After bidding farewell to an unexpected little interlude, Zhong Siji stuffed Xu Zhiyang’s business card into his pocket and went to the checkout counter to pay for the groceries.
The three of them then left the Feizikelan supermarket and walked homeward, each lost in their own thoughts, remaining silent for a while.
“It really was an eight…”
Xu Runhui lightly clenched her hands in the air, her eyes unable to stop drifting toward the lower back of Zhong Siji walking ahead of her.
How should she even evaluate it?
All she could say was firm yet solid, slender yet smooth— the ultimate treasure of the human world, a national-level prize!
Mom, Dad, little sister—my judgment was correct! Xu Runhui tightly clenched both fists, filled with the satisfaction of how wonderful it was to be born a woman in this world.
But she also began to grow worried.
Although it had been an emergency at the time and she hadn’t thought that much before wrapping her arms around him, no matter how you looked at it, she had solidly taken advantage of Classmate Siji…
Xu Runhui looked at Zhong Siji walking ahead of her, who had not said a single word since leaving the supermarket, and an uneasy feeling rose in her heart… Judging from Classmate Siji’s personality, he might not necessarily mind this, but who can say for sure?
This isn’t some small joke like bumping chopsticks at noon.
This was direct physical contact, and it was such a sensitive place.
There’s no way he doesn’t mind, right?
“Xu Runhui! Who told you to touch me? So disgusting! Don’t come near me again!”
The moment she imagined Classmate Siji saying something like that, Xu Runhui felt like she was about to suffocate.
If it comes to that, I should just apologize first. If I offer him a formal apology with a thorn branch, will he forgive me…
On the other side, Yan Yanyan was also a little displeased with Xu Runhui.
At noon, at least taking turns one after another could still be considered fair.
She truly never expected that this thick-browed, big-eyed girl not only had the guts to snatch food from a boy’s chopsticks, but actually dared to openly hug a boy’s waist in public.
I really underestimated you, Xu Runhui! I never thought you could go this far!
And that little kid— she actually… actually got Classmate Siji to pat her head! Damn it! So envious! I was clearly the first one here, right?
Whether it was discovering his awkward side on the rooftop or exchanging secrets with him, I was clearly the first one, right?
If Xu Runhui hadn’t cut in at noon… Just thinking about it made Yan Yanyan’s teeth itch with resentment.
Yan Yanyan had already seen through it yesterday. Zhong Siji was a boy with a relatively high sense of morality.
Humans were animals that were naturally bad at keeping secrets and disliked speaking ill of others behind their backs, yet he had done both of those things toward her.
Therefore, he subconsciously felt that he owed her something.
That was also the reason he couldn’t directly and cleanly refuse her shameless insistence on eating lunch together with him on the rooftop.
As long as she grasped the proper degree and used sausage tactics to gradually participate in his life bit by bit, Yan Yanyan believed that the little private plot he had left for himself would eventually become her own one-mu-and-three-fen field.
But because of Xu Runhui’s sudden intrusion, the situation had completely changed.
A space of three people was far too difficult to operate, and now there was no way to create any alone time either.
Tsk, what a hassle.
No wonder they all said that love was war… Xu Runhui— although her chest was big, she was airheaded, timid, completely lacked feminine dignity, and was lecherous— her bold actions were also just right… Had she calculated that Classmate Siji wouldn’t hold it against her?
She had already come to understand Classmate Siji to this extent.
Right now the one falling behind is me, but… Yan Yanyan glanced at Zhong Siji walking ahead of her and thought of that inexplicable gravitational pull between them. Just you wait and see, Xu Runhui! You won’t be in the lead forever!
The two girls each carried different thoughts, but what about Zhong Siji walking at the very front?
His pure and simple mind had no idea of the complicated thoughts of the girls behind him.
At this very moment, he was still immersed in the afterglow of the climax of delivering a famous line.
“Sorry, my pants ate your ice cream. Next time let’s go buy a five-layer one.”
