Sonata: Fleeing to Avoid an Arranged Marriage Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Fleeing to Avoid an Arranged Marriage — Any destination is fine as long as I can quickly leave this place.

At the train station, amidst the clamor of the people and the incessant rumbling of the cars, a figure clad in pink, holding an identical pink suitcase alongside her, nimbly weaved her way through this bustling crowd.

Bypa.s.sing a driver trying to obtain customers, Mi Qing sprinted with a speed similar to 100m sprint athletes to dash towards the ticket office.

Bounding up the steps, she dragged her h.e.l.lo Kitty suitcase behind her, only to have it unsteadily fly out of her grasp. She quickly bent down to pick it up and carry in her arms. With a little effort, she walked up to the ticket booth with the shortest line.

“A ticket for the train with the earliest departure time. Thank you.” Her breathing was somewhat hurried, but the timbre of her voice was still clear and bright, sounding sweet to the ears——like the glittering sunlight upon winter scenery. The ticket seller behind the window lifted his head to look at her.

Mi Qing felt for her purse in her shoulder bag and repeated herself. “A ticket for the train with the earliest departure time. Thank you.”

The ticket seller gave her a blank look before formally asking, “Destination?”

Mi Qing’s eyebrow’s slightly rose before she suddenly smiled and said, “Any destination is fine as long as I can quickly leave this place.”

The ticket seller sent her another blank look. Mentally, he tried to recall if there had been any recent posters sent out about a fugitive.

“Can you hurry up? I need to go.” Seeing the ticket seller remain motionless for a while, Mi Qin could finally no longer be patient.

The ticket seller regained awareness of his surroundings. His fingers tapped skillfully on the keyboard several times. “In two minutes, there is a train departing from platform 11. Ticket price is ¥43.”

Mi Qing quickly handed over a hundred yuan before taking the ticket and change. In a flurry, she rushed towards the ticket inspections  at platform 11.

Just as she entered the platform, a staff member yelled to her, “Are you taking this train? Hurry up, the train is leaving soon!”

Mi Qing quickened her steps. The staff member verified her ticket and spoke words that flew out at lightning speed. “Seat 20, immediately take your seat so the train can leave.”

Mi Qing made a sound of agreement as she dragged her suitcase behind her. Two steps in, she turned around and returned. The staff member offered her a hand with the luggage and helped her enter the train car. “I’ll help you put it away, so quickly get on!”

Mi Qing had stared at her crude actions, but she was reminded of her lack of time. Her soft pink suitcase with a heart-shaped dot design was shoved into the train car, and immediately after, with a pa sound, the door was slammed shut.

Mi Qing felt her heart tremble all of a sudden.

The staff member who had shoved her suitcase onto the train could see that she was still lingering at the door and couldn’t resist asking, “Why are you still standing here?”

Mi Qing pursed her lips before turning around to go further into the train.

The car was more than half full. Just as she found seat 20 and sat down, the train slowly began to leave the platform.

Her seat was by the window. Through the gla.s.s, she could just see what was happening back on the platform. She leaned her head against the gla.s.s to look, and upon not seeing any police in pursuit, she finally let out a light sigh. Her heart slowly calmed down.

During this time, she recalled that she didn’t know where this train was taking her.

Turning over the ticket in her hand, she saw that printed on top of the ticket were four bold words.

「 A City South Station 」

A City? Mi Qing searched her memory. She didn’t remember visiting this city before. Even if C City was quite a distance away from A City, it was still only two hours away.

“Are you also a university student? Only returning to school now?”

The pa.s.senger next to her suddenly started a conversation with her. Mi Qing lifted her head and glanced over.

She hadn’t been paying attention earlier. Sitting next to her was a girl who looked to be a university student. With long hair, she was dressed very studiously, a pair of black-framed gla.s.ses resting on her nose.

Mi Qing sized her up before smiling and saying, “I’m not returning to school.”

The schoolgirl was a little curious. “Then are you going to work? I’m going to A City for an interview.”

As they talked, the train left the station. Mi Qing glanced at the window and drew the window curtains closed. Hua. “I’m fleeing to avoid an arranged marriage.”

Two hours ago, with her best friend covering for her, Mi Qing had fled her home with a huge sum of money.

Of course, she felt that she absolutely hadn’t made a mistake. Having just graduated and returned from four years of studying abroad, she had learned that she had a fiancé——a fiancé whose name she had never even heard of before. She definitely would object a little.

