Since last night, when Lin Rongyuan was admitted to the ICU, to making phone calls asking to borrow money, to inexplicably pretending to sleep in front of three uninvited guests, Ying Ni’s mood has been downhill, bad to the point of being indescribable.

When the relationship is a little more familiar, it means being a little more reckless.

Including venting without sufficient reason.

Ying Ni knew she was wrong, but there was no reason to apologize. She stomped her feet, kicking her slippers aside, and as she passed Chen An, she shoved her shoulder against him.

She pointed out the mistake he made: “Who told you to meddle?”

Just then, her stomach growled loudly. The air became tense, and the atmosphere turned awkward.

Ying Ni took a deep breath and turned her head first.

Chen An seemed to be prepared, keeping his distance, and when she turned back, he relaxed his fingers.

The bread in the bag fell right in front of her eyes.

Ying Ni was stunned.

He held the bread with his fingers, offering it in front of her face, “If you’ve been active for a while, you must be hungry.”

Ying Ni: “…”

If it weren’t for his tone being normal, one might think he was mocking her. Ying Ni glanced at it. It was a donut covered in powdered sugar.

“Did you buy this?”

Chen An: “What, you think I stole it?”

He added, “Jingjing couldn’t finish it, so I brought it for you.”

Ying Ni gave him a deep look, “Am I your trash can?”

Chen An: “I wouldn’t dare.”

Ying Ni chuckled, “What wouldn’t you dare?”

“Many things,” Chen An said. “Let’s eat after.”

“…”

Ying Ni clicked her tongue in frustration, feeling an odd sense of helplessness. She suddenly thought of that apple-flavored lollipop and how it always felt like she was being coaxed like a child—

Wait.

Coax?

Ying Ni squinted her eyes and looked him up and down. “Did you come to the hospital early in the morning just to look for Jingjing?”

“I’m here to see you,” Chen An said, pausing for a moment.

The pause was so brief, only a split second, that Ying Ni wondered if she had imagined it.

“…Damn.”

Ying Ni, who had been furrowing her brows a moment ago, relaxed them.

Though it sounded somewhat nonsensical, it wasn’t without basis. Yu Jiaojiao had said there was a volunteer named Da Fei who had a relationship with Chen An from cleaning the playground together. His brother had leukemia, and Chen An had visited him in the hospital several times.

He seemed to have plenty of time, almost as if he were unemployed.

“Are you free?” Ying Ni had wanted to ask since early this morning.

Chen An: “Busy.”

“…” Ying Ni sarcastically bit her words, “You’re really ‘busy,’ huh.”

Chen An said nothing. His lips weren’t particularly vivid, and his lips weren’t thin enough to show indifference. From a distance, Ying Ni, who had poor eyesight, couldn’t make out his expression clearly.

But she was sure he had just slightly curved the corner of his lips.

What was he smiling about? What’s so funny? Ying Ni was thinking when suddenly a loud noise broke her train of thought.

Yu Jiaojiao barged in, shouting, “You scared me! Zhou Siyang almost had an accident!”

If she hadn’t followed up with “fainted,” just by the terrified look on Yu Jiaojiao’s face, anyone would think Zhou Siyang was dying.

But Ying Ni knew Yu Jiaojiao often exaggerated, turning one into ten for attention.

Ying Ni, still holding the donut, calmly asked what happened.

Zhou Siyang, walking in behind her, answered first, “Nothing.”

Yu Jiaojiao immediately contradicted him, “Nothing? If I hadn’t been holding you, you would’ve fallen like a dog!”

The two spoke in unison, but Yu Jiaojiao’s loud voice easily drowned out Zhou Siyang’s, making his response seem insignificant.

Ying Ni knew they had been donating blood. She was awake when Chen Jingjing had asked earlier.

At that time, she had pretended to sleep to avoid engaging.

Now, it seemed that avoiding it had only made things worse and created more trouble.

“Don’t listen to Yu Jiaojiao’s nonsense. I just tripped over something and lost my balance,” Zhou Siyang explained.

He had just been exhausted lately, slightly faint from blood loss. He didn’t want to appear weak or seek sympathy.

At the same time, he knew that Ying Ni had no empathy.

Such an explanation would only make her more disgusted.

Yu Jiaojiao, clearly not understanding this, kept talking like she couldn’t breathe unless she spoke, telling Ying Ni, “He donated so much blood! The nurse said it was more than a bottle of water! The blood they drew looked so painful!”

Ying Ni glanced at them, her tone light and indifferent, “So, am I supposed to thank you?”

Yu Jiaojiao quickly waved her hand, “I didn’t donate, haha.” She could contribute money, but she would never donate her blood.

Her gaze finally landed solely on Zhou Siyang, and when the expectation was met, he looked away.

