After Breaking the Ice-Beauty's Heart - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Just Walking Like This, One After the Other

“Song… Song Yuli?”

Sensing no ill will from the other party, Zhou Nianzhi gradually calmed down. She let go of her tightly clenched clothes, steadied herself, and recognized the voice of the speaker.

She slowly raised her head. In the darkness, her gaze met Song Yuli’s.

Zhou Nianzhi couldn’t clearly see Song Yuli’s expression, only heard a soft “Mm” in response.

“Why are you here?” Zhou Nianzhi shifted her eyes away from Song Yuli’s gaze, turned on her flashlight again, and shone it on the path ahead.

Song Yuli said, “I’m heading home.”

Zhou Nianzhi lightly patted her forehead. How could she have forgotten that Song Yuli had moved next door to her? She had been so busy these past few days, her brain must’ve been muddled.

But thinking carefully, she had been leaving early every morning to look for side jobs, and visiting her mother in the hospital whenever she had a spare moment. She had barely been home. Since that day she invited Song Yuli in for a glass of water, they hadn’t seen each other.

Zhou Nianzhi kept walking by the light, glancing back to see Song Yuli following behind her. She asked, “Why don’t you use your flashlight?”

Song Yuli, not far behind, replied, “My phone died.”

They walked silently again, not side-by-side, but with the distance of about one person between them.

Back to silence.

Zhou Nianzhi took the initiative and asked, “Just got off work?”

“Mm,” Song Yuli answered again.

Zhou Nianzhi didn’t push further. Getting off work this late was tiring enough—better not to drain Song Yuli’s energy any more.

So they just kept walking like that—one in front, one behind.

They approached an area with more light.

Suddenly, Zhou Nianzhi’s phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, she answered in a panic. There was static on the other end; she couldn’t make out what the person was saying.

“I’ll be right there!” Zhou Nianzhi’s expression turned tense, her breathing quickened. She didn’t stop to ask more—she just wanted to get to the hospital as fast as possible.

After the call ended, Zhou Nianzhi turned back quickly, speaking faster than usual, “There are streetlights ahead. Can you get home on your own? Something’s come up, I need to go right away.”

Song Yuli nodded, lowered her gaze, eyelashes falling as she softly said, “I was on my own to begin with.”

Zhou Nianzhi’s heart trembled, but she didn’t linger. She turned and ran in the opposite direction.

She ran fast, like she was racing against the wind, trying to outrun time itself.

Or maybe, she thought, if she ran fast enough, the wind slapping her face might help her forget what Song Yuli had just said.

The wind that brushed against Zhou Nianzhi’s cheek, after she left, seemed to hear her silent thoughts and gently lifted a strand of Song Yuli’s hair.

Song Yuli didn’t keep walking. Instead, she stood and watched in the direction Zhou Nianzhi had run, silently watching her back to ensure she reached the lit area safely and escaped the darkness.

Only after a long time did Song Yuli slowly turn and walk back, turning on her phone and switching off silent mode, resuming her work.

She shouldn’t have lied.

But she only wanted to follow behind Zhou Nianzhi.

Suddenly, after sending a message, Song Yuli stopped again and turned to look back. What if Zhou Nianzhi came back tonight? Wouldn’t she have to walk this dark road alone again?

She touched her bag, confirming she had brought her power bank and pepper spray, then found a nearby step.

After brushing off some dust, she sat down. At that moment, she felt like a homeless drifter spending the night outside.

She propped herself up with both hands, forgot about sleep, and quietly waited.

Meanwhile, Zhou Nianzhi had already run to the hospital entrance. She had run so fast that she forgot her pain—only sweat-soaked clothes and a drenched collar remained.

She rushed to the ward, where she found the caretaker aunt asleep in a chair. Her mother, Sheng Ning, had just woken up and was struggling to sit up and pour herself water using a thermos lid.

Zhou Nianzhi quickly walked over, poured the water for her, handed it to her, and bent down anxiously. “Mom, are you okay? Are you feeling unwell? Did the doctor or nurse say anything?”

Sheng Ning held the cup with both hands, gently blowing to cool the water. Weakly, she said, “I’m fine… The nurse said I’m recovering well…”

Seeing Zhou Nianzhi confused, Sheng Ning added, “But why did you come back?”

Zhou Nianzhi pulled up her call log. “Didn’t you call me just now? I thought something happened and rushed over.”

But Sheng Ning clearly didn’t remember. She must’ve dialed it accidentally.

Zhou Nianzhi didn’t say more. She turned off her phone screen, pulled the blanket up over her mother, and gently took the cup from her hands, blowing on it herself.

“Zhi Zhi, I probably pressed the wrong button…” Sheng Ning looked like a child who’d done something wrong and muttered, “It didn’t affect your job, did it?”

