SES Chapter 30 V1

Chapter 30 

You can’t lie down forever, and you can’t squat forever either. Eventually, they all got up to clean up the battlefield.

That basin of water, with the human skin floating in it, was like a ticking time bomb. No one dared to guarantee that things were truly over. Luo Ren couldn’t leave the house, so Uncle Zheng had to go to the hospital to accompany Ping Ting and report back on her condition.

Mu Dai was in the bathroom washing her hands. She pumped out layer after layer of soap, rubbed up mountains of foam, and even after rinsing, kept holding her hands under the light, examining both sides obsessively.

Luo Ren came over and said, “Mu Dai, why don’t you all stay here tonight? Tomorrow we can call the priest again.”

She didn’t seem to hear him, still studying the back of her hands.

Luo Ren thought she was worried about touching the skin earlier. “It should be fine, you—”

Mu Dai brushed past him, chin up, eyes forward, like he wasn’t even there.

As she passed, it finally clicked for Luo Ren: she wasn’t worried. She wasn’t scared. She was… mad?

Sure enough, Mu Dai’s face was cold as she told Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan, “Go pack your bags. If there’s a car tonight, we’ll leave tonight. If not, we leave first thing tomorrow. I’m going back to Lijiang.”

Yi Wansan was horrified. “What?!”

This didn’t make sense. They’d only just gotten here. They hadn’t even had time to enjoy themselves. And though he didn’t fully understand what had just happened, it was obvious he and Cao Yanhua had contributed something. With all that danger, shouldn’t the host at least buy them a meal? This “wrap it up and leave” attitude—what was that about? He hadn’t come all this way just to be a good Samaritan.

Cao Yanhua didn’t say anything either. Just earlier, Yi Wansan had whispered that Uncle Zheng’s roast lamb was amazing, and there’d probably be a full feast in their honor. Now? Nothing.

Luo Ren gave them a wry smile and waved them out with a subtle gesture—“give us the room.”

Yi Wansan understood immediately, dragging Cao Yanhua out and even “thoughtfully” closing the door behind them.

Outside, Cao Yanhua drooped. “We’re leaving this fast? Didn’t even save any money. Should’ve stayed home.”

He had only come because Yi Wansan talked him into it. “More time on the road means more bonding,” he’d said. “Create opportunities, impress her, get taken in as a disciple…” All useless now.

Yi Wansan, though, was still optimistic. “It’s fine, she’s just mad. Luo Ren will smooth things over.”

Cao Yanhua frowned. “Mad? About what?”

Yi Wansan looked at him like he was an alien. “Dude, seriously? You couldn’t tell?”

He animatedly explained, “Didn’t you see her pounding on that door, like Meng Jiangnu crying at the Great Wall? Think about the timing—it had to be that Luo Ren tried to do something without telling her. They had to work together in the moment, but now that the crisis is over? It’s payback time.”

After saying that, he suddenly realized those last two lines rhymed—perfect for a couplet. Add a banner reading “Poetic Genius,” and it’d be flawless.

That was a lot to digest. Cao Yanhua thought for a long time. “So Luo Ren needs to apologize?”

“Apologize my ass,” Yi Wansan snorted. “Just one word.”

He paused dramatically, but when he looked up, Cao Yanhua just blinked at him in confusion.

Yi Wansan’s heart sank. “Cao Fatty… don’t tell me you’ve never been in a relationship?”

“Who says I haven’t?!” Cao Yanhua stood up to defend his honor. “I have!”

If being rejected after confessing counted as a relationship, then sure, he had.

Yi Wansan gave a dry laugh, waving his finger in front of Cao Yanhua’s face. “One word: coax.”

Inside, now that the door was shut, the room fell quiet.

Luo Ren walked over, pulled the knife from the cabinet, and offered it to Mu Dai.

She didn’t take it. “I don’t want it.”

Luo Ren asked gently, “Are you mad?”

“I’m not mad. Just tired. I miss home. I’m going back.”

She refused to look at him, face blank, tone righteous and robotic—like a typewriter, clicking off sentence by sentence.

Luo Ren smiled. Without an audience, this quiet was kind of nice. The basin of water sat on the table, still as glass.

He softened his voice. “Mu Dai, if you’re upset, just say it. I don’t want you to feel that way.”

Mu Dai said, “I don’t have anything to be upset about—”

But by the end of that sentence, she couldn’t help it. Her eyes brimmed and tears spilled over, full of hurt.

Just like a little tear jar, Luo Ren thought. There wasn’t even a tissue box nearby. He reached out to wipe her tears. “You cry so easily—what are we gonna do?”

Mu Dai batted his hand away. “I cry for a reason.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“As a friend,” Mu Dai sniffled, trying to stay rational, “I have to say… what you did today, that reckless disregard for your own life, that dramatic self-sacrifice—it’s very, very…”

She didn’t even know what to say. At first, she was just angry. Why was he so immature? If there’s a problem, solve it. Are you in some tragic romance novel where you have to die to be moving?

She was furious. Didn’t even want to look at him. Just wanted to leave.

But now he was standing there, asking sincerely, and she couldn’t even say it anymore.

He must’ve thought it through. He did it for Ping Ting. Who was she to criticize him for sacrificing himself for someone else?

Mu Dai felt kind of lame.

Luo Ren pressed again. “Yeah?”

She could only reply, “Very, very wrong. Anyway, I’m going back.”

Her eyes were a little swollen and red, her energy drained. She was being unreasonable, but for some reason, Luo Ren felt a strange warmth in his chest. He couldn’t even explain why. He reached out, gently brushed the top of her head, smoothed her hair down her shoulder, and lightly dusted it off.

Some say a girl’s hair feels like silk. It doesn’t. Not exactly. Every strand is soft, like closed eyelashes. That softness under your fingers—it reaches straight into your heartbeat. Impossible to describe.