After Being Widowed For Ten Years - Chapter 9

Pei Chongxi was forced into a steady retreat by the sudden movement.

With her lower back pressed against the glass railing, her gaze slowly shifted from the pills scattered across the floor and landed on An Rong, who was tucked into her arms.

If this is a hallucination, I hope it lasts just a little longer.

Pei Chongxi tilted her head back slightly, making it easier for An Rong to bury herself deeper into her embrace, and easier for An Rong to continue whimpering and whining in her arms.

“I’m not even two months older than you…” Pei Chongxi said.

“But a sister is still a sister,” An Rong muttered softly. “Ever since I was little, I always wanted an older sister. Someone who could protect me, someone I could rely on no matter where I went. And look, heaven went and sent you to my side.”

An Rong looked up, a somewhat silly smile breaking across her face. “So, now that Big Sister has struck it rich, could you give me a job opportunity?”

Pei Chongxi found herself completely unable to say no. In a daze, she agreed.

The moment An Rong heard her relent, her entire face lit up with joy.

“Great! Then I’m going to go make a bowl of wontons for you now, Boss. What else would you like? Give me all your orders at once.”

Pei Chongxi pressed her fingers to her throbbing temples, thinking to herself that she had truly gone completely mad.

“Add a fried egg. Nothing else.”

“Alrighty, you got it!”

An Rong skipped her way downstairs.

Left alone, Pei Chongxi leaned against the railing. She didn’t call the maid to clean up the pills on the floor. Instead, she bent down and gathered them into her palm one by one. She counted out three pills, hesitated, and ultimately chose not to swallow them.

With a dull thud, the pill bottle and the medication were tossed into the trash can together.

The doctor had told her that unless her insomnia was severe, she didn’t need to take this kind of medication.

Pei Chongxi sat down in a chair. After finishing her chores, the maid quietly took her leave.

Before long, the massive villa was empty, leaving only Pei Chongxi and An Rong.

An Rong brought a steaming bowl of freshly cooked mini wontons and set it before Pei Chongxi. She held the wooden tray with one hand and braced the rim of the bowl with the other, her entire serving motion smooth and practiced.

Floating atop the bowl of wontons was a drizzle of sesame oil, a splash of chili oil, and a handful of chopped scallions.

Not two seconds later, a fried egg resting on a spatula was slid right on top of the wontons.

“Give it a try, a soft yolk fried egg.”

An Rong remembered that Pei Chongxi disliked hard boiled egg yolks but hated completely raw ones, she had a very particular, finicky temperament.

Still holding the spatula, An Rong turned around with a smile. “How is it? My cooking is just like old times, right?”

Pei Chongxi took a spoonful of the broth and brought it to her lips. After a long pause, she gave a slight nod.

“The spare phone and some cash are on the table. If you need anything, you can go out at any time.”

“Oh, okay,” An Rong replied. “But I don’t really know how to use these modern smartphones.”

Pei Chongxi pondered for a moment before saying, “I’ve saved my number in the spare phone. If you run into any trouble, you can come find me. The functions aren’t complicated, just play around with it and figure it out yourself.”

An Rong let out a soft “Oh.”

Since she was getting a free phone, she didn’t dwell on it too much.

My sister is so good to me, An Rong thought contentedly.

“I have things to attend to during the day,” Pei Chongxi said, rubbing her aching temples. “I need to head out. As for you…”

Pei Chongxi didn’t know how to handle this extra person who had appeared in her hallucination. She had just burned incense for An Rong this morning, yet here An Rong was, standing vividly alive in front of her.

Ten years had passed. How could a person’s appearance not have changed in the slightest?

Pei Chongxi quickly finished the fried egg, ate less than half the bowl of wontons, and set her spoon down.

She wiped her mouth and lowered her eyes. “If you still want to come back tonight… then come back.”

With that, Pei Chongxi stood up.

She cast a deep look at An Rong, a bitter, obscure smile tracing her lips.

“An An, come here for a second,” she gestured.

