Chapter 4 Stool and Basement
A few days later, he showed up downstairs at my home.
Maybe he had heard the smashing from upstairs. Qin Zhimin came up.
The shaky door stood wide open. My dad and I were grappling.
In the instant I froze, the stool Song Ting raised hit my forehead.
Blood ran down at once.
"Money-losing thing! You still want college? I already took your Uncle Li's Bride Price. Tomorrow I will send you over."
Song Ting spat at me. "Damn it. Your wings got hard and you want to fly. You think I raised you all these years for nothing? If your Uncle Li had not just lost his wife, would he spend money to buy a little girl like you?"
Yes. My own father was going to marry me to a middle-aged man nearly fifty.
I closed my eyes in despair.
I could not understand why I had tried so hard and still could not escape.
"Bang."
The crash made me open my eyes.
I saw Qin Zhimin strike from behind. A stool knocked Song Ting out.
While the man was unconscious, he pulled me up and we ran.
That day we ran for a long, long time and left the nightmare alley behind us.
At last my strength gave out, and I fainted.
When I woke, I was in a hospital. My forehead had three stitches.
Qin Zhimin explained why he had not come to fill out the applications.
His family had planned everything for him long ago. Madam Qin had contacted several famous schools abroad and was ready to send Qin Zhimin overseas to study.
Qin Zhimin refused, so he was locked in the house by force.
He said that today, when the nanny on duty went soft, he had run out.
He gripped my hand tight. "Song Sheng, do not worry. I will not give in. Tomorrow we buy tickets to Nancheng."
"Okay."
Qin Zhimin had never seemed afraid. It seemed he believed that, even without his family, he could still give me a good life.
But as soon as we reached Nancheng, his bank card was frozen.
So we canceled the hotel we had booked. After a long search, we rented a basement.
No windows. Only three hundred a month.
To raise tuition, I started tutoring wherever I could.
Qin Zhimin's grades were poor. For faster money, he went to a construction site.
I brought him a meal once. Because he was young, the others always pushed him aside.
He did the dirtiest, hardest work. Others made three hundred fifty a day. He only made two hundred.
I watched the contractor flick a cigarette butt onto his hair. "This kid has such tender skin, and he even wears a celebrity hairstyle."
My heart clenched. I was afraid Qin Zhimin would throw a punch.
There were so many adults on the site. I knew he would not come out ahead.
But I had only taken one step when I saw Qin Zhimin calmly take the cigarette butt off his head.
He seemed not to care about their humiliation.
I froze. He had taken their insult and had not fought back.
That night, when he came back, Qin Zhimin did not mention any of it.
He even smiled and said he had already saved three thousand, and could soon gather my tuition.
I asked him, "Then what about your tuition?"
"My grades are bad anyway. I will not go for now."
He hurried, as if he did not want me to worry, and pulled me into his arms. "Song Sheng, even without my family, I can support you and put you through college."
"Will you trust me?"
In the worst of the heat, the smell of sweat mixed together was not pleasant.
I looked at the old bulb flickering on the ceiling and the instant noodle boxes on the table.
And at the boy who had tanned several shades darker in just one month.
I realized, in horror, that I was dragging him down.
The Qin family did not have only one son. Qin Zhimin had a younger brother.
That late night, while Qin Zhimin was deep asleep, I opened his contact list.
I called Madam Qin.
The next day, before daybreak, bodyguards sent by Madam Qin took Qin Zhimin away by force.
Before he got into the car, he glared at me with red eyes. "Song Sheng, you betrayed our vow. I will hate you for the rest of my life."
After he was taken away, I learned Song Ting had been beaten to death and the house had been sold.
I went to the river and jumped in.
Guan Mo pulled me back to shore and gave me the Tattoo Shop.
Back in the alley, Qin Zhimin was still waiting.
"It was worth it," I said.
I took Feng Yi's arm. "Let me introduce you. My boyfriend."
Qin Zhimin got into the car and left.
One night, I delivered wine for Ling Yu. Outside a private room, I met Qin Zhimin.
"Qin Zhimin, I hate you."
Later, Qin Zhimin came to the Tattoo Shop. A guest put a hand on my waist. Qin Zhimin knocked him down. I caught Qin Zhimin.
"Why did you not tell me you never took the Five Hundred Thousand Madam Qin gave you?" he asked.
He pulled me into his arms.
He showed me a screenshot of a transfer to Feng Yi for one hundred thousand.
"I do not have a boyfriend," I said.
Qin Zhimin moved into the shared apartment. He said he had already made things clear with Jiang Qingyao.
I received an admission letter from a design school in Milan.
Madam Qin held out a bank card. "Six years ago I gave you Five Hundred Thousand. You did not take it. Today I am giving you Five Million. I hope you will take it, and I hope you will not appear in front of my son again and disturb his life."
I pushed the card back.
The day before the agreement ended, I flew to Milan. I sent Qin Zhimin a farewell message and blocked him.
Qin Zhimin found me in Milan.
"If, after five years, we still like each other, then we will be together," I said.
He went back the same day.
Five years later, I returned to Jiangcheng.
At the airport, he said, "Welcome back, girlfriend."
"I am back, boyfriend," I said.
After we met his parents, Qin Zhimin held out a diamond ring. I reached out and accepted it.