Sweet Oxygen - Chapter 29

Chapter 29 – Courage

Zhang Yuqing hadn’t expected this hug

——

Qin Han cried for a long time. Later, her sobs grew quieter and quieter until she finally fell silent.

Zhang Yuqing helped her take off her coat and handed her a tissue.

The night was quiet. Zhang Yuqing’s bedroom wasn’t big, but it was neat, with only a bed and a simple wardrobe.

The bedsheet was a gray plaid fabric. Beibei lay on it, resting its chin on its little paws, already fast asleep.

Qin Han finally gathered some energy. With a heavy nasal tone, she began telling Zhang Yuqing about her parents—about their arguments, about the kraft paper folder in the wardrobe, and, in the end, about her father’s helplessness today.

Her eyes were red, with thin bloodshot veins in them. Her eyelashes, damp from wiping away her tears, were tangled—some sticking together, some curling up.

She looked particularly pitiful.

Her gaze was somewhat empty as she mumbled, “Zhang Yuqing, I don’t know what to do.”

In truth, Zhang Yuqing had experienced far more than she had. Yet, when he went through those things himself, he never thought much of them.

But now, seeing Qin Han with her reddened nose, saying “what to do” made his brows knit together, as if he were facing an enormous problem.

How could he comfort this little girl?

“Dad said he’d come back, but I don’t think he will.”

As Qin Han spoke, tears welled up again, clinging to the base of her eyelashes, on the verge of falling. “I only have Mom now.”

Zhang Yuqing raised his hand and gently wiped away her tears with the back of his index finger. “They just won’t be living together anymore. They still love you.”

With Zhang Yuqing’s company, Qin Han slowly calmed down.

There were many things that couldn’t be changed—like her friendship with Hu Keyuan, like her parents’ decision to divorce.

She knew that no one could change them.

But when forced to accept it, she just had to cry first, venting all her dissatisfaction and unease.

Later, Zhang Yuqing brought over a chair and sat across from Qin Han.

Behind him, against the wall, stood a wooden guitar. He picked it up and strummed it lightly. “Want to hear a song?”

The sound of the strings drifted into the night, soothing her emotions.

Qin Han’s tears hadn’t dried yet, but her eyes were dazzlingly bright.

Seeing Zhang Yuqing pick up the guitar, she finally showed a little interest. “You know how to play the guitar?”

“A little.”

Zhang Yuqing rested the guitar on his lap. “My sister was obsessed with the guitar for a while. There was a boy who always played and sang at the small plaza, and she insisted on going every day. I had no choice but to learn a bit to fool her.”

Qin Han had just cried a lot, so her mind was working a bit slowly.

She didn’t know much about Zhang Yuqing’s sister, only that her name was Dandan.

Why did he have to learn the guitar just because Dandan liked listening to it?

Couldn’t he just take her to the plaza?

Was it because, as an older brother, he didn’t want his sister meeting other boys?

Qin Han’s thoughts took a strange turn, and she blurted out, “Are you a sis-con?”

Zhang Yuqing suddenly laughed. “What are you thinking?”

“My sister is a bit obsessive. There are some things she doesn’t understand. For example, that boy at the plaza—she believes there will always be live performances there, so even on rainy days, she’ll go. But if she gets there and no one’s playing, she’ll cry and throw a fit.”

Zhang Yuqing smiled. “And I don’t always have time to take her to the plaza.”

When he spoke about this, there was a kind of warmth in his tone that didn’t quite match his appearance.

Qin Han suddenly remembered that Luo Shijin had mentioned Dandan wasn’t Zhang Yuqing’s biological sister.

She also recalled that he had said Dandan was sick.

Qin Han didn’t know what kind of illness it was.

Her understanding of sickness was still limited to colds, fevers, and appendicitis.

Zhang Yuqing plucked the strings, looked at her, and sang a few lines of Cry on My Shoulder. His voice was gentle, scattering into the midnight glow, warm and comforting.

When he finished, he asked, “How was it?”

Qin Han hesitated for a moment. He sang well, but the guitar…

After a brief silence, she carefully asked, “Are you sure you weren’t just strumming randomly?”

