Chapter 41: Chi Qingya, As graceful As A Lotus Emerging From Water

Chi Qingya’s body shuddered instinctively, her eyes growing even redder with tears.

She didn’t understand why she had to endure such torment.

When she finally gathered the courage to look, she saw that in the basin beside her— used to soak her laundry— someone had carelessly tossed a used sanitary pad in.

Whoever it was hadn’t even bothered to clean up after themselves.

Inside the basin were the underwear she had just changed out of, unwashed, along with a few small toys she had just used— also uncleaned.

Now all of it was ruined.

She couldn’t comprehend why someone would treat her washbasin like a trash can and throw a sanitary pad into it.

The nausea hit her again, but this time, Chi Qingya couldn’t vomit anything out.

Her stomach churned violently, and a wave of diarrhea threatened to erupt.

In a panic, she flushed down the vomit, just as she was about to sit— only to find the toilet seat still stained with urine.

Worse, her hand had been smeared with it.

And to top it off, someone had slathered a fresh, greasy layer of salad dressing near the toilet.

Chi Qingya could only force herself to endure the disgust, wiping the urine off the toilet seat and giving her hands a quick rinse.

Only then did she sit down on the toilet.

She felt the icy chill beneath her feet, her soaked clothes clinging uncomfortably to her skin, dampened by some unidentified mixture of fluids.

Her body trembled involuntarily.

She could only shut her eyes in pain, refusing to look at the filthy mixture of various liquids and her own vomit pooling on the floor.

But the more she tried to ignore it, the more painfully aware she became of the wet clothes stuck to her body.

Her clothing was no longer protecting her from the filth.

She hesitated. Should she take them off? But if she did, she’d have nothing to shield herself from all the things that made her skin crawl.

Low, thunder-like noises echoed through the bathroom.

Chi Qingya began to sob softly.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

Could someone… please come save her?

But no one heard her. Her phone remained eerily silent.

All she could do was sit helplessly on the toilet.

Once the diarrhea passed, she flushed again.

Maybe it was because she had stayed in this disgusting place for too long, but she was starting to get used to the stench.

Chi Qingya helplessly took off her clothes and threw them to the floor, watching them get soaked by the dirty water.

Fighting the nausea and frustration, she reached toward the drain cover and began cleaning the tangled hair around it.

The urge to vomit welled up in her chest again and again.

She gagged repeatedly but couldn’t bring anything out.

Everything she dug out from the drain, she tossed into the toilet.

If she hadn’t chosen the wrong approach earlier, she might’ve already unclogged the drain.

Now, she had no choice but to endure the revulsion and discomfort while dealing with her own vomit.

Her head felt heavy and dizzy.

Every now and then, she looked toward the place where she had left her phone but no messages came.

She had no idea how much time passed until she suddenly heard a ding-dong. Her heart skipped a beat.

She scrambled to her feet, quickly washed her hands, and grabbed her phone.

But it wasn’t a friend request from Su Li.

It was a notification from her group chat with her girlfriends.

[Strawberry Milkshake (Diet Edition) has recalled a message]

A moment later, her phone vibrated again.

Nervously, she checked— only to find it was a payment screenshot from one of the girls.

It showed the taxi fare split between the four of them.

Chi Qingya sent her share over, and the red envelope was quickly accepted.

She stared at the screen for a long time, but no new messages came.

So she crouched down again and continued clearing the drain.

Even though she knew her current predicament had everything to do with her girlfriends, she resisted the urge to lash out at them.

If it had been Su Li who caused this… she would’ve definitely given her a piece of her mind.

It wasn’t until the floor was completely unclogged and the soaked sensation beneath her feet finally faded that Chi Qingya let out a slow breath of relief.

She felt utterly exhausted.

All she wanted now was to lie down on her bed and get a good night’s sleep. She was so, so tired.

But she knew just how filthy she was— her body reeked of the stench that had soaked into her skin from the foul air around her.

There was no way she could fall asleep like this.

Forcing herself to fight off the drowsiness and fatigue, she decided to take a shower.

She could deal with everything else tomorrow.

But the moment she turned the shower on, the water heater blared out a sharp error tone.

Alarms screeched, and no hot water came out— only an icy stream poured down onto her hands.

In the past, she could’ve just shouted at Su Li to go check the heater, maybe even asked her to boil some water so she could clean up.

But now… she had to do everything herself.

Su Li’s image flickered through Chi Qingya’s mind, but the exhaustion overwhelmed her— she didn’t even want to think anymore.

The heater had worked perfectly for so long.

Why did it have to break today of all days?

Her nose tingled with the threat of tears as the freezing water drenched her body. She shivered instinctively.

She scrubbed her hands and feet vigorously, rubbing away every last trace of filth.

Every part of her that had come into contact with that disgusting mess, she cleaned over and over again.

She didn’t know how many times she repeated the motion— her body kept trembling, and her stomach, which had just calmed down, began churning again.

She had to pause, wait for it to pass, and then continue scrubbing.

Again and again.

By the time she finally dried the water off her skin and stepped out of the bathroom, she couldn’t hold back a sneeze.

Even then, Chi Qingya still didn’t feel clean.

She tossed her used clothes into the basin, planning to throw the whole thing away later— clothes and all.

Still wrapped in fatigue, she slowly made her way toward the living room.

The acrid stench hit her again, and she retched on instinct, though there was nothing left in her stomach to bring up.

Carefully avoiding the scattered trash on the floor, she went around opening all the windows.

As the cool autumn wind swept in, she sneezed again but the fresh air was a small comfort.

Moonlight flowed gently across the quiet balcony like silk.

Even though Chi Qingya felt rotten to the core, from the outside she still lived up to her reputation as the aloof campus goddess.

Fresh from her bath, she looked like a fairy stepping out of water— naked, with skin so fair it seemed to glow in the moonlight, as if untouched by the dust of the mortal world.

A true lotus rising from water.

Her damp hair draped loosely over her shoulders, strands of jet-black clinging to her skin.

A few glistening droplets hung there, catching the light and releasing a faint, soothing scent that mingled with the night air.

But when Chi Qingya looked into the reflection of herself in the glass, her eyes appeared dull, her expression weary.

So cold… and her nose itched…

Chi Qingya raised a hand.

And then—

“Achoo~!”