Autumn is the time to go
"The 'yiqi' in 'Chu Yiqi' means 'to wait until autumn'."
Another voice was indifferent, yet inexplicably gentle. She said, "Clearly, it is to gain fame, hoping that everything in the future will be promising."
She looked up toward the source of the sound, but it was as if a layer of fog obscured her vision; she couldn't see clearly or remember anything.
The dream was fragmented, seemingly real yet unreal. The person in the dream shifted slightly uneasy, their brow furrowing.
"What's the point of raising you all these years! Look at the state you've become!"
The person in front of her was still indistinct, but Chu Yiqi instinctively avoided them, as if they were someone she dared not face. Then, someone else appeared beside her, and that person grabbed her wrist.
It was strange; she shouldn't have felt warmth in her dream, but that hand truly felt cold to her, yet she just couldn't bring herself to pull it away.
The person in front of me, enraged, gradually distorted and then completely dissipated into the mist.
...
Chu Yiqi suddenly opened her eyes, sweat beading on her forehead. Even though it was summer, she felt cold, as if the chill was seeping from her very bones.
She picked up her phone: It's almost four o'clock.
Chu Yiqi stood up. Since she couldn't fall back asleep anyway, she slowly packed her things and picked up her suitcase to leave.
-
Domestically, in the northern part of the city.
Xi Ai glanced at her incessantly ringing phone, gestured to the person on the other end, and then picked it up.
"What's wrong, Sister Luo Jian?" Xi Ai caught the ball with her backhand and asked with a smile.
Su Luojian deliberately said coldly, "I'm not buying that. Where are you?"
"at home."
"Pah, I heard the sound of ping-pong balls."
Xi Ai collected the ball and said innocently, "Sister, when I said 'at home,' I meant my little villa in the suburbs."
Su Luojian: "...Okay, I forgot. Remember, you have to be back tonight."
"Remember, the group variety show starts tomorrow, let's have dinner today."
"Alright, come by yourself at four o'clock. I'm still at the company."
"Tsk." Xi Ai questioned, half-jokingly, "I won the Best Actress award, right? Everyone else has someone to pick them up, but you made me come all by myself?"
Su Luojian said speechlessly, "I don't know you? You won't accept the questioning. Xiao He went to pick up Yiqi, and the others arrived earlier."
Xi Ai remained silent for a long time, perhaps because she hadn't heard that name in a long time. Her expression changed several times in that instant, and she had long lost the carefree and casual manner she had when she was joking with Su Luojian at the beginning.
"She's back?"
"Do you know this is called a group variety show? She'll definitely come back."
Xi Ai lost interest in continuing the conversation and replied, "Oh, I know. I'll be right there after I get ready."
On the other side, Su Luo sighed.
She was one of the few people who knew about the two of them's past, but she couldn't offer any advice.
Especially after the two of them repeatedly said, "Don't worry, it won't affect your work," they were even more at a loss for words.
They have to solve their own problems.
afternoon.
Xi Ai appeared at the villa entrance carrying a suitcase. But she didn't go in—she couldn't.
She pulled down her mask, frowning as she stared at the combination lock with a bitter expression.
How much was it again?
Tsk, I should have just recorded my fingerprint.
Xi Ai had gone over several passwords in her mind and was about to try them when Su Luojian suddenly opened the door. The two stared at each other, neither of them saying a word.
When Xi Ai saw Su Luojian's lips twitch, she quickly said, "Don't laugh."
It would have been better if she hadn't mentioned it, because once she did, Su Luo wanted to laugh even more.
"Oh dear, our movie queen can't remember the password?"
"..." Xi Ai stared at her for a long time before asking the question she had always wanted to ask, "Other people's agents are not like you."
Su Luo calmly said, "Then go find someone else."
"How could that be, Sister Luo Jian?" Xi Ai entered the room with a smile, but when she didn't see the person she wanted to see, a moment of disappointment flashed in her eyes.
"Long time no see—"
"Come on, Best Actress, sit here with me!"
