Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Everyone in the room went silent upon hearing Zhang Lin’s surprising request.
Qin Jiayan looked at Mother Qin and Qin Zhi’ai for a moment before he nodded his head at Zhang Lin and rose from the sofa. Zhang Lin pointed at the door while walking to it and leading Qin Jiayan to another room.
When they entered the dining room, Zhang Lin offered Qin Jiayan a seat and poured them both another glass of water from the kettle on the dining room table. She then chose a random seat at the table and sat down.
Zhang Lin held onto her glass of water and sized him up for some time before she suddenly sighed softly. “I guess this is fate. It would have been perfect if you had come two days ago…”
Zhang Lin’s words came unexpectedly and, while Qin Jiayan didn’t know what she was talking about, his heart thumped. “Ms. Zhang, what do you mean?”
“Mr. Qin, don’t be anxious to ask me questions about this. Hear me out from the start first.”
Qin Jiayan stopped talking and focused his full attention on what Zhang Lin had to say. He didn’t know whether she was intentionally keeping him in suspense, or he was overly anxious, but the few seconds before she began seemed to take a century.
“I’m from the same town as Su Qing. We’re even from the same village and share the same family background. We both grew up poor, to the point of not even knowing where our next meal would come from.”
Qin Jiayan already knew this about Su Qing, yet he patiently waited to hear Zhang Lin’s foreshadowing to find out what she had to divulge.
“But Su Qing’s different from me. She was so good in school that she was sent to the city to study as an honor student. On the other hand, I was not as smart as her, so when I went to the city I was penniless and had to beg for food. I only have this house because it belonged to my husband.
“It can be said that I have found my happiness now. But… Su Qing was always prettier than me since we were young, and I always thought that she would find a sense of belonging and lead a much better life than me. But she was not given a break by God, or perhaps she was simply too foolish…
“During the first few years we were in Beijing, she often came to hang out with me. Even though I’d never met you, she told me everything about you back then. She said that you had bought her a bowl of beef noodles and that you were the warmest ray of light in her life. After the two of you went to Hangzhou University and announced your relationship, she called me from a public phone that night to share the good news with me. She could hardly conceal her joy, and I truly felt happy for her. Both of you were from a prestigious university and, if you ended up together after you graduated, your lives were undoubtedly going to be…
“However, the good times didn’t last long. Once, in the middle of the night, Su Qing suddenly traveled all the way from Hangzhou to Beijing to look for me. The second she saw me, she hugged me and cried. I instinctively thought that something went wrong between the two of you, but then later I learned that both of your families were in trouble at the same time—not that there was a problem with your relationship.”
As Qin Jiayan looked at Zhang Lin, a hint of astonishment flashed across his eyes.
I knew that my family was in serious trouble at that point in time, but I never heard Su Qing say anything to me about her own family’s problems…
Zhang Lin ignored Qin Jiayan’s confused look and continued as if on queue. “Su Qing did not bring this up with you, did she? If I hadn’t told you about this today, you wouldn’t have known about this for the rest of your life, would you? During your darkest days back then, she was equally helpless. Her father was in urgent need of money to pay for medical bills after he fell off a mountain and broke both of his legs.”
“She saw how tortured you were every day because of your mother’s hospital bills, and she had secretly followed you to the hospital on the day that you learned they were going to kick her out of the hospital.
