Neither asked, neither spoke.
The air was so cold it could have formed ice chips.
One lowered her head, the other stared.
Neither knew what the other was thinking.
Hu Ling, the instigator, who was sitting nearby pouring herself a drink, narrowed her eyes, a smile on her lips, looking quite content.
Hu Yifan, standing nearby, suddenly perked up.
"Sister, stop talking nonsense!"
It was obvious these two were just having a quarrel, and someone was adding fuel to the fire, afraid the fire wouldn't burn brighter.
"Qing Qing, don't listen to my sister!"
Hu Yifan was terrified, but the parties involved were each more silent than the other.
Hu Ling simply glanced at Hu Yifan, and then shut up, a hint of grievance.
"I'm going to pick you up now, Hu Yifan. I've got a driver. As for you two, I'm not going to care."
?!
Hu Yifan looked at Hu Ling in shock.
Were they really going to leave these two alone?
"Are you leaving or not?"
As she spoke, she took the discharge documents from Jiang Sui's hand.
Hu Yifan watched Jiang Sui hand the documents to his sister and then obediently followed her out.
At this moment, he and she were the only ones left, and neither of them spoke.
A long moment passed, until Su Qing sipped the water from her cup, finishing it off in small sips.
Su Qing pinched the cup, wondering if she should go back. After all, her mission today was to pick up Hu Yifan from the hospital. Now that he was gone, there seemed no point for staying.
Her legs were numb from working, and she looked up, meeting the deep eyes staring back at her.
"Jiang Sui, I'll return the bonus today."
Su Qing pinched her fingertips. She had loaded the bank card that day. Although they hadn't spoken since that day, Su Qing had always kept it in her heart.
The boy's cold eyes shone upon her, and a single word uttered from his thin lips.
"Okay."
Su Qing stood up, putting some distance between them, trying to keep their eyes level. She didn't notice the boy's hand clenching into a fist at his side. His aura was incredibly sharp.
Like frost and snow on a cold river, the chill air lingered on his cheeks.
Su Qing didn't even consider what Hu Ling had said, or whether that girl was the one in the phone. She didn't think about it, didn't consider it, and simply said it calmly.
"I see a bank right next to the hospital. Just go and transfer the money to your bank card."
A hint of sarcasm curved the corner of Jiang Sui's lips, so faint it vanished in an instant.
"What if I say I don't have my bank card?"
"Didn't you just go and get Hu Yifan discharged?"
The implication was, how could he not have his bank card? Such deceptive words filled Su Qing's eyes with a strange stare, and her heart felt like it had been stabbed.
So, was he lying to her again and again?
Su Qing felt as if a thin film had covered her eyes. No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't see through the person in front her.
She even wondered, doubting, if his words to her—about one becoming a police officer and the other a lawyer—were just to please her.
She felt like her heart had plummeted into a bottomless pit.
Unwilling to think, even wanting to leave right then and there, Su Qing placed the water cup on the table beside her, her fingers tightly gripping the bank card in her pocket.
Jiang Sui merely glanced at her.
She was so meticulous, even knowing there were bank cards near the hospital, and even considering things like the discharge procedures and payment settlement.
Yet, she didn't even bother to ask what Hu Ling had just said.
Didn't she care?
For days, besides the day she'd asked him what he'd eaten that made him excited, she'd been silent on the phone. She'd never once asked what he was doing.
At this moment, she even looked as if she couldn't wait to disassociate herself from him.
This sent a raging fire blazing through Jiang Sui's heart, but he suppressed it.
"Let's go, then."
The cold voice pierced their hearts like ice.
She followed him, feeling the distance was so short.
Perhaps because it was a bank next to the hospital, it was quite crowded. After their number was called, Su Qing and Jiang Sui sat side by side on a bench, quietly waiting.
Jiang Sui glanced at the small, palm-sized face.
She'd told him that got eat every day, yet she seemed even thinner than before. Dressed in jeans and a casual jacket, she looked so thin she could fit two people in her lap.
He waited patiently as the girl spoke to him, asking him questions. But as the number of people waiting dwindled from ten to three, Su Qing lowered her head, saying nothing and asking no questions.
Jiang Sui pinched his fingertips, pursed his lips, his expression growing increasingly grim. He almost wanted to throw his wallet in the trash. What was the money?
He'd earned it for her...
When the number of people waiting dwindled to one, Jiang Sui couldn't help himself.
"Don't you have anything to ask me?"
He thought that perhaps he'd been too cold and indifferent lately, not paying enough attention to her, which was why she'd become distant from him. Wouldn't it be better for him to just go along with her? It was his wife, so he should pamper her. That was all.
This self-deprecating brainwashing didn't wait for Su Qing to speak. All the boy got in response was the girl's confused eyes and an indifferent shake of her head.
It seemed as if he meant nothing to her!
This realization caused both of them to go to the bank counter with sullen faces the next moment.
The process was too simple.
At that moment, Jiang Sui figured that he could just enter the wrong password, but the person receiving the money didn't need to enter a password at all.
It was done in one go. Su Qing hadn't entered the password incorrectly.
It was originally five thousand yuan, but he watched as the girl transferred him an extra thousand, which was his meal money for the day.
She had really cut ties cleanly and decisively.
She struck without hesitation.
It was already midday when the two of them left the bank. Su Qing was just thinking about how to separate with Jiang Sui.
Then the young man grabbed her wrist.
Her body stiffened, her back straightened, her steps stopped, and her mind seemed to have forgotten how to think.
She froze.
His fingertips were slightly cold, and the girl's wrist was as weak as before.
He resisted the urge to pull her into his arms.
Jiang Sui's voice pierced Su Qing's head.
"You've given me your money, and your doll is still at my house. How about taking it with you today?"
Doll?
That was the bag full of dolls they'd grabbed that day at the mall.
Su Qing couldn't bring them all home, as she didn't know how to explain it to Su Rao.
She could only plead with Jiang Sui to let it stay at his house for the time being, and the boy happily agreed.