After Running Away From Her Wedding, The Tsundere Young Lady Went Crazy - Chapter 27

Already Slept Together

In the early morning, Ji Songshu woke up in a 180-square-meter bed—oh no, a 180-square-meter room.

Pei Jiyue had moved out, leaving her alone in the massive house. She had happily moved into the guest bedroom, which usually sat vacant.

Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, warming her calves as they poked out from under the duvet.

She hopped out of bed lightly, gurgled and spat out her mouthwash, and leaned against the balcony railing. Watching the fluffy white clouds drift leisurely across the blue sky, she hummed a song while watering the flowers on the balcony. She then brought out all the throw pillows from her bed, lined them up, pulled over a lounge chair, and joined them in soaking up the sun until everyone—pillows included—felt soft and fluffy.

If this were the past, she wouldn’t have dared to imagine living such a relaxed and leisurely life.

Her name, a six-figure bank balance, and a multi-hundred-square-meter mansion—these words could actually be linked together!

Facing the fresh morning breeze, a surge of excitement washed over Ji Songshu. She made a long-distance call to Ye Qingyu, who was vacationing in Bali.

“Qingqing-Qingqing-Qingqing!”

On the other end of the line, Ye Qingyu’s voice was lazy, sounding as if she hadn’t fully woken up: “What’s wrong, Niannian?”

“Do you want to come over to my place to play!” Ji Songshu shouted excitedly.

This was the first time she could openly invite a friend to her home as a guest without having to make up various excuses to stall when asked, or facing the disappointed looks of others.

In her own exclusive world, she was absolutely free. She could stuff the fridge with snacks, leave clothes scattered on the sofa, and sit on the plush carpet with friends playing games until dawn. No one would boss her around, and more importantly, no one would criticize her…

Ye Qingyu was also intrigued: “Sure! When?”

“Any day! I’m living alone in a super—large house right now!”

“I’ll come tonight, wait for me!” Ye Qingyu immediately booked a flight back home, jumped off the bed, and stuffed her scattered swimsuits and sunglasses into her suitcase.

An object with a strange shape and a “refreshing” design sitting on the coffee table was also stuffed into the top layer of her suitcase.

This was the “little surprise” she had prepared for Ji Songshu.

In the afternoon, Ji Songshu ran to the supermarket near the neighborhood and went on a shopping spree. She threw every snack and fruit she saw—whether she had seen them before or not, or whether she could understand the packaging—into the cart without looking at the price. When it came time to pay, she didn’t even blink, silently clasping her hands in prayer.

Thank you, generous financial backer! The Great Shang Keyu!

With a heart full of anticipation and vigilance, Ji Songshu began waiting anxiously for Ye Qingyu to land.

Unable to stay still, she paced back and forth in the living room, checking the time every few minutes. She began to suspect the clock hands were glued to the face, moving so sluggishly.

Finally, the doorbell rang!

She jumped up to open the door and set off a pre-prepared party popper. Colorful streamers fell over both of them, hanging off their faces. Ji Songshu and Ye Qingyu looked at each other and laughed.

Despite it being her first time at Ji Songshu’s house, Ye Qingyu wasn’t a bit formal. She immediately spread her suitcase open on the floor and pulled out a gift bag.

“Ta-da! A gift for you!”

Ji Songshu read the words on the packaging bag aloud.

“Xiao Xin Xiao Yi? (Careful and attentive?)”

“It’s ‘Xiao Xiao Xin Yi’ (A small token of my appreciation).”

Then, Ye Qingyu acted mysteriously: “Don’t look yet. Reach in and feel it, try to guess what I brought you.”

Skeptical, Ji Songshu reached into the bag. Her fingertips touched something hard with a somewhat rough surface.

Connecting it to the place Ye Qingyu had visited, Ji Songshu quickly had an answer.

“This is a coconut, isn’t it?” she said firmly.

“Congratulations, you guessed half right!”

Laughing loudly, Ye Qingyu pulled the answer out of the bag. Upon seeing the object, Ji Songshu’s eyes widened in shock and horror.

What do you mean ‘half right’? These are two completely different things!

It was a swimsuit made of coconut shells.

Ye Qingyu was radiant: “I saw this and thought of you. It must fit perfectly. Want to try it on?”

“Haha,” Ji Songshu laughed dryly. “I am absolutely not wearing that.”

Ye Qingyu didn’t mind. Giggling, she stuffed the bag into Ji Songshu’s hands and sprawled out onto the sofa.

For the entire evening, the two of them sat on the carpet with their backs against the sofa. They connected a laptop to the 100-inch TV and, with a controller each, played a two-player adventure game.

Noisy, boisterous, and shouting, their time and worries were tossed out along with the takeout bags. Before they knew it, it was early morning.

Ye Qingyu set down her controller, let out a yawn, and rubbed her eyes, which were sore from staring at the screen for so long. She asked, “Where am I sleeping tonight?”

