The Unreturnable Refrigerator - Chapter 6
Chapter 06: Trying the Password
Lu Yin’s chopsticks slipped from her hand with a clatter, and one fell to the floor.
She didn’t pick it up. She just stared at Sheng Xiali, watching her calmly wipe her hands and then meticulously wipe the water stain on the table.
It was as if she was completely unaware of how shocking her words had been to Lu Yin.
Or, perhaps, she did it on purpose…
“What, have you completely forgotten?”
Lu Yin heard that same sneering laugh from Sheng Xiali again.
“It’s my fault for having a good memory.”
Sure enough, she did it on purpose!
Lu Yin put down the other chopstick, exhaling all the breath she had been holding.
How could she possibly forget? She wasn’t old enough to forget those things.
Thinking of her past foolishness, Lu Yin felt the air conditioning in the private room wasn’t cold enough.
She looked at Sheng Xiali, completely baffled that such words could come from her mouth.
Sheng Xiali was always the good student, rigid, proper, and strict with herself. Even in bed, if she wanted her to say some “naughty” words, she would only tell her to “be civilized.” Now, it was strange that she could say such suggestive and improper things in broad daylight.
It was truly hard to digest. Lu Yin couldn’t even find the right words to retort.
If she said “I’ve forgotten,” it would imply that it was true. If she said “No,” she was afraid Sheng Xiali would have something even more shocking to say.
Lu Yin looked at Sheng Xiali. The image of this person in her memory was so clear, but now it suddenly felt a bit blurry.
Had she misremembered who she was in the past? Or had Sheng Xiali always been this wicked?
Lu Yin looked at those beautiful eyes. Sheng Xiali’s eyelashes were much longer than an average person’s, so every blink was very noticeable.
With each blink, Lu Yin’s heart skipped a beat. She saw a wisp of chestnut-brown hair slip from behind Sheng Xiali’s ear and stick to her fair skin as she leaned down to grab more tissues, obstructing the sharp line of her jaw.
But it still looked very clean and distant.
Lu Yin looked away, pressing her back against the chair to make it easier for Sheng Xiali to grab the tissues.
She watched as the puddle of icy water on the table was almost completely wiped away, with only a few small smudges left. But those slender, beautiful hands still continued to dab the tissues against the surface.
The motion was a little forceful, the back of her hand taut. Lu Yin’s heart thumped along with the movements.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lu Yin hurriedly looked away, picked up the chopstick from the floor, and grabbed a new clean pair from the side. She feigned ignorance and decided not to say another word, choosing to eat in silence.
The person beside her also fell silent and began to eat, perhaps finding it boring since she didn’t react to the mockery.
In the end, this meal, which Lu Yin thought was far too much for two people, was mostly eaten.
However, a few things were left. Lu Yin held her slightly full stomach and watched Sheng Xiali get up to leave.
The number of surprises she had experienced during this meal was already so high that when Sheng Xiali didn’t pack the leftovers, Lu Yin felt a sense of inevitability.
The person who used to cherish food the most, who always made her order only what they could eat and pack up the rest, now not only wasted food but had also lost her habit of being frugal.
The bad news was that Lu Yin had that habit.
After so many years of Sheng Xiali’s “education,” she had developed the good habits she “demanded.” Even after being away from Sheng Xiali for five years, this habit had stayed with her.
Lu Yin looked at the one or two dishes on the table that were almost untouched. Her steps toward the door were slow and hesitant.
The person in front of her sensed the hesitation behind her and turned around to look at Lu Yin.
“Want to pack it up?”
Between ‘don’t eat the food Sheng Xiali paid for’ and ‘food is innocent, waste is shameful,’ Lu Yin chose to silently nod.
A soft laugh came from above her head. Lu Yin’s ears twitched. This laugh…
She looked up. Sheng Xiali had already left the private room, and she couldn’t see her expression. Lu Yin was a little confused. Why did that laugh sound like Sheng Xiali was in a good mood?
A moment later, Sheng Xiali came back, followed by a waiter carrying a bag.
