Chapter 13, Debt_1

Yang Yi was awakened early in the morning by Yang You, and he drove her to school.

Last night, thanks to Yang You's relentless outing of their secret, his parents found out about him and Meng Xiao. His father called him into the study and gave him a harsh talking-to.

Yang Yi couldn't sleep that night, he called Meng Xiao, but she hung up. He opened WeChat to leave her a message, only to be surprised to find that since his return from France, she hadn't initiated a single message to him.

Their last conversation remained on the day at noon when she said she would go to the market to buy food and it would be ready for him when he got home.

That night, they said goodnight to each other via text message, not WeChat.

When he got home, he was given a half-finished meal, and Meng Xiao treated him coldly, even testing him with a bracelet.

It must have been that thing that made her angry. That day, he intended to give her a birthday present, but when he saw the bracelet on the table, he pictured his grandmother telling him about his grandfather with the gold bracelet, negative emotions rushed over him, and he wronged her.

Yang Yi didn't tell his father the reason why he and Meng Xiao had been hiding their relationship, but his father was right. No matter what Meng Xiao had done in the past, if he really wanted to be with her, he should tell her clearly and be together openly and honestly.

She had suffered with him for so many years, she had already paid back what she owed.

A man shouldn't quarrel with his woman, and if he keep lying, and Meng Xiao finds out, the consequences are unpredictable.

With his father's scolding, Yang Yi's mood actually improved, and a lot of the shadow in his heart was blown away.

He gave up on the hundred thousand dollar car, and ordered a car that he had been interested in for a long time, choosing all the things that Meng Xiao liked, and configured it according to the style that is popular among girls nowadays.

The two cars are identical except for the colors.

One for Yang You, one for Meng Xiao, treating them both equally.

He needs to find an opportunity to clear things up with Meng Xiao in the next few days. When he receives the car, he'll make up for it with a birthday gift.

She has always been soft-hearted. As long as he talks to her frankly, apologizes to her sincerely, and treat her better in the future, even if she is upset and angry with him now, she will forgive him in the end.

The more Yang Yi thought about it, the cuter Meng Xiao seemed to him; the cuteness was embedded in his heart, scratching at him.

Once this matter is over, he'll take her on a trip, and do everything that a normal boyfriend and girlfriend would do.

Make up for all the hardships she has suffered over the past few years, propose to her when she graduates in her senior year, get engaged first, spend a few years alone, and find a suitable time to get married.

From then on, he'll be responsible for making money and taking care of her. He's certainly capable of turning her into a world-class artist.

After ordering the car, on the way back, Yang Yi remembered that Yang You had bought a cat head keychain a few days ago. It was a limited edition of some cat, Yang You asked him to give it to Meng Xiao, but he had tossed it in the drawer and forgot.

Yang Yi thought that he would hang the car key on it in a few days, Meng Xiao would like that.

He turned the car around and drove the Porsche back to the old rental house.

...

At the hospital, the doctor had done a check-up on Meng Xun. Meng Xun was feeling a lot better, but the bruise on his face would take some time to heal.

Meng Xiao took Meng Xun's blood-stained school uniform back to wash. She felt strange on the way there, and looked back several times feeling as if someone was following her.

At the door, this feeling became even more intense.

Meng Xiao felt goosebumps all over her body, she immediately went in and locked the door.

After cleaning the room, doing the laundry, and preparing dinner for Meng Xun, she left for the hospital.

When locking the door, she found a cigarette butt that had been smoked on the ground. It wasn't there just now, which meant someone had been smoking at the door after she went in.

Meng Xiao was scared, she quickly kicked the cigarette butt into the stairwell and triple checked the lock before leaving with peace of mind. However, that feeling of being followed was still there, following her into the ward, as if someone was spying on Meng Xiao or the people who came into contact with Meng Xun.

The next day, this feeling was still very clear.

When Meng Xiao went back, she held a hammer in one hand and lay down at the door, looking out from the peephole. It was quiet outside, but faint footsteps were gradually approaching, and a scruffy middle-aged man appeared in the peephole. He had a scar from his left forehead to his right face, his eyes were fierce and murky, and he was smoking a cigarette behind the security door, staring at her.

The brand of the cigarette was the same as yesterday, which means it was him here yesterday.

The man smoked but didn't leave. Meng Xiao was scared, afraid that the man wouldn't leave. She quickly locked the door and hid in her bedroom with her phone.

She couldn't call the police. The man was just smoking at her door. If she rashly called the police, she might alert him.

The number of people she knew was limited. She couldn't ask a girl for help. Among the boys, aside from her advisor and professor, there were only Xiao Yansheng and Yang Yi.

It was impossible to ask Xiao Yansheng for help. Gathering up the last of her courage, Meng Xiao made a call to Yang Yi.

The phone rang three times, and Yang Yi did not answer. Meng Xiao's rationality cleared with the ring of the phone. It was a four-hour journey from Hai City, and help would not arrive in time.

The call was hung up by Meng Xun, and Meng Xiao hung up. Yang Yi didn't call back.

Meng Xiao waited until it was dark inside, and she didn't know if the man outside had left. Meng Xiao looked out from the peephole, the light outside was off, and there was no movement.

Meng Xun was still waiting for her in the hospital. He had already sent several messages asking her to hurry. Meng Xiao plucked up her courage and carefully cracked the door open.

The light sensor outside ignited, and there were many flattened cigarette butts on the ground, but no one was there.

The man must have left. Meng Xiao sighed in relief.

She went back to the room to get the meals for Meng Xun. She just turned off the living room light and went out. The sensor light in the hallway also went out, and the space was plunged into darkness. A red light flickered outside the door, the man was leaning against the wall, taking a drag on his cigarette, and the red light intensified.

"Finally came out." The man grinned, his teeth black and yellow, gripping the cigarette, his exhaled breath sinister and foul.

The meal Meng Xiao was holding in her hand fell to the ground.

...

In Hai City, the limited edition cat head keychain. Yang Yi remembered that he had left it in the old rental house. He planned to go back and get it.

He remembered that he deliberately put it in her pile of clothes, thinking that Meng Xiao would naturally see it when she changed clothes, but who knew she hadn't discovered it for so long.

Yang Yi opened the wardrobe and looked for the keychain in there.

Meng Xiao's clothes in here weren't many, a thin stack, he found it once he reached the bottom.

Yang Yi picked up the keychain, and happened to see, in the corner of the wardrobe, a black velvet bag under Meng Xiao's clothes, sealed with red velvet string, with classic mandarin ducks playing in the water embroidered on it. The stitches were so fine that it was hard to notice that one of the mandarin ducks' tails had once broken thread.

This was the bag his grandma used to put the bracelet in, and the mandarin ducks were embroidered by her hand.

Yang Yi's hand trembled, a bad premonition surged in his heart, and he picked up the bag. The touch had already told him that there was nothing in the bag, but he still stubbornly opened it.

Inside there was only a piece of paper, on which was written XX Gold Shop, selling receipt for gold jewelry.

She had sold it, the token of love that his grandfather gave to his grandmother, the only memento in the world left by his grandmother to him.

She had sold it, just for a few tens of thousands of yuan.