Jiang Che waved his hand and pretended to be relaxed. “Why thank me? It’s just one meal.”
Su Qinghe didn’t see it that way. To Jiang Che, it might have been an ordinary meal, but to her, it was the best and fullest meal she had eaten in the past month.
How could she not feel grateful?
But she kept those thoughts to herself and simply smiled at him again.
After dinner, Jiang Che cleaned up the takeout containers and went to the bathroom.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw the pile of dirty clothes Su Qinghe had changed out of still sitting in the corner.
The smell could be detected from far away. It had to be dealt with quickly.
Without saying anything, Jiang Che walked over, bent down, and picked up the bundle of clothes.
Su Qinghe’s hearing was sharp. From the moment she heard him enter the bathroom, she had felt uneasy. Now, hearing him come out, her unease deepened.
“Jiang Che… what… what are you doing?”
“Washing your clothes.”
He answered naturally as he carried them toward the balcony.
Su Qinghe’s face instantly flushed, even the tips of her ears turning red.
She jumped up from the sofa and hurried a few unsteady steps in his direction. “No, no, you can’t! I’ll wash them myself!”
What was he thinking? There were… there were her undergarments in there.
How could she let a boy wash them?
Jiang Che had just tossed the clothes into the washing machine when he turned around and saw her rushing over. Since she couldn’t see, she almost bumped straight into the corner of the coffee table.
He was startled and quickly stepped forward to steady her. “Miss Campus Belle, sit down and stop moving around. If you bump into something, you’re the one who’ll get hurt.”
“But…”
She looked like she was about to cry, her hands clutching the hem of her shirt.
“But what? You’re sick and you can’t see. What clothes are you planning to wash?”
He guided her back to the sofa and pressed her down gently. “Just sit. It’s a simple toss-it-in-the-machine job.”
He hadn’t thought that much about it. He only knew that if those clothes weren’t washed soon, the apartment would become unlivable.
Su Qinghe, meanwhile, felt so embarrassed she could explode. Listening to his footsteps fade away, her mind involuntarily imagined him picking up her undergarments…
In truth, he had seen them.
He stared at the soft little piece of fabric in his hand for a few seconds, then pretended nothing was unusual. He tossed it into the separate washer meant for delicate garments, poured in some detergent, and hurriedly pressed start.
As for her outer clothes, he had intended to wash them too. But they were too worn and tattered to salvage.
So he simply threw them into the trash, deciding he would take her to buy new clothes tomorrow.
Buzz. Buzz.
At that moment, the phone on the coffee table in the living room began vibrating.
Jiang Che still had soap suds on his hands and couldn’t grab it conveniently.
“Su Qinghe, answer it for me,” he called out instinctively.
It was probably Wang Kai. Since Jiang Che hadn’t replied to his messages, he must have called.
“Oh, okay!”
Su Qinghe responded quickly, feeling her way across the coffee table to pick up the phone. After fumbling for a moment, she finally answered.
She held it to her ear and said obediently, “Hello?”
There was two seconds of silence on the other end.
Then a sharp, hostile female voice exploded through the speaker.
“Who are you? Why are you holding Jiang Che’s phone?!”
Su Qinghe trembled and almost dropped the phone.
She bit her lip, unsure how to answer. Should she say she was Jiang Che’s friend? That didn’t seem quite appropriate…
In the end, she stammered, “I… I’m… Su Qinghe…”
“Su Qinghe? Why are you with Jiang Che? Where is he? Put him on the phone!”
Lin Wanwan’s voice grew more impatient and aggressive.
What was the big deal? She had only posted one moment. What right did Jiang Che have to block and delete her?
And Su Qinghe. Why was she holding his phone? Hadn’t she stopped coming to school a month ago?
Lin Wanwan was already furious and was just waiting for Jiang Che to pick up so she could confront him.
At that moment, Jiang Che finished washing his hands and walked in from the balcony. He saw Su Qinghe holding the phone with a panicked expression, like a frightened little rabbit.
He walked over, confused, and took the phone from her hand.
The two words “Lin Wanwan” on the screen were glaringly obvious.
Jiang Che’s brows furrowed instantly. How had he forgotten to block and delete this bastard’s number too?
Why was she calling? To interrogate him?
He sneered inwardly.
On the other end, Lin Wanwan was still shouting, “Su Qinghe? Did you hear me? Where’s Jiang Che? Tell him to get over here and answer!”
Jiang Che didn’t even bother replying.
He pressed the end call button, opened his contacts, found Lin Wanwan’s name, blocked it, and deleted it.
The entire sequence was smooth and decisive.
Silence returned.
He looked at Su Qinghe, who was still shaken, and tossed the phone onto the sofa. “It’s fine. Just a wrong number. Ignore it.”
Su Qinghe blinked in confusion and hesitated before saying softly, “But she called your name… and she sounded very angry.”
“Not my problem.” Jiang Che shrugged. “Just another princess syndrome episode.”
He had already said it yesterday. The moment Lin Wanwan publicly announced her relationship with someone else, it was over between them.
To him now, she was just a stranger.
And why should he care about a stranger?
Just as he finished speaking, the doorbell rang again.
Jiang Che assumed it was the milk tea he had ordered, so he walked over and opened the door.
Instead of a delivery guy, his best friend Wang Kai stood there.
Wang Kai looked frantic. “Brother Che, why aren’t you replying to my messages? I called you too and you didn’t pick up… Holy—”
The rest of his sentence dissolved into a curse as he looked past Jiang Che’s shoulder and saw the living room.
A beautiful girl stood there wearing a white shirt, her long pale legs exposed, barefoot, looking nervous as she glanced timidly toward the door.
Her face was pale and delicate, breathtakingly pretty, and she looked pitiful.
Wang Kai’s eyes nearly popped out.
He rubbed them and looked again in disbelief.
“I… I… Su… Su Qinghe?!”