New dishes were served at the next table, and the aroma wafted over to them. They stopped caring about makeup and quickly focused on ordering.
Tan Xingwei was craving spicy food today, so they had come to a Hunan restaurant for the evening. They had all eaten together many times and knew each other’s preferences and what foods to avoid. Coupled with the fact that they were hungry, they ordered very quickly.
The dishes also arrived very quickly, one after another.
For the first few dishes, everyone was still eating intently. Once they were about half-full, they gradually started to chat.
They weren’t talking about just anything; they were talking about blind dates.
The one who started the topic was Yaoyao. Holding her drink, she said with a helpless expression that she had just met a blind date that afternoon. The date had treated her to a chicken pot, but in the end, because the coupon he’d bought had expired by a day, he argued with the restaurant staff at the counter for a long time.
“I was truly speechless. You have no idea how awkward I was. I told him I’d cover the cost, but he refused and just had to argue with the staff, leaving me in such an awkward spot.”
“In the end, he still had to pay for it himself. Paying was one thing, but on the way back, he had the nerve to keep complaining about it. I didn’t even want to talk anymore. It was so awkward.”
When it came to blind dates, half the people at the table had plenty to say. Chen Jing also chimed in, complaining about the blind date she had over the New Year.
The other half consisted of Su Xu and Tan Xingwei.
Another new dish arrived—fragrant and spicy shrimp, ordered by Tan Xingwei.
At that moment, however, Tan Xingwei was busy wrestling with a pig’s trotter and its tendon. Her hands were occupied.
She could have done it herself, and she wasn’t really thinking about it, but her eyes probably gave her away. She watched intently as Su Xu picked up a shrimp, placed it in a bowl, put down her chopsticks, picked up the shrimp with her hands, twisted off the head, and peeled the shell.
It was only when Su Xu turned back and met her gaze that Tan Xingwei realized how much longing was in her eyes.
The shrimp, almost fully peeled, in Su Xu’s hand.
Su Xu smiled, turned slightly toward Tan Xingwei, and continued peeling the shrimp for her to see.
Tan Xingwei raised an eyebrow.
What did that mean? Was she going to give it to her or not?
Su Xu peeled it even more slowly. To be more precise, she was putting on a show.
Beside her, Tan Yinqing also began to share how her father had shown her a photo of a blind date prospect that afternoon. Since Yaoyao had started the topic, Tan Yinqing went with the flow and became quite vicious, describing the man with phrases like “a frog’s chin,” “Sanxingdui eyes,” and “a teardrop-shaped head.”
Outside of the blind date atmosphere.
Tan Xingwei seemed to understand. Her eyes curved into a smile. “Thank you, Big Sister Ah Xu.”
Su Xu smiled, but her hands showed no sign of handing it over. “Just a ‘thank you’?”
Tan Xingwei raised an eyebrow. Not enough?
Just then, a phrase popped into her head.
If the soft approach doesn’t work, maybe it’s time for something a little more… flirty.
“My hands aren’t free,” Tan Xingwei cooed in a low voice. “I need Big Sister to peel it for me.”
Su Xu burst out laughing. Although she seemed a little startled by Tan Xingwei’s words, she looked very pleased.
“Open your mouth,” Su Xu said.
Tan Xingwei leaned over and opened her mouth, and Su Xu fed the prepared shrimp into it.
The distance wasn’t quite right, and she accidentally grazed Su Xu’s fingers.
Tan Xingwei quickly pulled back and, pretending nothing had happened, said again, “Thank you, Big Sister Ah Xu.”
In her mouth, she first tasted the spiciness, then the fresh sweetness of the shrimp, and then the somewhat strange atmosphere beside her.
Sure enough, when she turned her head, Tan Yinqing was staring at her.
Tan Xingwei’s smile vanished. “What?”
Tan Yinqing had a look of someone who wanted to speak but was holding back. “Don’t you have hands?”
This time, Tan Xingwei really didn’t have free hands. She showed Tan Yinqing her hands, which were covered in both oil and sauce.
Tan Yinqing said, “And why can’t those hands peel a shrimp?”
Tan Xingwei thought to herself, oh. She felt Tan Yinqing had a point; in fact, dirty hands were even more suitable for peeling shrimp.
But what could be done? Big Sister Ah Xu had peeled the shrimp for her, so what about it? Nyah nyah nyah.
Just then, Ah Xu placed another freshly peeled shrimp into Tan Xingwei’s bowl.
Tan Xingwei shook her head smugly at Tan Yinqing, then slowly leaned against Su Xu and said in a delicate voice, “No, I caaan’t~”
Tan Yinqing grimaced and stopped paying attention to Tan Xingwei.
“Ah Xu,” Yaoyao turned the conversation to Su Xu. “You’ve been back for so long. Have your parents been pushing you?”
The shrimp in Tan Xingwei’s mouth suddenly didn’t taste as good.
