After a few back and forths, the topic finally returned to the main point.
Su Ye: "Hurry up and change your clothes, let's meet at the usual place."
The call was then disconnected.
Chai Qianning lay on the bed for a short nap before getting up, tidying up, and heading out.
Nuannuan Milk Tea Shop is located on Linli Road. It used to be a milk tea shop that Chai Qianning and Su Ye frequented.
The weather in mid-to-late September was anything but friendly; it was both humid and hot. Chai Qianning didn't wake up until the afternoon, feeling weak all over. Even just seeing the sign for the Nuannuan Milk Tea shop made her feel hot all over.
She quickly went into the milk tea shop to enjoy the air conditioning, found a corner seat by the window, and sent a message to Su Ye to let her know that she had arrived.
The two made a voice call, with Su Ye announcing her location in real time. Chai Qianning, looking lazily at her phone screen, said, "You called just to tell me how many centimeters you moved?"
"I'm not here because of traffic, but because I'm worried you'll get bored and fall asleep while waiting alone. I wanted to talk to you. Besides, your voice sounds weak and like you're about to run out of breath."
"Take your time getting stuck in traffic, I'm hanging up." Chai Qianning hung up the phone and lowered her wrist.
She went out and had a great time last night, eating barbecue and drinking ice-cold beer around 3 or 4 in the morning. When she got home, she took a cold shower because it was so hot and humid. When she went to sleep, she turned the air conditioner to the lowest setting and forgot to turn it up. Her normal routine was disrupted, which is why she is like this today, feeling completely listless.
For the first time ever, she ordered a hot drink. After taking a few sips, she seemed to come back to life and finally regained some energy.
Sitting by the window, with green plants right next to the glass, Chai Qianning caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was Sheng Muxi.
She silently sized up Sheng Muxi.
Sheng Muxi was dressed very formally today, as if she was meeting someone important.
Then, following the figure's movement, she saw Sheng Muxi sit down in front of a man. She blinked, observed for a few seconds, and felt that the other person seemed to be on a blind date.
Sheng Muxi received a call from Meng Xuelin early in the morning, saying that she had been introduced to a blind date. Sheng Muxi didn't want to go at all, but Meng Xuelin had already arranged a meeting time for her with the man.
Hearing that her blind date came from a good family, Meng Xuelin wanted her to meet him and made several phone calls. Sheng Muxi found it annoying, and besides, she had already made an appointment with someone and it wouldn't be good to stand them up. So she went to meet him, intending to clarify things and not cause any more trouble.
At first, Sheng Muxi didn't notice Chai Qianning at all, because she had her back to him.
Until she heard a noise.
A customer accidentally spilled milk tea on the floor. She glanced at it casually, her eyes catching a languid figure. Then, as if to confirm, she secretly looked back and found that a girl had already sat down opposite Chai Qianning, blocking Chai Qianning's face.
Su Ye waved her finger in front of Chai Qianning several times: "What are you looking at?"
Chai Qianning came to her senses: "You've finally arrived. I set off later than you, but I arrived before you."
"How dare you ask how far your home is from here and how far mine is from here?"
They have a class reunion tonight, located near the Nuannuan Milk Tea shop. So they plan to meet up with a few acquaintances at the milk tea shop first, and then go together. After all, it's been so long since graduation, and apart from a few close friends, they haven't kept in touch with the others much. They might not even recognize anyone once they get there.
Chai Qianning, Su Ye, Achu, and Guodong are still in contact, so they plan to meet up and go in together to avoid any awkwardness.
The party starts at six o'clock, so they could actually go there to eat now. But only Chai Qianning is lucky today; Achu and Guodong live far away and are still stuck in traffic.
Su Ye ordered a milk tea, tore open the straw and started drinking. Seeing that Chai Qian Ning kept looking in a certain direction, she followed her gaze.
