The Unreturnable Refrigerator - Chapter 8

Chapter 08: Not Familiar

Lu Yin came back to her senses, pushed Beibei’s hand away from her face, and shoved a beef skewer into her hand.

“Eat your food. Don’t make things up. What person am I thinking about? There’s no one. I was thinking about how the trees at school should be shedding their leaves soon.”

Yang Beibei looked at Lu Yin’s flustered and clumsy explanation, narrowed her eyes, and knew something was up.

“Haha, so you were thinking about the trees at school. You’re so dedicated, worrying about the trees’ autumn in the middle of summer.”

Lu Yin could hear the sarcasm in her words, but pretended she couldn’t. The more she tried to explain, the worse it got. She picked up the glass on the table, took a big gulp of ice-cold beer, and stopped thinking about anything else.

…

Late nights and beer led to Lu Yin sleeping until lunchtime the next day.

When she got up and looked in the mirror, she was surprised to find that not a single pimple had appeared on her face.

This was truly strange. Based on her past experience, with all the barbecue and late night from yesterday, she should have had at least a few pimples.

Lu Yin quickly thought of the two large pitchers of herbal tea. Was it really that effective?

She wiped the water from her face and saw that the pimples on her chin from before had also mostly disappeared. Her mood brightened just like her face. If it was so effective, she could get some more packed up next time.

But she was afraid of accidentally running into Sheng Xiali.

Thinking of that extremely awkward meal with Sheng Xiali, the idea that had just popped into Lu Yin’s head was immediately dismissed.

But then, she had a great idea. She could ask Beibei for help!

Lu Yin went back to her room to grab her phone, intending to recommend the herbal tea to Beibei and check on her.

They had both had a bit too much to drink last night. Lu Yin was a little worried about Beibei going home alone, but drunk people are stubborn about not being drunk. Lu Yin was the same, and so was Beibei. Neither of them would let the other walk them home.

She unlocked her phone and clicked on WeChat. Lu Yin was surprised to find a new chat group with new message notifications.

She was confused and clicked into the chat group named [YueJian. Jianglan Yunfu]. The messages were all from Amy.

“Lu Yin, I’ll be coming to measure your apartment at 1:00 PM today. Don’t forget.”

“I’ve created a group chat. If you have any questions, you can discuss them in the group.”

Lu Yin’s mouth twitched. That was fast. The group was already created. She checked the time. The messages had been sent over two hours ago.

Lu Yin moved her fingers and replied, “Okay.”

Although she planned to find a reason to refuse after the measurement, this was still within Amy’s scope of work. She would cooperate as much as possible.

Seeing the chat showed three members, Lu Yin raised an eyebrow. Who was the third person?

A guess suddenly popped into her head. Lu Yin immediately shook her head. No way. She hesitated for a moment and clicked on the group members.

Besides her and Amy, there was a person whose profile picture was a pink sky and whose name was just a single “.”.

There was no other introduction, and her moments only had one photo.

Lu Yin clicked on the photo, and her brows furrowed. The turtle in the photo looked so familiar.

She zoomed in on the photo a little.

“Kuaikuai?!”

The golden thread grass turtle in the photo had a chipped shell in the upper left corner. Lu Yin remembered that the owner told her it was sold cheaply because of that flaw.

Lu Yin thought the small chip didn’t matter; it just gave the turtle more character, differentiating it from other golden thread grass turtles.

She bought it for two hundred yuan, but later she found out that this breed’s best quality was only twenty yuan at most…

Sheng Xiali had even laughed at her for being ripped off.

Lu Yin looked at the carefully arranged pond in the photo and remembered that back then, she thought it was super easy to raise a turtle. But not long after she brought Kuaikuai home, it got a skin disease.

It was only under Sheng Xiali’s care that it got better.

When she left Hengcheng, Lu Yin had agonized over it, but in the end, she didn’t take Kuaikuai with her, because she knew Sheng Xiali could take better care of it than she could.

Now it seemed that her decision was correct. Kuaikuai looked much bigger than before.

Just then, she got another notification on her phone. Lu Yin went back to her messages and saw it was still Amy.

It wasn’t in the group chat, it was a private message.

“Sweetie, please accept the designer’s friend request. It’ll be more convenient to discuss design-related questions.”

After typing the message, Amy looked up at her boss, who had just entered the elevator.

The boss really did care about this small home renovation project. She had thought the boss was stopping by her desk to ask her to order takeout, but it turned out she wanted her to remind a client to accept a friend request.

This was the first time she had seen her boss proactively asking to add a client on WeChat, and with her private account at that.

Lu Yin had already seen a notification for a friend request, but she had looked at the group chat messages first.

She clicked on the friend requests. Only one profile picture was lit up with a notification.

Lu Yin’s eyebrows twitched twice as she looked at the pink sky profile picture. In her stunned state, she suddenly remembered something. She pulled up her phone’s photo album. There was a similar photo in her album.

It was from the day she woke up in the evening and saw a pink sky as she pulled back the curtains. At the time, she thought such a unique sight meant good luck.

