But as they approached, she reverted to her gentle elder demeanor, taking Xu Chacha's bag, slinging it over her shoulder, and leading her to her side.
"Do you have a lot of classes lately?"
"Ah, it's alright." Xu Chacha smiled at her, trying to make her attitude seem natural.
"Hmm." Wen Mubai responded softly through his nose, but then said, "I thought you were so busy you barely had time to reply to messages. I asked Qianqian and the others, and they said you've been very busy lately?"
“I…” Xu Chacha’s muscles tensed up.
Even though Wen Mubai wasn't interrogating her, but just wanted to understand her situation, she felt so guilty that she couldn't even speak properly.
However, it seemed that Wen Mubai did not expect to get any answers from her, and quickly reached out his hand to roll up her sleeves.
"Don't wipe your white sleeves on the table, they'll get dirty."
Xu Chacha wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't pointed it out, so she scratched her head awkwardly and said, "I'll be more careful next time."
The loose sweater sleeves were rolled up little by little, just enough to reveal a section of slender white wrist.
Jiang Miao noticed the bracelet on Xu Chacha's left hand and his expression turned uncontrollably ugly.
The red string that Xu Chacha valued so much was gone, replaced by this bracelet. Not long ago, Xu Chacha told her that she hadn't brought the bracelet she had given her because she was afraid of scratching it.
Isn't she worried that such an important bracelet, which can replace that red string, will break?
Or was it just an excuse she made to avoid wearing the bracelet she had given him?
Jiang Miao suddenly felt a little relieved that he hadn't impulsively confessed his feelings to Xu Chacha because of a momentary emotional outburst.
"Do you have anything else to do later?" Wen Mubai asked Xu Chacha after rolling up her sleeves. "We're going to get dessert, want to come along?"
Jiang Miao subconsciously shook his head and said blankly, "I'm not going, thank you."
"Senior, you look terrible. Are you too tired? Why don't you take a break this weekend?" Xu Chacha leaned closer, somewhat worried, and tried to raise her hand to check the temperature of her forehead, but before she could raise her hand, Wen Mubai grabbed it.
"Indeed, if you're tired, you should rest early."
"Okay, bye-bye." Jiang Miao forced a smile, turned and left.
Xu Chacha stared at her back, her brows furrowed. "I always feel like there's something strange about you, senior."
Wen Mubai put his arm around her shoulder and walked towards the car, his voice indifferent, "You're overthinking it."
"profound."
"Would you like some milk tea?" Wen Mubai handed her the milk tea he had bought earlier according to her taste.
"I'm cutting out sugar lately." Xu Chacha still took it. "I won't drink it, I'll just smell it."
"Okay." Wen Mubai smiled and put his hands on the steering wheel. "Have you been seeing Jiang Miao a lot lately?"
"She seems to be quite busy lately. That was the first time I'd run into her since her birthday party," Xu Chacha said truthfully.
Wen Mubai nodded, tapped his finger on the steering wheel, and asked, "Didn't she say anything strange to you?"
"Strange words?" This piqued Xu Chacha's curiosity. "Did she say anything to you?"
"No, I said I'd bring you a gift last time, but I probably forgot."
“…Okay.” Xu Chacha felt that Wen Mubai seemed to be hiding something from her, but she couldn’t guess what it was, so she could only give up.
When the two arrived at the store, Xu Chacha rushed in excitedly and bought one of each of the three newly launched products.
He bought it but didn't eat it. He took a few pictures with his phone and then stared at Wen Mubai with his chin resting on his hand.
Wen Mubai stopped just as he was about to pick up a piece of cake with his fork, because of her overly enthusiastic gaze. "Want some?"
Xu Chacha stopped drooling and shook her head somewhat firmly, "No, I'm giving up sugar."
Wen Mubai nodded, ate the cake, then picked a strawberry from the cake and held it to her lips, saying, "Fruit is fine."
"Then I'll have one." Xu Chacha opened her mouth and took a bite. The sweet and sour juice burst in her mouth, and there was a little cream still attached to the edge of the strawberry, which she secretly swallowed along with it. "Sweet!"
Wen Mubai smiled and asked, "You suddenly started managing your figure? Is it because you have new work to take on?"
"Maybe... there might be." She hadn't received any notification yet.
Wen Mubai nodded. "Your sister said you've suddenly started investing and managing your finances recently. Is it because you don't have enough money?"
"No, no, no, I have a lot of money." Xu Chacha shook her head repeatedly, as if she could immediately show Wen Mubai her app balance if he dared to say he didn't believe her.
"I'm not short of money." Wen Mubai toyed with a dessert fork, his eyelids lowered, but his tone suddenly shifted 180 degrees, "So you started spending recklessly?"
"What nonsense!" Xu Chacha held her breath.
The bubble of lies was ruthlessly burst the next second, giving her a swift and decisive end to her many days of trepidation.
"Ms. Wang, is she your friend?"
Hearing this from Wen Mubai, Xu Chacha wasn't surprised at all. She slumped her shoulders, looking somewhat dejected, and said, "You already knew."
"Your friend's campus card is quite obvious."
Damn? Xu Chacha never anticipated this.
"Then you didn't know from the beginning."
"I know." Wen Mubai rested one hand on his forehead, lifted his eyelids to look at her, and said with a half-smile, "I just want to see what tricks you're up to this time."
"..."
