Chapter 77
The suburban roads were wide and deserted at night. After a day of fun at the amusement park, the buses were packed with tourists, yet the place was quiet.
As the bus stopped and started moving, passengers poured out in waves.
Forty minutes later, Chi Jun and Xu Qingzhou waved goodbye to Li Rui and his group and got out of the car first.
His hand remained firmly in Xu Qingzhou's.
Seeing this through the car window, Wang Shuai chuckled in surprise and turned to his companions, saying:
"Look how good the relationship is between those siblings. My sister is driving me crazy every day. I even found out she was dating some blond guy recently. It almost made me die of anger."
Li Rui was scrolling through short videos when he heard this. He first looked up and glanced at the backs of Chi Jun and Xu Qingzhou.
He immediately turned to look at Wang Shuai and said three words clearly and distinctly:
"Two hundred and fifty."
Wang Shuai: "?"
*
The town was quiet at night, with only the streetlights casting a soft glow that cast long shadows of Chi Jun and Xu Qingzhou.
Xu Qingzhou's hand was still being held by Chi Jun, and she followed him step by step, half a step behind.
It's still that familiar little town, and that same path you could walk back to with your eyes closed.
Yet, stepping on it now, I felt a strange, indescribable feeling.
It felt as if a butterfly was fluttering its wings inside my chest, beautiful yet unfamiliar.
This sense of unfamiliarity caused Xu Qingzhou to return to her familiar little rented room. After putting down her schoolbag and changing her shoes, she felt somewhat lost and unsure of what to do.
Not only did she instinctively avoid looking at Chi Jun, but when they unexpectedly met, her first reaction was to quickly turn around and turn her back to him.
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
Chi Jun: "..."
A few seconds later, Chi Jun's smiling voice came from behind: "Want to take a shower first?"
Xu Qingzhou awkwardly touched his nose and nodded with a forced smile.
*
Xu Qingzhou had heard a saying somewhere: "Emotions are water-soluble."
She hadn't paid attention to it before, but tonight she truly understood the meaning of those words.
After a long shower, most of the chaotic emotions were washed away by the water, and my mind gradually regained its rationality and clarity.
After reviewing the events of the past few days, especially what happened at the amusement park today, Xu Qingzhou realized that he was so confused and disoriented at the time that he had forgotten the most important thing—Xuan Li.
Reason told Xu Qingzhou that it was nothing unusual for men and women to sit and chat by the flower bed.
Moreover, at that time, there was no inappropriate behavior between Chi Jun and Xuan Li.
However, Chi Jun's completely inconsistent attitude towards Xuan Li during the day, both in public and in private, which aroused speculation, and the seemingly perfect image of the handsome man and beautiful woman sitting by the flower bed, were like a small thorn stuck in Xu Qingzhou's heart.
Even though Chi Jun's confession made this little thorn less sharp and hard, it was still a soft thorn stuck in her heart, and thinking about it always made her feel uncomfortable.
In the dimly lit taxi, Xu Qingzhou turned his head to look to his right.
In the silence, all that could be seen was a curtain blocking her and Chi Jun's view.
After a moment of silence, Xu Qingzhou turned his head back.
In the dead of night, having just established a relationship, he impatiently pressed her about her relationship with Xuanli.
Putting yourself in her shoes, even if she were Chi Jun, she would feel offended.
But if she doesn't ask, will Chi Jun take the initiative to tell her about Xuan Li?
My thoughts became a jumbled mess again, impossible to unravel.
Xu Qingzhou couldn't help but sigh, forcing himself to close his eyes, clear his mind, and go to sleep.
*
The next day, the sky was high and the sun shone brightly.
Thanks to his active brain last night, Xu Qingzhou slept quite badly. He didn't fall asleep until some time in the early morning and didn't wake up until the sun was high in the sky the next day.
When Xu Qingzhou opened his eyes and saw that it was almost ten o'clock, he was startled.
She quickly got out of bed and dressed, preparing to make breakfast. As she passed the small dining table, she found a fried dough stick, two steamed buns, and a cup of soy milk on it.
There was also a sticky note next to it that read: "Remember to eat breakfast before studying. I'm going to buy groceries."
After reading the words on the paper twice, Xu Qingzhou held the paper and couldn't help but smile.
I remember when we returned from Haicheng, Chi Jun, in a drunken state, told her:
"Zhouzhou, you focus on your studies, I'll take care of everything else."
Xu Qingzhou, a person accustomed to the fickleness of human relationships, never dared to believe in so-called promises.
Moreover, the world is never short of promises; there are countless examples of people who made solemn vows only to forget them later.
However, Chi Jun has been putting his words into practice ever since.
He began to learn to do housework, shop for groceries, and even cook.
Although he was often relegated to the sidelines by Xu Qingzhou for wasting food and even received ridicule from the rabbit and the male ghost, in his own words—
"Although my cooking skills are average, my dishwashing skills are top-notch."
As a result, this young man, who was an expert at washing dishes, took over the task of washing dishes after almost every meal.
Chi Jun became more and more skilled at housework, and Xu Qingzhou did indeed gain a lot of time to do practice problems and study. She used to always be sleep-deprived and sleepy in class, but now, looking back, she realized that she hadn't felt like that in a long time.
After finishing breakfast at a leisurely pace, Xu Qingzhou tidied up the small rented room and sat down at the small desk to start studying.
Just as she pulled out a math test paper, she received a message on her phone from Chi Jun.
[Zhouzhou, we have guests coming over for lunch.]
The other party is being persistent and I might not be able to refuse.
