Sis, Do You Need a Dog? - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Like an Old Friend

One month ago, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

The rain in Jiangcheng that day was just as heavy as it was today.

Si Tingbai took all the leads she had obtained from a private detective and bought a plane ticket from the capital to Jiangcheng.

There were two reasons: first, because on that day, in a legal sense, Si Tingbai was finally considered an adult; second, because her longing for Cheng Shuyi had reached its peak.

Memory is a strange thing.

Regarding the kidnapping case that happened nine years ago, the protagonist who was kidnapped could no longer remember the specific details.

Yet, Si Tingbai could clearly remember that dim mountain cave, and the reporter sister who held her tightly in her arms, sharing her body warmth.

And the name she had written in her palm, stroke by stroke.

Cheng Shuyi.

Withdrawing her thoughts, Si Tingbai pulled out her phone, from which she had already removed the SIM card. Because there was no network, the messages she received remained stuck at the moment before the card was pulled.

The private detective’s contact info had been pushed down to the bottom; all the latest unread messages came from one person.

Sheng Jiaojiao: Si Niannian! Where did you go?!

Sheng Jiaojiao: Didn’t we agree to put on an act for them together? You’re not actually planning to run away from the wedding, are you?!

Sheng Jiaojiao: Just try letting me go to the engagement ceremony alone! This young lady will hunt you down to the ends of the earth!

After quickly reading these three new messages, Si Tingbai could already picture her friend’s furious expression. Forgetting that she had pulled the card, she quickly tapped a line of text on the keyboard.

— Something sudden came up, I’ll make it up to you later.

The red exclamation mark that suddenly popped up after sending the message made Si Tingbai freeze for a moment. Only then did she realize she had removed the card.

Without a network, she couldn’t send messages.

This infuriated Sheng Jiaojiao was the protagonist of her upcoming engagement, her childhood friend since they were toddlers, and her only friend since that kidnapping case.

Si Tingbai apologized and repented in her heart once more, then clicked on the chat box with the private detective.

Listed there were many detailed addresses—all places where the reporter sister might appear.

Without the internet, payment functions were gone. Si Tingbai felt the cash in her pocket, flagged down a taxi by the roadside, and read out the address where she was most likely to appear at this time.

Just as the Si family courtyard was in chaos because the protagonist of the engagement party had fled, the world of the internet was not peaceful either.

The hot searches for “Lola’s Apology” and “Lola’s Group Photos” were squeezed together side-by-side.

Closely following them were the three large characters: Cheng Shuyi.

“Why does my name appear?“

The sudden torrential rain drummed against the car window. In the interval of turning on the windshield wipers, Cheng Shuyi was cut off by a taxi behind her.

The green light ahead counted down and turned red.

“Fine, don’t make excuses. Clean it all up within five minutes, or suffer the consequences.” Cheng Shuyi looked at the taxi that had barely made it through in the last few seconds and had to step on the brakes. “Has Yu Yuanye arrived? I have business with her.“

The person on the other end of the phone had just uttered a sound to say something when a rustling of fabric was heard. The receiver was snatched away, and a voice began to mumble “Sue, come quickly” over and over.

“Why is Chen Cheng wasted again?” Cheng Shuyi frowned and let out an impatient “tsk.” “Don’t rush me. I’ll be there once I cross the river. Don’t book across the river next time; it’s quite a hassle.“

During the conversation, the red light turned green. Cheng Shuyi raised her hand and hung up the phone.

During the evening rush hour, the roads in Jiangcheng were blocked to a tragic degree.

Si Tingbai watched helplessly as the meter jumped to an astronomical price, sweating for the money in her pocket.

“Girl, it’s hard to park up ahead. It’s the same if you walk yourself.” The driver used a dialect to curse at the slow car in front, then turned to Si Tingbai and said, “There, walk a few steps forward and the shop you want is just around the corner. It might be a few hundred meters if you go yourself, but it’ll probably take me half an hour to drive there. Running the meter isn’t worth it.“

Following the direction of the driver’s finger, Si Tingbai saw the shop.

The rain outside the window was terrifyingly heavy. Si Tingbai took another look at the time marked next to the address.

She was already thirty minutes late.

The information summarized by the detective said that usually on weekend nights at 9:00 PM, the reporter sister would go to this tavern to meet friends.

“Alright.” Si Tingbai fished out money to pay the fare, mentally preparing herself.

Just as the car door opened a crack, she heard the driver say, “Girl, I have an umbrella in the back seat. Take it, don’t let the rain ruin you.“

The rain in Jiangcheng always came suddenly, and once it started, it would linger for hours without stopping.

By the time Cheng Shuyi arrived at the place, she was nearly two hours late.

Slinging her car into a parking space, Cheng Shuyi held her umbrella and got out. The chat box was buzzing incessantly.

“If only your speed in processing information was as urgent as your urging for a drink.” Cheng Shuyi lifted her skirt and held her umbrella, not forgetting to scold in a voice message: “You and your company are just one useless big loser managing a bunch of useless small losers.”

The voice message sent, and a new message quickly came from the other side.

But Cheng Shuyi didn’t look at it. Her gaze was caught, and her footsteps paused as she froze in place.

At the street corner sat a girl, crouching.

The torrential rain fell mercilessly onto the girl’s body.

Out of professional sensitivity, Cheng Shuyi immediately sensed a “point of interest” to be excavated from the person before her.

A thin, pure white cotton short-sleeved shirt was no match for this sudden night rain. The soaked clothing was the cruel aftermath of the sky’s prank.

With nowhere to hide, the girl could only curl up and let the cold rain wash over her. The wet clothes clinging to her outlined a slender waist, and her overly fair arms hugged her legs, appearing somewhat eye-catching in the darkness.

