The Unreturnable Refrigerator - Chapter 25.1
Chapter 25.1: Uncovered
The curtains in the room were drawn, and the only light came from the open door of the master bedroom, which wasn’t very bright.
The air hung heavy for a few seconds. Sheng Xiali stood by the bed, her long eyes dark and unreadable.
She looked as if she was about to speak, her eyes filled with suspicion, as if she were analyzing something. Her gaze was fixed on Lu Yin’s eyes.
Because of the fever, Lu Yin’s entire face was flushed, and her eyes were red.
But as she spoke, her eyes remained bright, and when she said the last sentence, she sounded exceptionally sincere.
In fact, from Sheng Xiali’s perspective, she was almost too sincere.
Sheng Xiali’s grip on the cup tightened again. She pressed hard against the handle. The blister on her finger from the heat burst, and a drop of water seeped out, like an inconspicuous tear that quickly vanished.
Lu Yin felt a little uneasy under Sheng Xiali’s deep, wavering gaze, and the long silence that had fallen over the bedroom made her nervous.
Lu Yin looked away first, then noticed the cup in Sheng Xiali’s hand.
She remembered that before this silence, Sheng Xiali had interrupted her. She had originally wanted to put down the bowl to take the cup from her hand.
Lu Yin didn’t look at Sheng Xiali or break the silence. She reached out to take the cup from Sheng Xiali.
Her movements were cautious and careful, trying not to touch Sheng Xiali’s hand.
As she held the cup’s handle, her fingers were about to brush against Sheng Xiali’s. Lu Yin swallowed nervously. At that moment, Sheng Xiali pulled her hand back first. Lu Yin quickly grabbed the cup to prevent it from falling.
Looking at Sheng Xiali’s tightly clenched hand after she pulled it back, Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. Sheng Xiali seemed even more reluctant to touch her than she was.
Lu Yin looked away, holding the cup of water, and took a sip.
It was warm, just the right temperature.
But the distance between her and Sheng Xiali was not right. Lu Yin sighed, looking at the pair of legs standing still at the foot of the bed. They were still too close.
How did they go from being neighbors to this situation where Sheng Xiali was in her home…
A day ago, she couldn’t have imagined this. Everything was so ridiculous, one thing after another, that they ended up in this situation.
To prevent a worse outcome, she had to adjust in time.
She didn’t know what Sheng Xiali’s intentions were right now. Maybe it was just humanitarian aid driven by a little bit of past affection because she happened to be sick. But even if she was overthinking it, even if she was being petty, she didn’t want this intimate atmosphere to continue.
She didn’t know why her mind had suddenly moved so fast and come up with such a good idea.
Now that she had said she liked someone, Sheng Xiali should have understood.
They needed to keep their distance.
Lu Yin looked up at Sheng Xiali, enduring the pain in her throat. She held up the cup of water in her hand and broke the silence.
“Thank you. Let’s call it even. I took you in last night, and you went to the trouble of making me porridge today…”
Using my rice, my pot, my gas, and my water, Lu Yin added mentally.
But it didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be so calculating. It was better to just call it even.
Lu Yin put on a polite smile and said in a hoarse voice: “I won’t trouble you anymore. You should leave quickly to avoid getting infected. Remember to close the door on your way out.”
Sheng Xiali quietly looked at Lu Yin’s red eyes. Her gaze returned to a calm state, then shifted slightly to the photo on the nightstand.
Lu Yin didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she felt Sheng Xiali was trying hard to keep herself from frowning. Although her expression was normal, there was a different kind of sharpness to her now, unlike her usual coldness.
As Lu Yin tensed, waiting for her to question her, Sheng Xiali only glanced back at her, then turned and left.
Lu Yin watched her leave, watched the door close, and watched the light from outside being blocked.
She watched the bedroom fall into darkness again.
The light in Lu Yin’s eyes also faded, and the bottom of her eyes was as dim as the bedroom was now.
Lu Yin’s mouth twitched, and she took a deep breath. Although she was a little surprised that Sheng Xiali had left just like that, and although she knew she should be happy that she was willing to leave, there was still an empty feeling in her heart.
Human emotions were like this. They were not controlled by reason. Just because she understood something didn’t mean she could handle it easily.
She wasn’t unaware that the current situation was strange. Sheng Xiali was clearly taking care of her. Although this care was unexpected, it also made her realize that the line between her and Sheng Xiali was blurring.
She didn’t want to think about why Sheng Xiali was doing these things to blur the boundaries. Was it because of a little past affection and sympathy for her, or was it because she found it fun and interesting?
In any case, they were over, and it was better not to have too many ties.
Lu Yin reminded herself again that it was impossible for them to be together…
Taking small sips of the water in her hand, Lu Yin’s eyes slowly became misty. Her throat hurt so much. It was even more uncomfortable than before. It no longer felt like she was swallowing razor blades, but screws, the kind with sharp, spiral threads.
