Endless Fall

She sat up weakly and reached for the glass on the bedside table.

The cold water flowed down her throat, alleviating the discomfort and dryness, and also clearing her chaotic thoughts.

Buzz—Buzz—

Lin Jiao glanced at the caller and answered the call after some hesitation.

Her tone was cold as she asked, “What do you want?”

“Sister Jiao, are you free this afternoon?” Song Zhen was very polite. “Brother Quan wants to transfer a shop to you. You have to come over and sign it.”

“I’m busy.”

“Then do you want me to bring it over for you to sign?”

Lin Jiao said sternly, “I told Gu Quan very clearly that I don’t want anything from him.”

“That’s not what you said when you were swiping his card. What’s the point of pretending?”

“He Qi, what are you doing?”

Song Zhen, who had snatched his phone back, quickly apologized, “Sister Jiao, don’t take what he said to heart.”

Lin Jiao said indifferently, “Don’t worry. I won’t bark at a dog when a dog barks at me.”

She was not stupid. Since she had nothing to do with Gu Quan now, why should she care about what his friends thought about her?

Song Zhen walked away from He Qi with his phone.

He brought the topic back. “Sister Jiao, Brother Quan doesn’t mean anything bad. He just wants you to live well.”

“Whether I’m living well or not has nothing to do with him.”

Lin Jiao’s throat was still hurting and she was not in the mood to talk to him. “Tell him to stop bothering me.”

“…Alright,” Song Zhen said. He knew it was useless to persuade her.

As soon as the call ended, Lin Jiao blacklisted Gu Quan and his friends.

She opened WeChat and was about to do the same when an unread message appeared.

Pei Yuan: “Did you wake up?”

Lin Jiao stared at the screen for a long time and tried to recall what happened last night, but her memory stopped at the moment she saw Pei Zhi at the bar.

She replied with two messages in a row: “Yeah, I woke up a while ago.”

“Uncle, did you send me home last night?”

In order not to miss her message, Pei Zhi logged into WeChat early in the morning on his office desktop computer.

He opened the chat box and typed on the keyboard: “Yeah, do you feel unwell?”

“My throat is a little sore.”

“The kettle is on the bedside table to your right. Drink more water and rest at home today.”

Lin Jiao turned around and opened the lid of the kettle.

Seeing that it was filled with water, she couldn’t help but feel sweet. “Thank you, Uncle. Smiley face.”

Seeing this emoji, Pei Zhi chuckled. “You’re welcome.” He picked up his phone and opened the food-delivering app.

At this point, Lin Jiao did not know what else to chat about.

She turned on the kettle and leaned lazily against the bed. She sent him another emoji.

Pei Zhi went through his sticker collection and sent a head-patting sticker.

“I ordered takeout for you. It’ll be there soon.”

Lin Jiao felt happy that someone cared about her, but her focus at this moment was on the cute head-patting sticker.

She saved the sticker and asked, “Uncle, have you eaten?”

“Yes.” Thinking that she had yet to wash up, Pei Zhi ended the topic first. “I still have work to do. Rest well.”

“Roger that, sir.”

Lin Jiao returned to the user interface.

She deleted a dozen WeChat friends and found all the bank cards Gu Quan had given her. She called a courier to send the cards back.

Without hesitation or reluctance, she decisively got rid of everything related to him, as if she was dealing with expired food.

*

“Who does Lin Jiao think she is?” A loud bang came from the private room of a restaurant.

He Qi, who had smashed his phone, was still angry. “Song Zhen, call her again.”

“Is that necessary?”

“Of course, it is. She scolded me!”

Song Zhen sighed. He felt that He Qi was like a child who had not grown up.

He said reasonably, “You were the one being sarcastic first.”

“You call that sarcasm but I call that honesty.”

“Even if she spent Brother Quan’s money, he gave it to her willingly. Who are we to say anything about it?”

“I don’t like her anyway!” He took a sip of tea and started to dig up the past. “I haven’t settled the score with her about what happened in the restaurant last time.”

“You still want to fight back?”

“Not only that, but I also have to teach her a lesson.”

Song Zhen patted his shoulder. “She’s Brother Quan’s ex-girlfriend after all. Don’t go overboard.”

“Brother Quan doesn’t care about her anyway.”

“How do you expect people to think about Brother Quan if his friend gives his ex-girlfriend a beating?”

He Qi did not speak. He used silence to let this matter rest, but he was secretly planning something.

Su Tian, who was standing at the door, litening, knocked twice.

She carried the two bags to the table and chatted with them like she used to.

“Where’s Brother Quan?”

“He met two partners and is chatting with them next door. He’ll come over later.”

“Yes,” Song Zhen replied.

When he and Su Tian were in high school, their relationship was very ordinary and they did not have much in common.

On the other hand, He Qi suddenly became a chatterbox and couldn’t stop talking.

“I heard you guys talking about Lin Jiao just now.” Su Tian asked calmly, “What happened to her?”

“Nothing.”

“Why? Can’t you tell me?”

“No.” He Qi did not notice Song Zhen’s gaze and told her everything without thinking.

Song Zhen was speechless.

He was afraid that Su Tian would be pissed off about Gu Quan wanting to give Lin Jiao the shop, so he quickly explained, “Brother Quan doesn’t mean anything by it. He just wants to give her something as an apology gift.”

The day Su Tian planned to return to the country, she asked He Qi about what had happened in the past few years. Naturally, she knew that Gu Quan had no feelings for Lin Jiao.

However, she still felt a little uncomfortable at the thought that Lin Jiao had been living with her man for so long.

“I know.” Su Tian rubbed her teacup. “This is all our fault. We have to make it up to her.”

“What does it have to do with you?”

“If I knew it earlier, I would have stopped Gu Quan from finding a replacement, and Lin Jiao wouldn’t have to suffer the pain.”

“Su Tian, it’s not your fault.” He Qi looked at her with all the gentleness he had, but he could not hug her in his arms and could only comfort her verbally.

Su Tian shook her head. “I’ll take responsibility for Gu Quan’s mistake. After all, he did it for me.”

“That bi*ch doesn’t want any compensation anyway. Just ignore her and live a good life with Brother Quan.”

“Even if she doesn’t want it, we have to give it to her.”

He Qi knew she was a kind-hearted person. “What do you want to do?”

“Give me her number.” Su Tian swiped open the screen of her phone and handed it to him. “I’ll talk to her when I have time.”

He Qi could not reject her.

He reminded her again, “Just talk to her on the phone. It’s best if you don’t meet her.”

“Why?”

“I’m afraid she’ll harm you.”

“Alright.” Su Tian lowered her eyes. When she saved the number, a dark glint flashed across her eyes.

It was still uncertain who would harm who.