The Unreturnable Refrigerator - Chapter 4
Chapter 04: The Plan
Lu Yin couldn’t sleep. She tried lying down, lying on her stomach, on her side, twisting and turning, but she just couldn’t fall asleep!
Worse, every time she closed her eyes, she felt like she could see Sheng Xiali’s cold face.
Her heart felt heavy, suffocating her.
Lu Yin sat up abruptly, hugging her quilt. She flicked on the bedside lamp, threw off the covers, and walked out. When she encountered an obstructive box, she didn’t bother to go around it, just shoved it aside to make a path.
She walked all the way to the living room and saw the empty corner by the kitchen door. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got!
Was what Sheng Xiali said even a human thing to say?!
What did she mean it was her fridge?!
The fridge was clearly a gift to her, so it was hers!
When she left Hengcheng, she and the fridge traveled for a full day in a car just to take it with her!
Over all these years, she had moved several times, and she always took it with her. Could Sheng Xiali even compare to the bond she had with it?
How could she just snatch it away?!
No, this wasn’t right. She had to go and get it back!
Lu Yin stomped towards the door, full of righteous indignation, but her fiery attitude withered the moment she reached the entrance.
That was Sheng Xiali. How could she possibly win against her?
Lu Yin looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror and gave a bitter laugh. She really hated that she wasn’t 180cm tall and didn’t have the ability to take people down with a single move.
Otherwise, she would go over there right now, knock out Sheng Xiali, and get her fridge back!
She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor, her energy deflating like a balloon.
Wait. Maybe she could sneak in and steal the fridge back when Sheng Xiali wasn’t home?
No, that’s not right. How could you call it stealing? It would be “taking,” taking it back.
But the other door also had a passcode lock, and she didn’t know the password.
Maybe she could try? Lu Yin remembered that Sheng Xiali’s bank card password used to be her birthday. It probably wasn’t anymore, but given her aversion to trouble, maybe she just used her own birthday.
She still remembered Sheng Xiali’s birthday.
She hadn’t intentionally memorized it. She just knew it from before, and she wasn’t old enough to have forgotten it yet.
Sheng Xiali was never home anyway. She would find an opportunity to try a few times. Maybe she could figure out the password.
Thinking she had a chance to get it back, Lu Yin felt a bit better.
As for Sheng Xiali, she had lived in this building for over three months and had only seen her today because she had delivered herself to her doorstep. As long as she was careful from now on, she could completely avoid running into her.
After all, it’s hard to see someone you want to see, but it’s much easier to avoid someone you don’t.
Lu Yin moved some boxes to the entrance, blocking the door completely. She didn’t plan on leaving for the entire week.
Even if Sheng Xiali came looking for her, she wouldn’t open the door.
She would just pretend that what happened tonight never happened. Everything would go back to normal!
Yes, everything would go back to normal. Nothing happened.
For the next week, Lu Yin immersed herself in work with extremely high efficiency, finishing all the videos she had been procrastinating on editing.
She also successfully adjusted her sleep schedule, finally being able to wake up during the day and go to bed at night.
She adjusted her schedule to meet with the designer Beibei had recommended, who didn’t work in the evenings.
Beibei, probably bored from being stuck at home, had already scheduled a time for Lu Yin on the day her community was unsealed.
On that day, Lu Yin woke up with her alarm. Beibei had warned her that the designer didn’t like people being late.
Before leaving, Lu Yin looked at the several pimples on her chin in the mirror. She didn’t know at what age her habit of breaking out when she was stressed would finally go away.
She put on a mask to cover it, then checked her security camera for a while before leaving, making sure no one was around. Worried about running into someone in the elevator, she decided to take the stairs instead and jogged all the way out of the community.
It worked out well. She was right; it was easy to avoid someone you didn’t want to see.
Lu Yin hummed a tune out of key as she walked towards the subway station.
The studio Beibei recommended, called [YueJian], was located in the Art District of New City West. The district had become somewhat popular online in the past two years due to its unique architectural style. Influencers often went there to take photos, and the rent had increased accordingly.
Lu Yin had considered that area when she was planning to open her own studio, but gave up because of the rent.