Zhou Nianzhi smiled and shook her head. “No, no impact at all.”

“There’s a caretaker here, so don’t worry… If something really happened, the nurse would tell you… cough cough…” Sheng Ning began coughing mid-sentence, her frail body shaking, trying not to disturb the other patients.

Zhou Nianzhi’s nose stung. She bit her lower lip and said, “Nothing will happen.”

Once the coughing subsided, Sheng Ning saw the worry in her daughter’s eyes and changed the subject. “Zhi Zhi, you’re still working at that company you mentioned, right?”

Zhou Nianzhi nodded and handed her the cooled water.

“You said the benefits were good… short hours… high salary…” Sheng Ning said slowly.

Zhou Nianzhi responded to each point, all while placing her calloused hands—rough from moving heavy goods—on her swollen knees, straightening her aching back, moving her sore feet inward to hide her worn-out shoes behind the chair.

Then she smiled brightly and described:

“My work environment is great. My boss is really nice. Even if I take time off often, he doesn’t say anything.”

The reality: She had been fired for taking too many days off. She’d gone to countless interviews and been rejected, finally settling for physically demanding part-time jobs.

“My colleagues are great too—really easy to get along with.”

The reality: She barely got to talk to her former coworkers before leaving. Since then, her part-time jobs often came with sarcastic comments about why a college grad was doing labor work. Some even resented her for being young and hardworking.

“The pay is high. Look, this is what I save every month.”

The reality: She juggled multiple jobs at once. During the busiest times, even sleep was a luxury. Only then did she manage to save what looked like a decent sum.

But Zhou Nianzhi would never mention a single word of hardship to her mother. As long as her mother was healthy, she was willing to endure it all in silence.

Sheng Ning sipped the water while smiling, listening to her daughter talk.

As she watched her daughter’s lips move nonstop, she was suddenly reminded of the past—back when their family of three sat on the living room sofa, and Zhou Nianzhi would eagerly share school stories, sometimes even acting them out like a little clown, making them laugh out loud.

At moments like that, Zhou Chenggang would joke, “We shouldn’t have named her Zhi Zhi—she chirps like a bird and never stops.”

Then father and daughter would start bickering, and she’d bring dinner in, pretending to break them up: “Whoever’s late washes the dishes!”

But now, she would never hear Chenggang’s voice again.

Her heart ached, and the tears came down uncontrollably—one after another.

She didn’t want to cry. She didn’t want to make Zhou Nianzhi sad. But she just couldn’t hold back.

Zhou Nianzhi panicked when she saw her mother’s tears and asked, “Mom, what’s wrong?”

She swallowed hard, afraid that her lie had been exposed and had made her mother cry.

“It’s nothing… I just miss your dad…” Sheng Ning placed the cup down and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. Her eyes and nose were red, but she still tried hard to smile. “I’m fine.”

Zhou Nianzhi looked at her mother’s face—wrinkles more obvious when she smiled. Time was ruthless. It kept reminding her that her mother was aging.

The bitterness in her chest almost drowned her. Her eyes moistened, and she had to bite her lip hard to keep from crying.

She couldn’t cry. She had to stay optimistic in front of her mother.

She had to give her hope.

Zhou Nianzhi buried all the pain and sorrow deep inside. She gently wiped the tears from her mother’s face and said, “Mom, I won’t go back tonight. I’ll sit here with you.”

“Just like when I was sick as a child, and you sat by my bed till morning.”

Hearing this, Sheng Ning said painfully, “But my illness isn’t like yours…”

Zhou Nianzhi softly reassured her, “It’s the same. They’re both illnesses that can be cured.”

Sheng Ning smiled, nodded, and agreed.

She was indeed tired. Her eyelids grew heavier. As she lay down, she could feel her body weakening by the day.

With her eyes closed, she felt her daughter gently tucking the blanket around her to keep the cold out.

She felt comforted. She really did have a good daughter.

Zhou Nianzhi got up, carefully took the blanket nearby and wrapped it around herself. She placed her hands on the bedside, quietly laying her head down.

Water slowly soaked her sleeves.

She couldn’t tell anymore if it was sweat or tears.

Sweat and tears mixed together like she had fallen into the sea. In her dreams, she struggled to rise but kept sinking—into darkness, into a bottomless abyss, sinking until she could no longer breathe.

Zhou Nianzhi jolted awake from suffocation. After several deep breaths, she realized she had only slept a little over an hour. She tried to fall asleep again, but the pain in her waist, abdomen, and legs returned—so intense she couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t take painkillers now, so she grabbed her phone to distract herself.

As soon as she turned it on—

[Push Notification: “A Woman Earned Five Figures in Just a Few Days from Street Vending!!”]

Zhou Nianzhi muttered internally, Why are they pushing such nonsense in the middle of the night? But still, she clicked the link.