The middle of the ‘concave’ was the big living room, the side of Song Qing was the small living room.
The glass door of the small living room wasn’t pulled shut, showing that the other party wasn’t doing anything private. Nan Zhi went in directly. After discovering the person wasn’t there, she went from the small living room’s balcony, to the big living room’s balcony, and then to the laundry room’s balcony.
The three balconies were connected; the connecting parts were only separated by glass doors. When she got from the laundry room to the connected kitchen, she still didn’t find the person.
Nan Zhi was almost suspecting whether he, like that stray little cat she picked up before, had drilled into some hidden nook. Then she turned her head and saw the bathroom door being pushed open by someone, the curtain also lifted to the side, a puff of hot steam rushing out.
Song Qing was wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt, with both pant legs drooping down. He came out from the bathroom, sat back down into the wheelchair, and when he looked up and met her eyes, only then did he notice her. He froze for a second.
Nan Zhi turned her head away. “Came down to look for something.”
Because the bathroom had a black glass door, and it would reflect people, if one accidentally passed by at night, they could be scared to death. So she specially had a curtain made, from top to bottom.
It was already black glass, the light transmission wasn’t good, and with the added curtain there was even less light. So she didn’t notice there was someone inside.
Usually it was her inside, and she didn’t think that from the outside, there wouldn’t be any light showing at all.
Nan Zhi thought as she pretended to look for something. She didn’t say what she was looking for, because she hadn’t thought it through either. Fortunately, the other party didn’t ask. She pressed her lips together. Her movements looked like a newlywed little wife seeing her just-married husband, somewhat restrained.
The ‘newlywed husband’ saw the difference, and considerately turned his direction, went to the kitchen, not giving his ‘newlywed little wife’ any added burden.
Nan Zhi stood in front of the kitchen cabinet, not knowing what to do. She could only pick up a glass cup, planning to pour a bit of water to drink.
The glass cup had a mirror surface. Nan Zhi accidentally saw the scene behind her from it.
The ‘little wife’ slowly moved to the small living room’s doorway, but didn’t go in, just quietly sat in the wheelchair wiping his hair.
The door in front of him was also glass, also had a reflection. Nan Zhi somewhat suspected whether the other party was also observing her through the reflection in the glass door—otherwise, why didn’t he go in?
Looks like the ‘little wife’ also cared about her.
Nan Zhi shamelessly thought.
She was here, the ‘little wife’ would definitely feel not at ease. Nan Zhi picked up the kettle, planning to drink a couple of sips to pretend and then leave. As a result, she discovered there was no water in the kettle.
The fridge was also empty, no drinks or anything. After sighing heavily, she went upstairs with a clack-clack.
What she wanted to see she had already seen. The ‘little wife’ was fine. Because she was around, he was a bit restrained, so it was better to go less for now, let him adapt a bit first.
—
Downstairs in front of the glass door, Song Qing was still wiping his hair. Worried about loose strands, he was facing a trash can while wiping. While wiping, he also looked toward the reflection on the glass door, so he saw the entire process of the other party in the kitchen trying to drink water but not getting to.
After wiping, Song Qing also cleaned up all the fallen strands on the floor. After thinking for a bit, he still didn’t go into the living room, and instead changed direction to go to the kitchen.
About one minute later, he returned to the small living room. He had already brushed his teeth, washed his face, and even wiped down his body. He was going to sleep.
When the wheelchair stopped at the glass partition door, Song Qing hesitated a moment and didn’t lock it.
Nan Zhi said it could be locked, but this place seemed to be where she did her proper tasks. There was a computer and books, the balcony had flowers and plants, and the pot of flowers she brought back was also on the rack.
The plants lined up were all well taken care of and delicate. The computer also had signs of being used.
She should come here often. If it were locked, she wouldn’t be able to get in and would probably be angry, right?
Song Qing couldn’t help but recall back then, when his room had been filled with miscellaneous items by his aunt. Every time she couldn’t get in, she would scold him as an ungrateful bastard. There was no one else in the house, and yet he locked the door—guarding against who? If he was even a few seconds late to open the door, she would kick it.
Sometimes when he wasn’t home, she’d directly take an axe and smash his lock open to go in and take things.
At first, he would still go to the junk shop to get a slightly better one. After doing it many times, he just tied it with a rope himself, making a butterfly knot that was easy to untie. If she could untie it, she would. If she couldn’t, she’d cut it off with scissors. Then he’d just find another rope and tie it again.
Compared to locks, rope was much more convenient.