Cheng Shuyi’s first reaction was that if this were an artist, it would certainly be a very heart-wrenching moment.

As if sensing her gaze, the girl, who had been hanging her head, tilted her face up and looked over.

When those eyes looked her way…

Cheng Shuyi felt the universe was flowing right at the moment their gazes met.

This pouring rain seemed to have all fallen into the depths of the girl’s eyes; her ink-colored pupils were as clear and pure as a sky washed by water.

The person at the other end of the chat box was still frantically sending messages, but Cheng Shuyi couldn’t feel anything now. She looked dazed at the person crouching by the roadside.

The storm washed the streets, leaving behind the silence of a deserted space.

Si Tingbai noticed the gaze from the woman across the street had fixed on her for a long time.

She knew she must look wretched right now.

After paying the taxi fare, there wasn’t much cash left in her pocket. Roadside taxis were hard to flag down, and her phone happened to be dead.

In eighteen years, today was the second time in Si Tingbai’s life she had been this wretched, aside from that kidnapping case.

What are you looking at!

Si Tingbai really wanted to shout it out, but she was already somewhat wilted from the rain. Still, she refused to lose and stared back.

But the moment she saw the woman’s face clearly, Si Tingbai suddenly felt the arrival of spring.

She could no longer perceive the rain falling on her body.

The sound of high heels was swallowed by the rain as the woman approached with her umbrella.

The red-soled, black-faced high heels, as she walked, the two colors interlaced like a butterfly vibrating its wings in flight.

The hem of her skirt was stained with water, and that small protruding bone at her ankle glistened like a fruit washed by water.

The sound of high heels drew closer. Si Tingbai’s gaze moved from the bottom up.

Her eyelashes were blurred by the misty rain; she had to blink frequently.

Fixed in her eyes was that seductive beauty mark, the aggressively red lips, and that waist-length curly hair.

Just as Si Tingbai’s eyes were so irritated by the rain that she could barely keep them open…

That black-and-red butterfly finally stopped before her, and along with it, the pouring rain overhead stopped as well.

A large umbrella tilted over, just like that familiar sense of security from years ago.

“Hello, I am a manager. If you don’t mind, we can talk.”

“This is my ID. My name is…”

The woman’s voice was blurred in the sound of the rain, and Si Tingbai’s eyelashes were completely soaked by the cold rain.

Cheng Shuyi.

Si Tingbai silently repeated this name in her heart, kneading it word by word in her mind. This name was something she had repeatedly thought of for nine years.

Finally, she had officially heard it.

Si Tingbai finally saw the woman’s appearance clearly under the umbrella. A flash of excitement appeared in her pitiful eyes but was quickly suppressed. She reached out to touch the slender, white fingertips of the woman before her, leaning all her strength on those hands as she stood up bit by bit.

“Hello, Sister. My name is Si Tingbai.”

I finally found you.

“What are you thinking about?”

The sound of the hair dryer stopped abruptly.

Cheng Shuyi tilted her head to look at the person sitting cross-legged at her feet, head lowered and staring at a tablet.

From this position, she could see the top of Si Tingbai’s head and that small, plump earlobe hidden in her black hair.

The hair dryer was tossed back onto the table, and Cheng Shuyi freed her hands.

The earlobe was gently kneaded by her fingertips, and a light scent of gardenia floated to her nose along the woman’s wrist bone.

The warm touch pulled Si Tingbai back from her thoughts. She tilted her face up to look at Cheng Shuyi.

It was just like that day—soaked like a drowned rat, she had been brought to this hotel by Cheng Shuyi. Sitting in this position, she obediently waited for Cheng Shuyi to finish drying her hair.

“Today’s rain is so heavy,” Si Tingbai stared into Cheng Shuyi’s eyes and answered softly. “I was thinking about the day I first met Sister. It was also raining this hard. I must have looked really wretched that day, just like the first time Sister saw me.”

“The few wretched moments in my life have all been in front of Sister. I was thinking that Sister would definitely find me embarrassing.”

Si Tingbai was submerged in her own thoughts and didn’t notice the momentary confusion that flashed across Cheng Shuyi’s face at those words.

“I didn’t think it was embarrassing,” Cheng Shuyi smiled lightly. “I just thought the way you looked at me was very profound.”

“The way I looked?” Si Tingbai didn’t react; she was entirely immersed in her own embarrassment.

Cheng Shuyi nodded and said softly, “You have eyes that look very much like hers.”

“I remember the second half!” Si Tingbai’s memory was triggered, and she recited Cheng Shuyi’s subsequent words: “You said, ‘Come with me.'”

“But Sister, who do I look like?”

Seeing her immersed in the memories of that night…

Cheng Shuyi stopped responding and simply stared dazed into Si Tingbai’s eyes.

Through those clear pupils, the face of another girl emerged in Cheng Shuyi’s mind.

In the year she first entered the university campus, the senior who came to help carry her luggage also had a pair of such clean and clear eyes.

The two had met online first, and then she became her junior. They had the same major, the same interests, and a common goal—to become a good reporter who speaks for the people.

That year, the senior had smiled brilliantly in the sunshine, waving her arm against the crowd and calling her name, urging her to hurry and catch up.

Cheng Shuyi’s camera, which should have been aimed at her material, had—as if possessed—aimed instead at the senior’s face.

With a click, time stood still, and the young girl’s smiling face was forever frozen in that photograph.

All of this was as clear as if it happened yesterday, but the person was no longer there.

The past had finally become a memory that entered her dreams night after night, repeatedly tormenting Cheng Shuyi.

“Like,” Cheng Shuyi heard the sound of her own voice answering in a daze.

“An old friend I knew nine years ago.”

Support Sis, Do You Need a Dog?