Come Sit At My House - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Luo Qingmeng had never thought about becoming a store manager overnight. She knew very well that she lacked good communication skills and couldn’t be as slick as the store manager, who could easily handle people from all levels of management.

But if she became a manager, her salary would be over 8,000 yuan!

That would be pretty good, too!

Luo Qingmeng squeezed her phone and turned her head to glare at Qiu Shuxue. Her eyes seemed to say, “I’ll deal with you later.”

Luo Qingmeng placed her phone on the sofa and went to get a notebook and a pen. Since she didn’t have a phone stand, she grabbed a book to prop up her phone.

She called the store manager, who answered quickly. The store manager’s son was also on the call, wearing a frog hat and sweetly calling her “sister.”

“Mhm, hello,” Luo Qingmeng smiled back at the child. When she first started working at the store, whenever something happened in the store manager’s family, she would leave her child at the store to read. She often helped watch the child and was quite familiar with him.

The store manager coaxed her son for a bit, then held her phone and went outside. The store manager explained the specific duties of the two positions, analyzed her chances, and told her what to do next.

Luo Qingmeng didn’t have any connections. The best way to get a job was to have experience and a management degree. Unfortunately, Luo Qingmeng was missing both of those. Last year, she had planned to go back to school to get her bachelor’s degree by taking the adult college entrance exam, but she ended up getting married instead.

It really is bad luck to get close to men.

The store manager said, “Don’t be afraid. You have my recommendation. First, apply for the store manager position to get noticed, then secure the manager position. If there’s a suitable opportunity, you can move up. It’s just that you’re too quiet. You need to talk more and be more friendly with everyone. If you only rely on hard work, it’ll be hard to get a promotion. This isn’t the era of hard work anymore.”

“I know. Thank you, store manager. Since I have this opportunity, I’ll definitely speak up. Even if I have to tear my mouth open, I will.”

The store manager was amused and said, “Of course I don’t want you to leave. After all, you’re a great helper. But, I want you to have a good career development. Take this opportunity to try to get a promotion. If you become a manager, your job will be stable. Work hard for a few years, and you can get a loan to buy a house. I bought my house after my job was stable. You can use the extra few thousand dollars to pay off the loan, and you won’t feel too much pressure, right?”

Luo Qingmeng nodded hard. The store manager was basically giving her a loan on behalf of the main store. Of course, she didn’t thank the store manager directly by saying something like, “You just gave me a house.” Saying that would put her in a huge debt of gratitude that she would have to repay the store manager for the rest of her life. It would make everything feel very heavy.

She would definitely thank the store manager for this opportunity. After working so hard for so long, she knew that she had to always be clear-headed at work. If she could help the store manager in the future, she would definitely do so, but there was no need to sacrifice herself.

Luo Qingmeng praised the store manager generously, saying that she would treat her to dinner later, and that she would give her a gift regardless of whether she succeeded or not. She thanked her for thinking highly of her and promised that she would work hard and not embarrass her.

The store manager was all smiles, leaning against her dining table. She said, “I’ll recommend someone to you tomorrow. It’s too late today, so I won’t disturb them.”

“Okay. Then I won’t disturb you anymore, store manager.”

The store manager was happy to be praised. She said, “No problem. Let’s chat a little longer. By the way, have you finalized the divorce with your ex-husband? If you get a promotion, he’ll regret it so much…”

Qiu Shuxue was sitting at the dining table, watching Luo Qingmeng and listening to their phone conversation. Luo Qingmeng was very cooperative with the store manager, and the two of them were laughing and chatting. After they finished talking about work, they started talking about their personal lives.

Another half hour passed. Luo Qingmeng and the store manager were getting more and more excited. They talked for a long time about their beautiful future, what would happen if Luo Qingmeng became a store manager, and what would happen if she became a manager and then worked her way up to store manager…

“You should come over to my place for dinner later. Hahaha. Tell me in advance, and I’ll buy the groceries. We can cook together. It would be great if you could become a store manager. We’d have a buddy.”

Qiu Shuxue’s slender fingers gently squeezed. She walked over and placed a glass of water by Luo Qingmeng’s hand. Luo Qingmeng came back to her senses and looked at her. Qiu Shuxue said, “Sister, I want to take a shower. Can I borrow your clothes? I’m a little tired.”

