I Still Miss Her [Rebirth] - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: “Why Have You Lost So Much Weight?”

“Fine,” Fang Hong said, gritting her teeth and giving her a look that screamed ‘you’re hopeless.’ “I’ll carry out the execution once your leg is healed.”

Fang Rulian gave a cheeky smile, but in her peripheral vision, a shadow had already drifted into the living room.

Her heart tightened instantly.

Fang Hong’s loud voice rang in her ears: “Xiaoyi is back! Wash your hands and eat!”

Mu Yunshu leaned over to change her shoes. “She’s going to her room to drop off her backpack first. She’ll be right out.”

“What took so long?” Fang Hong asked.

Mu Yunshu headed into the bathroom to wash up, speaking as she did: “There was a traffic jam on the way back. There was an accident—a car knocked over an electric scooter. The police were directing traffic.”

She wiped her hands, a look of sadness crossing her face. “It was a shared scooter. The rider was a student wearing the No. 2 Middle School uniform. Luckily, they weren’t hurt.”

Fang Hong responded, “It’s so dark out, and the parents didn’t even think to pick them up. Those shared scooters have no lights or mirrors… thank goodness they’re okay. Students these days have such a bitter, tiring life with their studies.”

At this, she nudged the girl next to her with her elbow. “Was it this bitter when you were in high school?”

Fang Rulian was completely preoccupied thinking about Fang Zhiyi. Startled by the nudge, her body jerked violently. She stammered, “Uh, I… I had it bitter too.”

“No matter how bitter you had it, did you have classes on Saturdays?”

That was true. Four years had passed, and the pressure of the Gaokao was only becoming more severe—and it would get even worse in the future. In a few years, after the continuous expansion of university enrollment coincided with an economic downturn, college graduates would be unemployed upon graduation. She wondered if they would regret working so hard back then.

“Xiaoyi, close the door,” Mu Yunshu said, looking toward the entrance.

“Mhm.”

The voice wasn’t loud—a cool, clear tone, identical to the person in Fang Rulian’s memory.

She involuntarily turned to look.

The first thing to hit her vision was the blue-and-white school uniform. As her focus sharpened, the slender silhouette of the young girl beneath the uniform became distinct.

The girl’s features were elegant and light, like a sketch. The artist must have been skilled, capturing a moving face with just a few strokes.

Her dark pupils were exceptionally large, set in narrow eye sockets. Whenever their owner absentmindedly drifted off, a fragile charm naturally flowed out.

Fang Rulian had seen exactly how soul-stirring those eyes could be.

“Let’s eat. It’s almost seven; you must be starving,” Fang Hong said. “Take a stool or sit next to your sister… It’s only been a week, why do you look so much thinner?”

The sofa cushion next to Fang Rulian sank.

Before Fang Rulian could process her complex emotions, she suddenly became keenly aware of a gaze landing on her face—”landing” wasn’t quite right; perhaps “pinned” was a better word.

She had originally wanted to turn her head and look at Fang Zhiyi. She hadn’t seen her in so long; she wanted to look at her properly.

However, the girl’s gaze was so intense that Fang Rulian inexplicably lost her nerve, not daring to turn and meet her eyes.

“She definitely didn’t eat dinner at school again. Just like the girls in my class—too lazy to go downstairs, too lazy to wait in line at the cafeteria, so they just make do with a piece of bread in the classroom.”

Mu Yunshu looked at her daughter. “Why are you staring at your sister? Did you miss her that much?”

Fang Zhiyi shifted her gaze back, lowered her head to take a bite of rice, then glanced at Fang Rulian again.

She asked: “Sister, what happened to your face?”

Fang Rulian let out a long breath of relief.

Why didn’t you just ask sooner? Staring at her like that for so long made her think she had already done something to bully Zhiyi at this point in the rebirth timeline.

“She did her own ‘special effects’ makeup. Her face was painted deathly white, and here—” Fang Hong pointed at her own cheeks with her chopsticks, “—she had two big red blobs.”

Fang Rulian: “It’s called blush.”

Fang Hong ignored her. “Scared me to death. I wiped it off for her at the hospital.”

It hadn’t been wiped off very cleanly; there were still red and white residues on her face, making her look a bit strange. Since her foot was sprained, Rulian hadn’t thought to remove the rest after coming home.

“Sister, your foot…” The girl’s gaze slid down Rulian’s leg, landing on the bandaged ankle.

Fang Rulian pulled out the excuse she had rehearsed many times.