That was also the day she had brought warmth to her neighbor and lost a fridge…

Lu Yin’s temples throbbed. Thinking about it now, a special sight doesn’t necessarily mean good things are coming.

It could also mean embarrassment, some unpredictable terrible event.

For example, on that day, she had knocked on Sheng Xiali’s door.

Lu Yin looked at the two photos, which were taken from almost the same angle, and she was almost certain that the mysterious “.” was Sheng Xiali.

She turned off her phone, threw it on the bed, and pretended she hadn’t seen it.

But she didn’t expect Amy to bring it up again when she came to measure the apartment in the afternoon. In the end, under her watchful eye, Lu Yin reluctantly accepted the friend request.

One step back, and you can’t stop.

After measuring the apartment, Amy enthusiastically invited Lu Yin to visit the studio to see some popular renovation materials and have an in-depth discussion about her needs with the designer in person.

Lu Yin didn’t want to see Sheng Xiali again, let alone have an in-depth discussion. What a nightmare.

But with Amy’s repeated invitations, if it were over WeChat or a phone call, she could have come up with an excuse to refuse. But in front of Amy, her mind couldn’t come up with a good reason, and her acting skills weren’t up to par. In the end, she inexplicably found herself in Amy’s car, heading back to [YueJian].

After seeing Lu Yin’s home, Amy understood why her boss was so invested. This case was indeed tricky.

In all her years of work, she had seen many clients and many houses. There were luxurious and grand ones, messy and tidy ones, and even small one-room apartments divided into three or four for rent, with over a dozen people living in them.

Of course, she had also seen people who liked to hoard things, but she had never seen a house used as a warehouse.

Fortunately, having worked with Sheng Xiali for a long time, her personality had become much more stable, and her professional skills were excellent. She didn’t easily show her true emotions.

When she saw all the food Lu Yin had hoarded, she even praised Lu Yin for her sense of crisis, saying that in a special situation like this, if Lu Yin had to stay at home for an emergency, she could last for a year and a half without any problems.

Hearing this, Lu Yin initially thought Amy was just being polite, but with each compliment, she started to waver a bit.

Maybe she was just really good at being prepared for a rainy day~

On the way, Amy also talked about some of the popular renovation styles. Just before they reached the intersection in front of [YueJian], Lu Yin received a message from the newly added friend.

It was a simple sentence.

I am Sheng Xiali.

Lu Yin pouted. Looking at that simple sentence, her feelings were very complex.

She didn’t want to reply, but then she thought of the photo she had just seen. After a moment’s thought, Lu Yin clicked on Sheng Xiali’s moments, forwarded the photo to her, and asked: “Is this Kuaikuai?”

Although grass turtles can live for twenty to thirty years, they are also quite easy to die if not cared for properly. She couldn’t be sure that the turtle in the photo was Kuaikuai. Maybe it was just a grass turtle with a chipped shell, not necessarily her Kuaikuai.

After sending the message, Lu Yin’s mood became even more complicated. The hand holding her phone tightened slightly.

She had a mistaken feeling that a connection that had been broken for five years was being tugged back together by this message.

She regretted it and wanted to unsend it, but she was also worried that the other person had already seen it, which would make her look like she had something to hide.

In her hesitation, she missed the time to unsend the message. But she waited for a while, and even after Amy had parked the car in front of [YueJian], she still hadn’t received a reply from Sheng Xiali.

What was going on? She says her name and then runs? Just like before, replying to a message was more difficult than being constipated. Lu Yin turned off her phone, threw it in her bag, and got out of the car.

She took a deep breath, followed Amy through the doors of [YueJian], planning to get this over with quickly, go through the motions, and go home.

She also prayed she wouldn’t run into anyone she didn’t want to see.

Unfortunately, just as she walked in, she saw Song Xinlei coming out from a side hallway.

Lu Yin wondered if she was going through a bad phase of luck recently. How could things be going so wrong? She adjusted her mask, pulled down the brim of her hat, and looked at her.

Song Xinlei was wearing a light purple tracksuit. Her chestnut hair was in a side braid that rested on her high chest. A few strands of her light bangs were slightly damp and stuck to her elegantly made-up face.

The makeup was waterproof. It hadn’t come off at all after a workout. Lu Yin looked away. Song Xinlei’s makeup skills had also improved.

“Sister Xinlei.” Amy greeted her warmly: “Did you just finish your workout? Sister Xinlei is so disciplined. You don’t know, all the girls in the company are jealous of your perfect figure, but we all know we can’t be as disciplined as you, so we can only admire it.”

Song Xinlei was used to the compliments from the young women in the company, but everyone loved to hear nice things. She accepted it gracefully, her chin lifted as she smiled.

“You’re not bad either, you just need a bit more strength training. I can take you with me sometime.”

When Song Xinlei got closer, she saw someone following behind Amy. The person was still wearing a hat and a mask even indoors, but given the current situation, her fully-covered appearance was quite common.

Seeing that the other person didn’t seem to want to interact, Song Xinlei didn’t go forward to greet her.