“Yes, I was strumming randomly.”

His bold and straightforward admission left Qin Han speechless.

How could someone strum randomly yet be so confident and composed about it?

She stared at him for a long moment before suddenly laughing. “Why are you so proud of messing around?”

“I can only play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

Seeing Qin Han smile, Zhang Yuqing finally let out a breath of relief.

Finally, he had managed to cheer her up.

Knowing that no one was home at Qin Han’s place tonight, and that she definitely didn’t want to go back, Zhang Yuqing glanced at the time and casually strummed Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, asking her, “Do you want to go home to sleep, or sleep here?”

“If I stay…”

“You’ll sleep in this room. There’s another bedroom next door.”

Qin Han’s ears turned slightly red. She nodded. “Thank you.”

“There are only a few hours left to sleep. In the morning, I’ll take you to the best breakfast spot in Yaonan.”

Zhang Yuqing picked up Beibei and grabbed his phone. “Goodnight.”

“Wait—”

Qin Han called out to him. “Can I borrow the bathroom for a shower?”

She was sweaty from the day and had cried a lot. She didn’t want to dirty his bed.

“Go ahead.”

After closing the bedroom door for her, Zhang Yuqing chuckled helplessly.

This girl really had no sense of caution at all—not only borrowing his bedroom but also his bathroom.

Zhang Yuqing laughed softly to himself. “Good thing I’m a decent person.”

That night, Qin Han didn’t sleep well. She kept dreaming about her parents arguing.

Dreaming of them fighting, no matter how hard she pulled, she couldn’t separate them.

But in the end, at the most anxious and desperate moment, there was always Zhang Yuqing’s slightly off-key Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and his gentle “Goodnight” to break the chaos in her dreams.

Near dawn, accompanied by the faint bamboo scent from the pillow, she finally fell into a deep sleep.

She was awakened by the ringing of her phone—it was her father calling.

Mother Qin had returned home after her flight landed and, upon finding Qin Han missing, assumed Father Qin had taken her away. They had a huge argument over the phone.

When Father Qin called Qin Han, he didn’t scold her. He only asked, “Baby, tell Dad, where are you? Did you get some good rest?”

Sitting up in Zhang Yuqing’s bed, Qin Han pushed open the bedroom door and went downstairs. “I’m at a friend’s house.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I was so busy yesterday that I forgot about you. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

From the other end of the call came the faint sound of a lighter flicking open. His voice was hoarse. “I’ll come pick you up. Let’s go home and talk to Mom, okay?”

Okay?

Could she really face and accept it?

Qin Han saw Zhang Yuqing sitting at the table by the window on the first floor, designing a tattoo.

Hearing her footsteps, he looked up and said, “Morning, little girl.”

If it were just her yesterday, she might not have had the courage to face it.

But she borrowed a little bit of courage from Zhang Yuqing.

If Zhang Yuqing could withstand so much pressure, then she could too.

“Dad, I’m at Yaonan Alley.”

While waiting for Father Qin, Zhang Yuqing went out to buy breakfast.

Qin Han originally thought she wouldn’t have much of an appetite, but when she smelled the scent of fried dough sticks, she couldn’t resist.

When Father Qin arrived, Qin Han was crouching on the ground, playing with Beibei, while Zhang Yuqing stood beside her, hands in his pockets, watching her.

Father probably hadn’t expected the “friend” Qin Han mentioned to be a young man, let alone a man who owned a tattoo shop. He froze for a moment at the entrance.

It was Zhang Yuqing who greeted him first. “Uncle Qin.”

“Ah, thank you for taking care of Xiaohan.”

Qin Han followed her father away. Before leaving, she turned to look at Zhang Yuqing and saw him silently mouthing two words to her, “You got this.”

Behind him, Yaonan Alley was calm and peaceful under the morning sun.

At that moment, Qin Han suddenly felt a little more courage—the courage to face the unpleasant parts of life.

It would pass.

Everything would pass.

As the car drove away from Yaonan Alley, Father Qin chuckled. “Our Xiaohan has grown up, huh? She even has friends I don’t know about.”

“We just met during this holiday.”

