Jiang Yu: “?”
This was somewhat different from what she had expected, or to be precise, vastly different.
In her understanding, Qi Yin was a slightly aloof mature woman who disliked trouble.
What was the standard trait of a mature woman? It was the ability to read between the lines and understand the subtext in someone else’s words.
She would bet anything that Qi Yin had fully understood her highly suggestive sentence.
Yet Qi Yin pretended not to understand.
This was highly abnormal.
Jiang Yu stared at her phone, frowning.
She couldn’t be sure whether Qi Yin simply understood and feigned ignorance on purpose, or if she was genuinely anxious to know about Xiao Yu’s condition.
If it were the latter, the only reason Qi Yin insisted on her sending photos was because they were somewhat close and Jiang Yu had once asked her for a favor. When someone has done you a favor, you feel a sense of hesitation and constraint when speaking to them, which naturally makes your words carry more credibility.
However, that possibility wasn’t very likely. After all, since the dog was being well taken care of every single day, it was impossible to worry that someone would slaughter it today. Surely she couldn’t be that deeply uneasy.
Then what was the point of Qi Yin pretending not to understand?
Qi Yin’s recent abnormal behavior gave Jiang Yu a very bad feeling.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on what that feeling was specifically, but it was truly bizarre.
Qi Yin was not a talkative person. Even though her daily chat history with Jiang Yu consisted entirely of asking about Xiao Yu’s situation, she had absolutely no need to do this. It would be much more convenient to just look in the group chat, and she never asked anything extra, she only ever wanted photos, which would actually save her a line of text.
Before she could delve deeper into her thoughts, however, Qi Yin pushed the door open and walked in.
So fast!
Jiang Yu let out an internal gasp of surprise and leaped to her feet so abruptly that her knee bumped heavily against the corner of the table.
Jiang Yu: “Hiss, ”
Because there were many pets in the shop, fearful that some unexpected accident might occur if they were let out, Jiang Yu had wrapped every single sharp-angled object in the shop with foam padding. It wasn’t enough to cause injury, but it still hurt where it hit.
She bent over to rub her scraped knee, then stood up straight and looked blankly at Qi Yin.
Qi Yin was looking at her knee.
Realizing this, Jiang Yu extremely awkwardly scratched the back of her neck: “Ah, the senior is here. That was pretty fast, haha.” After saying this, Jiang Yu paused for two seconds, feeling rather awkward, what on earth was she babbling about!
Qi Yin withdrew her gaze and nodded.
Perhaps she had stood at the doorway long enough to catch the cold wind, as she didn’t wait for Jiang Yu to invite her in before walking into the room on her own accord. She said, “Mhm, be careful.”
Seeing Qi Yin move, Jiang Yu forgot all about her knee pain. She acknowledged the remark and followed her toward the doorway where Xiao Yu was staying.
Just like her previous visit to the shop to see Xiao Yu, Qi Yin patted the Border Collie on the head and scratched its chin.
Watching her, Jiang Yu recalled what had just happened and couldn’t help asking aloud: “Senior, what made you think of coming to the shop? If you just want to see its recent condition, you can check the group chat. Xiao Yu’s updates are never missing.” She brought the matter up again, trying to play it off with a casual laugh.
Qi Yin didn’t speak, and for a moment the atmosphere grew somewhat stagnant.
After a couple of seconds, she let out an “mhm” and said, “I missed it, and I was afraid something might be wrong, so I came to take a look.”
This single sentence answered all of Jiang Yu’s recent doubts.
Jiang Yu’s suspended heart plummeted straight down, and she let out a completely oblivious sigh of relief.
Why didn’t she just say so earlier? So she really was just simply worried. Just how deep was this emotional attachment anyway?
At the same time, these words once again stirred up Jiang Yu’s curiosity, just how close could they possibly be, to not even trust the photos sent by others, and instead insist that she, the one who had accepted favors, must send them?
She had so many tricks up her sleeve, was all that really necessary?
Jiang Yu felt that if she didn’t figure this out today, she would end up overthinking it all over again later. In order to give her mind some peace, Jiang Yu decided to throw caution to the wind.
After carefully weighing her phrasing, she put on a pretense and said, “Ah, Senior and Xiao Yu are so close.”
Qi Yin stopped the motion of petting the dog and glanced sideways at Jiang Yu.
