STT – Chapter 7
by Little PandaHuaixi, Don’t Be Too Good to Me
Lu Zizheng broke into a half-run as she headed toward the hotel entrance. The moment she stepped outside, she spotted Jiang Huaixi.
Jiang Huaixi was wearing a white knit beanie and had a long black wool coat draped over her shoulders. Leaning against the side of the car, she rubbed her hands together lightly in front of her chest. Her perpetually pale face had actually caught a bit of color from the cold.
When she saw Lu Zizheng coming down toward her, Jiang Huaixi let her hands fall to her sides. She watched with a faint smile as Lu Zizheng closed the distance between them step by step, finally coming to a halt right in front of her.
Smiling at Lu Zizheng with a touch of smugness, she asked, “Are you surprised?”
Lu Zizheng tilted her head up slightly to look at her, answering with her own question, “What are you doing here?”
Jiang Huaixi opened the passenger door, ushered her inside, and shut it. As she started the engine and pulled away, she said, “Get in. I’m taking you somewhere. And don’t go getting overly emotionalโI only came here to talk business. It just happened to be on the way, so I’m stopping by to help you celebrate your birthdayโฆ”
Lu Zizheng let out a soft huff to show she understood, then asked, “Have you eaten yet?”
Jiang Huaixi arched an eyebrow. “If I haven’t, would you be so moved that you’d cook for me yourself? I don’t think you’re quite that generous.”
Lu Zizheng shot Jiang Huaixi a cool look. If Jiang Huaixi hadn’t said that, she really would have considered taking her to grab a bite. But now, she merely let out a cold snort. “I am indeed moved. I didn’t realize you knew me so well.”
Jiang Huaixi glanced at her, a hint of amusement in her voice. “Though, I came in such a hurry that I actually haven’t eaten yet.”
Frowning, Lu Zizheng studied Jiang Huaixi with a mix of doubt and suspicion, trying to read her expression. Seeing that Jiang Huaixi didn’t appear to be lying, she bit her lip. “Then turn around. We’ll eat first. I know a DIY kitchen1 right next to my hotel.”
The corners of Jiang Huaixi’s mouth turned up. “It seems I still don’t know you well enough. You aren’t so bad after all.” She paused to glance at Lu Zizheng. Catching the faint smile on the other woman’s lips, she blinked and added, “You’re actually worse than I imagined. I traveled thousands of miles to see you, and you actually want to personally cook for me? Are you trying to ensure I never make it back alive?”
Just as she finished speaking, Lu Zizheng reached into her bag, tore off a sticky note, and with a sharp smack, slapped it squarely over Jiang Huaixi’s newly closed lips, forcing her to shut up.
Jiang Huaixi fell silent. Stunned by the sudden gesture, she sat frozen for a moment, her beautiful eyes wide with surprise. Then, knitting her brows, she narrowed her eyes and turned to glare at Lu Zizheng.
Looking at Jiang Huaixi’s angry face with the sticky note stuck on it, Lu Zizheng found the sight inexplicably comicalโit was both silly and adorable. She couldn’t help but curve her eyes and break into a laugh. Reaching out, she nimbly peeled the note off for Jiang Huaixi and stuck it onto the car window. She stared at it, pursing her lips, unable to stop laughing.
Jiang Huaixi wiped her lips. Seeing how genuinely delighted Lu Zizheng looked, all of her annoyance vanished in an instant. She only said in a cold voice, “Only because the birthday girl’s word is law today, I’ll be the bigger person and let this slide. Don’t do it again.”
Lu Zizheng pulled out a pen, drew a cute, angry face on the sticky note, peeled it off the window, and slapped it right onto the center of Jiang Huaixi’s steering wheel as her response.
Jiang Huaixi sighed.
They drove for a full half hour before Jiang Huaixi finally pulled over and asked Lu Zizheng to follow her out of the car.
By the light of the streetlamps, Lu Zizheng looked around. To her surprise, Jiang Huaixi had parked the car on Huanhai Roadโthe very place Lian Xuan had brought her to.
Standing beside her, Jiang Huaixi pointed down toward the beach, where a single point of light was glittering in the distance. “Do you see that glowing speck down there? That’s where your birthday present is. Go down there and walk along the beach. Pick up all the glowing shells on the sand and open them. Once you reach that light at the end, you’ll have pieced together your complete birthday gift.”
Before Lu Zizheng could even react, Jiang Huaixi got back into the car, rolled down the window, and said, “I’ll wait for you there. Hurry up, it’s so cold, don’t make me wait too longโฆ” With that, she drove off.
Braving the cold wind, Lu Zizheng could only grumble, “What is she up to, acting so mysterious?” while walking toward the beach with anticipation in her heart.
Sure enough, she hadn’t walked far before she spotted the first glowing shell on the beach. Bending down, she picked it up, gently opened it, and a slip of paper fell out.
Under the streetlamps, she could clearly see written on the paper: “Lu Zizheng is clearly dirt poor, yet she’s incredibly proud. Who knows where she gets the capital to look down her nose at everyone like that.”
