Sweet Oxygen - Chapter 14

Chapter 14 – Question

Have you taken a liking to me?

——

That day, after sending Qin Han a video of the little golden retriever, Zhang Yuqing never sent her anything else, and Qin Han also didn’t try to contact Zhang Yuqing.

Because that midnight, she heard her parents arguing again.

Maybe it was because the weather was stuffy, and Qin Han hadn’t turned on the air conditioner.

In the middle of the night, she was unwillingly woken up by the heat. Her body was sweaty and uncomfortable. With her eyes closed, she fumbled around in the dark on her bedside table, trying to find the air conditioner remote.

After searching for a while, Qin Han suddenly remembered that before bed, her mother had borrowed her air conditioner remote because the one in the master bedroom was out of batteries.

She paused in the darkness for a moment, then groped around to open a window.

It was really hot. Even the cold and quiet moonlight was trapped behind the clouds, revealing only a faint shadow. Qin Han got up, wanting to go to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of iced honey lemon water to cool down.

This kind of sneaky midnight indulgence in cold drinks was something her mother absolutely couldn’t find out about, or she’d get a lecture about how it wasn’t good for girls to crave the cold.

She tiptoed to the door, carefully twisted the handle, and walked out.

The more cautiously she controlled her movements, the hotter she felt. Qin Han thought she was about to evaporate on the spot.

As she passed her parents’ bedroom, her mother’s cold laughter suddenly broke the silence, startling her.

Her mother’s mocking voice came through the master bedroom door: “You’ve only been home for one day, and that vixen already couldn’t wait to call you?”

“Be reasonable. I wasn’t home recently because I was on a business trip. Can you stop always assuming the worst of people? Not every man cheats in marriage!”

“Cheating! So, you’re thinking about cheating!”

“Li Jingru! Can you lower your voice and not wake the child?”

Mother Qin continued laughing coldly. “If you weren’t doing something to betray this family, I wouldn’t be waking her up.”

Her father snapped, “What have I done to betray this family? Haven’t I done enough for this home? Do you know why I don’t like coming back? The moment I step inside, you start arguing with me. I work hard to make money outside, and I’m exhausted. I need rest too!”

“And I’m not exhausted at home? Doing housework every day isn’t tiring? What do you mean you don’t like coming back? Are you saying you want a divorce?”

“If that’s what you think, then I have nothing to say.”

Her father’s suppressed anger turned into weariness as he sighed. “You keep bringing up divorce. Lately, I’ve been thinking… maybe we should actually sit down and talk about it.”

Divorce?

Qin Han was stunned in the living room.

She thought of how, just that evening, her parents had smiled at her so warmly. She thought of them laughing and chatting with her over dinner.

Maybe those warm moments were all fake.

For them to act like a loving couple so effortlessly in front of her, it meant that moments like this—these hysterical arguments—were nothing new.

Qin Han stood there for a while. The oppressive heat had long since dissipated under the weight of their hushed but heavy voices. Her fingertips were cold. In a daze, she turned back to her bedroom and quietly shut the door.

At some point, rain had begun to fall outside. The drizzle wasn’t heavy, but distant thunder rumbled continuously.

Qin Han heard the sound of a door closing outside. Maybe her father had left home in the middle of the night, braving the rain.

She lay in bed, tossing and turning.

Suddenly, she remembered the last class meeting in her senior year of high school.

That day, she had been sitting in the first row on the right side of the classroom, next to the window.

A classmate stood at the front, sharing ways to stay relaxed before the college entrance exam. After talking for a while, a boy sitting in the back lazily shouted, “Why bother worrying? Just think about how once exams are over, we’ll be free! That alone should be enough to make you laugh in your sleep!”

The girl on stage stomped her foot in frustration, while a few boys clapped and jeered. Qin Han heard their homeroom teacher chuckle from the front of the room.

How would you describe that laugh?

It was the kind of laugh that made it seem like the students were being naive.

Standing next to the homeroom teacher, the English teacher also laughed. Shaking her head, she lowered her voice and said, “Kids at this age are wonderful—so innocent. They really think graduating high school is the biggest joy in the world.”

“Exactly,” the homeroom teacher chuckled in agreement. “Once they get to our age, they’ll realize that graduating was like saying goodbye to paradise. There’s nothing more carefree than being a student.”

The English teacher swept her eyes over the classroom with a nostalgic look. “That’s right. Once you’re out in society, you realize just how complicated the world really is.”

Qin Han had been close enough to hear their conversation clearly.

She understood the words, but she couldn’t grasp the faint melancholy between the lines.

The homeroom teacher noticed her gaze and smiled at her. “Eavesdropping on your teachers?”

Qin Han startled and quickly lowered her head.

Both teachers chuckled. The English teacher reassured her, “Don’t take it to heart. When the time comes, certain experiences will happen naturally, and they will teach you what we mean.”

Summers in the capital didn’t usually see much rain, but these past few days had been gloomy and drizzly, making the northern metropolis feel almost like the misty south.

When Qin Han asked about her father, her mother’s expression stiffened slightly for a moment before she smiled and said, “He’s on a business trip. You can call him and ask him to bring you a little gift when he comes back.”

