That night, Yu Mingjiao cried for a long time, as if she were trying to shed all the tears from the past five years, not stopping for a single moment.
Cen Lingqiu also coaxed her for a long time. She couldn’t remember what time they fell asleep, only that when Yu Mingjiao finally drifted off, tears were still streaming from her eyes. Her long, dense eyelashes were completely soaked, like reeds drenched by rain.
Cen Lingqiu gently caressed her face.
Her eyes will be swollen again tomorrow.
She really cries a lot.
Cen Lingqiu thought, Yu Mingjiao was someone who rarely cried before.
When did she start crying?
It seemed that ever since meeting her, she had been crying constantly.
In the end, I’ve become the source of her pain.
Cen Lingqiu felt a bitter helplessness in her heart.
The next day, Yu Mingjiao’s eyes were indeed swollen. The rims were red, and she could barely open them.
With her swollen, reddish eyes, the first thing she did upon waking was to look for Cen Lingqiu.
She didn’t feel the person beside her. Fearing that last night had been another hallucination, she frantically tried to get out of bed. But her legs had no strength, and she tumbled off the bed, her head hitting the floor with a sharp thud.
Cen Lingqiu, who was pouring hot milk in the living room, heard the sound, immediately put down the cup, and rushed to the room.
“Jiao Jiao!”
She saw Yu Mingjiao fallen on the floor, her long hair nearly covering the ground. Hearing the voice, Yu Mingjiao looked up. Her nose was bleeding from the impact, her eyes dazed. Upon seeing who it was, a thick layer of elation and anxiety instantly surfaced in her gaze.
“…Sister Lingqiu.”
Cen Lingqiu quickly scooped her up into her arms. She was so thin she was practically skin and bones, weighing almost nothing in her embrace.
She pulled out a few tissues to wipe the blood from her nose, unable to resist chiding, “Why did you suddenly fall? If you need anything, you just have to call me.”
Yu Mingjiao paid no mind to her nosebleed. She threw her arms around Cen Lingqiu, hugging her tightly, her teeth chattering faintly.
Cen Lingqiu froze for a moment, only to hear Yu Mingjiao say in a hoarse voice, “Sister Lingqiu, I thought I was dreaming again….”
Cen Lingqiu smiled and freed a hand to pat her back. “How could that be?”
“This isn’t a dream, Jiao Jiao. Can’t you feel my warmth?”
Yu Mingjiao buried her face in Cen Lingqiu’s neck, feeling her warm skin and familiar scent. She gave a muffled “mm.”
Cen Lingqiu wanted to apply a compress to her eyes, but Yu Mingjiao kept holding onto her and wouldn’t let go. No matter what Cen Lingqiu said, she wouldn’t listen.
Cen Lingqiu sighed and had to let her be.
When it came to Yu Mingjiao, she was always indulgent.
Yu Mingjiao was even more insecure than she had been five years ago. She was always afraid that Cen Lingqiu was just a dream, and she didn’t dare to ask if Cen Lingqiu would leave again. She simply didn’t have the courage to ask for an answer.
She was terrified, terrified of getting an answer she didn’t want.
She no longer knew how she would face another separation.
She was completely out of options.
Yu Mingjiao couldn’t possibly have the strength to continue waiting.
She didn’t dare to ask, so she just stuck to Cen Lingqiu’s side all day.
She even stopped going to the company, choosing to work from home instead.
Cen Lingqiu learned that Yu Mingjiao had become the chief designer at x.r. Her works were famous even in the international fashion world, and she had collaborated with many high-end luxury brands.
Her reputation was well-known both at home and abroad.
At the same time, she was exceptionally mysterious, having almost never appeared in any public setting. This added a certain unknown charm and fame to her. Even though she had produced few works in the past five years, each one was highly sought after, and her fame hadn’t diminished in the slightest.
Cen Lingqiu felt a sense of gratification, as if her own child had become famous.
She’s really amazing.
Jiao Jiao.
Yu Mingjiao had almost complete freedom at the company, so even when she requested to work from home, the upper management had no objections.
Cen Lingqiu also stopped going to work. With less than two months left, she just wanted to spend her time properly with Yu Mingjiao.
What she and Yu Mingjiao needed most was time, yet they didn’t have much of it.
So, they stuck together every day.
Yu Mingjiao was just too insecure. No matter the time of day, she had to be stuck to Cen Lingqiu’s side at all times. If Cen Lingqiu just went to take out the trash, Yu Mingjiao would call her a dozen times.
A frightened Cen Lingqiu, who was downstairs, thought something had happened to her. She rushed back home only to find Yu Mingjiao looking at her with tear-filled eyes in the living room, having called frantically just because she wanted to see her.
