Lin Shicha seemed to sense something and turned to look at the corner ten meters away. But she saw nothing. She slowly withdrew her hand from petting the cat and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Vaccine," Huo Yinan replied concisely. It seemed coincidental to Lin Shicha, "Me too. Have you finished? Then wait for me; let's go back together later."
Huo Yinan paused before looking at her coldly, "What about Chi Xing?"
Lin Shicha shook her phone, "It's okay, I'll just send him a message." With a smile, she said, "Let's go."
Huo Yinan didn't care and didn't comment on it, but followed Lin Shicha back to the dog market. However, he keenly noticed that Lin Shicha's eyes changed subtly after he mentioned Chi Xing: not confused nor lost, but rather strange.
He wondered what Chi Xing had said to her to make her react like that.
Seeing the young lady arrive on time, the shop owner quickly vaccinated the Golden Retriever. He massaged the dog's neck behind, soothing it after the pain from the injection, and it lay on the ground, letting the owner work.
During the bus ride back, Huo Yinan did not say a word to Lin Shicha. Instead, the cat in his bag, sensing a dog nearby, remained extremely tense but quiet throughout.
Lin Shicha saw the tattoo on Huo Yinan's wrist.
She stared at it, tilting her head for a few seconds.
Huo Yinan stood in front of Lin Shicha, looking down at her sitting figure, with a cold and scrutinizing gaze in his eyes.
Lin Shicha met his gaze and blinked, flashing a bright smile.
Huo Yinan's Adam's apple moved slightly, and without a word, he averted his eyes and looked coldly out of the window, "Why, have you forgotten what this is so soon?"
"I remember," Lin Shicha asked, "Can I touch it?"
Huo Yinan replied coldly, "Whatever."
Lin Shicha knew he said one thing but meant another. She lightly poked it with a finger before slowly using her fingertip to stroke the tattoo, "I thought you would get rid of the tattoo."
"No time."
"But you have time to take care of the cat, don't you? It must take a lot of time to look after it, right? Cats are very delicate creatures," Lin Shicha said with a smile as she glanced at the curious amber eyes of the cat.
Very delicate.
Just like you.
Huo Yinan did not respond, standing still.
These days, he changed the cat food, and it was very picky. It had refused to eat for two days and would sometimes overturn the food bowl out of anger, coming to gently bite him with its little milk teeth. Huo Yinan remembered when they were together, during her special time of the month, she couldn't eat anything cold. Yet, when they passed by a supermarket, she insisted on buying vanilla ice cream. If he didn't buy it, she would squat and refuse to move, tugging on his sleeve and pouting.
"Don't you like me anymore!"
"You must not like me anymore!"
"I want to eat it!"
The 1.6-meter-tall short girl was ultimately reprimanded by the 1.8-meter-tall him. Then, with tears in her eyes, she was led by him while sniffling back home.
The world changes, people come and go.
Huo Yinan really wanted to ask, "Have you ever truly liked me?" but he was too proud to humbly ask due to his self-esteem.
Seeing her still playing with his hand, Huo Yinan withdrew his hand, "Don't push it." Just look at it.
"Oh..." Lin Shicha softly hummed, muttering 'I won't look, I won't look', and hugged the dog's cage by herself.
Soon, they arrived at the stop to get off. Huo Yinan walked off first, while Lin Shicha had five more stops to go. She watched eagerly as Huo Yinan left, and even waved to him, but Huo Yinan didn't respond to her.
Today was a bit strange. The bus, which was quite large, had more and more people getting off as it moved forward, until in the end, there was only Lin Shicha left in the bus, making the bus seem empty.
Lin Shicha clenched her hand, glanced around at the empty seats, and lowered her head lightly.
Little Guang barked brightly from the cage, "Woof!"
Lin Shicha immediately came to her senses, smiling as she petted it.
The late afternoon sunlight was still spilling diagonally, and Lin Chunhua was flipping through the newspaper under the eaves. When she saw Lin Shicha returning, she glanced down and looked at Lin Shicha through the gap above her reading glasses. "You're back. Shall I make dinner?"
"Okay." Lin Shicha gladly agreed, smiling.
During dinner, Lin Shicha thought of many things. After dinner, while watching variety shows, she said to Lin Chunhua, "Grandma, I don't want to attend evening self-study anymore. Can you call the head teacher and ask to let me leave at the normal time of half past five?"
"Hmm?" Lin Chunhua was knitting, and the yarn was fluffy and light blue in color. She pushed her glasses and asked, "Why?"
"I want to do something I like. I've been paying attention these days and want to join a drawing class," said Lin Shicha naturally, "I also want to draw you on paper."
This made Lin Chunhua laugh, but after thinking about it, her granddaughter had always had good grades from a young age, was talented in her studies, and excelled in everything. Not attending evening self-study would be fine.
