The three of them had already reached the ground floor.
Xu Shen spotted them from a distance and looked up, following the sound of the voice.
Tang Shuqing also raised his head, squinting to make out who it was, then gave a polite smile.
Yan Ting walked at the back. Hearing the voice, he too looked up.
His gaze swept past Li Meng with no particular expression, then drifted downward, landing on a small corner of fabric peeking out from below the railing.
Xu Yuan was wearing a pink cotton short-sleeve shirt today, and a corner of it was sticking out through the gap in the railing.
She didn’t notice, though—she was still trying her best to hide.
Yan Ting’s gaze paused on that bit of fabric for a moment, then he looked away as if he hadn’t seen anything at all.
Xu Shen didn’t notice any of this. He called up, “Where’s Xu Yuan?”
Xu Yuan was crouching below the railing, frantically waving at Li Meng, mouthing silently: Tell them I’m not here.
Li Meng glanced down at her, then turned and called down, “She says she’s not here.”
Xu Yuan: …
She reached out and pinched Li Meng’s calf.
Not hard, but enough to make her yelp: “Why are you pinching me?”
Xu Yuan glared back, mouthing: I want to strangle you.
Downstairs, Xu Shen had already seen through everything.
“We’re going to the noodle shop for some noodles. Coming?”
Li Meng answered, “Sure, sure! I love Auntie’s noodles.”
Xu Yuan tugged at Li Meng’s sleeve, trying to pull her down, but Li Meng didn’t budge.
She could only stay crouched there, wishing she could squeeze herself into the cracks of the wall.
The three of them continued walking toward the noodle shop.
Xu Shen and Tang Shuqing were talking about something.
Yan Ting walked behind them. After a few steps, he tilted his head, swept a glance toward the second-floor terrace, then quickly looked away.
Only when the three figures had completely disappeared from view did Li Meng say, “Alright, they’re gone. Get up.”
Xu Yuan let out a breath. Her legs had gone numb from crouching, and she slowly stood up, gripping the railing for support.
Seeing her disheveled state, Li Meng smiled with crescent-shaped eyes. “What are you hiding for? A guilty conscience needs no accuser. Are you afraid of Yan Ting or Tang Shuqing?”
Xu Yuan didn’t know what she was hiding from either.
“Ugh, it’s just… my hair’s a mess, I’m not wearing any makeup, and I’m dressed so sloppily. I don’t want Shuqing-ge to see me like this.”
“So, are you going to eat noodles?”
Xu Yuan thought for a moment. “Yes!”
With that, she ran downstairs faster than she ever had before.
She washed her face, applied a simple nude lip gloss to look more presentable.
Finally, she changed into a white square-neck top, let her hair down, brushed it smooth, and clipped a hairpin at the side of her ear.
Li Meng, leaning against the doorframe watching her fuss, had a lollipop in her mouth. “Dressing up so pretty—which brother is it for?”
Xu Yuan pressed her lips together in front of the mirror. “For my Shuqing-ge, of course.”
At this hour in the evening, the dinner crowd hadn’t arrived yet, so the noodle shop wasn’t busy. Only three young men were seated by the window.
When Xu Yuan pushed the door open, Xu Shen spotted her first and waved her over. “Over here!”
Tang Shuqing sat on the outside, with an empty seat beside him.
Yan Ting sat across from him, by the window.
Xu Yuan naturally sat down next to Tang Shuqing.
The moment she sat, she felt a gaze from across the table.
She looked up, but Yan Ting was staring out the window, his profile taut, lost in thought.
The setting sun slanted through the glass door, landing right on his face.
Following his line of sight, she also glanced outside.
In the alley outside, someone was taking in drying bedsheets. A tangled mess of wires hung from an old utility pole, and in the distance, the sky was painted with orange-red evening clouds.
Nothing special?
She looked away, but he was still staring outside.
Thin evening light fell across his face—half bright, half shadowed.
Li Meng sat down next to Xu Shen, and the four of them filled the window-side table.
Xu Shen called toward the kitchen, “Mom, five bowls of beef noodles!”
Sun Huilan’s voice came from inside. “Got it!”
Xu Yuan sat quietly, hands resting on her knees, posture perfectly ladylike.
“Why’s Xu Yuan so quiet today?” Tang Shuqing turned to ask her, his voice gentle.
Because I have to put on a show in front of you, of course. That’s what Xu Yuan thought, but what she said was, “No, I’m not. I’m always this quiet.”
Li Meng shot her a look from across the table, holding back a laugh.
Xu Yuan pretended not to notice.
Soon, Sun Huilan brought out the noodles, setting down five bowls in a row. Steam rose from each one, and the aroma of the broth spread across the whole table.
She also brought over an extra plate of braised beef and a plate of pickled cucumbers, smiling as she said, “Eat up, there’s more if you want. Don’t be shy—this is all home cooking.”
“Thank you, Auntie.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
With that, they all started eating.
Xu Shen slurped his noodles noisily, eating with zero table manners.
Li Meng wasn’t shy either, grabbing a piece of braised beef with her chopsticks, her eyes curving into happy crescents.
Xu Yuan picked up her chopsticks and lowered her head to eat, slowly, taking small bites. She wound the noodles around her chopsticks, blew on them again and again before bringing them to her mouth.
Only Xu Shen and Li Meng knew that the way Xu Yuan was eating right now was completely different from how she ate at home.
At home, she would shovel food into her mouth with loud slurping sounds, never bothering to put on airs.
But at this moment, sitting beside Tang Shuqing, every single one of her movements was just as refined and proper as his.
Meanwhile, Yan Ting was picking the cilantro out of his bowl, placing it on the small saucer, neatly lined up in a row.
After picking out a few strands, he suddenly lifted his eyelids slightly: “You really like noodles?”
The tone was casual, directed at Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan looked up.
Yan Ting was looking at her too. The coldness in his eyes had faded somewhat, like diluted ink.
She nodded. “My family runs a noodle shop, so of course I do.”
With that, she lowered her head and continued eating her noodles, as if the question wasn’t worth elaborating on.
Yan Ting didn’t ask further. He lowered his eyes and continued picking the cilantro out of his bowl.
But Xu Yuan’s peripheral vision lingered on his chopsticks.
In a bowl of red, glossy beef noodles, he was picking out the green cilantro one strand at a time. Each strand he picked out, he placed on the small saucer beside the bowl, neatly arranged.
“You don’t like cilantro?” she asked.
Yan Ting didn’t even lift his head, nor did his hands stop moving. “Mm.”
Staring at that row of cilantro, Xu Yuan suddenly remembered that Xu Shen had previously suspected Yan Ting of picking out cilantro for him, finding it abnormal.
Thinking about it now… had they been mistaken?
Tang Shuqing chuckled from the side. “Yan Ting has never liked cilantro since he was a child. But when eating out, he never tells people to leave it out, afraid of causing trouble for others. Over time, he developed this little habit.”
He glanced at the neatly arranged row of cilantro on Yan Ting’s saucer, and his smile deepened. “And he’s a bit obsessive-compulsive. Whatever he picks out, he has to arrange in a straight line.”
Xu Yuan looked at the row of cilantro, then at Xu Shen.
Xu Shen was looking at her too.
The siblings’ gazes collided in midair, exchanging a silent message.
So that time really had been a misunderstanding?
It wasn’t that he was picking cilantro for him—it was that he liked picking cilantro?