Because he remembered how Ying Ni had looked at him years ago. Though the memory was blurry and difficult to describe, it was certainly not like the current cold, isolated gaze.

Ying Ni hated saying thank you, but she always ended up saying it.

After expressing her thanks, she forced a visibly strained smile, “Let’s have lunch together.”

…

Ying Ni had never been good at expressing gratitude. She rarely asked for help, and therefore rarely had anything to repay.

The only thing she could think of was to invite them for a meal.

She brought Chen Jingjing along, and there were five people in total. She found a Chinese restaurant near the hospital.

Since this was neither the city center nor a busy area, even though she picked the highest-rated restaurant, it was still only a little better than a run-down place.

Before entering, Ying Ni turned around and asked, “Is this acceptable?”

Yu Jiaojiao, walking in front, shrugged indifferently, “What’s not to accept?”

Seeing that no one objected, Ying Ni stepped into the restaurant. A waiter came over with a menu, but before the waiter got close, Yu Jiaojiao started complaining, “Ah… it’s so dirty.”

The waiter quickly explained, “It’s been cleaned, it’s just old.” Then he pointed to the corner, “How about sitting over there? The table is new, though it’s a bit small.”

So, they moved to another table.

After sitting down, Yu Jiaojiao pointed to the ceiling and said, “There’s a crack. Won’t dust fall while we’re eating?”

The waiter immediately assured, “No, it won’t.”

“Why can’t you renovate it properly? No wonder you don’t have business; looks like you’re going bankrupt.”

“…” The waiter: “Well…”

“You don’t have to eat,” Ying Ni said coldly, sitting down first.

Yu Jiaojiao pouted, “But I want to eat.”

Ying Ni ignored her, and Yu Jiaojiao, feeling embarrassed, stopped talking.

The table was rectangular, pressed against the wall, and could only fit four people. Ying Ni sat at the innermost part, and the others stood.

When the waiter brought a chair, Chen Jingjing sat down, and when Zhou Siyang tried to move around, Chen Jingjing put her bag on the adjacent chair.

—

Right next to Ying Ni.

The only empty seat between them.

Zhou Siyang wanted to move the bag, but since he had never spoken to Chen Jingjing, it felt impolite to touch her bag.

If he spoke directly, it would be too obvious.

At that moment, Chen Jingjing turned around and said, “Brother, sit down.”

Zhou Siyang sighed inwardly, missing the chance, and reluctantly walked to the opposite side.

“You sit here. There are little black spots on the wall,” Yu Jiaojiao kindly pointed out.

In fact, she also wanted him and Ying Ni to sit face-to-face, closing the distance between them.

Five people crowded around the table, and after ordering, Ying Ni asked if anyone had anything they wanted to add. Yu Jiaojiao was the only one to respond, the others all said “whatever.”

The waiter was about to leave after confirming the order when Zhou Siyang suddenly called him back, “Don’t add fermented black beans to the twice-cooked pork, make it a bit drier, and use less oil for the tomato egg soup, add more ginger.”

“Are you not eating?” Yu Jiaojiao asked.

Zhou Siyang paused, “I’m not eating.”

Yu Jiaojiao smirked, “I thought Ying Ni didn’t eat it.”

Actually, everyone knew, but when Yu Jiaojiao pointed it out, the atmosphere turned awkward.

Ying Ni raised her eyes from her phone, her tone light as if carried away by the wind, “Who said I don’t eat?”

Zhou Siyang seemed to want to grab something, “You used to not eat.”

Ying Ni smiled, “You also said ‘used to.'”

The awkwardness in the air gradually cooled, then froze.

Chen Jingjing glanced at Chen An, who didn’t show much emotion and simply lowered his head to sip some tea.

The time passed in silence until the food arrived, and no one said another word. Yu Jiaojiao fell asleep at the table, and when the dishes were all served, Zhou Siyang planned to wake her up.

“Let her sleep,” Ying Ni suddenly said.

Zhou Siyang’s hand froze in mid-air.

Ying Ni added, “She drank too much last night.”

Though it was because of Yu Jiaojiao that she had spoken to him, Zhou Siyang was still happy. He smiled and said, “Okay.”

New customers came in, and the quiet background noise became loud, but their table remained quiet throughout.

Ying Ni ate some buns, but now she had no appetite, only eating a few bites before putting down her chopsticks

.

The mood became stagnant again. She suddenly remembered what she had said earlier in the hospital room.

“Have you been acting like a coward all your life?”

Ying Ni finally felt she was wrong. There were times when she needed help, but she was so caught up in her pride that she ended up pushing everything away.

She thought back to that time years ago.

That time when someone finally broke down her pride.

She didn’t know what to say anymore. Maybe she should just keep everything bottled up forever.

Or maybe, it didn’t matter anymore.