Collect the corpse?
Jiang Feiwan took a great deal of effort to barely connect these two words with Chen Zui.
Her gaze fell on Chen Zui’s face, her heartbeat tightening sharply as she blurted out that sentence: “Isn’t Boss Chen a cafe owner? How did she end up getting mixed up with a bear?”
“You’re the boss?!” Han Ling didn’t know about this cafe owner business, and upon hearing it, she was immensely shocked, “I only just found out!”
Chen Zui massaged her forehead, feeling that bringing her out today was a mistake, “Shut your mouth, drink your beer.”
Han Ling pouted, picked up her bag of beer, and got up to go look at the owner grilling skewers.
Once people left, Chen Zui finally had a gap to explain to Jiang Feiwan, “Don’t listen to her nonsense. Morning and night, she’s either exaggerating this or exaggerating that; there’s never a small matter coming out of her mouth.”
“Is being chased by a bear considered a small matter?” Jiang Feiwan furrowed her brows, disagreeing.
“Big if you say it’s big, small if you say it’s small,” Chen Zui said. “Compared to living creatures and nature, we are like ants; compared to humans and bears, it’s about the same as snapping a pair of chopsticks in half, except that bear should still be a cub, so I managed to outrun it.”
After saying this, she gave a hehe smile, trying to smooth over the atmosphere and steer around this topic: “Is there any animal that Doctor Jiang is afraid of?”
“The injury your friend mentioned, how is it?” Jiang Feiwan asked calmly. When she learned from Li Li that she had an accident, she had really wanted to ask Chen Zui.
“Just a tiny little scratch.” Chen Zui dismissed it nonchalantly.
A moment later, a cunning look appeared on her face as she looked at Jiang Feiwan: “Is Doctor Jiang showing concern for me?”
Facing her teasing, Jiang Feiwan remained completely poised, “At the very least, I have to live up to this dinner you’re treating.”
She knew it.
Chen Zui哼anted with a bit of dissatisfaction, sounding just like a little piglet.
Han Ling came back carrying the grilled meat skewers together. She rarely ate domestic barbecue, and a long time ago Chen Zui had taken her to eat it once, but that time the meat skewers were pitifully small, and whatever got stuck in the gaps of her teeth was probably bigger than those bits of meat.
PS, slightly exaggerated.
But they really were extremely few.
This time was different; this time the meat skewers were large and glossy, and even the skewers used were flat iron ones, looking satisfying just to see.
Han Ling could not wait to take a skewer, one with pineapple. The moment she took a bite, her eyes lit up: “Gosh, I’ve simply suffered overseas from the time I was little! This pineapple sweet-and-sour pork, it’s exceptionally delicious!”
Chen Zui speechless corrected her: “People call it pineapple咕咾肉 (gulorou).”
“Oh, skull meat,” Han Ling imitated with her half-baked Mandarin.
Chen Zui ignored her and placed the basin of skewers with more meat right in front of Jiang Feiwan, “Are you used to eating this? If it’s not good, I’ll take you to eat something else later.”
“No need, barbecue is quite fine.” Jiang Feiwan picked up a skewer, took a bite, and praised, “Not bad.”
“That’s good.” Chen Zui didn’t see any sign of reluctance from her, and her heart slowly dropped back into her stomach as she picked up a skewer to eat on her own.
This barbecue restaurant seemed to be doing a good business; in no time at all, both inside and outside were filled with people. The barbecue smoke and fire qi were blown running everywhere by the wind, steaming hot, and coupled with the continuously flipped and heated skewers, it was inevitable to eat until one was sweating.
Chen Zui was most afraid of heat, the kind of person who wished to blast an 18-degree air conditioner at the mere hint of warmth. In just a short while, a lot of sweat had oozed out of her forehead, and perhaps because the wound got touched by the sweat, it began to ache faintly. It was bearable, but it couldn’t be endured for too long—if it got infected, it would be even more troublesome.
She glanced at Jiang Feiwan beside her. Exactly the opposite of her, not a single drop of sweat was in sight, and the hairpins barely holding back the beautiful hair at the back of her head were neat strand by strand, as if one only needed to lean a little closer to catch that faint scent of shampoo.