She had also tried to argue with her parents, but her father was determined to use her marriage to make connections. Not only had he not listened to her opinion at all, but he had also made her mama place her under house arrest until the engagement ceremony was completed——which would strip her of her freedom.

Mi Qing had remembered that someone had once said, ‘There will come a moment in life where you must travel to find your own destiny.’”

Which was why she was now sitting in this train that was going to A City.

She rummaged through her shoulder bag for her sleeping mask. Placing it over her eyes, she decided to take a restful nap.

When the train reached it’s destination, she turned on her phone to look at the time. 5:37PM. She grabbed her suitcase from the train car, carefully inspecting it. Fortunately, she didn’t find any scuff marks.

A City’s train station and C City’s train station were identical. All kinds of sounds blended together to create a noisy area. Mi Qing dragged her luggage behind her and raised her head to look at the sun, which looked impressive but actual substance. She brushed her softly-curled hair behind her body and walked out of the station with a smile and a raised head.

A City was a flourishing metropolis. The train station was also decorated with poignant artwork. She took out her phone and began to take pictures of her surrounding scenery.

Although she was in a completely unfamiliar environment, her heart held very little anxiety.

Like a child always looking forward to adventures, all she felt was curiosity.

The corners of her mouth quirked up as she followed the street. On either sides of the street, there were many stall-keepers hawking their wares, small stores, and some drivers trying to find customers. Mi Qing walked past all of them and chose the cleanest taxi.

The driver saw that he had a customer and enthusiastically asked, “Pretty girl, where to?”

Asked this question once again, Mi Qing thought for a moment before smiling and saying, “The largest and most well-known hotel you have here.”

“Good, strap on tightly!” The driver floored the accelerator and turned at the next intersection.

The driver finally stopped at the entrance to the Grand Europe Hotel. Mi Qing exited the taxi and grabbed her luggage from the trunk. She raised her head to look at the towering structure in front of her.

Mn. Not bad. The entrance was decorated in a sufficiently imposing manner——she’d give it eight points.

Dragging her suitcase behind her, she walked inside. A charming bell boy that stood very far away enthusiastically ran over and undertook the heavy responsibility of carrying her luggage.

Mi Qing gave it to him without a second thought, and with a lighter body, she walked up to the reception desk to check in.

“Miss, I’m sorry, your card cannot be used.” The lady at the reception desk tactfully returned the credit card to Mi Qing.

Mi Qing’s eyes twitched. She opened her purse and extracted two more cards. “Try these two cards.”

“Okay. Please wait a moment.” The receptionist complied with the demand and tested them one at a time before returning them both back to her. “I’m sorry, but these cannot be used. If you have any cash on hand, you can directly pay with cash.”

Mi Qing frowned and allowed herself to take a deep breath.

It didn’t matter; she had already known ahead of time that her father would most likely use this method to deal with her. To negate the crisis of her credit cards being cancelled, she had already prepared a large amount of cash!

She requested an executive suite, paying for a three day stay. Holding the room card, she went upstairs to her room.

The executive suite was not bad. It had a very large, soft bed, and its bathtub was also big enough. Mi Qing, satisfied, filled it up with water and bubbles to prepare herself a bubble bath.

Lazily exhaling, she stretched her body before comfortably closing her eyes.

She had carefully planned her escape to be like a meteor streaking across the sky, but she still hadn’t made any plans for after her escape.

But who cared? Since she came to A City, she might as well enjoy the sights first.

According to her rough calculations, the money she had on her should be enough to spend for a while. It would be best if her father changed his mind during this time, but if he didn’t… In any case, she was also a student returning after studying abroad. In A City, she could find some work to feed herself. There shouldn’t be a problem.

In short, no matter what, she wasn’t getting married.

As her mama might be worried about her, when she had left, she had thrown away her SIM card.

Thinking of this, her brows furrowed. She shifted her position in the bathtub.

Mama would definitely hate for her to stay outside. As long as she agreed to help her argue, then this marriage thing might take a turn for the better.

As long as she could persevere until that day, then she can win the ultimate victory!

The water inside the bathtub gradually cooled. Mi Qing wiped her clean body dry, dressed herself in rabbit ear pajamas and slippers, and left the bathroom.

She called the Western restaurant for a set meal. Afterwards, she retrieved her laptop from her luggage and connected it to the hotel’s WiFi.

