After Becoming Roommates with an Obnoxious Wealthy Heiress - Chapter 57

Touching You Once Again

“Assistant Jiang…”

Qin Shuyue sat in the back seat, her fingers tightening. After she gave Jiang Feiwan an address, Jiang Feiwan glanced upward, catching Qin Shuyue’s expression through the rearview mirror.

She kept her head lowered, shrinking into the back seat as obediently as a small cat.

Jiang Feiwan sighed softly in her heart, then nodded and said, “Miss Qin, please fasten your seatbelt.”

Qin Shuyue hummed in response and followed the instruction obediently.

In her mind, Zhu Lingyi’s words echoed incessantly: “Are you going to keep running away forever?”

Running away… running away.

What exactly did Zhu Lingyi want? What was her purpose in bringing her here today? Was it just to say that one sentence? To point out her flaws smugly, or to wantonly mock her weakness?

But what she was like what did that have to do with Zhu Lingyi? Zhu Lingyi had even gone out of her way to help her find the perpetrator of the hit-and-run. Did she feel a mysterious sense of accomplishment by showing occasional bursts of kindness?

Could Qin Shuyue blame her? No. Zhu Lingyi was helping her. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel resentment. She didn’t even know why she resented her.

Was it because Zhu Lingyi offered a helping hand, pity, and sympathy? If she blamed her for even that, what kind of person would Qin Shuyue become? An ungrateful, heartless person lacking benevolence and virtue. If such a thing were made public, she would surely be drowned in the spit of the masses.

But what could she do? Accept Zhu Lingyi’s sympathy with composure?

Qin Shuyue felt like screaming. Since when did her life require the charity of others to continue? Was she truly that pathetic?

She hated it most when people looked at her with expressions of pity and compassion, saying, “You’re so pitiful. Losing your parents and in-laws at such a young age, and being ignored by your grandparents. I really want to help you.”

Help her with what? Help her escape this sea of misery? Who? Them?

Qin Shuyue only felt disgusted. Such “saintly” remarks and gestures made her want to tear them all to pieces. For all these years, she still hadn’t adapted to the life of falling from a pedestal into the mire overnight.

She had originally come from a well-to-do middle-class family. She used to spend her mornings playing the violin to pass the time, studying without a single worry. Qin Shuyue knew that as long as she focused on getting into high school and university, her parents would smooth over every thorn on her path. Life would be smooth, she would marry someone of equal social standing, and her life would be full and happy. If she wasn’t cut out for studying, she could have gone abroad for a few years or stayed there to work every choice was hers to make.

Her mother loved her the most. As long as she cried or made a scene, everything would be fixed.

But now, it was all gone. Everything had vanished. Like flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water, it all felt like a dream from a past life.

Her father had left the family, her mother was critically ill in the hospital, and she had spent every waking moment frantically earning money just to afford her mother’s treatment. But then Dr. Li said her mother couldn’t be cured that her physical condition was no longer suitable for surgery and told her to give up.

Then what had her years of persistence been for? To prove she could endure hardship?

Qin Shuyue was unwilling. She truly could not accept it. Dr. Li had told her that her mother had only become a vegetative state because of a head injury, but there was a possibility of her waking up. For that “possibility,” she had struggled for three years, from her second year of high school to her second year of university.

In high school, to save money for her mother’s medical bills, she had resolutely quit the music class and abandoned the arts entrance exam. She gave up the money for intensive training and cultural supplements to take the standard academic route. She could have relied on her violin skills to sweep provincial and national competitions and enter a top arts university for further study. Her professional skills were ranked first in the school, even the province unquestionably first, deservingly first, leagues ahead of the rest.

Yet, to save and raise money, she had decisively given it up.

The principal and teachers had advised her repeatedly, even offering to start a charity donation at the school. But Qin Shuyue refused. She didn’t want to exploit the sympathy of others for her own selfish needs. Furthermore and more importantly how would she ever be able to hold her head high at school again?

In the eyes of her classmates, she was the flawless goddess wealthy, beautiful, pure, a crush to many, with a melodious violin talent and impeccable grades. To fall from grace without warning, to drop into the mud and become a mere speck among the masses, how could she be content with that? How could she let it go?

She would rather give up art and take the academic route than accept donations.

Ironic. It was so ironic. Even she hated herself for such vanity. But in the end, everything only got worse.

“Miss Qin, we’ve arrived.”

After parking the car, Jiang Feiwan noticed Qin Shuyue hadn’t moved. She waited a moment, and seeing she still had no intention of getting out, she spoke up to remind her.

Qin Shuyue snapped out of it as if waking from a dream. She opened the car door and stepped out. Jiang Feiwan followed her.

Looking at the pleasant surroundings, Jiang Feiwan couldn’t help but take a few extra looks. Rockeries and ponds merged into one; a few green lotus leaves floated on the water, their edges slightly yellowed. Despite the hint of autumn decay, it was clear the property management had put effort into slowing down the decline. Fitness equipment, a small children’s playground it had everything.

Good property management, Jiang Feiwan noted. Even the greenery was trimmed with great precision.

However, she shifted her gaze to Qin Shuyue’s back. This place looked expensive; what was she doing here? Visiting someone?

Qin Shuyue seemed to notice the gaze behind her, but she didn’t look back. Instead, relying on memories from over a decade ago, she walked slowly along the winding stone path to find her own courtyard.

The houses here were spaced far apart, and the buildings weren’t tall. Jiang Feiwan did a quick scan only five floors, resembling a low-rise luxury apartment. But observing the spacing, they felt more like garden villas. Looking at the ground floors, they featured various flowers and plants, and some even had trees planted in front of their doors.

