Chapter 41: Her persistence

For some reason, even though it was the first time I met An Zhi, she always seemed to put me at ease.

With her around, the surrounding noise would fade away, leaving behind a sense of peace and tranquility.

I couldn’t help but stare at her as she held the booklet.

Her dark eyes were slightly lowered, and my written words were reflected in her pupils.

I actually found myself wanting her to keep reading forever.

But the short story collection was too brief.

She closed the booklet, and her eyes naturally met mine—ah… her eyes seemed to be sparkling.

“I…”

“Hmm?”

I stepped forward to hear her thoughts, getting close enough to smell the light fragrance of her hair.

“I’m moved… a story of… love and salvation.”

“Yes, some of the inspiration came from my personal experiences. Writing them down makes me feel better, and the past doesn’t seem as important anymore. Haha, it’s just my boring past, let’s not mention it.”

“…It must have been hard.”

“What?”

It seemed like my sudden approach had frightened her a little; her voice grew even softer.

Just as I was about to panic and pull away, I clearly heard what she said.

“You’ve worked hard…”

Only three words.

A reaction different from everyone else’s, yet it healed my soul.

My eyes instantly burned, and as my vision blurred, I looked away and straightened up.

“Thank you, An Zhi. I’m very encouraged. Our Senior Schoolmate has already gone back. Do you want to look around more?”

“…No. I… just wanted to see your work.”

“Then let me take you back to the reception room. You don’t like being surrounded… do you?”

Noticing the surroundings again, I realized the students had formed a large circle around us.

They seemed to have misunderstood something.

‘How awkward…’

‘Senior Sister Xu, please come save me.’

As I was being swallowed by their gazes and the painful memories of the past were about to resurface, I felt An Zhi’s warmth beside me.

She seemed just as overwhelmed, standing very close to my side with her head bowed.

This wouldn’t do!

I had to pull myself together!

I needed to escort An Zhi back.

Facing those stares, “L-let’s go.”

My voice trembled slightly, but I clearly heard her response.

“Okay.”

I pushed through the crowd, and she followed closely by my side as we broke through.

We fled all the way to the door of the reception room.

“See you… next time!”

She quickly ducked inside, peeking her head out from behind the photography equipment in the corner and waving her small hand at me.

“Yeah, see you.”

I smiled and closed the door.

‘Next time?’

“He-hello! Li Mingshan, can I have an autograph? I really like your… work!”

The clear voice of a female student snapped me out of my daze.

“An autograph?”

“Yes! On the back of the booklet, please. Thank you.”

Confused, I took the pen and signed my name on the back of the booklet she handed me.

It wasn’t until she hurried away that I reacted.

‘Strange, how did she know I was Li Mingshan? Whatever… anyway, does An Zhi really want to see me again? It didn’t sound like social pleasantry. I’ll ask Senior Sister Xu about it later!’

—

Ugh, my head hurts.

It feels like it’s splitting open from the inside.

Amidst a slight swaying, my brain feels like waves crashing against both sides.

“…Mingshan.”

Someone was calling me, gently shaking my body, guiding me back to consciousness.

“You have to eat… you must eat. Wake up, wake up.”

Following that persistent voice, I forced my eyes open.

The blurred silhouette gradually became clear.

“An Zhi?”

“Yes. I made some porridge. Open your mouth.”

Following her voice, I opened my mouth.

Her small hand held the spoon, gently delivering the porridge into my mouth.

‘It’s An Zhi. She’s taking care of me.’

!!?

“Waaah—!”

A piercing pain shot through the tip of my tongue.

“Hot, hot, hot, hot!!”

My brain fully snapped awake from the shock.

My mouth felt like it was on fire, and the scalding liquid traveled down my throat straight to my stomach.

I was now completely awake.

I saw An Zhi anxiously pouting her lips and blowing air toward me.

*Whoosh, whoosh.*

My face felt cool, but my insides were burning.

‘Then again, what’s the point of blowing on my face?’

“Don’t blow, don’t blow. I’m much better.”

“Wait… An Zhi. An Zhi—!?”

I finally realized something was wrong.

Why was An Zhi here?

Hadn’t she already gone back?

“Mingshan, are you awake?”

‘How could I not be awake after that!?’

“Yeah. Aren’t you going back!? You’ll miss the High-speed Rail!”

“I missed it long ago. Look…”

She took out her phone.

Next to the word “Restricted” on the screen, there were several messages and missed calls.

Next to them were the date and time.

It was Tuesday; almost three days had passed…

Three days!?

“Ahaha… so you stayed. That’s great. You’re here to take care of me.”

“Mm-hm, hehe~”

She laughed proudly and scooped another spoonful from the scalding porridge, this time carefully blowing on it.

‘That’s not right. How did she… could she see through what I was thinking then? That I wanted her to stay. Was I too obvious? Did she figure it out and run away to come to me?’

My head hurts!

“Hiss…”

I clutched my forehead; it was still very hot.

“You need to eat. You… haven’t eaten in a long time. Are you hungry?”

I nodded, staring at the approaching spoon with trepidation.

“I blew on it this time. Come on, say ‘ah’—”

“Ah—”

I opened my mouth.

This time the porridge wasn’t hot, but it was nauseatingly salty and had a strange taste.

