“Why go out to work? Isn’t it great staying by Teacher’s side?”
“Look at Teacher’s works, she’s famous out there too. Working outside means putting up with so much grief, it’s exhausting.”
Yu Shan bent her fingers, counting off the potential troubles of working in the outside world one by one.
An Rong sat opposite her, listening quietly, before popping a soul searching question.
“But Teacher Pei’s money isn’t my money. And I don’t think Teacher Pei would want me to turn into a… um…”
An Rong organized her thoughts and said, “Turn into a canary.”
An Rong muttered under her breath, “That’s how it’s described in novels, right? In short, a parasite on society.”
That single line left Yu Shan completely speechless.
In truth, keeping a younger partner was a fairly common phenomenon within their circle.
Plenty of so called artists would use all sorts of pretexts to find young kids in art academies to date, claiming it helped them reconnect with their youth.
To Yu Shan, that was pure nonsense.
An Rong’s expression was exceptionally sincere. She looked at Yu Shan with a pair of bright, crystal clear eyes.
“So, if Teacher Pei works so hard for her money, it’s even more wrong for me to just live off her, isn’t it?”
Hadn’t school taught them to be self-reliant?
Facing An Rong’s overly clear and pure eyes, Yu Shan simply couldn’t bring herself to utter a single word of rebuttal.
It felt as though any word from the adult world would taint this pure, beautiful soul.
Footsteps echoed from behind them.
Pei Chongxi stood atop the tall staircase, looking down at their conversation.
Yu Shan was flustered to the point of being unable to speak coherently. Just as she opened her mouth, she sheepishly closed it again, scratched her hair, and let out a long sigh.
An Rong looked up, saw Pei Chongxi, and immediately stood up, waving her right hand.
“Sister Pei.”
Pei Chongxi had overheard their entire conversation.
Her fingernails scraped lightly against the stair handrail, the depths of her eyes dark and unreadable.
With every breath she took, a faint, dull pain throbbed in her heart.
The girl standing by the sofa was smiling far too brightly and radiantly.
A ray of light from outside the window spilled across An Rong’s face.
As if caught red handed, a touch of guilt crossed her face. She scratched her cheek with a finger and said, “Sister Pei, we weren’t talking about anything just now. Do you have work to attend to? Go ahead and focus on your business first.”
An Rong babbled a string of clumsy cover-ups, then hurried off to pour a cup of hot tea, presenting it to Pei Chongxi with both hands like a prized treasure.
The tea cup hovered in midair.
Pei Chongxi’s gaze fell upon the tea cup in An Rong’s hands, then shifted to the manager standing up from the single sofa.
Another momentary trance.
Pei Chongxi was in no hurry to take the tea; instead, she pressed her fingers against her temple.
Wait, was this an hallucination?
A sharp, lightning like pain shot through the back of Pei Chongxi’s head.
If it were an hallucination, her manager’s reaction should be different, seeing her pause on the steps, Yu Shan should have stepped forward to ask what was wrong.
Yet she didn’t.
The manager’s eyes were fixed on the spot not far from Pei Chongxi, where An Rong was standing.
Had the hallucination reached such an extent that it could affect those around her?
Pei Chongxi’s thoughts raced, though only a few seconds had passed in reality.
If An Rong had ears and a tail on her head and back right now, they would have both drooped entirely.
“Sister Pei, don’t be mad… I didn’t talk behind your back! I was praising how much money you make!”
An Rong whined out a barrage of explanations.
She was terrified that Pei Chongxi would misunderstand and think she was getting too close to someone else.
It had been like this back in school too. Whenever An Rong chatted a bit too much with others, Pei Chongxi’s mood would visibly plummet.
It was rare to see someone with such a stubborn personality.
An Rong grumbled internally.
After a moment, Pei Chongxi accepted the hot tea An Rong had brewed. She took a small sip and held the cup between her cold hands.
“The water temperature wasn’t right. What a waste of good tea leaves.”
An Rong curled her lip. “…Fine, I know I’ve never lived a refined life.”
An Rong’s eyes turned visibly pitiful. “Once I earn money in the future, I’ll pay you back for the tea leaves.”
Pei Chongxi’s footsteps paused.
She put on her high heels at the entrance.
An Rong followed her like a little tail, whispering in a voice Yu Shan couldn’t hear, “Alright, alright. Are you upset that I talked to her? I apologize to you, okay?”
An Rong blinked her eyes, it was obvious at a glance that her apology wasn’t genuine.
Pei Chongxi’s pupils trembled slightly.
Was An Rong acting cute?
Standing before her, tilting her head on purpose, twirling one of her drooping pigtails with her fingers while keeping her eyes cast down, occasionally glancing up at her, she looked every bit like an adorable little kitten begging for attention.
