Tan Xingwei lay prone on her bed for a long time before she finally calmed down.
Su Xu’s Moments post was from ten minutes ago, and their back-and-forth voice messages had also happened ten minutes ago. Because the timestamp on Moments wasn’t precise down to the second, Tan Xingwei wasn’t sure if Su Xu’s “side quest” had been posted before or after her own clingy voice message.
Side quest.
Someone.
A little temper.
Tan Xingwei pressed her lips together again and buried her face in her pillow.
Not important, it’s fine, it’s all good.
The timing was delicate. It was midnight, and tomorrow was Tuesday. If it were the middle of the week, many working people might have already gone to sleep according to their work-induced biological clocks. But today was Monday, a Monday just after the weekend, and many people were still holding onto their weekend habits, lingering tenderly with their phones.
Tan Xingwei and Su Xu had three mutual friends, and these three were among the many who were still awake.
So very soon, and almost at the same time, Tan Xingwei saw three likes and three comments pop up under Su Xu’s Moments post.
Tan Yinqing: “?”
Yaoyao: 【Ears】
Chen Jing: 【Microphone】
Since the big sisters had arrived, the little sister had to make an appearance too.
Tan Xingwei first liked the post, just like everyone else, and then commented something different from everyone else: “What’s the main quest?”
But as soon as she sent it, Tan Xingwei immediately felt something was off. Her words clearly positioned her as someone in the know.
Not good, no way. Tan Xingwei hurriedly deleted the comment.
Unexpectedly, just as she was deleting it, a reply from Su Xu popped up.
It was a reply to the very comment she had just deleted: “The main quest is to work hard and try not to be gone for so long.”
Before Tan Xingwei even had a chance to laugh, Su Xu deleted her reply.
Well, then.
And so, Tan Xingwei naturally jumped straight to Su Xu’s chat window. She said: “I saw that.”
Su Xu replied: “I saw that too.”
Tan Xingwei propped her chin on a small stuffed doll on her bed and typed on her phone: “Are you done unpacking?”
Su Xu first sent Tan Xingwei a photo of her still-messy suitcase: 【Photo】
Su Xu: “Unpacking paused.”
Then she added: “Undergoing interrogation.”
Tan Xingwei: “Eh? Who’s interrogating you?”
Tan Xingwei: “Tan Yinqing and the others?”
Su Xu: “Uh-huh.”
Tan Xingwei: “What did they say?”
Su Xu: “Not telling you.”
Tan Xingwei: 【Baring teeth angrily】
Su Xu: 【Pinching cheeks】
Su Xu: “Want to know?”
Tan Xingwei understood.
She pressed the voice message button: “Ah Xu…”
No, her voice sounded awful while lying down. She swiped up to cancel the message, sat up, and cleared her throat twice. “Ah~ Xu~ Jie~ jie~”
Tan Xingwei sent another message: “Just tell me~”
As expected, Su Xu immediately replied: “Okay~”
A few seconds later, Su Xu sent a screenshot from their group chat. The first few lines were the three of them frantically tagging Ah Xu, demanding she confess what was going on. The last two lines were Su Xu’s response.
She had said: “Maybe there’s a bit of a situation.”
She had said: “But I’m not sure if it counts as a situation.”
The screenshot ended there. After reading it, Tan Xingwei’s heart tightened.
She immediately typed and sent: “Ah? What does that mean?”
Su Xu: “I don’t know, I don’t know what it means.”
Su Xu: “Just that someone kissed me out of the blue.”
Su Xu: “And didn’t even give an explanation.”
Tan Xingwei let out a puff of laughter, her heart settling back down. She flopped onto her stomach on the bed again.
Tan Xingwei: “That’s too mean.”
Su Xu: “The absolute worst.”
Tan Xingwei: “So out of line.”
Su Xu: “Completely out of line.”
Tan Xingwei: “Next time, you should kiss them back.”
Su Xu: “Hmm?”
The bold and reckless Tan Xingwei, of course, knew to stop there. She immediately changed the subject, quoting Su Xu’s line, “But I’m not sure if it counts as a situation.”
