Su Xu kissed her and left.
She pulled open the back door, got in, and closed it.
With a thud, Tan Xingwei was left standing there alone.
Tan Xingwei was still covering her mouth in surprise. She looked ahead, to the left, then to the right. As far as she could see behind the car, she was the only one there, her heart pounding like crazy.
It was a minute later when Tan Xingwei got back in the car. As the door closed, she heard Tan Yinqing say, “Took you that long to put a suitcase away.”
Tan Xingwei was already a bit dizzy from picking up Su Xu, and now she didn’t even know who she was. She could only manage a random “Mm.”
Tan Yinqing added, “Why is your face so red?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Tan Xingwei heard a very soft laugh from the back seat.
Tan Xingwei’s emotions, which had just barely settled, flared up again. She placed a hand on the cheek closer to Tan Yinqing’s side. “It’s hot outside.”
“Is it that hot?” Tan Yinqing said, turning up the car’s air conditioner fan speed by one notch.
A cool breeze blew over. Tan Xingwei needed it right then. The vent was aimed precisely at her neck. She couldn’t help but purse her lips and swallow.
Right now, the enemy was in the dark while she was in the light. Tan Xingwei felt completely exposed. She really wanted to glance at Su Xu, but the motion of turning her head was too big.
After thinking for a moment, she pulled down the sun visor on the passenger side.
She wasn’t really expecting anything, but to her surprise, when the mirror opened, she saw Su Xu in it.
This person had clearly seen all of Tan Xingwei’s actions. The moment their eyes met, her eyes curved and the corners of her mouth lifted into a faint smile.
Tan Xingwei closed the mirror again and pushed the sun visor back up.
The car drove out of the parking lot. Tan Yinqing turned on the music and casually asked, “Ah Xu, are your friends coming?”
Su Xu said, “Let’s go to them.”
Tan Yinqing looked like she understood. “I see, okay,” she said, adding, “A car fits five people perfectly.”
The destination on the map for Tan Yinqing’s car was the entrance of a mall where Chen Jing and Yaoyao were. They were still fifteen minutes away.
Everything in the car gradually settled down. The driver drove, and the passengers sat.
This was mainly about Tan Xingwei. She had calmed down.
Once calm, she had the courage to question. She picked up her phone and sent Su Xu a: “?”
But she was also a coward, afraid Su Xu would overthink it. She pulled the sun visor down again, opened the mirror, and seeing Su Xu looking at her in it, she immediately made a pouting “what do you mean by that” expression.
Of course, maybe Su Xu didn’t understand that this was what she was trying to express, but her expression was very cute, and that was enough.
See, the Su Xu in the mirror was completely amused by Tan Xingwei. She responded with a tilt of her head and looked down to type.
The message arrived on Tan Xingwei’s phone just as Su Xu looked up again.
It was Tan Xingwei’s turn to look down. She opened her phone and saw it read.
Su Xu: 【You said it, kiss me back】
“What the hell, are you crazy?” The car suddenly braked hard. Tan Yinqing slammed on the horn. “They’re cutting in too.”
Tan Xingwei sat up. “Exactly, do they even know how to drive?”
Tan Yinqing’s anger instantly shifted. She turned to look at Tan Xingwei.
Since she was looking, Tan Xingwei added another sentence, “So rude, right?”
Tan Yinqing suddenly laughed. She continued driving forward. “What’s with you today?”
Tan Xingwei knew Tan Yinqing too well; one look and she knew her sister was up to no good. So Tan Xingwei didn’t ask, only retorted, “What about me? I’m fine.”
But just because she didn’t ask, didn’t mean someone else wouldn’t.
“What’s wrong with her?” a voice came from the back seat.
Tan Yinqing, who didn’t seem to intend to discuss this topic, suddenly laughed upon hearing Su Xu’s words.
Tan Xingwei: “…”
Tan Xingwei’s silence didn’t mean Tan Yinqing wouldn’t speak. Sure enough, the next second, Tan Yinqing said, “Nothing, I just think my little sister is especially cute today.”
