After Becoming a Spare Tire, I Got Together with My White Moonlight - Chapter 46

Qin Xiangxi was running a persistent high fever and was rushed to the emergency room.

Upon hearing the news, her parents immediately dropped everything and hurried over.

After checking on their daughter’s condition, their first move was to confront the nanny.

Ever since the rumors about Qin Xiangxi had spread at school, her parents had personally gone to the school to warn the administrators. They demanded that the school put a stop to the gossip and identify the source, threatening to report them otherwise.

While the school scrambled to address the issue, Qin Xiangxi’s parents promptly withdrew her from campus, rented an apartment nearby, and hired a nanny to take care of her daily needs.

Yet, just two days after moving out, Qin Xiangxi collapsed from a fever at school again.

The nanny felt wronged. After all, Qin Xiangxi was an adult and didn’t need constant supervision. That evening, when Qin Xiangxi said she needed to return to school to meet a classmate and told the nanny not to accompany her, the nanny was more than happy to oblige.

The school was less than five hundred meters away in a straight line from the apartment complex, what could possibly go wrong? The nanny didn’t think much of it.

Who would have thought that in such a short time, Miss Qin would stir up trouble again?

“She was perfectly fine when she went out this afternoon! Just like the past couple of days!” the nanny insisted repeatedly. “How could I let a sick person wander around? But if she said she had to go back to school for something, I couldn’t very well stop her, could I?”

Meanwhile, the doctor spoke to Qin Xiangxi’s parents about her condition, explaining that while the exact cause remained unclear, it seemed to be related to emotional stress.

Her parents turned their attention back to the nanny, pressing her for answers.

The nanny grew increasingly frustrated and anxious, thinking to herself that she never should have taken this job if she’d known it would be so troublesome. But under Qin Xiangxi’s father’s cold glare, she felt a chill and forced herself to think carefully. And indeed, she did recall something unusual.

“Yesterday after lunch, Miss Qin made a phone call to someone. After hanging up, she seemed really down and a bit out of it.”

Then the nanny remembered something else. “Oh, right! When she took her nap in the afternoon, I kept hearing her call out for her mom and dad, like she was having a nightmare. And she also called out something like ‘Xue’ and ‘Qiu’.”

Qin Xiangxi’s parents’ expressions darkened.

Why was it Jiang Xuehe again?

Instinctively, they assumed their daughter was still heartbroken over her failed confession.

But this time, Jiang Xuehe hadn’t been involved at all, so they had no grounds to confront her.

The couple discussed the matter outside the hospital room for a long time, but aside from growing even more resentful toward Jiang Xuehe, they couldn’t come up with a solution. All they could do was sigh helplessly.

When Qin Xiangxi finally woke up in her hospital bed, her parents hovered by her side, fussing over her comfort but carefully avoiding any mention of what had happened.

Instead, Qin Xiangxi gazed out the window at the tree branches, lost in thought for a long while before murmuring softly, “I want to see Jiang Xuehe.”

As soon as Yan Guiqiu got off the plane, she sneezed.

Jiang Xuehe glanced at her with concern. “Are you cold?”

Yan Guiqiu tightened her coat and shook her head, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

“It feels like something is…” lingering like a stubborn ghost.

She swallowed the rest of her words and changed her tone. “Maybe someone’s cursing me behind my back again.”

Jiang Xuehe smiled and said, “Perhaps your family misses you.”

She looked down at the numerous bags they were carrying and fell silent for a moment. All of it had been forced upon them by Yan Guiqiu’s family before they left.

They were said to be some local specialties, along with a few dishes and snacks Yan Guiqiu’s father had made himself.

Prior to this, they had already shipped over a pile of things.

“How about we stop by the gallery first? We can share some of these with Sister Xiao He. There’s too much for us to finish, and some of it won’t last long before it goes bad,” Yan Guiqiu suggested.

“Alright,” Jiang Xuehe nodded. “I’ll take you home afterward.”

