My Paranoid Girlfriend Asks Me to Be Her Kept Woman (Rebirth) - Chapter 14

“Who is it?”

“Visits are prohibited outside visiting hours.”

“Auntie.” Lin Yi smiled through the crack in the door. “It’s me, Lin Yi. I’m back.”

“Lin Yi?” The person on the other side slowly opened the door a crack and said in surprise, “You’re back! Why didn’t you let us know in advance?!”

Lin Yi’s eyes curved with a smile. “I happened to be free today, so I suddenly wanted to come back.”

“You should come back!”

“The director will definitely be very happy when she finds out!”

As she spoke, she removed the door bolt and pulled Lin Yi inside.

Lin Yi looked around the small courtyard. Quite a few new recreational facilities had been added, and the courtyard was clean.

On the banyan tree to the east, the hanging swing was still there.

Behind the banyan tree was the director’s office.

Aunt Gu, who was watching the gate, pulled Lin Yi along and chatted.

“Today, a kindhearted person chartered a bus to take the children to get vaccinated. The director finally got to rest for a bit.”

“Otherwise, now that you’re back, the director wouldn’t be able to rest at all.”

Lin Yi listened quietly, wearing a relaxed smile.

“But you two, really—one after the other. Wouldn’t it have been nice to come back together?”

“Just now, the director was still wondering why you didn’t come back with Xiaolu.”

“Ah! People really can’t be mentioned.”

Lin Yi’s smile faded.

Her hand tightened around the things she was carrying.

The things she had been thinking about all the way here had fallen into reality.

“Lin Xiaolu came back too?” she asked softly.

“Yes, yes. The director was so happy!” Aunt Gu did not notice anything unusual about Lin Yi and said cheerfully, “If she knows you came back too, who knows how happy she’ll be!”

“Big Sister.”

Just as Lin Yi stepped into the building, someone called out to her.

Her heart tightened. Tidal waves swept over again.

She saw a mass of filthy black clinging to the chest of the person before her, rising and falling continuously.

Lin Xiaolu’s expression was strange as she strode closer.

“It’s been a long time since we last saw each other.”

Lin Yi’s body trembled. For a brief moment, she touched the mark of the rules.

She saw Lin Xiaolu from the previous life lying in a pool of blood, being pulled by black threads. The stars shifted, and time reversed, bringing her back to the present.

Her hand tightened, then relaxed again.

“When did you come over?”

She wore a faint smile. “Next time we’re free, we should arrange to come back together.”

Lin Xiaolu sized Lin Yi up suspiciously, not knowing what scheme she had in mind.

These past few days, she had been dreaming constantly. She dreamed that she held Lin Yi in the palm of her hand and humiliated her to her heart’s content, while she herself achieved fame and success and lived happily together with Liu Chang.

But when she woke up, everything was a mess.

The time when Liu Chang would ask her for songs was drawing closer and closer, yet she could not produce anything.

In the past, she could still steal some things from the CDs, USB drives, or discarded papers Lin Yi left in the living room. But now this person had actually moved away secretly while she was absent.

Liu Chang had been staying with her recently. The happier she was, the more terrified she felt inside.

Once Liu Chang found out she was a thief and had no so-called talent at all, would he abandon her?!

At times like this, she hated Lin Yi even more!

Why was Heaven so unfair? They had both been abandoned by their parents.

Yet Heaven had given Lin Yi a beautiful appearance, making her the focus wherever she went. Having beauty was not enough; it had also given her exceptional talent.

Lin Xiaolu had lived in Lin Yi’s shadow at every moment—even in love.

The more dazzling the dream was, the more reality made her collapse.

But now, she had obtained something from the dream, and this was something Lin Yi definitely would not want the director to know!

Lin Xiaolu looked at Lin Yi and sneered.

If she could destroy her once, she could destroy her a second time!

As if seeing Lin Yi struggling on her last breath in her dream, Lin Xiaolu was so happy she nearly laughed aloud.

“Xiaolu? Xiaolu?” Aunt Gu waved a hand in front of her. “You’re already so grown up. Why has your habit of spacing out since childhood still not changed?”

“Where did the director go?”

Lin Xiaolu came back to herself. “Oh, oh. The director went to the backyard to pick flowers.”

“She must have been so happy to see you come back.”

“You two don’t know this, but this year, the flowers in our little garden bloomed so beautifully!”

As she spoke, Aunt Gu left behind a sentence and hurried through the small building to find the director.

“You two go wait in the director’s room first. I’ll go call her!”

The building quieted down. From time to time, slight cracking sounds came from the old structure.

In that silence, Lin Yi carefully observed Lin Xiaolu.

The corners of her eyes drooped slightly, so when she looked at people, she always seemed innocent. When she spoke to others, she liked to drag out the ends of her words, making her sound as if she were acting spoiled.

Just like now.

“Big Sister, I know your secret.”

Lin Yi watched as Lin Xiaolu smiled and looked up at her, hands behind her back, dragging out the last syllable.

“You like women, don’t you?”

After saying that, Lin Xiaolu turned and skipped toward the director’s room.

