After asking three colleagues in a row, only one of them had seen her.
Qin Shui definitely would not strike up conversations with anyone, so no one had a deep impression of her. Only a mechanic from the northern work area remembered that she was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and carrying a light pink backpack, and that she had come to the repair shop around 11:20 that day.
Qin Sheng felt a little guilty, afraid someone might say too much and mention Yan Jiabao’s matter to Qin Shui. But after asking around, he found that no one had even spoken to Qin Shui, and only then did the stone in his heart finally drop.
He had not seen Qin Shui nearby at noon either. Most likely, he had been overthinking things.
He went to the kitchen to heat a cup of milk for Qin Shui and placed it by her bedside in advance. He turned off the television, left a small lamp on, and sat on the sofa waiting for her to finish showering.
The sound of water from the bathroom stirred his heart, making it tremble and itch. When he had first suggested that Qin Shui move in, it had purely been to help her get through an urgent difficulty. But when two people of the opposite sex who had mutual feelings lived under the same roof, Qin Shui could remain normal, yet Qin Sheng could not.
This had nothing to do with Qin Shui herself. She was usually very careful, and Qin Sheng also deliberately kept his distance, maintaining the propriety of a roommate relationship.
But for some reason, he had even begun to feel a vague sense of fear. He was afraid that once Qin Shui found a job, she would go to another city or move out. From the bottom of his heart, Qin Sheng hoped she would find a relaxed, happy job. Recently, he had also been asking acquaintances to help inquire. But he could not accept Qin Shui leaving.
Even if she did not make dinner, did not clean the house, did nothing at all, as long as she lived in this home, Qin Sheng felt at ease.
People often feel little interest in those of the opposite sex who resemble their own temperament. Qin Sheng believed that after so many years of struggling in society, he had endured all kinds of hardship and dealt with all kinds of people. But Qin Shui was different. She was as beautiful as a white rose. Lying on the bed and closing his eyes, Qin Sheng could already sketch out their future life together.
Yan Jiabao was the kind of person who walked the same path as Qin Sheng, yet was completely opposite to Qin Shui.
His ex-girlfriend.
Sometimes Qin Sheng felt that a healthy person like Yan Jiabao should swap places with Qin Shui.
Not a single sentence that came out of her mouth was useful. She could not tell good from bad, listening to neither. She might as well have been deaf-mute, causing fewer troubles.
They had met when Qin Sheng was seventeen or eighteen. At that time, he was about to graduate from school. The lives of his classmates were already quite colorful. Some went to work at Foxconn[1]Foxconn refers to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., a major Taiwanese electronics manufacturer with large factories in mainland China. It is known for mass-production assembly-line work, and many … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1427536_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1427536_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Some were already pregnant, had children, and went home to get married.
Yan Jiabao was a classmate of his roommate’s girlfriend. They met when everyone went out for a group meal. She fell in love with Qin Sheng at first sight, loved him passionately, and used every means she had to pursue him.
Like Qin Shui, she had taken the initiative to ask for Qin Sheng’s contact information. At that time, people still used email. But Qin Sheng did not give it to her. He did not like Yan Jiabao’s type very much, and on top of that, he was worried about finding a job after graduation and had no interest in dating.
However, Yan Jiabao had a stubborn persistence about her. She pursued him for more than half a year. When Qin Sheng’s work situation was settled, she seized the right moment and came to confess. Qin Sheng’s roommates also helped speak on Yan Jiabao’s behalf, and so the relationship came to be.
She was not a bad person, just not very clear-headed. Qin Sheng had told her more than once to first study her vocational courses properly, to stop recognizing random “big brothers” outside school, and to stop riding motorcycles late at night with unrelated people to race through the streets. It disturbed residents and was unsafe.
Yan Jiabao always agreed verbally. That was her usual style. She spoke one way to people and another way to ghosts, sweet-tongued and bold, even more worldly than Qin Sheng.
On their first Valentine’s Day after dating for three months, Yan Jiabao wanted Qin Sheng to take her to rent a room. He refused.
She knew Qin Sheng was handsome, tall, and well-built, very hard to pursue. So once she had him, she would not easily let go. Yan Jiabao did not believe there could be men in this world who would repeatedly refuse someone throwing themselves at them, so she always brought it up at ambiguous moments. Yet every time, Qin Sheng was like an impenetrable wall, harder to break through than vibranium.
Yan Jiabao was very smart, but while she guessed one thing correctly, she also guessed another thing wrong.
Qin Sheng was indeed a young man full of desire and vigor, and it was not that he would necessarily refuse a girl offering herself. But at the same time, the reason he refused Yan Jiabao was simple—he did not love her enough.