She didn’t want to drink anymore. Lu Yin turned to put the cup down, and when she saw the photo on the cabinet, she couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
She put the cup down and picked up the photo. She remembered that she had put this gift down somewhere after she received it and hadn’t seen it since. She hadn’t expected it to be on this cabinet, blocked by books.
Lu Yin looked at the person in the photo and said softly: “Sorry, I used you to lie.”
After saying that, she put the photo back behind the stack of books.
As soon as the photo frame was moved, Lu Yin saw the key that had been blocked by it. Her forehead throbbed.
That’s right, the key!
What did the key mean? Sheng Xiali hadn’t said anything about it because of the distraction from the photo.
Lu Yin picked up the key and looked at the closed bedroom door, feeling annoyed. She had forgotten to ask her about it before she left.
Why did she give her a key out of the blue? And was it really the key to the apartment they had rented back then, as she had guessed?
If it was the key to that apartment, what was Sheng Xiali trying to do by giving it to her? Keep it as a memento?
There was no need for that… There was nothing to commemorate…
Lu Yin rubbed the key, unable to guess Sheng Xiali’s intention. Never mind. No matter what she meant, she planned to give the key back to her the next time they met.
Or maybe it was better not to meet. In a few days, she would find a box and just leave it at her door.
Lu Yin turned to pull open the drawer of the nightstand, intending to put the key away.
When she saw her phone in the drawer, she was a little surprised and realized that she had been so shocked by Sheng Xiali after she woke up that she hadn’t checked her phone.
She unlocked it and saw there were indeed many messages.
Fortunately, none of them were about business collaborations. Lu Yin first clicked on Beibei’s chat, which had the most notifications.
When she saw that she was asking her to go buy swimsuits together, a knowing smile appeared on her face. It was just as she had guessed. The focus of beach volleyball for Beibei was the beach.
Lu Yin typed her reply: “Beibei, I have a fever. I can’t go swimsuit shopping with you. If you’re in a hurry, you can go by yourself. If not, we can go when I’m better.”
She saw her previous message about wanting to go to “Hengcheng Maldives” next Monday. Today was Saturday. Lu Yin thought about it. She probably wouldn’t be strong enough to recover in just two days.
“I probably won’t be better by next Monday. You should find someone else to go with you.”
After Lu Yin sent the message, Yang Beibei replied quickly.
“I’m not in a hurry. Let’s go when you’re better. You should rest well. I won’t bother you anymore.”
This message was followed by an emoji of a smiling cat, with a knowing smile.
Lu Yin felt something was off. Why did Beibei just say that? It was as if she knew she had a fever. What did “I won’t bother you” mean? Bother what?
Weren’t they used to sending messages back and forth and replying whenever they wanted?
Looking at the chat, Lu Yin noticed there was also a voice call record.
Had she answered Beibei’s call while she was in a daze?
She was about to send a message to ask when a new notification appeared. Lu Yin exited the chat page first and saw that it was a deduction from the nursing home.
Another month had passed. Time went by so quickly.
Lu Yin casually deleted the notification and continued to look at the messages.
When she saw that Song Xinlei had also sent her a message, Lu Yin raised an eyebrow and clicked on the conversation.
“Lu Yin, where are you? I need to talk to you.”
Crazy. Lu Yin sneered. What did she have to talk about with Song Xinlei?
She didn’t want to hear Song Xinlei talk about how great Sheng Xiali was. As a person from the past, wouldn’t she know better than Song Xinlei?
If she liked to talk so much, she should go talk to Sheng Xiali.
Lu Yin directly deleted the conversation and blocked her, sending her to the blacklist to be with Sheng Xiali.
Looking at the only two people on the blacklist, Lu Yin pouted and went back to the chat page to look at the other messages.
As she clicked on Cheng Siyu’s WeChat, Lu Yin picked up the cup of water from the side of the bed and took a sip.
“Lu Yin, do you like Song Xinlei?”
The water in her mouth, which she hadn’t had time to swallow, was suddenly spat out. The entire screen was covered in water droplets. The sensor was triggered, and that line of text was even enlarged!
Lu Yin grabbed a tissue to wipe the screen and looked at the horrifying sentence again.
No way. Had Cheng Siyu’s brain only been thinking about making money for the past few years, and her other cognitive abilities had regressed to zero?
How could she have come up with that question with a normal brain?
If Cheng Siyu knew what Lu Yin was thinking, she would have complained. It wasn’t her fault for thinking that way. Since Lu Yin said she also liked women, she hadn’t seen her with a girlfriend or a close female friend for so many years. Song Xinlei was the same, but Song Xinlei was that way because she liked Sheng Xiali but couldn’t have her.
