Chapter 85: The Dog Leash and the Bone Toy

Zhou Ye tapped a few keys on the keyboard. A name popped up on the screen.

Lin Qingxue said:

“Last time we went on a mission, that fool stabbed someone in the leg. He almost got killed by the target. I saved him.”

“He looks pretty dumb, and his build is about the same as Little Thing’s. He probably wouldn’t bully her.”

“It should be fine to let her stay with him for a few days.”

She pushed the laptop away and stood up. Her voice carried a hint of exhaustion:

“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep chatting.”

“Let’s go with her. Edit this file for me. My head really hurts too much to handle it.”

“I’m going back to sleep.”

Zhou Ye looked at her and sighed. His voice held a note of worry:

“Sister Lin, you still need to take your medicine.”

“If you don’t, I’m afraid the daytime her…”

Lin Qingxue clicked her tongue. Her voice was flat:

“None of your business.”

‘At least she won’t disappear,’ she thought, the last line tinged with complexity.

The two of them walked toward the door.

When they reached the living room, Lin Qingxue suddenly stopped.

Zhou Ye saw her stop and turned to look back.

Lin Qingxue’s gaze landed on the sofa. A pink dog leash was folded neatly, and beside it lay a plush bone-shaped toy, also pink, with the tag still attached – brand new.

Lin Qingxue turned to Zhou Ye, a hint of surprise in her voice:

“I didn’t know you had a dog. These things are here.”

Zhou Ye scratched his head, sounding a little embarrassed:

“Ah, no.”

“I had a girlfriend before. Her family had a dog.”

“That was around the time I said I didn’t want to work anymore, wanted to retire.”

“Turns out her dog bit me. She said the dog didn’t mean it, so I should just let it go.”

“I was pissed off. We had a fight and broke up.”

He glanced at the leash and toy on the sofa.

“Yeah, so I haven’t thrown out the old stuff. It’s been on the sofa.”

“This was for her. Brand new, unopened. But then she pulled that stunt. Unbelievable.”

Lin Qingxue walked over, bent down, and picked up the pink dog leash. She weighed it in her hand.

It was cotton, soft, neither too thick nor too thin.

She also picked up the bone toy and squeezed it. It was filled with cotton, soft and plump.

She grabbed both the leash and the toy and turned to walk out. Zhou Ye was stunned for a moment, then followed, not daring to ask.

The night wind blew in, cool and refreshing.

Zhou Ye drove Lin Qingxue back to her old, rundown place. The car was quiet. Lin Qingxue leaned back in her seat, eyes closed, clutching the pink dog leash and the bone toy in her hand.

Zhou Ye glanced at her occasionally, wanted to say something, but swallowed his words.

The streetlights shone in one by one, then faded. The car stopped at the entrance to the complex. Lin Qingxue opened her eyes, opened the car door, and got out.

She didn’t look back. She just walked into the stairwell.

Zhou Ye sat in the car, watching her figure disappear into the stairwell entrance. He sighed, started the engine, and drove away.

Lin Qingxue walked up the stairs, her footsteps echoing in the empty hallway. She pulled out her keys, unlocked the door, went inside, and closed the door behind her.

The room was quiet. Only the ticking of the wall clock and the soft sound of breathing from the bedroom could be heard.

She walked into the bedroom.

Moonlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, falling onto the bed.

Su Yutao was sleeping soundly, sprawled out – her arms stretched outside the blanket, one leg draped over it, the blanket kicked aside from her belly. She looked like a little cat showing its belly.

She hugged the penguin plush tightly, it was tilted to one side, the fur pressed against her face.

Lin Qingxue stood by the bed, looking down at her.

This little blind girl, when she slept alone, was quite at ease.

When she slept with Lin Qingxue, she curled up into a ball and trembled like a leaf in the wind.

Now that she was alone, she sprawled out and kicked off the blanket.

Lin Qingxue bent down. She reached out, wanting to touch Su Yutao’s head.

Before her fingers could make contact, Su Yutao’s body trembled, like the surface of water stirred by a breeze.

Instinctively, she hugged the penguin tighter, curling up from a sprawl into a ball, her knees drawn to her chest, her chin buried in the penguin’s fur.

Lin Qingxue’s hand stopped in mid-air.

She was still this alert even while sleeping.

She withdrew her hand, pulled the pink dog leash and bone toy from her pocket, and placed them on the nightstand.

The leash was folded neatly; the toy lay askew beside it. Pink, they glowed softly in the moonlight.

She turned to look at Su Yutao, who was curled up.

That little blind girl was huddled under the covers like a frightened animal.

Lin Qingxue bent down, slipped her hands under Su Yutao’s armpits, and lifted her up.

As Su Yutao was lifted, she was still dazed.

She felt as if she were floating in mid-air, the world spinning, her body limp and weak.

Earlier, she had heard Qiansui saying something beside her, but the voice grew distant, as if through a layer of water.

She was too tired. She listened and then fell asleep.

When she woke again, it was still the eternal darkness.

But she felt her body held in someone’s arms, warm and firm, and there was a familiar scent – laundry detergent, blankets dried in the sun, and a trace of the person’s unique smell.

It was that person.

She stiffened all over. But before she could tremble, she heard a voice from above, very soft, with a hint of a smile:

“Awake?”

Lin Qingxue looked down at the little blind girl in her arms.

Su Yutao’s eyes were half-open, revealing those purple pupils, which shimmered faintly in the moonlight.

Her pupils were unfocused, scattered like two glass beads covered in fog.

Her little face was flushed from sleep, her lips slightly parted, her hair a tangled mess, with a few white strands sticking to her face.

Lin Qingxue studied that face carefully – it really was quite cute.

A small white face, purple eyes, white hair.

And then those wounds – the gauze on her ear, the bandage on her arm, the still-healing crack at the corner of her mouth.

Cute, and pitiful.

It made Lin Qingxue want to bully her.

She lifted her a little higher and began to shake her up and down.

Su Yutao was dizzy from the shaking, like a ragdoll being tossed around.

Her head bobbed back and forth, her limbs hung limp, and the penguin slipped from her arms and fell to the floor.

She tried to scream, but couldn’t. Only sounds came out of her throat: “Eh, eh, eh,” each one shaken out of her.

Lin Qingxue listened to that sound, and the smile on her lips deepened.

It was this sound. The sound this little mute made. It was so satisfying to hear.

She shook her a few more times. Su Yutao’s “eh, eh, eh” grew faster, like a chick that had been shaken dizzy.

Lin Qingxue looked at her like that and felt it still wasn’t enough.

She wanted to flip her over, twist her arms behind her back, press her down on the bed, and listen to her whimper.

She freed one hand and grabbed Su Yutao’s wrist –

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