Her voice was soft and gentle, which made Luo Qingmeng feel a little flustered. Qiu Shuxue was close. She propped her hand on the table, leaned in slightly, and looked at her. But she was out of the camera’s view. Luo Qingmeng had a feeling that if she nodded or said a word, Qiu Shuxue would kiss her.

Luo Qingmeng said, “Mhm,” and looked at Qiu Shuxue warily. Qiu Shuxue didn’t make any strange moves. She turned and went into the bathroom, being so obedient that Luo Qingmeng couldn’t understand it.

After all, Qiu Shuxue had been so flirty and crazy.

Seeing her behave so well today, Luo Qingmeng felt a little embarrassed. Had she been ignoring her too much?

Luo Qingmeng started to get distracted while talking to the store manager. Qiu Shuxue directly opened her closet, and she didn’t stop her.

The store manager asked suspiciously, “Do you have a sister?”

Luo Qingmeng nodded. “Yes.”

The store manager on the other end of the video was drinking water. Luo Qingmeng rarely mentioned her family situation. As Luo Qingmeng answered the store manager’s questions, Qiu Shuxue came out with clothes. Luo Qingmeng looked up at her and continued chatting with the store manager. She kept her voice low until Qiu Shuxue went into the bathroom, and then she raised her voice.

Luo Qingmeng told the store manager about her family situation, saying that she had a younger brother and a younger sister. She was 7 years older than her sister, who was now a senior in college, and 12 years older than her brother, who was now a freshman in high school.

But she didn’t mention that she rarely contacted her family anymore. It was because one day, she felt an extreme sense of disappointment, so much so that she couldn’t breathe. She became the only drowning fish in the ocean.

A very small thing happened when she was 24.

She saved every penny to buy a laptop for her sister in college. In the second semester, her sister started dating and went with her boyfriend to get a bunch of plushies. There was one that Luo Qingmeng really liked. She smiled and said, “Can I have one?”

She even picked the ugliest one. Her sister asked her in a very cold voice, “Why should I give it to you?”

Luo Qingmeng couldn’t tell if she was being serious or joking.

She was speechless. That coldness was so hurtful, like a mocking “Who are you?” She was caught in a net, unable to come back to her senses, and the air she needed to breathe was getting thinner and thinner. She suddenly felt a pang of heartache for the 4,500 yuan she had spent. She also remembered that her sister would spend over 100 yuan on gifts for her friends. On her sister’s birthday, she would give her a red envelope of 200 to 300 yuan, while on her birthday, her sister gave her a Little Prince notebook that cost only 15 yuan after frantically choosing the cheapest one on a shopping app.

Her sister had said at the time, “Sister, you like to write, so here you go.”

Luo Qingmeng was so touched, but on the day of the plushie incident, she realized that the best way to measure a relationship was to calculate it with the flow and weight of material things.

She thought her sister was as pitiful as she was, bound by their original family. She also wanted to be good to her sister and wanted her to be happier than she was. In reality, her sister was also a part of her original family, using her fake “pitifulness” to exploit her. She was the only one who gave the most but would never get anything in return as the “older sister.”

Her sister was already an adult and was also selfish.

When she first started working, her family would ask her for money every day. She felt for her parents. When she couldn’t feel any love and was very depressed, she also tried to help her parents with their burdens. After she realized that she was just a tool, she wasn’t so decisive because of her good temper. It took her many years to cut ties with her family. As for her younger brother, her family was poor and very patriarchal, so her brother probably wasn’t raised very well.

Later, with a heavy heart, she didn’t reply to her sister’s birthday messages or “like” her posts on her Moments.

If the store manager hadn’t kept asking, and she hadn’t wanted the manager position so badly, she would never have brought up her family. In an overpopulated original family, she would always be the “extra one” if she felt for anyone.

Anyway, for this journey, she would just consider herself an orphan traveling the world.

The sound of water in the bathroom echoed. Luo Qingmeng’s mood was already bad. She learned from Qiu Shuxue and played the victim to the boss. “I’m sorry, boss. It’s just that my family isn’t very good. When I just turned 18, my family was very progressive and pushed me to be independent, saying they shouldn’t have to support me and cut off my financial support. I’ve been supporting myself all these years. I actually got into a four-year college, but my family wouldn’t give me the money. I couldn’t afford the tuition of over 10,000 yuan with just two months of summer work, and I didn’t know anything about loans at the time, so I chose to go to a two-year college instead.”

The boss also noticed her sudden change in mood and said, “It’s okay. Take your time. You’re doing well now. In the future, when you return home in glory, they’ll all be so jealous of you.”

