The keyboard slammed heavily onto the desk, making a loud noise, but no one paid it any attention.
Chi Qingya’s gaze shifted toward the doorway.
In the end, she stood up in frustration and sprawled out on the bed in the shape of a big “X”.
It was always like this.
No matter how angry she got, Su Li would act like it had nothing to do with her—never asking, never caring what was wrong.
Even if she made a racket, Su Li wouldn’t bother to tell her to quiet down.
Chi Qingya lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
She tried her best not to think about anything related to Su Li, but the image of Su Li sitting on the stairs, chatting with someone, kept flashing through her mind.
No matter how many times she opened her eyes and tried to sleep again, it was useless.
Who was that person Su Li was talking to?
She had no idea.
Lying in bed, Chi Qingya started wondering if she had gone too far tonight.
Otherwise, Su Li wouldn’t have reacted so strongly.
But there was no way she’d apologize.
The moment she did, Su Li would think she’d won this battle.
And then she’d become completely unrestrained.
Her only option was to try and negotiate the rent to make Su Li stay.
But even that would only keep her for one night.
She wasn’t even sure if asking Su Li to pay rent would be enough to make her stay.
If Su Li couldn’t afford the high rent tomorrow, then Chi Qingya could take advantage of the situation and let her stay temporarily, with the excuse of paying it back slowly.
That way, Su Li could stay, help shoulder the rent burden, and since she didn’t make much money, she’d probably have to scrimp and save.
Living paycheck to paycheck, she might end up staying indefinitely.
But what if Su Li insisted on leaving, promising to pay the rent back later?
What would she do then?
The more she thought about it, the more it felt like her brain was overheating.
She touched her forehead—it was a little warm.
She couldn’t figure it out on her own anymore.
She didn’t want Su Li to leave.
But things had already reached a point of no return.
She desperately needed a way to fix this.
So Chi Qingya pulled out her phone, planning to ask her girlfriends for advice.
They all had plenty of experience—this kind of problem might be a piece of cake for them.
“Girls, Su Li suddenly picked a fight with me last night and told me to pack up and get out. What should I do?”
“It was one in the morning! I… I don’t want to move out, and I think she suddenly remembered that this place is actually rented under my name, so now she’s shouting about running away from home.”
“I thought it was too late at night for her to go out alone—it’s not safe—so I didn’t let her leave. But now she says she wants to cut ties completely. What should I do?”
Chi Qingya sent the messages and lay back on the bed, waiting for her girlfriends to reply.
It was already close to 2 a.m., but her friends were all night owls.
Someone would definitely see her messages.
“Qingya baby, she’s totally playing you. Just because you’re a good person, does that mean you deserve to have a gun pointed at you? She’s probably secretly thrilled seeing you beg her to stay!”
“Yeah, I think so too. Qingya baby, you’re just too kind and gentle. You gave her a favor when she needed it, and now she’s turning it into a grudge. Back when you took her in, you were doing her a huge favor, and now, no matter how much you silently do for her, she probably thinks that if you slip up even a little, you’re the bad guy.
If she wants to leave, let her! What can she really do without you? She’s just taking advantage of your kindness, pushing her luck without a clue how good she’s had it.
If she was really that capable, she would’ve moved out a long time ago. Why else would she still be living off you?
Honestly, when you decided to take her in, you should’ve talked it over with us first. Then you wouldn’t be stuck in this mess with Su Li walking all over you.”
Two of her best friends replied quickly, and the corners of Chi Qingya’s mouth lifted slightly.
She slowly came to her senses—she had been too good to Su Li.
Give someone a meal and they thank you. Give them more, and they resent you.
If she had charged Su Li rent from the start as they’d agreed, maybe things wouldn’t have ended up like this.
Su Li probably felt everything came too easily.
That’s why she treated this place like a revolving door—coming and going as she pleased.
If Chi Qingya had asked for rent back then, Su Li might have realized that leaving this home would come at a cost, and maybe she wouldn’t be so reckless now.
“Sorry, sorry, it’s all my fault for being soft-hearted. I saw her all alone, looking so pitiful in the classroom, with nowhere to go and not even enough for tuition, and I felt sorry for her.
I always thought I had a good eye for people, but I guess I made a mistake this time.
Sorry for dragging you all into this.”
“But Su Li seems to have been doing some companion gaming recently, so she should have a bit of money… I saw her eating poached fish in chili oil last time we had dinner,” Chi Qingya muttered to herself, feeling a flicker of irritation.
She played games too—so why couldn’t Su Li do companion gaming with her?
Instead, she was out there providing services for other people!
Eating her food, living under her roof, and still giving her time and effort to others!
What was the difference between that and a cheating husband?
“Companion gaming barely pays anything—what, sixty yuan an hour at most? And it’s not like she gets gigs like that every day. With that tiny bit of income, eating one meal and skipping the next, how could she ever repay the benefits you’ve given her?
Without you, Su Li would be just a stray dog on the street. There’s no way she could live decently at school.”
“Exactly. Su Li’s got nowhere to go without you. Yaya, stop feeling sorry for her. If she wants to leave, let her! If she can pay, fine, whatever—but odds are she won’t even have the money to repay your kindness. Then she’ll come crawling back, begging to stay. And Yaya, when that time comes, don’t soften up again. Make demands. Be tough with her.”
Reading her friends’ advice on the screen, Chi Qingya finally began to relax.
Thinking it over, she realized they were right—why was she so flustered?
Su Li’s biggest problem was that she had no money.
Without money, she couldn’t do anything in this world.
Just like those women she’d seen online, sobbing into the mic while asking for help with divorce.
A full-time mom with no job, all her energy spent on the kids—when the husband cheats, even if she wants a divorce, she can’t go through with it because she doesn’t have the money.
Su Li didn’t have the ability to leave her.
And now, she saw things clearly.
She had simply been too good to Su Li.
From now on, she just needed to make sure Su Li had no time or energy to earn money.
That way, she’d stay home every day, and gradually become completely dependent on her!
With that thought, Chi Qingya felt her blood pressure even out and finally drifted off to sleep.