Habit

Chu Yiqi stood there, staring at the ring for a while without saying anything, but she wanted to laugh. Then she turned around and took out a box from her bag.

She chose the same style as Xi Ai.

Xi Ai chuckled, looking at the two pairs of rings: "Is this what you call telepathy?"

“No,” Chu Yiqi paused, then said, “It counts as an exchange of rings between the two parties.”

-

Chu Yiqi was lost in thought, still thinking about what she had just seen on Weibo.

I've seen quite a lot of these in the last two years, and even longer, so why does it feel so strange...?

Perhaps things are different now than they were before.

A long time ago, whenever Xi Ai saw these things, she would joke with her and explain. At those times, there were always people watching their little actions as sweet moments.

Perhaps because she was thinking about the past, she unconsciously reached into the hot pot with her chopsticks, scooped out a piece of shrimp paste, and put it in Xi Ai's bowl.

The living room fell silent for a moment. Xi Ai looked up, her eyes full of a playful smile, with a hint of inquiry.

Chu Yiqi came to her senses, coughed lightly, and didn't say anything, but the tips of her ears turned a little red.

Chu Yiqi clearly saw a slight smile in Xi Ai's eyes, and the next moment he heard the voice of the person opposite him: "Thank you."

After an eerie silence, Yu Nianxi subconsciously reached for her phone, but then remembered that Su Luojian was watching her and forbidding her from playing with it, so she awkwardly took her hand back and bit her chopsticks.

The others also wanted to chat but felt it was too obvious and didn't dare to move—except for Nie Chuiying, who silently turned to the side, subconsciously clicked into Weibo, and before she could even back out, she saw the push notification.

Well……

Should I tell or not?

After hesitating for a moment, Nie Chuiying slowly said, "Well, let's congratulate Qiqi on having the opportunity to get the first trending topic after returning to China."

Su Luojian, as the agent, reacted the most, quickly pulling out her phone: "What's wrong?"

Chu Yiqi was sitting next to Nie Chuiying. She leaned over and took a look, and her heart sank. After a moment of silence, she whispered, "Sister Luo, it's just... my hand slipped."

Yu Nianxi saw the post Nie Chuiying shared in the four-person group and immediately burst out laughing. Nie Chuiying slowly added insult to injury: "Qiqi, I finally know why your CP is so popular. You accidentally broke up another CP. Today's food is delicious."

Chu Yiqi didn't respond. He glanced at Xi Ai and saw that she was smiling, almost as if she had "Oh, you're jealous" written all over her face.

Chu Yiqi said, "Stop shipping them. The parties involved say it's fake."

Then she quietly opened Weibo and scrolled through her history—quietly, because if anyone came over, they would see that she was logged into her alternate account and was "inexplicably" acting as the moderator of Xi Ai's super topic.

The likes were from my main account, and they were about Xi Ai being paired with someone else. However, I said I couldn't get into it; the romance was too forced.

"..."

Chu Yiqi glanced at Xi Ai, then lowered his eyes and silently ate his food.

Xi Ai took out her phone and posted the edited Weibo post.

[Future: This is exactly what our main wife is like.]

"It's okay, just consider it an early opening." Anyway, these two are already a couple.

As for the couple that people say they can't ship... well, let them say it. Anyway, the supertopic has been taken down by some guy who got dumped.

Xi Ai, using a pseudonym, went to the CP supertopic she hosted and liked a few posts—all about Chu Yiqi liking them.

The hot pot meal was very harmonious overall, even though everyone was secretly looking at something on their phones.

As soon as Xi Ai put down her chopsticks, Chu Yiqi, without looking up, tore two pieces of paper from the side and handed them to Xi Ai. Xi Ai was taken aback, and then took the paper under Chu Yiqi's slightly embarrassed gaze.

"Thanks."

With the money for dinner secured, Xi Ai comfortably cuddled the honey water Chu Yiqi had once again "habitually" prepared for her, curled up on the sofa watching a concert video.

When they first got together, many people thought that Xi Yuan took care of Chu Yiqi more.

