Chapter 53
It was like a pebble dropped into a still pond—with a soft plop, enormous ripples spread across the calm surface.
Almost everyone looked up at the same time. Half their gazes turned toward Ning Qiu on the sofa, while the other half fell on Pei Ning, who was sitting cross-legged by the coffee table.
Only the culprit who had stirred up all this commotion still had his head lowered, working hard to maintain the appearance of diligently completing his task, utterly unaware of how much of a sensation his inner voice had caused.
Caught off guard with her past exposed, Ning Qiu’s beautiful phoenix eyes widened slightly. There was some surprise and a trace of stunned disbelief there, but that was all.
She calmly accepted the astonished, excited looks from everyone else, her gaze still fixed on Pei Ning, as if she wanted to capture every reaction from her—even the slightest change in expression.
And she had absolutely no intention of stopping Lin Zhiqiao from continuing.
Pei Ning was clearly nowhere near as composed as Ning Qiu.
She instinctively lifted her eyes toward Ning Qiu, but the moment she met the smile still lingering in the other woman’s eyes—and the feelings there, no longer hidden at all—it was as if she had been scalded by them, and she quickly looked away again.
Yet the fingers holding her pen quietly tightened, betraying how unsettled she really was inside.
Right now, Pei Ning was both shocked and confused.
Shocked that Ning Qiu really did like her, and confused because… Ning Qiu had apparently known her more than ten years ago, yet she herself had no impression of that at all.
Pei Ning found it very strange.
Ning Qiu did not have the kind of face that blended into a crowd. On the contrary, her features were extremely distinctive. Even if the Ning Qiu from more than ten years ago had only been in her teens, Pei Ning should not have had no impression of her whatsoever.
‘Good grief, one ship sank and now there’s already a new one?’
‘Ahhh, does anyone understand how I feel right now?! I’m already writhing on the bed like a maggot—(crawling in the dark) (screaming like a lunatic)’
Lin Zhiqiao was so excited that even his heartbeat sped up. He silently took a few deep breaths before continuing to read the rest of the gossip box.
[This happened just after Ning Qiu started high school. That day she had a huge fight with her family, things turned nasty, and in a burst of anger she ran away from home.]
[Good grief, even rich young ladies run away from home? So Ning Qiu had this much personality from way back then!]
For present-day Ning Qiu, the whole running-away-from-home incident undoubtedly counted as dark history.
Her gaze drifted for a split second, but quickly returned firmly to Pei Ning.
Running away from home might have been dark history, but the people and things she encountered during that runaway episode were enough for her now to face that dark history openly.
[Ning Qiu used to get a lot of spending money. Although running away from home was a spur-of-the-moment impulse, she definitely wasn’t penniless. She had more than enough cash on her to book a hotel room and live comfortably for three to five days.]
[But young Miss Ning had zero experience running away from home. She only thought about getting as far away from home as possible, so she took a cab clear across the city. Not long after getting out, she got robbed by a bunch of punks and lost everything valuable on her.]
[Mm, though they did leave her one yuan for a steamed bun.]
[Okay, maybe I shouldn’t laugh at a time like this, but… hahaha, those thugs were weirdly considerate! They even worried Ning Qiu might go hungry, hahaha!]
Ning Qiu didn’t say a word.
But Pei Ning, seated by the coffee table, frowned slightly, seeming to think of something, and her eyes widened a little.
[After her bad luck streak, not long after Ning Qiu got robbed, it started pouring outside. It was already dark by then, and Miss Ning—who had no money, no, wait, only one yuan—had nowhere to go, so she could only pitifully hide from the rain at a bus stop.]
[That’s when Pei Ning appeared.]
[Because she hadn’t cooperated when the punks robbed her, Ning Qiu had gotten punched a few times and ended up with a swollen pig face—]
Lin Zhiqiao paused there and instinctively sneaked another look at Ning Qiu.
[Ah, no wonder Pei Ning didn’t recognize Ning Qiu now. So back then Miss Ning’s face was ruined.]
Lin Zhiqiao tried to imagine what Ning Qiu with a swollen pig face must have looked like, but failed.
Ning Qiu showed absolutely no concern for the eyes on her. The contempt in her gaze practically said that even with a swollen face, she had still been the most beautiful.
[At that time, Pei Ning had just finished a part-time job and was getting ready, as usual, to catch the last bus home. One look and she spotted the pitiful, bedraggled Ning Qiu.]
[The two of them were around the same age. Pei Ning was really worried about Ning Qiu, so she went over and asked a few questions, but Ning Qiu was young then, stubborn, and too thin-skinned, so she refused to say anything no matter what.]
[Pei Ning had no choice but to leave, but she didn’t really go far. Instead, she went to the nearby 24-hour convenience store and bought water, food, and an umbrella.]
Following Lin Zhiqiao’s narration, Ning Qiu’s thoughts drifted back uncontrollably to that rainy night.
When Pei Ning had turned and walked away, Ning Qiu had thought she was really gone—that she wouldn’t come back, and wouldn’t bother with some strange, ill-tempered, horribly rude stranger ever again.
But Pei Ning did come back, carrying steaming hot oden and an instant noodle cup that she’d asked the convenience store clerk to fill with hot water.
The smell was incredible. Ning Qiu had gone almost a whole day without eating, and at the scent, her stomach betrayed her completely and growled out loud—very loudly.
Ning Qiu had almost thought that this stranger, this girl about her own age, would laugh at her.
But Pei Ning didn’t. She simply stuffed the oden into Ning Qiu’s hands and, as naturally as if she were speaking to a friend, said, “The instant noodles still need a few more minutes. Eat this first. It won’t taste as good once it gets cold.”
At first, Ning Qiu hadn’t wanted to accept it.
