After a long pause, He Qi slowly came back to herself. She lowered her head and continued arranging the food containers, asking calmly, “The other cake—he brought it?”
“Yeah.” Li Jiajia answered while changing her shoes and walking in. She placed both cakes on the table and added, “He also said the restaurant he booked hasn’t been canceled. The two of us could go.”
He Qi mechanically unwrapped the utensils. Hearing that, her emotions stirred slightly—he had made a reservation in advance, left work early on purpose… if not for yesterday’s incident…
She forcibly cut off that line of thought. What had happened couldn’t be changed—and besides, she hadn’t started it.
With the dishes and utensils all set, she had nothing left to do. Lowering her gaze, she asked again, “How did he know I was here?”
“When he gave me the cake, I asked him too. He said…” Li Jiajia hesitated, “he said he went to the police station.”
He Qi frowned and looked at her. “He’s not even immediate family. And it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours—would the police even bother with him?”
Li Jiajia shook her head, equally confused.
“Forget it. Ignore him.” He Qi said softly, as if trying to shake something off. She quickly walked into the kitchen and came back with two sets of bowls and chopsticks.
Li Jiajia reminded her with some concern, “He Qi, there are already utensils.”
He Qi froze for a moment, then turned and went back into the kitchen. The sound of the fridge opening followed. After quite a while, she asked, “Jiajia, is there no alcohol left?”
Li Jiajia had just gone into the kitchen to wash her hands. She stepped closer, standing behind He Qi, and pointed at the storage rack on the side of the fridge. “Isn’t this whole row all alcohol?”
He Qi seemed momentarily stunned by her own stupidity. Without saying a word, she grabbed two bottles. Li Jiajia silently watched her walk back to the dining area, place the beer on the table, and then stand there motionless. Even from behind, it was obvious she was lost in thought.
Letting out a quiet sigh in her heart, Li Jiajia couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you going downstairs to take a look?”
He Qi kept her back to her, shook her head, and sat down at the table.
After washing her hands, Li Jiajia walked straight to the balcony. “If he hasn’t left, we should be able to see him from here… He Qi, he’s smoking.”
He Qi paused mid-motion with her chopsticks. From afar, she saw Li Jiajia turn her head, asking curiously, “Chen Jin smokes?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him smoke.”
Seven years together, two years living under the same roof—if He Qi didn’t know Chen Jin smoked, then he didn’t.
Li Jiajia nodded. Seeing that He Qi had no intention of coming over, she walked back to the table. “Looks like he’s really in a bad mood.”
He Qi didn’t respond.
The two sat down to eat. Neither of them brought up Chen Jin again. In the end, they even went through the motions of singing a birthday song and blowing out candles, each cutting themselves a slice of cake.
After eating and drinking their fill, it was already late. Once they cleaned up the table, He Qi planned to go downstairs to throw out the trash. Li Jiajia ran to the balcony again to check and suddenly exclaimed, “Damn! Chen Jin still hasn’t left!”
He Qi looked up in confusion, meeting Li Jiajia’s surprised gaze.
“Then… are you still going down?” Li Jiajia asked, already stepping forward with full awareness of her role.
He Qi decisively handed her the trash bag.
Li Jiajia took it. “You really won’t go down and talk to him?”
“No.”
“Then do you have anything you want me to pass on?”
“No… wait. Yes. Tell him to bring my laptop and my daily necessities. Pack them up and have a courier deliver them.”
Li Jiajia slipped on her clogs, holding the trash bag in one hand and making an “OK” gesture with the other. For some reason, as He Qi watched her leave, she felt that Li Jiajia seemed inexplicably excited.
Truth be told, Li Jiajia was excited.
She had never had such a strong sense of involvement in He Qi’s relationship before! Even though it was a bit immoral to think this way, the experience was just too novel.
The fact that He Qi and Chen Jin’s relationship had hit such a huge bump was already unbelievable. Even more unbelievable was that she had now become the go-between! This completely juvenile role—she hadn’t even gotten to play it at fifteen or sixteen, yet now at twenty-five or twenty-six, she had somehow landed the job.