The group of people who had arrived earlier greeted each other, and Yu Nianxi, who never liked to stir things up, shouted, "We're late, let's have a drink first?"
"A whole bottle? You're so heartless, little sister."
Yu Nianxi: "Slightly tipsy. You don't care."
Xi Ai smiled and went over: "I'm the youngest in the team, so I can't say anything to you, right?"
"Yes!" Yu Nianxi shouted stiffly, then turned to Meng Yike to complain, "Captain, did you see her threatening me?"
After weighing the options, Meng Yike decided to side with the child: "I saw it. What a despicable person."
"..." Okay.
Xi Ai pouted and picked up her constantly vibrating phone: "Go ahead and complain, go outside and take this call."
"What kind of phone call is so shameful?" Yu Nianxi was about to stir up trouble when Meng Yike quickly covered her mouth.
"If you understand and have the nerve to keep listening, then come out with me," Xi Ai said indifferently.
"Hey, look at her!"
"Say it! Say it!"
The others watched as the acknowledged group bully and the group's darling argued, but remained silent.
"What's wrong, Grandpa?"
The elderly man on the other side was kind: "Did I disturb you?"
"No, I haven't caused any trouble lately."
"...Who said that? I got you some freshly arrived fruit, go get it yourself."
"You can keep it for yourself."
Grandpa Xi never shortchanges himself: "Do you need to tell me? I didn't save any of the gifts for you, but I suddenly remembered that you were going to record the group variety show, so I had someone buy you some more."
"...Fine, I was just doing it on the side, wasn't I?"
"Then think of it that way." Old Master Xi wasn't going to waste any more words with her. "Go for a walk. You'd better hang up now."
Xi Ai stood in the small garden outside the house for a while: No, it's summer, why is it so cold... Oh, it's just that my heart is cold. It's alright then.
Before she could go out to get it, another person pushed the door open and came in.
The person who arrived wore a white ruffled blouse with a light green long skirt. Xi Ai immediately noticed that the blouse was made of silk and had subtle embroidery.
Chu Yiqi paused for a moment before walking in, while Xi Ai remained motionless, calmly watching her approach.
—But even this calm was an act.
"Long time no see." Chu Yiqi politely extended a hand.
Xi Ai finally came to her senses. She looked at Chu Yiqi's hand, and after a moment of hesitation, she still took his hand, polite yet distant.
"Um."
Chu Yiqi wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that there was a fleeting, indescribable, and very familiar look in Xi Ai's eyes.
Yes, she had seen it a long time ago—most obviously the meanings she dared not look at directly.
Chu Yiqi lowered her eyes, the shadows cast by her eyelashes obscuring them, making it impossible to discern her emotions.
Yes, it's normal for her to look at me like that, isn't it?
For no apparent reason, Chu Yiqi felt a little disappointed, but she quickly suppressed it and her expression returned to normal when she looked up.
"Are you going out to get something?"
"Um?"
"They said it was ours when they brought it in, and let me take it in. Look, isn't it?"
Xi Ai looked at the suitcase on Chu Yiqi's suitcase and said, "Thank you. Shall I carry it?"
There was no other meaning behind it, but Chu Yiqi just felt inexplicably flustered.
I always felt that Xi Ai was just being polite and trying to distance herself, but she still disliked me after all.
Xi Ai hadn't thought of going this way; she just felt it wasn't good to have people carrying everything, plus a bit of concern that had become muscle memory.
When the two of them entered the house together, the other five people stared at them, and then they all started to invite them to sit down.
Seeing Chu Yiqi's expression, Xi Ai went over and chose a seat near the middle, pulling Yu Nianxi to sit with her. Meng Yike thought about how the two of them interacted and said, "You two shouldn't sit alone together."
So the next moment, two people sat down to Xi Ai's left.
The other two glanced at Chu Yiqi and then at Xi Ai, silently forming a circle around Xi Ai. Finally, Shi Yunshan had to smile and call out to Chu Yiqi, who had just put down his luggage: "Hurry up and sit down, it's still early, we'll have hot pot later."
