Chapter 31: Like worshipping heaven and earth

Tuesday didn’t lie.

It was indeed Tuesday who first noticed Jing Sicun.

Tuesday was perched on the windowsill, calling out.

Ke Ni thought Tuesday must have bumped into something, because it hadn’t even had time to put on shoes—it was sliding across the clean floor in a pair of pale yellow cotton socks, barely managing to catch itself by the window.

Ke Ni hugged Tuesday. “What’s wrong, Tuesday?”

Tuesday grinned, then called out twice downstairs.

Ke Ni’s eyes landed on Jing Sicun———

Wearing a Duckbill Cap, Jing Sicun had one hand in his pocket, the other gently stroking the wall plastered with posters inside the Grocery Store.

His back curved with a lonely outline.

At the Grocery Store’s entrance, there were cats and sparrows;

Plants cared for by neighbors grew lush in flowerpots, tulips had withered and been replaced by blooming lilies; street lamps glowed softly, shadows of trees danced warmly;

The old furnishings and freshly dated goods bustled in every corner of the Grocery Store.

Though it was filled with the most comforting signs of daily life, Jing Sicun seemed to be standing in a silent wilderness.

Seeing Jing Sicun’s back from upstairs, Ke Ni had already made up her mind to come apologize, but the moment they met, Ke Ni and Jing Sicun immediately started bickering——

Jing Sicun picked up Tuesday with one arm, smiling as he took the takeout meal from Ke Ni’s hand.

He was too smart not to see that she was just making excuses.

“Go ahead,”

he said, gently undermining her: “Tuesday can’t eat human food.”

Ke Ni knew well that greasy, salty meals would strain a dog’s kidneys.

But!

This wasn’t bought for Tuesday to eat!

Ke Ni snapped back, “Can’t you eat human food either?”

That counterattack was a perfect “kill without hurting yourself” move.

Ke Ni’s intention was completely exposed.

She wasn’t sure who was more sarcastic in the exchange.

Jing Sicun smiled again: “Actually, I can.”

Ke Ni silently repeated to herself three times, “I’m here to apologize,” then took careful, measured steps to the chair by the door.

She sat upright. “Let’s eat over here.”

Jing Sicun responded with a low chuckle, “Mm.”

Ke Ni wanted to throw the chessboard at his head.

Jing Sicun tore open the bag, and the aroma of chicken leg, mashed potatoes, and rice wafted out.

Tuesday was a gluttonous dog.

It pawed at the chessboard, wagging its tail, looking up with shiny black eyes to charm them, its wet black nose twitching constantly, sniffing around.

“Want to eat” and “I’m dying of greed” were written all over its face.

Ke Ni suddenly felt guilty toward Tuesday.

Anyway, her intentions were already clear.

Ke Ni gave up resisting and looked at Jing Sicun. “Do you have anything here that Tuesday can eat?”

Jing Sicun answered calmly, “Probably.”

Ke Ni’s resentment exploded: “Then why haven’t you brought it out? Whose dog is Tuesday, anyway?”

Jing Sicun smiled and stood up, took out beef and small pumpkin from the fridge.

While thawing the beef in the microwave, he cut open the pumpkin, cooked it, and even blanched some broccoli and a few crisp green lettuce leaves for Tuesday.

It wasn’t the first time Jing Sicun had done this—his movements were skillful and natural, like his daily routine.

Tuesday happily started eating its dog meal.

Jing Sicun sat back down at the chessboard and continued unpacking the utensils and takeout boxes.

There was soup in the meal.

Ke Ni and Jing Sicun reached simultaneously into the opaque bag beside the chess table, their hands brushing against each other, fingertips touching as they searched for spoons.

In the end, Ke Ni only grabbed a stack of napkins.

Both spoons were in Jing Sicun’s hands, and Ke Ni was a little unwilling to concede.

Jing Sicun handed over a spoon with a light laugh, as if loneliness was only Ke Ni’s illusion: “If you hadn’t come over, I honestly wouldn’t have decided what to eat yet.”

Not decided yet, so you’re not eating?

Ke Ni swallowed the words with the chicken leg and looked up just in time to see Tuesday, full and satisfied, placing a paw on Jing Sicun’s shoulder and licking his face.

Jing Sicun reacted quickly, tilting his head slightly.

Tuesday’s wet tongue landed on the vein tense on Jing Sicun’s neck.

Jing Sicun took it as usual: “Licking dog.”

Ke Ni felt a sudden burn on her eyelids, hurriedly lowering her head and busied herself picking up food.

One chopstick was stuck in the mashed potatoes and dropped.

Ke Ni gave up and went for the soup.