“Aren’t you hot?” Chen Zui felt like a steamed bun in a steamer, expanding everywhere.
Seeing the tip of Chen Zui’s nose break out in sweat, Jiang Feiwan couldn’t help but laugh softly: “How come you’re sweating so much?”
Chen Zui made a bitter face, “I’m dying of heat, the owner doesn’t even turn on the AC.”
After saying that, she abruptly leaned closer, closely scrutinizing Jiang Feiwan’s skin, “You actually haven’t broken out in sweat at all.”
The distance suddenly shrank, and Jiang Feiwan’s breathing paused abruptly. The tip of her nose gradually filled with the faint fragrance of Chen Zui’s body, and her temple suddenly jumped. Uncomfortably leaning her body backward, she turned her head away and said, “Um, I have a bit of a cold constitution, it’s harder for me to sweat.”
Chen Zui let out an “ah” and curiously grabbed her hand.
Sure enough, it was icy cold.
It was hard to imagine that someone’s hands would still be cool in the summer; what would happen in the winter then? Wouldn’t she be able to double as a freezer?
Chen Zui furrowed her brow in thought, her movements tightening a bit as if she wanted to warm up this pair of hands.
Mmh…….. or maybe she wanted to cool herself down a bit.
Because of year-round outdoor exposure, her hands weren’t as delicate as Jiang Feiwan’s; there was a thin layer of calluses on her fingertips and palms, and touching skin felt tingling and numb, with a very strong sense of presence.
Jiang Feiwan had always been quite sensitive to touch. She pressed her lips together and pulled her hand away, maintaining a calm facial expression: “If you’re very hot, you can go to the restroom and rinse off with cool water, it might feel a lot better.”
She was indeed planning to go to the restroom anyway, to check if the wound covered by the gauze had been soaked in sweat.
But……..
Chen Zui lowered her head, her fingertips making a loose gripping motion in the air, feeling empty and lost.
“Then I’ll go to the restroom, you two eat first.” Chen Zui got up to go to the restroom, and passing by Han Ling, she saw her turning her head to look at her and smile.
What was she smiling pointlessly at? Chen Zui felt irritated, and as she walked, she retied the little bun at the back of her head.
Too hot.
……
Outside, only Han Ling and Jiang Feiwan were left. Jiang Feiwan had long since had the intention of being full and no longer reached out to take skewers to eat.
She didn’t drink alcohol, so both bags of beer had gone entirely into Han Ling’s belly. At this moment, her face was bright red, and her gaze drifted to and fro in an unfocused manner.
“Doctor Jiang, how long have you known Chen?” Hearing Chen Zui address her as Doctor Jiang just now, she had naturally followed along to call her that.
Jiang Feiwan hadn’t expected her to proactively open up a topic, so she smiled and replied, “About half a month, I suppose.”
Han Ling’s eyes widened: “Half a month??”
Jiang Feiwan didn’t understand where her surprised reaction came from, and for a moment felt suspicious.
“Then Chen really lacks self-control.” Han Ling spoke in a mystical, rambling way, leaving half unsaid and keeping Jiang Feiwan guessing, so she could only smile without a word and quietly wait for Chen Zui to return.
“The customers at the table next to us, why are they always looking at you?” Han Ling was full, her eyeballs wandering around out of boredom, and she caught sight of a neighboring table of customers constantly looking over here. Their scrutinizing gaze wasn’t very comfortable, and worried that they might be Jiang Feiwan’s acquaintances, she tentatively opened her mouth to ask: “Do you guys know each other?”
Jiang Feiwan was startled, turning her head along the line of her gaze.
Three men and two women; the gazes of one of the couples were rather unrestrained, and even when accidentally meeting eyes, they didn’t have the slightest embarrassment of being caught, instead growing increasingly bold.
Jiang Feiwan lowered her eyelids, not wanting to bother: “I don’t know them.”
“Big pervert (狼)?” Han Ling said awkwardly using northern dialect.
Just as she was about to say a few more words, Han Ling’s gaze suddenly rose, her previous playful expression instantly turning cold as she looked at the sudden, uninvited guests.
“Beautiful sister, I lost a Truth or Dare, could you come drink a cup of wine with us?”