Tan Xingwei: “…”
Of course, Tan Xingwei understood. It was just that the two sentences she had just said were a bit stilted, a bit cute, a bit sweet.
“Tan Yinqing,” Tan Xingwei dropped the act. “Don’t even think about having me back you up in the future.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Tan Yinqing begged for mercy while laughing. “Thank you, Little Sister. I will, I will need it in the future.”
It was hard to say if she was still being sarcastic. Tan Xingwei turned her head away, too lazy to bother with Tan Yinqing. She also secretly glanced at the mirror; Su Xu was laughing happily in the back seat.
“Ah Xu, want some water?” After a traffic light, Tan Yinqing said, “Have Tan Xingwei open a bottle for you.”
Su Xu said, “No need, I’m not thirsty.”
The way Tan Yinqing acted in front of her friends was very different from how she acted in front of Tan Xingwei. Tan Xingwei had realized this a long time ago. It was one thing for them to see each other as their closest kin, but it didn’t stop them from acting like enemies when they met, bickering at every opportunity.
Just like that night when Tan Yinqing said, “You’d rather have Ah Xu as your sister, right?” A long time ago, after Tan Xingwei first saw how friendly Tan Yinqing was with her friends, she had also said to Tan Yinqing, “Anyone looks more like your sister than I do.”
Anyway, the two sisters had grown up to a point where neither owed the other anything.
Tan Yinqing was very kind to her friends, never getting angry or bickering, and would even order her own sister around to take care of them.
But since that “them” was Su Xu.
Tan Xingwei didn’t care whether Su Xu needed it or not. She picked up a bottle of water she had clearly drunk from and passed it to the back. “Big Sister Ah Xu, for you.”
Su Xu grabbed the bottle.
And at the same time, she grabbed Tan Xingwei’s fingers.
Tan Xingwei’s breath hitched, not to mention Su Xu was also pulling her hand backward.
Not a big pull, just a little, just enough to make Tan Xingwei’s body shift from the middle of her seat to the edge.
This maneuver made Tan Xingwei turn her head for the first time since getting in the car.
As their eyes met, Su Xu pushed Tan Xingwei’s water back to her. She tilted her body slightly, looking at Tan Xingwei with a smile as she said, “Help me open it, Little Sister.”
Tan Xingwei took the water back, opened the cap, and passed it back.
This time, Su Xu only took the water.
Just as Tan Xingwei was feeling secretly disappointed, the hand she was retracting was suddenly caught.
Just one knuckle, only the middle and ring fingers.
Su Xu’s legs were crossed. The hand holding Tan Xingwei’s rested with its elbow on her own knee, loose and casual, yet without any worry that someone might escape.
“Wait a moment,” Su Xu said to Tan Xingwei in a very normal tone.
Her tone being normal was one thing, but her thumb was stroking Tan Xingwei’s fingernail.
So Tan Xingwei just waited like that, watching Su Xu tilt her head back and take a sip.
After drinking, she opened Tan Xingwei’s palm and placed the bottle in her hand.
“Thank you,” Su Xu was still very proper.
But that didn’t stop Tan Xingwei from being teased until she was blushing furiously. What was worse was that this little bit of physical contact made Tan Xingwei think of the dream she had last night.
In the dream, they had started by touching hands.
It was truly too improper. Tan Xingwei snatched her hand back as if fleeing for her life. Luckily, there wasn’t much water in the bottle, or it would have spilled all over the car.
They arrived at the destination soon after. The car couldn’t park on the roadside for too long, so Tan Yinqing stayed in the car while Su Xu and Tan Xingwei got out to help with the things.
There wasn’t much, really; one more person would have been enough. Tan Yinqing naturally assigned Tan Xingwei to go, but Su Xu insisted on going too. Honestly, so clingy.
The two of them entered the mall under the blazing sun. As the door curtain fell, Su Xu suddenly took half a step closer to Tan Xingwei.
Tan Xingwei had wanted to pretend she didn’t see and treat it as something natural, but she couldn’t hold back when Su Xu suddenly smiled.
“Are you happy to see me?” Su Xu started with this, without any warning.
Tan Xingwei let out a silly laugh. “Happy.”
