Unfinished feelings
"If you have free time, why don't you go and take a break?"
Chu Yiqi didn't say anything, looked at Xi Ai, and went over to take the half of the watermelon he had put down.
Xi Ai glanced at her distractedly, then scooped the grapes out: "I won't take responsibility if you hurt them."
The person next to her remained silent, but suddenly felt that Xi Ai's attitude was not quite what she had expected, as if it always carried something she was unsure about.
In that instant, she remembered a dream from a very long time ago.
-
Back then, Xi Ai would leisurely wash something on the side while she cut fruit.
Xi Ai jokingly said to her, half-jokingly, "I can't afford to get injured like this. Your fans would drown me."
"Am I that useless?" Chu Yiqi turned her head, and Xi Ai threw the water in her hand at her.
As soon as Chu Yiqi put down his knife, he immediately soaked it in water and chased after Xi Ai.
"Hey, hey, do your fans know how stingy you are?"
"Do your fans know how annoying you are?" Chu Yiqi clearly sensed that Xi Ai wasn't running seriously, so he quickly caught up with her and splashed water all over her face.
"You know, he always makes fun of me every time we meet."
-
"Oh, you never know, do you?" Xi Ai's eyes narrowed, she grabbed Chu Yiqi's hand and snatched the knife, then pulled her hand to rinse it before hurriedly running to the entrance to find a band-aid.
When Xi Ai returned, Chu Yiqi was pressing his hand; the bleeding had actually stopped. Xi Ai wiped away the blood from the wound, bent down, and carefully applied the dressing while blowing on it.
The band-aid was clearly Xi Ai's own, and she even specifically picked out a butterfly patterned one from that pile of colorful ones.
"What are you standing there for?" Xi Ai's tone wasn't exactly pleasant, but it was more out of anxiety.
Chu Yiqi lowered his eyes and spoke in a rather illogical way: "Xi Ai, you remember we broke up, right?"
Xi Ai remained silent for a long time before turning her head and placing the grapes in the porcelain plate.
Chu Yiqi regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth. She stood to the side, one hand covering her wound.
She thought Xi Ai wouldn't answer, but Xi Ai waved her hand and replied calmly, "I know, I remember it very clearly. But you're not like this with your teammates, are you?"
Chu Yiqi opened his mouth, but didn't know where to begin.
As Xi Ai slowly sliced the watermelon, she said, "Perhaps you shouldn't have come in if you wanted to avoid this situation."
Chu Yiqi, quick to apply what he had just learned, said, "Do you treat others like this?"
"..."
Chu Yiqi rarely said more than a few words, and it seemed like he was trying to cover up the truth: "So why bother reminding me? It's obvious that you yourself can't be completely indifferent."
Chu Yiqi's eyes hurt a little, and he seemed to want to say something, but he opened his mouth several times but couldn't say anything.
As soon as Chu Yiqi left, Xi Ai also put down her knife and stood there looking at the kitchen doorway.
"Why bother? That's not what I meant..." She shook her head and sighed.
Chu Yiqi left the kitchen but didn't go back to the living room. She went to find something and then came back.
Xi Ai didn't turn around, but as she heard the footsteps approaching, she was quite surprised: "You're coming back?"
"Come and see, just in case you steal some or poison me."
Xi Ai suddenly laughed: "What era are we living in? Poisoning is so outdated. If it were me, I would just use food incompatibility and then get poisoned."
"What's wrong with this era? Poison is so useful."
"Chu Yiqi, if we've broken up, can't we treat each other a little more equally?" Xi Ai didn't continue the conversation, but instead took the initiative to stir up trouble.
Chu Yiqi paused for a moment, then said while making tea, "Why wouldn't I?"
“You’re not like that with other people. You’re always so confrontational and prickly.” Xi Ai put the fruit down, turned around, and looked at Chu Yiqi with great interest.
"Then you'd better bear with it, Actress Xi." Chu Yiqi pursed her lips and finished the second half of her sentence, "You taught me a long time ago that if you know something is impossible, you might as well distance yourself from it as soon as possible."
Xi Ai frowned, feeling that Chu Yiqi was different now than before, especially... difficult to deal with.
"You know what? Your current attitude is really giving me the wrong impression."