Thinking this, Li Jiajia quickened her pace out of the elevator lobby, afraid that if she was even a little late, she’d miss him.
Fortunately, Chen Jin had no intention of leaving at all.
He stood by the rear of his car, back facing the lawn, still smoking. When he saw someone coming out of the building, he squinted to confirm it was Li Jiajia. Seeing her walk straight toward him after throwing out the trash, he extinguished his cigarette in the nearby ash pillar and waved his hand to disperse the lingering smoke.
Li Jiajia stopped about three steps away, far enough not to smell anything. Her expression was stern, giving him no friendliness, and she spoke in a businesslike tone:
“He Qi asked you to pack her laptop and daily necessities and send them over with a courier.”
Chen Jin’s voice was hoarse as he responded with a quiet “Okay.”
They fell silent for two seconds. Li Jiajia had nothing to say to him and turned to leave.
But Chen Jin suddenly called out to her, “She didn’t… have anything else to say?”
The November night air was already cold. A gust of wind blew past, and Li Jiajia shrank her neck, shoving her hands into her pockets. She looked at him with slight displeasure, deliberately provoking him:
“If you’ve broken up, what else could there be to say?”
“We didn’t break up.” Chen Jin frowned tightly as he corrected her, repeating seriously, “It’s not a breakup. She said she’d talk to me after she calms down.”
Li Jiajia looked at him strangely. She really wanted to ask—if you’re so unwilling to break up, why give her a ring? But she felt it wasn’t her place to ask. The one Chen Jin should explain to wasn’t her.
So she simply nodded, her expression still unfriendly. “Got it. Then wait for her to talk to you.”
Before she could leave, Chen Jin spoke again, “Can you help me ask… when?”
Now that there was another message to pass along, Li Jiajia was actually quite willing—but she pretended to be impatient. “I can ask, but He Qi might not want to answer you.”
“Mm.” Chen Jin seemed to have expected that. He nodded in acceptance. “Thanks for the trouble these past few days. I’ll head back first.”
Without waiting for her reaction, he turned decisively, got into the car, and drove off with a press of the accelerator.
Li Jiajia watched the Cayenne speed away, her eyes widening slowly in disbelief. “What the hell?”
“Thanks for the trouble”? Who is he calling troublesome? A guy like you—who knowingly dates someone against marriage and still pushes a ring across her boundaries—you’re the real trouble! And you dare say you’ve been troubled?
Chen Jin, driving home, had no idea that his polite words had irritated He Qi’s best friend. While waiting at a red light, he turned to glance at the passenger seat. A red Cartier gift bag stood there quietly.
There wasn’t a ring inside.
He stared at it, lost in thought, not even noticing when the light turned green. The cars behind him honked impatiently. Chen Jin snapped back to his senses, tightened his grip on the steering wheel, and pressed the accelerator again.
The distance between the two residential areas wasn’t short. After arriving home, Chen Jin went straight to the study to grab the laptop and charger. Then he entered He Qi’s bedroom, moving with familiarity. He found her usual bag, packed the items inside. There were many bottles and jars in the bathroom—he didn’t know what they were, so he carefully packed them all.
Her framed glasses were on the bedside table. As he walked over to pick them up, his gaze unconsciously fell on a delicately wrapped gift box beside them.
It was the gift Fang Yi had given He Qi. She had left it in the car yesterday, and he had brought it back.
He stared at it for a long while.
Then suddenly, Chen Jin turned around and took everything out of the bag.
He returned the skincare products to the bathroom, placed the monthly contact lenses back into the storage box, took out her personal clothing and pajamas from the sealed bag, folded them neatly, and put them back into the wardrobe.
Then he took the laptop out as well, restoring the empty bag to its original place.
He searched around the room and eventually found a shopping bag of suitable size. He placed the laptop and glasses inside, lifting it slightly with satisfaction.
At that moment, the phone in his pocket rang.
Chen Jin took it out and saw it was his aunt, who was currently traveling abroad with her husband.