Because of their different experiences, Xi Yuan is better able to adapt and maneuver, helping Chu Yiqi integrate into the group, making up for Chu Yiqi's shortcomings when she first entered the circle, and familiarizing her with some unspoken rules.

But perhaps it was precisely because of their different experiences that Xi Yuan was able to find many things she lacked in Chu Yiqi. From their initial dance performances, Chu Yiqi's repeated support and comfort, his keen insight into all of Xi Yuan's subtle emotions, and his attention to and oversight of many details of her life…

So it was Chu Yiqi who made Xi Yuan more popular, turning her from an idealistic idealist into a three-dimensional person with worldly concerns.

Therefore, their efforts have always been evenly matched, rather than a one-sided redemption by one side, which would be too one-sided and would diminish their own standing.

When Chu Yiqi passed by the sofa, he glanced at it and immediately turned his head away—it was a scene from a school performance when he was abroad.

"..."

Xi Ai noticed the gaze, curled her lips into a smile, and turned around to see Chu Yiqi walking towards the kitchen, holding a bottle of milk that everyone had when they finished eating hot pot—except for Xi Ai.

Chu Yiqi remembered that Xi Ai was very calm when she handed her the milk, and her fingertips were cold.

Xi Ai stood up, holding her phone, and said, "We'll be releasing an album soon, just to see if there are any styles we haven't tried before."

"Hmm." Chu Yiqi looked at Xi Ai, hesitated for a long time, and then said very quietly, "I caught a cold that time, so we had to change the stage at the last minute, and it was a little worse."

Xi Ai hesitated for a moment, but her mouth spoke before her brain: "It's good. This song is rather low in emotion, leaning towards sadness, so the effect is quite good."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xi Ai seemed to know why Chu Yiqi wanted to explain—not for the sake of explanation, but because she genuinely felt that way.

This person has always been like this, always feeling that they are not good enough, not good enough, and have made mistakes, so they are subconsciously cautious in everything they do.

That's probably because of the "you're not as good as others" mentality that's been ingrained in her since childhood. Xi Ai has known this since before.

From as far back as I can remember, I've always felt that people who aren't loved need a lot of love and patience to soften their outer shell and come out of it.

only……

She had succeeded, but was forced to retreat once again.

One more time and it will be fine.

Xi Ai's heart softened. She turned off her phone, forced a smile, and said, "Let's go for a walk?"

Chu Yiqi nodded, hesitated for a moment, and finally handed the hat to Xi Ai, but his tone was still "just showing concern for his teammate": "The sun has set, wear it."

She always remembered that Xi Ai never liked wearing hats, but would hide from her when the sun shone brightly.

Xi Ai took it, and seeing Chu Yiqi carrying another hat to change his shoes, she smiled and followed him.

This villa area is frequented by various public figures, but there are very few people there. So even though Chu Yiqi and Xi Ai haven't been here for a long time, they are still quite familiar with each other.

So Chu Yiqi stopped halfway and looked at the short-legged cat with the whole ball of yarn in front of him.

Chu Yiqi squatted down, stroked the cat's head, and asked Xi Ai without turning around, "Is this Aunt Feng's?"

Xi Ai pointed to the person making a phone call and said, "Yes."

Xi Ai didn't call the person who was trying to avoid suspicion but couldn't completely avoid it, and went over to greet Aunt Feng.

"Is that...Qiqi over there?"

Xi Ai looked back. The sun was about to set, and a light golden glow fell on her, coating her with a soft light. It was very beautiful.

"Yes, they're back." Xi Ai smiled slightly and shook her head. Ms. Feng didn't ask them any more questions, but she felt a little regretful.

"Take it slow," Ms. Feng sighed.

Xi Ai was quite accepting. She looked at Chu Yiqi with slightly curved eyes and said, "It's good that you're willing to come back."

Ms. Feng gave up her spot to them and went to sit on the other side to play with the fish in the pond.

Chu Yiqi was holding the cat and scratching it, but he habitually looked up at Xi Ai.

For no apparent reason, she suddenly had a rather absurd idea.

She felt that although the colors and time of day were warm, Xi Ai standing there felt inexplicably lonely.

But Xi Ai seems to have always been like this: she has a good personality and occasionally likes to joke around with others, but most of the time she just stands aside and keeps others company.