After some thought, Lin Chunhua agreed.
She took action as soon as she agreed. That night, Lin Chunhua went to the landline phone and dialed the number of Lin Shicha's homeroom teacher from the phone directory pinned to the wall.
Lin Shicha's homeroom teacher had been aware of her illness from the beginning. Strictly speaking, all the teachers who taught Lin Shicha's class knew, so they never made her do anything out of the ordinary.
Lin Chunhua mentioned her granddaughter's illness, and the homeroom teacher naturally agreed over the phone.
After hanging up, Lin Chunhua sat next to Lin Shicha and watched TV. Lin Shicha was peeling an orange. She kept the light orange peel and planned to clean it and soak it in water later. She split the orange into two and gave one half to Lin Chunhua.
"Tea, the boy who came to our house last time, called Chixing..."
Lin Chunhua watched TV for a while before asking casually.
"Ah!" But before she could finish the question, she suddenly saw Lin Shicha stand up and run back to her room. She was puzzled: "What's wrong?"
What's wrong?
Forgot to send a message to Chixing.
The phone was charging on the bedside table. Lin Shicha leaned against the wall and sent a message to Chixing: "Huo Yinan accompanied me to get Little Guang vaccinated, and after that, we took the bus home together. Have you gone home? I forgot to tell you, sorry." She added a crying cat face at the end.
One minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
...Ten minutes passed.
No reply.
Lin Shicha slowly put down her phone and began to stare blankly. After five more minutes, she plugged in her phone to continue charging and went to the living room to continue talking to Lin Chunhua.
Nine thirty at night.
On the rooftop of the residential building, a dark figure sat on the railing. Moonlight poured down, casting his profile on the ground, a handsome figure like a male god on the screen. He tossed away the cigarette butt and crushed it, making the sound of a can being pinched.
He finished his beer in one gulp, flicked his wrist, and the can hit the rooftop wall, rolling on the ground for three circles before stopping.
Chihengguo appeared at the door to the rooftop, and the figure raised its head.
"Chixing, what are you doing here? Are you going to jump? Get down for me," Chihengguo said.
Chixing didn't know what expression he had. It was too dim around him, only his silhouette was striking in the night. Suddenly he asked, "Dad, how can I stop being a bootlicker?"
"What's the matter, are there not enough pretty girls, or are you blind? Try pursuing a different one," Chihengguo joked with Chixing, but his tone couldn't hide the seriousness. He hadn't asked Chixing about his inner thoughts in these days, trying to be a good friend to his son, wanting to be involved in his son's youth.
Chixing smiled and murmured to himself, "There are quite a few pretty girls."
But only one is called Lin Shicha.
Monday, half past five in the afternoon, after school.
Chen Mei bid farewell to Lin Shicha at the staircase. Lin Shicha went to the drawing class she had set her sights on since early morning. The drawing class teacher had contacted Lin Shicha by phone and was very happy to see her arrive at the agreed time. She introduced Lin Shicha to the class for a long time, and Lin Shicha happily paid the fee and began the class that afternoon.
Lin Shicha wanted to learn sketching; she mainly wanted to draw stories rather than learning formal types like oil painting or traditional Chinese painting. So, the drawing class assigned her a young teacher, a lady in her twenties.
The teacher was very patient and taught Lin Shicha from the beginning.
Two days later, the drawing teacher found that this little girl was very talented and picked it up quickly, drawing the features of people very beautifully in just a few days.
However, the first picture she drew was a self-portrait, which took a whole week to complete.
The painting had been modified by Lin Shicha for a long time, striving to make it exactly like herself. After the finished product came out, she was very satisfied. In the days after her painting class, she would also turn on the light in her room and leisurely sketch some super cute little girls with a pencil, which is commonly known as cartoon characters.
Sunday arrived, coincidentally marking one full week.
Lin Baicheng transferred one million yuan as promised. Lin Shicha knew that it was not difficult for him, but the problem was how he would explain the whereabouts of the money to his current wife. However, this was not a concern for her.
After the money arrived, Lin Shicha placed an order to buy a computer and an electronic drawing board.
When the items arrived, Lin Chunhua was shocked and asked, "Where did you get the money?" without raising her head.
Lin Shicha used a small knife to open the box, "My father gave it to me," she said, without looking up.
Lin Chunhua stiffened for a moment, then spoke, "How could he give you money?"
Lin Shicha put down the small knife and looked at Lin Chunhua, "I said if he didn't give me money, I'd reveal that I am his daughter to Miss Liu and her daughter."
Lin Chunhua felt complicted and gently touched Lin Shicha's head, "How much did he give?"
Lin Shicha nodded, "One million."
Lin Chunhua suddenly felt heartbroken, "How much?!!!!"