Cen Lingqiu was simply exasperated.
That was nothing.
But what pained Cen Lingqiu the most was discovering that Yu Mingjiao had no sense of security whatsoever. None at all.
Her auditory hallucinations still persisted. Sometimes, even when Cen Lingqiu was right beside her, Yu Mingjiao would suddenly look towards an empty space.
She would ask Yu Mingjiao what she was looking at.
Yu Mingjiao would say, “Someone is talking to me.”
She would point nervously at the balcony. “Someone is talking over there. It’s Sister Lingqiu. She’s telling me to go home with her.”
When sleeping, she would also wake up inexplicably from her dreams, murmuring, “She’s talking again. She’s crying. She says it hurts so much…”
She would touch her own neck, her expression dazed and neurotic. “She says it hurts right here.”
She would cry while saying it hurt.
Cen Lingqiu felt it was tragic. She was clearly right there, but in many moments, Yu Mingjiao couldn’t find any sense of security from her.
Five years was too long.
Long enough to destroy a person’s spirit, to turn a perfectly fine person into a mentally ill lunatic.
In those five years, Yu Mingjiao had been tormented into a complete mess.
When the neighbors saw Yu Mingjiao, they would occasionally whisper among themselves.
“That little girl in the wheelchair next door seems mentally unstable.”
“Yeah, I always see her talking to herself. It’s really scary.”
“The other day, I was taking the elevator home with her, and she suddenly said someone hadn’t gotten on with her and insisted on going back down. It scared me.”
“Tsk, tsk, what a pity. So young and pretty, how did she end up a lunatic?”
Yu Sui’an was the one who told her all this. Yu Sui’an had argued with them countless times over this matter.
How could Cen Lingqiu not feel pained?
The pain was so intense she could barely stand up straight.
So, she too would cry, hold Yu Mingjiao, and kiss her.
Only kissing could bring Yu Mingjiao back to her senses a little.
They kissed, they cried, and they spent many days like this.
Today, the temperature dropped a little. Cen Lingqiu had to go home for a visit. Zhang Li had called her to come back for a meal and told her to bring Yu Mingjiao along.
Although Cen Lingqiu didn’t know why Zhang Li wanted her to bring Yu Mingjiao, she wanted to take Yu Mingjiao out for a walk.
They had rarely gone out during this period, spending every day at home.
Cen Lingqiu would read, and Yu Mingjiao would work on her designs beside her. Sometimes, their eyes would meet, and they would unconsciously start kissing.
It was really strange.
They had never declared any feelings for each other, but kissing felt as normal as anything, as if it was something that was supposed to happen.
Cen Lingqiu felt this couldn’t go on. Her lips were never in good shape, always on the verge of being chapped.
What kind of situation was this?
So she took this opportunity to bring her back for a visit.
Zhang Li was already waiting for them at the dining table. When she saw them, she smiled faintly.
“Mom.” Seeing her smile, Cen Lingqiu also felt a bit uneasy. The original owner’s family had produced two abnormal people, Lin Qiu and Lin Dong, but Zhang Li was a normal mother.
“You’re here.” Zhang Li seemed to have aged a little more. She lifted her chin. “Sit.”
Yu Mingjiao didn’t have any particular feelings about Zhang Li, but because Cen Lingqiu was polite and courteous to her, she followed suit, nodding at her. “Hello, Auntie.”
Zhang Li smiled gently.
“Qiuqiu, your father is still abroad and couldn’t make it back to eat with us. Grandpa’s health is failing, he can’t get out of bed, so it’s just us today.”
The original owner’s grandfather couldn’t bear his grandson’s imprisonment and his granddaughter’s accident. His health collapsed like a landslide, he lost his vitality, and now he just lay in his sickbed day after day, barely clinging to life.
The burden on the original owner’s father grew heavier and heavier. The entire company rested on his shoulders. To numb himself, he worked ceaselessly and rarely came home.
It was as if overnight, everyone had lost their happy ending, and there were no more happy days.
Everyone was in pain.
Cen Lingqiu felt an unprecedented sense of oppression.
Yu Mingjiao sensed her emotions and secretly held her pinky finger under the table.
Cen Lingqiu smiled faintly, squeezed her hand back, and signaled that she was fine.
Throughout the meal, Zhang Li kept putting food on Cen Lingqiu’s plate, and sometimes she would also serve Yu Mingjiao. Yu Mingjiao was a little unused to it, her expression slightly unnatural.
Zhang Li didn’t seem to notice. She chatted with her in a casual tone, mostly about trivial matters.
Work, health, and the like.
Yu Mingjiao answered everything very politely.
Cen Lingqiu also served her food from the side, saying, “You should eat less of the spicy dishes. Your stomach is too weak, it’ll hurt if you eat them.”
