While she was still conscious, she said in a very tender tone, "I really like you."
This one sentence alone surpasses all others.
Xu Qingzhu almost cried again.
Fortunately, she had tidied herself up in the car. When she got off, she ran into the design department staff, who were returning from dinner. They greeted her with smiles.
Xu Qingzhu waved to them.
After Liang Shi left, Xu Qingzhu stood there and straightened her clothes. Her trousers were a little wrinkled, but it wasn't noticeable unless you looked closely.
Then he walked toward the office building.
I was still thinking about what happened earlier when I got back to the office.
Xu Qingzhu was somewhat evasive about Liang Shi's matter.
They want to understand and clarify everything, and are unwilling to overlook any detail.
But lately, she's been taking a laissez-faire approach to Liang Shi's affairs.
I don't want to delve into the details.
The habit she had developed caused her great distress.
I've tried using work to numb myself, but I've found that these things always resurface unexpectedly. I even see a couple on the street and wonder, "Are they really in love? How did they find out?"
They are just some very imaginative ideas.
Today's answer only brought her a moment of relief.
In the short time it took to get on the elevator, Xu Qingzhu began to doubt again—was what Liang Shi said just now true?
It's also possible that he's lying to her because of a task she supposedly had to complete.
It could also be an attempt to brush aside her unreasonable emotions.
There are too many possibilities.
So when she entered the office, she wasn't in a good mood and her thoughts were wandering. As a result, she bumped into a wall of people as soon as she entered.
Xu Qingzhu took a half step back, only to bump the back of her head against the door again.
"Bang."
With a loud thud, Xu Qingzhu felt so much pain that she saw stars before her eyes and gasped for breath.
Lin Luoxi was also frightened and immediately went over to rub her head, saying, "Sweetie, what are you thinking about? Be careful."
"I'm sorry," Xu Qingzhu said coldly, the pain throbbing in the back of her head causing her to frown.
Lin Luoxi asked in surprise, "What are you apologizing for? Did you get stupid?"
Xu Qingzhu: "..."
After a long while, Xu Qingzhu finally recovered a bit. She moved Lin Luoxi's hand away, rubbed her head a few times with one hand, and said through gritted teeth, "It's okay now."
After saying that, he walked to the office chair. "What brings you here?"
"What could it be?" Lin Luoxi turned back to her desk. "I just wanted to see if you'd eaten."
Xu Qingzhu: "...I ate it."
“I know.” Lin Luoxi leaned on her desk. “My colleagues in the design department saw it, but I want to ask you, what’s wrong with you lately? You’re not replying to my messages.”
Xu Qingzhu took out her phone from her pocket, pressed a button, and found that there were indeed many unread messages.
She pursed her lips, turned off the silent mode on her phone, and apologized to Lin Luoxi again: "I'm sorry."
"It's nothing." Lin Luoxi stared intently at her.
After a moment, Lin Luoxi asked seriously, "Bamboo, is something wrong?"
"No way." Xu Qingzhu opened the documents beside her, twirling a black pen between her fingers twice, her words lacking certainty.
"No means no, why do you need to bring one?" Lin Luoxi gave a very confident answer: "Bamboo, something's wrong with you."
Xu Qingzhu pursed her lips and lowered her eyes. "I don't know either."
"Did you have a fight with Liang Shi?" Lin Luoxi asked.
Xu Qingzhu shook her head. "No."
"Is that a job?"
No, not exactly.
"You had a fight with your parents?"
"No."
Lin Luoxi asked several questions in a row, but Xu Qingzhu denied them all.
Finally, Lin Luoxi couldn't help but ask, "Why is that?"
"Xixi, why do you like Sally?" Xu Qingzhu asked seriously.
Lin Luoxi was taken aback, and after a moment, she said, "I don't know."
Xu Qingzhu: "..."
"Isn't that strange?" Lin Luoxi laughed after saying that. "She's not gentle or considerate, and she doesn't know how to talk. We argue all the time, but I still like her. She doesn't meet any of my criteria for a partner, but I'm sure she's the one."
Xu Qingzhu pondered deeply upon hearing this, "Then do you say 'I love you' to each other?"
“She says it all the time,” Lin Luoxi thought for a moment, “but I never said it.”
Lin Luoxi would only cut off Sally's affectation when she was being sentimental.
