on the back of her hands.
The collar of her pajamas was stained with a dark sweat ring, her collarbones rising and falling with rapid breaths like fragile butterfly wings about to break.
Clearly, whenever she felt thirsty before, she could always drink water.
Chi Qingya thought, her heavy mind pondering for a long time before telling her that whenever she’d been sick before, she didn’t even have to get water for herself.
How she wished she could be like before—doing nothing, just lying obediently in bed, falling asleep, and waking up cured the next day.
The thirst came again.
Chi Qingya had no choice but to drag her heavy body off the bed, stumbling drowsily to find some water.
Her nose felt sore, and she felt on the verge of tears.
A wave of emptiness and loneliness washed over her, and she thought of her parents and younger sister back in her distant hometown.
If they were here with her now, maybe she wouldn’t feel so miserable.
Maybe it was because of the illness, but she longed desperately for a bowl of congee and someone to care for her.
She wandered in a daze past Su Li’s room, stopping for a moment, then entering.
But the room was empty, and her heart felt just as hollow.
Suddenly, she recalled a time when she had been sick before, and hadn’t felt this bad.
Because Su Li had taken such meticulous care of her, and she hadn’t needed to do anything but rest in bed.
Sleeping and waking up healed the illness.
Su Li had even cooked congee for her—congee with greens and lean pork.
Made with stir-fried vegetables, the congee had been incredibly flavorful.
Chi Qingya swallowed hard, realizing she still remembered the taste of that congee.
The cold wind sweeping through the room made her quickly realize she was utterly alone.
In a haze, Chi Qingya poured herself a glass of water, spilling quite a bit due to her unsteady hands.
She brought the cup to her lips and gulped it down.
Only, it tasted a little salty…
Chi Qingya touched the corner of her eyes and realized tears had unknowingly fallen.
She remembered thinking she wasn’t this fragile.
No, she had always been this fragile…
Su Li would have come to her bedside with medicine, feeding it to her.
Chi Qingya’s gaze scanned the room but she couldn’t recall where the medicine was kept.
Or even if there was any medicine at home at all.
These were things she had never had to worry about before.
Su Li…
She still needed to be taken care of!
But the person who was supposed to care for her was gone.