TGSS - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Argument

When Chu He returned to H City, the sky had already turned completely dark. The lights of the rapidly developing city were dazzling and resplendent, a symbol that countless people yearned and strove for. As she dragged her suitcase out of the airport, she glanced at her watch. It was already around ten at night. Liang Zhouyi should be off work by now.

Thinking this, she took a taxi directly to Liang Zhouyi's apartment. After all, she had sent Liang Zhouyi a message long ago.

At this moment, Liang Zhouyi was sitting at her workstation, just shutting down her computer. She closed her heavy eyelids and rubbed her aching shoulders with effort. A needle-like numbness spread from her shoulder blades. Liang Zhouyi punched herself hard a few times before the discomfort eased. She gave a bitter smile. This occupational ailment had been her inseparable companion for years.

Lifting her eyelids and noticing her vision was a little blurry, Liang Zhouyi quickly opened a drawer, took out a piece of candy and put it in her mouth, easing the nausea from not having eaten all day. She sat for a while before grabbing the bag on her workstation. After walking a few steps, she paused, thinking she should still say goodbye to the editor Sen Sen before leaving.

"Sen Sen, I'm heading off then." Liang Zhouyi wore a mask and scarf, revealing only a pair of dark eyes.

Sen Sen answered without looking up. It took several seconds before he realized it was Liang Zhouyi speaking. He said in surprise, "You got Xiaoying sorted that fast?"

"Barely," Liang Zhouyi said, hitching the bag higher on her shoulder as she walked toward the door, leaving Sen Sen, who was scratching his head in frustration, a sympathetic glance.

Although she was somewhat reluctant to admit it, she did understand Wen Xiaoying's aesthetics and taste more or less, so polishing a few versions to satisfy her was not that difficult.

She struggled to push her little electric scooter out from the basement level. Liang Zhouyi stuffed her hands, reddened and itchy from chilblains, into her gloves. She put on her helmet and stared somewhat blankly at herself in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were dull, and she looked numb and exhausted, completely different from the vivid, carefree look of the girl Chu He had been holding.

Liang Zhouyi took a deep breath, cold air flooding her lungs. The visor of her helmet fogged up from her warm breath. Impatiently, she flipped the visor up and let the cold wind howl past her ears, and her mood gradually calmed.

But Liang Zhouyi, who thought she had made up her mind, dragged her exhausted body back to her apartment and the instant she opened the door, someone leapt up and hugged her hard. She jolted in fright, her body tensing completely. When she saw that it was Chu He, she first breathed a sigh of relief, and then an inexplicable anger began to spread.

Liang Zhouyi slammed the door shut, frowned and pushed the woman off her, her expression very cold. "Chu He, how did you get in?"

Feeling guilty for no clear reason, Chu He stood obediently to one side and said in a small voice, "That day I came to your place... I saw you enter the passcode. I thought since I told you today I was coming..."

"Ha, so you just walked right in." Seeing that Chu He was still wearing that black coat and white shirt, Liang Zhouyi felt a sting in her eyes, and displeased words burst from her mouth. "Chu He, can you have some sense of boundaries? Who taught you to enter someone else's home without a word?"

Stunned by Liang Zhouyi's shouting, Chu He defended herself instinctively. "I sent you a message. You were the one who didn't reply."

That sentence immediately struck a sensitive nerve in Liang Zhouyi. She widened her eyes, her emotions agitated. "Who was the one who didn't reply first!"

Seeing Liang Zhouyi's strange attitude, Chu He seemed to sense something. She stepped back half a step and sat on the sofa, her gaze behind her lenses carefully scanning Liang Zhouyi's face.

"You're angry?" Chu He had already reached a conclusion, but still did not understand why. Seeing Liang Zhouyi with her scarf still on, her hair messy, her face haggard from work, Chu He felt a pang of pity and her voice softened after all. "Why? Did I do something wrong? If you're blaming me for entering your home without your permission, I apologize. I'm sorry."

Chu He's hand resting on the sofa flexed slightly. Probably because of her preconceived notions, she had fallen into a blind spot, taking it for granted that given the essentially close relationship between herself and Liang Zhouyi, there was no need to be so particular. She had not expected that in Liang Zhouyi's eyes, unaware of the truth, she was just an ordinary friend. This was indeed an oversight on her part due to the information gap.

Watching Chu He sit on the sofa and apologize to her so calmly and coolly, Liang Zhouyi found it laughable, and she did laugh out loud. "You think I'm angry about that? I'm not angry. I'm perfectly fine."

Chu He pressed her lips into a flat line and looked at the stubborn Liang Zhouyi without speaking, just quietly waiting for her to calm down.

"What do you want with me?" Liang Zhouyi reached out to hang up her scarf and bag, took frozen dumplings from the refrigerator, and did not spare Chu He another glance.

"You won't even get me a bottle of water." Chu He sighed, got up helplessly from the sofa, took off her coat as well and found a rack to hang it on, then familiarly pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator and moved close to Liang Zhouyi. "What are you cooking? Is there a portion for me?"

Liang Zhouyi tossed the dumplings into cold water and covered the pot. Hearing that, she glanced sideways at her. "Can't the delicacies outside satisfy you? You come to my place to eat frozen dumplings?"

"How can anything outside compare to home?" Chu He saw that although Liang Zhouyi's words were still barbed, she had more or less returned to normal, so she started joking with her again.

Liang Zhouyi sneered. "The flowers outside always smell sweeter than the one at home."

Chu He realized they seemed to be on completely different wavelengths.

Seeing that Chu He had been rendered speechless by her retort, Liang Zhouyi felt her chest tighten even further. She pressed her lips together and stared hard at Chu He, who was wearing only a white shirt. In the apartment where the heat was not on, Chu He did not seem to feel cold at all, calmly wearing slippers as she intruded into her space and wandered around.

