STT – Chapter 22
by Little PandaHow Many Six Years Does She Have to Wait?
The Faculty Apartments were newly built and quite comfortable, featuring three bedrooms and a living room. Almost all the school’s single teachers lived there. When going upstairs, Jiang Huaixi didn’t take the elevator. They encountered many teachers coming and going along the way, and Jiang Huaixi politely nodded in greeting to each of them.
Lu Zizheng followed reluctantly behind Jiang Huaixi. She no longer had the energy to delve into what Jiang Huaixi was up to; she only wanted to settle accounts as soon as possible and never see her again.
Jiang Huaixi finally stopped at the door on the left side of the sixth floor. She took out her keys and unlocked the door, then stood sideways by the entrance. Looking at Lu Zizheng, who was still standing on the very last step of the stairs, she commanded in a flat voice, “Come in.”
Lu Zizheng gripped the handrail with one hand and kept her head down, offering no response. Recalling the contemptuous, frivolous tone Jiang Huaixi had used during their very first meeting, she couldn’t help but worry about Jiang Huaixi’s intentions in bringing her inside.
Jiang Huaixi, however, seemed to have seen through her. She turned around and walked into the apartment. “Even if you have a persecution complex, don’t treat me like someone who is so desperate she will take anything. Remember to close the door when you come in.”
Lu Zizheng gripped the handrail so hard she almost bored a hole through it. Gritting her teeth, she stepped up the stairs and entered. Heh, since that was the case, she would see what she actually wanted to do.
Lu Zizheng closed the door. Just as she was about to step inside, she noticed that the apartment was exceptionally clean, the floor completely spotless. She glanced at the shoe cabinet in the entryway and saw there weren’t any spare slippers. For a moment, she hesitated, unsure if she should walk straight in with her shoes on.
Jiang Huaixi emerged from the inner room carrying a tray. Seeing Lu Zizheng hesitating to step forward, she asked in confusion, “Come in. Why are you standing there?”
Lu Zizheng lifted her foot but still asked, “Should I change my shoes?” No matter how impolite Jiang Huaixi was, she couldn’t be as ill-mannered as her.
Jiang Huaixi set the tray down on the coffee table, sat down gracefully, and leaned back against the sofa. She looked at Lu Zizheng with a smile. “You’re quite polite at a time like this. No need to change. There aren’t any spare slippers anyway.”
Lu Zizheng scoffed softly and walked over to stand in front of Jiang Huaixi. From the very beginning, it had been Jiang Huaixi who was rude to her. What was this business of turning the tables on her now?
Jiang Huaixi casually picked up the remote and turned on the television. She flipped through the channels as she said to Lu Zizheng, “Sit down and eat.”
Only then did Lu Zizheng notice that the tray Jiang Huaixi had placed on the coffee table held a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, and a few small side dishes. She shot Jiang Huaixi an incredulous look and couldn’t help but frown. “You brought me here just to eat? If you have something to say, why don’t you just make everything clear once and for all?”
Jiang Huaixi looked up at her, raised an eyebrow, and curved her lips into a half-smile. “Otherwise? What else were you expecting? Why don’t you say it all at once so I can satisfy you?”
Lu Zizheng couldn’t stand her high-and-mighty, sarcastic tone. Clearly, Jiang Huaixi was the one in the wrong from start to finish. What right did she have to speak to her in such a tone? Was the upbringing of the wealthy really so uniquely different?
She turned on her heel to leave. “Sorry, I’m not hungry. Besides, I prefer the cafeteria food. You can keep it for yourself, Miss Jiang.” Lu Zizheng knew she couldn’t afford to play the games of the wealthy, nor did she have any interest in playing along.
But Jiang Huaixi’s voice rang out coldly behind her. “I’m afraid the cafeteria is already out of food by now. Didn’t your mother ever teach you how to look after yourself when you’re sick? Is a sick person supposed to eat so irregularly?”
Lu Zizheng’s hand was already on the doorknob. She turned halfway back to retort, “How my mother raised me is not something you need to worry about, Miss Jiang. Though I’m also quite curious—did your own mother teach you to interact and speak with people this way?”
Jiang Huaixi knit her beautiful brows, countering coldly, “And does your excellent upbringing teach you to treat those who have helped you this way?”
