"Oh." Xu Chacha washed her hands using the standard seven-step handwashing method, then glanced up at Wen Mubai, who had a stern face. "Why do you look so upset?"
Wen Mubai herself wasn't quite sure of the answer to this question. After struggling with it for a while, she attributed everything to Fang Jianren's arrogance and rudeness.
"What's your relationship with that person from earlier?"
“I don’t know him. This is the first time we’ve met.” Xu Chacha turned off the tap. “Actually, you don’t need to embarrass him. I can handle it myself.”
"You expect me to just stand there and watch you bully me?" Wen Mubai handed her a tissue to dry her hands after she had washed them.
Xu Chacha lowered her head and wiped the water off her hands little by little. Her drooping eyelashes concealed the emotions in her eyes. Suddenly, she remembered that this person had indeed said something to her very seriously before.
'No one will be able to bully you anymore.'
She never expected that such a joking promise would stay with her until now, even though she herself had almost forgotten about it.
"From now on, let me see who you're looking for in a boyfriend. If you encounter someone like that again, reject them immediately without even thinking." Unlike usual, her tone was serious and cold this time.
"So fierce." Xu Chacha muttered under her breath, her face wrinkled. "I wouldn't even look at her."
Wen Mubai was satisfied with this answer and pinched her cheek, "Alright, it wasn't a waste of time to teach you."
After Zhu Zhu and the others came out, they didn't see Xu Chacha. They assumed that the two of them had gone into the store first, so they quickly walked towards the back door.
In reality, Xu Chacha was walking slowly behind Wen Mubai with her hands in her pockets. Wen Mubai would stop and wait for her every now and then, but Xu Chacha would deliberately keep her distance each time.
"Your feet hurt?"
"no."
Wen Mubai stopped, staring at Xu Chacha without saying a word.
After a moment of silence, Xu Chacha couldn't help but speak up, "That message this morning really wasn't sent by me. My classmate borrowed my phone to play around and probably sent it by mistake."
Wen Mubai took in her awkward and embarrassed expression, then grabbed her wrist and pulled her away, saying, "Okay."
Xu Chacha cautiously observed her expression from the side, "You believe it?"
"What do you think?" Wen Mubai glanced at her, his eyes carrying a hint of disappointment. "You've been racking your brains for so long and this is the excuse you came up with? I'm ashamed for you."
"Alright then." Xu Chacha's expression turned somber again. "I'm not very good at lying anyway."
"If you don't know how, you don't know how. Don't learn bad things instead of good ones."
"You know I've gone astray? Aren't I good enough?" Xu Chacha glared at her.
A laugh escaped Wen Mubai's lips. "Alright, you're the best."
Xu Chacha secretly made a face, venting her dissatisfaction in secret.
But then she thought, wait a minute, she's clearly in the right. Why is it that only Wen Mubai is allowed to roam the world with women abroad, while I, Xu Chacha, am considered to have gone astray just for reading gossip news in class?
Having finally mustered up some courage to fight back, Wen Mubai spoke up.
“The one in the black dress is Du Fei, my subordinate,” she explained. “That day, I arranged for her to meet an important client. The young girl was inexperienced and got drunk. I was worried something might happen, so I called me to pick her up. I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing since I sent her.”
"Oh." Xu Chacha's mood had improved for some reason. She smiled but quickly suppressed it with reason, pretending to be indifferent. "I didn't believe it anyway."
"Didn't you specifically save the picture to your phone?"
"It was just a slip of the hand," Xu Chacha abruptly changed the subject. "So, do you have a boyfriend?"
She was still very conservative and didn't ask whether it was a man or a woman.
Wen Mubai turned and stared at her for a few seconds. "Career is more important."
...
Japanese food store
Wen Mubai specially booked a private room and instructed the waiter over the phone to serve the dishes without waiting for everyone to arrive.
When they arrived, Zhu Zhu and the others had already ordered some side dishes, but they hadn't dared to order any main dishes yet.
Wen Mubai knew that the young girls were shy and would be embarrassed to start eating if she didn't ask them to, so the first thing she did after sitting down was to pick up the menu, order a few signature set meals, enough for eight people, and then hand the menu to Xu Chacha next to her.
"What else do you want to eat? Just pick what you want. Don't worry about saving me money."
Just a moment ago she seemed to be focused on making money and not dating, but now she's suddenly so generous? Xu Chacha thought to herself, glancing at what she had ordered. She figured she couldn't possibly eat any of it, so she didn't order anything.
She passed the menu to Jiang Shu, saying, "You guys order. Put the same effort you had when you ordered the spicy hot pot the other day. If you can't finish it, you can just pack it up."
Xu Chacha's words emboldened Zhu Zhu, who promptly ordered three expensive servings of sashimi and a Japanese sweet sake. After ordering, she pretended to be modest and lowered her head, saying, "This is enough for me."
The menu circulated around and returned to Wen Mubai's hands. Seeing that she had ordered sushi and sashimi, she took a pen, marked a few tempura dishes, and then handed them back to the waiter.
The fish slices were served quickly. Zhu Zhu, who was sitting at the serving counter, handed the plate over first, saying, "Try this, Tea Treasure."
Before Xu Chacha could even touch her chopsticks, Wen Mubai stopped her from eating fish, saying, "She doesn't eat fish."
"Huh? You don't eat fish?"
"I don't really like it." Xu Chacha nodded.
"Alright then." Zhu Zhu put the plate back in front of her.
Thinking about it, Xu Chacha has never ordered any dishes with ribbonfish when she goes to the cafeteria. The only dish that might be related to ribbonfish is shredded pork with garlic sauce.