–“You can reply to them that there is a situation.”
Su Xu: “Is that so.”
Su Xu: “What kind of situation is it?”
Tan Xingwei took a deep breath and, with lightning-fast fingers, typed out a few words: “It’s a situation where someone wants to pursue you.”
Send, lock screen, phone face down.
Tan Xingwei threw off the covers to lie flat on her back, then pulled the covers back up, her hands gripping the edge tightly. She thought for a moment, then propped herself up again to turn off her phone’s silent mode before lying back down.
Tan Xingwei stared quietly at the ceiling. It was a time when she should have been sleepy, yet she was wide awake, the sound of her own heartbeat thumping in her ears.
She had laid it all out now, right? It was clear enough. Su Xu had to reply now, right? She couldn’t just not reply.
Why did Tan Xingwei dare to say that?
Why did Tan Xingwei kiss Su Xu?
Why did she dare to declare her intentions so early?
Su Xu, you should reflect on yourself and what you’ve done to Tan Xingwei.
Weren’t you the one who indulged her step by step?
Why wasn’t her phone making a sound? Could it be broken? Oh, it wasn’t broken, she just hadn’t replied.
Time ticked by, so much so that Tan Xingwei started to feel insecure and a little panicked. Why hadn’t Su Xu replied yet? Tan Xingwei was suddenly reminded of that night four years ago when she was stood up.
From anticipation to feeling she had been impulsive, less than a minute had passed.
Tan Xingwei’s head was about to explode.
But she still tried to comfort herself. Things were different now, very different.
“Ding-dong.”
Just as the chaotic thoughts in Tan Xingwei’s mind had tangled into a messy knot, the sound of a phone notification reached her ears.
Tan Xingwei’s thoughts instantly fell silent. She paused for half a second before picking up her phone.
Su Xu had said: “Okay.”
All of Tan Xingwei’s previous negative thoughts were now beaten to death with a club by her.
Hehe haha.
Tan Xingwei suddenly didn’t know what to reply, and could only instinctively send: “Big Sister.”
Su Xu said: “I’m here.”
Tan Xingwei: “Hehe.”
Su Xu: “Sent it.”
Tan Xingwei was confused: “Huh? Sent what?”
Su Xu quoted Tan Xingwei’s line, “It’s a situation where someone wants to pursue you.”
–“1”
Su Xu: 【Screenshot】
Tan Xingwei opened the image. It was another one from the group chat, but this time, Su Xu’s message was at the very top.
“Su Xu: ‘It’s a situation where someone is pursuing someone.’
Tan Yinqing: ‘What?? Who are you pursuing?’
Tan Yinqing: ‘Who!’
Tan Yinqing: ‘【Who!】’
Yaoyao: ‘Who! Who who who!’
Chen Jing: ‘Who who who who!’
Yaoyao: ‘【Who!】’
Chen Jing: ‘【Who!】'”
After reading it, Tan Xingwei said: “That’s not right, you made a typo.”
Su Xu: “Did I?”
Tan Xingwei: “Yes.”
Tan Xingwei was about to type more, wanting to correct Su Xu’s mistake, but a new message from Su Xu arrived.
Su Xu: “I’m going to continue unpacking. You should get to sleep.”
Tan Xingwei deleted the two words she had typed.
Tan Xingwei: “Okay, good night then. Unpack quickly and get some rest.”
Su Xu: “Okay, good night.”
Tan Xingwei: “Good night.”
Su Xu didn’t send any more messages, so Tan Xingwei locked her phone.
Just as she was about to turn off her desk lamp, her phone screen lit up again. The message on the screen was from Tan Yinqing. She asked: “You asleep? Did you see Su Xu’s Moments post?”
Tan Xingwei didn’t open it. She turned off the lamp.
The moment the room went dark, Tan Yinqing’s second message arrived: “Never mind, you wouldn’t know even if I asked.”
Tan Xingwei suppressed a smile, placed her phone by her pillow, and closed her eyes.
