Her whole life was spent crafting silver, making tools and jewelry for people of their ethnic group, and taking in disciples from all over, just not wanting this craft to be cut off with herself, not having face to meet her husband in the afterlife.
So even though Chu Shuqin agreed to take in Qiao Ling, the care she gave her was far from enough.
From as early as she could remember, Qiao Ling followed her grandmother learning how to hammer silver. She liked this, but her grandmother’s gaze always carried regret and resentment when looking at her.
She did not have the same talent as her mother, only able to learn stiffly by rote, and she wasn’t careful enough either, lacking the aura and spark to carry forward this craft.
Chu Shuqin told her early on not to keep thinking about this, to honestly study hard and take exams.
Sometimes Chu Shuqin would take her disciples to buyers to measure in person, shut herself away to create silver, not returning home for a long time. Even when she came back, it was just to leave some money and say a few words of greeting before leaving again.
So, when she was little, Qiao Ling almost grew up quietly guarding her grandmother’s silverwork room.
Long periods lacking communication and care made Qiao Ling develop an introverted and silent personality. Whatever happened, she didn’t dare speak, even more didn’t dare make requests.
The villagers joked and called her a little mute. Later, when she got to school, there were really people who thought she was mute.
Some boys would deliberately tease her, pull her hair, throw her books, just to see her get angry and then open her mouth red-faced to curse them, then laugh and run away saying: “Turns out you can talk! Little mute! Little mute is crying!”
But Qiao Ling never told the teachers about this, even more so never told her grandmother.
She would always wipe away her tears by herself, then pick up her things, and quietly go home.
They say a girl’s youthful years are like blossoming flowers, the age of fourteen is when it becomes visible.
Once she turned fourteen, Qiao Ling’s facial features developed fully. Her gentle and water-like beautiful appearance gradually began to be noticed by people. Her skin was tender and white, as if pinching it would make water come out.
One day, she felt that her new deskmate, this boy, was a little strange.
This boy didn’t usually show anything unusual, it’s just that during class or lunchtime nap, he would swing his leg, and then accidentally brush against her leg.
Or when writing papers, he would use his elbow to poke her arm, sometimes even touching the soft flesh on the side under her arm.
After it happened many times, Qiao Ling started to lean away. She leaned one step away, he would move one step closer.
No matter how far the distance between deskmates was, it couldn’t get too far. One time, Qiao Ling really couldn’t stand it anymore and ran to the teacher’s office, but as soon as she saw the teacher’s face, she couldn’t get a single word out for a long time.
She didn’t know how to communicate with elders, didn’t know how to express herself.
No one had ever taught her.
In the end, all she did was ask when the next seating change would be, then was vaguely sent back by the teacher.
Little girls don’t have gender awareness yet, but she could feel a faint fear. During that period, her grandmother happened to be away. Every night, Qiao Ling would curl up under the blanket, remembering the feeling of her deskmate using his body to brush against her.
Once she thought about it, her whole body would uncontrollably feel numb, goosebumps standing up all over.
Later, when that boy unscrupulously stretched out his hand and touched her thigh—
At that moment, Qiao Ling was so frightened that she stood at the back of the classroom for an entire day, standing until her legs were stiff, and still did not go back to her seat.
That night, Qiao Ling dialed the number for the place where her grandmother was staying. The one who answered was a disciple she had at the time. After passing on the message for her, the reply was just one sentence—telling her to be obedient, and that whatever it was, wait until her grandmother finished the work at that house and came back home to talk about it.
Qiao Ling’s sense of security collapsed completely, and the next day she didn’t even dare go to school.
She lied and said she was sick and skipped class, hiding at home for one day, two days… until the fifth day, when Qiao Ling had no choice but to go to school. The teacher saw her complexion looking very bad, felt something was off, so they called her mother far away in Binyang.
Right after telling Yang Manyun, thousands of kilometers away, about Qiao Ling’s abnormal behavior, after hanging up the phone, students came running in from outside in panic yelling for her to quickly go take a look.
The homeroom teacher jogged over to the class—
What she saw was Qiao Ling in a rage, holding a book and smashing it madly onto her deskmate’s face like she’d gone crazy.
Because she had been hammering silver with her grandmother since young, her strength was greater than that of boys. Her deskmate was pinned down on the ground by her beating, his nose almost smashed crooked by the book spine, his whole face covered in blood, begging for mercy nonstop.