Lu Zizheng couldn’t bear it any longer. She unzipped her backpack, pulled out her wallet, shook out all the money inside, and strode forward to slam the money onto the coffee table in front of Jiang Huaixi. If she could, she would have liked nothing more than to slam the money right onto Jiang Huaixi’s face. “I don’t know how much you paid for my medical bills. If it isn’t enough, just say so. I only hope that from now on we are even, and we never see each other again.”
Jiang Huaixi looked at Lu Zizheng’s beautiful yet cold face. In her eyes, Jiang Huaixi could clearly see the gleam of anger and disgust. Her gaze dimmed, but only for an instant. Leaning back against the sofa with her arms crossed, Jiang Huaixi asked with a light laugh, “Do you think I’m short on cash? Returning the money without even a thank-you—do you think you can settle accounts with me just like that?”
Lu Zizheng drew in a deep breath, gritting her teeth. “Miss Jiang, thank you for what happened that day.”
Jiang Huaixi sat up straight and crossed her long legs, completely at ease. “A thank-you isn’t just something you say. Sincerity must be shown through actions.” She reached out, gestured to the meal on the coffee table, and said, “Let see your sincerity.”
Lu Zizheng bit her lip, staring at Jiang Huaixi. They remained at a standoff for a moment before she finally let out a sullen sigh, resignedly picking up the chopsticks. She only hoped that Jiang Huaixi would keep her word. She really didn’t want to see her ever again.
Lu Zizheng tried to get it over with by hastily shoveling down a few mouthfuls of rice, but Jiang Huaixi kept her eyes fixed on her, clearly unsatisfied. She pushed the soup bowl in front of her, gesturing for her to drink. Left with no choice, Lu Zizheng picked it up and, like a warrior severing her own wrist1, gulped it down in one go. She then stared directly at Jiang Huaixi. “Is my sincerity enough?”
Jiang Huaixi averted her gaze, looking back at the television as she asked, “Are you going home for New Year’s Day2?”
Lu Zizheng felt her change of topic was far too abrupt, so she didn’t answer right away.
Jiang Huaixi continued on her own, “It just so happens I’ve been wanting to go visit your hometown lately. If you take me home with you, provide me with room and board, and act as my tour guide, we’ll consider ourselves even.”
Without even thinking, Lu Zizheng flatly refused, “Absolutely not.”
With a click, Jiang Huaixi turned off the television. Her dark eyes, as deep as an ancient pool, stared at her with a half-smile. “I don’t think you’re the type of person who likes owing favors. Especially not to someone as annoying as me.”
Lu Zizheng laughed in sheer anger. “So you actually know I dislike you.”
As if she hadn’t heard Lu Zizheng’s sarcasm, Jiang Huaixi finalized the matter. “Then it’s settled. Once you’ve arranged the time, let me know when to pick you up, and I’ll drive there with you.”
Lu Zizheng stood up abruptly. Unwilling to spare Jiang Huaixi another glance, she answered with silence, turning on her heel to leave. She opened the door, stepped out, and slammed it shut. After closing the door, she turned back, dying to give it a few hard kicks. But remembering the other residents on the floor, she decided against it.
As she went downstairs, her mind was so consumed with anger and desperate thoughts of how to shake Jiang Huaixi off that she failed to notice the steps beneath her. She accidentally twisted her ankle, her body tilting as she nearly tumbled all the way down.
Lu Zizheng felt utterly exhausted. Holding the handrail as she stood up, she couldn’t help but slap the railing in frustration, only to end up hurting her own hand instead. How could someone with such a noble, classic, cold beauty’s face act so shamelessly and annoyingly like a rogue? Recalling that face—which had so stunned her at first sight—Lu Zizheng now only felt it was incredibly punchable.
Of course, in the end, Lu Zizheng had compromised and brought Jiang Huaixi home, hoping only that they could truly settle their accounts and send this self-invited plague god3 on her way. She knew there was no other choice—because she was no match for Jiang Huaixi.
The past was too painful to recall, yet looking back on it now, Lu Zizheng found her past interactions with Jiang Huaixi both infuriating and amusing. Back then, Jiang Huaixi had behaved like a completely chuuni teenager4.
Mother Lu knew nothing of this history between Lu Zizheng and Jiang Huaixi. She only knew that, that year, Lu Zizheng had suddenly brought home a girl who was unbelievably beautiful and polite, and whose eyes, when looking at Lu Zizheng, held a concern and affection that could not be hidden.