“Yeah, come on, let’s play a murder mystery game! I just bought it!” Yu Nianxi pulled a box out from under the table.
Xi Ai looked up at her, but her expression was somewhat cold. She said, "Are you jet-lagged?"
As soon as she said it, Xi Ai paused for a moment—even though they hadn't seen each other for two years, she hadn't changed her habits.
Chu Yiqi was also taken aback, seemingly not expecting Xi Ai to speak first. She nodded and sat down next to Meng Yike, making a perfect circle of six people.
"Still playing around? Do you know what we're having for dinner today?" Su Luojian went to the balcony early to call her family, and when she came back, she saw these people studying her script.
Yu Nianxi: "Sister Luo, why don't you be the host?"
"Come on, let's talk about what we want to eat first."
Xi Ai looked up from her script: "Ask ACE."
It took Chu Yiqi a moment to realize that the "ACE" was referring to himself.
"?"
Yu Nianxi tugged at Meng Yike's sleeve, picked up her phone and typed: "Didn't we break up?"
"Then their way of getting along is different from before."
Between typing, Xi Ai said again, "She hasn't been back for a long time, let her choose."
This person is so contradictory. They should keep a proper distance, but they can't help but care and deliberately tease others.
She attributed it to... habit.
—Some habits that I still can't let go of even after two years.
Chu Yiqi looked at Xi Ai with a complicated and conflicted expression. After hesitating for a while, he said, "Then let's have hot pot?"
Su Luojian did not refuse, but said half-jokingly, "Let me say this first, today's meal will not be reimbursed."
"They're treating people to meals because of the storefront."
Yu Nianxi nudged Xi Ai, but Xi Ai's gaze remained fixed on Chu Yiqi: "Go ahead and harass me, huh?"
"Yes."
"Then why don't we have someone send it over?"
"OK."
Xi Ai stood up and said, "Wait a minute, let's wash some fruit."
Do you need help?
Xi Ai stared at Shi Yunshan: "Will you come?"
"No, just asking politely."
"..."
Chu Yiqi listened to their conversation, chuckled softly, closed her notebook, and stood up as soon as Xi Ai left, saying, "I just came back and bought a watermelon. Go cut it up."
Everyone knew what the other person was thinking, so once they left, the four of them secretly gossiped with Su Luojian.
Yu Nianxi spoke first: "So what's their situation?"
"It's awkward after a breakup."
"I never asked who broke up with them. Weren't they so lovey-dovey?" Even when Shi Yunshan was gossiping, she remained calm and always seemed to have a stable demeanor.
Yu Nianxi pulled out a bag of potato chips from somewhere and started crunching them.
Nie Chuiying looked up from a pile of fanfiction and said mysteriously, "I think it's Xi Ai. Look at our Qi Qi, so aggrieved and cautious."
Yes, feeling wronged, I went abroad to avoid seeing or hearing about it.
That despicable bully came back and gave people the cold shoulder, pretending to be so indifferent.
“That’s right, poor Qiqi, and that despicable person.” Yu Nianxi, always eager for a good show, chimed in while eating.
Meng Yike glanced at her and snatched her potato chips without hesitation.
Yu Nianxi: "...I bet a hundred that Xi Ai suggested it."
"Two hundred, for the deposit period."
"That's about it," Su Luojian, the only one in the know, watched them gossip for a long time with a helpless expression. "They have even more imaginations than CP fans."
“Those little girls are way crazier than us.” Nie Chuiying flipped through her tablet, and one fanfiction after another popped up. “The CP fans have come up with countless versions of ABO with a baby running away. Shall I read them?”
"Try to watch less, sis." Shi Yunshan glanced at her screen, caught a few words, and finally couldn't help but seriously advise her.
"You don't care."
The people in the kitchen had no idea how noisy it was outside. These two were too busy bickering for no reason to pay attention.
When Xi Ai saw Chu Yiqi enter, she asked for some reason, "What are you doing here?"
"I..." Chu Yiqi was stunned and immediately felt that Xi Ai was trying to get rid of him.
Before she could explain, Xi Ai added half a sentence.
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