"Are you looking at that handsome guy or that beautiful girl?" Su Ye asked knowingly, then answered herself, "Oh, it's the beautiful girl."
Su Ye, biting her straw, said, "That woman looks kind of familiar. Have I seen her before?"
Chai Qianning averted her gaze and turned Su Ye's head towards her. Su Ye mumbled, "What's wrong? You won't let me look anymore..."
"Hoo—" Su Ye covered her mouth: "I remember now, wasn't it that woman from the bachelor party before?"
"Seriously? It's been months and you still haven't won her over? This doesn't make sense. Has this old-timer run into a snag?"
Chai Qianning remained silent, lowered her eyes, and took a sip of her milk tea.
This made Su Ye even more certain: "You can't be saying you can't win her over? Chai Qianning, you've finally met your match."
Chai Qianning glared at her: "What do you mean by 'can't win me over'? I just want to take it slow."
"Take your time..." Su Ye glanced at them out of the corner of her eye: "But it looks like they're on a blind date. Is this the result of your 'take your time' approach?"
Chai Qianning was already feeling down after seeing Sheng Muxi go on a blind date, and Su Ye's words only made her feel even more upset.
Especially when I think of what Xu Yuan said last night: "Can you guarantee that the other party won't compromise and choose to get married because of family pressure?"
Although she and Sheng Muxi are not actually together now.
"Alright, alright, I won't block you anymore." Su Ye noticed her unhappy expression and said some cheerful things to comfort her. But Chai Qianning didn't hear a word.
Su Ye clicked her tongue a few times, looking at her absent-minded appearance: "Wouldn't you say that you got yourself into this mess while playing around?"
Chai Qianning is always optimistic. After a moment of depression, she recovered her mood. She never worries about things that haven't happened yet.
"How can this be considered getting yourself into trouble?"
Chai Qianning took a sip of milk tea, her fingertips gently tracing the edge of the milk tea box.
Su Ye: "That's not all?"
Chai Qianning: "I mean, how can you call this playing around? If I were playing around, I would have slept with her on the first night. Why would I need to maintain any feelings? Really!"
Sheng Muxi made an excuse to leave, ending the blind date. The Nuannuan Milk Tea Shop had two glass doors. Instead of using the door she had entered through, Sheng Muxi chose to go around to the door further away, because it would allow her to pass by the table where Chai Qianning was sitting.
"You sleep with someone and then run away," Su Ye clicked his tongue.
“It’s just for fun, that’s all,” Chai Qianning said.
Sheng Muxi slowed down, wondering if she had misheard.
But she did hear Chai Qianning's voice—it was just for fun.
It's just for fun; I'll sleep and then run away.
That sounds so scumbag.
She didn't stop walking, but walked out of the glass door of the milk tea shop, somewhat absentmindedly.
Chapter 37 Awkward
Chai Qianning caught a glimpse of Sheng Muxi passing by, but in just a moment, he was already outside.
Let's continue with the previous topic.
Su Ye said, "To be honest, this phenomenon is quite common. Many people have one-night stands, satisfy their physical needs, and then they don't contact each other anymore. Of course, there are also long-term casual sex partners."
Chai Qianning hummed in agreement.
I had no desire to continue the conversation.
She propped her head up and looked out the glass, trying to catch a glimpse of Sheng Muxi's retreating figure as he disappeared into the crowd.
Finally, she couldn't resist and sent Sheng Muxi a message: "I saw you at the Nuannuan Milk Tea shop."
Sheng Muxi: [Hmm.]
Chai Qianning: [Are you on a blind date?]
Sheng Muxi: [Hmm.]
Such a cold and indifferent "hmm".
Even the September sun can't warm the word "um".
——
I arrived home in a daze.
After Sheng Muxi returned home, Meng Xuelin quickly called to ask about her blind date. She gave a few perfunctory replies and hung up.
Bai calmed down.
She felt she needed to take a cold shower.
Use cold water to awaken your reason and clarify this logic.