The three of them walked to the elevator together.

“Your client?” Song Xinlei asked casually while waiting for the elevator.

Just then, the elevator arrived. Amy held the door open and let the two of them go in first. Song Xinlei slowed down a step, letting the client go in first.

After all three were in the elevator, Amy pressed the third floor. She was about to press the second floor for Song Xinlei when she heard her say she was also going to the third floor.

As the elevator slowly ascended, Amy answered Song Xinlei’s question.

“She’s a friend of mine, interested in having us design her home. Lu Yin, this is our finance manager, Song Xinlei.”

Amy introduced Song Xinlei to Lu Yin.

“Lu Yin?”

Hearing the name, Song Xinlei’s hand, which was holding the towel, paused slightly. She turned half her body to look at the person in the elevator.

Lu Yin sighed. She knew the moment she saw her that she probably couldn’t avoid this today.

She slightly lifted the brim of her hat, revealing the top half of her face, and smiled as she greeted her: “What a coincidence, running into you here.”

Although the other person was still wearing a mask, seeing those smiling big eyes, Song Xinlei was certain it was the Lu Yin she knew.

After a moment of silence, Song Xinlei smoothed the strands of hair sticking to her cheek and put on a warm smile: “Long time no see, Lu Yin. I never thought I’d see you here.”

Amy was a little confused by this exchange. Song Xinlei explained to her: “See how small Hengcheng is? You can run into acquaintances anywhere. Amy, this client of yours is my college roommate.”

Amy was a little surprised by the coincidence.

The elevator arrived at that moment. Amy held the door open and let the two of them go out first. Song Xinlei immediately started to lead Lu Yin toward the conference room.

“Amy, get us some tea.”

She then looked at Lu Yin and smiled politely: “Do you have a house you want to renovate?”

Lu Yin nodded.

Song Xinlei’s smile became even more amiable: “Then you’ve come to the right person. Amy is very experienced in home design. Don’t worry, you’re my friend, so I’ll make sure you get the biggest discount on the design fee.”

Seeing that Song Xinlei was about to lead her into the conference room, Amy remembered what the boss had told her about WeChat. She stepped forward and stopped the two of them.

“Sister Xinlei, there’s a misunderstanding. This is the boss’s client. You’re here to see the boss too, right? Why don’t you take her in?”

Song Xinlei’s smile froze on her face. Her eyes, as she looked at Lu Yin, instantly turned cold, filled with suspicion and wariness.

Lu Yin sighed heavily in her heart. Here we go again…

After all these years, Song Xinlei still couldn’t hide her look of fear that her treasure would be coveted.

But thinking that after all these years, she still cherished Sheng Xiali so much, Lu Yin felt a bit of admiration for her.

Just as Lu Yin was wondering if she should say something, the office door next to them opened.

Sheng Xiali appeared in their view.

She was… Lu Yin narrowed her eyes, looking at Sheng Xiali, who was very different from the last two times she had seen her. Her eyes involuntarily trembled.

Today she was wearing a very classic and elegant new style of cheongsam. The mandarin collar was perfectly buttoned. She wore a string of delicate pearls, and the hem of the dress, which went just past her knees, was embroidered with intricate butterflies.

This gentle attire greatly softened her sharp beauty. It was the first time Lu Yin had seen Sheng Xiali like this.

Was she going to an important event today? Wearing this to work seemed overly formal… and Lu Yin remembered that she rarely wore dresses, especially ones that required constant attention to posture.

But she had to admit, she looked… stunning.

Unsurprisingly, the moment Song Xinlei saw Sheng Xiali, she let go of Lu Yin’s arm, quickly took a few steps, and affectionately linked her arm with Sheng Xiali’s.

“Xiali, look who I ran into! It’s Lu Yin. Do you remember Lu Yin? My college roommate. I can’t believe she’s a client of our studio, too.”

Song Xinlei was the first to speak, her words sounding a little rushed.

Hearing her words, Lu Yin’s and Sheng Xiali’s eyes met for a moment, and countless fragments from their green years collided.

Lu Yin’s eyes flashed. Before more emotions could spill out, they both instinctively looked away.

After saying all that, Song Xinlei saw that Sheng Xiali had no reaction, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief. But the look she gave Lu Yin was still very wary. She asked, half-jokingly and half-testing: “Lu Yin, did you know Xiali works here, and did you seek her out specifically?”

Here it comes, here it comes again. After all these years, Song Xinlei had made some progress, but not much. The way she spoke and her attitude seemed like an aggressive attack, but in reality, it revealed her fear.

But thinking that she still treasured Sheng Xiali so much after all these years, Lu Yin was a little impressed.

“I just happened to run into her. If you hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t have known that the boss of such a big studio was a schoolmate.”

After Lu Yin spoke, Sheng Xiali glanced at her. Her gaze was very distant, as if even after Song Xinlei’s introduction, she couldn’t remember who Lu Yin was.

Song Xinlei smiled, looking as if she had just realized something.

“Oh, my bad. I forgot you two aren’t familiar.”