After Breaking the Ice-Beauty's Heart - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: “Song Yuli! It’s me!”

The door closed tightly.

Zhou Nianzhi stood in the entryway, carefully setting down the things she was holding. She didn’t even take the time to change her shoes. Instead, she hurriedly pulled out her phone from her bag and called her supermarket boss.

Listening to the phone ring, she raised a hand to wipe the rain from the top of her head, afraid a drop might fall on her phone.

“Hello.”

The person on the other end finally picked up.

Zhou Nianzhi cleared her throat, bent over, and held the phone closer. Her voice was full of apology: “Boss, I’m sorry. It’s raining today, so I might be a little late.”

“Oh, no problem. It’s a rainy day, be careful.”

The boss’s words warmed Zhou Nianzhi’s heart, like a steaming cup of water placed in front of her. Moved, she quickly said, “Thank you, Boss…”

The next moment, the boss’s words chilled her to the bone, colder than ice.

“Then we’ll just deduct an hour’s pay.”

Of course, Zhou Nianzhi didn’t dare say anything else. She simply said “mhm” several times and agreed.

After the call ended, Zhou Nianzhi looked at the time and sighed repeatedly. If she showered and changed her clothes, then rushed over, it would take her at most half an hour.

Now there was no need to rush so much.

But it also gave her time to feel sad.

Zhou Nianzhi put away the various items in front of her, plugged in her phone to charge, and went into the bathroom to shower.

But no matter what she did, no matter how much she tried to distract herself, her mind kept flashing back to the image of Song Yuli picking up the umbrella from the ground, and to her answer:

“It’s a habit, but I’ll change it later.”

So, holding the umbrella over Zhou Nianzhi was just a habit.

But after this, she wouldn’t be good to her anymore.

Is it because she has a new person she likes?

Is it the person she was walking with?

Are they already together?

Hot water gushed from the shower, washing away the rain from her body but failing to wash away the chaotic thoughts in her mind.

But it’s a good thing that Song Yuli is with someone else.

A thousand times, ten thousand times better than being with Zhou Nianzhi.

Anyone with Song Yuli would be happy.

Because Song Yuli is a good person, a very good person, the very best person.

A person so good.

She shouldn’t be involved with Zhou Nianzhi.

She turned off the shower, put on clean clothes, dried her hair, grabbed her phone and umbrella, and hurried out the door to go to work.

As she closed the door, Zhou Nianzhi lingered in the doorway, her peripheral vision catching a glimpse of Song Yuli’s front door.

She remembered their silent parting just now. Neither of them could even bring themselves to say “bye” or “see you later.”

In the past, they were far apart, dozens of miles, but their hearts were close, as if glued together.

Now, they were so close, just a door’s width apart, yet their hearts were miles away.

Zhou Nianzhi lowered her head, remembering that when they parted, Song Yuli had handed her all the accessories and hair clips she had dropped on the road.

She stood at the door, wondering if she should knock, at least to say thank you.

“Knock, knock—”

Song Yuli struggled to get up from the sofa. Her body was tired, her legs weak. She could only lean against the wall to barely make it to the door.

“Hello, here are the medicines you ordered.”

Song Yuli’s face was pale, and her voice was weak. As she reached out to take the medicine from the delivery rider, even the rider’s expression changed. But she didn’t show her illness, quietly saying, “Thank you.”

The rider didn’t say much and left in a hurry. Song Yuli closed the door and crouched in the entryway, holding the medicine to her face. Her fingers touched her cheek.

So hot.

She had no strength and couldn’t care about anything else, so she simply sat on the floor by the door.

Being sick is not only painful; it also makes you vulnerable.

When a person feels sad, they remember the good old days.

When she was sick in college, she was stingy with money. She didn’t dare to make a video call, afraid Zhou Nanzhi would find out and worry about her.

But Zhou Nianzhi found out anyway.

The vulnerability and pain of her illness completely vanished when Zhou Nianzhi arrived at Song Yuli’s college gate.

Song Yuli hid her weakness, gently wiped the sweat from Zhou Nianzhi’s forehead, and smiled, “Why did you come? Your school is so far from here; it must have been a hassle to come all this way.”

“To take you to the doctor.” Zhou Nianzhi took her hand and walked in front of her.

Song Yuli held Zhou Nianzhi’s hand, feeling the warmth of her palm, and lowered her head: “I’m not sick.”

Zhou Nianzhi asked, “Then why didn’t you video call me? You must have been trying to save money again, enduring it on your own.”

“Aren’t you worried I fell in love with someone else?” Song Yuli smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

Zhou Nianzhi’s answer was firm: “No. Song Yuli said she only likes Zhizhi.”

Song Yuli agreed, smiling, “I only like my Zhizhi, Zhou Nianzhi.”

Suddenly, Zhou Nianzhi stopped. Song Yuli also stopped and turned back. Her eyes were moist, tears shimmering. She raised her other hand and touched Song Yuli’s hot forehead. Her mouth turned down with heartache, and she said in a trembling voice, “Next time you’re sick, you have to tell me. If you don’t tell me, my heart will ache, I’ll cry, and I’ll be so sad.”