Mr. Tuzi had updated his Weibo.1

「 Tonight’s concert was a huge success. It has been a complete honor to collaborate with Master Jennings. [smile] 」

Mi Qing propped her chin up with her hand and gazed at the Weibo picture, lost in thought. Tuzi gege,2 do you know that I am currently being forced to marry someone?

She felt her eyes begin to water. Breathing in through her nose, Mi Qing shut off her laptop and focused on waiting for her evening meal.

The next day, she slept until 10:00AM before getting up. The first thing she had done when she left home was to buy a new SIM card. After asking the driver for recommendations, she first stopped at Starlight General Merchandise before proceeding to White Knight Plaza. On the third day, she decided to explore Starlight Park.

When she was leaving the hotel, the receptionist called out to her. “Miss Mi, your room will be checked out at 11:00pm today. Do you want to extend your stay?”

Mi Qing said, “Mn. Wait for me to return to handle the transaction.”

“Okay. The latest we can set aside the room for you is 2:00PM.”

Mi Qing nodded and continued to buy-buy-buy and eat-eat-eat during her stay.

Because she needed to return at noon to pack up her things, Mi Qing ate lunch at Starlight Park’s restaurant before deciding to directly return to the hotel. When she went to pay the bill, however, she discovered that her money pouch was gone.

Because she had quite a lot of cash on her, she had used a pouch specifically to hold her money, but now, that pouch had disappeared without trace.

Mi Qing’s heart immediately panicked. That pouch held nearly all her money.

The waiter saw that her complexion wasn’t good, so he inquired about her health. Mi Qing bit her lip before retrieving money from her purse to hand over to the waiter to pay for the meal.

Her purse only had some small change, just enough for her to pay the bill after eating. Inside was roughly a thousand yuan. Even though she spent money extravagantly, she still had the conscience to keep her belongings safe. Although she still had her purse right now, her money pouch was missing.

In a split second, numerous conjectures flashed through her mind. The largest possibility was theft. But who was the thief, and where did the theft occur? How did the thief know that she had placed her money specifically in a pouch? Did he happen to see her buy clothes the first two days, and after watching her attentively, he had found an opportunity to steal it today?

She searched her memory. When she had bought chocolate at the chocolate store, she still had her pouch. In other words, it was stolen when she was taking pictures at Oceanic Flowers?

The waiter delivered her change, and, upon seeing her pale complexion, he asked in deep concern, “Miss, are you feeling unwell?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Mi Qing took the change and quickly left the restaurant. Even though she knew she might not find it, she did not give up on looking for it by retracing her steps.

Not mentioning her pouch, she didn’t even find a single yuan.

Even when she had heard that she was being forced to marry a man she didn’t know, she hadn’t despaired like this.

Right now, to her, money was her entire sense of security.

She wanted to use her cell phone to report to the police, but she was worried that the police would contact her family. Oceanic Flowers wasn’t monitored. She also didn’t know how the thief had stolen from her. The chance of catching the thief was next to nothing.

She disappointedly crouched on the ground before taking a car to return to the hotel.

When she pa.s.sed by the reception desk, the receptionist lady once again gave her a reminder. “Miss Mi, do you want to extend your stay?”

Mi Qing paused and said, “No need. I’ll go pack my things and check out.”

These past few days at the hotel, she had racked up a lot of room charges. When she had to settle the bill, not only was it not taken from her deposit, she still had to make up for the deficit.

Mi Qing currently rejoiced, for she still had a bit of money in her hotel room. If not, she would’ve had to meet the police today.

Carrying her luggage out of the hotel, she rifled through all of her pockets and carefully counted how much money she had left.

Altogether, she had ¥308.50.

She stuffed all of her bank notes and coins into her purse and stared blankly at the sky.

As long as the return ticket to C City was ¥43, then ¥308.50 would allow her to smoothly return home.

But returning like this——it would be very difficult for her to flee home again. She could already see herself being forced to try on a wedding dress.

But if she continued to stay in A City, she would be faced with the wretched situation of sleeping on the streets.

…Ah, the sunlight is very dazzling.

She regained her vision and disappointedly dragged her suitcase down the street.

Although she could try to find work here, where should she even look? Even if she found a job, would they pay her in advance? She only had ¥300 on her right now; she didn’t even know where she was going to stay tonight.

