Chen Zui slipped to Jiang Feiwan’s side with a turn of her body. The flexibility of those legs and feet made the wound of ten-odd to twenty-odd stitches look as if it didn’t exist at all, making her more nimble than ever.
“I forgot to bring my phone to ask Doctor Jiang which door is yours, and I almost had to go downstairs,” Chen Zui smiled, hiding her right hand behind her.
Wearing short sleeves, where could she possibly hide that large patch of ink? Jiang Feiwan’s gaze shifted slightly and she asked, “I thought Boss Chen was intentionally not replying to messages because she was angry.”
“No way! Did you send me a message?” Chen Zui shook her head, refusing to admit it, “I didn’t bring my phone.”
“When did you get back?” Jiang Feiwan suddenly changed the subject.
Chen Zui was completely unprepared: “Just arrived.”
“Boss Chen, I sent you a message at three o’clock.”
Uh oh.
Chen Zui raised her right hand and awkwardly scratched her head.
Jiang Feiwan’s gaze followed the movement of her hand and stopped.
Uh oh.
Chen Zui immediately withdrew her motion, covering her hand: “I am a law-abiding citizen! Doctor Jiang shouldn’t generalize!”
Jiang Feiwan was amused, quite helpless: “I didn’t say anything.”
After a moment, she pressed her lips together and stepped aside, making way, “This isn’t a place for talking. If you don’t mind, Boss Chen, would you like to come in for a glass of water?”
“How could I mind.”
She was willing a ten thousand times.
Chen Zui followed her in and closed the door behind her. Because it was the exact same apartment layout right upstairs, Jiang Feiwan’s home was largely similar to the one downstairs. Chen Zui walked in the back, quietly glancing around, feeling like something was missing from the home, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on what.
“I haven’t had time to tidy up the place, Boss Chen, please excuse me.” Jiang Feiwan led her to sit on the sofa, while she herself stood up and went to the kitchen.
“No way, it’s already countless times better than my dog kennel,” Chen Zui said honestly.
She didn’t quite like tidying up. Being used to living alone and casually year-round, she often wandered around wearing only close-fitting clothes. Sometimes she might not even be wearing underwear, but in such situations, she would throw a loose little vest over the outside—pants were definitely out of the question, anyway.
Her pants might be in the wardrobe, on the bed, on the sofa, on the carpet… in short, they could be anywhere, except they couldn’t stay on her body for long.
Before long, Jiang Feiwan came out of the kitchen holding a glass of water, asking softly, “Is plain boiled water okay? I haven’t boiled hot water at home yet.”
“Just what I wanted.” Chen Zui took it with both hands, took a sip, and then just held it blankly in her hands.
After a brief silence, it was Jiang Feiwan who spoke first: “Your friend booked my slot this afternoon, and I heard her drop a mention that you had a bit of an accident in Yun City. Is it resolved?”
Chen Zui was startled, then quickly reacted: “Resolved, just a tiny little episode.” She smiled, a trace of probing adding to the eyes looking at Jiang Feiwan: “Doctor Jiang cares about me?”
“I’m mainly keeping that meal in mind,” Jiang Feiwan’s expression didn’t change at all.
Not getting the answer she wanted, Chen Zui wrinkled her nose, “Isn’t it here now? And I don’t know if Doctor Jiang has eaten dinner yet, whether I can manage to invite Doctor Jiang to dinner today, and whether Doctor Jiang will refuse me. Sigh, people everywhere in WeChat say they don’t want that one in ten-thousand chance—”
Chen Zui really got into her acting, peeking at her with a few parts of grievance and a few parts of accusation, “Doctor Jiang is too cruel, not even sending a message to show some care.”
Understood.
She was coming to condemn her for not being right.
Jiang Feiwan gave her a feigned glare, then the corners of her lips curved up, “So vengeful. I wouldn’t dare provoke Boss Chen next time.”
Chen Zui, “Then it’s probably better to provoke me; my memory isn’t very good.”
Jiang Feiwan smiled gently, the depths of her eyes fading, “Indeed, it leaves room for improvement.”
“Then let’s go out for a bite? My friend is temporarily staying at my place these few days, so there will be one more person later.” Chen Zui concisely explained the reason, and realizing it was redundant, she closed her mouth and said no more.
