Luo Yun still hadn’t returned.
He Rou sat on the sofa, listening to the rain outside, watching the door within her line of sight.
When did it start…?
She felt like she could hardly tell the time anymore. It had been over a month since she came back from the reformatory.
This villa had also gone from a haunted house to showing signs of habitation, but it was still very sparse.
He Rou didn’t know what she could do—work, clean, serve… oh, right—there was no one here to serve.
Now life had returned to its former boredom.
But the difference was that she had to check in at the community periodically, and then… that was it. She couldn’t leave the district or the city freely—even though she had no restrictions on her freedom, she couldn’t do that anyway.
Coo coo coo…
He Rou lay sideways on the sofa, making strange noises from her mouth.
Her phone was nowhere to be found. No one could talk to her, and she didn’t know when Luo Yun would come back.
When she asked the driver—the only person who could contact Luo Yun around her—she wouldn’t say anything.
During this time, He Rou’s nutrition had been replenished. Strangely enough, even though no one from Luo Yun’s family lived here, they kept sending money.
And they specially noted that He Rou should use it to nourish herself.
Were rich people always this generous…?
Because of this, her complexion had gradually changed from pale and gaunt to warmer, rosy, and she had regained some flesh.
Though compared to before, there was still a difference.
The rain continued outside, neither heavy nor light, perfect for falling asleep.
He Rou listened quietly. In the serene atmosphere, only the rain steadily hypnotized her.
“Mm…”
Though she struggled, she eventually visited the Sandman.
Taking a nap—unless you’d been up all night—shouldn’t last too long.
He Rou’s sleep schedule was very healthy, and she hadn’t eaten many carbs at lunch.
So half an hour of sleep was enough.
When she woke up, she didn’t feel refreshed; instead, her body was a bit sore.
Rubbing her waist and shoulders, she kept telling herself, ‘Next time, definitely don’t fall asleep on the sofa.’
Life went on day by day, the days cycling round and round~
After washing her face, He Rou returned to her usual state of boredom.
“Drawing… no, I’m not in the mood. Reading? That seems possible…”
She headed upstairs to the study. Although she had bad memories there, you have to live in the present.
…
He Rou cleaned the study every day, though dust still gathered in some corners.
She walked to a bookshelf lined with many foreign-language books.
He Rou couldn’t understand them, but fortunately, she also found a few in her native language.
Even after flipping through a few,
She still couldn’t grasp the content…
“Hmm…”
She picked a few books at random, imitating people on TV, placed them on the desk, and stared at them like a thinker.
Maybe because her inner world was so empty, she actually managed to read those books full of profound truths and few stories.
When she emerged from the world of words, it was already dark. The study lights were off; everything was pitch black.
If she hadn’t been unable to see the words, she would have kept reading.
Reading works when you do it at the right time, in the right environment, unconsciously. If you set it as a goal, it becomes hard to get into later.
He Rou stood up and turned on the light. A warm orange glow filled the study. She closed the open books and put them back on the original shelf.
Then she left the study.
There were things to do in the evening.
After using her eyes for a while longer, looking into the distance, she always felt a stinging sensation, couldn’t stop tearing up, and her vision was blurry.
Even though the effects were so severe, she didn’t care much.
After closing the study door, He Rou looked down at herself. She hadn’t grown any taller. Last time she was so immersed in books was when her grandmother read her stories as a child.
He Rou felt that living to this day, her life was like a book—read one book after another, live through each day—but not a single truth from it all had been grasped.
But at least it killed some time, that was good…
The villa’s lighting system had no timer, so darkness was the norm.
He Rou didn’t like overly bright places, but overly dark places weren’t very comfortable either.
She really liked the atmosphere of a movie theater—no harsh lights, only the faint glow from the screen as the content.
But wanting to enjoy that in her current life was a pipe dream.
He Rou lay back down on the living room sofa. It was comfortable to sit on, but lying here caused her skeletal frame to dig into her. Sure enough, in just a month, it was hard to recover to her former plump self.
Living alone was hard to endure. Even though she had already spent three years with only herself, compared to now, she still couldn’t quite adapt.
In the quiet environment, only the chirping of cicadas sounded outside.
Listening to the sound, He Rou wondered to herself: how could there still be cicadas here in a big city, in a wealthy residential area?
She couldn’t figure it out and finally attributed it to the good landscaping.
“Phew…”
Quiet, really quiet. The cicadas stopped chirping. Patches of darkness surrounded her. He Rou wondered if there was something wrong with her eyes. Why, in those patches of darkness, could she occasionally see chaotic colors?
These chaotic colors could be controlled at will.
He Rou exerted her mind and pieced them together into some fantasy scenes.
But if she could show them all to others, they’d definitely scold her and ask what the hell that was.
Poor people with no direction in life tend to fantasize about a series of stories with themselves as the protagonist.
But right now, He Rou, who was busily creating, was interrupted by a slow, rhythmic knock.
“Knock… knock…”
“!”
He Rou suddenly sat up from the sofa.
Having had no contact with others for a long time, she was shocked. Fear and panic quickly spread through her entire body.
A stranger? Or… who?
He Rou rubbed her eyes and got up to walk toward the front door.
Though she didn’t know who it was, if it was that person, there was a contradictory mix of wanting to see them and being afraid.
“Click—”
He Rou opened the door.
Outside stood a person in a suit, full of spirit, neatly dressed, with formality written all over their face.
“Miss He Rou?”
“Uh… yes, that’s me.”
“This is a letter from Miss Luo Yun.”
“A letter?”
He Rou reached out her hand and took from that person the paper letter—a very outdated thing in the information age.
Very strange…