The Rebirth of the Socialite's Glory (GL) - Chapter 9
Disregarding what the people in the classroom would do, Feng Hua directly led Ye Qiu away. Upon reaching the car, she pulled Ye Qiu into the back seat.
Ye Qiu buried her head in her arms, locking herself in the corner, showing no intention of looking up even after the car started.
Feng Hua ignored Ye Qiu along the way, only saying one sentence to Wang Mu, “To the hotel.”
It was already eight in the evening, and the outside had darkened, with various lights flashing brilliantly. The hotel sign was especially bright.
Feng Hua got out of the car and pulled Ye Qiu out, then led her to the room they had originally booked. Ye Qiu let Feng Hua pull her all the way, but she refused to enter when they reached the room door.
Feng Hua had to stop and look at Ye Qiu, who was bowing her head silently.
“What’s wrong?” Feng Hua was not angry as Ye Qiu might have expected; instead, her tone was unusually gentle.
Ye Qiu still kept her head down without speaking. Feng Hua had to ask again, “What happened to you today? Why were they bullying you again?”
Seeing that Ye Qiu refused to speak, Feng Hua lost the desire to press her. She looked at Wang Mu and said, “Uncle Wang, please go buy some dinner and bring it back.”
Wang Mu glanced at Ye Qiu and said, “Alright.”
Seeing Wang Mu leave, Feng Hua squatted down in front of Ye Qiu, hugging Ye Qiu’s legs. As Ye Qiu’s entire body stiffened, Feng Hua directly picked her up.
Ignoring the astonishment on Ye Qiu’s face, Feng Hua somewhat awkwardly carried her into the room and placed her on the bed.
Probably because she hadn’t expected Feng Hua’s strength to be so great, nor that Feng Hua would carry her like this, Ye Qiu stared blankly at Feng Hua for a moment. Her face, which was already dirty when Feng Hua first saw it, was now streaked with tears, making her look even more pitiful.
In the silence, Feng Hua chose to speak first, “I was wrong about what happened last time.”
Ye Qiu glanced at Feng Hua, then lowered her head again, still silent, showing no reaction to Feng Hua’s apology.
Feng Hua felt that Ye Qiu always had a way to drain her patience. Thinking of her apology just now, she wished she could bite her own tongue off.
In fact, Ye Qiu was not entirely unresponsive to Feng Hua’s words; she was even a little happy. She wanted to tell Feng Hua that she forgave her, but she didn’t have the courage to say those words.
What Feng Hua didn’t know was that Ye Qiu had come to look for her several times after she left, but each time was unsuccessful.
Besides that dress, the days when Feng Hua appeared felt like a dream, very illusory.
And Ye Qiu’s heart was more disappointed and hurt with each passing day.
Furthermore, their reunion happened when she was at her most vulnerable…
It wasn’t that Ye Qiu didn’t want to speak, but she didn’t dare, couldn’t speak, felt embarrassed, and was deeply ashamed. Right now, she just wanted to be a shrinking turtle, pulling her head in and wishing no one could see her.
Feng Hua rushed back and looked for Ye Qiu, waited all afternoon, and then had the commotion at the school. Feng Hua’s child’s body was now starting to feel tired. Seeing Ye Qiu’s mouth clamped shut like an unopenable clam, she felt her patience running out. She simply went into the bathroom to take a good bath.
Wang Mu returned, bringing a generous dinner. At Wang Mu’s gentle persuasion, Ye Qiu glanced at Feng Hua, then started eating with her head down. Perhaps she was truly hungry. She managed to maintain some politeness at first, but then became increasingly wolfish, finishing all the packed food.
“Go take a bath.” Feng Hua took out several sets of clothes from her suitcase, hung them in the unused closet, and then threw a set of pajamas next to Ye Qiu.
Ye Qiu stared blankly at the clothes. Feng Hua glanced at her, dragged her small strawberry slippers to the bed, got into bed, and pulled the covers over herself.
Wang Mu whispered to Ye Qiu, “My Young Mistress specially bought these for you during her trip.”
Ye Qiu looked at Wang Mu with a surprised expression. Wang Mu said earnestly, “The Young Mistress had no friends since she was little. You are the first friend she has ever thought of. She even let you stay in the same room as her and brought you gifts. Also, she waited for you all afternoon today, extremely worried that something had happened to you, and only later found your school. Although the Young Mistress’s temper might be difficult to deal with, she is exceptionally kind to you. I hope you can be tolerant of the Young Mistress. She is just too lonely.”
Tucked under the covers, Feng Hua, who heard Wang Mu’s words, curled her lips in disdain. When was she lonely? Bringing Ye Qiu gifts was simply because she didn’t want Ye Qiu wearing her own clothes.
Ye Qiu, upon hearing this, felt very touched, completely discarding her previous awkwardness. So, Feng Hua really considered her a friend, really cared about her? It turns out Feng Hua was just too lonely and lacked friends, which is why she didn’t know how to interact with friends, and her actions toward her were unintentional.
Thinking this way, Ye Qiu held no grudge against Feng Hua, instead feeling a warmth in her heart and guilt that she had let Feng Hua’s kindness down.
Wang Mu left, and Ye Qiu went to take a bath. Listening to the pattering sound of bathwater hitting the floor in the bathroom, Feng Hua gradually drifted into a deep sleep. When Ye Qiu came out after bathing, she saw Feng Hua soundly asleep, her breathing shallow.
Ye Qiu tiptoed to Feng Hua’s bedside, sitting in a tiny space. Water was still dripping from her hair, but she didn’t want to use the hairdryer, fearing she would disturb Feng Hua’s sleep.
After her hair dried, Ye Qiu’s eyes darted around. Looking at Feng Hua’s peaceful sleeping face, she swallowed, then lifted the covers on the other side of Feng Hua and snuck in.