So when Sally says, "Baby, I love you, I love you so much I can't help myself," Lin Luoxi's usual reply is just one word: Get lost.
"Could it be related to our culture?" Lin Luoxi said, "It seems that we are not very good at expressing love in our upbringing."
At this point, Lin Luoxi suddenly changed her tone: "Have you ever seen Sally video call her parents?"
Xu Qingzhu was taken aback, then shook her head: "No."
“When they’re on the phone, Sally can just throw in all sorts of sweet nothings.” Lin Luoxi pulled up a chair and sat opposite Xu Qingzhu, casually picking up a pen from the table and twirling it between her fingers. “One day after listening to her, I tried to imitate her… and then my mom said I was sick.”
Xu Qingzhu: "..."
“I don’t know if your family is like that.” Lin Luoxi shook her head: “Judging from Mr. Xu’s appearance, he’s probably similar to my dad, too straightforward. So when I heard Sally say those things, I got goosebumps all over.”
"What about when you first started dating?" Xu Qingzhu asked Lin Luoxi in great detail, just like a freshman.
“Things were fine back then,” Lin Luoxi said. “You know, I had a girlfriend before her.”
"Yes, I've seen him before." Xu Qingzhu pulled this person out of her memory.
The girl was a medical student. When she was dating Lin Luoxi, she was extremely busy. She could only squeeze in time to have meals with Lin Luoxi. Every time, Lin Luoxi would order the food and wait for her there until the food got cold before she arrived.
Xu Qingzhu had encountered this scene many times.
Moreover, that girl was very straightforward, to the point that even Lin Luoxi, who wasn't usually sentimental in relationships, couldn't accept it.
They eventually broke up naturally.
Xu Qingzhu still remembers that rainy day. She was walking back to her dormitory from the library with an umbrella when she saw Lin Luoxi and his girlfriend on the playground. She was hesitating whether to say hello when she heard the girl say to Lin Luoxi with a guilty look, "I shouldn't have kept you waiting."
Lin Luoxi responded indifferently, "Oh."
Without much conversation, Lin Luoxi called out to Xu Qingzhu, "Little Bamboo, give me a ride."
At that time, she and Lin Luoxi lived in the same dormitory building.
However, they are not on the same floor.
When I came back, I saw Sally standing in the rain with an umbrella downstairs, holding a bouquet of roses.
The blonde, blue-eyed girl expressed her feelings passionately and sincerely.
This is what Sally said to Lin Luoxi: "I know you have a girlfriend, and I don't want to break you up, but today is your birthday, so let me, your admirer, give you a bouquet of flowers and wish you a happy birthday."
Her Chinese was not fluent, and she spoke a mix of Chinese and English.
The tone was particularly humorous.
But no one laughed.
Sally said, "How can a beautiful girl like you not have flowers on her birthday?"
Lin Luoxi accepted it without batting an eye and entered the dormitory building with Xu Qingzhu.
But while waiting for the elevator, Lin Luoxi quickly walked out.
Sally was standing at the door, seemingly lost in thought.
Lin Luoxi called out to her, "Hey."
Sally was taken aback: "You called me?"
Lin Luoxi nodded: "Yes, it's you."
Sally: "...What's wrong?"
"Shall we go hiking tomorrow?" Lin Luoxi said, "I broke up with my boyfriend."
Sally is someone who knows how to seize opportunities, so she accepted the offer from Lin Luoxi without hesitation.
They dated until graduation.
Until graduation, Sally concealed her intention to return to her home country, which led to a fight with Lin Luoxi, and the two separated.
Xu Qingzhu recalled that she once asked Lin Luoxi, "Do you really like her? Aren't you worried that she's a player?"
Lin Luoxi told her casually, "Youth only lasts a few years, so you should have as many relationships as possible to make it worthwhile."
Xu Qingzhu: "..."
Even the next day, Xu Qingzhu accompanied Lin Luoxi on her mountain hike, along with Bai Weiwei.
Bai Weiwei didn't think much of Sally at the time, always feeling that Sally was connected to the Turinlois family.
Xu Qingzhu, however, felt that Sally was not cunning at all, and that they had been on good terms all along.
As it turns out, she wasn't wrong about him.
The only one who misjudged was Bai Weiwei.