At that moment, Lu Zizheng’s heart trembled. She put the paper back into the shell, closed it, hesitated for a moment, and continued walking forward.
Then, she picked up the second shell and saw that the slip of paper read: “Lu Zizheng must be terrible at dealing with people. Otherwise, why would she always keep to herself, with no one willing to pay her any mind?”
Biting her lip, she closed the shell and kept walking.
Inside the third shell, the slip of paper read: “I saw Lu Zizheng getting out of a luxury car last time. The driver seemed to be an old man. Now when I see her, I just find her hypocritical and filthy.”
Lu Zizheng stopped in her tracks. She tilted her head up and took a deep breath of the cold wind, only then finding the courage to continue walking forward.
The fourth shell’s paper read: “Could Zheng Han’s grades possibly be worse than hers? On what basis does she get this spot for the national scholarship? Hehe, who doesn’t know that before the list was announced, she went into the counselor’s office2 alone and even purposely shut the door, staying inside for over half an hour?”
Lu Zizheng felt that the wind here was so strong, blowing until her face ached and her eyes stungโฆ
In the end, she still picked up the fifth shell. Written on it was: “Lu Zizheng, hahaha, isn’t her greatest asset just that face of hers? I don’t know if all the guys are blind.”
Lu Zizheng’s face was already as pale as paper. By the time she saw the sixth note, she had almost lost all courage to keep walking forward.
The sixth paper read: “Come with me. Name your priceโI can afford whatever you want. Your reputation has long preceded you, so why act all reserved with me now?”
At that moment, tears blurred Lu Zizheng’s eyes. Biting her lip, she looked at Jiang Huaixi waiting at the end, only wanting to turn around and leave. She was so unwilling to believe that after six years of circling around each other, they had ended up right back at the starting point. Could it be that Jiang Huaixi had traveled thousands of miles just to deliver such a humiliation as her grand birthday gift?
But in the next instant, she saw Jiang Huaixi turn around. On a huge panel behind her, Jiang Huaixi wrote with a fluorescent marker, character by character: “Trust me. Keep walking.”
Lu Zizheng stared at those words for a long time, looking at Jiang Huaixi’s straight, upright figure. Finally, she wiped away her tears and lifted her heavy feet.
She bent down to pick up the seventh shell and cautiously opened it. Inside was a childish crayon drawing of many children gathered around a long-haired woman, playing a game together, signed Class 3-2. Written on the back of the paper was: “Teacher Lu, we love you, we all miss you so much! You are the best and prettiest teacher we’ve ever seen.”
At that moment, Lu Zizheng was in disbelief. Class 3-2 was the very class she had volunteered to teach during her freshman summer break.
Then, inside the eighth shell was a photograph. In the picture, she was bending over slightly, carefully helping an elderly woman comb her hair, and the woman was laughing heartily. Lu Zizheng turned the photo over. Written on the back was: “You are the best child Grandma has ever met. You must remember to be happy.”
This was an elderly person she had cared for at a nursing home she visited that year with the youth volunteers. After visiting once, she insisted on going to see her once a week until, half a year later, the old woman unfortunately passed away. As for when this photograph was taken or when this message was left, she had absolutely no idea.
Shedding her previous dejection, Lu Zizheng walked forward with a mix of anticipation and nervousness. She opened the ninth shell, finding a strip of gauze inside. Written on the gauze in black ink was: “I will always remember the guilt in my heart that almost suffocated me when you carried me on your back to the hospital back then. You are the cleanest, kindest, and most self-sacrificing person I have ever met.” It was signed, Zhang Suyin.
During her junior year, their class had organized a themed activity to clean up illegal flyers around the campus. In the process, Zhang Suyin accidentally fell into a roadside sewage ditch, ending up covered in mud and in too much pain to stand straight. With her classmates’ combined efforts, she managed to climb out. The hospital was nearby, but because their sub-group consisted entirely of girls, everyone fell silent when it came to carrying Zhang Suyin on their back to the hospital. Lu Zizheng was wearing a white coat that day, but without a word, she squatted down, took the girl on her back, and walked toward the hospital. Yet on normal days, one of the people who loved gossiping about her the most in private was Zhang Suyin.
Inside the tenth shell was a merit certificate of the kind common in her university days. It had no award listed on it, bearing only a handwritten message: “Zizheng, in my dozen years of teaching, I have never met another student as wonderful as you. Walk your own path and let others talk; all rumors will eventually collapse on their own over time. I believe your path will only grow steadier and smoother. Come back and visit your teachers when you have time; we all miss you.” It was the handwriting of her familiar counselor.
She was close to Jiang Huaixi now. Only two more glowing shells remained along her path.
Lu Zizheng opened the eleventh shell. It was an internship evaluation form. Under the employer’s feedback section, a single line was simply written: “I appreciate you very much. I have told my daughter to take you as her role model.” It was signed by Ji Lan, her supervisor during her internship.
