Duan Yan put down his chopsticks and looked at her.
“In the future, if you want to buy—”
He had originally been about to say, “If you want to buy something, just buy it.” But then he remembered that after rent, his salary only left him with a few thousand yuan a month.
The words caught in his throat.
But Rong Jiqiao spoke first.
“I won’t buy those things anymore. Living in Beijing costs too much. I can’t live the way I did back home.”
Duan Yan replied,
“If there’s extra money, you can still buy them. Just don’t go looking for work in those kinds of places. If you really don’t want to work, staying at home is fine too. The property management company said they’re promoting me to security team leader next month. My salary will go up by another two thousand. That should be enough for your expenses.”
Rong Jiqiao had a whole list of things she wanted to say.
But Duan Yan quickly finished the rest of his meal in a few bites and stood up.
“I’m heading to work.”
The words she wanted to say could only be swallowed back down.
Instead, she reminded him,
“Take it easy. Be careful on the way.”
Duan Yan put on his coat and walked to the door.
Then he turned around and looked at her one more time.
“Okay. Go to bed early.”
The door closed behind him.
Sitting alone at the table, Rong Jiqiao finally let out a long breath.
She raised a hand and wiped her face.
Her palm came away covered in tears and snot.
But what worried her most was that she had lied about going to those places for work.
If the truth came out, things would be even worse.
Yet she had no choice.
One lie could only be covered by another lie.
She felt a little depressed, convinced there had to be a better way to handle the situation.
But if she were truly smart, she wouldn’t just be a vocational-school girl from a small county town.
She would have gone to a top university long ago.
Rong Jiqiao stood up and started cleaning the takeout containers from the coffee table.
She threw the trash into the bin, then grabbed a rag and wiped down the table.
After that came the floor.
Then the kitchen.
Then the bathroom.
She had never been this diligent before.
In the past, she thought all those chores belonged to Duan Yan.
Her only responsibility was to stay beautiful.
But now she didn’t dare think that way anymore.
After mopping the floor, she replaced the garbage bag and carried the trash outside to the communal dumpster.
Then she took a shower.
Lying in bed afterward, she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
Unable to sleep, Rong Jiqiao closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Just six more months.
Once she got the money, she would return to her hometown.
How could someone like her ever dream of belonging to Beijing’s elite circles?
She turned over and forced herself to go to sleep.
Duan Yan returned at three-thirty in the morning.
He opened the door quietly, intending—as he always did—to tidy up the apartment before going to bed.
But the moment he stepped inside, he froze.
The apartment was spotless.
The coffee table was free of dust, the floor gleamed under the light, and even the stove had been scrubbed until it shone.
The trash can had a fresh garbage bag.
Standing at the doorway, Duan Yan looked around at the home that felt both familiar and strangely unfamiliar.
Rong Jiqiao lay on her side on the bed, facing away from the door, her breathing steady.
Duan Yan simply stood there for a while, watching her.
In the darkness, he carefully washed up, turning the faucet on as low as possible and gently setting the cup back on the sink.
Then he lifted the blanket and climbed into bed.
The mattress sank slightly.
Half asleep, Rong Jiqiao instinctively scooted inward to make room for him.
Her mind was foggy. She wanted to tell him about the apartment she had found, but then thought he must be exhausted.
Forget it. I’ll tell him tomorrow.
Just as she was drifting back to sleep, a sudden cold sensation touched her wrist.
Metal against skin.
The icy chill pierced straight through her nerves.
Rong Jiqiao’s eyes flew open.
Her heart pounded like a drum.
A flash of white exploded across her mind—
It was the sensation from her previous life, right before she drowned.
The feeling of handcuffs locked behind her wrists.
Cold.
Hard.
Clamped tightly around her, impossible to break free from no matter how hard she struggled.
Her breathing caught.
She bolted upright.
“What’s wrong?”
Duan Yan’s sleepy voice sounded beside her.
Rong Jiqiao lowered her head and, by the faint moonlight filtering through the window, finally saw what was on her wrist.
It wasn’t a pair of handcuffs.
It was a delicate bracelet.
The golden chain glimmered softly in the darkness, and hanging from it was a tiny four-leaf clover charm that rested gently against her wrist.
Tiny flecks of light shimmered as the bracelet swayed on her wrist.
She froze and looked up at Duan Yan.
“Where did this come from?”
“I bought it.”
Rong Jiqiao stared at the bracelet, her heartbeat not yet fully settled.
“We’re supposed to be saving money right now. You didn’t need to buy something like this.”
Duan Yan didn’t answer immediately.
He simply looked at her wrist.
The four-leaf clover charm swung gently against her wrist bone. Her skin was fair, her frame delicate, and the slender chain made her wrist look impossibly refined.
No wonder she liked these things.
She really did suit them.
“Mm.” Duan Yan finally replied in a calm tone. “It wasn’t expensive.”
Rong Jiqiao opened her mouth as if to say something, then swallowed the words.
She was about to lie back down and go back to sleep when she suddenly realized that Duan Yan didn’t sound sleepy at all.
Well, she was awake now anyway.
“Oh, right.” She cleared her throat. “I already told the landlord we’ll move out next month.”
Duan Yan’s fingers paused.
“When I went out today, I looked at an apartment. It’s in the urban village area. Four thousand yuan a month. We can save half the rent.”
She spoke quickly, afraid he would disagree, and hurriedly added,
“The place is pretty good too. It’s not as new as this one, but it’s more than enough to live in.”
Silence filled the darkness for a few seconds.
“We don’t need to move,” Duan Yan said at last.
“This place is fine.”
Rong Jiqiao blinked.
“Huh?”
Fine?
This place cost eight thousand yuan a month.
But she didn’t care about things like that anymore.
There was no need.
“It doesn’t have to be this nice,” she said seriously. “We can save money.”
Duan Yan turned onto his side to face her.
“No need to save money.”
His voice was quiet, yet carried a firmness that left no room for argument.
“I can support you.”
Rong Jiqiao stared at him, mouth slightly open.
For a long moment, not a single word came out.