He really was hard to pursue, but he was also very selective. He was not the kind of beast that would pounce at the sight of flesh.
Yan Jiabao could not get a response to her desires from him, nor could she get affirmation in terms of love and sex. After drinking heavily with her girlfriends a few times and acting out several scenes straight out of youth pain literature, things gradually cooled down.
Qin Sheng was a responsible good man, and Yan Jiabao was also a girl who dared to love and hate. She did not lack other people’s affection.
At first, she hated Qin Sheng, feeling that he had played her and looked down on her. She sank into depression for a long time. Not long after the breakup, Qin Sheng’s roommate organized a dinner gathering, called everyone to the rental apartment, and announced that he was going back to his hometown to get married with his girlfriend.
Everyone contributed gift money on the spot. Yan Jiabao still wore that punk, cool-girl outfit. The eight of them went through thirty bottles of beer, fifteen of which she drank herself.
Drunk, Yan Jiabao went to the toilet to vomit several times, then clung to Qin Sheng and wailed all night as if she could never get tired. It was not until dawn that she sobered up a little. The two of them talked things through face to face, and only then was the knot in her heart untied.
By now, six years later, Yan Jiabao had finally awakened from a long dream and completely forgiven Qin Sheng.
She was pregnant.
After graduation, they still kept each other’s contact information. Yan Jiabao would send Qin Sheng holiday greetings from time to time, act a little coquettish, and finally receive replies from him, even though they were still not the kind she had once hoped for.
She worked as a saleswoman in a beauty salon. Last year, her job had been stable, and she became a little full of herself. She got a boyfriend, a bar DJ.
Even knowing the relationship wasn’t reliable, and knowing the man was exactly the kind of person Qin Sheng referred to as “the kind who only takes girls out riding ghost-fire motorcycles without helmets,” she still loved him without hesitation.
Qin Sheng knew about it but made no comment. Everyone was an adult and should take responsibility for their own choices. It was only that whenever he came across warning videos online about people crashing motorcycles and breaking their legs, he couldn’t help but imagine it as Yan Jiabao.
At the beginning of the month, when he received a call from Yan Jiabao at the hospital, Qin Sheng’s first reaction was still that she must have crashed her motorcycle and broken her leg.
She sat on a bench outside obstetrics and gynecology, crying loudly. Qin Sheng was in a hurry to go home for dinner, but he couldn’t just leave her there alone, so he brought her outside the hospital, then found a moment to message Qin Shui and told her to eat first and not wait for him.
The result of the pregnancy was within Qin Sheng’s expectations. Yan Jiabao said that the man was named Chen Zhihong, and while dating her, he had been seeing four other women at the same time.
Qin Sheng scolded, “You clearly knew, yet you still refused to break up?”
Yan Jiabao sat by the flowerbed, crying and pounding on him, saying she had tried to break up, but the man kept pestering her, kneeling and making promises. She softened, they had sex, and the child was conceived this way.
Qin Sheng’s vision darkened. He took out a cigarette and lit it. Yan Jiabao wiped her nose, reached out a hand, and asked for one: “Give me one.”
“Get lost.”
Yan Jiabao cried again. She didn’t want to give birth to the child, but she also didn’t want to have an abortion. She wasn’t used to saving money, and after knowing she was pregnant, she didn’t go to work for half a month. She was about to lose her job, and she couldn’t even afford rent.
She had actually taken proper leave today and came determined to have the surgery, but the longer she waited, the more scared she got. When she heard her number being called, she was so frightened she didn’t dare go in, afraid the doctor would drag her inside. Only then did she call Qin Sheng.
He was the most reliable person she could think of.
Yan Jiabao was even more unfortunate than Qin Sheng. She came from a rural area nearby. Her mother died giving birth to a second child, and she never received a proper education. She studied beauty and hairdressing. With a sweet mouth and sharp eyes, she could coax clients into buying cards and recharging. Making a living wasn’t difficult for her, but she fell into a pit again.
She had no money, still needed surgery later and recovery time, and couldn’t pay rent even in the urban village. So she asked Qin Sheng if she could temporarily stay at his place, but he rejected her immediately.
Yan Jiabao always felt that whenever Qin Sheng refused her, there was no room for negotiation. Meanwhile, Qin Sheng’s mind was full of Qin Shui.
So he instead rented a room for her long-term in the hotel next to the repair shop. The owner rented from Beidaihe Car Repair Center and knew Qin Sheng well, so he gave a thirty percent discount and let Yan Jiabao move in first.
Every day, Qin Sheng sent her the company lunch. He was tired of factory meals anyway, so ordering takeout for himself wasn’t an issue.