Of course, Tan Xingwei couldn’t sleep. How could she? Just thinking that the person with whom all this had happened over the past two days was Su Xu gave her a sense of unreality. Not only was Su Xu not the straight girl she had thought, but she was also flirting with her like this.
Today, at this very moment, Tan Xingwei also had to admit what her readers had been saying: “Sister A isn’t the same as before,” and “You two are in a push-and-pull.”
But in the end, she did fall asleep. A person always falls asleep eventually, whether at one or two in the morning.
The next day, for a rare change, she didn’t hit snooze for a few more minutes when her alarm went off. She opened her eyes directly, and before her mind was even clear, her hand had already found Su Xu’s chat on WeChat.
Tan Xingwei: “Good morning, Big Sister Ah Xu.”
Su Xu was also awake. She replied quickly, with a voice message: “Morning, Xingxing.”
In the short two-second voice message, Tan Xingwei not only heard Su Xu’s incredibly gentle voice but also a buzzing sound in the background.
Tan Xingwei asked: “What are you doing?”
Su Xu: “Making coffee. Want some?”
Tan Xingwei perked up. She also pressed the voice message button: “Ah? I can have some just by asking?” Although her morning voice was hoarse, it didn’t stop her from being dramatic: “Is Big Sister going to bring it over for me? Thank you, Big Sister.”
Su Xu was speaking.
Her voice held a smile: “Who’s this, putting on a cutesy voice so early in the morning?”
Tan Xingwei: “Me! Your Little Sister Xingxing.”
Su Xu: “I have to go to the office for a meeting first. I’ll come find you around ten, okay?”
Tan Xingwei: “Okay okay okay.”
Tan Xingwei: “Waiting for Big Sister.”
After sending these, Tan Xingwei pinned her chat with Su Xu to the top.
Tan Xingwei also had a meeting in the morning, but hers only lasted half an hour. So, from the end of the meeting until Su Xu contacted her at 10:15, Tan Xingwei couldn’t get any work done and just slacked off.
Su Xu dropped off the coffee for Tan Xingwei on her way to the high-speed rail station. The ride-share car couldn’t stop for long, so after a brief meeting downstairs at the office, Su Xu left.
The bag holding the coffee was cute, and the coffee cup itself was even cuter.
Perhaps worried that the ice would melt too quickly in the hot weather over time, Su Xu had used a simple insulated cup. When Tan Xingwei inserted the straw, she could still feel the resistance of the ice cubes.
Only drinks hot milk, only drinks iced coffee. Su Xu had remembered it all.
Of course, Tan Xingwei had to take a glamorous photo of the coffee cup and post it on her Moments without a caption.
A moment after she posted it, a WeChat notification dinged on her computer. Tan Yinqing’s avatar jumped to the second row.
She asked: “Why didn’t you reply to me?”
Only then did Tan Xingwei remember that she had left Tan Yinqing hanging yesterday and had completely forgotten to pick up the conversation.
But this is what she said: “Didn’t you say never mind? What was I supposed to reply to?”
Tan Yinqing: “Oho? You’re not curious?”
Even though Tan Xingwei felt a little guilty, she was very stubborn: “If I were curious, would you tell me?”
She also tried to sow some discord: “Besides, the fact that you’re asking me means Big Sister Ah Xu didn’t tell you anything either.”
But she failed.
Tan Yinqing: “Hilarious. Of course Ah Xu told me.”
Tan Xingwei. Began. To. Brainstorm.
First, she subconsciously wondered if Su Xu had told Tan Yinqing, and Tan Yinqing was now testing her. But she quickly abandoned that thought. She felt Su Xu wouldn’t do that to her. If Su Xu had told Tan Yinqing, she would have definitely told her too. Su Xu was on her side now.
Tan Xingwei continued her steady performance: “If you have something to say, then say it.”
Tan Yinqing: “Ha.”
Tan Yinqing: “Didn’t you ask me before if something was going on with Su Xu?”
Tan Yinqing: “Well, now there really is.”
Tan Yinqing: “She has someone she likes.”
