Late-night desserts
Let's have a proper talk.
On the way back, Bai Yixia kept thinking about this sentence, occasionally glancing at Zhou Qingchi in the driver's seat.
After a long pause, Bai Yixia sighed silently. Zhou Qingchi and Lu Xi were different. To her, Lu Xi was just a roommate and friend she had known for only a year. The conflict between them wasn't serious, and it was indeed caused by poor communication. Once they talked things out, everything was basically resolved.
After all, it's not some deep-seated hatred, so how complicated can it be?
But Zhou Qingchi was different. He was her childhood friend, someone she'd known for twenty years. Bai Yixia couldn't believe how awkward it would be if she, in a moment of folly, confessed her feelings, and Zhou Qingchi, who wasn't interested, didn't reciprocate.
An epic blockbuster – The Door That Can't Be Knocked On.
"Aaaaaah!" Bai Yixia wailed inwardly, her face contorting in pain.
"Is that classmate the culprit who ignored me twice yesterday?" Zhou Qingchi suddenly asked.
Bai Yixia quickly straightened her expression, "Yes. There was some misunderstanding between us, but fortunately we've already cleared it up."
Zhou Qingchi had an "I knew it" look on his face: "I knew it, there's no one you can't get along with."
During her kindergarten years, Bai Yixia demonstrated her amazing talent for making friends. On her first day of kindergarten, she cried and fussed in the morning because she didn't want to leave her parents, but when the teacher came to pick her up in the afternoon, she saw a string of children following behind her.
Bai Yixia hummed smugly, displaying a clear understanding of herself, "Yes, Teacher Xia is such a sunny and cheerful girl~ No one can refuse her~"
Zhou Qingchi chimed in, "Wow~ As expected of Teacher Xia."
Taking advantage of the turn, he secretly glanced at Bai Yixia and saw her sitting in the passenger seat with her hands on her hips, looking smug and smiling. He couldn't help but feel even happier and a strange sense of satisfaction welled up inside him.
The return trip took about an hour. Bai Yixia got up earlier than usual today and was tired after a long morning. She huddled in her seat and muttered a lot of things before nodding off.
Zhou Qingchi turned up the air conditioning temperature on her side and said softly, "Xia, take a nap."
Bai Yixia was so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyes open. Zhou Qingchi's words were like a buzzing mosquito. She hummed in confusion and then closed her eyes.
Zhou Qingchi looked at her with amusement for a few moments. While waiting at a red light, he took the coat he had brought that morning from the back seat and draped it over her shoulders. As he pulled his hand away, his fingers brushed against her cheek, and he whispered, "Bai Yixia... Xia..."
Bai Yixia was completely unaware of any of this. When she groggily woke up, the car had already pulled up at the entrance of the residential complex. She looked at Zhou Qingchi in confusion, "Why are you parked here? Aren't you going home?"
She was still half asleep, her cheeks were pink, and her voice was a little nasal because she had just woken up.
Hearing her mention going home, Zhou Qingchi's eyes flickered slightly. Not only now, Zhou Qingchi often felt her heart soften because of Bai Yixia's actions or words, as if Bai Yixia was born knowing how to make people happy.
He looked apologetically at Bai Yixia, "I promised my brother yesterday that I would take him to eat some pizza, so I won't be able to come to your house for dinner today."
Jiang Yinghua was very busy, and Zhou Qingchi was studying at a university in another city, so Zhou Qingyan lived like a left-behind child. Thinking of this, Bai Yixia nodded understandingly, even though she felt a little disappointed, and even took the initiative to say, "When you come back tonight, tell Xiaoyan that I'm not angry that he's bad at games. He can still come and play games with me."
After saying that, Bai Yixia wondered if it was just her imagination, but Little Zhou's face seemed to darken a little.
Zhou Qingchi didn't directly refuse on Zhou Qingyan's behalf, but only said, "I hope he won't upset you again."
Bai Yixia: 0.0
Actually, it was Xiao Yan who took her off.
But Bai Yixia remembered the lie she told yesterday very clearly and didn't want to expose it now, so she could only laugh it off and move on from the matter.
Zhou Qingchi's tutoring class ended around this time as well. Bai Yixia got out of the car right on time, leaned out the window and waved to Zhou Qingchi, "Drive carefully. Have fun with Xiaoyan."
"Okay, see you tonight, Xia."
Bai Yixia sighed deeply, unaware that Zhou Qingchi's first words after Zhou Qingyan were, "What games do you and Xia usually play?"
Zhou Qingyan paused in putting down his schoolbag, scratching his face. He still remembered how Bai Yixia had winked at him last night. Not knowing how well Xiaxia and his brother knew each other, he could only vaguely say, "Well, we play all the more famous games on the market."