The person who came was one of the women from the neighboring table, holding two full glasses of wine in her hand, one of which she handed out toward Jiang Feiwan.
Han Ling tilted her head, and sure enough, she saw that the gazes of the others at the neighboring table were all focused here.
The meaning was self-evident, and she looked toward Jiang Feiwan.
The latter gave a light smile, with little emotion in her brows and eyes: “Thank you, my alcohol tolerance isn’t very good.”
The woman turned to glance at her friend, then handed over the wine in her hand once more, saying sweetly, “Beer, the alcohol percentage isn’t high. We just came over for barbecue and saw there are only two of you—would you like to join our table? My friend said he can treat.”
“Yeah, beauty! Come eat together, we’ll send you back later!” A man at the same table chimed in.
The scene suddenly fell into a deadlock, like being hoisted up by wooden poles; moving forward or backward was completely out of one’s control.
Jiang Feiwan really didn’t want to go, so she declined politely once more, “Sorry, we’ve already finished eating and are getting ready to leave.”
“Eat a little more.” The man simply stood up, pulling open half [his shirt] to reveal a nauseating big beer belly.
Jiang Feiwan felt that the greasy feeling she had suppressed all evening was showing a tendency to well up. She knitted her brows, and just as she was about to speak, Han Ling stood up a step ahead of her, “Why are you being so unreasonable?”
“What?” The man shifted his gaze.
Han Ling was bold and went head-to-head with him: “I said, you big-bellied man are unreasonable! How can you still not understand human speech?”
The man was laughed with a snort by her words, “Just calling you guys over to drink a cup, it’s not like we’re asking you to accompany us. What’s wrong, don’t you guys want to drink, or do you want to accompany us?”
The two or three shouts of arguing attracted quite a few gazes, all of them without exception watching the show.
Sometimes this world is just this indifferent, indifferent down to the bone marrow. Perhaps if someone shouted out “fire” right now, it might possess more human warmth than this moment; at least someone would still shout out, “There’s a fire, run away—”
In the restroom, Chen Zui was still peeling back the gauze to check her wound when she abruptly heard shouting matching roar after roar outside. Feeling puzzled inside, she sped up her movements.
Could they be fighting? Jiang Feiwan was still sitting outside!
No sooner had the thought landed than she heard Han Ling’s fiercely loud voice: “Big-bellied man is unreasonable, can’t understand human speech.”
Chen Zui’s heart suddenly sank. She didn’t even cover the gauze back up, pulled up her pants, pushed the door open and strode out. After seeing the layout and form of the situation clearly, her expression had already darkened, and she quickened her pace.
“What’s wrong?” The question was directed at Han Ling, but her gaze kept staring fixedly at Jiang Feiwan. After confirming that no worse things had happened, she then looked at the man in front of her.
Han Ling immediately gave a brief summary: “This big pervert is coveting your—uh, us, but he can’t understand human speech.”
That was close, the two words “crush” almost flew right out.
Han Ling patted herself.
It’s fine, it’s fine, it didn’t fly out.
Chen Zui instantly understood and looked over at their table, “Want to drink together?”
The man originally saw that there were three women and wanted to push his luck, but when his line of sight shifted and he saw the full-arm tattoos on Chen Zui’s arms, he suppressed that thought a bit, “Can’t?”
Chen Zui sneered, “Sure, why not? Meeting is fate, right?”
As she spoke, she looked around left and right, picked up two bottles of beer from the beer crate, holding one in each hand, and weighed them.
Jiang Feiwan’s expression turned panicked, and she hurriedly grabbed her hand, “Chen Zui! Don’t be impulsive!”
“It’s fine,” Chen Zui turned her head, changing her tone, “I am, after all, a resident of Block 3.”
Jiang Feiwan still wasn’t reassured, grasping her hand without daring to let go.
Seeing her posture, the man couldn’t help but feel a bit of cowardice, but constrained by saving face, he had to straighten his back and dryly ask: “What do you want!”
Chen Zui raised her eyes, the corners of her lips curving up, “Didn’t you want to have a drink? Let’s go then, let’s go drink at the police station, my treat. Only thing is……”
She narrowed her eyes, sizing the man up from top to bottom, the disgust in the depths of her eyes undisguised: “Can pregnant men drink alcohol?”