But in the end, she didn't take a cold shower. She just lay exhausted on the sofa.
The stifling weather made me feel weak all over. The white walls on the ceiling made me sleepy, the side air conditioner made a slight whirring sound, and the cicadas were still chirping noisily.
—The green area in the community is too large. People who are upset will always complain, "Why hasn't autumn come yet?"
Frustrated, she drifted off to sleep and had a dream she wasn't sure whether to call a nightmare.
The scene in her dream was that night, when Chai Qianning leaned against a lamppost. The dim light made the scene in her dream seem hazy and bizarre. The girl spoke softly, smiling sweetly, her tone incredibly gentle, inviting her: "Would you like to do it?"
In her dream, she nodded almost unconsciously, and the scene instantly switched to the day she arrived at Tuya B&B, where Chai Qianning held her head with one hand and rested her other hand on the table next to her, giving her a brief and soft kiss.
Then, she stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and saw Chai Qianning and the girl who lived in her house leave the apartment below.
Amidst the noise, the scene shifts to that night when she couldn't sleep. She was on her phone sending a WeChat message to Chai Qianning, asking if she was asleep. Chai replied with a single word and asked why she couldn't sleep. She hesitated for a few seconds before typing out the reason for her insomnia. However, a red exclamation mark appeared in the chat box, indicating that Chai had deleted and blocked her.
After a brief period of confusion, she saw a scene of a warm milk tea shop in her dream, and heard Chai Qianning say, "It's just for fun."
The moment she stepped out of the milk tea shop, the scene before her returned to the school. Meng Xuelin patted her head and gently told her, "Be good at school. Mom will come to pick you up on holidays."
"Xixi, be more sensible. Mom will buy you a very, very big cake for your birthday."
"Be a good girl, Xixi. Once Mommy is done with this busy period, I'll take you to the amusement park."
The eight- or nine-year-old girl counted the days at school every day, lying on her small bed in the dormitory, looking at the bed board and counting on her fingers, staring at the sky outside the classroom and counting the few holidays of the year, waiting for the day when Meng Xuelin would pick her up and take her home.
But that day, she stood at the classroom door and waited for a long time, until all her classmates went home and until dusk fell, but she still couldn't see Meng Xuelin.
She didn't get to see the big birthday cake, nor did she get to see Meng Xuelin take her to the amusement park after she finished her work.
It's all just talk.
But the moment Chai Qianning kissed him, in that guesthouse, Chai Qianning asked, "Can't we have that kind of relationship?" Pointing to the hickey on her collarbone, she said, "If it doesn't fade within a month, you'll have to take responsibility for me." She almost actually believed her.
Including the feelings that Sheng Muxi had during that time, the sign on Yuding Mountain that read "Get out of singlehood this year" swaying in the wind, Chai Qianning's words "Are you jealous?" with a look of surprise on her face, the feeling of the other person holding her hand in the noisy crowd, her palms sweating.
She woke up from a hazy dream; it was already dark outside.
The living room was dimly lit. Her head was throbbing, so she sat down on the sofa, holding her forehead, and rested for a while.
She had let go of the past, letting it fade into the distance. She found the half-real, half-dreaming dream strange; why was she dreaming of such nonsensical things?
When Shi Manwen first realized she might be developing different feelings for Chai Qianning, she joked on WeChat: "Why don't you prepare yourself mentally, if the person you like is a player..."
She had never been involved in Chai Qianning's social circle, so she didn't know if the other woman was the type to flirt with any pretty girl she saw. But Chai Qianning certainly did flirt with her without hesitation.
Upon reflection, it seems that Chai Qianning does indeed have a playful nature, and her demeanor often exudes a nonchalant air. Even when flirting, she does so with ease and without burden, a hint of ambiguity in her languid gaze. It's as if nothing can truly disturb her heart; the smile in her eyes is simply because she casually stroked a kitten she saw by the roadside.