Upon seeing this sentence, Xu Qingzhou automatically pictured the faces of Li Rui and his group.
She smiled, picked up her phone to reply, when there was a knock at the door.
Xu Qingzhou looked up.
It's my grandma who lives next door.
Grandma held a dark-patterned shirt in her left hand and a needle and thread in her right, asking with a embarrassed expression:
"Xiao Xu, my old eyesight is failing and I can't thread the needle. Could you help me?"
Xu Qingzhou nodded quickly and walked over.
The phone screen on the desk lit up again, a new message had arrived.
Xu Qingzhou didn't see it.
After helping the old lady next door thread the needle, I forgot to reply to the message.
She naturally assumed that the "shameless" friend was Li Rui and his group. The reason Chi Jun told her in advance was because he was worried that a large group of them would come and catch her off guard, which would be abrupt.
But in fact, he was overthinking it.
Xu Qingzhou liked his group of friends very much and was not upset about it.
However, to Xu Qingzhou's utter surprise, at 11 a.m., only one person returned following Chi Jun.
And this person was someone she could never have predicted—
Xuan Li.
Xu Qingzhou stood frozen in place for three seconds before reacting and hurriedly poured water and moved a chair.
Xuanli said "thank you" and sat down, leaning back to look at Chi Jun with a smug, boastful expression:
"See, I told you she would definitely welcome me."
Chi Jun was taking off his coat when he heard this and turned around to give her a sidelong glance:
“Our Zhouzhou is kind-hearted; she even feeds stray dogs.”
Xuanli rolled her eyes at him.
"With such a foul mouth, I don't know how anyone could have fallen for you."
The woman's soft, dignified voice reached his ears, and Xu Qingzhou paused slightly as he put down his water glass.
This statement, which is both flattering and critical, and uses the phrase "looks good at," immediately clarifies her relationship with Chi Jun, making it seem less like a romantic relationship and more like... close friends.
Could it be that Xuan Li and Ji Jun actually knew each other before?
In this way, it seems much more reasonable that Chi Jun pretended not to know Xuan Li in public because he didn't want to have any further involvement with his old friends from the fox clan, or perhaps he was afraid of causing unnecessary trouble in front of others.
As Xu Qingzhou pondered to himself, Chi Jun came over, poured himself a glass of water, gestured with his chin toward Xuan Li, and introduced her to Xu Qingzhou:
“A friend of the fox clan from before, named Xuanli.”
really.
Xu Qingzhou felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her heart, and just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Xuan Li blinked at her and quickly added:
"girlfriend."
Xu Qingzhou: "?"
"Just kidding," Xuanli said, looking down at her newly done manicure, her eyebrows raised, her tone tinged with a hint of coquettish resentment: "He's not my girlfriend. I tried to pursue him but failed."
"..."
A series of rambling and information-packed remarks were thrown out, leaving Xu Qingzhou at a loss for words. After a pause, she said:
You guys chat, I'll go cook first.
Chi Jun's gaze followed Xu Qingzhou's retreating figure all the way to the door. After a while, he turned back and reminded Xuan Li with some dissatisfaction:
"Watch your words. My Zhouzhou is different from you; she's sensitive."
Xuanli: "Oh, you're so protective of her?"
"You'll protect you instead of her?"
Xuan Li clicked her tongue and looked around the cramped but clean and tidy little rented room with curiosity. Finally, her gaze fell on Xu Qingzhou, who was washing vegetables by the sink, through the latticed window.
The little girl wore an apron, which accentuated her slender waist. Her hair was casually tied up and hung smoothly down her neck. Every gesture she made exuded a well-behaved and quiet temperament.
—This is a type that is rarely seen among the fox clan.
Xuanli couldn't help but take a second look.
"Good girl," she murmured, then turned to look at the carefree and unserious Chi Jun across from her: "How did you manage to fool me?"
"..."
Chi Jun scoffed and snatched the apple that Xu Qingzhou had just washed and was about to hand to Xuan Li. He took a bite and said, "Sorry, we're mutually attracted."
“Oh, I see,” Xuanli blinked. “I really didn’t realize that.”
Chi Jun was too lazy to argue with her anymore. He finished the apple in a few bites, threw the core into the trash can, and got up to walk outside.
Xuanli looked up at him: "Where are we going?"
"Go help out. Who's like you, just waiting to be fed?"
*
Because a guest unexpectedly visited today, Xu Qingzhou prepared two extra meat dishes.
Xuan Li looked slim, but her appetite at the dinner table was surprisingly good. She seemed to really like eating meat. If Chi Jun hadn't helped Xu Qingzhou grab a few bites, almost the entire plate of braised pork ribs would have ended up in Xuan Li's stomach.
When she reached for the cola chicken wings with her chopsticks for the Nth time, Chi Jun stopped her without hesitation.
Xuanli glared at her: "? You're so stingy! You won't even let me have a single chicken wing?"
Chi Jun glanced disdainfully at the pile of chicken wing bones in front of her:
"Nonsense, you've only eaten one piece."
After saying that, he placed the remaining half plate of chicken wings in front of Xu Qingzhou.
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
She glanced at Chi Jun, then at the expectant Xuan Li, and silently placed the chicken wings back in the center to reassure Chi Jun:
Since my friend has come all this way, I should make sure they have a great time.
Chi Jun glanced at the words above and had nothing to say.
Across from her, Xuanli immediately picked up another chicken wing and said with a smile:
"It's not difficult at all. I'll come here often in the future."
Chi Jun: "..."
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
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