“Stay home obediently. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Oh, okay.”
Seeing that Pei Chongxi had finally spoken to her, An Rong agreed immediately.
After answering, An Rong quietly glanced sideways at Yu Shan, blinking meaningfully as if to say silently. Don’t forget what I asked you to do.
Yu Shan looked up, met Pei Chongxi’s gaze, and instantly broke into a cold sweat.
She gritted her teeth and nodded.
Holding her documents, Yu Shan was about to say something when, in the next second, she saw Teacher Pei wrap an arm around the eighteen-year-old beauty’s waist, pressing her against the door frame.
Yu Shan gasped!
See no evil!
To protect her lucrative job, she immediately lowered her head to study the decorative pattern on her high heels.
Encircled by Pei Chongxi, An Rong was pinned against the entryway door.
An Rong’s body stiffened instantly. She mouthed silently, “Are you crazy? There’s someone else here!”
Subconsciously, An Rong tried to look toward Yu Shan, but her chin was seized by Pei Chongxi and turned back to face her.
Pei Chongxi’s pitch black pupils held nothing but An Rong’s reflection.
Using the hand wrapped in a pearl necklace, she intertwined her fingers with An Rong’s.
The icy pearl chain scraped against An Rong’s wrist, sending a wave of goosebumps across her skin.
The woman in high heels pressed forward step by step.
Stepping back in her soft slippers, An Rong had no room to escape, left with no choice but to be trapped in this tiny space.
“Pei Chongxi, are you out of your mind?! You’ll lose your job doing this!” An Rong trembled all over with fear.
In this moment, she realized with utmost clarity that Pei Chongxi was a lesbian, the kind of person who would be gossiped about in her village and in society.
Coming from an isolated place ten years ago, the girl didn’t know that modern society was far more open and wouldn’t reject or despise someone just for loving the same gender. In her small world, losing a job was the least of what could happen to Pei Chongxi, in severe cases, she might even end up on the newspapers to be publicly criticized, turning into a sensationalized piece of news.
“Don’t… please don’t…” Tears welled up in the corners of An Rong’s eyes, dripping from her cheeks onto Pei Chongxi’s fingers.
“Why are you crying?” An Rong’s chin was clamped tight by Pei Chongxi. “If you want to leave me, the villa door isn’t locked. You can walk out anytime.”
Pei Chongxi thought, What’s so good about working outside? Being ordered around by others, earning a tiny wage that wouldn’t even cover her current monthly utilities? Two poor people huddling under a tattered quilt just to keep each other warm?
Her sharp words ultimately dissolved into a kiss that robbed the air from between their lips and teeth. Whimpering sounds escaped from An Rong’s throat as she struggled to pull away. With nimble fingers, Pei Chongxi looped the pearl chain around An Rong’s wrist, binding the two accomplices like a pair of manacles.
An Rong’s struggles instantly froze.
She knew this necklace was expensive, and she knew Pei Chongxi had always loved it and worn it continuously. She didn’t dare break it.
You’re truly insane.
An Rong cursed in her heart. In reality, her lips were kissed into a vibrant, swollen red.
Whatever, this is just an hallucination anyway.
Pei Chongxi, who had stopped taking her medication, no longer resisted the tide of hallucinations birthed by her unbearable longing for her lost lover.
Resigned to her madness, she deepened the kiss, feeling the girl’s trembling body and the salty taste of tears flowing into her mouth.
“Why cry? If anyone sees you like this, they’ll think Sister is bullying you.”
An Rong’s tears fell like broken strings of pearls.
Her cheeks were flushed red from lack of oxygen, and her wrist was rubbed raw by the pearl chain. Her gaze toward Pei Chongxi held a trace of unfamiliarity and fear.
“I don’t like you at all.”
An Rong spoke in a raspy voice.
What on earth had happened to make Sister Pei, who had always been so gentle and considerate, turn into this?
If not for this face that looked identical to ten years ago and the shared memories between them, An Rong would truly suspect she had accidentally wandered into some perverted monster’s lair.
“Why cry?” Pei Chongxi wiped away the tear tracks on An Rong’s cheek with her thumb.
Outside the window, the wind howled, causing the curtains to rustle loudly and drowning out the sounds made by their kiss.
“You hurt me.”
An Rong spoke through gritted teeth.
Her lip was bitten open, and her wrist was pitifully red.
Pei Chongxi unfastened the chain and pressed her lips against An Rong’s wrist.
The hallucination was far too real; even her body temperature had been simulated.
“It was my fault just now. An’an, if you have needs, why didn’t you come to me? Do you dislike Sister?”