"Go ahead. If you have something you want to ask me, just say it." Chu He paced to the window and suddenly turned back, meeting Liang Zhouyi's eyes directly. In the days she had been away, something she did not know about must have happened.

"What exactly have you been doing these past two days?" Seeing that Chu He seemed to be taking the initiative to lower her head and open her heart to her, Liang Zhouyi felt a pang in her heart and finally could not help asking.

Oh no, Chu He's hand braced on the bay window slipped. Hearing Liang Zhouyi ask like that, she understood that Liang Zhouyi probably knew something, just not to what extent. Surely she could not already know that she had peeked at her phone records?

Seeing that her expression was no longer calm and composed, Liang Zhouyi walked slowly toward her, braced one hand on the bay window beside Chu He's waist, and with a cold face waved her phone screen in front of her eyes.

It was so fast that Chu He almost could not see the photo clearly. Her brows furrowed involuntarily. So it had not been an illusion at the time. She had a rough guess as to who had taken the photo and secretly sent it to Liang Zhouyi, and silently made a note of the debt. She raised her eyes wanting to say something to Liang Zhouyi, but meeting her cold gaze, she felt guilty and stammered, "Oh, you mean that? It's just a friend."

"A friend? President Chu really does have quite a lot of friends, and each one so special." Liang Zhouyi pressed the lock button hard with her index finger, her tone sarcastic, clearly mocking Chu He for previously pestering her to be friends.

"No, Liang Zhouyi, what exactly do you mean? Who says you can't have a couple more friends? Besides, I didn't say anything about you and Wen Xiaoying before!" Chu He finally grew somewhat annoyed by Liang Zhouyi. She had intended to explain, but thinking of Wen Xiaoying, who had always been a thorn in her side, her attitude also turned indignant.

The atmosphere suddenly fell silent. Chu He and Liang Zhouyi were very close to each other, and the only sound clearly audible in the whole room seemed to be their unsteady breathing.

A row of small lights above the bay window had been turned on. The light fell on Chu He's face, casting her long, curled lashes into fan-like shadows. The overhead light, which should have been unflattering, illuminated her face with exceptional clarity. Her exquisite makeup and the lustrous pearls on her ears glowed under the warm yellow light. Looking into Chu He's amber eyes, Liang Zhouyi suddenly wanted to laugh. What were the two of them doing?

Chu He, suddenly released by Liang Zhouyi, had not yet come back to herself. She watched Liang Zhouyi turn around, go back to the induction cooker and turn off the pot. The aroma of dumplings drifted through the room, and Chu He, who had been hungry for a long time, felt a pain in her stomach and finally realized she was starving.

Liang Zhouyi ladled the dumplings from the pot into two bowls. The set of bowl and chopsticks for Chu He was newly bought. The pale pink porcelain bowl held plump white dumplings. Liang Zhouyi also mixed a dipping sauce with chili and vinegar, placed the matching pink chopsticks on the dish, and then without a word carried everything to the table and began eating by herself.

Seeing her like this, the anger in Chu He's heart dissipated at once. She laughed to herself, walked to sit opposite Liang Zhouyi, picked up the chopsticks and teased with smiling eyes, "Did you buy this bowl specially for me?" It had not been there the last time she came.

Liang Zhouyi's hand holding the dumpling paused, and the slippery dumpling slid from between her chopsticks. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and she pressed her lips together without responding.

"I don't even know that girl. I only agreed to pretend to be her girlfriend for a day because I wanted to ask her for something," Chu He explained proactively, nudging the tip of Liang Zhouyi's foot with her own under the table.

"What does that have to do with me? You can pretend for as many days as you want. You can be friends with whoever you want. What business is it of mine?" Liang Zhouyi glanced at her lightly, her dark eyes very cold.

"Alright, alright, I was wrong. I shouldn't have lied to you or kept it from you, but wasn't I doing it to give you a surprise?" Chu He knew Liang Zhouyi minded that she had lied about having dinner with a client. Sometimes she could only count herself lucky that Liang Zhouyi had exactly the same temperament as she did. Otherwise, without knowing what was really bothering her, Liang Zhouyi would be nearly impossible to placate.

"What thing?" Liang Zhouyi put down her chopsticks, her tone somewhat surprised and faintly displeased. "What does the surprise you said you wanted to give me have to do with that girl?"

Chu He gave her a mysterious smile. "Wait for me, I'll go get it right now."

After saying that, Chu He pushed her chair back, the sleeves of her white shirt somehow already rolled up above her wrists, the silver watch making her arms look even fairer. Liang Zhouyi watched as Chu He used most of her body to shield the view and pulled a bag out from behind her suitcase. Judging by its shape, it seemed to be something square.

Chu He held the box as if cradling some treasure and moved close to Liang Zhouyi. Caught completely unprepared and suddenly seeing the box clearly, Liang Zhouyi's lips lost a bit of color. Chu He half crouched and unzipped it, revealing a camera all too familiar lying inside. Liang Zhouyi's breathing suddenly quickened. She gripped the corner of the table tightly, and when Chu He handed the thing to her, she flailed her hand in panic and brushed Chu He away, pushing her so that she staggered several steps before steadying herself.

The careful, tentative joy that had been on Chu He's face completely froze at that moment. At this moment, Liang Zhouyi's pupils were unfocused, her forehead covered in fine cold sweat, her fingers pressed tightly against the table as she breathed unconsciously.

This made Chu He finally realize that she had probably misunderstood something. She had originally just guessed that Liang Zhouyi had sold the camera for some financial reason, but she had never imagined that this object would evoke such extreme pain and panic from deep within her.

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