Waiting at the roadside for customers, a taxi driver pressed his horn, yelling at her, “Pretty girl, want a ride?”

Mi Qing, face pale, smiled. “No need.”

She herself didn’t know where she should go.

Following the street, Mi Qing walked for an hour before her legs finally began protesting. She walked towards a bench on the curb and sat down, very much wanting to take off her high-heeled shoes. Should she consider her own image, or continue to allow her boots to destroy her legs?

Still not particularly well-rested, a drop of ice-cold rainwater fell upon her right cheek without any warning.

Mi Qing blanked and used her hand to wipe away the rain droplet.

…I can’t possibly have this much bad luck, right?

She raised her head to look up at the sky. Rain droplets fell one by one to the earth in an especially poetic manner.

Mi Qing: “…”

She quickly grabbed her suitcase and ran. As far as her eyes could see, there was no place to take shelter from the rain.

Fortunately, the rain wasn’t very heavy. She ran down the road before she finally found a small store. She flew up the steps.

Using a paper towel to wipe her soaked hair and overcoat, Mi Qing withdrew a mirror, checking her reflection. Her makeup was still flawless.

As she stood there waiting for the rain to stop, she looked around her. This seemed to be like a residential area, as there were several residential homes nearby. According to the houses’ appearances, this should be an old district. Even the lamppost ahead of her had a small warning about ruining city property.

Yi——wait a minute.

She dragged her suitcase behind her and carefully examined the ad.

『 South City Garden; Elaborately Decorated, 100 Square Meters, 2 Room Apartment, Monthly Rent Only ￥299! If interested, quickly contact Mr. Xiao at 138x.x.xx.x.xXX! 』

Mi Qing’s eyes brightened. ¥299——she would still have ¥9.50 after she paid the rent. Rounded up, that would be ¥10!

She immediately withdrew her phone and dialed the number. After carefully checking that she inputted the numbers in correctly, she pressed the call b.u.t.ton.

「 No answer 」

She didn’t give up and dialed again, but there was still no answer.

She hung up and directly tore the A4 paper with the small advertis.e.m.e.nt printed on it off the lamppost, intending to immediately head to South City Garden.

At this time, the rain just stopped. Mi Qing dragged her suitcase behind her and looked everywhere. She was able to find a building with the words 『 South City Garden 』 on it easily.

Two aunts, who were holding a pair of large folding fans in their hands, were leaving the entrance. It seemed like they were intending to dance in the plaza. Mi Qing held the small apartment rental advertis.e.m.e.nt in her hand and walked up, asking, “Auntie, do you know this Mr. Xiao?”

The aunt looked at her before she made a sound of agreement. “This seems to be Boss Xiao’s phone number. He wanted to rent an apartment?”

Mi Qing blinked at her with her large eyes. “Boss Xiao? Do you know where he lives? I dialed this phone number, but no one answered.”

The aunt turned around and used her fan to point at a building. “That building, floor 6, room B701. But why would he rent it for ¥299 a month; this apartment…”

“Thank you!” The aunt was still muttering to herself when Mi Qing quickly thanked her and ran up the steps to the sixth floor.

Just now, she had concluded that this area was a somewhat old district, which meant that the building had no elevator.

Having to carry her luggage as she climbed 7 floors, this could be described as a disaster for Mi Qing. Mi Qing’s high-heeled shoes could be said to be the cause of the devastating disaster.

She stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to floor 6, section B. She once again used her phone to dial Mr. Xiao’s phone number, but once again, no one answered.

Mi Qing took a deep breath before she lifted her suitcase with one hand and climbed up with a brave face.

She stopped midway three times before she finally reached the seventh floor. She gasped heavily for air as she pressed the doorbell.

Quickly after, footsteps slightly rang out as they approached the door. What followed was a ka-cha sound as a man threw the door open. Warm air blasted Mi Qing’s face. She slightly lifted her head and caught sight of the man standing in front of her.

With an inverted triangle body-shape and extremely long legs, even though he was only wearing a white shirt and jeans, he made people’s blood rush even more than a male model on the runway. The highlight, however, was his handsome face. That head of messy, short black hair and his lazy gaze made his face gain a languid s.e.xiness that was the most popular as of right now.

Although she was stunned by his charm for a brief moment, Mi Qing quickly recalled the original reason she came here. “h.e.l.lo, may I ask if this apartment is for rent?”