"No need." He pulled out his wallet, and gave her a card.
"..." She was speechless. "What are you doing?"
"Giving you money! Get it yourself!"
"..." In this digital age, through which channel can’t one transfer money? Why does she need to withdraw cash herself?
He stuffed the card into her hand. "Take it. In the future, you might need to handle many things: Sister Qian’s salary, the household expenses for groceries, along with various other costs. I can’t manage this."
So, was this his way of asking her to take over the household?
She felt a strange sensation inside, yet it was inexplicably soothing.
Well then... ti to take charge! No need to be polite!
She took the card, ready to head ho, and stood up, but he asked again, "Where are you going?"
"I’m going ho!" Hadn’t she already told him that?
His face instantly fell, and his expression turned sour.
"What’s wrong?" She felt as if she was holding him in the palm of her hand, fearful of him being unhappy. She was anxious about every little change in his mood.
He was silent for a while, then reached out and pulled her onto his lap, enveloping her in his embrace. "Can’t you stay here?"
She imdiately tried to stand up. "What are you thinking?"
He pulled her back. "What are you thinking?"
"..." Okay, so she was the one who got it wrong? She felt sowhat embarrassed. "I... I wasn’t thinking anything, it’s you who thought too much..."
"Don’t leave." He gently touched her cheek, not mocking her for her mistake.
"..." She was taken aback, sighing inwardly. With Grandma gone, he had beco like a child, so clingy! "Xiao Xu, I haven’t been ho for several days, my mom will be worried about !"
"Why don’t you call her? Should I do it?"
"If I do, my mom would co through the internet to strangle you!" Expecting her to stay the night without being married, wasn’t that asking for trouble?
Though feeling helpless, she was also a bit heartbroken. The Mr. Su she had first t in Nan County with his harsh words, was that the real him? Finally, she surrendered, "I’ll stay with you a little longer, and go ho later, okay?"
He didn’t comnt.
She knew it wasn’t what he wanted, but this was the most she could concede. "Do you want so milk now? Shall I get it ready for you?"
"No." He was brusque, his petulance quite clear.
"..." She had no choice but to coax him patiently. "Xiao Xu, I ca over here barefoot, without shoes or clothes to change into. I have to go to work tomorrow. Are you expecting to wear your clothes and shuffle over in slippers? I can stay with you for two more hours, okay?"
"Hm." He grunted a very reluctant affirmation.
"..." She sighed, it really wasn’t easy.
He wasn’t one for many words, whereas she was the opposite, liking to chatter. But with Grandma having just passed away, she wasn’t in the mood nor did it seem appropriate to make too much noise. So they sat in silence, her head resting quietly on his chest, and she surprisingly didn’t find it boring.
There was a delivery box on his desk that looked familiar to her. Suddenly she rembered—it was the one she had sent him, returning his belongings, signifying the end of their relationship.
She still rembered what he had said: she still owed him one item, and they would be over after she returned it all.
Later, she did return the last calligraphy piece to him, but it was torn by him, sadly.
How they had escalated to that point, she couldn’t quite recall.
It goes to show, people shouldn’t act impulsively. So things, once done, can’t be taken back, and regret is too late. Like the calligraphy, once torn, it’s torn; even if you piece it together from the fragnts, it’s never the sa. Even if he wrote a hundred more pieces with the sa characters, it would hold a different aning from the original.
She could only be grateful she hadn’t impulsively thrown away other things.
Sitting in his embrace, she reached out and dragged the box over.
His hand reached around from behind, pressing down, "I already gave it back to you? Still want to look?"
She imdiately felt both embarrassed and agitated, starting to act shaless, "That’s my stuff! I want to move it back!"
"Since you gave it to , I can’t just hand it over to you again! Just to avoid you getting mad and sending it to again! Just leave it here! Save yourself the postage!"
He was clearly mocking her! "I want to! This ti I’ll move it back and won’t send it to you anymore!"
"Then I’m not giving it to you either!" He pressed down on the lid of the box, refusing to let go.
"What if I insist on having it?"
The air suddenly beca quiet for a mont, and he slowly leaned close to her ear, whispering, "Marry , and it becos yours."
"..." Caught off guard, her face turned red, and she instinctively refuted, "Who wants to marry you?"
"Oh?" he countered, "Not marrying?"
"..." How could she answer that? Out of embarrassnt and annoyance, she snatched the box away with force, opened it, and was stunned.
The piece of calligraphy that he had torn up was now lying perfectly on top!
At first, she thought he had rewritten it, but upon closer inspection, she was certain it was the very sa one she had saved for nearly twenty years!
Holding it out to show him, she stamred, "This... this isn’t..."
He glanced over with a faint look, "You’re willing to part with it, but I’m not."
"..." She put the piece of calligraphy on the table, leaned into his arms, and her heart began to sour again.
"Will you break up with again next ti?" he wrapped his arms around her, his fingers pinching her face.
She shook her head but still felt it was unfair, mumbling, "You also said you’d break up with ."
"Did I? I don’t rember that."
"..." He actually denied it! Such a rascal! She stood up to face him, "Of course, there was! You said yourself that if I return the last item, you’d break up with !"
"But you didn’t actually give it back to !" His eyes held an inscrutable aning.
Tu Hengsha pointed at the calligraphy, "I did!"
He shook his head, "Not that."
What else could there be? She thought hard and was sure there was nothing else left! "Really, there’s only this!"
He still shook his head, "Such a thing, once I’ve given it to you, you can’t give it back."
"What are you talking about?" She racked her brain but couldn’t rember what he was referring to, "Is it the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake? That indeed can’t be given back." Can sothing eaten be spat back out?
He looked at her, silent for a long while.
"What?" Her gaze so strange!
He pinched her face, "Still so dense!"
"How would I know if you don’t tell ? Just say it!" Not the mooncake, could it be so other food? "Lollipop? There’s only the wrapper left, right?"
His face seed to read: How can you be so obtuse?
She suddenly realized, "Could it be my life? You saved it, so that can’t be returned either...But if I really had to repay...I could...maybe with my body..."
As she spoke, she yawned, not finishing her sentence, when she saw a "seeing ghosts" expression appear on his face.
She covered her mouth, her face buried in his chest, feeling so embarrassed she wished the ground would swallow her up. Indeed, after three days without sleep, her speech was no longer filtered by her brain.
No matter what, her words entertained him, and in the low spirits following Grandma’s passing, she finally saw a lively expression on his face again, although the aning behind that expression was sowhat indescribable.
In the end, he didn’t say what it was that he had given her that she couldn’t return. She knew it wasn’t her life, but no matter how much she pressed him, he refused to say.
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