eye-catching bag
Hu Tong and Cheng Zhou began a long cold war.
Even at their high school reunion, the two would tacitly agree to have one attend the first half and the other the second half.
Hu Tong attended the first half of the gathering, which included a dinner, while Cheng Zhou attended the second half, which involved karaoke.
Faced with He Qiuying's question, Hu Tong, biting her straw, said, "I don't know why he didn't come. Maybe he's on a diet. I'm not that close to him."
“Not—very—close—” He Qiuying drawled, her smile somewhat mischievous. “If you and Cheng Zhou can be considered not very close, then I’m not very close to my mom either.”
Six months have passed, and her short, ear-length hair has now fallen smoothly over her collarbone.
Hu Tong pinched the straw, stirred the soy milk in the glass bottle, and asked irritably, "You also think that, in terms of the mother-son relationship, Cheng Zhou is too unfilial to me, right?"
“He used to say I was like his mother, but what kind of son is this disobedient? He’s lying!”
"...I didn't say that." He Qiuying looked helpless. "Stop playing dumb, Tongtong. If you want to tell me why you two had a fight, I'll listen. If you don't want to tell me, just say so. It's not difficult for you, is it?"
"How can it not be difficult? In your heart, am I the kind of person who talks nonsense without thinking? Sigh, all of this is too difficult for me."
Hu Tong hesitated, his mind torn between being honest with his friend and not wanting to lose face.
Finally, she bit the straw, puffed out her cheeks, and blew air into the soy milk. Strings of fine white bubbles rolled and burst in the glass bottle, only to rise to the surface again.
A very clumsy way to escape.
“Even my cousin who’s still in kindergarten wouldn’t do something like this, Hu Tong,” He Qiuying muttered as she got up to deal with her old classmate who came to offer a toast.
The crystal chandelier cast a warm yellow light over everyone's heads.
The group of people made jokes to each other, such as "You've changed so much!" and "Don't forget me when you become rich and powerful," acting as awkwardly as little children trying on their parents' shoes, and even their laughter sounded somewhat forced.
Hu Tong loved to hear compliments, but disliked this kind of insincere praise delivered in bulk. He would say perfunctorily, "You too, you too..." and send off several groups of laughing and joking old classmates with milk instead of wine.
She plopped back down in her seat, sighed, and said, "Okay, I'll tell you..."
“That’s right, that’s right, sigh,” Hu Tong stammered, finally managing to utter a single sentence after a long pause, “He doesn’t want to kiss me.”
He Qiuying didn't respond for a moment, but her slightly narrowed eyes shone with a shrewd light that seemed to see through everything.
Hu Tong reluctantly added, "Okay, it was me who wanted to force a kiss on him."
"Why doesn't he agree?" He Qiuying asked abruptly.
Hu Tong looked at her in disbelief: "Forced kiss? Do you even know what that means? It's kissing someone without their consent. He Qiuying, you used to be the class representative for Chinese!"
He Qiuying was speechless: "Of course I know what a forced kiss means. What I'm asking is why Cheng Zhou didn't 'happily' accept your forced kiss. What happened?"
Hu Tong didn't know why He Qiuying emphasized the words "happy" and didn't have time to think about it. At this moment, she felt quite nervous, like she was sitting in the defendant's seat. She picked at her fingers and told He Qiuying the whole story in detail.
Her wealthy and talented roommate, Cheng Zhou's unusual behavior of inviting her to dinner, and his inexplicable remarks.
He Qiuying took a big gulp of soy milk, a satisfied smile appearing on her face after hearing the gossip.
She said slowly, "I thought it was some kind of emotional problem, but people have already given you the answer, Hu Tong."
"Didn't Cheng Zhou already tell you that he wants you to kiss him because he likes you, not because he wants to possess you?"
"How can I not be possessive of others? Isn't this just liking someone? It's enough to just show it; he can be secretly happy about it, and he's even angry with me," Hu Tong retorted stubbornly. "I even asked him if he wanted to date. I was rejected on my first confession; how embarrassing! I should be the one who's angry!"
To keep this secret from being overheard by outsiders, the two girls stood very close together. Hu Tong rattled off a string of words, and He Qiuying felt as if her words were bullets hitting her head, bang bang bang.
Even the good-tempered He Qiuying was provoked a bit by Hu Tong's unreasonable and arrogant attitude.
"Forget it, forget it. This person is the top scorer in the city, so let him be a little arrogant." He Qiuying told herself this, speaking in a tone as if coaxing a kindergarten child.
“Your anger and his anger are not contradictory, Hu Tong. He feels that his feelings for you have not been respected, so he is angry.”
"Some people are just more particular about... well... a sense of ritual. He's not wrong, and neither are you."
As He Qiuying spoke, she silently apologized to Cheng Zhou.
There was no other way; even though Hu Tong was in the wrong, if she didn't express her support, it would be her good friend who was in the wrong.
Hu Tong patted He Qiuying on the shoulder with relief and said, "Since neither of us is wrong, it's better to talk it out, right?"
“Hmm…” He Qiuying nodded repeatedly.
Hu Tong was so excited that he raised his hand and said, "Class monitor, there's one more person to go to karaoke tonight, I want to go too!"
"Sure," the class monitor at the next table casually agreed, without asking Hu Tong why he initially said he wouldn't go but now wanted to, since it meant one more person could pocket the money.
Disappointed by the class monitor's indifferent attitude, Hu Tong pulled out his phone and said boldly, "By the way! I want to treat—"
Invitation for what? A treat? He Qiuying couldn't believe her ears. When did Hu Tong become so generous?
As the people at several tables waited in hushed tones, Hu Tong grinned and said, "Waiter, please bring a bowl of rice."
"cut--"
Everyone condemned Hu Tong for making a mountain out of a molehill.
The class monitor laughed and scolded, "You're such a show-off! Why are you taking out your phone to ask for rice?"
Hu Tong smugly hummed, "Can't you just check the time? Why are you staring at my phone? Don't you guys have phones?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