Lu Yin couldn’t be like that because of Sheng Xiali, could she? She wasn’t close to Sheng Xiali. Cheng Siyu thought and thought, and after eliminating herself from the people Lu Yin was close to, only Song Xinlei was left.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
Why was Lu Yin so friendly with everyone but seemed to have a problem with Song Xinlei? It was the same for Song Xinlei. Although she was usually proud, she only had a problem with Lu Yin. Could it be that these two were the type who would try to get your attention if they liked you, and go down the path of loving and hurting each other?
Lu Yin didn’t know what Cheng Siyu was thinking to ask her such a question, but the idea was too horrifying. She had to kill it in the bud.
“Of course not! I don’t like her. I have no interest at all! Don’t guess wildly. It’s creepy!”
The shock made her head buzz a little, and her brain felt even groggier. It was a little hard to breathe.
Her eyes also hurt from looking at her phone for a while. Lu Yin simply turned off her phone. She decided to go back to sleep.
When she woke up, this chaotic world would be back to normal.
…
In the living room, Sheng Xiali cleared the clutter from the sofa and threw the blanket on the sofa into the washing machine, selecting a mode and pressing start.
The drum turned with a muffled rumble. Sheng Xiali watched it quietly for a while, feeling that the words “she’s the person I like now” were also starting to spin in her head.
A feeling of frustration overflowed from the bottom of her heart.
Sheng Xiali walked to the other end of the balcony. This was a relatively empty corner of the crowded balcony, where there was a set of balcony chairs and a hanging basket chair.
On the small coffee table was a cigarette case, a lighter, and an ashtray.
Sheng Xiali’s gaze fell on the pink ashtray with a cartoon pattern. A shallow layer of cigarette butts filled it. She was smoking now, and it seemed she was smoking heavily.
Sheng Xiali watched it quietly for a while, then pulled out a chair and sat down with her legs bent.
The balcony chair was very low. After Sheng Xiali sat down, her long, bent legs looked quite cramped. Her slender body was against the wicker back of the chair. She lowered her head, interlaced her fingers, and looked at the table.
The scorching afternoon sun of summer enveloped this corner of the world through the floor-to-ceiling glass, landing on Sheng Xiali, on the back of her slightly rigid neck, on her slightly trembling long eyelashes, and on her tapping fingers.
Even though she was in the light, there was a hard-to-shake chill about her.
Perhaps it was because her somber gaze was too cold.
Sheng Xiali looked at the cigarette case on the table. After a long time, she picked it up, opened it, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
It was mint-flavored.
She exhaled a long puff of smoke, blurring her vision. It seemed the heat outside had risen even more, creating a mist.
An indescribable frustration spread in her heart. Sheng Xiali tilted her chin slightly and looked out at the vast river.
The river reflected the hottest sun, shimmering with light. Occasionally, there was a boat. Even in the bright sun, it was desolate and silent.
On the riverfront promenade, there hadn’t been a single person for a long time, a stark contrast to the lively nights.
Sheng Xiali lowered her hand to rest on the armrest of the chair. The spark of the cigarette burned quietly. In her half-bright, half-dim eyes, there were memories of the past floating.
Sheng Xiali remembered the past.
When she and Lu Yin were still in school, if they had time in the evening, they would come to the river to walk.
This riverfront promenade had no cars. Lu Yin liked to walk backward, smiling at her as she walked.
One time, she was talking about the future, smiling and pointing at the houses by the river and saying: “Someday, I’m going to buy a house around here. That way, after you get off work, we can have dinner and then come here for a walk to digest, and feel the breeze. The wind by the river is so comfortable.”
Every future Lu Yin talked about with her was very specific, as if Sheng Xiali could see that future that would surely become a reality.
Sheng Xiali also loved the starlit eyes Lu Yin had when she talked about these things.
Sheng Xiali smiled and looked at the tall and short buildings by the river, watching the lights turn on one by one.
The lights of a thousand households. Maybe one of them would be for her and Lu Yin in the future.
Sheng Xiali pursed her lips and looked away: “Be careful, watch your step.”
Lu Yin smiled and shook her head. She liked walking backward like this. This way, she could watch Sheng Xiali better. It was rare for Sheng Xiali to have time, and she wanted to seize the opportunity to look at her for a little longer.
“I’ll watch you. You watch the road for me.”
Lu Yin smiled and took a step forward, jumping in front of Sheng Xiali: “Okay?”
Sheng Xiali looked at the face that was almost touching hers. She leaned back to create a little distance, but her face was still hot.
Lu Yin would take a few steps forward and then a few steps back, sometimes even jumping around happily. Her walk was like a run. Her face was flushed, and her breathing was hot.
Looking at the person in front of her, whose eyes were curved and bright, whose lips were slightly pouted as she asked her for a favor.