After the Real Young Miss Became My Canary - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Shen Ying, Your Ears Are Red

◎ Song Zhi’s eyes curved into a smile: “You’re so good.” ◎

Song Zhi then followed beside Shen Ying, moving quickly through another alley, facing the wind.

They emerged into a place that was still a dense row of “tube buildings.” Song Zhi wasn’t directionally challenged, but in this area, one corner always looked exactly like the last one.

Song Zhi wasn’t directionally challenged; she just didn’t know the roads here.

Shen Ying blocked her from the front, walking briskly ahead, leading the way.

Just like before.

This was a completely unconscious, unthinking action.

Song Zhi tilted her head to look, her face mostly hidden by her straight, long, black hair, revealing only a section of her pale chin.

Song Zhi belatedly began to think about something.

Shen Ying avoided everyone else, but in front of the woman she feared, she stood in front of her.

Song Zhi looked at her and slowly raised her lips, forming two dimples.

Shen Ying happened to catch sight of these two dimples.

She didn’t dare to look, and she pursed her lips and walked forward with her head down. “I’ll bring things back tomorrow after work. Let’s go home for now.”

She waited for a while but didn’t get a response.

This wasn’t Song Zhi’s style.

She turned to look, and Song Zhi was staring at her, her eyes fixed.

Shen Ying frowned, asking in confusion, “Why are you staring at me?”

She had been the subject of many stares. Most of those stares were malevolent or evasive.

Song Zhi’s gaze was different from all of them.

Her gaze was focused and without any impurities, clearly telling her, “I’m just looking at you,” and doing so without any malicious intent.

This only confused Shen Ying more.

She had only ever experienced unprovoked hatred and didn’t know what kindness felt like. As soon as someone showed her a hint of kindness, she would immediately put on a cold facade and cautiously test their intentions.

Song Zhi’s eyes curved into a smile. “You’re so good.”

Shen Ying awkwardly took in the praise. In that instant, she wondered what her reaction should be. This was the first time someone had praised her. She wasn’t familiar with how to respond. She would be very familiar if someone cursed her.

After thinking about it, she felt awkward, thinking that Song Zhi was only praising her for some other reason and wasn’t being sincere.

She didn’t want something that was given to her for a different reason.

So she pursed her lips and said coldly, “I won’t kick you out until you’re healed.”

So there was no need to use such exaggerated praise to please her.

Song Zhi watched as the usually cold Shen Ying had a brief moment of warmth, then immediately became frigid again.

Song Zhi widened her cat-like eyes. They looked like there was water swirling in them. She looked at Shen Ying in disbelief, and said with a wronged expression, “How can you think that? I’ve never praised you for any other reason. Everything is sincere.”

Shen Ying seemed to have been scalded by her words. She quickly walked forward, not daring to stay for even a second.

But she didn’t even notice that the tips of her pale ears had turned red.

Song Zhi, walking behind her, saw it clearly. “Shen Ying, your ears are red.”

Shen Ying ignored her and quickened her pace.

Song Zhi put her hands behind her back and peeked her head out from Shen Ying’s side. “Are you shy?”

Song Zhi was following close behind Shen Ying. As she leaned forward to peek, she instinctively bumped into the area just above Shen Ying’s shoulder.

As her breath brushed past, Shen Ying’s whole body stiffened. Many images flashed through her mind. After so many years, when those images appeared before her, she still instinctively trembled. The honest memories replayed the sickening, sticky breaths on her neck.

And the pain.

She then quickly turned her head away, moving her body away from Song Zhi’s face. “Let’s go home.”

Only then did a faint, subtle fragrance linger at her nose. It was very light, like the scent of water, dissipating in the air after a moment.

It was Song Zhi’s scent, perhaps from her clothes or a natural scent. This time, those memories in her mind were easily suppressed by this gentle scent.

Song Zhi didn’t pay attention to the turmoil in Shen Ying’s heart at that moment. She beamed and said, “As you wish.”

Shen Ying said, “Let’s go buy clothes first.”

Such a grown person couldn’t keep wearing her old clothes.

Song Zhi smiled. “No need. I can wear anything.”

Shen Ying was persistent. At this moment, she remembered the coldness principle she had briefly abandoned.

Since she wanted to cut ties, why would she let someone keep wearing her old clothes? To show that their relationship was good?

Shen Ying insisted. “We have to.”

Song Zhi had no choice but to follow her. After that little incident, going to the supermarket was out of the question, but it seemed Shen Ying didn’t plan to take her to a supermarket anyway.

Shen Ying put one hand in her pocket and led the way, weaving left and right. After walking for about ten minutes, she stopped at an intersection that, to Song Zhi, looked no different from their “tube building” neighborhood.

The only difference was the large number of people coming and going, many of whom were carrying shopping bags.