By the time the weather cleared again, several days had passed. Qin Han had finished reading the entire book Little Reunions, and even the other works by Eileen Chang that she had ordered online had mostly been read through. She found herself sinking into a kind of melancholic mood.

Fortunately, after a few days, the bright sunshine dried up some of those heavy emotions.

Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn’t checked on the little golden retriever at Zhang Yuqing’s house for days.

The puppy must not have been claimed.

Back when they first took it in, Zhang Yuqing had said that if someone came looking for it, he would let her know.

But these days, their conversation had remained frozen at the video he sent that day.

Her father still hadn’t come home. He occasionally sent messages in the family group chat and had even sent Qin Han a book list, saying it was good reading for young people.

Caught between her parents’ conflict, she didn’t know what to do. All she could do was try her best to be a good daughter—to hold up the warmth of their home.

She replied to her father in the chat, “Sounds interesting! I’ll go borrow them from the library today and read them with Mom when I get back.”

Qin Han first went to the library, borrowed a few books from the reading list, and then bought a large amount of imported dog food and canned food.

Since she was the one who took in the dog, she couldn’t rely on Zhang Yuqing for everything.

On the way from the mall to Zhang Yuqing’s shop, she passed by a sushi shop, a red bean cake shop, and a homemade yogurt shop. So, by the time she arrived at Zhang Yuqing’s shop, she was carrying multiple bags in both hands, the weight pressing into her fingers until they turned red.

From a distance, she could already hear Zhang Yuqing’s voice, “Beibei, put it down.”

Burdened with her bags, she couldn’t move quickly, but she still caught sight of Zhang Yuqing lifting the little golden retriever into his arms.

Maybe the little guy had caused some trouble, but his voice didn’t carry any reprimand.

Even though she was the one who had brought back this little troublemaker, he had already given it a name.

Zhang Yuqing was really gentle.

The past few days had been gloomy, and she had read several emotionally heavy books. On top of that, her parents’ issues had left her feeling silently downcast for days.

But standing at the entrance of Zhang Yuqing’s shop, inhaling the faint bamboo fragrance drifting from inside, and seeing him holding the little golden retriever, Qin Han felt a genuine sense of relief. The oppressive emotions from the past few days suddenly dissipated.

Standing in the sunlight, she cheerfully called out, “Zhang Yuqing!”

Zhang Yuqing turned his head and saw Qin Han.

After days of rain, the sky was a vivid blue. Qin Han was wearing a white dress, smiling brightly, her eyes curving into crescents.

Zhang Yuqing noticed the pile of bags in her hands, each one stamped with logos from different stores.

From the looks of it, besides dog supplies, she had bought things for people as well.

Sure enough, Qin Han placed everything on the ground and began sorting through them.

Her tone was just as lively as before.

“This is homemade traditional yogurt—not made by me, though! I bought it from a shop. I’ve had it before; it’s really rich.”

“This is a sushi box. There’s tuna, Arctic surf clam sashimi, and salmon.”

“And this—red bean cake. It’s not too sweet, but it’s got plenty of filling. I don’t know if you’ll like it, but when I was in line, I saw other guys buying it too.”

She chattered on, tiny beads of sweat glistening at her temples in the sunlight, radiant and full of energy.

Zhang Yuqing suddenly recalled a question Luo Shijin had asked him a few days ago.

— “Qing-ge, seriously, you really don’t think Qin Han likes you, even a little?”

Honestly, he hadn’t thought so at the time.

In his impression, Qin Han was just a somewhat naive girl. He even felt that her emotional maturity was a bit behind her actual age.

When Luo Shijin had asked, he had even chuckled, firmly denying the possibility.

But now, seeing her grinning so happily at him while lugging a bunch of stuff his way, he suddenly wasn’t so sure.

Could this girl actually have feelings for him?

Zhang Yuqing subtly recalled how many times Qin Han had visited his shop. He thought about what she had said about the old book market, and suddenly, the excuse of “just passing by” didn’t seem so convincing.

Even the way she had been nervous when asking to leave the puppy in his shop—looking back, maybe she wasn’t just afraid he would refuse to take in the dog.

Qin Han finally finished introducing her large and small bags of things, and crouched down to open the dog food packaging.

Zhang Yuqing placed the little golden retriever on the table, pointed at the bags by Qin Han’s feet, and asked, “Are these for me?”

“They’re for the dog,” Qin Han replied without looking up.

Zhang Yuqing: “…”

Sensing his silence, Qin Han realized he was referring to the food. She quickly picked up a box of sushi and placed it on his desk. “It’s for you. Do you want to eat now?”

But Zhang Yuqing’s gaze didn’t shift to the sushi at all. Instead, he looked at her face, his eyes carrying a hint of amusement.

“Little girl, I have a question for you.”

“Huh?”

His serious gaze was a bit too intense, making Qin Han instinctively look away for a second. “What question?”

“Have you taken a liking to me?”

Qin Han had never been asked such a question before. Her face instantly turned red. Suddenly, she remembered the conclusion she had reached a few days ago—

The person she couldn’t forget was supposed to be the boy who threw the dart.

Qin Han was a straightforward and honest person, and she answered the question seriously. “No, I don’t like you. I have a crush on… on another guy.”