As soon as he answered, an eager female voice came through. Speaking to family, her tone was warm, with a slight regional accent:
“Hello? Ajin, your aunt just arrived in France! I found that perfume brand Qi Qi likes, but there are several products in the series you sent me— which one should I buy?”
Chen Jin remembered the matter. He raised a hand to rub his brow and instead asked, “How many days are you staying there?”
The woman sounded puzzled. “Four or five days. Just tell me and I can go buy it today.”
“Tell me before you leave, and I’ll let you know then, okay? I’m not too sure either—I need to ask He Qi.”
“Why don’t you just ask Qi Qi right now? What time is it over there—has she gone to sleep?”
Ask her right now.
Chen Jin was certain—if he dared to tell He Qi now, “My aunt’s in France. What’s the name of that perfume you wanted?” her answer would definitely be that she didn’t want it anymore.
A wave of uneasy irritation crept through him. He ran his fingers along the edge of the shopping bag, vaguely evading, “Anyway, she’s busy with something. I’ll ask her in a couple of days. That’s it, Aunt, I’ll hang up first.”
Without giving her a chance to press further, Chen Jin hung up.
On the other side, after finishing her internal rant about “trouble,” Li Jiajia quickly went back upstairs.
When she opened the door, He Qi looked over from the sofa. Li Jiajia immediately reported eagerly, “He’s already gone back to pack your things.”
He Qi nodded and returned her gaze to the TV in front of her. She had put on an animated film called Soul.
Li Jiajia changed into her fuzzy slippers, shuffled over, and plopped down beside her. Still carrying a trace of the cold from outside, she spoke cautiously:
“Oh right, Chen Jin also asked if you’ve calmed down.”
What?
He Qi turned her head coldly. Her expression didn’t change much, but her eyes showed clear disbelief.
Li Jiajia immediately realized how dangerous her delivery sounded. Blaming her lack of experience, she waved her hands repeatedly. “My bad, my bad! What he meant was—you said before that you’d talk to him after calming down, so he asked when. It wasn’t a provocation! He was pretty humble about it.”
Afraid her poor message delivery might have sabotaged Chen Jin, Li Jiajia racked her brain to recall his exact words, almost ready to reenact the scene on the spot.
He Qi understood. She reached out, grabbed Li Jiajia’s arm as it flailed, and leaned her head against her shoulder, watching the movie as she said coolly, “What is there to talk about?”
Mm. Pretty much the same as before.
Li Jiajia’s mood sank along with hers.
The two of them stopped discussing it and focused on watching TV, waiting for the delivery.
About an hour and a half later, He Qi received a message from Chen Jin.
“It’s here. Downstairs.”
The movie had already ended. The two of them were lying on the sofa, each playing on their phones. He Qi stood up to go downstairs and get it, but after checking the time, she seemed to think of something. Slightly suspicious, she walked to the balcony and looked down.
Sure enough, a familiar Cayenne was parked on the road.
The corner of her mouth twitched. She walked back into the living room. “Chen Jin brought the stuff himself.”
Li Jiajia looked up, processed it for two seconds, then pointed at herself with her index finger. “Then… should I go down and get it again?”
He Qi looked at her with a hint of guilt.
Li Jiajia, however, sprang up from the sofa in one swift motion, hurriedly putting on her coat. “If you dare say something like ‘sorry for the trouble,’ I’ll beat both you and Chen Jin to death.”
So He Qi obediently shut her mouth.
About three minutes later, Li Jiajia came back carrying a shopping bag slightly bigger than a laptop, her expression complicated.
Seeing the thin, flat bag, He Qi was also taken aback. But when she realized there was only a laptop and a pair of glasses inside, her expression turned unusually ugly.
Li Jiajia even heard, for the first time in her memory, He Qi cursing Chen Jin.
“Idiot.”
As timid as she was, Li Jiajia immediately raised three fingers. “I swear to heaven, I told him to bring your daily necessities too.”
Daily necessities.
He Qi looked at the lonely pair of glasses and clenched her teeth. “There’s something wrong with his brain.”