"Tell me why you did this."
Xu Chacha pouted and lowered her head. "I just wanted to help you."
"Help me?" Wen Mubai asked, "Help me with what?"
"Sister Laiqian told me that your family is having a tough time lately. Didn't she push you to go on a blind date because of this last time? And the studio is starting out, so it must be very tough. Plus, it's your dream, so I want to..." she chimed in.
"So you thought I was so poor I couldn't afford to eat, that's why you're rushing to give me money." Wen Mubai's voice couldn't hide his laughter. "Grandpa, what are you thinking about all day long?"
“That’s right. Sister Panpan complains about being broke on her WeChat Moments every other day. You two are partners, so if she’s poor, you’re probably not much better off. This is the only way I can help you, and you don’t even appreciate it.” Xu Chacha glared at her angrily. “You know but you don’t expose me. You just want to see me panic and not dare to ask, right?”
Wen Mubai surprisingly didn't deny it, replying with a refined yet roguish air, "Yeah, it's pretty fun."
"You—" If I didn't like you, I would have been so angry that I would have punched you long ago!
“Jiang Panpan’s constant complaints about being poor are normal,” Wen Mubai explained to her. “She’s afraid she won’t be able to control herself and will deposit all her money with me, leaving her only with her monthly living expenses. A couple of days ago, at the end of the month, she was broke and deliberately posted on her WeChat Moments to play the victim and try to get my heart to transfer money to her.”
"So, are you really okay?"
Wen Mubai tilted his head, suddenly becoming interested in the answer to a question, "If I really went bankrupt, what would you do?"
“I’ll support you.” Xu Chacha carefully pulled out a bank card. “From now on, my salary will be deposited into this card. You can keep it. What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is still yours.”
"Xu Chacha," Wen Mubai pressed down on the card, "Are you stupid?"
"Consider it compensation for messing up your blind date last time. If it weren't for me, your family wouldn't have offended Wang Zhi." But if she had to do it all over again, she would probably still do the same thing.
"I have to thank you for that." Wen Mubai looked at her and said, word by word, "I told you, I'd get married after you get married. I never intended to go on blind dates in the first place."
"So when I said I wanted to marry you, you just took it as a joke," Xu Chacha thought to herself.
"Want some more?" Seeing that Xu Chacha was silent, Wen Mubai took the initiative to change the subject.
"I'm not eating." Xu Chacha said sullenly.
With the mindset of not wasting food, Wen Mubai could only silently finish the cake by herself. She usually doesn't eat sweets much, and she would only have a bite or two occasionally when she was with Xu Chacha. But today, it was the other way around.
"You have some on your lip." Xu Chacha pointed to the left side of her mouth.
"Hmm?" Wen Mubai folded the tissue and went to wipe.
No, it's your left side.
Wen Mubai still couldn't wipe it off, and Xu Chacha got anxious and reached out to wipe it off for her. Just then, Wen Mubai stuck out his tongue and licked it.
Before her tongue even touched the cream, it met Xu Chacha's outstretched fingers. Both of them froze for a moment. Xu Chacha blinked her eyelashes rapidly, blushed, and quickly wiped the cream away before withdrawing her hand.
"alright."
"Hmm." Wen Mubai seemed oblivious to Xu Chacha's expression, and continued eating with his head down as usual.
Xu Chacha's hand, hidden under the table, froze. The index finger that had just been extended remained frozen in place. The soft, warm touch she had just felt had transformed into a cat's claw, scratching at her heart again and again.
Ugh, I'm going crazy!
Chapter 47 Let's Drink!
Over the weekend, the two little ones gathered again at Xu Chacha's rented apartment.
They were going to Chen Qianqian's sister's newly opened bar that night, and Xu Chacha was choosing clothes.
She doesn't go to those kinds of places often. She was afraid that dressing up would be too deliberate, but if she dressed casually, she was worried that she would be too out of place. After struggling with this for a long time, Xue Miaomiao finally acted decisively and took a dress from her closet and put it on her.
Xu Chacha looked at herself in the mirror with a worried expression, wearing a fitted sundress. "Are you trying to freeze me to death out here?"
Chen Qianqian then brought her a light-colored coat and draped it over her shoulders, saying, "You won't be cold now."
"leg!"
"Aren't beautiful women's legs supposed to be cold?" Chen Qianqian blinked innocently. "It's okay, you won't be outside for more than three minutes in total, and there's air conditioning in the car."
"I think I should change my clothes." Xu Chacha wanted to change into something with more fabric, but Xue Miaomiao and Chen Qianqian grabbed her from both sides and carried her out.
"Let's go, or my sister will scold us if we dawdle any longer."
"..."
Half an hour later, in a bar whose name Xu Chacha couldn't quite make out, Chen Qianqian led her straight to the bar counter.
"Sister, this is Cha Cha." She then pointed to Xue Miaomiao next to her, "You've already seen this one, so there's no need to introduce it."
Chen Qian was wiping a cup with a cloth when she saw them sit down. She put down what she was doing and leaned over, pinching Xu Chacha's cheek with interest. "The little girl is quite pretty."
Xu Chacha: "Th...thank you."
Sure enough, these two people surnamed Chen were both incredibly enthusiastic.
"Just turned 18, right? You're just a kid." Chen Qian smiled at her.
Xu Chacha nodded obediently.
"Then you can drink something that adults should drink."