Double-standard puppy, so what!
Of course, Chen Zui wouldn’t refuse. She gauged the distance, stepped back half a step to get a bit closer to Jiang Feiwan, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear: “I thought you were really going to try and avoid me because you didn’t want to treat me to dinner.”
They had met four times in two days and even added each other on WeChat yesterday; it should be a relatively hard memory to forget, anyway, she hadn’t forgotten yet.
Jiang Feiwan caught the teasing undertone in her words, couldn’t help curving her eyes, and said softly: “You still remember.”
Chen Zui lowered her head, looking completely puzzled: “Do I look like I have a terrible memory?”
She was a good half-head taller than Jiang Feiwan. Standing right in front like this gave off an inexplicable sense of being protected.
As soon as the floor arrived, those “biological weapons” that had squeezed in earlier filed out of the elevator one after another. Fresh air poured in, and Li Li finally recovered her breath, leaning against the elevator handrail and gasping heavily.
“I’m done for, taking an elevator can actually put me through a Resident Evil scenario, I can’t even eat lunch anymore.” Li Li knitted her brows tightly, the scent that had struck straight to her crown earlier still lingering in the corner of the elevator as if it wouldn’t dissipate.
Chen Zui didn’t pay attention to what she was saying, turning slightly to clear a path: “Going to the 1st floor or the basement level?”
Jiang Feiwan nodded with a smile: “1st floor, thank you.”
Then she stepped out of the elevator without looking back.
As the doors slowly closed, shutting that fading sound of high heels clicking against the floor out in the hallway.
Li Li let out a hiss: “How come I didn’t know you had other acquaintances in Qingzhou?”
Chen Zui shrugged, walking out first: “There really aren’t any.”
“So that beauty just now?” Li Li chased after her to ask.
“Oh,” Chen Zui said calmly, “she owes me a meal.”
Li Li’s brain spun at high speed, stalling slightly: “You two don’t even know each other, how does she owe you a meal?”
“Can’t you invite someone to dinner just because you don’t know them?”
Listen to that—is that even reasonable?
Ten out of ten parts completely unreasonable!
Li Li didn’t believe it at all: “Anyway, I would never randomly grab a stranger and say I want to treat her to a meal.”
Chen Zui’s motion of pulling open the car door paused for a moment. She thought about it, then nodded immediately: “I think you have a point.”
“…….”
Li Li let out two “heh”s and didn’t ask anymore.
Consider what she just said as talking to a dog.
Yet even if she didn’t talk to Chen Zui, Chen Zui found a topic to talk to her about: “You said earlier that you were looking for a new doctor, how’s that coming along?”
At the mention of this, Li Li’s expression suddenly dimmed, though only for a fleeting, hard-to-notice second. She forced a relaxed smile and replied: “Booked the previous one, going to see them this weekend.”
Li Li had some psychological issues. Because of this, she had seen many psychological therapists before, but the effects were minimal. Later, she gradually became too lazy to struggle, perennially squeezing her time full of work big and small so she wouldn’t have time for idle thoughts, and so the days passed one by one.
For some reason recently, Li Li’s sleep quality had been extremely poor. Taking sleeping pills felt like they did nothing, and even with work during the day, she still couldn’t fall asleep at four or five in the morning. That minimal amount of sleep left her body feeling increasingly fatigued, so she realized work could no longer suppress the anxiety in her heart, which gave her the idea to book a psychological therapist to regulate herself.
She rarely talked about these things with Chen Zui, but Chen Zui knew all of it—perhaps it was the tone of voice during phone calls, or perhaps the slip-ups she accidentally revealed during their video chats.
Chen Zui was an extremely observant person; she easily picked up on other people’s emotional fluctuations, yet she also understood boundaries very well.
“Not sleeping well lately? Your dark circles are pretty bad.” Chen Zui glanced at her sideways, not dwelling on it too much: “I’ll go with you this weekend.”
She was a bit worried.
Li Li felt that going together was fine, so she agreed. What wasn’t fine was her previous sentence; taking advantage of waiting at a red light, she hurriedly pulled down the rearview mirror to check: “Are my dark circles really obvious?! I clearly applied concealer!”
“Ah, is that so? Then I must be seeing the dark circles through the concealer.” Chen Zui continued to dupe her while holding back a laugh.
Li Li slammed the mirror shut and said, “Get out of the car!”
Chen Zui gripped her seatbelt tighter and shook her head: “No.”
…..
In the afternoon, Chen Zui took a trip to “A Cup of Coffee.” Not that she went to play supervisor; she ground a cup of Americano for herself and found a seat by the window to browse her phone.
She felt somewhat like an unemployed vagrant with nothing to do, which was an incredible waste of time.
Chen Zui started searching for travel guides about Qingzhou.
Qingzhou bordered the sea, and the evening sea breeze was relatively gentle. She planned to take a taxi down to the coastal area around evening to check it out; maybe there would be a suitable spot for camping.
Various travel posts were all over the place, making Chen Zui dizzy. As she flipped through them, somehow she ended up on WeChat.
She rarely added others, and the group chats she was in were few. In her daily life and work outings, her most-used tool was email, so aside from Li Li sending her messages, she basically never opened this app.
The new contact added yesterday was still hanging near the top of the list, quiet and peaceful, without a single red dot.
Chen Zui thought for a moment, opened the chat dialog box bearing the name Jiang Feiwan, and saw that the profile picture was an enlarged apricot leaf—which didn’t fit Jiang Feiwan’s temperament at all. If she hadn’t seen the person in real life, Chen Zui would have truly thought the person on the other end might be a somewhat rigid middle-aged or elderly person.
Is thirty-one considered middle-aged?
If a person could truly live to 100 years old (parentheses: excluding herself), then turning thirty-one meant only walking through the first third of life; at best, it counted as a young adult.
Moreover, Jiang Feiwan didn’t look like she was in her thirties at all.
Chen Zui couldn’t help letting Jiang Feiwan’s exceptionally gentle facial features float up in her mind. Without paying attention to her hand, she pressed a video call button over.
People are truly most prone to doing stupid things when they are distracted.
Chen Zui was startled by the massive ringing sound, and in her panic, she pressed the hang-up button several times before finally cutting off the video call, leaving an abrupt trace of an “accidental” action in the chat box.
Feeling she should explain something, Chen Zui typed, wanting to say she accidentally pressed it, but it seemed the other party was a step faster than her.
Jiang Feiwan: [What’s wrong?]
Jiang Feiwan: [Was busy just now, didn’t pay attention to my phone.]
The two sentences popped up together. Chen Zui’s movements paused, and she replied: [Probably pressed it by accident while it was in my pocket, sorry about that.]
After a brief pause, Jiang Feiwan replied: [It’s fine. Are you free tonight?]
Seeing this sentence, Chen Zui’s heart skipped a beat: [Yes.]
Jiang Feiwan: [Would like to treat you to dinner.]
Well, what else is there to think about? Of course, Chen Zui agreed. No matter how gentle and refreshing the evening sea breeze was, she was no longer going to wander around looking for the ultimate camping spot.
[Sure, what time?]
Jiang Feiwan: [Around five-ish. Do you want me to pick you up?]
Chen Zui thought for a moment: [If it’s convenient for Ms. Jiang.]
Jiang Feiwan: [Convenient.]
Chen Zui chewed on those two words, the corners of her mouth completely unable to suppress a smile.
How tiring walking is! How much money taking a taxi wastes!