CHAPTER 122: CHAPTER 114: I WANT TO BORROW HALF OF YOUR BED (TWO CHAPTERS MERGED INTO ONE)

Bedroom Gu Yanjing leaned against the headboard, while Qiao Yuxian lay on the bed, clutching the edge of the blanket with both hands. Under the dim light, the two remained silent for a moment. Gu Yanjing sensed that Qiao Yuxian might have something to say, so he stayed propped against the headboard without lying down or turning off the light. Soon enough, Qiao Yuxian spoke. Her voice was small, as if reluctant to break the quiet that belonged only to the darkness: "Gu Yanjing." "Hmm," Gu Yanjing responded softly. Qiao Yuxian tilted her head slightly to look at him. Meeting his gaze, she smiled, rolled over onto her stomach, and said, "Gu Yanjing, do you think... I should go see her?" Gu Yanjing understood that the "her" she referred to was her mother, Zhao Shimeng. He paused briefly and asked, "Why don’t you want to see her?" Qiao Yuxian propped her chin on her hand, her hair hanging down on both sides on the bed. She thought for a moment and said, "I’ve never met her. She left after giving birth to me... I’ve heard that she didn’t like me, even hated me. I don’t know why she’s suddenly come back wanting to see me." After she said this, she was quiet for two seconds before continuing, "If she were a regular stranger, it wouldn’t matter. But I’m the child she carried for ten months; no matter what, she gave birth to me. Without her, I wouldn’t exist. I don’t know how to face her or how to interact with her. She disliked me from the start, and I don’t know if she’ll like me now. I’m a bit afraid to meet her." Gu Yanjing tucked her hair behind her ear, and after she finished speaking, he asked again, "Then why do you want to see her?" After this question, Qiao Yuxian was silent for a long time. Gu Yanjing didn’t rush her either; he gently brushed the back of his hand against her face, waiting for her. After a while, Qiao Yuxian held his hand, touching the joints of his fingers, and said, "Curiosity, perhaps. Curious about what the person who gave birth to me is like, curious about what kind of mother she would be. Curious about why she suddenly wants to see me. And curious... what if she does like the current me, what life with a mother would be like." Gu Yanjing’s heart suddenly ached, and even his fingers trembled a little. He watched the young girl lying on the bed, listening as she spoke of these things with a lighthearted tone. Qiao Yuxian rested her cheek on her hand, tilted her head to look at him, and said, "You’ve heard of Qiao Shuning, right, my cousin?" Gu Yanjing had looked into her, so he certainly knew about her family background. And because of the incident at school, where it was Qiao Shuning causing trouble behind the scenes, he had investigated it too. Qiao Yuxian continued, "When we were little, we lived in the same courtyard and often fought, pulling hair and biting arms and such. Every time we fought, she would go back crying to my aunt. My aunt would hold her, comfort her, buy her tasty snacks, fun toys, and pretty clothes." She stopped speaking at this point. Gu Yanjing waited for a while and then asked, "And you?" "Me?" Qiao Yuxian thought for a moment and said, "I was afraid my grandparents would worry, given their age, so I would go for a walk on my own and come back feeling better. At that time, I was thinking, if only my mother were there..." Gu Yanjing squeezed her fingers gently. Qiao Yuxian’s voice was as calm as ever, with no emotion, as if she were talking about someone else’s story: "My aunt was truly unpleasant. She pretended to care a lot about me in front of my grandparents, but once they were out, playing cards or visiting friends, she’d block me in the room and scold me. She called me a jinx, a curse, a burden. She said I’d curse my parents, that I was the Qiao family’s disaster." As she spoke, she smiled slightly, continuing, "Once, she even whipped me with a wicker switch. I picked up a brick from the yard. I originally intended to hit her on the head, but being short at the time, I couldn’t reach, so I hit her leg instead." Gu Yanjing watched her as she laughed while recounting these events. "I hit her leg several times. After knocking her down, I climbed onto her and hit her head," Qiao Yuxian said. "That day, I really wanted to kill her. But as a child, I didn’t have the strength, so I just managed to break her skin and draw a little blood." Gu Yanjing stroked the top of her head. Qiao Yuxian said, "That was the only time in my memory that my grandparents got mad at me. My grandpa made me stand by the door to reflect. My grandma looked at the marks on me left by the switch, applied medicine to them, and then took me to the police station. She said I intended to commit murder and wanted to send me in." Feeling a bit warm, she kicked the blanket off a little with her leg: "I was only about eleven or twelve years old at the time, never seen anything like that. And the police uncle played along, locking me in the interrogation room and asking me about the execution process, the motive. I was so scared that I cried my heart out in the interrogation room, almost cried myself into a stitch. My grandparents, outside, hardened their hearts and didn’t come in."