Cross the Boundary GL - Chapter 8

After Qin Song finished speaking, she made a hollow gesture with her arm. “I’m not trying to hit anyone. We can take turns.”

Li Chu’s hands were slick with sweat. Finally, in the almost hypnotic light, she grabbed Qin Song’s arm. “Let’s go, okay?”

Qin Song turned her head. “You go first.”

Her hand reached over Li Chu to pick up an empty wine bottle from the table. She weighed it in her hand, then looked sideways at the man. “How about this one?”

Speaking calmly while suggesting a crazy act, Qin Song’s madness gained an invisible upper hand in the confrontation.

“Are you f*cking sick? Who the hell is going to hit someone with a wine bottle!” The man’s arrogance completely vanished, leaving only a stream of curses.

Qin Song actually smiled again, and said with a voice so cool it was cruel, “I am sick, so do you want to play with me?”

The assorted men and women around them turned pale, and one by one, they fearfully sat back down.

She paid the bill and smashed the wine bottles. The farce ended with Li Chu and Qin Song leaving the bar safely, one after the other.

Outside, the streetlights were off, and the silence of the late night had set in. It was the kind of summer night that brought heavy thunderstorms in the early hours. The swishing sound of the rain was dense and intense.

Li Chu was mostly sober. She rubbed her eyes, feeling sleepy, and said to Qin Song, “It’s raining so hard. Let’s wait a bit before we leave.”

Qin Song was silent, seemingly lost in thought.

Li Chu gently touched her arm. “You shouldn’t do things like that again.”

Hearing this, Qin Song lowered her head and stared unblinkingly at the person in front of her. “Do what?”

The oppressive feeling left Li Chu speechless. It was a long time before she quietly murmured, “Doing that out there… there were so many of them. It’s too dangerous.”

Perhaps the rain was too loud, or maybe Li Chu’s unintentional gesture of intimacy was repelling, but Qin Song became inexplicably annoyed.

“Are you scared?” she asked.

Li Chu lowered her eyes, finding it difficult to decide whether to tell the truth.

She believed that if that group of people had continued to push, Qin Song would have truly smashed a bottle over their heads.

Qin Song was ruthless to herself, and she could be lethal to others.

The rain showed no signs of stopping. It was a violent downpour mixed with the oppressive darkness of the night, a thick, black expanse with no end in sight.

“If you’re scared, then don’t try to understand,” she said, and then walked directly into the heavy rain. Her light gray jacket darkened to a deep gray from her shoulders down, finally becoming a long line of light and rain dancing across the road.

Li Chu stared at the empty street ahead, and only then did she realize.

Qin Song seemed to be angry.

Qin Song was a little annoyed, so when she entered the apartment, her movements were not very gentle. A neatly placed slipper by the door was kicked aside, flying until it finally stopped in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

In a self-destructive way, she walked barefoot, tossing her soaked jacket aside and yanking the closed curtains open. Then she opened the window, letting the smell of damp earth and rain rush into the room, bringing a little bit of life to the lifeless living room.

Standing on the balcony and looking down, there was an endless blackness, but looking up, she could see the falling points of light. Qin Song watched for a long time, so long that her phone rang many times before she went inside to answer it.

“Speak,” she said, assuming it was about work.

Li Chu’s voice came through the phone. “Qin Song.”

Qin Song held the phone, and in the darkness, her eyelashes fluttered slowly.

Seeing her silence, Li Chu simply continued, “I still think we should get to know each other. The contract doesn’t have a time limit, and I’ll keep my shop here. You’re not going to leave, right?”

Qin Song couldn’t give a definite answer, and she wouldn’t. Words spoken must be followed through, and why should she make a promise?

“Well, I’ll just assume you won’t be leaving for a while then. Since neither of us will be leaving in the short term, doesn’t that mean our agreement can be maintained for a while?”

To her credit, Li Chu was very clever, adding “for a while” to every sentence, making it impossible for Qin Song to immediately refute.

“If we’re going to have a long-term collaboration for a while, we have to understand each other, right? That’s the only way we can get along in the most comfortable way and benefit each other. Don’t you agree?”

Her voice was steady and soft. She mimicked Qin Song’s words with about 70 percent accuracy. She had learned it, but she hadn’t quite mastered it.

“You don’t want to be uncomfortable when we’re together, right? So I think if you’re willing, you can try to get to know me. But to show my sincerity, I’ll let you get to know me first.”

The noise outside was no longer so loud. The rain had become lighter, and there was a trend for it to stop, just a light pitter-patter.

Qin Song used the smart switch, and the room suddenly lit up completely.

Li Chu waited for a while, seeming unsure of Qin Song’s thoughts. Hesitating, the sound of pacing came from the other end of the phone. “I wasn’t scared of you today.”

“You should be more honest,” Qin Song said coldly.

This time, it was Li Chu’s turn to be silent, but it didn’t last long. She said, “Okay, I was a little scared. Just a little. But mostly, I was thinking it wasn’t worth it.”

Qin Song scoffed on her end of the phone. “My needs were met. Why wasn’t it worth it?”

“It’s not the same,” Li Chu’s voice became a little more urgent. “I don’t want you to get locked up in a police station again.”

The mention of the police station caused Qin Song to get lost in thought for a moment. That day, Li Chu had signed the papers without hesitation to “claim” her, as if a family member were taking home their own kin. If she had really done serious harm to someone, would Li Chu have still signed the papers so unhesitatingly?

