Sharing the Dorm with the Enemy from Previous Life

Break Apart (4)

All through the afternoon, before the meal was about to begin, that place was still empty.

Sitting on the coffee table, Qin Yuan watched the TV absentmindedly, feeling a void in his heart. Half a day later, he finally clenched his teeth and spoke softly to Qin Zhufeng next to him. “Dad, my mom’s memorial tablet… where is it? I’ll go get it now.”

Qin Zhufeng was stunned before finally coming to his senses and calling out in a loud voice, “Qinglian! Qinglian, come here for a bit!”

Wei Qinglian, dressed in a soft pink velvet lined jacket, came over with a smile on her face. When she saw Qin Zhufeng pointing at the vacant table, she seemed taken aback and smiled apologetically. “Aiya. I’m too busy with the New Year’s Eve dinner and surprisingly forgot about it.”

She raised her voice and called out to the maid on the side. “Wu-jie, go to the storeroom quickly and bring the memorial tablets and incense sticks.”

Sister Wu, the maid who had worked closely with her for several years, agreed and jogged off, coming out a moment later with a box in her hand.

Not knowing how, she suddenly tripped and fell on the step just as she reached the living room, falling to the ground and dropping the things in her hands.

Incense sticks, tablets, offering fruit plates, and several Buddhist scriptures all fell to the floor. One of the small tablets cracked in two and lay on the cold floor.

Everyone was taken aback. Sister Wu sat on the ground, holding her waist as she wept. “Mister, Madam, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. My old hands and legs are really useless…”

Qin Yuan’s eyebrows twitched as he hurried over and picked up the broken tablet.

The other elders’ tablets were intact and the one cracked was his mother’s…

Qin Zhufeng ran over, face turning black, lowered his waist to look at the tablet, and turned his head to shout angrily at Sister Wu. “How did you hold it? You weren’t so careless when you went about your tasks in the past.”

Wei Qinglian also rushed over and her lips quivered. “It’s the Lunar New Year. Peace in pieces*.”

*T/N: 碎碎平安 (peace in pieces) has the same sound as 岁岁平安 (peace in years). If someone breaks something, but in order to comfort that person, they say “peace in pieces.”

After glancing at the father and son, she hurried to say to Sister Wu, “Why don’t you go and get a strong glue? The tablet can be used again after being glued together.”

Sister Wu stood up hastily and was about to leave, but when she reached the entrance hall, Qin Yuan had already spoken coldly behind her. “There’s no need to glue it together. Even glued, it can be broken on purpose again.”

Sister Wu’s body trembled as she turned back in fear. “Young Master, what are you saying? You can’t wrongly accuse people. I-I’m already so old and my feet slipped…”

Qin Yuan stared at her, his gaze cold. “I didn’t say you dropped it. You just ‘happened’ to fall. Whoever did it is naturally aware in their heart.”

Under Qin Zhufeng’s stunned gaze, he faintly glanced at Wei Qinglian and something caught in his throat as he became emotional.

He carefully picked up the tablet broken in two, sneered, and pointed to the cracked surface and the gaping hole next to it where it had been knocked off. “The inside is gypsum. The old and new cracks obviously have different colors.”

The broken edge of the tablet had a faint yellow tinge to it. Meanwhile, the newly knocked-out edge revealed a significantly whiter broken surface.

Lying on his bed on the 2nd floor, Qin Yuan’s eyes were closed. The door to his room was locked and he could still hear the faint noise and clamor from below.

Qin Zhufeng’s furious yelling, Xiao-Siquan’s soft sobs, the baby’s loud and painful cries, Sister Wu’s anguish cries of injustice, and Wei Qinglian’s gradually shrill voice.

“How can I know when was it broken? Maybe it was broken when it was put away last year… Arranging these kinds of things in the house all year round, the maids didn’t dare to say anything after breaking it. Is it wrong to be afraid of being infected by bad luck?”

He was silent and motionless, not knowing how long he had been in the room. Xiao-Siquan and his dad had come, but he had been quiet and did not open the door.

Having no idea exactly when, something seemed to slip from the corner of his eyes and he turned on his phone with bloodshot eyes.

Ruan Qingmu’s house was also bustling with activities. Xiao-Zheng had returned home for the Spring Festival, but Xiao-Yun and Xiao-Zhuang had nowhere to go, so they stayed at Mu Wanli’s house for a long-term period. Qiu-ge had swayed over early in the morning, stating that he was single and had come along to freeload on their New Year’s Eve dinner.

Ruan Qingmu was busy helping his mother in the kitchen when Qin Yuan called.

It was a video call request.

His hands were covered in flour, so he hastily picked up the phone with a paper towel, set it on the table, and opened the screen with a smile on his face. “Happy New Year!”

A glance at the screen made him freeze.

Qin Yuan’s eyes were extremely red. Staring blankly at Ruan Qingmu across the screen, he was silent for a long time before saying softly, “Ruan Ruan, I miss you… I really, really want to return now.”

Some people had lived together for over a decade and were still strangers like malicious passersby. In contrast, others had only known each other for a few months and seemed familiar with each other as if they had known each other in the past life and now into this life.