After Breaking the Ice-Beauty's Heart - Chapter 38
Chapter 38: “Song Yuli, are you pursuing me?”
Love can overcome all difficulties.
Song Yuli gave Zhou Nianzhi a sum of money, enough for the upcoming surgery.
Right now, outside the operating room, Zhou Nianzhi was covered in cold sweat.
Song Yuli sat beside her, quietly keeping her company.
After the long wait, Zhou Nianzhi heard the results and finally let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, thank goodness life didn’t take everything from her.
After the surgery, Sheng Ning regained consciousness and woke up. She looked at Zhou Nianzhi’s red and swollen eyes and said weakly, “I made Zhi Zhi worry…”
“It’s okay,” Zhou Nianzhi shook her head repeatedly, her voice trembling. “It’s good that you’re awake.”
“Before I went into the operating room, I really thought I was going to die because I saw Cheng Gang…” Sheng Ning looked at the ceiling, but it was as if she was looking at an old friend. “He saw me and told me not to go see him so soon. He said Zhi Zhi is still so young, and it would be too lonely to leave her alone…”
Hearing this, Zhou Nianzhi’s bitter tears did not fall after all. She smiled with relief and looked out the window. There was nothing there, but it was as if she saw the moment dawn broke through the darkness.
The daybreak in her heart had arrived.
Her uncle would also come to see Sheng Ning sometimes. Zhou Nianzhi saw him quickly transferring money, and after seeing his sister, he would also secretly wipe away tears.
Afraid that she wasn’t taking good enough care of her, she hired a caregiver and returned to her life of working multiple jobs, wanting to pay back the money as soon as possible.
Song Yuli sent her a message: “Pay others back first. I’m not in a hurry.”
Zhou Nianzhi replied: “The way you say that, I can’t pay back that much all at once anyway.”
Song Yuli: “I’m giving you an out.”
Zhou Nianzhi: “Not yet. I’m at work.”
Song Yuli: “When?”
Zhou Nianzhi: “When I have time.”
Song Yuli: “I’ll wait.”
For the next whole month, Zhou Nianzhi worked hard and constantly looked for part-time jobs. Although she broke down emotionally from exhaustion many times while walking, every time she cried, a tissue packet would appear in front of her.
The person opposite her held up the tissue packet. Following the direction of the tissue, she looked up and saw that it was indeed Song Yuli.
Zhou Nianzhi raised her hand, wanting to wave it away to refuse, but her body instinctively took it.
“Why do I always run into you?” Zhou Nianzhi said in a muffled voice, wiping away her tears.
“Because you want to see me,” Song Yuli replied matter-of-factly, then put the hat from her head onto Zhou Nianzhi’s head.
Zhou Nianzhi adjusted the hat and didn’t feel so sad anymore. She continued walking, teasing, “Aren’t you afraid you’re just being presumptuous?”
“No, because I think you should want to see me,” Song Yuli followed behind, her tone firm.
“Why do you say that?” Zhou Nianzhi asked.
“Just a guess,” Song Yuli answered honestly. “But my intuition is pretty accurate. Otherwise, I wouldn’t run into you every time. Besides, after so many years, I can still accurately predict where you are and move in next door to you.”
“Didn’t you just happen to get a promotion here?” Zhou Nianzhi slowly moved out of her sadness and said with a smile, “Can you call that intuition? Didn’t we run into each other because of fate?”
Song Yuli said, “Yes, you admit it, too. We have a lot of fate.”
Zhou Nianzhi pretended to be serious and said, “Student Song, I only brought up ‘fate’ to explain that it’s not because of intuition. Please don’t misinterpret my meaning.”
Song Yuli chuckled and said “ah” a few times before saying, “What did you say? I didn’t quite catch that.”
Zhou Nianzhi turned her head, lowered her voice to the quietest possible, almost just a hum like a mosquito, and mumbled to Song Yuli, “I said, next time after my mom is discharged, come over to my house and have a meal with us.”
“Okay,” Song Yuli immediately agreed. “Send me a message, and I’ll be there.”
Zhou Nianzhi clicked her tongue. “You heard that one…”
Song Yuli spread her hands and said, “I hear what I want to hear.”
Zhou Nianzhi continued to walk and casually replied, “I also want to love the person I want to love.”
Song Yuli smiled and followed behind Zhou Nianzhi, nodding. “Mhm, good.”
The summer days passed quickly, each day passing with just a few “It’s so hot.” Occasionally, she would have a cold drink to relax from her busy and hot life. After taking a temporary break from her busy life, she suddenly realized—
Wow.
Another ten days had passed in a blink of an eye.
“Today is a day worth celebrating,” Song Yuli said, placing a small cake on the dining table in Zhou Nianzhi’s apartment.
Zhou Nianzhi, who had just finished massaging Sheng Ning’s shoulders, turned her head and was surprised to see the table full of gift boxes. She asked, “What day is it today?”
Sheng Ning had been discharged from the hospital a few days ago, and it wasn’t anyone’s birthday.
Song Yuli said without changing her expression, “It’s July 24th, the one-month anniversary of Zhou Nianzhi’s twenty-fifth birthday.”
Even Sheng Ning was amused.
Zhou Nianzhi laughed even harder. “What is this? Everyone else celebrates birthdays. What kind of anniversary is this?”
Song Yuli thought for a moment, then said, “It’s the anniversary of me celebrating Zhou Nianzhi’s birthday again after two years.”
Sheng Ning said “oh” in a teasing voice.
“Oh, my. I never thought you were so talkative before,” Zhou Nianzhi jumped off the sofa. “Come here and wash the vegetables with me.”
“Okay,” Song Yuli replied and followed behind Zhou Nianzhi.