He couldn’t not close the door—there were many cats and dogs in the countryside guarding the place. Once the door was opened, they would come in looking for food and steal away what little stored food he had.
In the countryside, the main gate was basically never closed. Those cats and dogs came and went freely into the yard. His room was in a small corner opposite the main courtyard and was frequently visited.
When cats and dogs took the food, his uncle and aunt also wouldn’t stop them. They would even scold him, saying he deserved it for hiding food behind their backs.
In short, after living at his uncle and aunt’s house for a long time, he was frequently barged in on without warning or care. Often, it was when he wasn’t wearing clothes—completely bare—only able to hurriedly grab something to cover the important parts.
He would even be ridiculed with things like, “Skinny arms, skinny legs, not even two liang of meat on that butt, who’d want to look at that,” and other humiliating words. After enough times, he developed the habit of wearing clothes to sleep. Even here, he was already prepared to sleep with clothes on.
So whether Nan Zhi passed by or not, whether the door was locked or not, he didn’t care. Afraid she would feel uncomfortable if she thought locking it meant something, he even left a gap in the glass door—didn’t fully close it. But the curtain was pulled.
Only the white gauze layer was pulled, the blackout layer wasn’t touched. It was still the same reason—as when he was home, if his aunt came looking for him and saw he wasn’t there, she would get angry and call him. Usually, by that time, she was already fired up emotionally and would start cursing the moment she spoke.
His window before had newspaper stuck on it, which he later took off himself. His aunt could see him whenever she passed by, and after that, conflicts greatly decreased.
Song Qing pushed his wheelchair over to the big sofa bed covered in many throw pillows and stuffed toys. Looking at the soft and fluffy bedding, the type that would bounce up when pressed, he sat there for a long time without getting on.
He couldn’t help but think of the small nook he had before.
Near the pigsty—no matter how clean it was swept—there would still be unpleasant odors. In summer, he couldn’t even open the window. Thankfully, there was a small window behind the house, facing the wild fields. In winter it was a desolate snowy scene; in spring and summer, green grass would climb up. If the front window wasn’t opened and only the back was, there would be a fresh scent that scattered all around.
Later, his uncle and aunt wanted to cultivate the land out back, so they opened another door at the rear of his room. His enjoyment also increased a bit. After meals, or when the sun was just right, he would carry a table back there to sit for a while. That was one of his few forms of entertainment.
Here and that small room were worlds apart. Everything here had a pleasant scent. The floor didn’t seep up coldness or dampness. The ceiling didn’t occasionally drop chunks of dirt. All sides were sealed with windows, and the wind couldn’t blow in. There were no miscellaneous items on the bed either—he could only sleep on a third of it before.
Back at his uncle and aunt’s place, his bed was only 1.6 meters long. He could at most lie flat, just enough to fit his body. Rolling over, he’d worry about falling off.
But he felt that just having a place to stay was already good enough, so he never thought there was anything wrong. On the contrary, this kind of overly good condition made him feel somewhat at a loss.
He sat beside the sofa bed for a long time, then checked his body. He was wearing long sleeves and long pants, wrapped up tightly—he wouldn’t dirty the bed.
He even found a clean piece of clothing and laid it over the pillow. After roughly finishing preparations, he then carefully climbed onto the bed.
This movement was very difficult for him now. His body hadn’t fully recovered, and he had gone through several rounds of intense activity, and was also scrubbed hard by himself. The wounds on his arms, neck, shoulders, and back were all pulled at. Now they hurt terribly.
Every time he moved, he had to pause for a long while. After about five or six minutes, he finally collapsed onto that indeed soft and comfortable bed.
The hand with which Song Qing gripped the quilt slightly relaxed, and his whole body let out a long breath.
—
In the attic on the east side of the second floor, Nan Zhi noticed that downstairs was silent again. No lights on, no sounds—it stayed that way for a long, long time, long enough that she started to feel uneasy.
She still remembered that little milk cat. She had just gone out to get a delivery, and when she returned, she saw its head stuck in the goat milk, nearly lost its life.
Song Qing was definitely much more capable than that little milk cat. But before he was discharged, his body still had many injuries. She couldn’t help but worry whether he had met with an accident.
If something really happened, it would be quick—just a moment’s time.
Nan Zhi wasn’t sleeping anyway. Since she was idle, she might as well go check what he was doing.
Actually, even if she didn’t go check on him, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from going to take a look at the newly laid carpet.
She had this habit—whenever something new she bought fit perfectly and she liked it very much, she would keep purposely walking past it, even take a detour just to go that way, or deliberately go to look at it. She could go back and forth several times. The more she looked, the more satisfied she felt, the better her mood got—that kind of thing.
