Chapter 22

Yu Na did not react for a moment to what he meant, "Huh?"

"Didn't you say your mother is a little more reasonable than your father? I think you can go back and have a good talk with your mother, and ask her to tell your father that if they can both compromise and stop interfering with your love life and personal freedom, then you can also go back to live without having to worry about money anymore."

She changed her expression slightly, "You want me to go back?"

Xiao Chen spoke to her like an adult speaking to a child, with gravity in his tone: "I just feel that the way you are now, you can't take good care of yourself, and sooner or later you will make yourself sick."

"You're living alone, and you probably don't know how to cook much either. If you get sick, there's no one to take care of you. If I hadn't come today, would you have just slept through the last two days? You don't eat regularly, and the rented house looks very dark, with no sunlight. This is not a long-term solution."

"It would be better to have a heart-to-heart talk with your mother, coax her a little. What mother is willing to see her daughter suffer outside?"

"If they are willing to compromise and no longer force you to do what you don't want to do, and you can go back to your affluent lifestyle, I think that would be better than how you are now."

Seeing Yu Na's eyes darken little by little, he patiently added another sentence: "Of course I'm just making a suggestion. If they refuse to give you freedom, just pretend I never said anything."

"My father would never give me freedom. His eyes have only seen benefits from the very beginning, that's how it has always been."

Yu Na felt a little disappointed in her heart, as if whether she stayed or left made no difference to him.

She thought he would understand her.

She went on, "And my mother's words don't count for anything either. In my family, only my father gets to make decisions. Even if my mother dotes on me a little more, they think the same way. If I hadn't made a scene in front of the psychologist back then, my mother wouldn't have made concessions either."

She hid her inner disappointment, and her voice choked: "You're not me, you can't understand what it was like when I was studying for my master's in America. Although—" she sniffed, and said self-deprecatingly, "My quality of life now is definitely not as good as before, but I'm slowly getting used to it. It will definitely get better and better in the future."

Her brows were knotted, her face pale. Xiao Chen even saw tears shimmering in her eyes.

He knew he had said the wrong thing. He had simply thought that she was used to being served in the past, and now she was living on her own, in this small rented apartment, with a huge decline in her quality of life and not looking as good as before, which was why he said those things.

It seemed he had considered everything except her own feelings.

"I'm sorry, I—"

He hadn't finished speaking when Yu Na interrupted him again.

"And I prepared a lot for this job, reviewing for exams and getting ready. I finally got it through the interview, and I'm very satisfied with the salary and benefits. So I hope you," she paused, "will respect the efforts I put into getting this job."

Xiao Chen sat on the sofa with his arms on his thighs, fingers interlocked, seemingly thinking. He finally said slowly, "Okay, sorry, I didn't take your feelings into account."

This time Yu Na did not respond to him. She sat quietly to the side, her head drooping, her soft black hair casually draped down, covering her currently dejected expression.

Like a little cat that has lost its way home, in her world, it seemed only herself was left.

No one seemed to be able to understand her choice.

Seeing her like this, Xiao Chen inevitably felt guilty, a twinge in his heart.

He got up, speaking as gently as possible, "Go get some rest, I'll make you something to eat, okay?"

Yu Na finally consented to lift her head. It took her a few seconds to react before she nodded obediently.

She slowly got up, one hand on her forehead, and walked slowly into the bedroom.

Xiao Chen went into the kitchen and after carefully searching, found that there was a packet of instant noodles and some seasoning, but no ingredients whatsoever. In the end he made her a clear noodle soup.

Yu Na hadn't closed her bedroom door. Now she was sitting on the bed, head drooping, not knowing what she was thinking.

Xiao Chen brought the noodles to her desk, "Eat this, eat light food when you're sick."

"Okay."

Yu Na sat down on the chair at her desk and ate the clear soup noodles in small mouthfuls.

Xiao Chen sat on her bed, seemingly lost in thought. It was as if they were both enduring some inexplicable emotion.

"I'm sorry."

After a long while, he suddenly heard Yu Na stop eating. Her voice extremely soft as she apologized.

"Hm?" Xiao Chen asked, "What for?"

"Just now—" Yu Na turned around to face him, her tone sincere, "My emotions got a little intense, I know you meant well."

"Mm-hm." Xiao Chen did not respond much, only uttered: "Hurry up and eat, sleep some more after you're done."

"Okay."

After Yu Na had finished all the noodles, Xiao Chen washed the bowl and put it back in the cupboard.

Going back into the bedroom, he saw she had lain back down on the bed, only she hadn't closed her eyes to sleep, she was staring blankly at some spot outside the room.

Finally when he came in, her gaze moved onto him.

He walked to the edge of her bed, "Sleep some more."

"Okay."

Yu Na tugged the quilt up herself a little, and after much hesitation, seeming to have mustered her courage, gingerly tried sounding him out: "Can you... not leave?"

His eyes finally took on a shallow smile, as if enjoying the sight of her testing him: "Why would I not leave?"

"..." Yu Na didn't know how to answer, and was too shy to directly ask him to accompany her. Seeing her hesitating to speak, Xiao Chen shrugged his shoulders, "I'll stay here with you for a bit, but I have something to do later. Gotta go later."

The corners of her lips turned up slightly: "Okay."

Xiao Chen sat in front of her vanity looking at his phone. He had no intention of speaking, and had deliberately set his phone to silent.

Yu Na was reluctant to sleep through this brief time together.

She gazed at his back for a good while before finally being unable to resist closing her eyes and falling fast asleep.

She had only intended to sleep for a bit, but she was so tired that she slept in bursts until night fell.

Waking up, she discovered the lights in the room were on, and the person who was sitting at her vanity had left.

She had slept too soundly and hadn't heard a thing.

Yu Na took out her phone and saw that Xiao Chen had sent her a WeChat message around 10:50 that morning: 【I have something to do, left first, the lights in your room are on, don't be scared when you wake up.】 He had even considered that she would feel oppressed and frightened waking up to a dim environment.

The little resentment Yu Na felt towards him that morning vanished in this moment.

After a nap, she was feeling much better physically, and it was easier to walk than it was in the morning. She went to the dining area, opened the fridge, and found it fully stocked with ready-to-eat food Xiao Chen had bought.

He bought a lot, bread, rice balls, chicken rolls, burgers, noodles and congee, and there were some self-heating foods left on the countertop too.

Yu Na took out a can of eight treasure congee from the fridge, thumb caressing the bottle. Complex emotions rose in her heart.

She took the congee back to her room, opened it, and drank a mouthful.

The flavor was sweet.

She took out her phone, found Xiao Chen's account, and entered in the input box: 【Thanks for the food you bought】 He quickly replied: 1: 【You should learn to cook, can't keep eating these.】 Yu Na: 【Okay】 ...After that, they rarely contacted each other, their brief exchanges all within the parents' WeChat group.

Yu Na's days were always between school and home.

Her life was ordinary and monotonous, yet fulfilling.

She was very popular at school, like a protagonist receiving lots of attention in these little micro societies.

Of course, not all commentary about her was positive.

Over time, there would always be some minor friction with students.

Yu Na wasn't usually very strict with discipline, but because she was too lenient with managing students, the director of instruction had spoken to her about it.

So she had no choice but to enforce discipline.

It was a Friday. She was teaching a class in the next room when she inadvertently caught sight of a student sitting in the last row with his head lowered, not knowing what he was up to.

Definitely not studying.

That student's name was Wang Xiao, a prime troublemaker. The head teacher was extremely vexed by him, so he was arranged to sit at the last desk.

Yu Na took advantage of the students taking notes to walk down from the podium with her textbook in hand.