From that day forward, Que Tang deliberately avoided Qi Ruolan. She began bringing bread for lunch or simply skipped it altogether, refusing to step foot out of the office.
At first, she would still hear the doorbell ring at home, but gradually, as if the other woman finally understood her resolve, the visits stopped. Their only remaining connection was the unavoidable interaction between a CEO and her subordinate within the company walls.
"Que Tang, are you alright?" the sales assistant asked with concern. Que Tang had been distracted since she arrived that morning, her face so pale that no one would have doubted she might faint at any moment.
"I’m fine. I just stayed up a bit late last night, so I’m a little low on energy," she replied with a weak smile. Her eyes inadvertently drifted toward the CEO’s office; it had been dark for three days now. Que Tang hesitated for a few seconds before casually bringing it up. "I haven't heard you mention your 'Goddess CEO' much lately."
"Ah, the Goddess... I heard she’s sick," the assistant said mournfully.
"Sick?" Que Tang frowned.
"Yeah, the special assistant and the secretary said she’s been resting at home for the past few days. Except for high-priority urgent matters, the special assistant is handling everything." After finishing, the assistant’s face lit up with a dreamy expression. "Do you think I should stake out the hospital? Maybe I’ll run into the CEO dragging her sick body there all alone. If I happened to catch her just as she was about to be blown over by the wind..."
Seeing that the soft-hearted assistant was lost in her own fantasies, Que Tang decided not to disturb her. She spent the rest of the day in a daze until she finally made it to clock-out time. She rushed out of the office, stopped at a pharmacy near her home to buy various medicines for colds, fevers, and rhinitis, and then hurried upstairs.
The momentum of her frantic energy came to a sudden halt the moment she stood before Qi Ruolan’s door.
"What am I doing..." Que Tang felt a wave of annoyance and self-loathing. "But... for the sake of being neighbors... I should at least check on her, right?" She stood before the door, hesitating for a long time. In the end, unable to resist the longing in her heart, she raised her hand and pressed the doorbell.
To her surprise, the door opened almost instantly.
Before Que Tang even had time to process her regret, she froze at the door, staring wide-eyed at Qi Ruolan, who looked pale and incredibly weak.
"Tangtang, what is it?" Qi Ruolan was the first to break the silence.
Seeing her leaning uncomfortably against the doorframe while forcing a smile, Que Tang stepped forward without a word to support her. "I heard you were sick, so I came to check on you. Where is your bedroom?"
Qi Ruolan leaned against her, a smile so faint it was almost invisible appearing on her lips. She pointed toward a chestnut-colored door on the right. After Que Tang helped her onto the bed, she took out all the medicine she had just bought and piled it onto the nightstand.
"I didn't know what your symptoms were... so I just had the pharmacist give me a few types of over-the-counter medicine." There was an inescapable trace of self-reproach in Que Tang's voice. "Have you eaten?"
Qi Ruolan shook her head against the pillow. "It’s fine. I don't have much of an appetite anyway, so don't trouble yourself."
"Didn't you say that when you're living alone, you have to look out for one another?" Que Tang paused at the door before walking out. "Even if I can't be your friend, I'm not so cold-hearted that I'd refuse to take care of you..." With that, she went to the kitchen to make some congee.
Que Tang stared at the bubbling congee in the pot, which mirrored her own turbulent thoughts. One side of her mind told her she shouldn't continue to blame herself for Mu Yao's death, while the other insisted it was all her fault.
"Meow~" Little Mushroom came in from outside and circled around her feet, rubbing against her.
"Long time no see." Coming back to her senses, Que Tang saw the cat's cute appearance and couldn't help but squat down to pet its head. Hearing it meow repeatedly, she knew it wanted more dried fish. With a chuckle, she found the snacks in the bag, tore one open, and poured it onto the floor. "Why are you such a glutton?"
"Tell me, what should I do..." Since Little Mushroom kept demanding more, she simply cut open the entire package and spread it out on the floor to let the cat eat its fill. She sat on the floor beside it, watching the cat as she fell into deep thought. "I had a neighbor, a younger girl I grew up with. She loved to cling to me since she was little, always sweetly calling me 'Tangtang' and asking me to play with her."
"Actually, she annoyed me sometimes. I wondered why she needed me for everything. I had my own life and friends, and she should have had hers too. But every time she looked at me with those eyes and shook my arm to make me stay, my heart would soften and I'd say yes." Speaking of the past, Que Tang realized that at some point, she had gradually begun to forget what Mu Yao’s face looked like. "If only... I had said yes that day too..." She covered her face with her hands. "On Mu Yao’s eighteenth birthday, she kept asking me to go pick her up. But I refused, using the excuse that she was old enough to come home on her own... If I had known, I wouldn't have bothered preparing some stupid gift; I would have just gone to get her... If I hadn't failed to go, she wouldn't have gone to that arcade out of sadness, and she wouldn't have been... raped and murdered..." Tears slipped through the cracks of her fingers.
She had suppressed it for too long. Ever since Mu Yao died.