The shopkeeper’s business was unusually sincere; the egg drop soup’s egg ribbons and seaweed twisted into a big tangle.

Ke Ni choked on this ingredient-rich soup, covering her mouth with a napkin to cough.

Jing Sicun got up to fetch mineral water for Ke Ni.

Ke Ni watched as Jing Sicun twisted open the bottle cap, reached out to take the water, and took a few sips.

Jing Sicun tilted his head toward the shelves: “Want some roasted duck neck?”

Ke Ni coughed and refused, “No thanks!”

She was here to apologize.

But sitting face to face with Jing Sicun like this, her cheeks burning, she didn’t even know how to start the apology.

Jing Sicun noticed Ke Ni’s hesitation.

He probably misunderstood, bringing up He Zhi: “Did He Zhi make a fuss in the car with you guys?”

Ke Ni shook her head, “No.”

Jing Sicun smiled: “Really?”

Ke Ni spoke up for He Zhi: “He Zhi was a little worried about you. We all thought Uncle…”

No matter how she said it, it felt wrong.

Ke Ni fell silent, then said, “Sorry.”

Jing Sicun remained calm: “Old Jing was much worse off in the CCU. My mom and I thought he might not make it. But Old Jing is strong—he pulled through. It’s like he got a second chance at life.”

Ke Ni hesitated, asking, “Can Uncle still be cured in his current condition?”

“Hard to say.”

Jing Sicun explained that his father had many underlying illnesses.

Heart, brain vessels, kidneys, pancreas, lungs—there were very few healthy parts left.

“Tomorrow morning, we’re going to the hospital for blood dialysis to see how he’s doing, then we’ll discuss further treatment with the doctors.”

Ke Ni responded quietly, “Mm.”

Worried the topic was too heavy, she shifted gears, bringing up the time she went to a café with He Zhi and Song Yi.

Jing Sicun knew his friends well: “You went just to cheer up He Zhi, right? That kid was crying again?”

Ke Ni thought it over, “Just for a few minutes.”

Jing Sicun asked, “How about you?”

Ke Ni retorted, “I already said it was just my eyes bothering me.”

Jing Sicun laughed again: “Wrong question. Your eyes aren’t really uncomfortable, are they?”

Ke Ni:

Actually, they were.

At the café, when they mentioned the purple bruises on Jing Sicun’s father’s arm, she even wiped away a few tears.

Ke Ni stuffed a big spoonful of mashed potatoes and chicken leg into her mouth, refusing to answer.

Jing Sicun watched her eat with interest.

“Have you ever been bitten by fried chicken?”

Trying to provoke her?

Looking for death?

Ke Ni silently repeated, “I’m here to apologize,” suppressing the urge to assassinate someone.

“What do you mean?”

Jing Sicun rested his head on his hand: “I really like roasted chicken wings, chicken wing stew, chicken leg mashed potato rice… just not fried chicken?”

Ke Ni doubted him: “When did you see me eat roasted chicken wings?”

Jing Sicun asked, “Wasn’t the person grabbing barbecue delivery in the hotel corridor at midnight you?”

“Doesn’t mean there were definitely roasted chicken wings!”

“His place’s best is roasted chicken wings.”

“Actually, the meat skewers aren’t bad either…………..”

Jing Sicun just kept resting his head, staring at Ke Ni, making her drink two sips of mineral water with her head thrown back.

Then she frowned: “Jing Sicun, stop trying to trap me into talking. If you really want to know, let’s make a deal.”

Jing Sicun smiled, “What deal?”

Ke Ni glanced sharply at the posters on the Grocery Store wall.

“I’ll tell you why I don’t eat fried chicken if you tell me what was posted on the wall before.”

Jing Sicun’s eyes narrowed, hesitating a moment before answering, “Alright.”

Ke Ni’s refusal of fried chicken had a connection to Jing Sicun:

When she was little, her father took her to a bank-organized event, where by purchasing a financial insurance product, she got enrolled in a memory master’s training course.

Jing Sicun didn’t understand: “Memory master?”

Ke Ni said with a faint grudge, “The kind of ridiculous and scammy course you mentioned in an interview. I took it for half a year!”

Jing Sicun raised an eyebrow.

Ke Ni hadn’t realized she just revealed that she had watched Jing Sicun’s program.

She was still upset: “After the event, my whole family trusted that con man deeply. I thought I could really memorize those words in just seconds. We celebrated with a bucket of fried chicken and burgers! And two cups of cola!”

Jing Sicun’s lips curled suspiciously.

Ke Ni watched him closely.

Jing Sicun suppressed his laughter and asked seriously, “What happened to that memory master later?”

