WS - Chapter 8
Chapter 8
The room behind Yu Nianbing gave off wafts of rich, authentic grilled-meat fragrance. Song Shiyue, head slightly lowered, secretly took two deep breaths, her heart skipping, but she at least remembered the "serious business" she needed to attend to.
"My side's door is blocked by stuff. I wonder if I could use your place to get through?" Song Shiyue pointed behind Yu Nianbing.
Was she talking about that pile of clutter that blocked the door so much you couldn't even see the door frame...
Yu Nianbing nodded and stepped aside.
Song Shiyue thanked her repeatedly, but once inside, she hesitated and looked down at Yu Nianbing's feet.
Mm, cream-white little rabbit slippers.
Still so cute.
Yu Nianbing followed her gaze downward and unconsciously shuffled her feet back two steps.
"These slippers were bought by Auntie Wang..." As soon as the words left her mouth, Yu Nianbing felt a bit annoyed. Why was she talking so much today?
"Very cute," Song Shiyue praised with a sincere expression.
"..." Yu Nianbing wanted to explain that this was Auntie Wang's taste, not that she herself liked such childish and soft things. But this time, the words reached her lips only to be swallowed back in time.
Song Shiyue waited. The person before her pursed her lips, her originally somewhat aloof look now even more distant.
"So... do I need to change my shoes?" Song Shiyue didn't care about the sudden distance Yu Nianbing put up; she had even smashed through her wall, so what was a bit of distance?
So, it wasn't because she thought they were cute that she looked at my slippers.
"Wait a moment." Yu Nianbing glanced coolly at Song Shiyue, then turned and went inside the room.
In just the time it took to turn her head, she brought back... four shower caps.
While Wang Mancang, hindered by his build, was finding support to slip them over his feet, Song Shiyue, with a shower cap on each foot, swiftly entered Yu Nianbing's apartment.
The apartments in this building of Xingzhu Garden had two units per floor and similar layouts. Song Shiyue quickly found the room on Yu Nianbing's side that she had knocked through.
Unlike the grilled-meat scent she'd passed in the dining room, this bedroom had a faint fruit fragrance.
Following the scent, Song Shiyue saw a spoon stuck into a watermelon on the nightstand, with a few bites taken out of it.
Come to think of it, she seemed to have tasted watermelon earlier?
Was it an associative hallucination triggered by smelling this place's scent through the thick smoke that almost cost her sense of smell?
But her attention was momentarily diverted by the melon scent, and then the sound of little slippers clip-clopping behind her drew near.
"That one won't do," Yu Nianbing's voice sounded behind her.
Song Shiyue had entered before the hostess, discourteously, precisely to push the desk back at the first opportunity, but a slight delay let her catch up.
Now, as she was regretting it, she heard Yu Nianbing say this and couldn't help freezing: "What?"
"I've eaten this one, so it won't do." Yu Nianbing sighed softly and added, "There's half a watermelon in the fridge; I'll bring it out for you to eat later."
Wait. Song Shiyue suddenly realized — did Yu Nianbing have a slightly off impression of her?
"Well, I was just looking." Song Shiyue tried to explain. "It's just earlier, when I passed out, I seemed to taste watermelon, and recalling that now, I just looked a little longer. It's not that I want to eat it."
Watermelon's... taste...
Yu Nianbing's ears went a little hot. Facing Song Shiyue's sincere look, she suddenly regretted bringing up the topic of watermelon.
Just then, rather heavy footsteps approached from a distance.
Song Shiyue's heart gave a thump. Letting one person already see the scene was one thing, but could she make it in time for the remaining one?
Without further words to Yu Nianbing, Song Shiyue strode quickly to the collapsed wall.
Without someone right in her face, Yu Nianbing felt much better; the heat behind her ears gradually faded.
Earlier in the hospital room, Yu Nianbing had thought about what to say if Song Shiyue remembered and brought up that matter.
But now, obviously, Song Shiyue didn't remember — or was pretending not to.