It seemed that buying a ground-floor unit here came with a small private yard. The price-performance ratio seems decent, Jiang Feiwan evaluated. This was her professional instinct: finding the best property for the lowest price.

Qin Shuyue stopped in front of one of the villas and stood still. Jiang Feiwan, following behind, also stopped. She didn’t ask any questions.

Qin Shuyue looked up at the Goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria bipinnata) in front of the door and narrowed her eyes. She opened the courtyard gate and walked in.

Year after year, the tree flowered and fruited, and the petals fell into the mud. No one gathered them. It was desolate and bleak. Even the flowers that once bloomed on the lawn had long since withered and vanished into the soil.

Qin Shuyue walked under the tree, standing amidst the fallen blossoms, her head tilted back to watch the leaves flutter down. The tree seemed to have grown a bit taller. She slowly reached out, pressing her hand against the thick, rough trunk, feeling its uneven texture and the source of life within.

The flowers and grass had withered, yet this tree stood tall, lush and thriving. Qin Shuyue let out a wordless, light laugh. The existence of this tree felt incredibly mocking in the present moment.

Qin Shuyue left the yard. Jiang Feiwan stood outside, watching with confusion as Qin Shuyue wandered around the courtyard. Should she remind her that this wasn’t a park and she couldn’t just wander in?

But just as she was about to speak, Qin Shuyue walked straight to the main door of the house. To Jiang Feiwan’s astonishment, Qin Shuyue placed her finger on the handle. With a “click,” the fingerprint lock opened.

Qin Shuyue stepped inside quietly. Jiang Feiwan froze. Was this Qin Shuyue’s home? Did she live here? She was filled with disbelief.

Qin Shuyue hadn’t been back for a long time.

Everything in the house was as it had been. She leaned down, her finger brushing across the sofa cushion, wiping away a layer of dust. The pink polka-dot tablecloth on the coffee table was a hazy gray, and the tea set lay scattered and tilted.

A stray breeze blew through, fluttering her hair. She walked further into the living room to the table. On it lay an open exercise book. She hadn’t returned here since finishing the college entrance exams. She either lived at her workplace or in the university dormitory; in short, she had never come back.

Everything was familiar. Nothing had changed. Yet it was empty, devoid of the scent of a “home.” She reached out and closed the exercise book, but because of the passing years, the pages no longer fit snugly, bulging upward instead.

She scanned the living room once more. It was the same home as in her dreams.

Qin Shuyue turned and walked down the hallway, stopping before a door. She pushed it open with a slight “creak,” as if opening a long-sealed ancient gate.

It was just a simple bedroom. However, the curtains over the bay window were tightly shut, letting in no light, making the room feel deathly still and oppressive. In reality, it was a room filled with dreamy teenage decorations.

A brand-new princess bed was neatly made with soft, fluffy covers. On the pink blanket of the bay window sat a small brown bear, with two larger bears behind it, cradling the small one in their arms. The small bear had a curved smile, looking incredibly bright, holding a pink heart in its paws.

Qin Shuyue stepped forward, picked up the small bear, looked at it carefully, and then casually tossed it onto the floor. The bear landed face-down, the pink heart pressed firmly underneath it. She then waved her hand, separating the two large bears. She swept one to the floor and pulled the other into her arms, clutching it tightly.

Hidden behind the three bear plushes and the bed curtain was a violin, wrapped tightly in a black cloth bag. She leaned down, climbed onto the pink cushion, and with a “shush,” pulled the curtains open to let in the sunlight. The bed, which hadn’t seen daylight in ages, suddenly basked in the sun, its pale pink color appearing more vibrant and alive.

Standing behind the bed, Qin Shuyue unveiled the tightly wrapped violin. A reddish-brown, antique-style violin was slowly drawn from the black bag, as if a slumbering spiritual artifact had sensed a pulse, breaking through the ice to return to its master.

In Qin Shuyue’s hands, the lifeless violin seemed to regain its vitality, secretly vibrating with the desire to shine once more. But the moment she touched the body of the instrument, she felt as if a lifetime had passed.

Memories washed over her brain like wave after wave, yet like smooth silk, she couldn’t catch a single coherent word. Countless images flashed through her mind in an instant, but they were too blurry to capture.

Her fingers trembled slightly, accidentally plucking a string. A crisp, pleasant note drifted through the air into her ears. Her heart skipped a beat.

How many years had it been? She hadn’t touched it again. Had it also sobbed in the middle of the night, blaming its owner for heartlessly abandoning it? Just as she had been abandoned by everyone?

Her fingers curled, then unfurled. She picked up the violin, tucking it between her chin and shoulder. With her head tilted slightly, the reddish-brown body was parallel to her profile.

Qin Shuyue’s chin lifted slightly, holding the violin steady. She lowered her eyes, gazing tenderly at the strings. Her right hand picked up the bow, her fingers naturally and relaxedly gripping it as she placed it gently on the strings.

She hadn’t held a bow in years, but the rhythm was engraved in her heart. The moment she picked up the violin, the memories associated with it surged from the depths of her mind.

She began to play her most proficient piece from memory: “Tears of the Mermaid.”

With this piece, she had swept through school, district, city, and provincial levels, heading straight for the national competition. Yet, on the day she was meant to enter the nationals, she had personally abandoned it. Like a soulmate she had shared music with, she had severed her own hand and vowed never to play again. A total break.

Qin Shuyue exhaled slowly and closed her eyes, quietly feeling the cool touch of the violin. A strange warmth flowed through her heart.

Slowly, she drew the bow.

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