An Rong, who was currently figuring out how to use the dishwasher, immediately ran over at the sound of her name. She looked up, offering Pei Chongxi a puzzled but incredibly cute smile.

“Boss, do you need me for something?”

Pei Chongxi hesitated for a moment before saying, “You don’t need to call me Boss. Call me Sister.”

“Oh, okay, Sister Pei.”

An Rong thought to herself: Didn’t she just say she’s barely a few months older than me? Now she wants me to call her sister.

Pei Chongxi pointed to her own face and said, “Kiss me again.”

She didn’t mean a kiss on either cheek, but directly on her lips.

“What?” An Rong’s eyes widened in astonishment. She was bewildered, but she was absolutely certain she hadn’t misheard.

As expected, Pei Chongxi’s stress levels must be way too high, An Rong thought. It was just like the old days, whenever school pressure got too overwhelming, Pei Chongxi loved to cling to her, kissing and cuddling.

A person’s core personality doesn’t change all that much, even after ten years.

In her heart, An Rong felt a deep wave of pity for Pei Chongxi’s demanding job.

Ultimately, she opened her arms, wrapped them tightly around Pei Chongxi, and with a loud smack, pressed her lips squarely against Pei Chongxi’s.

“Is that fine now?”

The young woman’s lips were incredibly soft, and her breath carried the faint, sweet scent of a mint.

An Rong held her tightly. As if thinking it wasn’t enough, she gave her another forceful smack, continuing until Pei Chongxi’s lips were slightly flushed.

If this is all a hallucination…

Pei Chongxi’s brain buzzed violently.

It really is a hallucination.

In reality, An Rong would only snap at her, asking “Are you crazy?”, and then…

Pei Chongxi’s train of thought ground to a complete halt.

She had never made such an unreasonable demand of An Rong in real life. She knew An Rong only saw her as a friend. An Rong was pure-hearted and simple, she was entirely different from a dark, gloomy person like herself.

Suddenly, two hands cupped Pei Chongxi’s cheeks.

Seeing her zoning out, An Rong gave her yet another smack out of confusion, kissing Pei Chongxi’s lips until they turned a deep crimson, coated in a glistening sheen.

“Is that enough now? That’s already three. Boss, you are sexually harassing your employee right now.”

“Th-That’s enough!”

Even though Pei Chongxi was the one who had made the outrageous request, she was the one fleeing in a panic now.

Utterly dazed by the kisses, Pei Chongxi hurriedly threw on her outdoor clothes and rushed out the door in a scramble. Because she left in such a hurry, she even forgot to pick up the white chrysanthemums left by the entrance today.

Inside the dimly lit villa, a single beam of light fell across the young woman standing in the kitchen.

Reaching the front door, Pei Chongxi suddenly turned back to look.

An Rong extended her arm and waved goodbye.

“If your boss bullies you, you should just quit! You’re so rich now, don’t let your boss treat you like a workhorse all the time. Otherwise, wouldn’t all your years of schooling be for nothing?”

Pei Chongxi’s lips parted slightly, but in the end, she didn’t clarify the truth. She turned and walked away.

“Alright, time to get to work.”

Having successfully figured out the dishwasher, An Rong patted the obviously ill-fitting apron she was wearing. Humming a tune, she tracked down a large cardboard box to resume cleaning up the alcohol bottles.

An Rong sighed, talking to herself, “How can Pei Chongxi drink this much? I remember her giving a speech back in school saying everyone should reject smoking and drinking.”

Muttering under her breath, An Rong threw every single opened bottle into the box. The villa contained every kind of alcohol imaginable. Chinese liquors, foreign spirits, and some varieties of unknown origin from obscure corners of the earth. Some of them had a bizarre green glow, containing animal bones, whether real or plastic, she couldn’t tell with the word “Spiritual” written in English on the label. There were even bottles that looked like homebrew.

An Rong uncorked one and took a sniff, coughing violently from the harsh scent.

“Pei Chongxi better not drink herself to death.”