Yan Jiabao was almost two months pregnant now, but she still delayed going for the surgery, and instead came to the repair shop every day to bother him. Qin Sheng couldn’t control her and wasn’t obligated to, so he only ensured she had somewhere to stay and wouldn’t starve.
He had gone to pick up a package for her today at noon. She couldn’t carry large items, so she called Qin Sheng.
While he was washing his hands in the bathroom, Yan Jiabao lay on the bed and secretly looked at his unlocked phone. She opened WeChat and saw a pinned chat at the top with Qin Shui’s name.
She seemed to have discovered something astonishing. She lifted the blanket and crawled underneath it, quickly opening their chat history and scrolling wildly, only to find that the two of them hadn’t exchanged many messages. They were mostly pictures, and most were Qin Shui’s—photos of lunchboxes on the table.
Qin Sheng replied to every one, even sending emoji stickers. In all the years Yan Jiabao had known him, even during their short and shallow relationship, Qin Sheng had never sent her so much as a single yellow bean emoji.
Something was up.
Just as she pressed back to the home screen, Qin Sheng lifted the blanket, snatched his phone back, and said with irritation, “Are you out of your mind? Who told you to look through other people’s things?”
“I’m not crazy. You’re the one who’s lovesick.”
Wearing flat shoes, Yan Jiabao chased after him downstairs, questioning him the whole way: “Are you dating someone? Living together? Getting married?”
Qin Sheng countered, “Your own situation is already burning down to your eyebrows. You still have the energy to worry about me?”
Yan Jiabao sneered, “I want to see what fairy stole your soul. Who is she? You never cared about me like this. At one point, I even thought maybe you had… special preferences.”
“……”
They walked downstairs together, and Yan Jiabao hooked his arm, asking, “Tell me, won’t you? I’m kind of jealous.”
Qin Sheng refused to reveal anything and leaned against the wall to smoke. Yan Jiabao protested, “Can you stop smoking in front of a pregnant woman? You’d better quit soon. If your sperm quality is too bad in the future, once your sweetheart gets pregnant, she’ll suffer for it.”
Her crow’s mouth was always effective. Qin Sheng exhaled smoke. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll go back. Stop coming to the shop looking for me. I’m busy during work, and it’s not good for others to see.”
“Then lend me some more money. Mine’s almost gone, and I still have to buy supplements later.”
Qin Sheng didn’t want to argue. Irritated, he took cash from his wallet and handed it to her. Yan Jiabao moved forward wanting to kiss him, and he dodged like avoiding bullets.
She teased him deliberately, “Thank you, Brother Qin. I hope you and your little sweetheart will be together soon and have a baby early. Let me be the godmother then.”
Only then did Qin Sheng smile and turn back to the shop.
The lunch bag Qin Shui sent was light-colored, completely out of place among the dark metal tones of the repair shop, so Qin Sheng noticed it immediately. He walked over and opened it. Seeing the Cinnamoroll lunchbox confirmed it was from Qin Shui.
At that moment, Qin Sheng first felt something was wrong. He thought Qin Shui had found out that he gave his lunch to Yan Jiabao, so she brought him food.
But thinking again, that seemed unlikely. He had scared himself countless times in one day for no reason.
The lunchbox was a thick, insulated type. Inside was a mini portion of fruit-flavored yogurt he had never tasted before.
He set the lunchbox aside carefully and finished his work first. When lunch break came, everyone went to the break room to eat. Qin Sheng took out the lunchbox and yogurt and was immediately met with teasing from all directions.
The masters who once schemed to help him find love all knew now that he had someone he liked. Qin Sheng could not hide his happiness on his face, it was handsome and smug.
Someone asked for details. He didn’t try to hide anything, saying it was the girl who had come with the couple to repair the Mercedes that day. Several who had seen Qin Shui remembered her: quiet, pretty, with delicate features, and she looked gentle and careful. They all praised that she matched Qin Sheng.
He liked hearing people praise Qin Shui. He finished every grain of rice in the lunchbox, saving the yogurt for the afternoon.
He didn’t want engine oil to stain the off-white lunchbox, so he handled it carefully, just like he had been careful not to soil the white roses he gave Qin Shui.
While she showered, Qin Sheng lay flat on the sofa with his eyes closed, imagining the moment his palm would touch Qin Shui’s skin. Her skin was fair and her figure slim but full. He wanted to touch her collarbone, but worried she wouldn’t like the calluses on his hand.
What Yan Jiabao never understood back then, now even Qin Sheng couldn’t understand himself. With Qin Shui, he was not difficult to pursue, not picky, and even felt unable to restrain his feelings for her.
She had a strong attraction to him, in love, in affection, in every sense.
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