It was just past five when the two arrived at the gallery, still before closing time. Xiao He was sitting at the front desk, propping her chin in her hand and counting the ticks of the wall clock. Hearing the commotion, she hurried out to help.

The local specialties sent to Xiao He earlier had already been delivered, so seeing her boss now, she felt quite touched and worked diligently to assist.

As she helped sort and put away the items, she gave Jiang Xuehe a report on the gallery’s recent business.

Over the past few days, only one painting had been sold, though several groups of people had visited, showing some interest and saying they would return in a couple of days.

Jiang Xuehe nodded upon hearing this. She didn’t rely on the gallery for income, so she wasn’t overly concerned about whether business was good or bad.

“Take these things home with you to eat,” Jiang Xuehe said, glancing at the time. “There’s nothing else going on today, so you can head home early to rest. I’ll lock up later.”

Xiao He nearly cheered, “Long live the boss!” on the spot.

But as she was packing up, she suddenly remembered something and pulled Jiang Xuehe aside.

“Oh, by the way, boss, someone came looking for you this afternoon,” Xiao He said quietly. “They said their surname was Qin. They didn’t seem very friendly, so I told them you were traveling and didn’t know when you’d be back are they enemies of yours?”

A hint of worry appeared on Xiao He’s face. “Should we call the police?”

Jiang Xuehe was momentarily taken aback, unsure why the Qin family had come looking for her again. Still, she reassured Xiao He first: “They’re people I know. It’s fine. Next time they come, just call me directly.”

Xiao He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly, saying she understood.

After Xiao He finished packing and left, Yan Guiqiu came over and asked, “Did something happen at the gallery?”

Jiang Xuehe had already turned the matter of the Qin family over in her mind, guessing it was probably related to the earlier failed confession. Most likely, Qin Xiangxi had stirred up some trouble again.

Since they had come to her gallery, it was clearly directed at her.

After thinking it over for a while, Jiang Xuehe decided it was best not to trouble Yan Guiqiu with it, so she brushed it off: “Someone came looking for me this afternoon, but I wasn’t here.”

Yan Guiqiu assumed it was a customer or some business contact and asked, “Is it serious?”

Jiang Xuehe shook her head. “Probably not a big deal. If it’s important, they’ll definitely come back.”

Yan Guiqiu nodded and didn’t press further.

After tidying up, Jiang Xuehe picked up her car keys. “I’ll take you home.”

Yan Guiqiu followed Jiang Xuehe into the car. They hadn’t gone far when her phone started chiming repeatedly with incoming messages.

After scrolling through them for a moment, Yan Guiqiu frowned slightly.

“Something wrong?” Jiang Xuehe asked.

“Something at school,” Yan Guiqiu sighed. “A junior from the old photography club fell from a building yesterday and broke his arm. He’s in the hospital now.”

“Are you going to visit him?”

“Tomorrow, we’ll see if the other club members are going. Maybe we can buy some fruit together to visit him then,” Yan Guiqiu said. “But there’s a school-wide debate competition tomorrow morning, and the journalism club needs coverage for the school magazine. They specifically asked him to photograph one of the matches, but now there’s no one else available.”

“So they want you to help out?”

“Yeah.” Yan Guiqiu nodded with a heavy heart. “The head of the journalism club is a good friend of mine. Since they asked me directly, I couldn’t really refuse.”

“About how long will it take?” Jiang Xuehe asked. “If you’re not too busy at noon, I’ll take you out for lunch.”

“Based on my past experience, it should wrap up by 11:30 at the latest,” Yan Guiqiu calculated. “By the afternoon session, half the teams will have been eliminated, so they won’t be as short-handed. But even if I go, the earliest it could start would be after 2 p.m.”

“Then I’ll pick you up at noon,” Jiang Xuehe said. “We can grab something to eat nearby.”

As she spoke, she thought of something else and asked, “So, are you heading straight back to school now, or going home?”

The apartment Yan Guiqiu rented wasn’t too far from the school, but it wasn’t as convenient as the dormitory.

Lately, she’d occasionally stayed at the dorm for a couple of days due to school-related matters, and all her things there were still in place.