She claimed she had an appointment with a photographer to take photos. After putting on her makeup, she was wandering around the balcony when her colored contact lens accidentally fell outside. She stepped onto the plant stand to reach for it, but the stand slipped, and she accidentally fell from the balcony into the flower bed.

The story was logically sound and very persuasive.

Because of her good looks, Fang Rulian had been working part-time as a model since university to earn pocket money. She never hid this from Mu Yunshu, Fang Hong, or Fang Zhiyi.

Seeing that Fang Zhiyi was still staring at her foot, Fang Rulian couldn’t help but nudge her with her elbow, frowning. “It’s not a serious injury, stop looking. Eat your dinner.”

Fang Zhiyi gave a small hum of acknowledgment and withdrew her gaze. The high ponytail at the back of her rounded head swayed slightly.

…

9:30 PM.

Fang Rulian lay sprawled on her bed, her limbs spread out and one cheek buried in the soft quilt. She tilted her head, her gaze moving from the ceiling to the wall, and from the wall to the bed.

Even now, she felt an unrealistic sense of trance, as if she were in a dream.

Fortunately, the breeze blowing in was real, the quilt she lay on was real, and the sounds of Fang Hong and Mu Yunshu laughing in the living room were real.

And of course, the noisy traffic coming from outside the window was real too.

The house was right by the road, so the noise was unavoidable. Having lived here for decades, she was used to it—but right now, it felt a bit too loud.

She propped herself up with her hands and dragged her leg toward the window. Halfway there, her phone on the pillow rang. She glanced at it but ignored it. Just as she was about to continue moving, three knocks came from the door: Dong, dong, dong.

Fang Hong never knocked before entering her room. Fang Rulian asked: “Auntie Mu? Just come in, it’s not locked.”

The door opened.

It wasn’t Mu Yunshu; it was Fang Zhiyi.

She was indeed too thin. The oversized school uniform draped over her, looking empty and making her silhouette appear frail and malnourished.

The light in the living room was much brighter than the bedroom. Fang Zhiyi’s faint shadow fell across the floor, the top half quietly creeping onto the edge of Fang Rulian’s bed.

“What is it?” Fang Rulian saw that she was holding something.

“You forgot your medicine.” Her eyelashes swept up, deepening her shallow double eyelids. Fang Zhiyi opened her palm to reveal a tube of ointment for sprains and bruises.

Fang Rulian gave a small smile.

Not for any particular reason, just because of the familiar “wooden block” energy from Fang Zhiyi—she’d already told her to come in, yet she stood there like a statue at the door. Besides, standing there with her hand open… did she expect a girl with a sprained ankle to walk over and get it?

“Come in.” Fang Rulian chuckled, tilting her chin toward the vanity mirror. “Just put it on there.”

Unexpectedly, Fang Zhiyi said: “I’ll apply it for you, Sister. It’s inconvenient to do it alone.”

Fang Rulian thought to herself: It’s just applying ointment, what’s inconvenient about it? I have a sprain, not paraplegia.

But she didn’t refuse. She just smiled involuntarily and replied, “Mhm.”

A large truck must have driven by on the road outside; the noise was deafening. Fang Rulian covered her ears, unable to stand it. “Come help me close the window first.”

Once the window was shut, the noise quieted down significantly.

The mattress dipped. Fang Zhiyi’s well-defined fingers unwrapped the bandage from Rulian’s ankle, tossed it into the trash can, unscrewed the ointment, and slowly began to apply it.

When the cold sensation pressed down, Fang Rulian jerked back instinctively. Fang Zhiyi stopped, looking up at her. “Does it hurt?”

“It’s cold.” She told the truth, laughing despite herself. “Your hands are like blocks of ice. It’s startling.”

Actually, it wasn’t just her hands; Fang Zhiyi herself was like a block of ice—cooling from a distance, but bone-chilling to the touch.

Even though they weren’t sitting that close, Fang Rulian could sense the faint coolness radiating from her, mixed with the refreshing scent of lemon body wash.

She must have just showered, Fang Rulian thought.

Fang Zhiyi lowered her head again. Only after hearing Rulian say “Continue” did she resume her movements.

Applying the medicine didn’t take long.

As the cold, herbal scent of the ointment spread, Fang Rulian’s gaze slowly moved from the hand on her ankle up to the girl’s face.

She was looking down, so Rulian could only see her profile and her long eyelashes.

They weren’t thick, but each one was distinct.

Beautiful.

“Why have you lost so much weight?”

After watching her for a few seconds, Fang Rulian finally couldn’t help but ask.