“I haven’t even paid back all the money I owe you yet…” Zhou Nianzhi said, walking into the kitchen and pointing to the pile of gifts on the table outside. “How can I accept so many gifts?”
Song Yuli took the vegetables out of the plastic bag, put them in the sink, and said, “It’s okay. You also gave me cake and lychees.”
“I didn’t give you that much,” Zhou Nianzhi also stood next to her, turned on the faucet, and started washing the vegetables. “Speaking of which, I really want to ask you why you love eating lychees so much. Eating too many can make you get a heat rash.”
“Because of you,” Song Yuli said in a muffled voice, lowering her head to pick the vegetables.
“Huh?” Zhou Nianzhi was confused. “I don’t like to eat lychees.”
Song Yuli hesitated for a while. After throwing away the unusable vegetable leaves, she slowly said, “Because your name is ‘Nianzhi,’ and when they say it fast, it sounds a lot like ‘lizhi’ (lychee).”
Zhou Nianzhi was stunned. She turned her head in shock and after a while, she said, “If it’s about names, I thought it was because our names could be combined to form ‘lizhi’ (lychee).”
Song Yuli said, “No. I used to love you simply because of ‘you,’ the pure you. It wasn’t about the ‘you’ that we had to be together.”
When Zhou Nianzhi heard this, she was first touched by the words, but then she felt a little sad, mumbling to herself: Why did she specifically say “used to”? Does that mean she doesn’t love me anymore? But she said she loved me just a few days ago…
“But the me now is different,” Song Yuli probably saw what Zhou Nianzhi was thinking. “After we broke up, I realized how much I wanted to put your name with mine.”
Zhou Nianzhi stopped what she was doing. Her eyes were fixed on Song Yuli. Seeing that she was still determined, she smiled and asked, “Song Yuli, are you pursuing me?”
Song Yuli avoided her gaze. She squatted down and started peeling a potato, saying, “The word ‘pursuing’ isn’t enough to express my admiration for you. Although I’m so desperate to be with you every minute of every day, instead of chasing after you, I want you to know that I have always been standing behind you.”
“But,” Zhou Nianzhi lowered her eyes, shook the water off her hands, and started cutting vegetables. “In the darkness, even a shadow will be absent.”
“If you are in the sunlight, I am willing to be your shadow and smile with you,” Song Yuli said, putting the peeled potato in the sink and turning on the faucet to wash it. “If you are in the darkness, I will become your light.”
“That’s so childish,” Zhou Nianzhi said, raising her hand to wipe the corner of her eye. “But I love hearing it.”
Song Yuli turned her head and asked with concern, “Were you crying?”
Zhou Nianzhi said, “No way. The vegetables made me cry.”
Song Yuli nodded. “I see. It’s not just onions that bring tears to your eyes.”
Zhou Nianzhi was amused and mumbled, “You’re the onion.”
Hearing Sheng Ning cough a few times in the living room, Zhou Nianzhi put down what was in her hands and hurried over to ask, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, nothing. You two just talk. Don’t worry about me,” Sheng Ning quickly waved her hands and said with a smile, “Seeing you two like that makes me happy, too.”
When Zhou Nianzhi heard this, her face turned red. She lowered her head and whispered, “Mom…”
Sheng Ning said, “Hurry and go help little Song.”
“Who’s your real daughter?” Zhou Nianzhi said, putting her hands on her hips and acting spoiled.
Sheng Ning laughed. “You both are.”
Zhou Nianzhi naturally understood what Sheng Ning meant. She shyly said a couple of times, “Mom, you’re kidding again,” and then ran back to the kitchen.
While cooking with Song Yuli, Zhou Nianzhi was distracted. If Song Yuli hadn’t been there to watch her, some of her dishes would have either been too salty or had no salt at all.
“What are you thinking about?” Song Yuli asked, holding three bowls, washing them, and tilting her head.
“Nothing,” Zhou Nianzhi’s mind was still elsewhere. She blankly took the bowls and served three bowls of rice.
Song Yuli took the rice and didn’t ask any more questions.
In the end, even after dinner and Song Yuli had left, Zhou Nianzhi still looked depressed.
Sitting in front of the TV, watching a show with her mom, she finally understood what was bothering her.
She was wondering why she still couldn’t say yes to being with Song Yuli.
She thought for a long time but couldn’t find a reason.
She knew that Song Yuli still loved her, and she still loved Song Yuli. So why was it so difficult for two people who loved each other to get back together?
It was only now that she realized she still had a mental block—
Zhou Chengqi.
His disgusting actions.
He was a shadow in Zhou Nianzhi’s heart.
Because of Zhou Chengqi’s crazy and twisted way of showing love, Zhou Nianzhi developed an intense fear of love between partners.
She was afraid to believe in pure love.
Fear had poked a hole in her heart that was still difficult to fill. Every time she woke up from a nightmare, the overwhelming fear would often make Zhou Nianzhi feel suffocated.
So, when facing Song Yuli’s love, she was also very scared.
She was afraid that Song Yuli didn’t really love her.
And she was even more afraid that she couldn’t give Song Yuli the love she wanted.
Even though she and Sheng Ning both didn’t talk about it and comforted each other to look forward, it didn’t mean that the matter was over in Zhou Nianzhi’s heart.
Lying in bed, Zhou Nianzhi was still thinking about it. All the emotions from the past few days were intertwined, and her head was about to explode.
She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes.
When she opened her eyes again, Zhou Nianzhi was standing on the shore. The seawater was past her ankles, and the wind in her ears turned into sharp accusations and painful shouts. She didn’t stop and continued to walk forward.
“Plop.”
She fell into the bottom of the sea and didn’t want to struggle.