He directly handed the bag to Lu Yin, saying it was herbal tea from the restaurant.
Lu Yin didn’t want to accept it. Since Sheng Xiali had paid for the meal, the complimentary items should go to her, too.
“Here.”
Sheng Xiali laughed and didn’t take it. She didn’t look at the herbal tea, but instead looked at Lu Yin’s face, her gaze dropping slightly, with a knowing smile.
Lu Yin instinctively covered the pimples on her chin. This habit of breaking out when she was stressed had been with her for a long time, and Sheng Xiali knew about it.
Sheng Xiali used to tell her to eat fewer “heaty” foods. To avoid her nagging, Lu Yin would secretly eat what she called “junk food” after Sheng Xiali left on business trips, but these pimples would often give her away.
Sheng Xiali was different. Lu Yin had never seen her get heaty. She didn’t know if it was her special physique or if she just had a good mindset.
Probably both.
The waiter finished packing the food. He saw Lu Yin holding out the herbal tea to Sheng Xiali and laughed: “Miss, this cooling herbal tea is our restaurant’s specialty. We use a recipe from the provincial traditional Chinese medicine clinic. It’s very effective for reducing internal heat. Don’t worry about the taste; our boss improved it, and it tastes great. Ms. Sheng is a friend of our boss and has a long-term order with us, so we deliver it to her every afternoon. You should try it. If you like it, next time you come, just say you’re a friend of Ms. Sheng, and we’ll give you a complimentary one.”
Lu Yin looked at the herbal tea in her hand, opened her mouth, and once again didn’t know what to say.
She felt a little strange that Sheng Xiali was now being referred to as “Ms. Sheng,” and it stirred an emotion in her she couldn’t quite place.
In the end, she could only say a dry “thank you.”
After leaving the restaurant, Lu Yin walked very quickly, afraid Sheng Xiali would say something else that would catch her off guard. She didn’t even stop to say “goodbye.”
Better not to meet again…
Since she had made the decision to leave back then, she shouldn’t turn back now. Lu Yin walked forward with her head down, refraining from looking back.
She carried the two heavy bags onto the bus. Only when the bus started moving did her heart finally settle down.
She transferred to the subway and struggled to carry the bags home. Lu Yin’s hands were aching. She looked at her palms and saw one or two deep red lines.
This boss was too generous. There were two pitchers of herbal tea in the bag, each with two liters. At the subway security check, she was asked to take a sip from each. It was an effort for Lu Yin to even lift such a large pitcher.
But the tea did taste good.
Lu Yin had been looking forward to a glass as soon as she got home.
But just as she entered her apartment, turned on the air conditioner, and her heat-dazed mind calmed down, a thought suddenly struck her!
Sheng Xiali had gone to work!
That meant no one was across the hall!
My fridge~ I’m coming~~
Lu Yin quickly poured herself a glass of herbal tea, drank most of it, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and ran across the hall.
First, she would try Sheng Xiali’s birthday.
“Password incorrect. Please try again later.”
Lu Yin was disappointed. She looked at the darkened keypad, hesitated for a moment, and wondered whether to try the next set of numbers.
Her birthday.
Even though she knew it was impossible, Lu Yin was suddenly a little nervous, unlike the casual way she had entered the previous password.
She pressed the numbers one by one, and on the last digit, she let out a self-deprecating laugh: “How is this even possible?”
As expected, the voice prompt came on a second later.
“Password incorrect. Please try again later.”
Lu Yin didn’t know if she was disappointed or something else, but she let out a sigh.
She watched as the keypad lights dimmed again.
It wasn’t Sheng Xiali’s birthday, and it wasn’t hers either.
What other possible passwords could there be?
Suddenly, half a face popped into her mind.
Song Xinlei’s usual left-side-of-her-face selfie.
No way, Lu Yin thought. Would Sheng Xiali use Song Xinlei’s birthday as a password?
While Lu Yin was hesitating, she heard a ‘beep.’ In a daze, she had already pressed the first number.
Just try it, she thought. It’s only a try anyway.
