Zhao Yaru lowered her eyelids, refusing to meet Munni’s eyes that were as cold and deep as a pool.
Munni seemed unwilling to waste any more time with her. She picked up her bag from the side, glanced coldly at Zhao Yaru, then stood up and left gracefully.
Zhao Yaru suddenly raised her head, gazing at her resolute departing figure, then abruptly stood up and shouted, "Munni, I’m begging you, mother."
Munni’s footsteps paused slightly, then she continued on methodically.
The evening temperature was even colder than during the day. As Munni stepped out of the café, the icy wind rushed at her face, instantly waking her rational mind.
She clenched her hands into fists in the pockets of her coat, stood dazed for a while, then extended a hand to hail a taxi.
Getting into the car, Munni told the driver her intended destination, then relaxed, leaning against the seat, staring absentmindedly at the fleeting street scenes outside the window.
She still remembered how, in the winter when she was ten, half a year after her father’s bankruptcy, the sounds of arguments at home seemed to increase.
Mother always accused father of being incompetent, unable to give her and Munni a good life.
At that time, the whole family moved from a villa to a small apartment with two bedrooms and a living room. Many nights, she heard her mother in the adjacent room hysterically questioning her father, asking how long they would have to endure such hardship.
Finally, a week before the New Year, mother had had enough of this suffocating life and divorced father, leaving him and Munni without even a goodbye.
When mother first left, Munni would often cry to her father, searching for her. But one day she suddenly realized the woman who abandoned her didn’t want her anymore and would never return; she stopped troubling her father and no longer cried to find her mother.
Munni’s wandering thoughts were interrupted by the driver. She came to her senses and looked at the taxi driver, bewildered.
"We’re here." After a pause, the driver anxiously asked, "Are you okay?"
Munni nodded. As she lowered her head to take her wallet from her bag, a droplet fell onto the back of her hand.
Her movement paused slightly. She stretched out her hand to touch her cheek gently, and only then realized that at some point, tears had soaked her face.
Gently wiping away the tears, she lowered her head and softly asked, "Driver, how much?"
"Thirty yuan in total."
Munni quickly pulled thirty yuan from her wallet, handed the money to the taxi driver, thanked him hurriedly, and then got out, making her way deftly into the residential complex.
Entering Building C, she took the elevator to the 23rd floor, got off the elevator, turned right, and stood in front of the familiar home door, pressing the doorbell.
After about a minute, the door opened, and Liang Jiuchen, dressed in casual home clothes, stared incredulously at Munni, who had suddenly appeared at the doorstep, looking terrifyingly pale.
"Sis, what’s wrong with you?"
Munni didn’t answer, she passed by him on raised legs, entered his home, changed her shoes at the entrance, and headed straight to the kitchen, "Drink with me."
Liang Jiuchen clearly felt Munni was not in a good state today. He closed the door and quickly followed her into the kitchen.
Munni didn’t answer. She took a bottle of whiskey and several bottles of beer from his wine cabinet.
"Come, drink a few glasses with sis."
As soon as she finished speaking, another male voice sounded in the kitchen, "So late, why are you here?"
Munni handed several bottles of beer to Liang Jiuchen, and walked with the whiskey towards Liang Ziyuan, who had just appeared in the kitchen.