That look gave Jiang Yu the distinct feeling of being seen through, as if Qi Yin already knew what she was going to ask after laying down this conversational groundwork.
She couldn’t help shivering slightly, feeling a sudden chill.
Seeing her inexplicably shudder, Qi Yin smiled and didn’t let Jiang Yu press on with her question, instead steering the topic herself.
“It was a gift from my mother,” Qi Yin withdrew her hand and looked straight at Jiang Yu. “She passed away.”
Passed away,
Jiang Yu felt as though she had been pinned in place by those words. She felt a wave of remorse for her own inexplicable suspicions of Qi Yin just moments before, as well as her secret, petty complaints.
Meeting Qi Yin’s utterly calm gaze, Jiang Yu’s sense of guilt and heartache surged instantly. After a long silence, she averted her eyes in embarrassment.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” she murmured, feeling uncomfortable as she rubbed her wrist.
“It’s no big deal,” Qi Yin lowered her gaze and offered a gentle smile. “It’s been a long time.”
Aside from the times when she deliberately feigned ignorance, Qi Yin was a person of very high emotional intelligence. She didn’t let Jiang Yu remain immersed in such pitiful emotions; her tone was relaxed, like someone casually chatting about household matters, as she said with complete indifference: “I just wanted to take a look. It’s getting late, I’m heading back.”
The lighter Qi Yin’s tone was, the heavier Jiang Yu’s heart felt. She bit her lip and went to see Qi Yin out.
Once she had walked her to the doorway, Jiang Yu felt she ought to say something. Before Qi Yin left, she spoke with the solemn conviction of making a promise: “Senior, don’t worry. I won’t let a single accident happen to Xiao Yu.”
Qi Yin paused her steps. After a long moment, she smiled softly and asked, “Then can I come often to see it? It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that I miss it too much.”
Jiang Yu sat supporting her head with one hand, listlessly sipping the white congee brought back by Cheng Yao, spoonful by spoonful.
Cheng Yao had gone out to buy dinner just before Qi Yin arrived. Qi Yin’s visit hadn’t lasted very long, and Cheng Yao only returned after she had left. Moreover, because Cheng Yao had caught a cold and her nasal passages were blocked, she couldn’t eat random greasy or fried foods, which dragged Jiang Yu down to eat this bland diet along with her.
Watching Jiang Yu’s spaced-out, wandering expression, Cheng Yao felt rather perplexed. She was genuinely afraid Jiang Yu might accidentally feed the congee straight up her own nose.
“It’s not that I’m nagging,” Cheng Yao said, pulling out a hair tie as she gathered her hair into a high ponytail, biting the band with her teeth to stretch it to her fingertips before securing it atop her head. “What on earth is wrong with you? It’s been almost a month, and you’ve kept this dead, lifeless look. Did that car crash really turn you into an idiot? If you’re really an idiot, you’ve still got to go demand compensation!”
Cheng Yao’s original intention was to express concern for Jiang Yu, but because her cold had blocked her nasal passages, her voice sounded just like Donald Duck. Combined with the latter half of her sentence, it left Jiang Yu completely at a loss for how to react.
Hearing Cheng Yao’s voice, Jiang Yu turned her head in shock, not really wanting to answer the question. Her brain lagged for two seconds before she said, “Put away your divine powers, quack.”
Cheng Yao: “?”
“……Get lost.” Catching up to the remark, Cheng Yao nearly lost her breath and cursed, “Scram.”
Jiang Yu nodded: “Okay.”
Jiang Yu was truly regretting it now. She regretted letting her emotions take over earlier and agreeing to let Qi Yin come visit Xiao Yu frequently. Clearly, it would have been much simpler if she had just gone through the minor trouble of sending photos. But now look at it, their interaction had escalated from daily text messages to meeting face-to-face every single day.
Help. How on earth was she supposed to break her emotional attachment to Qi Yin now?
Jiang Yu’s reaction was far from normal. Ordinarily, if Cheng Yao scolded her with one sentence, she would definitely fire back ten in return. For her to simply reply with an “okay” right now was genuinely unexpected.
Cheng Yao looked at her suspiciously, nudged the deflated person with her elbow, and continued asking in her duck-like voice, “Seriously though, did you run into some kind of trouble?”
“Mhm,” Jiang Yu said. “I’ve been haunted by a ‘ghost’.”
Cheng Yao: “?”