An Rong worked efficiently. Having accepted the two thousand yuan in cash Pei Chongxi left on the table, she naturally made sure her work was thorough in every aspect.

In fact, she was too thorough, she completely cleared away every single bottle from the second floor art studio.

When Pei Chongxi finally finished her external errands and returned to the art studio to resume her work, she was greeted by total emptiness.

Pei Chongxi’s body had long been subjected to the heavy stimulation of alcohol.

Now, deprived of it after a long day of work, a frowning Pei Chongxi paced back and forth in the art studio. She kept running her fingers through her hair, aggressively tearing out large clumps of her long strands and dropping them onto the floor.

“An An, where are you?”

Pei Chongxi walked through the house, calling out from time to time.

The only answer to her calls was absolute silence.

The spare phone and the cash on the coffee table were gone. The entire villa had been cleaned so immaculately that it looked as though a second person had never lived there.

An unprecedented wave of anxiety and rage flooded Pei Chongxi’s emotions.

She marched over to the trash can, intending to fish out the medication she had thrown away this morning. If I take a few more, is it possible I’ll see An Rong again?

Pei Chongxi recalled seeing the word “Hallucinations” listed under the side effects section of the user manual. If I take a bit more, it should work, right?

Pei Chongxi pressed hard against her intensifying headache. She desperately needed alcohol to soothe her frayed nerves. She couldn’t even tell if the bottles in the house had actually existed, or if some psychiatric issue had caused her to see things that weren’t there.

A powerful wave of restlessness washed over her. The withdrawal symptoms left Pei Chongxi utterly exhausted and irritable.

To make matters worse, her phone began to ring loudly at that exact moment. Seeing an unimportant number on the screen, Pei Chongxi hurled the phone violently against the doorframe.

Following the sharp crunch of shattering electronics, the room fell into a heavy quiet.

“Where are you…”

With a splitting headache, Pei Chongxi collapsed sideways onto the sofa.

Her entire body was drenched in a cold sweat. Her fingernails clawed at the leather sofa, and the back of her head felt as though a jackhammer was drilling straight into it. Truthfully, she didn’t have a severe physical addiction to alcohol, it was more of a psychological illness.

The words of her therapist echoed in Pei Chongxi’s mind.

The primary reason she drank so heavily was simply to catch another glimpse of An Rong.

Why does it have to be so hard?

The woman on the sofa writhed in agonizing pain.

Unbeknownst to her, the door was gently pushed open, leaving a small crack.

A moment later, a glass of water was brought to Pei Chongxi’s lips.

“Drink some water.”

An Rong was nearly scared out of wits by the sight.

She had made a decent amount of money today from recycling the old bottles. Using that cash, she had gone to the local market to buy pork ribs and a fish, intending to whip up a rich feast to nourish Pei Chongxi and to indulge herself a bit, too.

Instead, she returned only to find Pei Chongxi lying on the sofa, covered in a cold sweat.

Detecting a familiar scent, Pei Chongxi lashed out with her hand, knocking the glass away. The warm water splashed all over the carpet.

Suddenly, Pei Chongxi threw her arms forward, locking An Rong in a fierce embrace.

Her body trembling violently, Pei Chongxi buried her face deep into the crook of An Rong’s neck.

“An An, is it really you? Where did you go?”

The raspy voice, sounding as though it had been dragged from the deepest depths of darkness, sent a shiver straight down An Rong’s spine.

Burying herself tighter against An Rong’s neck, Pei Chongxi said syllable by syllable, “An An, you came to find me.”

Without you, I can’t even function normally. Don’t leave. Let fate show me a little mercy.

An Rong was thoroughly frightened by Pei Chongxi’s current state. She asked in a small voice, “Sister Pei, are you angry? I sold your alcohol bottles for money… Did I… Did I sell something really expensive by mistake?”

A self-deprecating smile pulled at the corner of Pei Chongxi’s lips.

“They weren’t expensive. They weren’t worth anything at all.”