Bullying The Sister-In-Law - Chapter 15.1

When the station announcement sounded, Liu Chengxu’s tears completely broke. She watched helplessly as the train carriage disappeared at the end of the tunnel, and a new train stopped with an unfamiliar line number.

The wind brought by the train hit her face, mixing with tears and streaming down. She opened her mouth in vain, but couldn’t even cry out loud.

Liu Chengxu cried for a while and then couldn’t cry anymore, because the person who could pamper her and comfort her was gone, and crying more would only make her a spectacle to others. She tried hard to hold back her tears.

The train traveled quickly on the tracks. Su Zhiluo looked out the window. The first thing she saw were her own red eyes. Then she lowered her head, her gaze dropping, and tears fell onto her phone screen.

This farewell was not earth-shattering. Both of them kept their crying to the lowest volume, the reluctance stifled in their chests. They both knew better than anyone that the shoulder they could cry on was gone today.

Perhaps it was a tacit understanding; they both recalled the New Year’s Eve, when Su Zhiluo cried uncontrollably because of her sister’s death, and Liu Chengxu comforted her word by word. They became each other’s reliance.

Liu Chengxu fiercely wiped her face. She walked out of the station, and this time she looked up at the weather. It was warm sunshine, shining on her with a distinct heat. For the next few days, she was no longer able to perceive the weather; her body had completely lost sensation.

Liu Chengxu had classes in the morning. She took a leave of absence to go to the station. When she came back, she lay on her bed, frequently checking her phone. No messages came in, no post-event comfort.

Unconsciously, she lay there numbly until evening. Su Zhiluo’s train ride to Guangzhou would take until the next day, nearly 20 hours. At five in the morning, Liu Chengxu typed with trembling hands: Are you there?

Su Zhiluo replied: Almost.

Liu Chengxu: Tell me when you arrive.

Su Zhiluo: Waking up so early?

Liu Chengxu: Running.

Liu Chengxu didn’t disturb her roommate. She got up quietly, brushed her teeth and washed her face, and started running with her phone. She hadn’t eaten yesterday, and she had insomnia. She wanted to run herself into a coma, even a sudden blackout from low blood sugar would be fine.

However, half an hour later, besides feeling worse, she had no other discomfort. Liu Chengxu sat on the steps of the dorm building, gasping for breath, having to admit that she had refined herself to be overly resilient during this period.

Su Zhiluo: Take care of yourself.

This meant she had arrived at the station.

Liu Chengxu patted her bitter, smiling face, her eyes too dry to cry anymore.

Every day she was caught between two extremes: missing Su Zhiluo, hoping Su Zhiluo couldn’t let go and would come back. Then, when the longing became intense, she turned selfish and narrow-minded, and began to hate Su Zhiluo, who had bitten the bullet and sent herself to a prestigious school.

She hated her for abandoning her, hated her for wanting to end their bond with separation.

Liu Chengxu still chose to keep busy.

Part-time jobs, studying in the library.

She flipped through books on the literature shelf, finding a few about love. All the heartbroken protagonists were invariably like fighters: It’s just love, it’s just love. It won’t beat me. I’ve conquered it. I scoff at it. I’m invincible.

But.

Liu Chengxu wanted to say.

What you conquered was just love, not that person.

Love is indeed nothing, but that person is a forever untouchable forbidden subject.

Liu Chengxu lived like this for a week. During this time, her ears started having problems, always hallucinating her sister-in-law calling her: Chengxu, Chengxu.

She also secretly looked back many times, but behind her, besides the gradually green trees reminding her that summer was coming, there was nothing else.

A wound like love doesn’t hurt the surface. As long as you disguise it well, others actually can’t see much. Meng Zhengyue and Cha Baomei just thought she was about to get her period, feeling down during the luteal phase.

Liu Chengxu put her pain into expectation. May Day Labor Day was coming soon, and Su Zhiluo would settle down and then invite her to visit.

After Su Zhiluo arrived in Guangzhou, she first stayed in a hotel. After a day of rest, she took the subway and bus to Shisanhang (a wholesale market area), wandering around the vicinity.

There are many factories here, so there is no shortage of work. She found a garment factory nearby. She planned to work there for a month, familiarize herself with the process, have a place to eat and stay, and then figure out the area to find sources of goods.

Normally, she would just talk to Chang Ruyin about anything.

Many times, she wanted to ask Chang Ruyin to check on Liu Chengxu for her, but the words got stuck in her throat, fearing it would give Liu Chengxu hope.

She thought she had already gone this far and couldn’t give up halfway.

During this time, the two of them contacted each other very rarely, so little that the daily messages were just to confirm the other was still alive.

On May Day, Liu Chengxu packed her things and went home.

This was the first time she had gone back since Su Zhiluo left. Liu Chengxu had been anticipating that she would open the door and see Su Zhiluo.

However, reality was cruel. What greeted her was a locked door. She told herself that it was normal, a long trip home, and the train fare was expensive.

Mingming and a little girl in a skirt were leaning against the door doing homework. Mingming looked up and said hello, but Liu Chengxu seemed not to hear. She held the key, trembling, and tried several times but couldn’t align it with the keyhole. Her backpack slipped down from her shoulder, and she kicked it irritably.

The door opened. She turned her head to look at Mingming, “What’s wrong?”

There was a fierce look in Liu Chengxu’s eyes. The two little girls were quite scared of her. Mingming slowly replied, “Sister Luoluo gave my family some ribs when she left, and asked my grandma to take care of you. My grandma said you should eat at our place when you come back.”

Liu Chengxu’s tight lips moved, but she didn’t smile. She shook her head, “No need.”

What was the point?

What was the point of asking others to take care of her?

Wasn’t this the same as the parents who abandoned her?

Liu Chengxu didn’t care for it at all now.

She closed the door and looked at the suddenly empty and cold room. For the first time, she realized that this small, dilapidated room, which she always thought was cramped, could be so large that it made her bones ache.

The clothesline on the balcony was swaying empty. The rope now hung loosely.

The floor felt unprecedentedly wide, and the distance from the door to the edge of the bed seemed to be invisibly stretched. The folding table in the corner was half-folded, revealing the slightly lighter-colored wall that had been covered all year round. When a person’s trace disappears, everything becomes glaring.

She quickly went to the bedroom. The bedsheet on Su Zhiluo’s bed was all packed up, leaving only the empty bed board.