Chu Yiqi suddenly realized what Xi Ai hadn't said. Holding the teapot, she turned her head and said, "You said it yourself, it was just an illusion."
Chu Yiqi was actually still regretful, regretting that he insisted on fighting for his pride and came back to say a few more words.
He said a few things that, rationally speaking, should not have been uttered.
Mu might be right now; he is very different from before, and also very conflicted.
As soon as the two went outside, Yu Nianxi noticed Chu Yiqi's change and exclaimed, "Oh my god, baby, what happened to your hand?"
"I accidentally cut myself," Chu Yiqi said slowly after putting the plate down.
"Then I dare not drink this tea." Shi Yunshan noticed the even stranger atmosphere between the two people and quickly tried to change the subject with a joke.
Xi Ai sat down and stopped looking at the script. In fact, she had only been pretending to look at it at first: "Then I'll drink the first cup."
After a while of commotion, the murder mystery game officially began, with Su Luo gradually becoming the DM (Dragon Talker).
Xi Ai looked at the few pages of the script, almost laughing. What she saw was simple: You are Jiang Qi, originally from a happy family. Your mother is a businesswoman, your father is the curator of a museum, and you have a boyfriend who, although from a poor family, is deeply devoted to you. Then, a deliberately staged car accident caused you to lose your memory…
No, if you have one boyfriend, how can you have more than one? Can you also have a girlfriend?
No, I'm crazy too, thinking about things that have absolutely nothing to do with me.
Before they could get to the next step, a doorbell rang, interrupting them.
Yu Nianxi: "...No, we can't just stop playing around, right?"
"Keep it, we can continue during the group variety show." Meng Yike put the things away and patted Yu Nianxi.
Yu Nianxi quickly accepted reality: "Never mind, hot pot is more important. After all, it's not easy for Actress Xi to treat me to hot pot."
Chu Yiqi watched as the others went to get the things, then went to the kitchen with Su Luojian to get bowls and chopsticks.
Su Luojian quietly asked her, "What are you thinking?"
"Nothing much, she's busy after the variety show ends anyway." Chu Yiqi didn't need to ask to know that Su Luojian was worried about her and Xi Ai.
Su Luo was somewhat exasperated. She said, "Even if Xi Ai doesn't know, it's still indirectly because of her going abroad. Even a dog could see that Xi Ai can't let go of it. Are you just going to leave it like this?"
The person directly involved, after hearing Xi Ai's statement, was speechless.
"Sister Luo, I didn't go abroad entirely because of her. She doesn't need to take this responsibility. Besides..." Chu Yiqi didn't finish her sentence. After a while, she changed the subject, "Forget it, you and your husband should just be good to each other and stop worrying. It'll give you wrinkles."
Besides, she's doing well now, whether it's her career or anything else. Why should I drag her along with all those other things on her plate?
"Forget it, you young people should handle your own affairs."
"You're young too."
"That's different, there's a generation gap—"
Chu Yiqi smiled and said nothing more. Watching Xi Ai enter, he said, "Alright, let's go."
When Xi Ai returned, she stared at a carton of milk with a worried expression: she disliked pure milk the most, and now, the old man found out that she had delivered a hot pot, so he intercepted the delivery and added another carton of milk.
When Chu Yiqi came out, the first thing he saw was not the hot pot, but the milk on the corner of the table, and then Xi Ai's bitter and resentful look.
"Wow, doesn't this place not deliver?" Yu Nianxi, who had just finished packing, looked at the hot pot and said to Xi Ai while helping out.
Xi Ai shrugged, her innocent tone carrying a chilling undertone: "Tell me, is there such a thing as 'connections' in this world?"
"Your home?" Meng Yike suddenly remembered the scene at the door where Xi Ai was grabbed to receive milk, and her tone was hesitant.
"No, friend, it was the movie two years ago where we acted opposite each other."
"Isn't that the one with your Best Actress award?" Nie Chuiying continued holding her tablet as soon as she returned, and whether intentionally or not, she said, "You two were such a popular couple a while ago, what a pity..."
Yu Nianxi quickly went over: "What's wrong? You didn't look at this."
For some inexplicable reason, Xi Ai glanced at Chu Yiqi whenever the topic of pairing up with other people came up.
Chu Yiqi's expression did show a moment of awkwardness, as if she was still curious, but she quickly suppressed it.