But whether because she was simply too, too hungry, or because the expression on the girl’s face was so gentle, Ning Qiu did not refuse.
Once the warm oden hit her stomach, warmth gradually spread from there through all four limbs, driving away the chill of the rainy night.
Ning Qiu had come from a very wealthy family, and ever since childhood she had eaten more delicacies than she could count. But those few skewers of starch-based oden and that cheap cup of instant noodles that cost only a few yuan were somehow better than every expensive thing she had ever eaten before.
The bruised, swollen-faced girl started crying while eating. All at once, the grievance from fighting with her family, the fear from being beaten and robbed by the punks, and the regret over running away from home—everything burst out.
Ning Qiu cried loudly while stuffing noodles into her mouth. No one needed to tell her how miserable she must have looked at the time; she could imagine it perfectly well herself.
“If you want to laugh, just laugh,” she finally said after finishing eating.
That was the first sentence she had spoken.
To her surprise, Pei Ning didn’t laugh at her at all. Instead, she pulled a few candies from her pocket and asked, “Do you want some?”
They were cheap candies—the kind sold in big bags for only a few yuan at supermarkets.
Ning Qiu sniffled and snatched all the candies from Pei Ning’s hand in one go.
That night, the two of them sat together in that shabby bus stop. The shelter barely blocked the wind and rain, and every now and then, when the gusts picked up, both of them got damp with a light spray of rain.
But neither of them opened the umbrella.
Pei Ning sat with Ning Qiu and said a lot of things—about her own life, about school, about home, about the interesting and strange people and events she’d encountered during part-time jobs.
Ning Qiu hardly replied, but every single word the other girl said sank into her heart, and she kept turning them over and over in her mind.
The rainy night was very dark. The only things keeping them company were a few old, dim streetlights and the painfully bright sign of the 24-hour convenience store nearby.
The two of them sat there from night until dawn, until Ning Qiu’s family finally found her by following the trail.
The one who came to pick Ning Qiu up was the Ning family’s housekeeper. Before letting her get into the car, Pei Ning asked several times in a row, making sure that Ning Qiu really did know the man and that he genuinely belonged to her family. Only then did she let Ning Qiu go.
By then Ning Qiu was physically exhausted and sleepy, but mentally, she felt strangely soothed.
It was only after the car had driven away for some distance that Ning Qiu suddenly realized she didn’t know that girl’s contact information, and had not even asked for her name.
She hurriedly told the housekeeper to turn around, but by then the girl was no longer at the bus stop.
While Ning Qiu was sinking into memories from more than ten years ago, Lin Zhiqiao was almost simultaneously finishing today’s helping of old gossip.
[Oh my god, so Sister Pei and little sister Ning had this whole story between them back then—]
[If that’s the case, then Ning Qiu has been thinking about Pei Ning for over ten years! Rounded up, that means Pei Ning is also Ning Qiu’s white moonlight, right?!]
[So in this round, the substitute the scumbag picked for his white moonlight turns out to be the white moonlight of the white moonlight? Oh my god, this relationship map is way too messy!]
[So when is Ning Qiu finally going to tell Pei Ning about this? If they still don’t get together after all this, then heaven itself has no justice!!!]
The others nodded in unison and thought—
Thanks to you, she already knows now.
‘Oh my god, so Double Ning’s fate actually started that early! How can a ship be this good?!’
‘The person you never cherished and only used as a substitute was actually the white moonlight someone else treasured in their heart for over a decade [crying behind my hand.jpg]’
‘TV dramas wouldn’t even dare write it like this, dear lord [so excited I passed out.jpg]’
‘Help, that sense of fate is too intense. It’s so intense my scalp is tingling, ahhh’
‘Sister Pei deserves this! Just hearing it makes me feel like she must have been so gentle back then. If it were me, I’d also fall on the spot and never forget her for years, sob sob’
‘Thank you President Jiang for stringing the red thread for Double Ning. President Jiang is amazing [thumbs up.jpg]’
By now, Pei Ning had remembered what happened back then.
If Lin Zhiqiao hadn’t spoiled it for her, Pei Ning really never would have linked present-day Ning Qiu with that girl whose face had been swollen from a beating.
The difference was simply too great.
Not just in looks, but in personality too.
Ning Qiu originally hadn’t figured out how to tell Pei Ning about this herself, so Lin Zhiqiao spoiling it first had actually done her a favor.
She looked at Pei Ning. Pei Ning also glanced at her once, then turned her eyes away.
Although it was an evasive response, Ning Qiu could tell there was no rejection or dislike in Pei Ning’s gaze.
That steadied Ning Qiu’s heart a little. She knew that, for now, this was already the best possible outcome.
It was right then that Jiang Ling suddenly came downstairs. “A-Ning, are you free tonight?”
The pink atmosphere in the living room popped all at once. Ning Qiu rolled her eyes discreetly and thought, How unlucky.
“I can be,” Pei Ning replied. “What is it?”
“There’s a gathering tonight. Quite a lot of people will be there.” Jiang Ling said. “I want to take you with me.”
He didn’t specify what kind of gathering it was, but the implication was obvious—he wanted to take Pei Ning there and introduce her to the people attending.
If Jiang Ling were not a scumbag, then this invitation wouldn’t have sounded strange. Pei Ning might even have thought it quite reasonable, because it would amount to President Jiang formally acknowledging her as his fiancée.
But now…
Pei Ning instinctively began thinking through what sort of scheme Jiang Ling might be playing this time.
Before she could figure it out, that familiar piercing burst of inner screaming rang out again—
[No no no! Sister Pei absolutely cannot go, Sister Pei! This is clearly a trap banquet aimed right at you—ahhhh!!!]