Seeing that Zhou Qingchi didn't react, Zhou Qingyan leaned forward and asked, "What's wrong, brother? Did Sister Xiaxia ask you to play too?"
Zhou Qingchi ignored his question and said only, "Since we're playing a team game, we should practice harder and not always drag our teammates down."
Zhou Qingyan, who often dragged four others into the finals, had no way to express his bitterness, but thinking of tonight's dinner and the late-night snacks that Bai Yixia's family provided every day, he could only nod in frustration.
After the two brothers finished talking, they ran out of things to say until they arrived at the restaurant. Zhou Qingchi then asked quietly, "What games have you and Xia been playing lately?"
--
Bai Yixia regained her energy on her way home and, holding her phone, bothered Nie Jiayuan, "What do you think are the chances of me being rejected if I confess my feelings directly?"
Nie Jiayuan was used to the fact that eight out of ten times she contacted Zhou Qingchi, so she calmly put on a face mask and watched the show. After thinking for less than a second, she replied: "It's hard to say, Xia. The main thing is that our Zhou rarely shows any emotional fluctuations."
She seemed to suddenly become engrossed in this conversation, leaning closer to the camera and saying, "Speaking of which, the last time I saw Zhou Qingchi so emotional was back in high school. What was it about again?"
Bai Yixia remembered Zhou Qingchi's incident very clearly, and she immediately recounted it, "A dog. Someone was walking their dog without a leash on the street, and it almost bit me. Little Zhou was really angry."
Nie Jiayuan suddenly fell into an eerie silence for a moment. Bai Yixia didn't notice this. Recalling the situation at the time, she couldn't help but shudder. "You know what, the dog's mouth was only a hand's width away from me. If it weren't for Brother Zhou, we would both have gotten semi-permanent teeth mark tattoos."
"And it seems that Brother Zhou doesn't really like big dogs. Xiao Yan almost got bitten by a dog before."
Nie Jiayuan's expression softened, and she took a step back and leaned back in her chair with an air of composure, sighing, "Xiao Yan has really had a lot of troubles."
"Huh?" Bai Yixia didn't understand what she meant.
"Nothing. Where's Lao Zhou? Didn't he come with you?" Nie Jiayuan didn't intend to tell Bai Yixia about the guess that had just popped into her head.
I'm mainly afraid she'll make a passionate confession :D
Bai Yixia said, "He took Xiao Yan out to eat."
Nie Jiayuan's expression twisted slightly beneath the face mask as she muttered to herself, "So she really is afraid her little brother will starve to death?"
Bai Yixia was annoyed by the wrinkles on Nie Jiayuan's face mask. She slid her finger across the screen, seemingly trying to smooth out the wrinkles, but to no avail. Fortunately, Nie Jiayuan quickly peeled off the mask herself.
She seems to have been staying up late lately; her dark circles are quite pronounced, and she looks rather tired. Bai Yixia temporarily put Zhou Qingchi out of her mind and asked with concern, "Jiajia, you look so tired. What's wrong lately?"
Nie Jiayuan patted her face lightly, then laughed upon hearing this. She winked at Bai Yixia, "It's a little bit, but it's nothing serious. Qiu Ting's birthday is coming up, and I'm going to surprise him."
Bai Yixia instantly showed a gossipy expression, but then wrinkled her nose and said with dissatisfaction, "He's so lucky." She subtly implied, "You didn't even stay up all night for me on my birthday."
After saying that, she felt a pang of longing for Nie Jiayuan, so she leaned closer to the camera and said pitifully, "Sister Jiajia, are you coming back for the National Day holiday? Or are you going on a trip with that person?"
Nie Jiayuan was amused by her and touched the camera lens as if touching her face. "Of course I'm coming back. To see our Xiaxia baby, remember to come and pick me up."
Both of them were girls, and their relationship was even closer than with Zhou Qingchi; they had been inseparable since childhood. The two chatted aimlessly for a while until Bai Yixia's mother came back from work and caught her downstairs, at which point they reluctantly hung up the video call.
"Are you feeding the mosquitoes downstairs? You don't even want to walk a few steps?" Lin Shuyang laughed.
Bai Yixia clung to her mother's arm affectionately. They were about the same height, and Bai Yixia and her mother's heads were touching, snuggling close together. "Mom, making money is so tiring."
Lin Shuyang patted her head, puzzled. "Are you short of money?"
Bai Yixia shook her head. After talking for so long, she felt tired again. When she got home, she just wanted to collapse into bed and sleep soundly. But when she passed the kitchen, she paused and her eyes darted back and forth between her room and the kitchen.