As they entered, Song Zhi deliberately paid attention to the street sign: Jiahe Street.

The first step inside, she was met with a massive crowd. Luckily, Shen Ying pulled her in time, preventing her from having to wait at the broadcast station within the first minute of entering the street.

When that laughing, chattering group of people passed, Song Zhi finally had a chance to look around like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

This place was different from where they lived. It wasn’t about squeezing between buildings. It was an open, wide area. From the first tree at the alley entrance to the last one that you couldn’t see the end of, there were colorful strings of lights wrapped around them.

It was also from the first tree that someone had set up a large piece of cloth, filled with colorful short-sleeved shirts. Behind the cloth sat a middle-aged person on a short stool. This scene was replicated like a copy-and-paste, extending all the way into the distance where the lights faded. The only difference was the gender and appearance of the vendors.

What was even more bizarre was that even in front of this tattered cloth, which might have been salvaged from some junkyard, there was a huge crowd of people.

Those rough-looking people rummaged through the clothes on the cloth, and when they got excited with the vendor, spit flew.

Shen Ying slightly raised her chin toward Song Zhi, gesturing for her to go pick out some clothes.

Song Zhi took a step back at her gesture.

Then she took another step back into the crowd.

But throughout it all, Shen Ying just stood there, watching her with an indifferent look. She didn’t speak, she didn’t move, she didn’t even show a hint of emotion, like a silent statue.

It was as if it wouldn’t matter at all if she just turned and left. It was as if Shen Ying had never even seen her before.

I won’t leave.

Song Zhi thought.

She hadn’t finished her business yet. Shen Ying had clearly agreed to let her stay here. Her biggest obstacle was gone, so why would she leave?

She tried to ignore the sudden pang of bitterness in her heart when she saw Shen Ying’s indifferent gaze. In that moment, it felt like there was resistance flowing through her blood, and she found it hard to breathe.

She consoled herself.

Maybe it was because she had never made any friends. To clip her wings and prevent her from having a chance to stand on her own, Song Guan would do anything. He first chose a study companion for her, just like selecting a prince’s companion in ancient times, and then he had this strong and powerful companion watch over her strictly.

Song Zhi didn’t want to listen? Fine. The cards were frozen, and she was locked up.

Song Zhi looked at Shen Ying, looked at the crowd, and took a step forward, then another. On her last step, she stood beside Shen Ying and gently tugged on her sleeve.

She knew she was acting a bit abnormally. She attributed this abnormality to Shen Ying being her first friend, a person who didn’t understand her, didn’t know her identity, and yet could stand in front of her.

Xie Chu didn’t count because she was Grandma’s person. To be precise, she should call Xie Chu her cousin.

Shen Ying withdrew her gaze.

Actually, if Song Zhi had turned and left, she wouldn’t have been surprised. Because the day she found Song Zhi, although Song Zhi was wearing clothes she couldn’t recognize the brand of, she could tell from the quality of the fabric that they were not cheap.

People without money wouldn’t spend a lot to dress themselves up. This was a privilege of the rich. They had things others didn’t: time and money.

Shen Ying found herself subconsciously looking at Song Zhi again. Even the items she had told herself to distance herself from had become things she used to test Song Zhi.

She had been wondering if Song Zhi knew her true situation, knew the environment she lived in, would she still be the same? Would she still lightly hook her fingertips onto her cheap synthetic clothes?

But the thought lasted for only a moment. She would not expose her vulnerabilities and weaknesses. That would only invite betrayal.

In any case, she and Song Zhi were only temporary.

Song Zhi’s voice was soft. “Let’s pick together.”

Song Zhi quickly picked a T-shirt and a pair of shorts and pulled Shen Ying back home.

By the time they got home, it was already late. Shen Ying added a layer of clothes and left for work.

When she left, under Song Zhi’s persistent questioning, she still told Song Zhi her workplace and work hours, but she didn’t expect Song Zhi to come.

Her work ended too early. Given that Song Zhi slept until noon, she probably was just saying it. And this place was indeed unsafe.

The area she lived in was the very bottom of Hong Kong City. There was a lot of courage that stemmed from poverty, but most of that courage wasn’t for good. The salary from this night job was so good that she was willing to take the risk.

She warned herself in advance, telling herself that Song Zhi might not show up.

She was used to accepting all bad outcomes first, so when the bad outcome truly came, she could accept it calmly.

And why should she expect others to give her something? She had been fine on her own for so many years.

Song Zhi took a nap after Shen Ying left. She was a light sleeper, and her sleep was shallow. She sat in the darkness, hugging her bare legs and watching the clock tick, until it was almost time for Shen Ying to get off work.

She was afraid of the dark, and she was afraid of being alone, but she couldn’t tell anyone she was afraid. She couldn’t show a single weakness.

She would be torn to shreds.

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