Que Tang still remembered waiting at home with the gift, wanting to give Mu Yao a surprise, but she never showed up all night. It wasn't until the next day that she received a call from the police, saying they had found Mu Yao’s body in the arcade restroom, long since breathless...
She had rushed to the morgue in disbelief. When she saw Mu Yao’s cold body lying there, she collapsed instantly, kneeling by her side and sobbing, still clutching the crystal necklace she had intended to give her.
She stayed there until Mu Yao’s parents and her own parents arrived to take her away.
Later, she personally placed that crystal necklace around Mu Yao’s neck. She also placed the Totoro plushie that Mu Yao had always loved into the wooden coffin to accompany her in burial.
Standing before the grave, watching the workers lower the coffin into the pit and begin to cover it with earth, she had wanted to rush forward, crying.
She thought of how Mu Yao always smiled sweetly and called her 'Tangtang,' asking if they would be together forever.
She thought of the helpless way Mu Yao would wake her up every morning... and the way she looked when she received gifts...
"I clearly promised her that I would only think of her..." Que Tang’s voice was muffled behind her palms. Being with Qi Ruolan made her truly happy, but that happiness was followed by a crushing sense of betrayal.
Realizing she had lost her composure, she took a few deep breaths and wiped away her tears. Seeing Little Mushroom still happily munching on the dried fish, she let out a faint, smiling sigh. "To think I'm telling all this to a cat... I really have been holding it in for too long." She shook her head and stood up, turning on the faucet to wash away the mess on her face. Once she was sure she looked normal, she turned off the stove.
She served a small bowl of congee and a plate of freshly sautéed vegetables and brought them into the room.
"Eat something to line your stomach before you take the medicine." She smiled, contrary to her usual behavior.
Qi Ruolan pretended not to see the lingering bloodshot traces in her eyes. She maintained her usual gentle smile, obediently finished the food, and swallowed the medicine with some water.
Seeing her take the medicine, Que Tang felt it was about time to leave.
"Wait—" The words slipped out of Qi Ruolan's mouth before she remembered she was an adult, yet she still wanted Que Tang to stay...
"If it’s convenient... I’ll stay here tonight to look after you?" Que Tang saw the unspoken plea in her eyes. For some reason, she saw a glimpse of the way Mu Yao used to act when she was being stubborn, and the offer to stay came out naturally.
"Of course it's convenient."
As the medicine took effect, Qi Ruolan fell into a deep sleep. Que Tang sat nearby in a daze. She realized that although she and Qi Ruolan interacted often, she had never truly looked at the decor of her home. She couldn't help but let her gaze scan the items in the room, and then, she froze when her eyes landed on one particular object.
Trembling, she stood up and walked to the cabinet facing the bed. She stared at the carefully maintained plush toy sitting on top. "How is this possible..." She reached out and picked up the Totoro. The embroidered character for 'Tang' on its left foot hadn't even faded. "How can this be here... I clearly... I clearly put it in Mu Yao's..." Que Tang’s expression was one of agony.
"Have you remembered?" Qi Ruolan sat on the edge of the bed, watching her expressionlessly.
"Remembered what?" Que Tang turned sharply, her face full of terror. "Why do you have this? This is what I gave to Mu Yao. It was buried with her."
"This was... given to me by you. Tangtang." Qi Ruolan suddenly smiled, her dark pupils gradually turning purple. She stood up and approached Que Tang. "Have you forgotten? You said you would be with me forever. Tangtang."
"You..." Qi Ruolan cupped Que Tang’s face, their foreheads touching. A flood of memories instantly surged into Que Tang's mind. When she saw the scene of herself dying surrounded by flames inside a mecha, she couldn't help but push Qi Ruolan away with force. She bent over, gasping for breath. "How can something so absurd be happening..."
"Do you not want me anymore... Tangtang?" Beneath Qi Ruolan’s sorrowful expression lay a terrifying, barely perceptible obsession.
"So you and Little Mushroom have been lying to me? From the very beginning?" Que Tang glared at her sharply.
"Meow~ because this was a necessary condition for the Second Female Lead to be reborn." Little Mushroom appeared in the room again out of nowhere, its cute presence disrupting the freezing atmosphere. "Please don't blame the Second Female Lead, meow~"
"Necessary condition?" She glared at Qi Ruolan. "What necessary condition?" She had only just received all her memories from the System, but she didn't have Qi Ruolan’s side of the story.
Qi Ruolan bit her lip, unable to speak.
Little Mushroom answered cutely on her behalf. "Qi Ruolan is your Mu Yao, meow~"
"Impossible. Yaoyao is dead," Que Tang denied immediately.
"The body of Mu Yao is dead, but she was reborn in another way. Has the Host forgotten the Second Female Lead's resentment? Meow~"
"Wait, I have no idea what you're talking about." Que Tang rudely interrupted the cat's explanation.
"Let me tell it..." Qi Ruolan seemed to find her voice, keeping her head down, not daring to look at her. "At the moment of the accident, because my resentment was too strong, I didn't truly die. Instead, I condensed into a strand of consciousness that remained in the world. I also accidentally discovered... that the world we live in is actually just a story in a romance novel."