Yu Mingjiao hummed in agreement, listening to everything Cen Lingqiu said.
Cen Lingqiu told her to eat more blood-enriching foods, like pork liver. Yu Mingjiao’s expression was one of refusal, but after Cen Lingqiu coaxed her again, she reluctantly ate a little.
Zhang Li silently observed them for a good while, her gaze meaningful. She took a sip of water and asked Yu Mingjiao nonchalantly.
“Xiao Yu, you’re already twenty-six or twenty-seven, right? Do you have a boyfriend?”
Yu Mingjiao shook her head. “No.”
“Why not?” Zhang Li looked up. “You’re such a pretty girl, and so successful at work. Are there no boys pursuing you?”
Cen Lingqiu didn’t like this topic. “Mom, that’s her private business. It’s not right to ask, is it?”
Zhang Li glanced at Cen Lingqiu and smiled. “Qiuqiu, why are you so flustered?”
Cen Lingqiu froze for a moment. “What?”
Zhang Li then turned to ask Yu Mingjiao, “Xiao Yu, don’t you have someone you like? Tell me, Auntie can help you.”
Yu Mingjiao was silent, not saying a word.
She didn’t know how to answer.
The person she liked.
The first person Yu Mingjiao thought of was Cen Lingqiu.
It could only be Cen Lingqiu.
Seeing her silence, Cen Lingqiu thought she disliked the topic and was about to speak up to divert Zhang Li’s attention when Zhang Li dropped an even more shocking statement.
“Xiao Yu, are you and my Qiuqiu dating?”
Cen Lingqiu’s pupils contracted. She choked, took a big gulp of water, and then spoke, gasping for air, “Mom—we’re just friends.”
“Friends?” Zhang Li didn’t believe it. “Qiuqiu, you’re not like this with Wen Zhi.”
Zhang Li wiped her mouth and said slowly, “Qiuqiu, five years ago when you had your accident, I thought you wouldn’t make it. I was already planning your funeral. It was Xiao Yu who rushed over to protect your body, not letting anyone touch you.”
Speaking of this, Zhang Li perhaps recalled that day and smiled. “The way she was, it was as if we really buried you, this child would have immediately died in front of your grave.”
Cen Lingqiu was stunned. She didn’t know about this. She looked at Yu Mingjiao.
Yu Mingjiao’s eyelids were lowered, her expression quiet and silent.
Zhang Li continued, “This child kept saying you weren’t dead, that you would definitely wake up. But that was an impossible thing. When Xiao Yu saw she couldn’t convince us, she guarded you day and night, not letting anyone touch you.”
“Later…” Zhang Li shook her head. “Later, who would have thought your body would show signs of life again.”
Zhang Li still remembered that time. Yu Mingjiao had guarded her like a madwoman, not eating or sleeping, just watching over a corpse.
Zhang Li thought the child had gone mad. She wanted to have her pulled away, but Yu Mingjiao held a knife to her own neck, her eyes sinister and desperate, as if she would really kill herself in the next second.
Zhang Li was shocked by those eyes. As if possessed, she gave in to Yu Mingjiao. After that, she never made any more funeral arrangements for Cen Lingqiu.
Until one day, Cen Lingqiu’s body truly showed signs of life. She placed Cen Lingqiu in the most high-end sanatorium, using machines to maintain her bodily functions just like before, hoping for a miraculous awakening like the last time.
After that day, Yu Mingjiao never appeared again.
Zhang Li wanted to check on her, but was shocked to discover she had become mentally unstable.
Even back then, she had faintly sensed that the relationship between Yu Mingjiao and her daughter was strange, not like that of friends.
Until recently, Zhang Li, afraid that something might happen to Cen Lingqiu again, had someone secretly watch her. That’s how she received the photos of her and Yu Mingjiao kissing downstairs in their residential complex.
“Don’t be flustered, Qiuqiu.” Zhang Li gently stroked Cen Lingqiu’s hair. “Mom has nothing left. You’re the only child I have now. No matter who you like, Mom won’t stand in your way anymore.”
It was funny, really. Cen Lingqiu was already in her thirties, yet this was the first time someone in a motherly role had patted her head.
“Besides…” Zhang Li smiled at Yu Mingjiao. “I believe in this child Xiao Yu’s feelings. Whatever happens between you two later, I’m old now, I can’t manage it anymore.”
Yu Mingjiao’s eyelids trembled.
Cen Lingqiu and Yu Mingjiao were both silent.
The meal was, all things considered, harmonious.
Before they left, Zhang Li called out to Cen Lingqiu.
“Qiuqiu, come back and spend more time with Mom when you’re free.”
“Come back with Xiao Yu, and talk with me.”