When leaving, she didn’t forget to finish the water Jiang Feiwan had poured.
“Why is the water at your place sweet?” Chen Zui smacked her lips, aftertasting a faint sweetness.
“Is there?” Jiang Feiwan was stunned by her question, “I usually don’t taste it when I drink.”
“Oh,” Chen Zui put down the cup and smiled brightly, “I’ll come again next time to taste it.”
At home, Han Ling had long since finished bathing and anxiously emerged from the bathroom only to find Chen Zui missing. When she took out her phone to make a call, the ringtone came from underneath her own butt.
Going out without a phone entirely matched a certain person’s habit.
Before she could voice her accusations, Chen Zui pushed the door open and returned.
Good, now she could accuse her to her face, “Chen! Where did you run off to? Are you still taking me out to eat? I’m going to starve to death!”
Han Ling tilted her head back, looking upside down at Chen Zui, “I’m finished showering, you’re going to wash up—ah! Omg! You brought a friend over!”
Seeing another figure at the doorway, she hurriedly stood up to greet her, her eyes unable to look away, “Chen! You have so many pretty girlfriend friends!”
Han Ling was used to staying abroad, so her gaze was direct without a shred of concealment. Jiang Feiwan felt a bit unnatural being stared at like that and smiled politely, “Hello.”
“Hello there, my name is Han Ling,” she stretched out her hand, her gaze crafty: “Chen Zui’s girlfriend.”
The smile on Jiang Feiwan’s face froze slightly.
‘Slap!’
Chen Zui gave her arm a smack, gritting her teeth: “Judging by you, you don’t want to eat later.”
Han Ling felt the pain, bared her teeth and complained, “Hey! You hit people really hard!”
“Serves you right,” Chen Zui couldn’t be bothered to argue with her, “If you’re eating, close the door and come out. Later on, pay for whatever you order yourself.”
“Chen~ what happened to the host treating us~”
“Aiya, I was just joking. I’m not your girlfriend, I’m your honey dear little darling~”
Without looking back, Chen Zui led Jiang Feiwan into the elevator, and then very resolutely pressed the close button.
Crazy.
Han Ling was used to being thick-skinned, so naturally she wouldn’t be intimidated by her verbal warnings. She trotted eagerly to catch up and followed behind the two playing with her phone, except she didn’t dare to talk nonsense anymore.
However, when it came to the matter of what to eat, she had completely lost her right to speak.
Chen Zui only asked for Jiang Feiwan’s opinion, and since Jiang Feiwan was someone who took the overall situation into account, she ultimately listened to Han Ling and chose a barbecue stall.
“Sigh, still letting her act pretty.” Chen Zui sighed, looking as though she wouldn’t feel reconciled unless she vented the dark qi in her heart, “You’re paying later.”
Han Ling turned around to play the pity card with Jiang Feiwan: “Sister, look at your friend, she’s so heartless~”
“Don’t look at her being all gentle and soft and pick on her to fleece,” Chen Zui batted her face away, “Are you out of your mind.”
“Wow, Chen, you used to scold people so rarely!”
“I didn’t realize you were this obnoxious before.”
Jiang Feiwan silently watched the two make a fuss going back and forth, without interrupting, and unassumingly scalded the bowl and chopsticks in front of Chen Zui.
Han Ling was sitting too far away, so she didn’t grab one for her.
Barbecue food took a while to wait for. Unable to wait, Han Ling went over to the side to buy two bags of specialty beer—one bag for herself, and the other… well, definitely not Chen Zui’s.
“Not giving me any?” Chen Zui proactively asked her for some.
This time, Han Ling was self-righteous and confident: “When you were discharged from the hospital this morning, the doctor specifically instructed that you can’t drink alcohol. Did you forget?”
“Discharged from the hospital?”
Jiang Feiwan frowned.
Han Ling took a refreshing gulp of iced beer and cut in ahead of Chen Zui: “Yeah, we ran into a bear when we went into the mountain, and her thigh got a huge gash carved into it when she was running.”
“She got twenty-odd stitches! It scared me to death, I thought I was really going to have to collect her corpse this time.”