Even just to look at the carpet, she had to go.
Nan Zhi thought while going downstairs. She didn’t know why, but inexplicably had a kind of feeling that he was also like a new, exquisite ornament she had just bought. She was very satisfied with this exquisite ornament, unable to restrain her curiosity and desire to explore, couldn’t help but want to take a look.
Nan Zhi quickly reached downstairs. Worried that he was sleeping, she deliberately lightened her footsteps, like a thief going to steal something from him, tiptoeing past that small living room.
The door wasn’t locked, nor was the light on. Only a layer of gauze curtain was drawn. Because there were many appliances inside, the switches of the appliances would emit small lights, so it wasn’t completely dark—rather hazy and dim.
Nan Zhi walked more slowly, pretending to glance casually toward that side. Because the door had a crack open, it was easy for her to see the small bulge on the bed—by its shape, it looked like a person.
He was sleeping?
Sleeping so early?
This kind of regular routine made Nan Zhi freeze for a moment.
Although she was a nurse, and most clearly understood the harms of staying up late, she still couldn’t manage to sleep early and get up early. All the young people around her were like this. His simple and unadorned habit, on the contrary, seemed a bit unusual.
Nan Zhi turned direction, same as the first time, entered the kitchen. Also just like the first time, pretended to look for something, planning to stay a little longer to observe the opposite side. She only flipped through the tabletop once, when she accidentally discovered that the kettle in the corner was plugged in and had boiled water.
It was a temperature-keeping kettle, probably operated a while ago. Now the temperature had already dropped to 46°C.
Nan Zhi paused—her first reaction was: he didn’t see the newly bought water dispenser in the living room, and used this to drink water?
She walked to the kitchen doorway and looked. The position of the water dispenser was right where he would open and close the door. Just now he had also wiped his hair there. It was so obvious—it was impossible not to have seen it.
No matter what the reason, Nan Zhi casually poured herself a cup, carried the cup of water to the door and leaned on the wall to drink.
While drinking, she looked toward the crack in the glass door.
A sound suddenly came from inside.
“Water,” Song Qing had not been sleeping, so the moment the footsteps started, he had already noticed. He listened the whole time, noted she had entered the kitchen, then recalled and said: “I boiled it.”
Nan Zhi paused slightly.
So the water… was boiled for her?
Was it because she had just pretended to pour water to cover up her sudden appearance downstairs and saying she was looking for something—an abrupt behavior—and ended up discovering that there was neither water nor drinks, sighed, and he thought she didn’t get to drink and felt a bit disappointed, so he helped her boil it?
She blinked her eyes, feeling a trace of warmth that hadn’t appeared for a long time—long-lost and rare.
She didn’t treat it lightly either. She decisively praised this ‘little wife’ who noticed her and thoughtfully helped boil water, “I’m already drinking it. Sure enough, fully boiled water really is better—sweeter than water from the dispenser. Thank you, really helped a lot.”
She paused a bit and patched up with: “Just now I was thinking about something, forgot to boil water. If not for you, I could only drink water from the dispenser. That kind of water’s half-boiled at best—drinking it gives me diarrhea.”
This wasn’t a lie. She indeed couldn’t drink water from the dispenser. Didn’t know why, but it caused serious diarrhea. But if the dispenser water was boiled, it wouldn’t happen.
This was also the reason she had both a water dispenser and a kettle.
In the small living room, only after a while did a reply come, “You’re welcome.”
Song Qing quietly noted this.
She seemed to have a weak stomach. Normally, drinking dispenser water wouldn’t be a problem.
Nan Zhi, having received a response and finished the water, clack-clacked her way upstairs again. Knowing the person downstairs wasn’t asleep, her footsteps became a lot heavier. After returning to the bedroom, she lay down wanting to sleep. After enduring more than half an hour without sleepiness, she suddenly sat up again, with the thought of going to see what Song Qing was doing.
Probably because of that action just now—boiling water for her—that made her pay more attention to Song Qing. That night, she went downstairs a total of five times.
—
Downstairs, in the small living room, Song Qing was lying on the bed, listening to the faint sound of footsteps coming from above once again.
Just arrived at a strange environment, perhaps because of nervousness, he had been tensed up the whole time, couldn’t fall asleep—especially since he noticed her coming downstairs again and again to get things.
If the first and second time could be considered coincidence, then the third, fourth, and fifth times were no longer coincidental.
She was clearly coming down to look at him.
Song Qing heard the footsteps already reach the stairway entrance, silently closed his eyes, and pulled the quilt tighter around himself.