But now, Song Yuli still couldn’t tell Zhou Nianzhi.

She bit her lower lip, tilting her head back to prevent the tears from falling. After resting for a while, Song Yuli got up and went back to lie on the sofa.

She wanted to pull out her phone from her pocket to see if there were any messages, but her fingers touched a hair clip next to the phone.

She must have forgotten to give Zhou Nianzhi one.

Song Yuli didn’t take out her phone first. Instead, she held the hair clip in front of her and shook it.

It was a very cute little flower hair clip.

Just like the one Zhou Nianzhi used to wear in her hair.

The Zhou Nianzhi of the past would run happily toward Song Yuli with a hair clip in her hair. In that moment, the hair clip would dance with her hair in the air, in the spring breeze, in their brilliant youth.

It was also this girl with the flower hair clip who had once leaned close to Song Yuli’s ear and told her about her distant dream:

“I want to get into a really good university. Then I’ll continue on to graduate school, and maybe even study abroad and become an overseas returnee. Anyway, I just want to keep climbing up. Even though I’m just above average now, who knows, maybe I’m a dark horse!”

But the girl with the flower hair clip, in her imagined beautiful future, was now wearing a simple T-shirt, sitting at a street stall, waiting for one or two customers.

Her future was covered in dust, and her dreams shattered by time.

The lively and cheerful little sun would also panic and be at a loss on the stall, out of embarrassment.

Zhou Nianzhi, who had a quick mind and a quick wit, would also stare blankly when taking money.

But Zhou Nianzhi was so, so good.

Zhou Nianzhi was the best.

But Zhou Nianzhi didn’t want her anymore.

Song Yuli let the hand holding the hair clip drop to the floor.

“Knock, knock—”

Another knock on the door.

Song Yuli thought back, she only ordered one delivery of medicine.

“Knock, knock—”

The knocking became more urgent.

Was it the building management?

Song Yuli was annoyed. She was already feeling sick, and any other troubles at this moment would make her even angrier.

“Knock, knock, knock—”

The knocking didn’t stop for a second.

Song Yuli frowned, sat up from the sofa, rubbed her eyes, and slowly put on her slippers. She wanted to take a moment before checking the peephole to see who it was.

Until a voice called out—

“Song Yuli! It’s me!”

It was Zhou Nianzhi’s voice.

Song Yuli nearly sprang from the sofa. She didn’t even put her slippers on properly, stumbling along the way, but moving very quickly.

It was strange. The woman who had been too sick to walk just a moment ago was now running faster than a healthy person.

She opened the door, and their eyes met.

It was obvious that even though Zhou Nianzhi tried hard not to show she was out of breath, the sweat on her face betrayed that she had run here.

Zhou Nianzhi still asked, “Are you sick? Is it serious? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Yes.

It’s serious.

I want you to go with me.

But Song Yuli couldn’t say it.

In this moment, she could only answer, “It’s not serious. I bought some medicine. I’ll be fine after a rest.”

“Or, maybe, let your…” Zhou Nianzhi’s face was beet red. She pinched the fabric of her T-shirt and finally managed to say the rest of the sentence after a long pause, “friend take care of you.”

Many different relationships flashed through her mind, but when she spoke, she could only bring herself to say “friend.”

Zhou Nianzhi didn’t look at Song Yuli. For some reason, her presence here made her feel extremely guilty, as if she was afraid another woman might appear from inside Song Yuli’s apartment, point at her, and ask, “Who are you? Why are you in my and Song Yuli’s home?”

But what she feared didn’t happen. All Zhou Nianzhi got was a question from Song Yuli: “How did you know?”

Zhou Nianzhi froze, unable to think of an answer.

At least, she couldn’t say this:

When she went downstairs, she saw a delivery rider with medicine, and for some reason, a sense of unease rose within her. A familiar fear welled up, and she turned around and ran straight back to Song Yuli’s apartment.

To avoid getting tangled up with her again.

To widen the distance between them again.

To completely sever their memories.

So she chose to say, “I’m just checking on my neighbor. It’s nothing else. I’m leaving now.”

After saying that, Zhou Nianzhi left. Although she heard Song Yuli mutter a few words, she couldn’t make them out clearly and didn’t turn back.

They still didn’t say goodbye.

Zhou Nianzhi sat in the elevator, watching the floor numbers drop one by one.

Yes.

Putting aside the fact that they were ex-lovers who had broken up, if she had to find a good relationship to describe them, they could only be called “neighbors.”

The elevator doors opened.

Zhou Nianzhi ran quickly toward the supermarket, hoping that her frantic speed could outrun her pain.

She felt like she wanted the wind to slap her face a few more times.

To make her wake up and stop being so impulsive.

To stop losing control because she was too worried.

To stop seeing someone she couldn’t be with.

To always be rational, always know where she stood.

It was all in the past now.

Just as she was about to reach the supermarket entrance, Zhou Nianzhi saw the owner of the shop next door sitting in front of her store. She tore off a page from a calendar, crumpled it up, and walked toward the trash can.

“Clang.”

The old day was deemed waste and casually tossed into the rubbish.

A brand-new day was about to begin.