Chapter 19
Zhao Lin always followed the two of them closely.
He Xi turned around and glanced at him several times, and the man returned to his cold and arrogant look.
She simply couldn't compare him to the boy who had competed with her in the kitchen to wash the dishes a few hours ago.
"Are you sure he's the doll cousin you always talked about when you were a kid?"
Although he was very sure, He Xi still couldn't accept this fact.
"It's absolutely true."
Yang Jia glanced back at Zhao Lin, and seeing that the boy's eyes were blank, she leaned over to whisper in He Xi's ear.
"You saw him when you were little, have you forgotten?"
"We both tied his hair into pigtails, changed his skirt into mine, and stole my mom's lipstick to put on him..."
He Xi had done this kind of thing more than once when she was a child. She searched her mind for a long time and finally found some clues.
"Oh, I remember now—you smeared lipstick all over a kid's face, and when he looked in the mirror, he burst into tears and ran straight into my arms. Was that him?"
He Xi's face was filled with excitement, as if he had really returned to his childhood, and his voice was a little uncontrollable.
If Yang Jia hadn't reminded her with a twitching eye, she would probably have danced right in front of the real person.
Listening to the chattering laughter in front of him, Zhao Lin's hands in his pockets unconsciously rubbed the small stones that he had polished until they were slightly smooth.
"Brother, we are going to have a barbecue, do you want to come?"
He Xi had already sent a message to Xiang Yuzhi, asking her to meet him at the barbecue stall. He also invited Jiang Yue to come along.
As for the date with Zhao Lin, He Xi didn't know why, but after confirming that he was the little boy in his memory, he unconsciously felt a sense of familiarity in his heart.
She seemed to be returning to her childhood, with her chin slightly raised and a hint of teasing in her expectant eyes.
Zhao Lin looked up at the girl a few steps away, his eyes serious, not missing any subtle changes in her expression at this moment.
"Tsk, forget it."
After a few seconds of pause, the boy didn't seem to have any intention of agreeing. He Xi muttered something dully and turned to continue walking.
When Yang Jia saw the person turn around, she met Zhao Lin's gaze directly. There was undisguised disgust in both of their eyes, and there was no trace of the warmth she remembered just now.
*
As soon as the group sat down, Xiang Yuzhi began to show his social toughness.
Before He Xi could finish her detailed introduction, she had already scanned Yang Jia's friend QR code.
"Hey, He Xixi, I invited them to join the group, huh?"
He Xi didn't comment, opened the group chat and silently modified the notes of several people.
"Pretty Girl and the Beast?"
"This group name is quite interesting!"
Yang Jia's eyes swept across the faces of the two boys opposite her, and she smiled with a hint of gloating.
"Yeah, I think so too." Xiang Yuzhi suppressed a smile and turned his head to glance at the two boys with different temperaments next to him: "Anyway, I hope everyone can have fun in the group!"
"Also, the most important thing is—you must take me with you when you rank up in the game!"
He Xi listened to the two of them talking back and forth, raised his hand and divided the newly served skewers of meat into the grill pan opposite.
"Did you tell the chef to bake some without chili?"
On a summer night in Yixing Street, every stall is filled with diners and the surrounding area is bustling with people.
He Xi picked up a string of meat tendons and was about to put it to his mouth when he heard Jiang Yue's voice.
The boy's eyes fell on her hands, and his intention was obvious.
"This is just a little bit of chili, it won't be a problem." She pinched the tip of her index finger to gesture to Jiang Yue.
As we were talking, we saw the boss walking over with a large plate of his signature freshly baked pork belly and calling out loudly.
"Besides, I just want to taste it, I won't eat too much."
He Xi moved closer to him, and his voice unconsciously became higher.
Jiang Yue wanted to say something else, but when he looked up, he met her clear eyes that seemed to be able to speak.
For a moment, there seemed to be a moment of silence around.
"cough--"
He Xi noticed that the tips of the ears of the person in front of him were gradually turning red, coughed lightly, and unsurely distanced himself from the other person.
The table was gradually filled with grilled skewers and sparkling drinks. The group ate and chatted, completely immersed in the noisy environment around them.
Yang Jia has been in the south for several years, but her taste has not changed much.