Que Tang was stunned.
"The story is very cliché. It’s about a female lead who stops interacting with people after a major trauma, but her heart is gradually opened after a 'warm man' moves in next door. I was the cannon fodder supporting character in that story—your 'accident.' And you are that female lead." Qi Ruolan looked up with a bitter smile.
"I was so unwilling. Why did I have to be written to death just so that man could appear? I... I loved you so much too." She didn't dare look Que Tang in the eye. "Originally, the result of my obsession being too deep would have caused the story to collapse and move toward a different plot, but I didn't expect your obsession, Tangtang, to be no less than mine." At this, a trace of a smile appeared at the corners of Qi Ruolan’s mouth.
"The combination of our obsessions triggered the System—which is Little Mushroom. It told me there was a way to be reborn. I had to have you constantly travel through stories to conquer the shadows of my soul. And rebirth required three conditions to be met. First, in the first story you traveled to, the supporting character had to fall in love with you again. Second, you had to collect all my soul fragments. Third... you had to be willing to sacrifice yourself for me... You achieved all three goals, which is why I could be reborn into this world. Then, to make you accept me, I replaced the original plot. Before the male lead could appear, I rented the place across from you."
Qi Ruolan bit her lip. "Actually... while you were in the 'game,' you were living here all along..."
For a moment, Que Tang felt like her mind was being blown about in the wind. Countless 'bullet comments' instantly flashed through her mind: *[Help! My younger neighbor sister is trying to pin me down. What do I do? Urgent, waiting online!]*, *[The girl next door is a hidden schemer; she played a massive game of chess just to get me in bed]*, *[My little sister can't be this sadistic]*, *[I actually played a cultivation game and got pinned by the beautiful girl I raised... I'm not some delusional otaku, QAQ]...*
But no matter how chaotic she felt, she couldn't hide the joy bubbling up from her heart... Que Tang lit a candle for her own lost dignity.
"Tangtang... I really didn't mean to lie to you," Qi Ruolan explained urgently.
"What is the name of this book?" Que Tang looked at her with a very serious and earnest expression, then asked this profound question.
"The Warm Man Next Door..."
Que Tang was silent for a while. "What a terrible name..."
"Tangtang, can you..."
"I want to be alone," Que Tang interrupted her. "And don't ask me who 'Alone' is." With that, she grabbed her bag and quickly scrambled back to her own home.
Qi Ruolan smiled bitterly. "This is why I didn't want her to know my identity. I wanted to approach her normally and make her fall for me... After all... this sounds so bizarre and frightening, doesn't it?" But now... everything was gone. She sat dejectedly on the edge of the bed.
After Que Tang fled home, she immediately rushed into the bathroom and stood under the showerhead, turning on the cold water. The moment it hit her, she immediately turned it off, confirming that all of this was real, not a dream.
Her Mu Yao had really come back.
Qi Ruolan sat on her bed all night. The cold that had been nearly cured seemed to worsen overnight, but she had no desire to rest. If Que Tang was going to ignore her, then it didn't matter if she lived or died... She was so depressed that she even started having auditory hallucinations of her doorbell ringing.
"Meow~ go open the door! The Host is outside!" Little Mushroom jumped onto her lap anxiously. Seeing that her eyes were still unfocused, it couldn't help but slap her cheek with a paw.
Alright, it admitted it did that on purpose. Who told the Second Female Lead to bully it so often?
Qi Ruolan finally snapped out of it and realized the doorbell really was ringing. She immediately tossed Little Mushroom aside and hurried to the door.
Little Mushroom, thrown onto the bed, bit the blanket in regret that it hadn't slapped her a few more times.
"Tangtang—" Qi Ruolan opened the door excitedly.
"Miss Qi? This is the delivery you ordered. It’s fifty-eight dollars total." Outside stood a man in a fast-food uniform, holding a large bag and a receipt, waiting for payment.
Qi Ruolan’s face instantly darkened. "I didn't order delivery."
Que Tang, who was hiding to the side, burst out laughing. Seeing the delivery man’s awkward expression, she pulled out the cash she had prepared and handed it to him, then stepped in front of the bewildered Qi Ruolan.
"I thought about it all night. I feel like my life has been ruined by your hands, and of course, yours is ruined by mine too." Que Tang suddenly fell silent. "Saying 'by your hands' sounds a bit... um... anyway, you made me lose all my dignity, so you have to take responsibility for me."
Qi Ruolan froze.
"What, are you going to seduce me and then abandon me? You’ve done foot-licking play with me, and cosplay, and this and that kind of play... How am I supposed to marry anyone else now!"
"Since you've already lost your dignity to this extent, it seems you can only marry me." Qi Ruolan finally laughed, reaching out to pull her into a tight embrace. "Tangtang... I love you."
"Mm," Que Tang responded with a smile, buried in her embrace.
"By the way, what does my 'destined husband' look like?"
-END-