Finally, only the last shell was left. Lu Zizheng cast her gaze toward Jiang Huaixi, but Jiang Huaixi laughed and grumbled loudly, “Keep moving forward! Why are you so slow? I’m coldโฆ”
Lu Zizheng glared at her. Truly, a single sentence of hers had ruined the entire atmosphere.
She picked up the twelfth shell and opened it to find another simple slip of paper. As she slowly unfolded it, she saw her familiar handwriting on it, handsome and elegant: “From now on, if it wasn’t said by you, or if you didn’t tell me yourself, I won’t believe any of it. โJiang Huaixi.”
At that moment, Lu Zizheng looked at Jiang Huaixi, tears blurring her vision once more.
Jiang Huaixi walked a few steps forward and stood in front of Lu Zizheng. With her gaze slightly lowered, she spoke earnestly, “Zizheng, I know that on the path you’ve walked, you have suffered many groundless misunderstandings and criticisms from others. But you must know that far more people have seen your goodness and kept it in their hearts. Just like the beach you just walked across, the footprints you left, the tears you shedโonce the wind blows, all traces are lost. The hurts of the past are just like them. Bury them all in the sand tonight, and forget them from now onโฆ”
With tears in her eyes, Lu Zizheng stared at Jiang Huaixi for a long time. Her tall, thin figure seemed so small and frail against the vast curtain of the night sky, but Lu Zizheng knew that those thin shoulders of hers were slowly supporting and rebuilding the world that had collapsed in her early years.
For the first time in front of Jiang Huaixi, without hiding any of her emotions, she reached out and embraced her, smiling as she teased in her ear, “Only you would do something so sentimental.”
Jiang Huaixi, however, laughed and replied in a low, gentle voice, “Who made you such a sentimental person, Lu Zizheng? I was only catering to your tastes. Did hearing these sentimental words make you happy?” As she spoke, however, Lu Zizheng suddenly felt Jiang Huaixi sway slightly, standing somewhat unsteadily.
With her heart stirring, she quickly let go of Jiang Huaixi to take her hands, only to find them bone-chillingly cold. When she reached out to check her forehead, however, it was burning hot. Her smile vanished instantly as she asked anxiously, “Do you have a fever?”
Jiang Huaixi only smiled, not caring much as she said, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe. The wind is quite strong here, and it’s a bit cold.”
Lu Zizheng couldn’t care about anything else, hurriedly trying to take her coat to drape it over Jiang Huaixi, but Jiang Huaixi firmly caught her hands to stop her. Lu Zizheng glared at her, but she only smiled and said nothing.
Looking at her pale smile, Lu Zizheng felt completely helpless. Without a word, she turned around and walked toward the car, pulling Jiang Huaixi’s hand along.
Yet Jiang Huaixi was still complaining, completely disregarding her own condition, “Let’s take a photo as a souvenir. Actually, I even arranged for someone to prepare a fireworks display later, and it hasn’t been set off yet.”
Lu Zizheng only growled in a low voice, “You’re too noisy. Shut up and come back to the hotel with me.”
She did not know that Jiang Huaixi, walking behind her, watched her urgent, hurried steps with eyes full of tenderness.
Back at the hotel, Jiang Huaixi insisted on going to the bathroom to wash up before she finally got into bed. After taking some fever medication, she drifted off to sleep in a daze. Her tall, slender frame occupied only a thin, narrow spot on the large bed. For the first time, Lu Zizheng realized so clearly that Jiang Huaixi was incredibly thinโso thin it made her heart acheโฆ
With a trembling hand, she gently touched Jiang Huaixi’s pale, fever-flushed cheek, scolding her in a low voice, “Idiot, Jiang Huaixi, you big idiotโฆ”
Looking at Jiang Huaixi’s quiet sleeping face, she hesitated again and again, but in the end, she couldn’t help but lean down and gently kiss her burning hot forehead, murmuring, “Huaixi, don’t be too good to meโฆ”
Footnotes
- A DIY kitchen (zรฌzhรน chรบfรกng ่ชๅฉๅจๆฟ) is a commercial space where customers pay to use cooking facilities and ingredients to prepare their own meals, popular for dates and social gatherings in China.
- A university counselor (fวdวoyuรกn ่พ ๅฏผๅ) in China is a full-time faculty member who manages students' daily lives, administration, academic standing, and scholarship processes.
That was a good chapter. Make teary eyes at tht birthday event 🥹🥹🥹 Thank you for picking this gem m❣️
That was a good chapter. Make teary eyes at tht birthday event ๐ฅน๐ฅน๐ฅน Thank you for picking this gem mโฃ๏ธ
Ooh, that was good, but I’m kinda afraid to continue, will this be good for my heart? I just noticed it’s from Min Ran.
Ooh, that was good, but I’m kinda afraid to continue, will this be good for my heart? I just noticed it’s from Min Ran.
JIANG HUAIXI BEST GIRL!
But there is a sense of foreboding please please please don't let her have a terminal illness ๐ญ