Suddenly, Chai Qianning turned her head and asked her, "What social media apps do you usually use?"
"Hmm? Well, WeChat and QQ, and Tencent QQ is mainly for work-related communication."
Not understanding the meaning of the question, I shut up after answering.
Chai Qianning said "Oh," and then asked, "You don't play this?"
The other person was holding that small green pendant in their hand. Sheng Muxi's beautiful brows furrowed slightly: "What?"
She didn't understand what this pendant had to do with social media.
“Exactly,” Chai Qianning twirled her fingertips, “this pendant can indeed attract romance.”
Sheng Muxi: "..."
The answer was irrelevant.
For the next ten minutes or so, Chai Qianning was engrossed in selecting movie tickets online, while Sheng Muxi was messaging Shi Manwen. After chatting for a while, Sheng Muxi finally understood what Chai Qianning meant by "attracting peach blossom luck."
So the pattern on this pendant is the lesbian symbol.
No wonder.
She turned off her phone and shifted her gaze to Chai Qianning. This person had been searching for so long but hadn't chosen a movie yet. She was hanging her head, biting her knuckles, and her expression seemed quite conflicted.
The girl's hair was light in color. Sheng Muxi sat next to her, and his fingers accidentally touched a strand of her hair. The soft touch was slightly itchy.
Finally, unable to bear watching any longer, I asked her, "Haven't you chosen yet?"
Chai Qianning turned her head and gave up: "I have trouble making decisions. You're making me choose a movie. That's really putting me in a difficult position."
Since that was the case, Sheng Muxi didn't have any movies she wanted to watch, so she casually said, "Let's watch the highest-ranked new movie."
Chai Qianning glanced at the screen; the most popular movie was a romance film.
That works too.
There was a movie theater on the fourth floor. After buying tickets online, they still had plenty of time before the movie started, so the two of them went for a while longer.
Sheng Muxi could clearly sense that Chai Qianning walked very slowly, and whenever she stopped, the other woman would lean against the railing or next to the claw machine.
In short, Chai Qianning always needs to find a place to lean against when she's not walking to feel comfortable.
Sheng Muxi, considering her poor health, asked her with concern if she was tired, so the two rested on a bench.
Just then, Sheng Muxi's phone vibrated. It was Shi Manwen replying to the message she had sent: 【What do you mean, I! Didn't! Tell! You! It was clearly! You! Disdained! To! Listen!】
Sheng Muxi couldn't recall the specific details of when Shi Manwen gave her the pendant. She only remembered that she had something to do at school, so she put the pendant on her keychain and left.
I remember that they hadn't finished their conversation that day.
She replied: 【Aren't you tired of sending so many exclamation marks?】
Then, I exited the chat window and opened the app store on my phone.
A quick search revealed a lesbian dating app, and the image on the app was indeed exactly the same as that pendant.
Her finger accidentally touched the "Start Download" button on the side. She froze for a few seconds, and just as she was about to pause and clear the download, Chai Qianning suddenly leaned over. Before she could click, she turned off the screen.
Chai Qianning noticed this action but didn't say anything. She simply pointed to the jewelry store across the street and said, "Let's go take a look."
The two walked around to the opposite side and entered the jewelry store. Sheng Muxi stared blankly at the dazzling array of goods, picking them up every now and then for a glance, then checking the price before putting them back. She didn't intend to buy anything; she was just looking. But if she didn't follow the proper procedure, it would seem like she had nothing better to do.
The store was neither too crowded nor too empty. Sheng Muxi noticed that the other person was particularly interested in browsing the pendant section, so she went over there.
Chai Qianning caught sight of her approaching, picked up a pair of keychains, and said, "I'll buy you a new keychain. I think this black-necked swan design is nice. Do you like it?"
Sheng Muxi was only focused on the pattern at the time, and thought it had a very high-end feel. She agreed, saying, "It's nice, I like it."
Then I noticed that the pendant was a pair, consisting of two almost identical black-necked swans, just facing different directions.
If Sheng Muxi straightens it, you will find that there is a heart pattern between the two swans.
"One for you, one for me, just right." After saying that, Chai Qianning ran to the cashier to pay.
Sheng Muxi glanced down from the corner of her eye and saw a pendant that looked like a best friend's, but Chai Qianning hadn't taken it from there.
She shifted her gaze to the side and saw that the pair of pendants that Chai Qianning had taken to pay for clearly stated on the packaging: Couple's set.
When she walked over, Chai Qianning had already paid the bill and taken a few steps outside. Sheng Muxi finally found an opportunity to speak: "You didn't take the wrong one, did you?"
Did the other person misread it, mistaking a couple's item for a best friend's item?
Chai Qianning calmly unpacked the package, not even glancing at it, and threw it into the nearby trash can: "What? You took the wrong thing?"
"Is this a best friend's set?" Sheng Muxi asked.
At this moment, Chai Qianning had already put a black-necked swan pendant on her keychain, and then gave her the other one.
“Isn’t that right?” Chai Qianning asked her in return.
Sheng Muxi ran her fingers over the pendant, the cool touch traveling through her skin, and swallowed a few times.
