Jiang Yu ultimately chose not to reply to Qi Yin’s message first.
When she walked into the shop with a wry and embarrassed expression on her face, Cheng Yao let out a sudden snort of laughter.
Yo, Cheng Yao propped her chin in her hand, beckoning Jiang Yu over with a breezy, mischievous smile, Did you two have a whirlwind romance, classmate Jiang Little Fish~?
Jiang Yu’s current mood was comparable to a red weather warning. Cheng Yao’s teasing made her face darken so much she could have served as a blank backdrop.
After all, Cheng Yao had been right there with her yesterday.
So this piece of work had been waiting the whole time just to watch her make a fool of herself!
The thought only made Jiang Yu feel even more annoyed. She pulled a long face and snapped, You ungrateful wretch! I blacked out!
Cheng Yao was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, not expecting the alcohol’s aftereffects to be so potent. However, recalling how desperately she had tried to intercept Jiang Yu yesterday, Cheng Yao felt there was a major flaw in Jiang Yu’s statement, and she was not satisfied.
How is that talking to me, classmate Jiang Little Fish? Are you already learning to flip your face and refuse to recognize people?
The moment Jiang Yu heard this, she knew there was still a story to be told, even if the protagonist happened to be herself.
It was utterly mortifying, but she had to hear it.
She lifted her eyelids, glanced at Cheng Yao, and put on a magnanimous expression. Go ahead, tell me what happened last night. I’ll see if your excuse is sufficient before deciding whether to forgive you.
Cheng Yao was amused by Jiang Yu’s impromptu Judge Bao impersonation. She let out a chuckle and took a moment to gather her thoughts.
I am seriously wronged by that description of yours, Cheng Yao dragged out her tone. To be honest, I exhausted all my physical energy trying to hold you back yesterday, but I couldn’t pin you down at all. There was nothing I could do when you were purely bent on self-destruction. By the time I managed to get hold of your phone, that message had already been sent for almost ten minutes. There was nothing I could do to turn the tide. Cheng Yao shrugged.
Jiang Yu listened as Cheng Yao rattled off a string of words like a machine gun, then asked with a blank expression, Then what’s the deal with Qi Yin? Fearing Cheng Yao wouldn’t understand, she thoughtfully added, You were right there, why was it she who sent me home?
This explanation didn’t hold up.
Jiang Yu’s tone carried a distinct sense of confess now for leniency, resist and face strict punishment.
There was no way Cheng Yao could talk her way out of this, so she let out a couple of dry laughs.
Actually, it wasn’t quite what Jiang Yu thought.
At first, she had genuinely wanted to send Qi Yin away because, in her impression, this person had always maintained a rejecting stance toward Jiang Yu. But looking at how things played out yesterday, it didn’t seem quite that way anymore.
On top of that, Qi Yin’s aura was simply too overwhelming; she had directly turned the tables and chased her off. Furthermore, the state of the two of them didn’t match the we have nothing going on story Jiang Yu had told, leading Cheng Yao to assume that Jiang Yu and Qi Yin were already an item, just keeping it under wraps from her.
Thinking of this, Cheng Yao felt a little sour, but right after that, Qi Yin wrapped her arm around Jiang Yu and announced she was taking her home.
Figuring she shouldn’t poke her nose into a young couple’s business, and thinking Jiang Yu might have had her reasons for not telling her, Cheng Yao offered an awkward smile and agreed.
There’s something fishy about the two of you. After reliving the memory, Cheng Yao voiced her dissatisfaction, accusing Jiang Yu of keeping secrets from her.
Thinking Cheng Yao was deliberately changing the subject to pry back into the progress of their relationship, Jiang Yu shook her head and said, There’s nothing fishy. Don’t try to change the subject, give me a proper confession!
Cheng Yao: …………
The two of them were completely on different wavelengths and failed to connect.
Hearing this, Cheng Yao assumed Jiang Yu was simply unwilling to tell her the truth. Though she understood, she was still somewhat unhappy, letting out an indifferent Oh and abandoning normal conversation. Since the other person didn’t remember a thing anyway, she decided to simply start making things up out of thin air to choke her.
