Chapter 16: Surrendering to Fate
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
When Luo Xiyun thought of the three months where Chen Xu deliberately ignored her and entirely disregarded her existence, she couldn’t help but feel anger.
During that time, she had thought of leaving more than once.
However, such an idea would quickly die. Where could she possibly go?
Finally, she focussed all her anger on Chen Xu, itching to see this extremely petty man with a horrible demeanor be torn to pieces.
She understood that he was doing this for revenge and that her words back then had harmed his dignity. He was trying to use silence to force her into submission.
Despicable.
Was he even a man?
She had the same urge more than once to denounce him as a man to his face.
But she did not. Didn’t Chen Xu intentionally treat her with this attitude in hopes that she would approach him first? If she did that, it would mean that she had surrendered.
Her, lower her head to Chen Xu? Dream on.
“You ignore me, I ignore you. Let’s see who will surrender first.”
She stuffed her hard feelings deep in her heart. As time went by, not only did her hatred towards Chen Xu not disappear, it was constantly piling up.
In the beginning, she knew that the best way was to entirely overlook his existence.
Nevertheless, she promptly realized that it was impossible.
In this world, there was no internet and no other person to interact with. In such an environment, loneliness and desolation were constantly eating away at her heart, capable of driving her to insanity at any given time.
In the first month, she already had a profound experience.
No matter how hard she told herself to think of Chen Xu as air, with the two of them sharing such a small space in an empty world, Chen Xu had left numerous marks on her life. She could never totally ignore him.
Then one day, Chen Xu went out. Having not heard any movements from next door for an entire day, for some reason she became a little uneasy and couldn’t seem to calm down no matter what she did.
Since then, even if she wasn’t willing to admit it, in the depths of her heart she had realized that she was somewhat dependent on Chen Xu.
If something were to happen to that man, she knew she would not have the courage to live in this empty world all alone.
Still, she was not willing to admit defeat.
She was still holding a grudge in her heart, vowing to duke it out with that bastard.
As the days passed, the relationship between the two was maintained by a delicate balance. On the surface, they were ignoring each other, while in fact, they were carrying out their respective tasks with great silent understanding.
For three months, Luo Xiyun was looking at Chen Xu, who acted as if nothing happened and leisurely lived his own life. She hated him, so much that she ground her teeth.
That was the way it was until the typhoon a month ago when she went out on a bicycle and got stuck in a torrential downpour. Anxious, she fell along with her bike, injured her feet, and became trapped in the middle of the road with nowhere to go.
She cowered inside a shop on the side of the road. While watching the rain pouring down, the only thought in her mind was, would the bastard come and rescue her?
At that moment, the pain from her injury and the danger of the horrendous typhoon no longer mattered to her. She just wanted to know whether that man would come and save her.
Once she started waiting, it went on for eight hours.
In such a desperate situation, waiting was a very tormenting thing. However, her mood was remarkably serene. Such calmness exceeded even her own expectations.
When two beams of light pierced through the heavy rain curtain, tears immediately came rolling out from her eyes. As if unleashing her pent-up emotions, fear, anxiety, and grief surged in her heart. She fell to the ground as if her whole body was completely drained of energy.
Because of her delayed response, the car had already driven some distance away. Upon realizing that, she immediately turned on the flashlight on her phone, limped to the side of the road through the heavy winds, and waved her phone in the direction of the car with all of her might.
When Chen Xu got out of the car, she had the urge to ask him why he had arrived so late. Yet, she said nothing, knowing that if she opened her mouth, she would cry.
She was reluctant to be vulnerable in front of him and kept silent all the way back home.
At the same time, she was very dissatisfied with Chen Xu’s behavior. He was slow to greet her, let alone offering words of comfort. He spoke no more than a single word.
“Will you die if you talk?” she thought.
Her heart was overcome with dismay. She had never met such an iron-hearted man that would remain indifferent even at a time like this.
However, she held it in.
It was up until that bastard said that he wanted to look at her injuries that she lost herself. The emotions amassed in her heart erupted all at once, resulting in a fight between her and Chen Xu.
Over the past few months, she had been calling him a jerk every day in her mind, but never did she expect that he was this bad.
After simmering down for a few days, she accepted her fate. She truly had nothing up her sleeve to use against such a man.
She knew that Chen Xu would do what he said. After her injuries healed, he would do as he said and ignore her forever. Only two options were in front of her, to leave or to accept her fate.
Since she couldn’t bring herself to leave, she could only accept her fate.
After she had accepted it, one time when they were eating, she finally took the initiative to ask him a question. That simple sentence melted the thick ice wall between them.
She originally thought that Chen Xu would get haughty for a moment, but he didn’t. He replied to her naturally with a decent attitude, as if the cold war that had persisted for three months between them had never happened.
She felt even more bewildered by this man.
Nonetheless, the two could finally talk, eat, interact, and work together normally. She was already very satisfied with not having to be alone in this post-apocalyptic world.
Down a month, she realized that Chen Xu wasn’t that difficult to get along with. He wasn’t as unreasonable as he had seemed previously but was very gentle in his speech, and even more, had a sense of propriety in their interactions. He never made her feel uncomfortable.
She also found that Chen Xu was essentially like a donkey. He could only be stroked along his hair, and not directly opposed.
As she thought about the past, she finished preparing the food. She took up the wireless walkie-talkie in the living room and said, “Breakfast is ready.”
Swiftly, Chen Xu’s voice came over, “Be right back.”
After a while, the door pushed open from the outside. Chen Xu walked in, stood by the porch, and took off the thick snowsuit he was wearing.
Luo Xiyun went ahead and took the clothes he had taken off. Suddenly, she said, “Your forehead is bleeding.”
“Really?” Chen Xu took off his gloves and reached for his forehead.