“I’ll go back to school,” Yan Guiqiu thought for a moment. “I need to get up early tomorrow to familiarize myself with the people and locations. It’s just easier to stay on campus.”

She couldn’t help feeling a little regretful.

On the way, Yan Guiqiu had been wrestling with whether to ask Jiang Xuehe to stay over tonight.

Now, the problem had been resolved at its root.

But since she’d been asked for help, she had to do her best.

“I’ll take these things back with me for now. You can come pick them up once you’re done with all this,” Jiang Xuehe said, pointing to the items in the car.

Jiang Xuehe’s home.

Yan Guiqiu caught the key phrase, blinked, and nodded. “Okay.”

Jiang Xuehe drove Yan Guiqiu all the way to the school gate, watching her walk down the main road before slowly turning the car around to head back.

With no one beside her, Jiang Xuehe suddenly felt the solitude.

But the bleak, hollow feeling she’d had on the way over had completely vanished.

Not being able to spend the evening together was only temporary, they still had tomorrow, the day after, and many more days to come.

There was plenty of time ahead.

Stopped at a traffic light, Jiang Xuehe glanced up and caught her own reflection in the mirror, realizing she was wearing an unusually tender smile.

She touched her cheek and shifted her gaze back to the road ahead.

I should have asked for one more goodbye kiss.

Jiang Xuehe thought with a hint of regret.

Jiang Xuehe’s good mood lasted only until the next morning.

Yan Guiqiu had gotten up before 7 a.m., probably worried about disturbing her rest, so she hadn’t sent many messages. It wasn’t until after 9 a.m. that she found a moment to complain about how long it had been since she’d last stayed on campus, how tired she was and unaccustomed to it, and how she just wanted to lie down and be a lazy bum again.

Jiang Xuehe, on the other hand, had an unusually leisurely morning. After sending a few messages with no reply for a while, she figured Yan Guiqiu was busy again and didn’t press further. She went into her studio, opened the window, and clipped a fresh sheet of sketching paper onto her easel.

She had just started sketching the corner of the yard when Xiao He came knocking at the door.

“Come in,” Jiang Xuehe said.

Xiao He peeked in, winked, and whispered, “The two Tans from yesterday are here again, and they brought another Miss Tan with them.”

As she spoke, she glanced back over her shoulder. Faint voices drifted in through the crack in the door.

It sounded like Tan Xiangxi was arguing with her parents, insisting on meeting Jiang Xuehe alone.

Jiang Xuehe paused her brush, her previously good mood dampening slightly. However, having already considered the matter yesterday, she nodded and told Xiao He to bring the visitor in.

The studio had good soundproofing and was equipped with surveillance, making it a suitable place for a conversation.

Xiao He turned and left, returning shortly with Tan Xiangxi, thoughtfully closing the door behind her.

Tan Xiangxi stood pale-faced at the doorway.

She was already petite, and with her pallor, she looked gravely ill and fragile, as if a gust of wind could knock her over.

No wonder Mr. and Mrs. Tan were reluctant to let her come alone.

Jiang Xuehe glanced at her and felt compelled to invite her to sit.

Tan Xiangxi stared at her unblinkingly, as if it took her a moment to process the gesture. Slowly, she inched toward the nearest stool and sat down, her posture as rigid and proper as a schoolchild’s.

“I believe I made myself clear to you and your parents during our last meeting,” Jiang Xuehe said. “Is there something else you needed to tell me, Miss Tan?”

She could sense a difference in the way Tan Xiangxi was looking at her now.

If before her gaze had been distant and unfocused, now it was far more complex tinged with a subtle hostility and resistance, but overshadowed by a profound sense of sorrow and pain.

Jiang Xuehe had thought it over repeatedly but couldn’t recall having done anything to wrong her.

After a long silence, Tan Xiangxi finally spoke. She looked directly into Jiang Xuehe’s eyes and asked softly, word by word:

“I just want to know, after all these years of loving you, have you ever, even for a moment, felt anything for me?”

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