Mother Lu decided they had made enough dumplings and stopped, clearing away the leftover wrappers and filling. “Zhengzheng, why don’t you ask Huaixi when she’ll be free to visit over the next couple of days? I’ll make dumplings for her. I remember how much she loved eating them back then. Later, things just didn’t work out, and I never got to make them for her again.”
Lu Zizheng teased her mother, “Mom, don’t go to all that trouble. If she wants dumplings, she can get them anytime—they’re all over the streets. Does she really have to eagerly come all the way here just to have a meal?”
Mother Lu shot her a reproachful look. “How could that possibly be the same?”
Lu Zizheng rubbed her nose, smiling in silence.
After finishing dinner with her mother, it was still early. Lu Zizheng sat on the sofa watching the New Year’s Eve concert broadcast with her, but her thoughts gradually drifted toward Jiang Huaixi.
Thinking back, when Jiang Huaixi said she loved her mother’s homemade dumplings back then, she hadn’t seemed to be lying. Later, when they went out to eat together, they had ordered dumplings a few times, but Jiang Huaixi would always sigh, saying she missed the ones she had eaten at Lu Zizheng’s home the most. Each time, she would only eat a few before putting down her chopsticks, until eventually, she stopped ordering dumplings when dining out altogether.
Lu Zizheng’s heart stirred slightly. She glanced at the time displayed in the bottom right corner of the television screen—it was just past eight, still quite early compared to when Jiang Huaixi had said she would pick her up. Standing up, she said to her mother, “Mom, I suddenly want to learn how to wrap dumplings. Let me have the leftover wrappers and filling in the kitchen.”
Mother Lu looked at her in surprise. “Did the sun rise from the west today?”
Lu Zizheng smiled but said nothing, heading straight into the kitchen.
Lu Zizheng tried to mimic her mother’s earlier movements. Aside from the first few—which either split open from too much filling or ended up as empty skin from too little—the subsequent ones actually looked the part, even if they were a bit ugly.
Lu Zizheng worked with great enthusiasm, a bright smile on her face. Mother Lu stood at the kitchen doorway, watching her for who knows how long, a gentle smile gracing her own features. Only when she saw that Lu Zizheng had finished wrapping the very last of the filling did she speak up. “Are you going out in a little while?”
Startled by her mother’s voice, Lu Zizheng jumped. “Mom, you didn’t make a sound when you walked in. Ah, I forgot to tell you, I’m heading out in a bit.”
Mother Lu walked over to her side and helped her tidy up the table. “You were just too lost in your own thoughts. You’re going out with Huaixi, aren’t you?”
Lu Zizheng checked her watch. In the blink of an eye, it was already nine-thirty—almost time. She looked at the stove and, finding the task a bit daunting, turned to her mother for help. “Mom, look at these dumplings I wrapped. If we just leave them, they won’t taste good later and will go to waste. Since I’m going out anyway, why don’t we cook them so I can bring some to Huaixi? That way, you won’t have to keep worrying about her.”
Seeing Lu Zizheng put on such a serious, deadpan expression, Mother Lu found it amusing but chose not to expose her. “Mhm, we shouldn’t let them go to waste. Go ahead and boil them, then.”
Lu Zizheng shook her head. “Mom, you know I don’t know how to do it. Besides, she’s incredibly picky. If I cook them and they don’t taste right, she definitely won’t eat them. I still need you to work your magic, Mom. I’ll go look for a thermal container.”
Mother Lu watched Lu Zizheng crouch down to rummage through the cabinets for a thermal container, shaking her head with a helpless smile. If you were the one who cooked them, Huaixi would probably be too happy to care. She poured water into the pot and sighed softly. You silly child, when will you finally put my mind at ease? When will you find the courage to let go of the past and face your own heart? And what of Huaixi? How many such six years does she have left to wait for you?
Footnotes
- Literally 'a brave warrior cuts off their own wrist,' this classical Chinese idiom means to make a painful but necessary sacrifice in a desperate situation to prevent further harm.
- Yuandan, or Solar New Year's Day on January 1st, is a public holiday in China, distinct from the traditional Lunar New Year.
- The Plague God in Chinese folklore, used metaphorically to describe a troublesome, unwanted person who brings misfortune.
- Derived from the Japanese 'chuunibyou' (eighth-grader syndrome), this term is used colloquially in Chinese web culture to describe someone who behaves with embarrassing, adolescent, or dramatic delusions of grandeur.
Sadly, Jiang Huaixi tongue is super unbearable
Sadly, Jiang Huaixi tongue is super unbearable