After Cat A Saved the Wrong Female Lead - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: A Gentle Question

In the days that followed, Tang Li still didn’t go back to school.

Qin Shiyang didn’t ask why.

But every morning, she left breakfast on the table and a note beside it:

“Take care of yourself.”

Or:

“Call me if you need anything.”

Sometimes just a single word:
“Waiting.”

Tang Li would wake up late, sit in the sunlight with a spoonful of congee, and stare at the handwriting.

Qin Shiyang’s words weren’t warm, not exactly.

But they were steady.

And something about that steadiness made Tang Li feel… tethered.

….

One night, Tang Li asked, “Do you regret it?”

Qin Shiyang looked up from the report in her hand. “Regret what?”

Tang Li sat cross-legged on the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. “Letting me stay.”

Qin Shiyang set the papers down.

“No,” she said.

Tang Li didn’t speak.

Qin Shiyang stood and walked over. “Is that what you’re worried about?”

Tang Li shrugged. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m just… something temporary for you.”

Qin Shiyang sat beside her. “And if you were?”

Tang Li looked at her, startled.

But Qin Shiyang’s tone was calm, not cruel.

“If this was temporary,” she continued, “would it make the days mean less?”

Tang Li swallowed. “Wouldn’t it?”

Qin Shiyang reached out and touched her wrist. “Does everything have to last forever to be real?”

Tang Li didn’t know how to answer that.

She had always measured love by duration—by staying.

But Qin Shiyang measured it by presence. By the here. The now.

And she had never once left her waiting.

….

That night, they shared the bed, facing each other under the sheets.

It was quiet. The kind of quiet that made you aware of your own heartbeat.

Tang Li reached out and brushed her fingers along Qin Shiyang’s.

“Will you tell me if you change your mind?” she asked softly.

“I haven’t.”

“But if you do—promise me you won’t just disappear.”

“I won’t.”

“I mean it,” Tang Li said. “I can take the truth. I just can’t take silence.”

Qin Shiyang nodded.

“I promise.”

Tang Li closed her eyes.

And for the first time in a long while, she slept soundly.

….

Some people say love is loud—full of passion and thunder.

But for Tang Li, it sounded like this:

A quiet room.

A steady breath beside hers.

A question answered, not avoided.

And a hand that stayed.

Even when she didn’t ask.