Pei Chongxi spoke in a gentle, lingering tone that nevertheless carried a spine chilling obsession.
Pei Chongxi considered herself to have been indulgent enough toward this hallucination.
She had made countless concessions, allowing her to intrude into her life and alter her habits.
“I don’t like you at all!”
An Rong broke free from Pei Chongxi’s caress.
Like a startled cat, she bolted upstairs and slammed the door shut with a loud BANG.
The entire villa fell silent, plunging into a dead stillness.
Pei Chongxi stood frozen where she was.
The warm skin contact from An Rong still lingered in her palm.
Because of this encounter, her icy hands gained a touch of heat, and her mouth retained the salty tang of An Rong’s tears.
It seemed she had made An’an angry.
But An Rong was the one who wanted to leave her first.
What was so bad about this villa that made An Rong want to leave and never come back?
Standing in the shadows, Pei Chongxi began to feel a splitting headache once again.
Yu Shan quietly raised her head.
She seemed to have heard something she shouldn’t have.
The sound of the wind whipping the curtains was too loud, so she hadn’t actually heard much of the kissing; what she heard more was An Rong’s angry shouting.
That single cry, “I don’t like you at all!” had been yelled extremely loud.
Immediately following it was the BANG of the door slamming, making it impossible for Yu Shan to ignore.
Pei Chongxi stood at the doorway, her fingers stroking the hanging pearl necklace.
“It’s nothing. Let’s head out.”
Yu Shan could only bite the bullet and pretend as though nothing had happened.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, she occasionally stole glances at the woman in the passenger seat.
Pei Chongxi wore a pair of sunglasses resting on the bridge of her nose, making it impossible to read her current mood.
Stopping at a red light, Yu Shan brought up the previous topic.
“The young lady by your side wants to get an ID card.”
Pei Chongxi’s furrowed brow froze for a moment.
She took off her sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose hard with her thumb and forefinger.
“What did you just say?”
Yu Shan repeated, “The young lady by your side wants to get an ID card. She seems to be an unregistered resident.”
As she spoke, Yu Shan secretly observed Teacher Pei’s expression from the corner of her eye.
Pei Chongxi felt the sheer absurdity of this world.
Was the hallucination still continuing?
She really was sick enough to be admitted to a mental hospital for a while.
As if helpless against the content generated by her hallucination, she continued to ask with resignation, “Then what do you think should be done?”
Yu Shan hadn’t encountered anything like this before either.
However, she had extensive connections in the industry, and paired with the wide range of people from various walks of life Pei Chongxi had met over the years, obtaining an ID card without a household register wasn’t a difficult task.
Yu Shan proposed a feasible solution.
For a moment, Pei Chongxi couldn’t find a single logical flaw in it.
“Go to the police station, take a photo, and it can be obtained on the same day.”
“You mean we need to go to the police station?”
Pei Chongxi asked once more, uncertain.
The red light turned green. Yu Shan said seriously, “Of course we have to go to the police station.”
The moment she finished speaking, she immediately tried to divine Teacher Pei’s intentions.
Could Teacher Pei actually prefer that An Rong not have an ID card?
At this thought, a wave of cold sweat suddenly broke out across Yu Shan’s back.
A young girl without an ID card could disappear without anyone ever knowing.
Wouldn’t that be…
Yu Shan’s thoughts grew increasingly dangerous, and the hands gripping the steering wheel began to sweat profusely.
Recalling Teacher Pei’s possessiveness toward that young girl, she was truly teetering on the edge of the law.
Yu Shan’s voice was trembling slightly now. “Teacher Pei, we have to be law-abiding citizens, don’t we?”
What met Yu Shan was a long, drawn-out silence.
It wasn’t until the car came to a steady stop that Pei Chongxi spoke softly, “The police station… In that case, let’s go check it out.”
Hearing this, Yu Shan breathed a sigh of relief and subtly wiped the cold sweat off her forehead with her sleeve.
Pei Chongxi opened the car door and stepped out.
The bright sun shone down from above, but far from warming her body, it made her feel uncomfortable from the cold.
“Her name is An Rong,” Pei Chongxi said.
Yu Shan noted the name down.
“Miss An.”
Pei Chongxi nodded. “It’s a very cute name, isn’t it?”
Ignoring her manager’s reaction, Pei Chongxi walked ahead, pulled out her phone, and booked an appointment to see a therapist that afternoon.
On the other side, An Rong stayed in her room for a long time.
She had cried her fill and applied medicine to her bitten lip.
Whenever she recalled Pei Chongxi acting so unhinged, she felt a trace of fear.
How did her good, gentle Sister Pei turn into this after ten years?