“What?!” Qin Haiyue’s pupils shrank, and her voice rose sharply, drawing confused looks from those around her.
Looking at the distraught Qin Haiyue, Ye Xingmian felt a wave of unease. However, she knew it wasn’t her place to speak, so she remained silent, just like the driver.
“What happened? Tell me clearly.”
“Oh, you’ll know once you get here! Text me when you arrive and I’ll give you the address. Hurry!”
*Beep — * The call was disconnected.
Staring at the black screen of her phone, Qin Haiyue was dazed for a moment before snapping back to reality. She turned to the driver. “Go to the airport, now!”
Even though her relationship with her parents was indifferent, hearing such sudden news still made her extremely anxious. Her palms, tightly gripping the phone, began to sweat.
“Young Lady, what happened?” The driver quickly pulled over to the curb and looked back to ask.
“Don’t ask, just go!”
After a moment of silence, the driver glanced at Ye Xingmian sitting beside Qin Haiyue.
“Then what about this young lady?”
Qin Haiyue frowned. She hadn’t actually considered that. Sending her home would take too much time. Her mind was filled with the news she just heard; in her heart, her father still held a very high status.
So, she came up with a decisive solution.
“Get out,” she commanded coldly, turning toward the girl.
“Huh?” Having no idea what had happened or why Qin Haiyue had suddenly become so agitated, the girl was still a bit dazed. But Qin Haiyue was already out of patience.
“I said get out!”
She placed a hand on the girl’s arm and made a pushing motion toward the door.
With no other choice, the girl had to open the car door and stand on the empty road.
“Um… could you give me some money? I want to take a taxi back…”
“Money? Didn’t I give you some the day before yesterday?”
“My sister took it…”
“Then just walk back yourself! Don’t you know how to use GPS?!” Qin Haiyue had lost all desire to continue the conversation. She slammed the car door shut, and the car sped off, quickly disappearing at the end of the road.
Now, Ye Xingmian was the only one left on this empty street.
A cold wind blew, and the girl’s clothes were thin to begin with. She couldn’t help but shiver in the wind. She looked around; this seemed to be an old part of the city. The buildings weren’t tall and bore the marks of time. The few people passing by were mostly in a hurry, only glancing at her with slightly strange looks before hunching their shoulders and scurrying away.
Suddenly being abandoned like this, Ye Xingmian still hadn’t fully registered it. Just a moment ago, she was drowsing in the warm car, and then with a single phone call, she was left in a place like this to face the cold wind. The contrast was jarring.
The girl felt a bit lost. She didn’t know where she was or how to get home. As for the maps on her phone, she didn’t know how to use them either. Feeling a sense of dread, she found a narrow alley shielded from the wind, took out her phone, and pondered what to do.
With no money, she couldn’t call a taxi. Should she call the police? But surely this wasn’t worth the trouble? She might even get a cold shoulder for it. After all, how could a normal person make the mistake of getting lost?
But regardless, having gotten away from Qin Haiyue, the girl felt a sense of relief. She sighed, opened her phone, and thought about how to ask for help.
She only had two contacts, and there was only one person she could actually ask for help.
She remembered the phone numbers of her foster parents and her sister, but she couldn’t call them. If she did, they would discover she had a phone. Given her foster parents’ temperament, they definitely wouldn’t let her off the hook.
Besides, she didn’t actually want to go back to that home.
What would she do there? Continue to bow and scrape to Lin Ziyan? Or endure her foster parents’ glares while doing tedious chores? To be honest, if she could, she didn’t want to go back at all.
That place only brought back memories of pain and despair.
But she couldn’t stay outside forever; she wouldn’t be able to stand it. She had to find a place to stay.
Thinking it over as she stared at her phone, she hovered her finger over that one number, yet she couldn’t find the courage to press it.
She had just left her house on her own initiative and lied to her, yet now she had to ask her to come pick her up. Ye Xingmian felt she was being too much.
So… what should she do?
There were only two paths before her: one was to call Liu Yinuo, and the other was to walk back on her own as Qin Haiyue had suggested.
Ha… even a fool would know which one to choose, right?
Thinking about what she had done to Liu Yinuo, the girl closed her eyes. She summoned her courage and dialed Liu Yinuo’s number.
*Ring — Ring — *
The waiting time felt so long. Every now and then, a cold wind would seep through the gaps in her clothes. Her legs were already numbing from the cold, almost losing all sensation. The girl decided to squat down and curl up, hugging her legs tightly in hopes of keeping warm.
Fortunately, the call was answered quickly. Liu Yinuo’s slightly hesitant voice came through from the other side.
“Hello… Ye?”
The girl couldn’t help but smile. Hearing Liu Yinuo’s voice again made her happy.
“Class Monitor… could I ask you for a favor…?” Her voice was soft and sweet, sounding incredibly pleasant. This was the first time Ye Xingmian had spoken with such a slight coquettish tone; it felt a bit new. ‘Well, I hope the Class Monitor doesn’t hate it.’
Vehicles sped past on the road from time to time, making a lot of noise while kicking up a gust of cold wind. The girl couldn’t help but shrink back, curling herself into a ball.
***
“…What’s wrong… Ye?”
“Class Monitor, could you stop calling me ‘Ye’? Just call me Xingmian.”
“Um… okay, Xingmian.”
“Can you come pick me up? I can’t get back…”
“Huh? What happened over there?”
“It’s nothing… just… I was dropped off halfway…” There was no emotion in the girl’s tone, but Liu Yinuo could still faintly hear the grievance in it. After a moment of silence, she said, “Alright, send me your location. I’ll come find you.”
“Sorry, I don’t know how…”
“Check Penguin.”
Just then, a message notification appeared at the top of the screen.
“North Wind Warmth has initiated a location sharing session with you.”
The girl suddenly understood. She obediently followed the instructions and clicked in.
“Okay, just wait there. I’ll take a taxi to pick you up.”
“Okay~”
After that, the call was disconnected.
Putting her phone back into her bag and curling up to hug her legs, the girl felt a bit dazed.
‘Does this… count as making a choice?’
‘Probably.’
Following her heart, she chose someone who was good to her. She hoped she hadn’t chosen wrong, and she hoped she could live up to Liu Yinuo’s willingness to overlook the past and her kindness.
The sky remained a dusty gray. It seemed that the girl’s thoughts couldn’t change a thing.
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