Yesterday, that phone call of yours dragged Qi Yin right over. After the two of you made a huge fuss doing this and that, you clung to her like a piece of plaster and refused to let go, insisting she take you home, and you even had to bring along that cat you’ve had for less than a day. With that, Cheng Yao pointed toward the spot where Snowball’s enclosure used to be. There, you should be seeing it at your place today.
Jiang Yu: …………
This really was… exactly what she had imagined.
Jiang Yu massaged her temples. When I asked her to take me home, you didn’t even try to stop it?
Cheng Yao glanced at her sideways, her tone dripping with sarcasm. Why would I stop it? Isn’t it great having someone send you home? Especially your absolute favorite senior. She heavily emphasized the last sentence. Why would I stop it? I was doing a good deed, fostering your relationship, so I just cleared out and left you to it!
Fostering your mother’s relationship… So you just gave her my home address? Jiang Yu asked.
Yeah. Actually, it wasn’t Cheng Yao who gave it; she guessed Jiang Yu must have blurted it out herself while drunk. But just to rile Jiang Yu up, she simply went along with it.
You really are ungrateful! After sorting out the sequence of events, Jiang Yu covered her face and repeated herself.
Cheng Yao let out two cold laughs.
Jiang Yu failed to catch the meaning behind Cheng Yao’s two laughs, assuming the other girl was just acting up again, so she ignored her and began to contemplate life.
There were many things she needed to ponder right now, for instance, how to interact with Qi Yin, and what Qi Yin’s current view of her was. Did she find her annoying, or could she view her with equanimity?
Ding,
Accompanied by the notification chime from WeChat, Jiang Yu’s thoughts shifted to an even more immediate and pressing problem: how to reply to Qi Yin’s message.
That message, which Jiang Yu had temporarily shelved, still remained unanswered.
How on earth was she supposed to reply to this?!
Sometimes, living really felt worse than being dead, Jiang Yu thought to herself.
Yet humans cannot live purely in their imagination, and Jiang Yu couldn’t keep ignoring the message forever either.
Besides, Qi Yin hadn’t done anything wrong; she couldn’t just keep giving her the cold shoulder. One couldn’t behave like that.
With a sense of utter despair, Jiang Yu swiped open her phone screen and tapped into the chat window with Qi Yin.
If Cheng Yao weren’t sitting right beside her, Jiang Yu definitely would have wailed a couple of times to collect herself.
Morning 8:43 , Yu: Are you awake? The cat is in the living room.
Afternoon 1:54 , Yu: Still haven’t woken up?
Ordinarily, Jiang Yu was a silver-tongued person who, on occasion, could exceptionally well spin tales out of thin air, making even the dead sound alive.
Ever since the car accident and the binding of that damned system, however, that talent, if it could even be called one, somewhat malfunctioned when facing Qi Yin.
Jiang Yu took a breath and rubbed her burning cheeks.
Staring at the chat interface, she hesitated to make a move. The keyboard in her hand felt just like a hot potato.
To be honest, she didn’t really want to lie to Qi Yin.
But… circumstances forced her hand; what happened yesterday was simply too awkward, and she had acted like a total moron.
Moreover, she really had blacked out and could only recall fragmented pieces. Who knew what even more idiotic things she might have done last night?
Therefore, taking all of the above into consideration, telling Qi Yin she didn’t remember didn’t count as lying.
Right…?
Some things were better left unremembered.
Having talked herself into this crooked logic, Jiang Yu wasted no time once she made up her mind.
Even though her conscience was deeply condemning her, her fingers still frantically hammered away at the keyboard.
Aaa: Ah, Senior, I just woke up, and I saw the cat. I’m sorry, I blacked out a bit from drinking yesterday. I asked Cheng Yao today, and she said you were the one who sent me home. Thank you, Senior. But since I was drunk, I probably wasn’t very well-behaved and must have caused you trouble. I’m really sorry.
Jiang Yu phrased this with a great deal of tactical skill. It managed to convey that she didn’t remember last night’s events, implicitly begging Qi Yin not to bring them up again, while also offering an apology for the unhinged behavior she pulled off.