Qiao Ling didn’t say a single word, just didn’t stop her hand.
Even when she was forcibly pulled away by the teacher, her fingers were still trembling, her gaze fierce and stubborn as she pointed at that boy.
Yang Manyun took the earliest flight and rushed back to her hometown, seeing her daughter curled up in the room ignoring everyone, already showing signs of mild autism. Regret and remorse surged madly in her heart, crying uncontrollably in her husband’s arms.
She should have brought her daughter away long ago, instead of leaving her to a mother who only had that damned silverwork in her heart.
Because of this matter, until her mother passed away, Yang Manyun always held a grudge against her, resenting her for placing Lingling’s importance below silver crafting.
Qiao Ling was brought back to Binyang. Because of the child’s psychological issues, Qiao Zhiwen decided to stop traveling around for business, stop earning that meaningless money, took the civil service exam in middle age, found a local job to live the most stable life, to accompany the child as she grew up.
And Yang Manyun also put down her work and stayed at home, accompanying the child bit by bit out of the shadows, making up for the love she had lacked before.
Being sensible was Qiao Ling’s strength and also her flaw. She didn’t want her parents to be stuck in guilt all the time, so she slowly became cheerful again, as if that matter had never happened.
But in reality, she silently hid that experience of loneliness and fear inside her body.
She knew very clearly, what truly hurt her wasn’t just that male classmate who touched her inappropriately, it was her growth environment lacking companionship and affirmation.
But when her first love, Gao Ziyao, got close to her, that’s when Qiao Ling realized—she had never really forgotten about that matter.
Psychological shadows and stress reactions do not manifest all the time. They let you live your daily life no different from ordinary people. But the moment you are in a similar situation, they immediately show their ugly claws, disregarding your dignity, flaring up, even hard to control.
After Qiao Jing finished telling what he knew, he sighed, “You thought Qiao Ling’s family was always perfectly happy, didn’t you? It’s just my uncle and aunt feeling guilty, that’s all.”
“They would rather support Qiao Ling for her whole life than allow her to suffer the slightest grievance again.”
He looked at Chen Kuang, who had remained silent the entire time while listening to all of this, “If you can’t give her the best, can’t make every single second of her future life happy, then don’t get involved with her.”
“Otherwise, none of us in the family will accept you.”
“There are so many good girls out there. You’re not lacking in anything, you don’t need my family’s Qiao Ling.”
……………
Naturally, Qiao Ling didn’t wait for Chen Kuang to come back from outside. After breakfast, when it was time, she went to the shop to open for business.
When it reached noon, she received a WeChat message from Chen Kuang saying he was fine. Only then did she feel at ease.
Even though her cousin was reckless, he still had basic rationality and wouldn’t really do anything too extreme to Chen Kuang.
Today’s customer flow was average. By 9:30 in the evening, she closed the shop on time, planning to go home and continue refining her original silver jewelry designs on her digital tablet.
After coming out of the office building, Qiao Ling was just about to go ride her little electric scooter when she saw Chen Kuang waiting for her not far away.
From a distance, she already saw the bruise on Chen Kuang’s face and ran over in fright, “You—Qiao Jing really hit you!?”
Qiao Ling furrowed her brows angrily, determined to go settle the score: “How can he be like this! It’s already a law-based society, yet he still resorts to physical violence.”
Chen Kuang grabbed her, chuckling lightly: “Count it as his test for me. Don’t get worked up, it already hurts when I talk now.”
The tightly knitted brows on Qiao Ling’s face revealed her heartache. She hooked her finger, signaling: “Bend down, let me take a look.”
Chen Kuang bent down, both hands resting on his knees, bringing his face over for her to examine carefully.
She reached out and touched the bruised area on his face, her voice soft and gentle: “Does it hurt? Did you go to the hospital?”
“Went. Got some medicine, just need to apply it for a couple of days and it’ll be fine.” Chen Kuang lifted the medicine bag as proof, “Because my face got injured, Xie Rouyin didn’t let me go to the bar and embarrass myself in public. Told me to make up the shifts once I’ve healed.”
“Getting you injured so you can’t go work at the bar—what good does that do for Qiao Jing!” Qiao Ling puffed up with anger, feeling even more indignant than the person involved, “He really doesn’t have a single brain cell!”
