Sweet Oxygen - Chapter 26

Chapter 26 – Emotion

Do you mind giving my hand back?

——

Previously, she always dreamed about not being able to finish an exam, losing her pen during a test, filling in the answer sheet incorrectly, or being late for school.

This was the first time Qin Han dreamed of a specific person.

Even the distinct strands of his eyelashes and the curve of his lips when he smiled were so clear.

That person was Zhang Yuqing.

She wrapped herself in her blanket, lying there for a long time.

There was an inexplicable excitement, as well as the shy embarrassment of a young girl.

The thin silk quilt carried the scent of lavender laundry detergent. Just as Qin Han poked her head out from under the blanket, she suddenly felt a dull ache in her lower abdomen.

She was stunned for a few seconds before abruptly sitting up, only to see a stain of menstrual blood on the bed.

She was doomed.

The bedsheet needed washing.

Since summer vacation started, Qin Han had been spending her free time running to Yaonan Alley. She remembered she was running low on sanitary pads but had never gotten around to buying more, nor did she ask her mom to prepare them.

When she searched her cabinet in the bathroom, she found that she only had the extra-long night-use pads and pantyliners left—there wasn’t a single regular pad.

She stuck on a pantyliner and ran to her parents’ bedroom to check their bathroom, but she couldn’t find any there either.

Maybe they were in her mother’s dressing room?

In Qin Han’s house, the piano room belonged to her, the study belonged to her father, and the dressing room belonged to her mother.

These three rooms were private spaces for each of them. Unless necessary, others wouldn’t enter.

Qin Han wasn’t very familiar with her mother’s dressing room. She stood there for a moment, thinking, before opening the solid wood storage cabinet.

Sure enough, in the second-to-last compartment, she found a pack of unopened sanitary pads.

As she reached for them, she accidentally knocked over a thick kraft paper folder.

The folder fell, scattering its contents all over the floor.

She crouched down to pick them up, but when she saw what they were, her entire body stiffened.

They were photographs. Every single one of them featured her father.

Taken from various angles, all blurry, but it was obvious—they were secretly taken during her father’s working hours.

Qin Han felt as if she had stumbled upon an unspeakable secret. She wanted to pretend she hadn’t seen anything and put the photos back.

But she couldn’t resist. Driven by curiosity, she picked one up for a closer look.

There were words written on the back of the photos.

December 6: Qin Anzhi was in negotiations with Changyin Company. When leaving, he opened the car door for a woman and smiled at her.

The woman is Li Xiao’ou, the sales vice president of Changyin Company. Unmarried.

February 19: Qin Anzhi went on a business trip to Shanghai. His colleagues included three men and two women. The women were his secretary, Wang Yunan, and the head of the planning department, Dong Fangyuan. Both married.

Qin Anzhi stayed at Hujiang Hotel, Room 302. Dong Fangyuan stayed in 304—just two rooms away. Too close.

May 30: Qin Anzhi spoke on the phone with Gu Qiqi, the owner of a printing company. The call lasted 32 minutes and he sent 3 messages in total.

January 7: Qin Anzhi chatted with a sales associate from Zhu Yu Gold Jewelry at a shopping mall. They chatted for 4 minutes and 3 seconds and he smiled three times.

The more Qin Han read, the colder her heart became.

Inside that folder were her father’s monthly call records, screenshots of WeChat conversations, shopping receipts, hotel check-in records from business trips…

Even logs tracking his daily routes.

Among them, Qin Han found business cards from private investigators. She clutched a few different types of cardstock in confusion, remembering how her high school teacher once mentioned that some actions of private detectives might actually be illegal.

But why was her mother monitoring her father?

Qin Han sat there in a daze before opening a small notebook inside the folder.

“We argued today. Anzhi said he didn’t want me constantly watching him. He found out I had checked his phone. But he doesn’t understand—I do this because I love him.”

“Another argument. I feel like he’s interacting with too many women lately. He always says it’s for work, but I feel uneasy. Do men really turn bad once they have money?”