Su Xu said, “You ask me too.”
Tan Xingwei also leaned half a step closer to Su Xu. “Are you happy to see me?”
Su Xu said, “Happy.”
They met Chen Jing and Yaoyao as soon as they got off the elevator. They needed another person to help because they had bought alcohol.
Tan Xingwei had heard that these four would drink together in private, but it had never happened when Tan Xingwei was present.
Because her tolerance was too low, she didn’t know Su Xu’s alcohol tolerance. She would probably find out this time. It was a bit novel, and Tan Xingwei was looking forward to it even more.
“You both came,” Yaoyao said with great relief when they reached them. “That’s perfect. Ah Xu, you take this, and Xingxing, you can carry this one.”
Chen Jing was in charge of the box of alcohol. The remaining few bags were divided among the three of them, and Tan Xingwei got the lightest one. On the elevator back, Yaoyao and Su Xu walked in front, Tan Xingwei was in the middle, and Chen Jing was half a step behind.
They had probably been gone for a while. Tan Yinqing sent Tan Xingwei a message, saying she had moved the car forward a bit and telling them to hurry up.
After reading it, Tan Xingwei replied to Tan Yinqing: 【Coming】
Putting her phone away, Tan Xingwei heard Chen Jing call her, “Xingxing.”
Tan Xingwei turned her head slightly.
Chen Jing: “Your phone wallpaper is Ah Xu.”
Tan Xingwei froze.
These four all knew, to varying degrees, how clingy she was with Big Sister Ah Xu. In their eyes, Tan Xingwei’s feelings for Su Xu were the pinnacle of socialist sisterly love. Setting her wallpaper to a photo of Su Xu was actually not a big deal at all.
But Tan Xingwei had a guilty conscience. People who have done something wrong are prone to feeling guilty.
Just as she was thinking about how to answer, and assuming Chen Jing would find her clinginess towards Su Xu as unreasonable as Tan Yinqing did, Chen Jing’s next sentence was.
“Does Yinqing know about this?”
Tan Xingwei was speechless again.
Of course, this sentence didn’t really mean anything either. It was out of context.
The elevator reached the first floor just then. Their group was separated by the crowd, and the topic was thus dropped.
The group gathered outside the mall. Tan Yinqing’s car hadn’t gone far; they reached it after walking a few more steps.
There were five bags and boxes in total. What needed to go in the car went in the car, and what needed to go in the trunk went in the trunk.
Why so much stuff? It all started this morning.
While discussing the weekend trip to the mountains, everyone learned that Su Xu had been busy all morning just to be able to come back and hadn’t even eaten breakfast. So Chen Jing had clamored that no one should eat, who eats breakfast on a weekend anyway, they should share the hardship. They would go to the supermarket later to buy some food, and everyone would have breakfast and lunch together.
Coincidentally, Tan Xingwei had slept until past eleven and was called out the door as soon as she woke up. And so, things ended up like this.
However, it was said that Su Xu’s original intention was to eat something in the car. By the looks of it, that wasn’t going to happen, and she reasonably suspected that Chen Jing was simply too lazy to make breakfast and had dragged everyone down with her.
With the arrival of provisions, everyone was even hungrier. The entire car was now filled with people waiting to be fed.
Yaoyao had gotten on the car first with the snacks. At this moment, she held the power over hunger and satiety. After the car started moving, everyone except the driver was staring at her.
There was a large bag of snacks, more than enough to go around. After everyone got their share, the car was filled with the rustling sounds of opening packages.
The air conditioner fan was turned up again. Yaoyao was recounting their experience choosing wine at the supermarket. Chen Jing, who had been the loudest that morning insisting everyone skip breakfast, was now the loudest, crying about how hungry she was, while also adding to Yaoyao’s story about the supermarket.
Tan Yinqing chimed in whenever she found an opening, saying it was a good thing they didn’t buy that one wine. She had tried it before, it was horribly bad, and it stank to high heaven. If you passed out from drinking it, you might suspect you’d been knocked out by a passing septic tank.