Yes, yes, no, no, but it feels... well...
Since she'd already bought it, Sheng Muxi pursed her lips, slipped the new keychain onto her keychain, and said, "Since you already have a new keychain, why not get rid of the old one?"
I'm talking about that green wink pendant.
Chai Qianning took it down and offered it to her, but Sheng Muxi, true to her word, said she didn't want it anymore and actually threw it into the trash can.
She winked and teased, "You've already gotten tired of the old and crave the new so quickly?"
“That thing is weird,” Sheng Muxi said seriously.
“Ah, weird?” Chai Qianning repeated her words.
"I just don't like that winking pattern," Sheng Muxi said, glancing at the trash can.
The wrapping paper of the black-necked swan pendant that Chai Qianning had thrown away was still on it, and a card was half-exposed from the transparent bag, with the side with writing facing upwards. Sheng Muxi could see the words on it: Eternal Love.
Sheng Muxi withdrew her gaze, inexplicably feeling that the pendant in her hand was unusually hot.
She ran her fingers over the pendant, feeling the rough texture of the patterns. Besides that, she could also feel the tactile sensation of the carved characters.
So she looked at it closely under the light and found that there were indeed a few small words engraved on it, exactly the same as on the card: Eternal Love.
Sheng Muxi: ...
Should she remind Chai Qianning that she took the wrong thing? But reminding her now seems a bit strange; she should have reminded her before Chai Qianning paid.
Stirred by inner turmoil and unnamed emotions, Sheng Muxi pursed her lips into a straight line.
Chai Qianning looked at the pendant in her hand and the bewildered expression on her face, and her stomach ached from trying so hard to suppress her laughter.
She tried her best to suppress the corners of her lips, but they still couldn't help but curve upwards slightly.
Chapter 14 Undercurrents
The movie theater was on the fourth floor. The two took the elevator down one floor, during which Sheng Muxi kept getting distracted.
All she could think about was that she and Chai Qianning were using matching keychains.
It's one thing to be a couple's item, but to make it so obviously couple's with the word "love" engraved on it, is it as if it's afraid people won't know it's a couple's item?
Once inside, Chai Qianning went to get the tickets first, while Sheng Muxi went to the counter to buy popcorn and cola.
Sheng Muxi originally planned to buy two Cokes and two servings of popcorn, but Chai Qianning said that she couldn't finish a whole bucket of popcorn by herself, which would be a waste, and suggested that buying one bucket would be enough.
Sheng Muxi thought it made sense, because she observed that the other person's appetite was indeed quite small.
After buying food, the two went to the theater to have their tickets checked. There were still about ten minutes before the movie started, and there were only a few people sitting inside.
Immediately after the two sat down, people began to arrive one after another, and the theater gradually filled up with people.
Because they bought their tickets late, their seats weren't good; they were in a corner of the second row.
The lights in the theater went out, and a few students rushed in and sat down in front of Chai Qianning.
There were four people in total: two girls and two boys. At first, because the lighting was dim, Chai Qianning didn't recognize them until she heard them chatting.
"I didn't know there would be so many people at the movie theater today," a boy's voice rang out.
"I should have bought it sooner."
"Yes, when I bought it, all the seats in the back were full."
"Forget it, the first row is fine, it's not like we can't see it." It was Chai Shuqing's voice, and Chai Qianning recognized it immediately.
Chai Qian focused her gaze and recognized Chai Shuqing's back.
Next to Chai Shuqing was a girl she recognized. She was named Yao Yunqi, and she was very close to her sister. They were not only in the same class but also in the same dormitory.
She didn't recognize the other two boys, but they were probably high school students.
Clearly, the four people didn't notice who was sitting behind them and were just chatting amongst themselves.
Chai Qianning tilted her head slightly and saw Sheng Muxi's face hidden in the dim light. She couldn't make out the specific details of his expression, but she could tell that he was also looking at the four people in front of him.
She nuzzled Sheng Muxi's arm, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Teacher Sheng, are the four people in front of you all students from your class?"
Sheng Muxi nodded.
A sound came from ahead.
"Yunqi, would you like to switch seats with me? My view is a little better here," a boy said.
Yao Yunqi took a sip of her cola and said in a soft voice, "Aren't the field of vision about the same for all four of us?"
Another boy chimed in, "He just wants to sit next to Chai Shuqing."
The movie started, and half of the voices of the people in front were drowned out by the movie sound.
Chai Qian Ning watched the four people in front of her with great interest; they were more interesting than a movie.
In the instant the movie quieted down, Chai Shuqing was heard saying in a low voice, "I think this seat is fine, I won't change it."
At the beginning of the movie, Chai Qianning barely watched anything, her attention was completely drawn to the scene in front of her where the little boy was trying his best to sit next to Chai Shuqing.
"Shuqing, I bought a big bucket of popcorn. Don't you like popcorn? Do you want me to pour some for you?"
"No need, let's watch the movie and stop talking." Chai Shuqing tilted her head and spoke to the boy across the distance.
Chai Qianning glanced at Sheng Muxi out of the corner of her eye and found the scene quite interesting.