--
It was almost eleven o'clock when Zhou Qingchi brought Zhou Qingyan back. After dinner, the boy went too far and insisted on dragging him to the arcade. Zhou Qingchi scolded him a few times, but still took him to play.
High school students seem to be having a lot of fun in the arcade. Zhou Qingchi, watching him frolic, couldn't help but recall his own high school days. He probably wasn't this silly back then, was he?
He looked away, out of sight, out of mind, and glanced down at his message, which he hadn't received a reply to yet.
After coming up from the underground parking garage, Zhou Qingyan drifted into the house like a sleepy ghost. He was still thinking about his older brother as soon as he stepped into the foyer. Seeing him standing at Bai Yixia's door, he reminded him, "Brother, Xiaxia goes to bed very early, you know that."
Zhou Qingchi responded sullenly, his gaze falling on the cursor in the chat box. He shifted his toes slightly, intending to go home, when he heard the door in front of him click open. Bai Yixia poked her head out and grinned at him.
More than happy, Zhou Qingchi was surprised, but seeing Bai Yixia's smile, he couldn't help but smile too. "I thought I wouldn't see you get a good night's sleep until noon tomorrow."
Bai Yixia gave him a resentful look, then pushed the door open and stood unsteadily on the threshold. "Wasn't I waiting for you?"
"Wait for me?" Zhou Qingchi was taken aback.
"Wait for me a moment."
After saying that, Bai Yixia ran into the kitchen. The refrigerator door opened and closed, followed by the sound of knives being handled. Zhou Qingchi stood at the door, eagerly waiting.
Soon, Bai Yixia came out with a small plate. Zhou Qingchi recognized it as the one he had given to Bai Yixia a few years ago. On the plate, which was decorated with bright yellow polka dots, was a beautifully presented tiramisu, matcha flavored, with a few hearts made of red beans on top and a pretty shape made of chocolate sticks.
When the plate was handed to her, Zhou Qingchi finally snapped out of her reverie and turned her gaze to Bai Yixia. She held the plate, and the light from above cast a shadow on her eyelashes. She tilted her head and said, "I kept you occupied for a long time today, but I also got to eat the cake I wanted. I'm so happy."
"But the cakes there were a bit too sweet for you, so I came back and made this—Qingchi Special - Slightly Bitter Version!"
Zhou Qingchi took the plate blankly, put a spoonful in his mouth, the matcha was slightly bitter, but the red beans were sweet. He looked up at Bai Yixia, smiled and said, "It's delicious, thank you, Xia."
Bai Yixia was happy to see him happy, but after glancing at the kitchen, she sighed with regret, "It's a pity you can't take it with you in this weather, it will definitely spoil."
Turning her head, Zhou Qingchi awkwardly held the plate and stubbornly took a picture of the tiramisu with one hand. Bai Yixia asked suspiciously, "What are you doing?"
As soon as she finished speaking, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Bai Yixia took out her phone and saw that Zhou Qingchi had sent the cake to the three of them in a group chat.
-Please have some porridge: [Image]
-Please have some porridge: [Soybean waving hand.jpg] Delicious!
Bai Yixia basked in the sun, then thought again, "Wait a minute!"
Sure enough, the next second Nie Jiayuan spammed a string of emojis in the group chat, all accusing the two of them of eating alone.
Bai Yixia hurriedly comforted Nie Jiayuan in the group chat, then glared at Zhou Qingchi with a hint of annoyance. She saw that he had almost finished eating and was holding a spoon in his mouth. When he met her gaze, he raised an eyebrow smugly.
Bai Yixia is dead, in every sense of the word.
She sighed, glanced at the time, and suddenly felt her eyelids starting to droop. "No, no, I need to sleep." She half-opened the door and waved slightly at Zhou Qingchi. "Goodnight, Qingchi-ge."
"good evening."
The door closed in front of him, but Zhou Qingchi wasn't in a hurry to go home. He stood at the door, stirring the cream stuck to the plate with his spoon.
He wanted to sigh, but the breath he was about to take was stopped by the door opening again. Bai Yixia poked her head out as before, her eyes crinkling with laughter, and said, "I won't oversleep tomorrow either. I promise to get you to the high-speed rail station on time."
She spotted the plate again, stretched out a hand, and said, "Give it to me, I'll wash it tomorrow morning."
Zhou Qingchi slightly moved his hand aside, "It's okay, I'll wash it."
Bai Yixia didn't mince words with him, "Okay. Goodnight."
This time, Zhou Qingchi didn't linger and went home with an empty plate in his pocket.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