“If he was going to hit, he should’ve hit your body instead!”
Chen Kuang’s brow twitched: ?
As expected, you Qiao family members are all the same.
“Let’s go home.” He was helpless, holding her hand and walking forward.
“Wait a sec, my electric scooter…”
“Come ride it tomorrow, I drove today. The car’s parked by the roadside.”
The two of them walked side by side on the sidewalk, in the middle of a commercial district. Around them were quite a few residents out enjoying the National Day holiday, the atmosphere lively.
After knowing each other for so long, Qiao Ling already understood Chen Kuang fairly well. She could discern subtle differences in his seemingly calm demeanor.
Like right now, his aura was very low, obviously suppressing something.
She tried asking: “After Qiao Jing hit you, what did you two do?”
Chen Kuang answered honestly: “Had breakfast.”
Qiao Ling pouted: “Your relationship really is subtle…”
Although there was no concrete evidence, her sixth sense told her, Chen Kuang not being in a good mood probably had something to do with her.
Qiao Ling lowered her gaze, feeling uneasy in her heart, “What did you talk about? Was it related to me?”
“Qiao Jing didn’t say anything messy, did he?”
“What counts as messy?” Chen Kuang noticed her little habit of picking at her clothes, saw through her restlessness, and didn’t intend to cover it up anymore: “Talking about when you were a kid at your grandmother’s place, does that count?”
Qiao Ling’s heart trembled, her gaze flustered as she looked at him.
The two of them tacitly stopped in place.
She shrank back a step, as if someone had ripped open an unspeakable scar, lowered her head, staring at the tips of her shoes, stammering: “Uh, that… actually…”
What to say, what to explain, hurry up and say it already, why is my mouth so clumsy…
At that moment, a warm weight landed on the top of her head.
Qiao Ling paused, her flustered mood interrupted.
Chen Kuang reached out his hand and placed it on the top of her head, fingertips passing through the fine strands of hair, gently stroking like encouraging a small animal.
His voice was very steady, clear and cool but not cold, and without any excess pity.
With a tone so heartaching it brought a laugh.
“Classmate Xiao Qiao, when you’re wronged, you have to say it out loud.”
Her eye sockets went numb, her brain buzzing hot.
That one sentence meant he already knew about those things.
“Let’s go, the car’s been parked on the roadside too long, maybe it’ll get a ticket.”
Chen Kuang, without any hesitation, held her hand firmly, gripping it solidly, and continued walking forward.
Qiao Ling, dazed, was pulled along, tears swirling in her eyes. For a moment she didn’t know whether to hold them back or just cry them out.
The two of them walked silently for a long stretch, the surroundings growing more and more lively, store and shopping mall promotional music sounding everywhere, mixed with the bustling sounds of people.
They had already walked into a place full of boiling life.
Who knows how long had passed. While looking down at the ground as she walked, Qiao Ling heard his voice.
“Qiao Ling, should we be together?”
She was shocked, only then raising her face, discovering that his gaze had already been waiting for a long time.
This sentence, though she had fantasized about it for a long time, wasn’t some scene she thought could never happen, so when she heard it, she wasn’t that shocked.
But at this moment, she still drowned in Chen Kuang’s eyes.
Completely different from the grand and dramatic confession scenes in novels and comics, he was very calm, very ordinary, opening his mouth without the slightest bit of frivolity.
It was like saying a promise that had long been thought through, no need to rehearse it repeatedly.
Making one feel incredibly steady and secure.
After a while, Qiao Ling moved her left hand that was being held by him, asking as they walked: “Then do you like me?”
Chen Kuang had gotten a haircut once, his gaze no longer blocked by the hair in front of his forehead. Although it made his facial features look even sharper and more defined, it also amplified the gentleness in his eyes.
He recalled the sentence he said to Qiao Jing that morning.
【You’re wrong, I might…】
【Be unable to do without her anymore.】
Chen Kuang looked at her, without hesitation: “I like you very much.”
Her heart was already pounding messily up to her throat. Qiao Ling knew her palm had broken out in a thick layer of sweat, a little embarrassed, but she couldn’t care about that anymore.
Seriously, even at this final step, she had to lose face.
A few seconds later.
Her shoulders shook, and she finally couldn’t hold back and laughed, deer-like eyes bending into crescents, spring water full of feeling.
“Mm…”
“Alright, then let’s be together.”