Her final words also crawled into Lin Yi’s ears along with the chilly air inside the old building.

“What do you think will happen if I tell the director?”

Lin Yi shivered. Goosebumps rose one by one along with the chill.

**

“You, really. Why did you bring these things back with you?”

“They must have been so heavy to carry all the way here.”

The director wrapped a large bouquet of fresh flowers in newspaper and spread them out on the writing desk. As she worked, she said, “We don’t lack anything here now. Recently, a kindhearted person has been sponsoring us. Not only do they provide food, drinks, and toys for the children, today they even chartered a bus to take everyone for vaccinations. They also said they would organize a trip to the museum for the children. The children are all overjoyed.”

As she spoke, she instructed Lin Yi to put down what she was holding and come help. Lin Yi hurriedly took the branches from Aunt Gu’s hands and spread them out to the side.

Lin Xiaolu tried to help from the side, but the director knocked her hand away.

“Go, go, go. Since childhood, you’ve never been meticulous when doing work. Let Lin Yi handle it.”

She stood awkwardly to the side while Lin Yi went over, took the director’s work, and continued trimming off the extra branches.

Aunt Gu put down what she was holding, said something, and then went back to the duty room to watch the gate.

Although the director was older now, her movements were still as neat and efficient as ever.

She busied herself nonstop while asking calmly, “Did you quarrel with Xiaolu?”

Lin Yi did not know how to answer. After a long while, she only gave another soft “Mm.”

Director Lin snapped off the long stem of a flower and said earnestly, “That child was spoiled by you.”

“You’ve given way to her since you were little.”

“I remember when you were children, someone donated toys to the orphanage. Because Xiaolu overslept, she missed the toy distribution. When she woke up and found that everyone had toys but her, she cried and made a fuss nonstop.”

“And you clearly liked that doll very much, but in the end, you still gave it to her.”

“You were just too sensible. You kept giving way to her, even though you yourself were only a child.”

That word, “child,” almost made Lin Yi burst into tears.

She had her own grievances too, but she knew she had no right to be willful. Step by step, she had walked with difficulty.

Looking back, the wind had blown without leaving a trace, and she had been alone all along.

She arranged the bouquet neatly. The director threw the remaining broken branches into the trash can. There were still a few flowers that did not quite fit, so the director found a bottle and casually stuck them inside. Placed on the yellow wooden writing desk, they also had a certain charm.

The director found two enamel mugs, tossed a small handful of tea leaves into them, poured in hot water, and placed one beside Lin Yi.

“Go sit over there for a bit.”

Lin Yi held the old antique mug with peace of mind.

The bright peonies painted on the enamel mug were already mottled. Much of the white enamel had chipped off, and the bottom of the cup had been dented from being dropped.

When she was little, her favorite thing had been coming here to the director’s place, picking up an enamel mug, and drinking a cup of sweetened water.

Hot water sprinkled with sweet white sugar had been her favorite taste as a child.

The two sat on the small sofa by the balcony. Outside, the swing on the banyan tree swayed gently in the wind. From here, one could see the situation in the courtyard at a glance.

Lin Yi remembered that the director would always stand by the window with her hands behind her back, watching them play.

She carefully blew on the tea in the enamel mug and took a small sip from the edge.

Director Lin’s gaze was peaceful, and she also took a sip.

“I remember that when you were little, you liked sitting on the swing the most. Why did you stop later?” she suddenly asked.

Lin Yi looked at the swing outside the window. It still looked the same as when she was little: hemp rope threaded through a narrow wooden plank and tied around a sturdy branch.

She had liked it because Director Mom always loved standing here. When Lin Yi sat on the swing, Director Mom’s gaze would occasionally fall on her shoulders.

Later, she stopped sitting there because Lin Xiaolu liked it too.

There were many abandoned children in the orphanage, and each child could only sit on that swing for a short while. Because Lin Yi did not like playing with other toys and gave away the other toys, everyone gave her their time on the swing.

That was how she had always secretly enjoyed a little extra of Director Mom’s gaze.

Lin Yi smiled. “Because I grew up.” Because she knew that Director Mom was the director who belonged to all the children, not that tiny bit of attention she could steal for herself.

The director let out a sigh. “Why are you so sensible?”

“I remember that when I first saw you, you were such a tiny little thing.” Director Lin suddenly recalled the past. She held the enamel mug in both hands and leaned against the back of the sofa, her gaze distant.

“At that time, I originally didn’t plan to take in any more children.”

“But you were such a tiny bundle, thrown into the freezing snow and left there for an entire night. Your life was hanging by a thread, but when someone found you, you were still giggling.”

Director Lin looked at Lin Yi with a gentle smile. “You were a miracle. The doctors all said you wouldn’t live long. When I saw you back then, I made a wish to Heaven.”

“If you survived, I would definitely bring you back.”

“Thank Heaven, you’ve grown this big.”

Lin Yi quietly listened as Director Lin spoke of the past.

“Xiaolu is different,” the director suddenly changed the subject.

“She was abandoned by her family.” She mentioned this briefly, as if she did not want to say more.

“Lin Yi, sometimes people need to live for themselves. Don’t always accommodate others.”