If you're not going to marry me, why are you flirting? If you dare run away, I'll sever yo

Qi Nan then drove Xia Ningqi back to her apartment.

"Good night."

Xia Ningqi turned her head and looked at Qi Nan waving at her. She didn't say anything else, just nodded slightly.

The two then went inside their respective rooms.

After taking a shower, Xia Ningqi came out of the bathroom, with faint watermarks hanging on her white swan neck.

She pulled up her half-dry hair.

She sat in the chair and wrote in her diary for the day.

"I went to karaoke today. That guy said I sang well, but he was a bit too tactless. He dared to touch a girl's forehead without permission. But considering he sang with me for so long, I'll forgive him for one night. But it's only for one night. He'll still be a bad guy tomorrow."

...

In the following days.

Qi Nan goes to karaoke with Xia Ningqi almost every day after get off work to practice singing.

Xia Ningqi's singing gets better every day.

At the same time, she also discovered that she and Qi Nan had very similar tastes. A large part of their playlists consisted of songs by the same artists, and they even happened to find some very niche songs.

"Listen to this song, it's a real gem, I guarantee you'll love it."

Inside the car.

Qi Nan took off the other half of the earphone and handed it to Xia Ningqi.

After hesitating for a moment, she accepted it and put it in her ears.

next second.

A catchy melody began to play, and unsurprisingly, it was the kind of style she liked.

Neither of them spoke.

I leaned back in my chair and listened to the music quietly.

Logically speaking, one earphone should ruin the listening experience, but in reality, the experience of listening to a song with someone else seems pretty good.

Xia Ningqi closed her eyes.

If part-time work makes her feel exhausted, now is the best time to relax.

"Does it sound good?"

"Okay, push it to me."

Xia Ningqi picked up her phone and saw the song title sent by Qi Nan. Then, as if she had thought of something, she entered the number on the transfer interface and transferred three thousand to Qi Nan.

"This is?"

"I owe you money for the surgery. I got paid today, so I'm paying you back."

Instead of accepting it directly, Qi Nan took out a beautifully packaged box of cosmetics from his bag and handed it to Xia Ningqi, saying, "This is for you."

Xia Ningqi frowned.

"What is this?"

"cosmetic."

"I don't need this."

"Yes, yes, I know you're naturally beautiful and don't need makeup to look good, but you should still dress up a bit on the day of the performance."

Qi Nan shoved himself into Xia Ningqi's arms.

She stared blankly. In reality, she wasn't very good at makeup, and she rarely even used BB cream.

"This set must be very expensive..."

"Don't worry, I didn't spend any money on this. It was a gift for my mom. She just left it there anyway, so she decided to give it to you."

"I don't need your charity."

Qi Nan waved his hand, "This is not charity, but for a better stage performance. After all, I'm the one who got you to perform on stage, so this is a small compensation."

Xia Ningqi still wanted to refuse.

Qi Nan, however, had an unusually cold expression. "If you don't accept it, then I won't take your surgery money."

The girl's eyes flickered, she lowered her head, hugged the box tightly, and a warm feeling welled up in her heart that she couldn't quite explain.

...

in the afternoon.

Xia Ningqi went to the hospital.

Beside the hospital bed, she peeled an apple while chatting with the old man.

"Xiao Qi, Grandma feels you're different from before."

"Different?" Xia Ningqi asked, puzzled. "How are they different?"

"I've changed completely, inside and out."

Xia Ningqi was a little confused; she still didn't understand what the old man meant.

"Grandma, could you be more specific?"

To be more specific, you seem to be in a good mood lately. Did something good happen to you?

Having lived with Xia Ningqi for so long, Li Chunhua knew her inside and out.

When she usually visits me, she always has a smile on her face, but it always comes across as forced and tired. But recently, Xia Ningqi has become much more cheerful, and it's clear that this cheerfulness isn't something she's deliberately putting on for the sake of seeing me.

Xia Ningqi smiled faintly, "It's nothing. Maybe it's because Grandma is about to recover and be discharged from the hospital, so I feel more relaxed."

"You little rascal, you're like a hedgehog. Whether it's good news or bad, you just keep it all to yourself. Don't think I can't see through you. Ever since you went to university, you've probably been hiding a lot of things from me, haven't you?"

Xia Ningqi lowered her eyes, "I didn't..."

"real?"

She fell silent. She had thought she had hidden it well, but she never expected that the old man had already seen through her.

"Grandma... I didn't mean to hide it from you..."

Seeing Xia Ningqi's guilty look, Li Chunhua couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"Alright, Grandma doesn't mean to blame you. I didn't say anything before because I didn't want to put pressure on you. If you really don't want to talk about it, then that's fine. But Grandma still hopes you can be happy every day."

"Yes, I will."

At this point, Li Chunhua sighed, then squeezed Xia Ningqi's hand, "It's also my fault for being incompetent. Not only did I fail to give you a good life, but I also squandered half my life savings on a tumor, making you suffer so much every day now."

Upon hearing this, Xia Ningqi quickly shook her head, "Grandma, you've already done so much for me. You not only raised me single-handedly, but you also paid for my university tuition, so there's no need to blame yourself."

"Sigh," the old man sighed, gazing out the window, "If only you could reunite with your family of origin..."

For a long time, Li Chunhua didn't really want to spend so much money on treatment, but the thought that if she passed away, Xia Ningqi would have no one to rely on in the future made her have to persevere day after day.

Fortunately, Xia Ningqi was sensible and managed to get by through part-time work. Of course, Qi Nan's help was also indispensable; otherwise, if the surgery had been delayed, she might not have recovered so quickly.

"By the way, Xiao Qi, did you return the money to Qi Nan?"

Xia Ningqi took out her phone and saw that the transfer hadn't been received yet. She frowned slightly. "I transferred it to him this morning, but he still hasn't accepted it."

"They probably forgot. Let's check again tonight."

Xia Ningqi could only nod helplessly, then handed the peeled apple to her.

He was secretly cursing it in his heart.

This guy is really untrustworthy. He clearly said that as long as I accepted the cosmetics, he would keep the money for the surgery.

...