Tan Xingwei had always liked the atmosphere of these four roommates. Yaoyao was great at making ordinary stories sound exciting, and Chen Jing played the role of the hype man. The two of them were from the same hometown, so they were closer and had developed a lot of chemistry, easily livening up the mood.
Tan Yinqing was in the sharp-tongued group; you couldn’t have a roast session without her. After all, as a fan, her fighting power was strong.
And our Su Xu was the cool sister. The cool sister usually didn’t speak, but on unusual occasions, she would drop a witty one-liner out of nowhere, sending the humor level of the whole conversation skyrocketing.
Each had their own role, which was very interesting.
So, what was Tan Xingwei’s role here?
Family member, of course.
OK, no need to pay attention to her.
After the topic of choosing wine ended, the car got on the highway. Tan Xingwei opened a new bag of snacks.
It was beef jerky. She ate a piece herself, then unwrapped another and passed it to the driver’s seat.
Because the beef jerky bits were small, Tan Xingwei added, “Don’t you lick my hand.”
Tan Yinqing was about to open her mouth, then pulled back. “Who would want to lick your hand.”
Tan Xingwei took the meat back. “Are you eating it or not?”
Tan Yinqing said, “Stop messing around, I really don’t want it.”
Tan Xingwei: “…”
“Are you crazy,” Tan Xingwei said, exasperated. “I’m telling you to speak properly.”
Tan Yinqing laughed. “Thank you, Little Sister.”
Only then did Tan Xingwei feed it to her.
Snacks have a remarkable ability to temporarily stave off hunger. After a few bags, everyone’s eating speed had clearly slowed down. It was still an hour’s drive from Haicheng to the mountain they were going to, and it was high noon, so the air was lazy.
Yaoyao was the first to get tired of it. She said, “Yinqing, put on some high-energy music. I’m getting sleepy.”
As she finished speaking, Tan Yinqing yawned and said, “Listen to what?”
“Hey, hey, hey!”
That yawn got everyone in the car excited. And because everyone’s reaction was so timely and synchronized, they all started laughing together.
Just like that, the atmosphere was back. Chen Jing, in the middle of the back seat, leaned her head forward. “You can’t get sleepy.”
Yaoyao said, “Our lives are in your hands.”
Tan Yinqing shouted, “Let’s all die together!”
Su Xu: “I haven’t spent all my money yet.”
Tan Yinqing calmed down. “True.”
Tan Yinqing instructed Tan Xingwei to change the playlist. The moment the beat dropped, the car was hyped up again. It was the right move; no one in the car was sleepy anymore.
“Oh,” Yaoyao said while eating. “This candy wrapper has a question on it.” She read the sentence out loud: “Who were you thinking about a second ago?”
After saying it, she made a disgusted sound. “Boring, let’s get another one.”
She took another candy from the large bag. “Have you ever had any regrets? What was it?”
“Regrets? I don’t think I have any major regrets,” Yaoyao asked Chen Jing next to her. “Have you ever had any regrets?”
Chen Jing thought for a moment. “I regret things quite often. I really regretted forgetting to use a coupon when I ordered food yesterday.” She smiled. “But they’re all small things, nothing major.”
Like a game of pass the flower, Chen Jing turned her head. “Ah Xu, what about you?”
Su Xu made a thoughtful sound. “I guess so.”
Chen Jing and Yaoyao, and even Tan Yinqing who was driving, were simultaneously curious. They all said at once, “What?”
“Before,” Su Xu gave a time frame, “before I went abroad, a friend asked me to go out one night, saying she had something to tell me.”
Tan Xingwei, who had thought this had nothing to do with her, instantly tensed up.
Wait, huh? What?
Probably not expecting the conversation to lead to such a topic, Yaoyao was very excited. “What, what! Who? Which friend? Do we know them?”
Chen Jing also asked, “What did they say? A confession?”
Tan Xingwei gripped the jelly cup in her hand tightly.
Su Xu’s voice came from the back. “I didn’t go.”
Chen Jing and Yaoyao let out a simultaneous, “Ah…”
Su Xu’s voice was soft. “That’s why I regret it.”
She paused for half a second, then continued, “I should have gone. No matter what she wanted to say, I should have gone to listen.”
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