Yu Nianbing breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help wondering whether her behavior today had anything to do with that contact, which was only about life, not emotions.
However, soon she had no time to think deeply.
Just a few steps away, Song Shiyue lifted the long desk that Yu Nianbing couldn't budge at all, and step by step over the debris, steadily carried it back next door.
If Yu Nianbing had only had suspicions before, now, witnessing Song Shiyue effortlessly carrying the desk around and freely adjusting its position, her thoughts were confirmed by the facts.
"How is it going?" Wang Mancang, who was already winded just from bending over to put on two shoe covers, rubbed his round belly as he arrived.
Song Shiyue, from her bedroom across the fallen wall, glanced at Yu Nianbing.
Yu Nianbing looked at Wang Mancang and said nothing.
"I've got to hand it to you, that door's blocked pretty good." Wang Mancang paid no mind to Yu Nianbing's silence; instead, from a distance he saw the state of that bedroom and his temper flared up.
Song Shiyue worked in silence, adding one more to today's tally of taking the blame.
There were many things blocking the door; with each item moved, Song Shiyue could feel how strong the original host's desire for death had been.
If only...
...she had held on just a little longer, a turning point would have come.
Song Shiyue glanced at Wang Mancang by the window, who, though scowling, worked very efficiently, and she felt a bit sorrowful.
"What are you looking at me for? Move it." Wang Mancang, too, perceived the weight of the suicidal mindset from each object they moved, so when he spoke, he naturally still sounded annoyed.
Alright...
Song Shiyue lowered her head and continued clearing the clutter.
Actually, she could have pushed all that stuff away from behind the door before.
But firstly, that would have revealed strength far beyond the ordinary, and secondly, she would have lost the chance to slip away from Wang Mancang and put the desk back in Yu Nianbing's place.
It seemed the effect was still there.
Even though Wang Mancang was very angry now, he didn't suspect that the wall had been smashed through.
As for Yu Nianbing...
Song Shiyue looked back toward the breached wall.
She saw Yu Nianbing in the opposite bedroom, spooning a bite of watermelon into her mouth.
Their eyes met, and Yu Nianbing stabbed the spoon heavily back into the watermelon, then turned and left the bedroom.
Song Shiyue silently lowered her head... Sighing inwardly, she wondered: could it be that because she had eaten a few of her leftover xiaolongbao, Yu Nianbing thought she would covet all her unfinished food, and was that why she was so annoyed?
That shouldn't be... This isn't a resource-scarce apocalypse...
People shouldn't fight over food, especially food that can't be finished, right?
Honestly, in the original host's memory, whether from industry opinions or the host's own experience, Yu Nianbing seemed a rather cool person, very good at keeping distance from others. But from the string of events Song Shiyue herself had encountered, although Yu Nianbing wasn't overly concerned or warm, as a stranger — or rather, as someone the host had once taken advantage of — she had done very well.
If possible, Song Shiyue felt that even if they couldn't be friends because of the past or this awkwardness, at least they could become friendly nodding acquaintances afterward.
But it looked like this wish had already been ruined by her earlier lack of self-control when it came to her appetite?
Sigh...
Having not had any decent food in seven years, Song Shiyue thought that if she were sent back a few hours, faced with a choice between cold xiaolongbao and Yu Nianbing, she would still pick the former.
Just as Song Shiyue was clearing the barricade of clutter while her mind wandered, the clip-clop of slippers drew nearer.
"Bing, eat slowly." Yu Nianbing placed a large glass bowl on the cabinet next to Song Shiyue. Inside was half a watermelon with a spoon already in it.
Red, intact, half a melon.
After setting down the watermelon, Yu Nianbing left without waiting for Song Shiyue to speak.
Song Shiyue looked at the red, intact, half melon before her, and suddenly felt that maybe, if she were sent back to a few hours ago, she might... between the cold xiaolongbao and Yu Nianbing...
...hesitate a bit longer.
Then.
Of course, still choose the former.
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