Wasn’t she afraid of having to bear some kind of responsibility or risk?

“…You had dinner with me today. Remember to come over tomorrow. I’ll do your back of the neck, and… I can also tell you about my life, if you’re interested.”

Qin Song wasn’t interested. She didn’t care about other people’s business at all. It was just that when she heard Li Chu mention the orphanage at the flower shop door, a feeling of shared misery had momentarily arisen, but it was quickly washed away, and now it no longer made any waves.

Misery couldn’t love company. Some people were only physically ill. She was different; she was a piece of hollowed-out wood. She looked perfectly whole on the outside, but the inside had long since rotted away.

After hanging up, Qin Song sat on the floor, motionless, lost in her thoughts for a long time. She was thinking about this person, Li Chu.

She pushed her away, but she came back closer, as if she didn’t understand why she was being pushed away, and she stayed firmly rooted, impossible to push away no matter how hard she tried.

Their intimacy seemed intimate, but it was actually rootless and floating, with even the pleasantries built on mutual benefit.

Qin Song didn’t understand what self-sacrificing actions could achieve. She believed that the way to get along was through a transaction, and that it should be self-centered.

In the second half of the night, the rain started again, accompanied by the roar of thunder. Qin Song came out of the bathroom after a shower, ready to turn off the lights. She thought about it, then crouched down, pulled open the innermost cabinet, and took out a bottle of medicine.

It had been a long time since she had taken medicine. For her, losing sleep meant she could survive clearly, without losing her direction.

There was no water in the refrigerator, so she used wine instead to swallow the pills. The bitter taste was held by her tongue piercing and then carried all the way into her dreams.

The medicine worked very effectively. Qin Song slept until two in the afternoon, missing four or five work calls. Even with the ringer on, she wasn’t woken up.

She propped her elbow on the bed and dealt with them one by one. They were just simple quotation details. The company knew she had been on a business trip and working overtime for over a month, and had left on a break halfway through, so they wouldn’t assign her any complicated tasks unless it was absolutely necessary.

Just as she was about to finish, a message from Li Chu popped up unexpectedly above the many spreadsheet columns, staying for a moment before shrinking back up.

Qin Song opened WeChat only after she was completely done. The other person had sent a photo. She didn’t enlarge it because the next second, Li Chu explained the meaning of the photo: “I bought so many new studs!”

She didn’t reply. She tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling. The hollows of her collarbone deepened and became a dull ache from the strain. Soon, she lowered her head again, her hair a bit frizzy from the movement.

She suddenly had the urge to go downstairs just like this, appearing in the most disheveled state.

So Qin Song, with her messy hair, got into the apartment elevator, crossed the pedestrian walkway, and finally stopped in front of the door of kiss.me.

Inside, Li Chu was tattooing a customer’s lower back, her back to the door, her dark hair hanging limply.

Seeing someone, Qin Song’s hand, which was hovering over the door, paused. She took out a cigarette pack and stood under the wind chime.

She was always like this, cutting off any chance of contact with people, except for her needs, except for the needs she couldn’t get rid of.

Li Chu knew she would come. She used the excuse of changing the needle to turn around and glance at the door out of the corner of her eye. Qin Song looked unusually messy, adjusting her tongue piercing with her fingertips. The protruding bones of her wrists looked exquisite.

“Who is that?” The customer looked in that direction, their expression becoming strange. “Dressed like that…”

Before she could finish, Qin Song happened to turn around. Her skin was an abnormal white. The messiness and skin tone of the day combined to create a sense of fragmented and torn beauty, but her aura wasn’t sweet and gentle. Instead, it was very sharp.

This kind of beauty, which broke the mold of aesthetic fatigue, would make people unconsciously want to get closer. Unfortunately, people were only looking at the skin, forgetting the true nature of the soul.

“Your customer? That large tattoo is absolutely beautiful.”

Li Chu absentmindedly dipped the ink. “She is beautiful.”

“Do you have her WeChat or phone number? Can you share it?”

The hand outlining the tattoo suddenly trembled. The other person immediately grimaced. “Ow! Why does this place hurt so much!”

“The skin is thin. Please bear with it,” Li Chu said, turning the needle. She consoled her gently, “Tattoos always hurt a little.”

After he was done, Qin Song finished her cigarette and was about to enter the shop, and as usual, she moved to the side to let the man pass, but he stood in the doorway and wouldn’t move.

“Hey, beautiful, can I add you on a messaging app?”

The sunlight coming from the side shone into the corners of Qin Song’s eyes, but it didn’t make them bright at all. They were so dark they seemed bottomless.

If she weren’t standing there, and the hollows of her collarbone weren’t slightly moving, you would have to wonder if she was even alive.

“Please move. I still have business to do. This lady is the next customer,” Li Chu urged from behind.

Perhaps Qin Song’s gaze was too bone-chilling. She always seemed to have the upper hand in these kinds of confrontations. The man didn’t pester her much longer, just gave them a deep look, and left.

After he left, Qin Song spoke meaningfully, “It seems you’re not picky about your customers.”

Li Chu’s throat felt tight. “I just opened. I can’t refuse them.”

Qin Song scoffed lightly. “Can’t or don’t dare?”

Sometimes, Qin Song was quite a verbal assassin. When her sharp insight and cutting remarks came out, combined with her lifeless eyes, it was like being stripped naked and thrown into a dense crowd, a feeling of humiliation stacked high.

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