This is absolutely one of those lines that every man must say at least once in his life, right?
Absolutely, absolutely no man can resist an occasion where he can say this line, right?
There isn’t one! He absolutely doesn’t have one!
Yet outside of this pleasure, Zhong Siji suddenly thought of something else— something he had to convey to Xu Runhui and Yan Yanyan.
And so, in the two girls’ field of vision, Zhong Siji walking ahead of them suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned around, and said to them with a serious expression, “Classmate Runhui, Classmate Yanyan.”
Xu Runhui’s heart gave a sudden lurch at those words.
What do I do?
Why is it coming so fast?!
I haven’t even prepared the thorn branch yet! If I drop into a formal apology right now, can I still get forgiveness?
Yan Yanyan had nothing on her conscience, so she didn’t have that many complicated thoughts and simply replied casually, “What is it, Classmate Siji? Did we forget to buy something?”
Zhong Siji shook his head.
“There’s just one thing I have to say to the two of you. If I don’t say it, I’m definitely going to suffer from insomnia when I get home tonight.”
Xu Runhui was already trembling as she began calculating the words of apology in her heart, while Yan Yanyan raised her beautiful eyebrows slightly, guessing what exactly Zhong Siji wanted to say.
Under the two girls’ different gazes, Zhong Siji bowed his head toward them.
“I’ve caused you both so much trouble. I’m truly, extremely sorry!”
Xu Runhui: “Eh eh eh eh?”
Yan Yanyan: “Classmate Siji, where is this coming from?”
Although she was still asking the question aloud, in her heart Yan Yanyan once again confirmed her own conjecture.
“That’s right. There’s nothing Classmate Siji needs to apologize for, is there?”
“No. It was all my recklessness and immaturity that dragged Classmate Yanyan and Classmate Runhui into a meaningless dispute. I was the one who asked you two for help in the first place, yet in the end I still caused you a lot of extra trouble. Even though I knew the two of you were by my side, I still carelessly fell into a pointless argument with someone else and created unnecessary worries for you. I’m truly, extremely sorry!”
Zhong Siji lowered his head even further, and his waist bent a little more as well.
This scene made Xu Runhui and Yan Yanyan exchange glances.
To say that this was an apology between peers or classmates would be a bit too formal— so formal that it somehow felt… distant.
Logically speaking, the two of them could actually understand the reason Zhong Siji was doing this.
After all, when you got down to it, they had only become classmates for a few weeks, and they had only gotten to know each other a little over the past two days.
But logic was one thing, and feeling dislike was another, wasn’t it?
In the next instant, Zhong Siji felt someone pat him on both the left and right shoulders at the same time.
“Eh!?”
Zhong Siji lifted his head and looked to the left.
“It’s not that Classmate Siji dragged~~ us into trouble, right?”
Yan Yanyan said.
Zhong Siji then glanced to the right.
“R-right. The three of us came out together in the first place…” Xu Runhui said.
“So if we’re talking about causing trouble, this is the trouble the three of us caused together, isn’t it?” the two of them said in unison.
“No, no, no, that’s not how you should put it, right? It was clearly me who caused—”
“There’s no need to draw such clear lines between friends.”
Yan Yanyan said with a hint of deeper meaning.
“Eh? Oh oh oh oh! Classmate Yan… Yanyan is right. Be… between friends there’s no need to draw such clear lines.”
Xu Runhui didn’t know if the word “friends” was scalding her mouth, but she said it with a bit of stumbling.
“Friends… is it?”
“If you say it isn’t right now, we’re really going to cry, you know? Classmate Runhui, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Crying would be way too lame no matter how you look at it (quietly) ahhhhhh! Yes! We would cry!”
“I… I never said it wasn’t!”
Under the setting sun, the silhouettes of the three of them stretched out very, very long…
“Don’t you find it very moving, A-Yu?”
“Young Miss, right now my entire body doesn’t feel ‘moved’ in the slightest.”