Lu Yin took a breath. She didn’t know whether she should be glad she had a good memory. She remembered every roommate’s birthday from college.
She quickly entered the string of numbers, pausing slightly on the last digit.
Her mind was blank, but her palms were a little sweaty.
She wiped her hands, looked at the lit-up keypad, her eyes trembling slightly, and finally pressed the last button.
“Password incorrect. Please try again later.”
Lu Yin let out a long breath. It wasn’t Song Xinlei’s.
Lu Yin didn’t understand the meaning of this sudden feeling of relief. Shouldn’t she be happy if it were Song Xinlei’s birthday?
Then she could open the door and get her fridge back.
Lu Yin thought about it and attributed the feeling to her dislike of Song Xinlei.
Even though she and Sheng Xiali were no longer together and she had no feelings for her, it was only human nature to care a little if Sheng Xiali was with someone she disliked.
Lu Yin nodded, talking to herself: “Yes, that’s exactly it.”
Lu Yin wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had already tried the password three times. One more time and it would lock.
She had already looked up Sheng Xiali’s type of passcode lock. If Sheng Xiali had the app downloaded, she would receive a notification that the lock was triggered.
It was better not to risk it.
Lu Yin couldn’t think of any other possible numbers for the time being. Although she was a little unwilling, she decided to go home for now.
After all that effort, she was sweating a lot. Lu Yin took a shower and washed her hair. While blow-drying her hair, she unlocked her phone and saw a prominent notification. She clicked on WeChat.
It was Amy.
“Lu Yin, when would be a good time for you? I can come over to measure your apartment.”
Lu Yin’s scalp tingled. She quickly moved the hairdryer further away.
Looking at the message, Lu Yin had a bad feeling. This wasn’t over yet.
Amy was a contact Beibei had pulled strings for. She couldn’t just reject her without a good reason.
After some deliberation, Lu Yin turned off the hairdryer and sent a voice message.
“Amy, I’m sorry, but I’ve thought about it, and the renovation isn’t urgent. I’ve been busy with some work recently. I’ll start the renovation after this busy period is over.”
The other side replied quickly: “Sweetie, it’s just a measurement. We need that to put a plan together. The plan also takes time to communicate. Don’t worry, sweetie, we can completely control the renovation timeline later. It’s all simple.”
Lu Yin felt even more awkward hearing “sweetie” over and over again. She knew this was probably Amy’s professional habit, but it just made it harder for her to refuse.
But she had to refuse.
The designer was Sheng Xiali. Just thinking about it, Lu Yin felt like she was getting frostbite in the middle of a heatstroke. It was bizarre and painful, not deadly, but awful!
She couldn’t imagine what kind of expression Sheng Xiali would have if she told her that her design requirement was more storage space for hoarding things.
Sheng Xiali had always had a problem with that habit of hers.
Lu Yin thought for a moment and sent another voice message: “I’m sorry, but I have to go on a business trip soon.”
After she sent the message, there was no reply. Lu Yin breathed a sigh of relief.
On the other side, Amy played Lu Yin’s voice message again, right in front of Sheng Xiali.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go on a business trip soon.”
Lu Yin’s voice echoed clearly in Sheng Xiali’s office.
Amy looked nervously at her boss’s delicate face, which showed no expression, but still gave off an inexplicable sense of pressure.
The boss seemed to be in a bad mood.
She had just squeezed in Lu Yin’s case for the boss to look at as a favor. She wasn’t insisting that she take it.
She hadn’t expected the situation to turn around. The boss was inexplicably interested, but Lu Yin seemed to have given up on her.
What happened during the lunch between the boss and Lu Yin?
It had been over a year since her boss had taken on such a small home renovation project. Even when she did, the clients were always eager to proceed. This was the first time she had heard her boss specifically tell her to follow up.
After listening to Lu Yin’s voice message about going on a business trip, Sheng Xiali quietly looked at the form on her desk, at the crossed-out and corrected address, and at the three words scribbled in the occupation field.
Homebody
It was the first time she had heard of a homebody having to go on a business trip.