The manager looked at the painting delivered by Pei Chongxi. “Teacher, the style this time is different from usual.”
The painting before her was unusually bright. Though the overall tone remained dark, there was now a streetlamp bright enough to illuminate a stormy night.
Pei Chongxi sat on the single sofa opposite her manager. She took a tiny sip of her coffee, set it down, and didn’t touch it again.
“But my psychiatrist says my condition has gotten worse and recommended increasing my dosage.”
Her manager, Yu Shan, snapped her head up, looking at Pei Chongxi in total disbelief.
“Teacher, what seems to be the problem now?”
Yu Shan could hardly be blamed for her trembling tone, her boss’s physical and mental state really was quite unstable at times.
“It’s nothing. I’m just a bit sicker, that’s all.”
Yu Shan observed her boss’s complexion carefully. She saw no signs of worsening illness, if anything, Pei Chongxi’s face looked rosier than usual, it looked for all the world like the early signs of a full recovery.
“Is the coffee not to your taste? It’s the Geisha that just arrived today.”
Pei Chongxi dabbed her lips with a tissue, a faint smile playing on her face.
“No, I just shouldn’t drink too much coffee. It’s bad for my stomach.”
Yu Shan opened her mouth, then nodded vigorously. “It really is bad for the stomach.”
“Two clients want to visit you this afternoon. They booked in advance, but I’m not sure if you’re free.”
Pei Chongxi glanced at her wristwatch. “Around what time?”
Accustomed to Pei Chongxi’s occasionally spotty memory, Yu Shan gave her the time right away.
Pei Chongxi shook her head. “Too late. Have them reschedule. I have things to do at home.”
“Oh, okay.”
Yu Shan pulled out her phone immediately to make the call.
Pei Chongxi said softly, “She doesn’t like me coming home too late. She’s cooking for me at home.”
Yu Shan didn’t quite catch what Pei Chongxi said, assuming her boss meant she had hired a new housekeeper.
She quickly chimed in, “Well, eating properly is definitely more important!”
For a long time, Yu Shan had worried about her boss living like an ascetic, keeping herself alive almost entirely on alcohol and coffee without eating real food.
Pei Chongxi leaned back on the single sofa, her eyes half-lidded for a moment. Suddenly, she asked, “What kind of gifts do eighteen-year-old girls like?”
Yu Shan paused, tapping her temple with her finger. “An eighteen-year-old girl… probably cosmetics, idol merchandise, pretty dresses, or just taking her to the mall, you can’t go wrong with that.”
Pei Chongxi nodded thoughtfully.
“I see. You can get back to work now.”
Yu Shan agreed, feeling bewildered: Why is the boss suddenly asking about buying gifts for a young girl?
She had heard her boss had no close relatives, so it wasn’t a gift for a younger family member. That only left…
Yu Shan didn’t dare think further down that road. It couldn’t be that her boss had suddenly fallen in love, and with a young girl at that?
This… Yu Shan pulled back her neck slightly. Considering her boss was twenty-eight now, no matter how you looked at it, it felt like taking advantage of the age gap.
Yu Shan silently prayed for the girl in her heart.
The eighteen-year-old girl herself was currently lying on the lawn of the villa’s garden, soaking up the sun.
She moved the magazine off her face and let out a giant yawn.
“The house is full of wine bottles and cigarettes, but the garden is kept really well.”
An Rong sat cross legged on the soft lawn, looking up to see magpies flying past, chattering above.
She mimicked the magpies’ call a few times, but not a single bird paid her any attention. Undeterred, she happily continued basking in the sun.
“Life without school is so nice, plus I have a rich older sister taking care of me.”
Just thinking about it made An Rong want to laugh out loud.
After a brief moment of joy, her expression turned slightly troubled.
“But I can’t rely on Sister Pei forever. Otherwise, wouldn’t I just be a freeloading moocher?”
An Rong pondered for a moment, amused by her own thought, before turning her mind to serious matters.
Playing house in this villa forever wouldn’t work. She had hands and feet; naturally, she needed to work to earn her own money.
However, having only a high school education, her job options were extremely limited.
An Rong looked down at the backup phone in her hand. It was an older model Pei Chongxi had phased out from the previous generation, though it could still sell for a few thousand dollars on the market today.
Given the kind of work she could find, it would probably take her two months of hard labor just to buy a phone like this.
An Rong flipped through her contacts list looking for classmate names, trying two of them.
“We’re sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service.”
As the automated prompt sounded, a flicker of disappointment crossed An Rong’s face.
Ten years had passed, too many things could change. Besides, if she showed up in front of her old friends from ten years ago with her current appearance, they might just think her ghost had returned.
An Rong searched for a girl who used to share her dorm room.
She selected the number and dialed.
This time, instead of an out of service tone, she heard a long ringing sound.
The call went through.
A couple of seconds later, a mature woman’s voice came from the other end. “Hello, who is this?”
An Rong’s eyes lit up immediately. “Xiao Yan, do you remember me? It’s An Rong.”
After a two second silence, a harsh scolding came from the other side. “Scammers these days have no shame! An Rong died in a car accident ten years ago. Do you really have to use a dead person’s name to scam people? You scammers have no bottom line!”
Clack. The line went dead.
An Rong opened her mouth, left with no chance to explain.
She didn’t even have an ID card right now, there really was nothing to prove her identity.
A hollow, lost look appeared on An Rong’s face.
The sun, previously warm and pleasant, felt a bit chilly on her skin.
An Rong slowly pulled back her smile and walked to the edge of the garden.
It was bounded by an iron fence, beyond which lay the neighborhood road. A few minutes later, someone from the neighborhood walked past, walking a dog.
A large golden dog stopped, looking toward An Rong and barking twice as if saying hello, before its owner pulled gentle pressure on its collar and walked on.
Pei Chongxi returned before dusk. The moment she pushed open the door, she was greeted by the rich aroma of cooked food.
An Rong stood behind the kitchen counter, waving at Pei Chongxi with a smile. “Sister Pei, I have something I want to tell you.”
Pei Chongxi hung her handbag on the rack, casting off a day’s fatigue.
Just as she was about to speak, the young girl rushed over like a little leopard, wrapping both arms around her neck and pushing Pei Chongxi back several steps.
An Rong felt warm all over, and her cheek was soft as it pressed against Pei Chongxi’s.
“Sister Pei, I want to get an ID card,” the girl said coaxingly, “and then go outside to look for a suitable job.”
An Rong felt a faint ache in her heart.
She couldn’t reach her former classmates, the numbers were either out of service or they thought she was a scammer. Her social circle hadn’t been large to begin with, especially after she moved out to live with Pei Chongxi, busy working part time jobs with barely anyone to talk to.
She forced a smile, acting playfully affectionate toward Pei Chongxi.
The clever girl knew what would soften Sister Pei’s heart and win her agreement, being completely generous with her affection and playfulness.
An Rong thought to herself. She wasn’t gay, but wasn’t it completely normal for good friends to kiss and snuggle?
She wasn’t gay, and neither was Sister.
The heating inside the house was turned up high.
An Rong was wearing a loose camisole belonging to Pei Chongxi with this sudden movement, half of her shoulder slipped out, flushed a faint pink from the indoor warmth.
A small kiss landed on Pei Chongxi’s neck, causing a fleeting, possessively dark shadow to cross her relaxed features.
“Isn’t it good staying at home? Why do you want to leave?”