Sometimes, her parents really were different.

Whenever Mother Qin heard that she had gone to Yaonan Alley, she would always make disapproving remarks about how it was an old street. She would remind Qin Han not to eat random food there, warning that she’d get heatstroke, and even insisted that the secondhand books Qin Han brought home needed to be disinfected.

But her father was different.

When he mentioned Zhang Yuqing, he neither asked about their relationship nor scolded her for staying at a boy’s house overnight.

He simply said, “The friend you think of first when you’re sad and upset is probably the one you trust the most. I’m very grateful to him.”

Back home, for the first time, Qin Han saw her mother in a hysterical breakdown. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes. Her father’s voice was hoarse, his entire demeanor weary.

No one was doing well.

The next few days were chaotic—her grandparents visited, as did her uncles and aunts.

But in the end, her parents still got divorced.

Her mother smashed a large vase from France, one she had once said was bought on their honeymoon.

She also broke a set of tableware, a wedding gift from Grandma.

She threw out many things.

Her father’s leftover clothes and shoes, documents, and their family photos.

When Qin Han was at a loss, Zhang Yuqing gave her Du Zhi’s WeChat contact.

At first, Qin Han didn’t know why, but Du Zhi was straightforward.

She said she had also been through a divorce and understood the feeling. She shared a lot with Qin Han.

Qin Han listened carefully, then politely thanked her, “Thank you, Dean Du. I’ll treat you to a meal after school starts.”

Du Zhi laughed in her messages. “I’m just a vice dean at the Education Institute. I don’t have much power—sucking up to me won’t get you anywhere.”

With Du Zhi’s help, Qin Han gradually made sense of things in these chaotic days.

She learned to cook for herself and her mother, learned to tell jokes to cheer her up, learned to tidy the house, and even learned how to use the washing machine.

She read books to her mother and played the piano for her.

One sleepless night, Qin Han sat by the piano and played “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” for her mother before gently covering her with a thin blanket.

“Mom, no one’s watching now. You can cry if you want.”

In the lighthearted melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” Mother Qin cried uncontrollably.

By August, Mother Qin finally seemed to accept reality—she started wearing makeup again and resumed her yoga classes.

She also began arranging flowers and baking desserts.

But sometimes, during their meals together, she would suddenly tear up and say, “Xiaohan, when you find a boyfriend in the future, make sure he’s well-off. Poor men change when they get money.”

Qin Han didn’t know how to respond. She just swallowed her chicken wing and complimented her mother’s cooking.

During this time, she never once went back to Yaonan Alley.

Li Nan sent her many pictures of his long hair, claiming he had found the perfect makeup look for her and wanted to try it out.

Luo Shijin called her using Zhang Yuqing’s phone, saying that the last batch of sweet summer watermelons had arrived and she could come anytime to eat.

But Qin Han felt too overwhelmed and didn’t want to dampen their spirits, so she never went.

By late August, Mother Qin decided to go on a trip with her yoga classmates.

That day, Qin Han received a call from Zhang Yuqing.

On the other end of the phone, he chuckled. “Little girl, Beibei has been acting up today. I think he misses you. When are you free to come over for a meal?”

Because of that one sentence, the Qin Han who had been strong for so many days suddenly felt her nose sting.

She packed her things and went to Yaonan Alley.

The street was as beautiful as ever, the sound of an erhu drifting through the gaps between old buildings.

Some people were playing mahjong, others were playing Chinese chess, and some were pushing carts selling cold drinks.

Everything felt so warm.

Li Nan and Luo Shijin were both waiting at Zhang Yuqing’s shop entrance, and Beibei was wagging its tail excitedly.

Zhang Yuqing stood by the door. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and lightly patted the top of Qin Han’s head. “You’ve lost weight.”

But Qin Han suddenly rushed forward and hugged Zhang Yuqing.

A very tight one.

Zhang Yuqing, I’ve run out of courage.

Can you lend me some more?

Zhang Yuqing hadn’t expected this hug. His hands hovered in the air for a moment.

Suddenly, he remembered—before everything happened at Qin Han’s home, she had wanted to tell him something.

What was it?