Wen Mu Bai doesn't talk much, but she wanted to get to know the others today, so she took the initiative to use a topic that everyone was familiar with to reduce the sense of distance—Xu Cha Cha.
"Is she a troublemaker at school?"
"No, she is indeed very popular." Zhu Zhu counted on her fingers, "It's only been a short time since school started, and I can't even count on one hand the number of people who are pursuing her, both openly and secretly."
"That senior from earlier was him, but he seemed a bit slow; he couldn't understand what rejection meant."
Wen Mubai picked up his teacup and slowly took a sip. "And Lao Wu?"
"Damn it." Xu Chacha couldn't help but swear, "Why did you bring him up?"
"What Old Wu?" Su Qing asked curiously.
When Jiang Shu returned yesterday, she kept talking about Wen Mubai and didn't mention Lao Wu at all. They didn't even know about him.
"It was after the dinner party yesterday that Lao Wu asked her to stay and confess his feelings," Jiang Shu said, swallowing what was in her mouth. "She rejected him, so nothing happened."
I don't know who the second half of the sentence was meant to reassure.
Speaking of this person, Xu Chacha was getting a headache. Because they were in the same club, they had exchanged contact information before. After that person rejected her, he still used the guise of being friends to send her good morning and good night messages every day, asking about her well-being. Xu Chacha was annoyed and could only ignore him and give him the cold shoulder.
“I wanted to pretend nothing happened, but he didn’t want to.”
"Then you might as well just tell him you don't like boys," Jiang Shu said, surprising everyone.
There was silence at the table for a long time before Zhu Zhu led the applause and gave her a thumbs up.
"Great idea! My Shushu, you're so clever!" she continued. "Actually, if Cha Bao were really gay, I could legitimately ship you and Senior Jiang Miao!"
"Cough! Cough cough—" Xu Chacha choked on a mouthful of sushi, but her first reaction was to look at Wen Mubai's expression.
As a fan of the two, Jiang Shu also paid close attention to their interactions, keeping her eyes fixed on Wen Mubai's movements.
The person in question acted as if they hadn't heard the name "Jiang Miao." First, they handed Xu Chacha a glass of water, then picked up the onsen egg from the plate, mixed it into the chicken leg rice, and handed it to Xu Chacha, saying, "Try it. The teriyaki chicken leg here is their signature dish."
The big shot is indeed a big shot; he has absolute confidence no matter what kind of rival he faces.
—Thinking to himself, Jiang Shu, who was almost obsessed with shipping this couple.
Chapter 41 Coming Out
"Don't talk nonsense, okay?" After taking a sip of water, Xu Chacha finally calmed down a bit. "It's fine to say it in front of me, but if my senior hears it, she'll be angry."
Wen Mubai gave a soft, ambiguous "heh," so soft that no one heard it, but it didn't escape Jiang Shu's eyes.
She turned to look at Xu Chacha, who continued to "courte herself to death."
"And do you have to date in college? I think it's such a hassle." Xu Chacha thought to herself and actually looked at her. "Hey, Jiang Shu, maybe your method is worth a try."
Jiang Shu: "Hmm?"
"How should I say it? Should I just come out on WeChat Moments?" Xu Chacha picked up her phone, looking as if she could type out the message and post it in a second if someone nodded in agreement.
"Wait a minute, Grandma!" Zhu Zhu stopped her. "There's no need, there's no need."
"Wasn't it you who just said this method was good?"
“Your roommate means there’s no need to create unnecessary trouble for yourself.” Wen Mubai placed a tempura shrimp on her plate. “She’s restless and agitated.”
Xu Chacha bit into the shrimp tail and asked indistinctly, "Then what should I do? It's so annoying. Same-sex marriage has been legal for decades. If I come out of the closet, will I be arrested and locked up in a mental hospital?"
She wasn't just annoyed by one particular suitor; after all, there were quite a few who had followed her around since childhood. It was only after entering university, when the surrounding environment tacitly allowed everyone to date freely, that these people became more open and bold in their pursuit, which she found somewhat overwhelming.
She used to be able to shut him up by saying that all she wanted to do right now was study, but now... she glanced at Wen Mubai out of the corner of her eye.
Maybe we should learn from this person.
Isn't money more appealing? Why bother with love?
“That makes sense.” Zhu Zhu was quickly convinced.
Xu Chacha was a little unsure of what to do, so she shut up and ate her food quietly.
...
Xu Chacha went back to her rented apartment over the weekend and found it very clean. Not only was the floor spotless, but even the fashion magazines scattered on the coffee table were neatly stacked.
She squatted down and picked up a book to look at, only to find that the creased pages had been smoothed out by Wen Mubai, making it look like a brand new book.
"This person's obsessive-compulsive disorder is getting worse."
She had Wen Mubai take the spare key with her, because the door needed to be locked from the outside, and it would also be convenient for her to visit next time.
Like Wen Mubai, Xu Chacha had no wariness towards her. If anyone was least likely to harm her, it was her.
December 12th is Xu Chacha's birthday.
The day before happened to be Sunday, so she went home for a meal. During the day, she favored Consort Miao and Consort Qian, whom she had neglected for a long time, and gave each of them a kiss on the cheek before letting them go home.
At dinner, unsurprisingly, her stomach was stuffed full by the two parents. This time, even Xu Yanshu joined her opposing camp, ignoring her pleading eyes and frantically piling food into her bowl.
"It's only been a short time since I went home, and I've gotten so thin. Does Q University not have a cafeteria?"
"Sis, how can you lie like that?" Xu Chacha was furious. "I haven't lost any weight at all, I've actually gained two pounds."
"Really?" Xu Yanshu pinched her cheek and looked her over. "You look thinner."