Tan Yinqing’s words were straightforward and devoid of tone, but Tan Xingwei couldn’t help but feel that her sister’s underlying message was: Now that Su Xu has someone she likes, you’d better know your place and not be so familiar, calling her ‘Big Sister Ah Xu’ this and ‘Big Sister Ah Xu’ that all the time.
But Tan Xingwei’s eyes only saw the sentence, “She has someone she likes.”
Tan Xingwei: “Did she say she likes that person?”
Tan Yinqing threw a bucket of cold water on her: “Not exactly.”
Tan Xingwei: “…”
Tan Xingwei: “Then what are you talking about?”
Tan Yinqing: “Ah Xu didn’t say much, just that the person is outstanding, very beautiful, both cute and a cool older sister.”
Tan Xingwei’s mouth nearly twisted into a grimace, but she was one to hold a grudge: “Oh? Is it an older sister?”
Tan Yinqing: “Of course. She’s a cool older sister, you know.”
Tan Xingwei: “…”
Tan Xingwei was truly speechless.
Hahahaha.
After this conversation ended, Tan Xingwei finally threw herself wholeheartedly into her work. There was a lot to do today, and it was worth mentioning that she also had a business trip tomorrow.
Originally, she wasn’t necessarily the one going on the trip. But during a small meeting in the afternoon, Tan Xingwei thought that since Su Xu was on a business trip, she might as well go on one too. So, she raised her hand.
The tag-along had returned to the scene.
She would leave tomorrow and be back on Friday. The train station was close to her home, so she could go straight home upon her return. Not bad.
The business trip required preparing some materials, so Tan Xingwei worked overtime again today, until the city streets were roaring with traffic and she was the only one left in the office.
As night fell, Tan Xingwei sent the materials. While waiting for a reply, she looked at her reflection in the window, which had turned into a mirror.
Stepping out of work mode and back into her personal life, her gaze focused.
Both cute and.
A cool older sister.
On workdays, Tan Xingwei couldn’t be bothered to pick out clothes and liked to wear blouses. In the mirror now, her reflection was leaning lazily against her chair, legs crossed, one hand propping up her head.
Tan Xingwei, you are beautiful.
This side of your face is beautiful, and this side is beautiful too. Your hands are quite nice, your nose isn’t bad either…
Since that’s the case.
Tan Xingwei couldn’t resist picking up her phone and taking a few pictures of her reflection. After taking them, she opened her photo album to zoom in on her own beauty.
Just as Tan Xingwei was admiring her own good looks, a message popped up on her screen.
Seeing that it was Su Xu asking, “What are you doing?”, Tan Xingwei felt as if she’d been caught red-handed and almost burst out laughing.
Well then, she might as well reply like this. Tan Xingwei said: “Looking at a beauty.”
Su Xu: “What beauty?”
Tan Xingwei: “An absolutely queenly older sister. Very beautiful. I’m captivated.”
Tan Xingwei: “Do you want to see?”
Su Xu: “You like looking at beauties?”
Tan Xingwei: “Who doesn’t like looking at beauties?”
Tan Xingwei was all ready to share her own beauty with Su Xu when Su Xu suddenly sent a photo.
No, two photos.
Su Xu: 【Photo】
Su Xu: 【Photo】
This time, Tan Xingwei truly laughed out loud. Su Xu had sent photos of herself.
They looked like two snapshots taken right then and there. The first was taken facing a closed elevator door, capturing most of her body. She was leaning against the wall with her legs crossed, one hand in her pocket, head lowered to look at her phone.
So queenly it gave Tan Xingwei a nosebleed.
The second one was a selfie. A close-up of her long, wavy hair, rimless glasses, and a faint smile on her lips, which were slightly pursed, while her eyes held a cool indifference as she looked at the camera.
Although Su Xu was very, very beautiful, Tan Xingwei felt a little like laughing.
Tan Xingwei: “Big Sister, what are you doing?”
Su Xu: “Ah, sorry, sent them to the wrong person.”
Su Xu: “You can go back to looking at your beauty.”
After saying that, Su Xu retracted the two photos.
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