“No,” Su Xu said. “They don’t talk to me about that.”
It still tasted good. It still tasted good.
“What about you, Xingxing?” Yaoyao asked her as well. “You’ve graduated from university too.”
Tan Xingwei shook her head. “Tan Yinqing isn’t settled yet. They can’t get to me.”
Tan Yinqing seemed to suddenly realize that her little sister was long past the age to start dating. She turned and said, “In the future, before you start seeing someone, let me approve them first.”
Tan Xingwei was puzzled. “Huh? Why?”
Tan Yinqing said, “What’s with that look? You don’t have someone already, do you?”
“No…” Tan Xingwei was speechless. “I’m not even thinking about dating.”
“I’m not talking about right now. I mean when you’re preparing to date. No,” she corrected herself, “when you’re preparing to get to know someone, you have to tell me.”
Tan Xingwei asked, “What’s wrong? Don’t you trust my taste in people?”
Tan Yinqing was blunt. “I don’t.”
Tan Xingwei: “…”
Tan Xingwei said, “I know, I know.”
Yaoyao then added, “Let us big sisters take a look too. We’ll help you screen them. Be careful not to get cheated.”
Chen Jing followed up with, “If you don’t want to tell too many people, you can tell Ah Xu first.”
Tan Xingwei turned to look at Su Xu, who was merely smiling faintly as she drank her beverage.
“I know,” Tan Xingwei said.
Everyone was very satisfied with dinner. The atmosphere was perfect, they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, and it was the weekend, so nobody wanted to go home so early. Thus, they moved straight on to the next activity: going upstairs for karaoke.
The five of them got a large private room. Yaoyao picked a song by Phoenix Legend as the first one, instantly hyping up the atmosphere.
People who had been worn down by work were a different breed. It was less like singing and more like cathartic venting.
And amidst a queue of songs where there was no “most hype,” only “more hype,” one song stood quietly: “A Song for the First Girl I Liked.”
That’s right, Tan Xingwei had picked it. Haha.
In a corner of the private room, she had been selecting and deleting it, then deleting and selecting it again. She wanted to sing it but felt the atmosphere wasn’t right; then she’d delete it, only to think that you can sing anything at KTV, so who cares about the atmosphere?
“Hey! Stay there!”
So, while eating watermelon, Tan Xingwei watched her song jump from being nowhere in the queue to fifth place, and then to third.
Second.
First.
Next…
Tan Xingwei was so nervous her leg was shaking. She stared at the microphone on the table, which no one had claimed yet.
Seeing the song on the screen nearing its end, Tan Xingwei chewed her watermelon faster and faster.
Faster and faster…
After swallowing the last bite, Tan Xingwei shot up from her seat to grab the microphone.
The room fell quiet as the song ended. The next second, a dance beat started playing in the background.
Tan Xingwei changed her direction and picked up a slice of watermelon instead.
…Her song had been bumped.
Tan Xingwei looked at Tan Yinqing, who had taken the microphone, and cursed inwardly, That wretched…
But Tan Yinqing was just passing the microphone.
Oh, it was for Big Sister Chen Jing. In that case, no cursing.
Chen Jing and Yaoyao, each with a microphone, enthusiastically sang half the song. During an instrumental break, Chen Jing suddenly said, “Huh, ‘A Song for the First Girl I Liked’.”
Holding the microphone, she read the song title out loud, word by word. Then, looking puzzled, she turned directly to Su Xu. “Did you pick this?”
Su Xu shook her head. “I didn’t.”
Chen Jing was even more confused. “Then who picked it?”
Tan Xingwei raised her hand, which was holding a slice of watermelon. “I did.”
Chen Jing said, “Oh,” and didn’t say anything else. The next verse started, and she went back to her enthusiastic singing.
The high-energy song soon ended. This time, no one bumped Tan Xingwei’s song. What’s more, after the two “big sisters” finished, they both offered their microphones to Tan Xingwei.
Tan Xingwei took the one that was closer to her, while Yaoyao gave the other one to Su Xu.
“Do you know how to sing this?” Yaoyao asked Su Xu.
Su Xu couldn’t help but laugh. “I actually do.”
Yaoyao said, “It really suits you.”
Su Xu did something, and Yaoyao suddenly covered her mouth.
The intro began, and Tan Xingwei, with no time to spare for anything else, became serious.
She also watched Su Xu from the corner of her eye.
The intro passed quickly. Since Su Xu hadn’t picked up her microphone, Tan Xingwei began to sing.
“Your gentle long hair…”
This wasn’t the first time Tan Xingwei had sung in front of Su Xu. They had gone to KTV together before, but her voice was only average, and Yaoyao, Chen Jing, and Tan Yinqing all loved to sing, so she and Su Xu were usually relegated to the role of hype crew during these outings.
One might ask, does Su Xu sing well?