Tsk, you should really go into acting too.
Xi Ai withdrew her gaze, walked over, and said in a cold tone: "The super topic was shut down, so what else could happen?"
"ah?"
Nie Chuiying finally found an opportunity to ask: "Was it you?"
"I don't know, besides, you're not even in a hurry, why are you so anxious?" Xi Ai changed the subject, a smile playing on her lips, and said, "It is a pity, some of the pictures are so beautiful."
"Some fanfiction is really well-written."
Chu Yiqi fell silent and sat down at the table. Xi Ai, seeing that things were going well, also chose a seat directly opposite Chu Yiqi.
Meng Yike felt that as the team leader, she shouldn't just watch the two of them being awkward, but... it's normal for exes not to be overly hostile when they meet.
Forget it, I can't see it or understand it anyway.
After everyone sat down, the first thing Shi Yunshan said was, "Xi Ai, a hot pot with two broths? No..."
Shi Yunshan belatedly realized that today was different from other times in the past two years, and swallowed the rest of her sentence. However, she still couldn't avoid being stared at by Xi Ai and the captain.
Xi Ai didn't speak, but silently took out a piece of paper to place on the side and turned the clear soup in front of Chu Yiqi.
"Thanks."
Xi Ai didn't reply. She picked up a plate of beef—without chili peppers—and, in full view of everyone, put it all into half of the clear broth.
From the moment Xi Ai saw Chu Yiqi, she was thinking: I didn't do anything wrong while studying abroad, so why has she lost so much weight?
After Xi Ai finished putting the plate down, she didn't say anything, placing it aside without expecting or caring about any response.
She simply felt that she wanted to do it, and as for what feedback Chu Yiqi gave, that was her prerogative.
On the other side, Chu Yiqi was stunned, but when she looked up at Xi Ai, she didn't know how to look Xi Ai in the eye, and she didn't dare to respond.
Meng Yike noticed the undercurrents between the two, but couldn't quite figure it out, so she quietly took out her phone and tagged Nie Chuiying in the group chat.
[@Sob sob... Why did you change your name to this again?]
Nie Chuiying cut out the original line of text and replied to the message first.
I like it, but you don't care.
Meng Yike's message and Nie Chuiying's pasted text appeared almost simultaneously.
[What's going on with them? They're so strange.]
[I think I need to write a fanfiction about ex-lovers meeting, one still harboring feelings, testing the waters step by step, with undercurrents swirling... Please, let me eat this delicious food first.]
"..."
You guys are obsessed with shipping...
Meng Yike put down her phone and said, "Hey, did you see that the group's variety show is trending?"
Su Luo was unsurprised: "There was some hype beforehand, it's not like it's the first time it's been trending."
"Haha, we are—a super popular group."
"Alright, let's eat. One by one, what are you doing looking at Weibo? You too, stop reading fanfiction. I didn't say anything to you last time on the variety show. You can look at it, but you still got caught on camera."
Nie Chuiying obediently put it down—feeling guilty as she did so: "I didn't expect her to come up and record me instead of recording from the stage, and even from a distance, it was in high definition."
"Okay, are you going to eat or not?"
"Eat, eat, eat."
Xi Ai was somewhat absent-minded throughout the meal, perhaps because the heat was making her eyes blurry. She suddenly remembered a hot pot meal she had a long time ago.
It wasn't actually that long ago, only two years ago.
It happened to be a snowy day, so she told the director and went out to have dinner with Chu Yiqi.
It's the same hot pot restaurant, and it's also a yin-yang pot (half hot pot, half mild).
She even tricked Chu Yiqi into eating spicy food back then: "Why don't you try it? I ordered the mild version this time, and I just dipped it in the broth."
The statement about "mildly spicy" is true, but in reality, Xi Ai didn't rinse the food with water.
After Chu Yiqi finished eating, he covered his mouth to catch his breath and reached out to Xi Ai for a tissue.
Xi Ai, looking pleased with herself for her scheme, handed over a piece of paper, but before Chu Yiqi could retract her hand, she placed a box in Chu Yiqi's hand instead.
It was a ring box. The ring was specially chosen by Xi Ai; it wasn't expensive, but it was beautiful.
The main reason was that Chu Yiqi had glanced at the designs a few times while passing by a jewelry store.
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