Ke Ni was ashamed: “Who knows? Said he went abroad and disappeared.”

Jing Sicun lowered his head, laughing quietly, his shoulders trembling.

The veins on his neck twitched slightly.

Ke Ni patted the chessboard unhappily.

Jing Sicun became serious: “Sorry.”

Ke Ni originally thought: After laughing, what’s there to apologize for!

But she suddenly froze.

Had she just—

The memory master course was part of Ke Ni’s secret, and she had just revealed it?

It didn’t feel too bad.

Jing Sicun wasn’t like Lin Xirun or Feng Zian.

His strength was far beyond hers or theirs.

Even if she hadn’t said anything today, Jing Sicun would have seen right through her sooner or later.

Wasn’t the pretender also exposed?

Ke Ni didn’t know when she had started to change her opinion of Jing Sicun.

She sullenly finished the last bites of chicken and rice, then suddenly heard Jing Sicun ask, “So that’s why you dislike me?”

Ke Ni began packing up the takeout boxes.

“Not just that. When you were dominating on the show, I was still struggling with a transformed pirate gold-sharing problem I couldn’t understand.”

Jing Sicun said, “That’s normal if you don’t get it.”

Ke Ni thought he was about to start bragging about his strength.

But Jing Sicun said, “Our internal drive is interest; yours is fear. Ke Ni, what are you afraid of?”

“You don’t need to know what I’m afraid of!”

Ke Ni tried to change the subject.

“Why don’t you just tell me what was posted on the wall before?”

Jing Sicun was brief: “An island.”

Ke Ni didn’t catch on.

“What?”

Jing Sicun leaned back in his chair, stretching out his long legs.

“Hawaiian island. I once said that if I made money, I’d take my family to Hawaii for a vacation.”

He smiled, but Ke Ni could still sense the helplessness behind it.

If they made money, how could they go?

They didn’t know anyone or anything.

They had to go to the hospital for dialysis and couldn’t leave the country.

Even if their delirious states miraculously healed, their bodies wouldn’t allow them to endure a twenty-plus-hour flight.

Guilt and regret crashed over Ke Ni again.

She fell silent.

Jing Sicun’s posture was lazy, casually rubbing Tuesday’s head as if nothing was wrong.

Ke Ni had many questions for Jing Sicun——

Did he feel exhausted?

Why hadn’t he stayed home with his family?

Would he keep participating in the show?

Ke Ni wanted to say “I’m sorry” to Jing Sicun, but though the light outside the Grocery Store was dim and yellow, it was still bright enough to see every eyelash of his.

The environment was too glaring.

Ke Ni found herself unable to speak.

They sat quietly for a moment.

Jing Sicun said he had to leave soon and that Tuesday would need Ke Ni’s care for a few more days.

Ke Ni didn’t want him to leave, glanced inside the Grocery Store, and for the first time asked for help.

Tuesday’s dog food had just run out, so Ke Ni asked Jing Sicun to help carry a bag of dog food upstairs.

Jing Sicun nodded: “Let’s go.”

Ke Ni walked Tuesday beside Jing Sicun, thinking the whole way about how to start her apology.

She had apologized once in the hotel’s fire escape.

But back then, she hadn’t realized how offensive her words were to Jing Sicun.

Jing Sicun carried the dog food into the stairwell. Ke Ni was still distracted, pondering.

It wasn’t until they stood together in front of the apartment’s security door that she felt something was wrong.

Had she really just brought him back to her place?

Jing Sicun had no intention of going in.

“Should I leave it by the door?”

Ke Ni said, “Why don’t you come in? Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

Ke Ni opened the security door.

Tuesday entered confidently, picked up a dog toy from the floor, wagging its tail at Jing Sicun.

Ke Ni suddenly felt a little disgusted with her own messy rental:

Dog toys scattered on the floor;

The bananas that Lu Yao had bought a few days ago looked like they’d been in a fight, covered in dark brown spots;

When she left in a hurry before, her slippers were mismatched…

Ke Ni quickly changed into slippers with a hop: “Come in and sit.”

The apartment smelled faintly sweet.

Jing Sicun didn’t know what this girl was up to, but as soon as he sat on the sofa, he saw Ke Ni bow deeply straight at him.

Ke Ni said, “I’m sorry.”

She bowed again.

Jing Sicun didn’t mind the drunken words that had made Ke Ni so troubled.

He frowned, stopping her third bow.

In their culture, repeated bowing carried many meanings, often reserved for funerals or ancestral rites.

Jing Sicun didn’t expect this.

He just felt that Ke Ni looked like she was performing a wedding ceremony.