Ji Songshu thought for a moment and said, “Squeeze in with me.” She got up to fish a new quilt out of the cupboard.

The two-meter-wide bed wasn’t cramped at all for two people. After saying goodnight, Ji Songshu was about to close her eyes groggily when she suddenly remembered she hadn’t sent anything to Shang Keyu today.

Lately, she had been messaging Shang Keyu every day, ranging from “Good morning” and “Good night” to complaining that the first-period class was awful or that the cafeteria had introduced a “devilish dish” of stir-fried watermelon and potatoes.

She was working hard to create a sense of companionship and romance, but the results were meager.

Regarding her cluttered messages, Shang Keyu would reply, but usually after a long delay and from a distance. The content was also very brief—sometimes it was just the words “Read,” like an emperor reviewing an official report.

Why is it that when I don’t look for her for a day, Shang Keyu doesn’t react at all? Ji Songshu thought gloomily, feeling a sense of loss.

After hesitating for a long while, she picked up her phone, took a selfie, and sent it to Shang Keyu.

Ji Songshu: [Selfie.jpg]

Ji Songshu: 「Good night.」

Hundreds of kilometers away in a hotel suite, Shang Keyu pinched the bridge of her nose, grabbed her phone, and clicked on the message.

The photo was pitch black; nothing could be seen. After turning up the brightness, she finally saw a face that looked silly, happy, and very pinchable. She unconsciously curled the corners of her mouth along with the person in the photo.

Just as she was about to save it, her sharp eyes noticed a dark shadow behind the girl, faintly resembling a person’s head.

Why is there someone else in the bed?!

…Could it be that the “double personality” had come out again and was back together with the ex-girlfriend behind her back?

A shadow crossed her heart, and Shang Keyu’s face darkened as she used two fingers to zoom in on the image.

She stared until her eyes grew sore before she could vaguely make out the shape of a teddy bear from the dark shadow. The knot in her heart loosened, and her shoulders relaxed.

On the screen, a new message popped up.

Shang Keyu: 「I want the audio version of ‘Good night’.」

So many demands, Ji Songshu grumbled inwardly. Afraid of waking Ye Qingyu, she buried her face in the quilt and whispered “Good night” in a very low, airy voice.

“How sweet,” Ye Qingyu’s sour voice came from behind her.

Ji Songshu jumped in fright. Her finger slipped off the screen, and the voice message sent automatically. She hurriedly played it back to make sure Ye Qingyu’s voice hadn’t been recorded before breathing a sigh of relief.

“It’s nothing.”

“Still ‘nothing’? Whispering good night under the covers in the middle of the night, huh~” Ye Qingyu pressed, “Tell me, to what extent have you two progressed?”

Ji Songshu blinked, her eyes sparkling and enchanted in the darkness. With a hint of shyness, she said, “I’ll tell you quietly, but don’t scold me.”

“Don’t worry, why would I scold you?”

“We’ve already slept together.”

The words were like a bolt of lightning. Ye Qingyu sucked in a cold breath, grabbed Ji Songshu’s shoulders, and shook her violently: “When? How could you only tell me something this important now! She didn’t force you, right? You were willing, weren’t you?”

Ji Songshu hesitated before giving a small “Mm.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Ye Qingyu breathed a long sigh of relief, then turned to tease her. “How was the experience?”

How was what? How was she supposed to answer that? Ji Songshu stammered, unable to speak, so she urged: “It’s already one o’clock, go to sleep.”

“It’s your fault for telling me such explosive news; how can I sleep now? If you don’t want to talk about that, I won’t ask. Let’s just chat.”

Ye Qingyu grumbled and rambled on about many things.

“…I went back to High School No. 1 a while ago. They actually built a new gymnasium, and the uniforms changed to Western-style suits. They’re so pretty. Why did we dress so dowdily back then? They didn’t let us dress up at all, and takeout had to be hoisted in through the back iron gate…

“Sure enough, as soon as we graduated, the school got better.”

Mentioning high school, Ji Songshu felt a wave of nostalgia. That time, though only two years ago, felt as distant as the last century.

The her from back then was worlds apart from the her now.

In her freshman year of high school, she had thick blunt bangs, wore glasses as thick as beer bottle bottoms, and was introverted and shy. She had even been mocked because of her large chest. During PE class, classmates would often stand at the finish line just to gawk at her.

If Shang Keyu had met her then, she would probably have ignored her.

…Why am I thinking about Shang Keyu? Ji Songshu startled herself and quickly pulled her thoughts back on track.

In her unremarkable high school days, the person who was gentlest and best to her was Ye Qingyu.

The first time she and Qingqing met was in the classroom after school.