Lu Yin took the subway and then a bus. Following the address, she found the place. It was called a studio, but it didn’t look small at all.
It occupied a three-story building within the Art District.
Lu Yin walked inside and, seeing the tasteful decor, felt a new sense of admiration and anticipation for the designer named Sylvia.
She had looked at some of Sylvia’s previous home design projects and especially liked how she always managed to perfectly balance aesthetics and practicality based on her clients’ needs.
Lu Yin thought of all the stuff piled up everywhere in her own apartment, which looked like a warehouse. If she could find a way to store it all properly, maybe her home could look more normal.
That way, she could also seem more normal…
Lu Yin told the receptionist she had an appointment and gave the name Amy. Soon, a call came back, and the receptionist led her to the elevator and pressed the third-floor button for her.
The four-sided transparent elevator slowly ascended. Lu Yin could see that the first floor was all showrooms, while the second and third floors were office areas.
The second floor was clearly more crowded, an open-plan space. The third floor was divided into many private rooms.
It seemed that the designer’s office was on the third floor.
As the elevator doors opened, Lu Yin saw someone waiting for her. The person was wearing a well-tailored light-material suit and had on delicate makeup. When she saw Lu Yin, she smiled and walked over.
“You’re Beibei’s friend, right? I’m Amy.”
Lu Yin smiled and handed over the gift she had prepared: “Hello. My name is Lu Yin. You’re even more elegant than Beibei described~”
Amy saw that the gift was from a well-known perfume brand. The price was moderate for them, not so expensive as to feel like a huge favor, but enough to feel like a nice gesture. Amy accepted it with a smile and felt a bit more favorably towards Lu Yin.
“Come with me. The boss is still on a voice call with a client. You can fill out a form here first.”
Amy led Lu Yin to her desk and gave her a form to fill out with some basic information about the apartment she wanted to renovate.
Lu Yin took it with a smile, glancing around at the same time. This corner on the third floor only had Amy’s desk. Not far away was an office.
There was no title on the door, but there was a nameplate with an English name on it.
[Sylvia]. The matte black paint, combined with the simple, bronze-colored metal trim on the wooden door, gave off a sense of understated, high-end mystery.
Lu Yin’s mind began to wander, imagining what this designer named Sylvia looked like, and if she was as special as her office.
Lu Yin smiled, took a pen, sat down next to Amy, and began to fill out the form.
It had been a long time since she had written with a pen. When she wrote the name of her community, she made a mistake. After correcting it, she wrote two more letters that also looked wrong. Embarrassed, Lu Yin quickly took out her phone, typed the name, and then copied it.
She had already made two corrections. To avoid being seen as illiterate, Lu Yin copied it very carefully this time.
She didn’t notice the sound of footsteps until Amy had already greeted the person and they were walking past. Lu Yin finally looked up.
That one glance made her unprepared heart jump!
Song Xinlei?
Looking at that familiar left half of a face, Lu Yin immediately thought of the distinctive left-half-of-a-face selfie profile picture she had seen just a week ago.
It couldn’t be such a coincidence. Why would she see Song Xinlei here?
Lu Yin’s body moved faster than her mind, and she lowered her head, pulling down her hat.
Song Xinlei was on the phone, but she felt a stranger’s gaze from behind her. When she looked back, she only saw a girl in a hat with her head down, filling out a form.
Looking at the light blue T-shirt tucked into a pair of casual jeans, she frowned. The girl looked like a recent graduate. A new intern at the studio?
The voice of a material supplier on the phone brought her back to her senses. Thinking about the payment issue, she pushed the thought of the intern aside and quickly knocked on the door of the office with the Sylvia nameplate.
Lu Yin breathed a sigh of relief. She had noticed Song Xinlei looking at her and her heart had pounded. She was so worried about being recognized, though she didn’t know why.
“Was that person also a designer at your studio?” Lu Yin turned to ask Amy.
Amy had poured her a glass of warm water and placed it on the side. She shook her head with a smile: “No, that’s our finance manager.”
Saying this, Amy glanced at the boss’s office and gave a knowing smile: “Xinlei is one of our studio’s partners and has a very good relationship with the boss.”