Qin Han slammed the notebook shut. She carefully gathered up all the scattered photos, stuffed them back into the folder, wound the string around it several times, and hid it deep inside the cabinet.

She was subconsciously trying to help her mother hide these things.

Her father must never see them.

What would happen if he did?

Would he…

Qin Han clutched the pack of sanitary pads and returned to her room, her heart pounding in panic.

Suddenly, she understood what her father meant when he spoke to her grandmother that day on the balcony.

“I really, really love your mother. But some things… love alone isn’t enough.”

Did her father already know?

The memories of her parents’ late-night arguments resurfaced in her mind. She recalled how her mother would repeatedly call his female colleagues “vixens.”

The emotions between adults were too complicated. Qin Han didn’t know who was right or wrong.

But she felt deeply uneasy.

She called her mother. Her mother picked up quickly, and Qin Han struggled to find the right words before finally asking, “Mom, good morning. What are you doing?”

“Waiting for your father to make me breakfast.”

She couldn’t see her mother’s face, so she couldn’t tell if her tone of happiness was real or fake.

For the first time, Qin Han lied. “Mom, I want to talk to Dad… I wanted to ask him about the books he recommended last time.”

“Sure! I’ll take the phone to him.”

Soon, she heard the sound of footsteps through the phone.

Feeling nervous, Qin Han had a sudden idea. She quickly grabbed her earphones and plugged them into her phone.

She held her breath and listened closely. She heard her mother open a door and say,”Xiaohan wants to talk to you.”

“What’s up, Xiao Han? Do you miss Dad?”

Qin Han wasn’t good at lying. She simply said she had accidentally deleted her book list and asked him to send it again. Even just saying that, she stuttered.

Only when she heard the sound of the range hood and food sizzling in the background did she finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Her father really was making breakfast for her mother.

Maybe she was overthinking things.

But her heart was still restless.

She grabbed her books and headed to Yaonan Alley.

From morning till afternoon, Zhang Yuqing was busy working in the tattoo studio. Li Nan didn’t come today, and Luo Shijin left after lunch to watch over his fruit stand.

Qin Han sat at her usual spot by the window, staring at her book in a daze.

She was still thinking about her parents.

When Zhang Yuqing finally stepped out of the studio, she was still quietly reading at the table.

He went out and bought a large cup of sour plum juice, placed it on the table beside her, but she didn’t even lift her head.

So focused?

He glanced at Qin Han’s book, where a beetle had landed.

Zhang Yuqing suddenly chuckled. “Are you afraid of breaking its legs just by touching it?”

Only then did Qin Han snap out of her daze. She turned her head to look at Zhang Yuqing, blinking with slight confusion. “What?”

Zhang Yuqing pointed at the large beetle on her book with his chin.

Following his gaze, Qin Han saw the beetle’s glossy black body and its tiny eyes staring at her. Instantly, she shrank back, grabbing onto Zhang Yuqing in alarm.

The bug was terrifying. All black and shiny and it was looking at her!

She didn’t realize she was holding Zhang Yuqing’s hand. Trembling, she asked, “Zhang Yuqing, this… this isn’t a dung beetle, is it?”

His laughter came from above her. “No. Don’t look at it. I’ll take it away for you.”

“But…”

Qin Han frowned slightly, as if contemplating something. “It’s so big and sturdy. Won’t its legs break when you move it?”

“They won’t.”

Zhang Yuqing’s hand was still in her grip. He shifted slightly and said with a smile, “Little girl, do you mind giving my hand back first?”

That was when Qin Han realized she was holding his hand.

His skin was fair, almost rivaling a girl’s. Maybe because he kept them covered in gloves while working, his fingers had a slight reddish tint at the joints.

He had very beautiful hands.

Her fingertips burned, and she let go as if scalded.

Zhang Yuqing pulled out a sketching paper from somewhere, folded it a few times, and gently scooped up the beetle, releasing it outside.

Qin Han admired this kind of gentle respect for all living things.

But Zhang Yuqing was really busy. After getting rid of the beetle, he said, “I wasn’t sure if you could have cold drinks, so I bought one at room temperature. There’s ice in the fridge if you want it chilled.”