Luo Qingmeng smiled faintly, a small dimple appearing at the corner of her lips.

The boss probably wouldn’t understand. Some disappointments were so deep that they no longer needed others to know whether they were doing well or not. She didn’t want to embarrass anyone in her family or make them regret it. She just wanted to never contact them again in this lifetime and for them to never force her to reconcile.

She could take care of herself very well now.

“Then, boss…” Just as Luo Qingmeng was about to say “goodbye,” Qiu Shuxue came out from inside and her voice overpowered her. She said, “Sister, I’m all clean. You should go get clean, too.”

Luo Qingmeng nodded slightly, finished saying goodbye to the boss, and stood up to take a shower. Her legs were a little numb from being crossed for so long. She patted them twice and then dragged her legs to the bathroom.

Qiu Shuxue had used her shower gel, and she smelled of milk and roses. Her skin was fair, and she had a soft, baby-like quality to her. When Luo Qingmeng got to the bathroom door, Qiu Shuxue moved aside.

After Luo Qingmeng went in, she looked out again. Qiu Shuxue was wearing slippers and sitting on the sofa, looking at her phone. Luo Qingmeng dragged her legs back out to get her phone and took it into the bathroom. Her feet were so numb. She squinted her eyes and hit them, but it didn’t help.

She let out a weak hiss. I’m going to die.

Qiu Shuxue looked at her and said, “Sister, are you afraid that I’ll look at your phone?”

She hadn’t been crazy all night, which made Luo Qingmeng feel uneasy. She was indeed afraid that she would look through her phone and call the store manager. She said, “I just want to listen to music.”

Luo Qingmeng bit her lip and found an English song on her phone. She put on her hair with a shark clip on the vanity mirror.

When she took off her clothes, she locked the door from the inside. She thought about her family for a bit, but Luo Qingmeng didn’t feel too sad. No expectations, no hurt. She could be very happy by not contacting them.

To prevent herself from drowning in loneliness, she had specifically kept a record. There were 365 days in a year, and she was unhappy for at most ten days a month. By cutting ties with her family, she could be happy for 300 days.

She only occasionally thought about it, and she would feel lonely, feeling like time was long.

So, she didn’t have to be sad for the whole year just because others defined her as “lonely.”

Luo Qingmeng also learned a lot from this failed marriage. We are always too kind. When someone is good to us, we foolishly give everything in return. In the future, she would never blindly fall into a relationship again. She had to leave a part of herself to love herself, to always stay clear-headed, and not sacrifice herself just because she thought the other person was good.

Qiu Shuxue, who was sitting outside, was not idle. She opened the gift. Both books had very fairy-tale-like names. Luo Qingmeng really did treat her like a child. There was also a small box containing a small tiger red string bracelet. She looked at the white gold bracelet on her wrist.

It was a Cartier link bracelet.

Qiu Shuxue opened the book and saw some childish handwriting inside, as if it was written a long time ago when she first bought the book.

[We all know that life has no script, but no matter how cowardly we are, we have all done something very exciting, very thrilling, and full of challenges. That is, we have embarked on our own life’s path. No matter the outcome, good or bad, no matter if we are laughing or crying, when time flows, we are all moving forward with our lives.]

Luo Qingmeng did much more than she said. She also made a summary of the old book, what the first few chapters were about, how to read them better, which chapters might be boring, and that if she persevered, she would have a sudden realization at the end. There were also various materials she had made.

There was even a page of “Golf Rules.”

It was a note: “This is Mr. Toad’s hobby. What’s yours?”

This old book was only 199 pages long. If she read it seriously, it would only take her an afternoon. But she had filled it with notes.

Qiu Shuxue remembered a small interlude from the past. At that time, she didn’t know that Luo Qingmeng had a boyfriend. Every time she went to the bookstore to see Luo Qingmeng, her heart would pound as if she were a student again.

When Luo Qingmeng came out, she was engrossed in reading the old book. Luo Qingmeng’s cheeks felt a little hot, and she couldn’t scold her.

Qiu Shuxue heard the sound and looked up at her. She said, “Sister, there are so many tabs in it. Did you just write these?”

Luo Qingmeng said, “Because you wanted to read it, I went through it again.” What if she had written a lot of depressed words during her low points and made Qiu Shuxue even more miserable?

Fortunately, after a careful review, she found that no matter what kind of situation she was in, she had never given up on comforting herself and living her life well.