Amy looked at Lu Yin, who seemed to only half-understand. Unfortunately, she didn’t know if Lu Yin could keep a secret. Otherwise, she would love to share how perfect the couple she was shipping was.
After hearing that Song Xinlei was close to Sylvia, Lu Yin pulled her hat down even further. She absolutely couldn’t let Song Xinlei recognize her. Given their history of bad bl00d, she would probably try to sabotage her, for instance, by telling Sylvia not to take her case.
But she never expected Hengcheng to be this small.
First, she ran into Sheng Xiali without warning, and now, inexplicably, she ran into Song Xinlei.
She and Song Xinlei were in the same major in college, financial management. Song Xinlei was a great student and also worked in a related field after graduation, unlike her, who was doing something completely unrelated.
Lu Yin’s pen paused on the paper, and a large splotch of ink bled through. She suddenly snapped out of her daze, wondering why she was comparing herself to Song Xinlei…
Lu Yin stared blankly at the closed door. Suddenly, the door made a ‘click,’ and the doorknob turned!
Lu Yin quickly lowered her head again, frantically writing the unfinished address on the paper.
She had only intended to write the name of the community, but in her hurry, she ended up writing the specific apartment number as well…
Song Xinlei walked straight to Amy’s desk. She saw that the intern was still buried in the form and didn’t even greet people. She thought to herself that she was just another clueless youngster.
Interns weren’t her responsibility, so Song Xinlei put the thought aside and said to Amy: “Your boss doesn’t have time for lunch again. Order her a simple meal, from that place—”
Before she could finish, Amy immediately smiled: “The one on the corner, I know! Do you want me to order you the same thing, Xinlei?”
Amy winked. The couple she shipped had the same taste: no sugar or milk in their coffee, and a thick egg sandwich with no mayonnaise.
Song Xinlei smiled and nodded: “Yes. It’s no fun eating alone when she’s not eating. Order one for me too.”
Amy smiled even more happily: “I’ll bring it to you on the second floor when it arrives.”
Listening to the sound of high heels walking away, and then the sound of the elevator closing, Lu Yin waited for a moment before pretending to have finished the form and looking up.
Amy was on the phone ordering food. Lu Yin stared blankly at the descending elevator.
“Give me the form. The timing is perfect. I’ll take it to the boss.”
Lu Yin snapped back to reality and handed over the form. A short while later, she saw Amy come out with a look of apology.
“I’m so sorry, Lu Yin. The boss just got an urgent call from a very important client. Why don’t you go home for now, and we’ll schedule another time when she’s free?”
Amy felt bad. But the caller was a major client of the studio. Whether the deal went through would affect everyone’s year-end bonus. She couldn’t very well ask her boss to drop such an important client to see a regular small-project home renovation client.
Lu Yin had actually wanted to leave as soon as she saw Song Xinlei. Although the designer was very capable, she was Song Xinlei’s friend…
She wanted no more contact with Song Xinlei.
More importantly, she wanted to avoid any possibility of running into Sheng Xiali again.
“No problem. I’ll head back now.”
Lu Yin pulled her hat down and walked out. Passing through the first-floor showroom again, looking at Sylvia’s design cases, she still felt a sense of regret.
Home renovation sounded simple, but she had renovated her house in Licheng and knew what a huge difference a good designer could make.
Also, she had a specific habit, and she wanted someone who could understand her.
The reason she was interested in this designer was because of a previous case where she had helped a girl who loved collecting figurines design a beautiful home that could also hold more of her collection.
Never mind. I’ll just look for a few more designers. Lu Yin consoled herself. Hengcheng was so big; there must be other good designers out there.
Leaving the studio building, the cold air was sealed behind her. The heat of the sun was a steaming blanket outside. Lu Yin quickened her pace towards the bus stop.
In the summer in Hengcheng, it was easy to get heatstroke if you stayed outside for too long in the afternoon.
When Lu Yin reached the bus stop a hundred meters away, she was already drenched in sweat. When her phone rang, the moist sweat on her palm made her fail to answer the call twice.
She wiped the sweat off on her clothes before she could finally answer the call.
“Lu Yin, where are you? The boss is free now and wants to talk to you about the design for your apartment.”