Then, he put on his mask and gloves again and returned to the tattoo studio.

“Mm.”

Qin Han had brought a thin poetry collection, which she quickly finished.

But without the book to occupy her mind, her thoughts drifted back to the folder hidden in her mother’s cabinet.

She decided to visit Grandpa Liu.

Books really had a way of making time disappear. By the time she finished half of Dream of the Red Chamber, she realized it was getting late.

Lifting her head from the extravagant lives and complex relationships in the novel, she felt a lingering sadness—perhaps because she had known the tragic ending since school. Even seeing the characters laughing and chatting in the pages, her heart felt heavy.

Maybe it was her period making her extra sensitive today.

Back at Zhang Yuqing’s shop, Qin Han stopped at the entrance.

A white SUV was parked outside.

She normally didn’t pay attention to cars, but she remembered her father showing them this model during the winter.

He had said it was a safe and stylish car, perfect for her mother.

So… did this car belong to a woman?

She sneaked a peek into the driver’s seat and saw a pair of women’s sunglasses and a camera.

Lifting her head again, she saw through the window—

Zhang Yuqing was sitting inside, across from a woman.

Beautiful women often visited his shop, but this one was different.

At least, Zhang Yuqing’s attitude toward her wasn’t the same as with his customers.

He was sitting there, one arm resting on the table, his posture straighter than usual. He was still smiling, but there was something else in that smile.

It made Qin Han feel like this woman mattered to him.

Already weighed down by thoughts of her parents, Qin Han suddenly felt an inexplicable twinge of emotion.

She didn’t know why, but she was sure of one thing—

She was unhappy.

Very, very unhappy.

Zhang Yuqing suddenly turned his head and noticed her. He looked a bit surprised. “Why are you standing outside? Come in.”

“Oh.”

Qin Han stepped inside and glanced at the long bench by the table.

Zhang Yuqing and the woman each occupied a side.

She didn’t know this woman. Sitting next to a stranger felt weird.

Which meant she could only sit with Zhang Yuqing.

Holding her newly bought second-hand book, Qin Han quietly sat beside him.

She pretended to read, but her gaze kept sneaking toward the woman across from them.

The woman had a gentle aura, dressed in a light green linen dress, and spoke in a soothing voice.

Smiling, she said to Zhang Yuqing, “Next time I come, I might as well get a full sleeve tattoo. One arm with ‘I was never meant to be a wandering soul,’ and the other with ‘Yet a single drink bound me to the dust of the world.’”

Zhang Yuqing poured Qin Han a glass of room-temperature water and set a piece of watermelon in front of her before responding, “A lettering tattoo?”

The woman rolled her eyes. “Of course a design! You’re a tattoo artist, and you’re trying to get away with simple text?”

“That’s too abstract.”

Zhang Yuqing chuckled. “And you wouldn’t be able to get a full sleeve tattoo anyway. What about your job?”

They were close.

They had known each other for a long time.

Qin Han lowered her gaze back to her book, staring at the dense lines of text.

The woman smiled. “Seeing you doing well puts me at ease.”

What did she mean by that?

Why did she need to be reassured about his well-being?

Qin Han frowned.

Could she be…

Zhang Yuqing’s ex-girlfriend?

Pressing her lips together tightly, Qin Han unconsciously kicked at the floor.

The cicadas chirped in the thick summer air. A plate of neatly cut watermelon sat on the table, its sweetness carrying the coolness of well water—probably chilled by Luo Shijin.

Beibei, the dog, was happily gnawing on a plush teddy bear toy.

The woman’s iced sour plum juice was almost gone.

She must have been here for a while already.

Qin Han regretted going to Grandpa Liu’s place.

The more she thought about it, the more stuffy she felt.

And the more stuffy she felt, the more frustrated she became.

Her chest filled with restless emotions. Zhang Yuqing seemed to sense something.

He suddenly turned, placing a hand on her head. “Little girl, why do you look so unhappy?”