Before Qi Yin’s message arrived, Jiang Yu had always assumed Qi Yin only sent her home because she had no other choice, though deep down she figured Qi Yin probably wanted nothing more than to break ties with her. But seeing things now… it was true that she probably had no other choice, but perhaps… she wasn’t all that annoyed with her either?
However, once the message was sent, it felt like a stone sinking into the sea, yielding no response whatsoever.
One second
Two seconds
Fifteen seconds
One minute
Five minutes
Ten minutes
There was no reply for a long time.
Although Jiang Yu knew she hadn’t replied instantly herself, meaning Qi Yin might have moved on to other things before seeing the message and would reply later, failing to receive a response from Qi Yin still made her panic.
Jiang Yu didn’t know what she was panicking about. Perhaps it was the anxiety of lying, or perhaps the fear that her speculation was wrong. Either way, none of these feelings made any rational sense.
They were completely boundless, intangible and untouchable. Furthermore, Qi Yin had no way of knowing she was lying, and even if she did, given her personality, she wouldn’t say anything.
Logically speaking, Jiang Yu never wasted time pondering such unnecessary things.
Yet she panicked all the same, a faint sense of discomfort welling up from the bottom of her heart.
Finally, after Jiang Yu had endured a grueling half-hour, Qi Yin’s message arrived, and the subtle, hard-to-pinpoint discomfort in Jiang Yu’s heart dissipated along with it.
Yu: Drinking harms the body. Drink less.
Qi Yin didn’t address her previous statement. Perhaps, for Qi Yin, it was just as well that this person, who constantly brought her trouble, didn’t remember the incident.
To prevent her from acting like a clinging pest again later.
Jiang Yu twisted her fingers together, pondering how to reply to Qi Yin’s words.
Did Qi Yin mean to imply that her drinking had caused a lot of trouble, and she should cut back?
Jiang Yu mulled it over for a bit without figuring it out; she simply couldn’t probe Qi Yin’s inner thoughts.
Aaa: Got it, thank you, Senior.
Keeping it brief, Jiang Yu felt her brain wasn’t quite capable of turning corners right then, and saying anything extra would only lead to mistakes. Thus, to prevent further blunders, she chose to directly shut down the conversation.
True to form, Qi Yin cooperated and stopped talking, letting the embarrassing topic come to a close just as Jiang Yu desired.
Jiang Yu originally thought Qi Yin wouldn’t pay her any mind for quite some time after this affair, but facts proved her wrong.
Every single day, Qi Yin would tirelessly inquire about Little Fish’s condition and ask for photos. As time went on, her chat history with Qi Yin had grown by several pages.
Jiang Yu felt things couldn’t go on like this. Every conversation with Qi Yin sent her imagination running wild, even if it was just mechanical, strictly business-related small talk.
If this continued, how on earth was she supposed to shake off her feelings for Qi Yin?
That was why, a couple of days ago, she had deliberately tagged all members when posting photos in the group chat. Ordinarily, she never uttered an extra word, and replying to pet owners was usually a task left entirely to Cheng Yao.
Yet it was useless; Qi Yin still slid messages straight into her private chat window.
Yu: How is Little Fish doing today?
Gazing at the familiar message, Jiang Yu felt like she had two heads instead of one. She paused for a moment, then replied with the resolute determination of someone bracing for execution.
Aaa: Senior, I’m a bit busy these days and might not be able to reply promptly. All the photos will be posted in the group chat, and I’ll make sure to take a few extra shots of Little Fish for everyone then!
Her words made her stance crystal clear: she would take good care of the cat, but if you want pictures, please direct your gaze to the group chat.
The other side stopped talking. Jiang Yu figured Qi Yin must have understood her hint.
Yet, after two seconds,
Yu: Oh, right, I happen to not be busy today. I’ll drop by to check on Little Fish in a bit. Oh, by the way, it shouldn’t be closed at this hour, right?
The time stamp on Qi Yin’s message read 3:45 PM Beijing time.
The sky wasn’t even dark yet, what on earth would be closed?!