Chapter 45: Midnight Mirror (Part 8)

“Miss Unhappy, may I have the honor of seeing your smile?”

Yu Yin Yin stared at that rose. Her vision gradually blurred. Then she reached out her hand. The moment her fingertips touched the rose, tears finally could no longer be contained, falling in rapid succession.

Yet she still didn’t say a word, her lips pressed tightly together, silent and soundless, as if she knew her emotions were useless. No one would sympathize or comfort her. No one would coax her.

On their first meeting, she completely stunned Jiang Sheng.

“Sorry, I’m just too happy.” Yu Yin Yin wiped away her tears. Her expression quickly returned to calm. She solemnly accepted that flower, holding it to the position of her heart, and said with a serious expression: “I will take good care of it. Thank you.”

Who would take the trouble to carefully nurture a rose casually given by a passerby?

Yu Yin Yin would.

Jiang Sheng showed a stunned expression, staring dumbfounded at Yu Yin Yin’s back, watching her leave.

What a strange person, he thought to himself.

Objectively speaking, Yu Yin Yin wasn’t that that beautiful, but Jiang Sheng always felt she looked pleasing to the eye. And when a person looks more and more pleasing to the eye, that means love is not far away.

After work, Yu Yin Yin would occasionally run into Jiang Sheng. Sometimes she would blend into the crowd and listen for a while before leaving. Sometimes she would secretly leave two coins. Sometimes she wouldn’t come at all.

Jiang Sheng would accurately capture her figure, secretly noting how many times she came.

On the nineteenth time, Jiang Sheng gave her a bouquet of roses, happily saying: “Today is the thirtieth day anniversary of our meeting. May I know your name? Your name?”

This time Yu Yin Yin didn’t cry. She accurately expressed her pleasant emotions, staring at those dew covered roses with great delight, unwilling to look away. She would listen to Jiang Sheng for a moment, then her attention would immediately be drawn back to the flowers.

Fortunately Jiang Sheng was very patient. Through his tireless asking, they exchanged names and contact information.

Yu Yin Yin had been proactive nineteen times. For the remaining time, Jiang Sheng’s pursuit of her could be described as sparing no effort.

Jiang Sheng discovered his crush’s defenses were extremely strong, so he was very considerate in approaching from various subtle details. For example, he never sent gifts to Yu Yin Yin’s home. He would only invite her to public places, then find ways to hand her the carefully selected small items. Another example: he never asked about Yu Yin Yin’s past. He only invited her to see scenery, watch movies, go shopping, exchange books. He could tell she longed for words and was somewhat tight on money in daily life, so he quietly covered most of the expenses. Yet another example: he never took the initiative to touch Yu Yin Yin’s hand. His methods of expressing affection were always restrained, stopping at the appropriate point, utterly gentlemanly.

One day, Yu Yin Yin suddenly said to him with a serious expression: “Jiang Sheng, you seem like a pig butchering scam specially designed for me.”

Jiang Sheng didn’t understand how she could suddenly come out with such a remark. He nervously broke into a sweat, stammering for a long while, unable to explain clearly.

Yu Yin Yin suddenly let out a puff sound, laughing loudly.

That was an emotion she had never displayed before. Intense joy. She felt so so happy. Meeting Jiang Sheng made her so so happy.

Jiang Sheng finally realized this was Yu Yin Yin’s first joke with him. He let out a long breath, patiently waiting for Yu Yin Yin to finish laughing, then said with a perfectly straight face: “It’s not a pig butchering scam, Yu Yin Yin. I want to take care of you.”

This sudden confession also left Yu Yin Yin somewhat dumbfounded. Not “I like you,” not “I love you,” but “I want to take care of you.”

Who confesses like this?

Fortunately the one being confessed to was her. Otherwise who could understand it?

Yu Yin Yin blinked several times, nervously asking: “And then?”

Jiang Sheng was blank: “And then? What and then?”

He secretly fretted. The atmosphere had reached this point, so he said it naturally. He hadn’t prepared any other words. What else should he say at this moment?

“I understand.” Yu Yin Yin took a deep breath, grabbed his wrist, then stood on her tiptoes and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

One kiss and it was like an electric shock. Both their faces instantly turned deep red. They stiffly separated a small distance.

Yu Yin Yin grabbed her shoulder bag and walked away at flying speed: “I’m going back!”

“Wha…” Jiang Sheng heard his own heart beating rapidly, unable to calm down for a long while.

What did she mean going back? That wasn’t right, was it?

Jiang Sheng’s confession began on impulse and ended in chaos. The two of them became a couple in a muddle headed way. Yu Yin Yin finally opened a tiny crack in her heart to him, actively taking him to her home to see her cabinet full of books.

After a year of dating, the two moved in together. The cat and dog were both adopted from a rescue station after moving in together, no different from children.

Yu Yin Yin said she didn’t want children. Jiang Sheng agreed without much thought. But his parents, having heard about their son’s situation through indirect hints, absolutely refused to give their blessing.

“I can’t raise a child well.” Yu Yin Yin held the cat while clipping its nails. The cat lay obediently in her arms, making a purring sound.

She was still very afraid her child would live unhappily. She would rather that tiny life not be born at all.