The sunset that day was exceptionally intense, a deep orange-red. The classroom was empty; she had stayed late for cleaning duty. Pei Jiyue cornered her at the classroom door and, without a word, grabbed her hair and slammed her head toward the corner of a desk. Her glasses fell to the floor and were crushed under Pei Jiyue’s foot.

At that time, she didn’t know that Pei Jiyue was taking her anger out on her because her crush had looked at Ji Songshu a few times during morning exercises.

She had shielded her head blankly, enduring the rain-like blows, her voice trembling as she asked her cousin why she was doing this. But she received no answer, only a string of filthy curses that echoed loudly in the corridor filled with sunset glow.

Ye Qingyu wasn’t from their class. She had returned to the teaching building because she forgot her homework and happened to hear the massive commotion. Following the sound, she rushed up before even seeing the situation clearly, swinging her arms to grab Pei Jiyue’s arm, throwing her aside, and shielding the curled-up Ji Songshu.

Ye Qingyu took photos as evidence and threatened to go to the principal to have Pei Jiyue expelled before Pei Jiyue finally left resentfully.

It was a very cliché story of acting bravely for a just cause, but in the eyes of the Ji Songshu of that time, Ye Qingyu was like light.

For the first time in her life, someone was willing to save her.

The next evening, Ji Songshu, wearing glasses held together with tape, bumped into a swaggering Ye Qingyu at the classroom door. Ye Qingyu said that to prevent her from being retaliated against, she would walk her home.

Ji Songshu back then was still stubborn.

She didn’t want Ye Qingyu to know about her cousin relationship with Pei Jiyue, and she felt such protection was meaningless—before she was financially independent, she would never escape the control of the Pei family. So she hardened her heart, made up an excuse to refuse, and even pushed Ye Qingyu away.

To her surprise, Ye Qingyu forced her into her family’s car.

Sitting in the backseat of the sedan, Ji Songshu was uneasy. She didn’t dare touch anything, keeping her hands obediently on her thighs—the only part of the situation she was familiar with.

Ye Qingyu watched her closely and suddenly said: “You killed a person.”

Such a severe accusation gave Ji Songshu a huge fright. Her mind was a mess, her gaze shocked and fearful.

Ye Qingyu told her solemnly:

“A person doesn’t have only one destiny. If you decide you can’t do it and don’t resist, you kill yourself before destiny does.”

This sentence took root in Ji Songshu’s heart. She asked herself: Are you content with this? Do you hear the pain and wailing of the countless cowardly versions of yourself that have died? Do you hear your sister’s helpless and lost crying? Do you want to live under Pei Jiyue’s shadow for the rest of your life? Do you want to be trapped here forever? Did Mom give birth to you just so you could experience this kind of life?

Ye Qingyu took her to her own home and told her she was a tenth-dan in Judo and had a dedicated training room at home.

Then she asked: Do you want to learn?

Ji Songshu grit her teeth and said: It’s not that I want to, it’s that I MUST learn.

From then on, Ye Qingyu took her to the training room every day after school, teaching her Judo personally. Falling down and standing up again and again, their friendship was built through that kind of combat and struggle.

A few months later, Pei Jiyue looked for trouble again for some mysterious reason. This time, Ji Songshu did not back down.

That was the first and only, time in her life she had fought, and she won a total victory.

That was also the turning point in her relationship with Pei Jiyue. Otherwise, relying on Pei Jiyue’s provocations and whispering in people’s ears, she thought she wouldn’t have even had the chance to go to university.

To this day, she remains very grateful to Ye Qingyu. Growing up, she couldn’t find anyone better than Qingqing.

Ji Songshu said nostalgically: “You told me then that ‘a person doesn’t have only one destiny.’ I’ve remembered that sentence for many years.”

Ye Qingyu scratched her head, looking a bit shy: “Actually, I wasn’t the original creator of that sentence. My childhood friend told it to me.”

“Something happened to my friend’s family when she was little, and she had to go abroad. On the day she left, I chased her to the airport and asked why she had to go, and that was her answer.”

She tilted her head, recalling that day. A young Shang Keyu stood alone at the boarding gate, amidst the flow and noise of the crowd. Her small suitcase held all of her “past,” and the vast city was but a memory she had cut away and discarded.

She was headed for her future, and the only person there to see her off was Ye Qingyu.

Even today, Ye Qingyu could hear Shang Keyu’s clear and powerful voice through the mists of time and numerous obstacles:

“A person doesn’t have only one destiny. If I decide I can’t do it and don’t resist, then the person who truly kills me isn’t destiny, it’s myself.”

“Just you wait. I will come back. I want to become the destiny of those who tried to crush me.”

Hearing Ye Qingyu’s words, Ji Songshu was somewhat shocked. She hadn’t expected Qingqing’s childhood friend to be such an incredible person with such awareness at a young age. She said blankly: “If there’s a chance, I’d really like to meet her.”

“No time like the present. Let’s make it today,” Ye Qingyu said.