Luo Qingmeng remembered that she had stayed up late last night. She urged her, “Okay, you should go back. I’m sleepy, too.”

This was a pointless thing to say. How could Qiu Shuxue go back? Qiu Shuxue put the book back in the paper bag. She came over with the red box and said, “I borrowed your box. This is for you.”

“What is it?” Luo Qingmeng took the box and looked at her suspiciously. She opened it, saw what was inside, and immediately frowned. “Why are you giving me this? I don’t want it.”

“It’s not expensive,” Qiu Shuxue said.

“A metal chain definitely isn’t expensive, but why are you giving this to me? Do you want to tie me up? Don’t even think about it. And you’ve worn it before, haven’t you? I don’t want it. What kind of person do you think I am?” Luo Qingmeng said emotionally.

Qiu Shuxue really wanted to say that it was a new one she had gotten, and the style was different. She pursed her thin lips and looked at the box Luo Qingmeng was pushing toward her.

A metal chain, tied up.

She said, “I kind of do.”

“Don’t even think about it. I don’t want this piece of junk. Take it back.” Luo Qingmeng tried to put the box in her hand. Qiu Shuxue didn’t take it. Instead, she held her hand and lowered her head to kiss her lips. Luo Qingmeng’s struggle fell apart in an instant under her teasing.

Qiu Shuxue put her hand on her own waist. She gently pushed her against the wall and asked, “Do you really want me to go back?”

Luo Qingmeng trembled, and the box in her hand fell to the floor. The “metal chain” made a dull thud on the floor.

Before she got married, she wanted to buy gold jewelry. She read a lot of articles about it and learned that you could tell if silver and gold were real by dropping them on the ground. A dull sound meant they were real.

So, so… was it silver?

“Mmm.”

Qiu Shuxue lowered her head.

“You smell so good.”

Good?

She felt so conflicted holding Qiu Shuxue. No matter if Qiu Shuxue was bullying her or kissing her, as long as she touched her, she felt a sense of joy.

Is she starting to feel lonely?

This emptiness is too frequent.

Luo Qingmeng was like a drowning fish, her lips parted as she gasped for air.

Qiu Shuxue filled her emptiness completely, squeezing out all of her depressed emotions. It was both painful and comfortable.

Qiu Shuxue looked up at her. “What do you want, sister?”

Luo Qingmeng thought, If I let Qiu Shuxue do it to me this time, I’ll slowly get used to her. Then Qiu Shuxue and I will be completely in this forbidden relationship. In the future, if Qiu Shuxue wants to sleep with her, it will be hard for her to seriously resist.

“I want to kiss,” Luo Qingmeng said, trembling with shame.

“Sister also likes to kiss. So cute,” Qiu Shuxue said as she kissed her lips.

She closed her eyes and let her body soften in the midst of the various kisses, allowing Qiu Shuxue to do whatever she wanted. Qiu Shuxue pushed her toward the sofa.

Luo Qingmeng lay there, breathing, her vision a little blurry, as if she were still in the bathroom, surrounded by steam.

Luo Qingmeng shamefully turned over, her legs pressed against the sofa, and looked up at the cool moonlight outside the window.

She remembered an anime she had watched, Your Lie in April. The protagonist, Arima, said, “Spring is coming. The spring that brought me to you is coming. The spring without you is coming.”

As she thought about it, tears welled up in her eyes. Luo Qingmeng couldn’t hold back her tears. Qiu Shuxue was too fierce. Qiu Shuxue seemed very restrained today, but there was a hint of madness in her.

Luo Qingmeng felt that state. She tried to educate Qiu Shuxue kindly in the role of an older sister, trying to guide her. “Behave, be a little kinder…”

Qiu Shuxue was so fierce.

She didn’t listen at all.

Luo Qingmeng’s eyes were moist. She turned to look at her. Qiu Shuxue’s lips were pursed. She wasn’t smiling. Qiu Shuxue was watching her from behind. Luo Qingmeng couldn’t educate her and could only beg her. Luo Qingmeng said, “You, you, don’t be like this. I, I feel especially bad.”

But this state was not very good. Qiu Shuxue asked her how bad she felt. She let out a sob, saying she felt so bad that she wanted to cry. Qiu Shuxue said, “Then just let it all out, sister. You can continue crying.”

When her tears fell, Qiu Shuxue flipped her over, kissed her eyes, and said, “Then don’t be my sister from now on. Be my mom.”

My darlings, it’s time to come home for dinner.