At first, Chu Yiqi attributed this to the fact that people who have never experienced hardship naturally stand in a superior position and watch the joys and sorrows of others, and even felt some resentment towards it.

But I don't know when it started, this idea never came up again.

Chu Yiqi thought for a moment, then stood up while holding the cat. While trying to convince herself that she was just being soft-hearted and caring about her teammate, she muttered to herself, "Look at that hateful older sister over there, so cold-hearted."

Xi Ai didn't hear clearly, but unconsciously relaxed as she looked at Chu Yiqi and watched her approach.

Chu Yiqi walked up to Xi Ai, placed the cat in Xi Ai's arms, and said awkwardly and coldly, "It seems to like you quite a bit."

The cat was very cooperative, pawing at Xi Ai's coat and refusing to let go.

Xi Ai paused for a moment, then took the cat from Chu Yiqi and stroked its fur.

After a few gentle touches, the cat tilted its head back to lick Xi Ai's fingers, and even tried to raise its paw to hug her wrist. Xi Ai instinctively pulled her hand back and put the cat back in Chu Yiqi's arms.

Chu Yiqi paused, seemingly wanting to raise the corners of her mouth, but then held back and said, "The movie queen is afraid of cats?"

"No, it's heavy, I don't want to hug you anymore." Xi Ai turned her head away and silently looked at the sunset, with an expression that said, "Don't talk nonsense, I won't admit it even if you do."

"Okay, you're not afraid? Then come on, let's shake hands—"

Chu Yiqi grabbed the cat's paw and tried to pull Xi Ai's hair, but then realized that her action was inappropriate.

That won't happen again.

After all, I was the one who backed down first, so it's better not to hold onto any lingering thoughts now.

Xi Ai tilted her head back to avoid it, but when she saw the somewhat downcast look in Chu Yiqi's eyes, she slowly stood back and tentatively raised her hand to grasp the cat's paw.

"It won't scratch you, its nails are trimmed." Chu Yiqi tilted her head to look at the cat, then lowered her head and rubbed against it.

Xi Ai placed her hand on it; it was very warm.

"Let's go. Back?" Chu Yiqi played for a while, then looked up at Xi Ai, her tone and stance again avoiding suspicion.

Xi Ai nodded, took a breath to comfort herself, and looked away from the phone screen that had been recording.

On the way back, we didn't talk much and kept a distance from each other, but we were a little more natural than when we first met.

"Hmm... send me that video later, I'll edit it into a vlog."

"good."

Xi Ai picked up her phone, half a step behind Chu Yiqi. Actually, sending a video would have been quick, but Xi Ai dragged her feet for ages.

Even though they hadn't seen each other for two years, and even though Chu Yiqi had broken up with her long ago, Xi Ai still kept her chat with Chu Yiqi at the top of her list.

After clicking into the chat box, Xi Ai looked up at Chu Yiqi in front of her. The moment their eyes met, everything around them went silent.

Having confirmed that Xi Ai was looking at her phone, or perhaps because their eyes met briefly, Chu Yiqi quickly looked away and said casually, "Watch where you're going."

Xi Ai thought of something, her eyes unconsciously curving into a smile. While scrolling through several videos, she replied, "It's okay. You weren't looking at your phone this time, so you won't fall into the ditch."

"..." Chu Yiqi then remembered something from a long time ago.

-

They weren't together yet at that time; at most, they admired each other.

That day was the eve of the group's formation, but the results weren't released until the next day, so no one mentioned it.

Xi Ai said, "Shall we go get some barbecue?"

"Where to?" Chu Yiqi's first thought was whether this young lady was planning to go somewhere to eat, and whether she was used to the two of them and had invited him to come along.

Unexpectedly, Xi Ai gave a very ordinary place name, and when they arrived, they found that it was just a stall in front of the No. 1 Middle School.

"So, Miss Xi is also considerate of the people's plight?" Chu Yiqi picked up her chopsticks and teased Xi Ai, half-jokingly.

The habit of bickering whenever we meet, which I've developed over time, hasn't changed yet, but my tone and feelings are completely different now.