In Tan Xingwei’s eyes, everything Su Xu did was wonderful. And since Su Xu’s voice was so beautiful, of course her singing was beautiful too.
That’s all there was to it.
Whenever Su Xu sang, Tan Xingwei was always the one who applauded most enthusiastically, though Su Xu rarely sang.
The song reached the second verse, but Su Xu still showed no sign of picking up the microphone, so Tan Xingwei had no choice but to keep singing by herself.
Su Xu listened very attentively, holding the microphone down low and swaying from side to side with the others to the song’s rhythm.
“The answer you ask of me, is it simple or is it hard…” Tan Xingwei sang on, gradually relaxing.
As she was singing, she saw Su Xu raise the microphone out of the corner of her eye.
Tan Xingwei finished the line she was on and then lowered her microphone.
Su Xu picked up, “There is a riddle you’ve long since guessed, please allow me to write you into my song…”
After singing four lines, Su Xu turned to look at Tan Xingwei. Tan Xingwei seemed to understand the message in Su Xu’s eyes and raised her microphone.
The two of them finished the last line together.
“Forgive me, for my somewhat clumsy girlish heart.”
As the song ended, the room erupted in enthusiastic applause, with Yaoyao and Chen Jing whooping and cheering.
“That was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!”
Tan Yinqing also praised them, but right after, she took the microphone from Tan Xingwei’s hand.
The next song was hers, one by a girl group she was currently into. It started with a long string of Korean, on and on.
When that part was over, Yaoyao picked up a microphone. “Impressive. You weren’t secretly cursing us out, were you?”
Tan Yinqing laughed. “That’s hard to say.”
Later, Tan Xingwei sang several more songs with the group, and later still, Su Xu also sang a solo.
It wasn’t until their karaoke session was winding down that Tan Xingwei felt a pang of regret. She hadn’t recorded that song earlier. Now, all she could do was casually record a different song Su Xu was singing.
The night grew darker, and everyone gradually tired of singing. After a few more scattered songs to wrap things up, they left.
The arrangement today was the same as for their late-night snack last time: Yaoyao and Chen Jing were on their electric scooters, while Tan Yinqing and Su Xu had driven.
This time, however, Tan Xingwei didn’t make up any excuses. She obediently went home with Tan Yinqing.
The drive with just the two of them was much quieter. The parking garage was mostly silent, with only the occasional car driving past.
“Did you feel like Ah Xu got a bit quiet toward the end?” Tan Yinqing asked once they were in the car.
Tan Xingwei sat up a little straighter. “You thought so too.”
Tan Yinqing repeated, “You thought so too.”
Tan Xingwei had felt it more keenly. Su Xu had grown quiet at the KTV, but she was often quite quiet anyway, so Tan Xingwei hadn’t been certain.
But now Tan Yinqing was saying it too.
“When did you notice?” Tan Xingwei asked.
Tan Yinqing seemed to think for a moment before answering, “After you two finished singing that song.”
“Huh? Really?” Tan Xingwei asked.
“I don’t know. That’s just when I noticed,” Tan Yinqing said.
Tan Xingwei grew worried. “Is something wrong with her?”
“I don’t know,” Tan Yinqing replied.
“Why don’t you ask her?” Tan Xingwei suggested.
Tan Yinqing thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll ask her when we get home.”
Seeing that the car hadn’t started moving yet, Tan Xingwei unbuckled Tan Yinqing’s seatbelt. “Don’t wait till we get home. Ask her now. I’ll drive.”
“…Alright,” Tan Yinqing agreed.
So the two of them switched seats. Tan Xingwei waited until she saw Tan Yinqing send the message before she started the car and drove off.
Just then, Tan Yinqing let out an “oh.” “How stupid of me. Ah Xu is driving right now, she can’t reply.”
Tan Xingwei realized it too. “That’s true.”
“However,” Tan Yinqing said, “let’s talk about you.”
“What about me?” Tan Xingwei asked.
Tan Yinqing suddenly became serious. “I’m telling you this seriously, so don’t just brush it off.”
Tan Xingwei grew a little nervous as well. “What is it? What are you going to say?”
Tan Yinqing said, “Don’t be so clingy with Ah Xu right now.”
Tan Xingwei was silent for a moment after hearing that. “Why?”
Tan Yinqing relaxed again, scrolling through her phone. “No reason. I’m telling you not to, so just don’t.”
Tan Xingwei insisted, “Why?”
“I said there’s no reason,” Tan Yinqing replied.
Tan Xingwei continued, “Why?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Why?”
Tan Yinqing: “…”
The car fell silent.
Tan Yinqing knew that, given her sister’s personality, if she didn’t explain, Tan Xingwei would keep asking indefinitely.
Especially when it concerned Su Xu.
The car remained quiet, an almost eerie silence. After a moment, Tan Yinqing finally caved.
“Ah Xu… she likes girls.”