“Eat more, you’ll get better faster.”

She started blowing on the next spoonful.

Though it was salty, it couldn’t compete with the sweetness she brought me—a sweetness from the bottom of my heart.

‘The only reason she could be here was that she saw through my duplicity and insisted on coming to take care of me. This doesn’t quite fit the image I had of her, but the person before me is undoubtedly her. She’s more stubborn and bold than before. Though in some ways, she’s still the same as in the past, lacking experience…’

“Is the company okay?”

“…Yes.”

She nodded and held out the spoon again.

“Ah—”

“Mm-mm.”

I chewed the salty mess, my teeth feeling sour.

“It’s fine, I’ll figure something out… I want to stay here.”

As she spoke, she placed the bowl, which was resting on a towel, to the side.

She kicked off her slippers, climbed onto the bed, and sat cross-legged beside me like an obedient cat.

“Didn’t you say the Employment Contract still has one year left? If you don’t go back to livestream…”

“No, no!”

She shook her head vigorously.

“You said I could do what I want. Once you’ve said something… you can’t take it back.”

‘She really has become much more stubborn…’

“Fine, I said it. I was lying when I said otherwise. I’m sorry. I want you to stay too.”

“I knew you wouldn’t want me to leave. You get lonely easily, and you’d be miserable if I wasn’t around… so I ran away, just like when you came to see me…”

“Mingshan, don’t lie to me anymore.”

“I’m sorry… I’m the one who couldn’t help but rush to find you first. I won’t say things like that again.”

‘An Zhi, trying her best to organize her words to express her dissatisfaction, has her eyebrows tilted downward. She’s just too cute…’

“Mm, that’s good.”

As she spoke, her upper body coiled around me like a cat, burying her head in my neck.

Looking at her supple, firm back, I felt a surge of joy.

I moved my aching arms to hug her.

She had lost so much weight.

The outline of her back muscles was beautiful but hard enough to make my heart ache.

Strands of long hair pressed against my chest, tickling me.

Looking down her back, there was that well-proportioned, slender…

Ugh, my head hurts!

“The illness might be contagious.”

I patted her back.

“…No.”

She shook her head, refusing to let go.

“You’re lying again. You want to hug me.”

!!?

‘I wonder if it’s because she’s been working for a year or two, but she isn’t as childish as before. Her intuition has become sharp. She isn’t as easy to talk to as she used to be.’

‘Even though she’s probably well taken care of by the company and doesn’t have to worry about anything except livestreaming, she has still grown—in every aspect…’

*Mwah!*

She left a kiss on my cheek, pulled away from my embrace, and picked up the bowl to blow on the porridge again.

“Eat a little more, then take your medicine.”

“Did you buy the medicine for me?”

“Yes. Don’t look down on me. I’m not just someone who gets taken care of. I’ll work hard to learn things other than dancing.”

In my memory, she had hardly ever done anything besides dancing.

To let her focus on practicing, it seemed someone had been looking after her since she was a child.

‘This is a level of treatment I never dared to dream of… In terms of daily life, my knowledge of her is a total blank. Now it seems she can at least buy medicine. As for the porridge… I wouldn’t dare comment.’

Wait, if she ran away, then during these three days of taking care of me… where has she been staying?

Looking at what she was wearing, she had one of my worn-out shirts thrown over her.

The hem reached all the way to her knees, revealing calves and feet that were white with a hint of red.

She smelled like shampoo.

I looked toward the balcony.

Her wrinkled dress and coat were draped haphazardly over the railing.

‘She’s even been washing up and bathing at my house!? That means…’

“An Zhi, are you… living at my house?”

“Yeah, is that not allowed?”

She dropped the spoon, looking a bit angry.

“Didn’t you also with her… I want to, too.”

I understood what she meant and nodded.

“It’s fine. I’ll… take care of you.”

Halfway through my sentence, I realized there wasn’t anywhere else in the room to sleep.

I immediately guessed that she had been sleeping with me every night.

‘Sleeping together… in this bed that’s barely larger than a twin…?’

!!?

‘Was it her competitive nature that made her so bold? I was wrong; her change wasn’t small at all—it was huge! What on earth did that damn company do to her to oppress her like this?’

“Then I have to take care of you first. Come on, have some more porridge. Say ‘ah’—”

“Mm-mm…”

I chewed, feeling a bit uneasy.

I used anger to hide my embarrassment.

*Buzz buzz—*

Her phone had been ringing from time to time since a while ago, but she had no intention of picking it up.

“Is it okay?”

“Yeah. That’s a work phone. There won’t be any good news, and there’s nothing I can do.”

‘I really wanted to help her check who sent the messages—it was likely Jiang Lulan—but I decided to respect her decision. Having become more mature than before, she probably knows that if she wants to do what she wants, she has to bear the consequences…’

“Since that phone can’t do anything, how did you pay for my medicine?”

I changed the subject to tease her.

“…I don’t know.”

She scooped up a spoonful of porridge.

“Huh? Don’t tell me you didn’t pay.”

“I did…”

She blew hard on the porridge.

Before I could ask more, she crudely stuffed the spoon into my mouth.

“Waaah—”

So hot!!

Just then, there was a *thud thud* at the door.

The knocking was quite heavy.

Who was it?