Jiang Sheng couldn’t bear to shatter this scene. He gently said: “I will convince them.”

The years living with Jiang Sheng were probably the happiest period of Yu Yin Yin’s life.

The two worked hard to earn money. Jiang Sheng cast aside the romantic fantasies of an art student and worked diligently and conscientiously at an industrial company for several years. Whenever he had the energy, he would make delicious food or take her out to eat delicious food, striving to fatten up his girlfriend’s small frame.

They almost never argued. Yu Yin Yin cherished Jiang Sheng very much. In their mutual devotion, she slowly patched up the holes in her heart bit by bit.

She firmly believed that living in Qiu City, by Jiang Sheng’s side, away from her parents and her past, absolutely nothing could harm her anymore.

However, fate placed a huge dash in the latter half of her life. Misfortune quietly descended upon her.

“You haven’t changed at all, little Yin Yin. Still the same as when you were little.” Several sleazy men blocked her in a small alley, putting their hands on her shoulder, using their eyes to carefully scan every inch of her body, their words extremely vulgar and unbearable.

Her nightmare had returned.

“You have a boyfriend? I work as a security guard at xx company. I see him every day.”

“Do you think if he knew about your childhood, he’d be so angry he’d break up with you?”

“No one wants you anymore. Come with brother.”

Yu Yin Yin’s entire body went cold. She looked at that increasingly presumptuous hand on her shoulder. An uncontrollable malice surged forth from the bottom of her heart.

“Okay… okay…” She shed tears, trembling, and took out an extremely small utility knife from her bag.

No one expected her to be carrying a knife. The man closest to her quickly stiffened all over, then clutched his neck, emitting a painful heh heh sound. Blood gushed out from between his fingers.

His eyes bulged. He fell straight down with a dull sound. His body was probably as heavy as half a side of pork.

This single blow left everyone stunned. The first to react fled in panic, shouting murder, murder.

Half of Yu Yin Yin’s face was splattered with blood. She slowly turned around, her figure somewhat swaying. She raised her eyes to look at those who hadn’t had time to leave, her tone calm to the point of being somewhat eerie: “Let’s go together. Didn’t you want to go with me?”

The remaining few were all terrified out of their minds, crying for their parents as they ran out of this narrow alley.

…

Jiang Sheng was receiving a torrent of scolding from his parents, silently counting time in his heart. He had long been accustomed to pretending to listen, while silently worrying about whether Yu Yin Yin had eaten properly today.

“What’s so worth liking about her, huh? Your soul has flown off with her? She’s not good looking, her family isn’t outstanding, she looks like she can’t bear children well. And that’s not even all, she arbitrarily says she won’t have children. Son, do you want to anger your own father and mother to death?”

“Huh? You’re going to anger us to death for the sake of this woman, aren’t you?”

“Do you know what she used to…”

Hearing this, Jiang Sheng’s expression finally darkened: “Enough!”

“What do you mean enough?!” His father’s face flushed red with anger: “She’s damaged goods! Only you don’t care!”

Jiang Sheng took several deep breaths, turned around, grabbed his coat, then slammed the door heavily.

He wouldn’t be going home for the next two years.

…

Yu Yin Yin tried hard to wipe the blood clean from her face, walking aimlessly on the street. A kind hearted girl came over to ask what was wrong, whether she needed help. She only said she had accidentally gotten paint on herself and was going home to change clothes.

An unfamiliar call came to her phone. Yu Yin Yin answered blankly. The other party opened by saying: “Yin Yin, I know you’re preparing to marry your boyfriend. xx told me.”

xx was one of those animals from just now. Yu Yin Yin wasn’t surprised by this. She didn’t make a sound, only silently listening.

The other party continued: “You think just because you hid in Qiu City and haven’t gone home all these years, you’re not our family’s daughter anymore? We’re just letting that boy take out the bride price, and that counts as you getting married. Do you hear me? Our daughter can’t let him sleep with her for free.”

Yu Yin Yin’s breathing became somewhat rapid. She kept wiping away the flowing tears, not hanging up the phone, listening on in a self tormenting manner.

“You tell him honestly, or I’ll go over and say it to his face directly. Do you hear me? Don’t think we can’t find where you and he live!”

The other side cursed for a long time, finally quieting down. Perhaps because their mouth was a bit dry, perhaps they finally discovered their conscience and gave their daughter a tiny bit of patience.

“I understand, mother.” Yu Yin Yin said: “You and father take good care of your health.”

The other side made a sound of acknowledgment, waiting to see their daughter submit as before.

Yu Yin Yin, as if mustering all her strength, raised her volume and said: “Rest assured. Not a single cent of my money will be left to you.”

After saying this she immediately hung up the phone and blacklisted the other side.

Yes, now it was truly over.

She had worked so hard to coax herself for so long, yet it only took a single short day for everything to return to the starting point.

She wasn’t as innocent as Jiang Sheng imagined. She had also taken a human life. The only bit of happiness she could hold in her hands was about to scatter.

Jiang Sheng’s phone vibrated. He received his girlfriend’s daily share that she had just sent: Nothing special happened today. I accidentally fell on the road. A kind hearted girl helped me up and even gave me a pack of tissues.

Love, your Yin Yin.