"After all, the taste of Yixing Old Street is absolutely amazing!"
"Many times I dreamt I was eating skewers, but I woke up before the meat even reached my mouth. I was so angry that I pounded the bed."
He Xi couldn't help but feel distressed and amused when he saw her talking with gritted teeth.
"Then why did you come back just now? It's just a plane ticket. You can come back anytime you want to eat."
Xiang Yuzhi is like this. As long as he has the idea of where to go and what to eat, he can take action at any time.
But after she said that, she saw that the person who was so excited just now suddenly lowered his head and fell silent, and she suddenly realized something.
Xiang Yuzhi's life was indeed easy. While He Xi and the others were still taking their exams, she had already received an admission notice from a foreign school.
"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean anything else."
Yang Jia raised her head and smiled casually, the coolness of the iced soda in her hand spread from her hands to her heart.
"You don't have to apologize. This isn't what makes me sad."
Her eyes swept across He Xi's face beside her, "Actually, I still have some shadows about Lancheng."
He Xi reached out and held her bony hand, feeling vaguely that something was getting out of his control.
"Jia Jia..."
"Speaking of this, I wonder if Tan Zheng has become more restrained now. Does anyone know?"
He Xi's words were interrupted, and when she met Yang Jia's interested gaze, she felt a little sad in her heart.
"Well……"
Xiang Yuzhi looked around at the faces of the people at the table, opened his mouth but said nothing.
"Jia Jia, let's not talk about this today, okay? Some things should be left in the past. There's no need to dwell on them and make things difficult for yourself."
"Let it go?"
Yang Jia snorted softly and muttered the same thing. After a long while, she still couldn't suppress the anger welling up in her heart. She broke free from He Xi's hand, and her voice was filled with indignation when she spoke again.
"She takes advantage of someone holding her shoes to bully and insult her classmates at will. But in the end, she gets away with nothing, while we, the victims, are left trembling in fear and suffering all the time!"
A few images flashed through He Xi's mind, and he was stunned, his eyes fixed on the somewhat cold skewers of meat in front of him.
The sound in my ears continued.
"There's no way I'm going to let this go. This is clearly the behavior of a self-deceiving coward!"
As she finished speaking, He Xi's heart was shaken, and he turned to look at the people around him in disbelief. At this moment, he finally had the most real feeling about Yang Jia, who was completely different from a few years ago.
"Didn't you come back to take the college entrance examination?"
"Yes, besides that, there are other important things to do."
Yang Jia looked calm and confident. After she finished speaking, she took a bite of the cold meat skewer in her hand and raised her hand to greet the people at the table with different expressions.
"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this anymore. Look at my brother, he seems to dislike me at all."
The boy who was called out really didn't say much the whole time. He Xi followed her gaze, thought of something, and gradually came to his senses.
Their eyes met, and Zhao Lin was staring at her without blinking, with an inexplicable scrutiny in his eyes. It was unknown how long he had been staring at her.
He Xi didn't understand what was going on and looked away angrily.
*
Because of the little incident in the middle, none of them had much appetite for food afterwards.
Yang Jia received a call and said she had to leave first because of something, and He Xi did not try to keep her.
"What on earth did Yang Jia just say?"
Xiang Yuzhi spoke softly only after he saw the person walk away, his tone was unusually serious.
He Xi glanced at the two boys at the table, coughed lightly, opened his mouth and said nothing more.
"That happened in junior high school. Anyway, if you see Tan Zheng, try to avoid her."
She glanced at Zhao Lin meaningfully, and turned around to see Xiang Yuzhi looking at her worriedly.
"That was the day, right? When we ran into me at the bar looking for He Xu, I felt something was wrong."
Xiang Yuzhi seemed to understand something, and a clear line of thought gradually formed in his mind. Then he gently held her hand, his eyes full of heartache.
"If only I had met you earlier...Xixi, you still think I'm not your best friend, and I only found out about this now..."
Those things that He Xi had hidden in her heart were about to rot. Once someone turned them over, the disgusting smell of decay made her uneasy.
She never wanted to talk about it, but Yang Jia suddenly revealed it tonight. Her panic was gradually calmed down at this moment.
She felt a little touched.
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