The next day, Feng Hua felt refreshed. Those strange dreams hadn’t popped up to disturb her sleep last night, so she had a particularly comfortable sleep.
But… her hand reached out and touched a soft body. Her fingertips could feel the warmth of that body. Feng Hua stiffly opened her eyes, glanced at the person beside her, and without needing careful identification, confirmed who it was: Ye Qiu!
How did Ye Qiu end up sleeping in her bed? Feng Hua frowned, lifting her leg and kicking Ye Qiu. However, since she had just woken up, her limbs were weak and she had little strength. Even the kick was soft and fleshy. The kick didn’t hurt Ye Qiu or move her even an inch. Instead, it caused Ye Qiu to instinctively reach out and grab Feng Hua’s foot.
Feng Hua felt extremely awkward having her foot held in a hand. She kicked her foot again, still unable to do anything to Ye Qiu, but successfully woke her up.
As soon as Ye Qiu opened her eyes, she saw Feng Hua looking at her with a furious expression. She smiled and tightly hugged Feng Hua, “You didn’t have a nightmare last night, did you?”
Feng Hua was somewhat flustered by Ye Qiu’s sudden hug. For a moment, she obediently let Ye Qiu hold her. Ye Qiu thought, Feng Hua didn’t refuse her hug, so she must really care about her as a friend, right?
“I’ll make you breakfast.”
Ye Qiu also knew when to stop. She let go of Feng Hua, then, before Feng Hua could react, she left the words behind and ran into the kitchen.
Feng Hua clutched the quilt, looking somewhat blankly at the petite figure moving around in the kitchen. In a daze, she felt like everything was back to the beginning.
Ye Qiu stayed with Feng Hua again. Regarding the previous incident, since Ye Qiu didn’t bring it up, Feng Hua didn’t deliberately press her. The two seemed to have tacitly agreed not to pursue the matter.
Feng Hua had originally planned to stay here for a maximum of one month, or even less, to resolve the Ye Qiu issue. But now that Feng Hua had decided to have a direct war with Ye Qiu, there was no need to stay here any longer. Staying here doing nothing was less beneficial than going back to enrich herself and prepare for the future.
When Feng Hua told Ye Qiu she was leaving, Ye Qiu was a little distraught.
She’s leaving so soon?
Feng Hua gave Ye Qiu a bank card, “The card has enough money for you to finish college, as long as you don’t live extravagantly. Also, use the card to reimburse the cost of fixing the door in your classroom.”
Ye Qiu took the card Feng Hua handed her, staring at Feng Hua in a daze, with a look in her eyes that Feng Hua couldn’t decipher.
“I have to go… We might have a chance to meet when we grow up.” Seeing Ye Qiu look at her with resentment, Feng Hua could only dryly add the last sentence.
“Can I see you after I grow up?” Ye Qiu asked.
Feng Hua replied carelessly, “Yes.”
“Then can I see you again before I grow up?”
Feng Hua thought of her busy future studies and shook her head, “I’ll be very busy. I’m afraid I won’t have time to see you.”
Ye Qiu’s eyes were filled with disappointment, “Then can we call?”
In Ye Qiu’s expectant gaze, Feng Hua shook her head again, “I’m afraid I really won’t have much time to contact you.”
In fact, the main reason was that Feng Hua didn’t want to have any contact with Ye Qiu.
They were bound to become rivals in the future. The more contact they had, while it might make Ye Qiu a little softer towards her, it would also make her own heart softer.
Humans are not plants; how can they be emotionless? Feelings naturally develop with interaction. Just like the kindness Ye Qiu showed her, although Feng Hua didn’t say it, she had remembered it in her heart. She was afraid that one day she would compromise under Ye Qiu’s gentleness and forget her original purpose.
The day before leaving, Ye Qiu took Feng Hua to see the scenery in the county town.
The place Ye Qiu took Feng Hua to was naturally not a high-end club, but a pure natural landscape, like this grassy field.
Today’s urbanization is becoming more regulated, with new houses and high-rise buildings gradually being built, but correspondingly, green spaces are becoming rarer. Such a large expanse of non-man-made green grass is rare now. In this era where every inch of land is precious, buying such a large plot of land would require an extremely expensive price.
Ye Qiu could tell from Feng Hua’s expression that she liked the place. She sat on the grass, watching Feng Hua smile with genuine, unsuppressed joy, like a normal child. The innocence was like water cupped in a flower petal, looking extremely pure and untainted.
“How did you know about this place?” At a glance, this grassy field was truly vast and wide. Even more precious was that it was covered with various colored flowers. Although not rare varieties, this continuous sea of flowers was refreshing to the eye.
Such a beautiful natural green space would be impossible in A-city.
Ye Qiu simply lay down on the grass and said, “This place is privately owned. The owner insisted on keeping this land and not using it for housing. It’s also not very close to the city center, so it has been preserved. I think it’s very beautiful, so I often come to look. Few people come here, it’s very quiet.”
“Doesn’t the owner forbid unauthorized intrusion?” Feng Hua asked in surprise.
In Feng Hua’s memory, people in A-city and foreigners alike highly valued personal privacy and had a strong sense of territory. Especially abroad, unauthorized intrusion onto someone else’s property would result in being sent to the police station for coffee without a word.
“No, the owner here was an old man. He died in April this year… but this place will probably be taken over by the government.” Ye Qiu said with some melancholy.
Just as Feng Hua was about to say something, she heard a flurry of footsteps intruding. The noise was loud, making it easy for the two to notice the approaching group of people.
When the group was less than ten meters away from them, Feng Hua, relying on her excellent memory, recognized them as the group who had troubled Ye Qiu the other day.
It seemed they had come with ill intentions.