Jiang Xiao shook his head lightly.
Seeing this, Song Qiuyu didn’t press further. She only glanced at the playing cards with a thoughtful look.
Once she’d wrung out enough water, she went to sit on the lazy sofa by the window. She shifted her position, found a comfortable way to sit, then bent over and untied her completely soaked shoelaces.
Her two small feet, wrapped in wet white socks, slipped out of the thoroughly drenched canvas shoes and hovered above the floor.
With slender fingers, she pulled off the left sock. Her delicate left ankle and slender foot, with five round, slightly pink toes, gradually revealed themselves from top to bottom.
A few drops of water dripped from her hair tips onto the exposed top of her foot, tracing graceful arcs as they left damp marks.
She repeated the same motion with her right foot.
Jiang Xiao glanced at her unintentionally, just in time to see both her bare little feet lifted slightly.
Water still trickled down her calves, exposed from beneath her pant legs.
She hurriedly grabbed a few tissues from the pack on the table and started carefully wiping her feet.
Jiang Xiao frowned slightly.
At that moment, Sang Tian and Lin An came out of the bathroom. Lin An had splashed his face with water, looking much less drunk.
Meanwhile, Xie Zhuran, curled up alone on the couch, suddenly made a muffled sound, his cheeks puffing out.
“Wait, don’t throw up yet!”
Seeing that Xie Zhuran was about to vomit, Sang Tian rushed over, helped him up, and led him into the bathroom.
“There’s a hairdryer here—do you guys want to use it?” Lin An, twisting water from his clothes, brought the hanging hairdryer from the bathroom.
“I’m fine. You guys go ahead!” Song Qiuyu didn’t stop wiping her feet.
“Alright, I’ll use it first then.”
Lin An nodded.
As the hairdryer’s hum filled the room, Xie Zhuran staggered half-awake out of the bathroom.
“Huh? Where are we? Weren’t we at the KTV?”
Xie Zhuran’s steps were still unsteady.
Sang Tian, following behind, quickly explained the situation.
“This big?”
Xie Zhuran took a few steps to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out at the city street, freshly washed by the downpour.
Their hotel room was high up. Looking down, the streets below looked like toy models.
The city, under the night rain, was still ablaze with neon lights. People and cars hurried to dodge the rain, looking tiny and insignificant, almost like specks of dust.
Suddenly, a flash of lightning tore through the night sky, followed by two thunderclaps that lit up half the heavens.
Everyone in the room was startled.
“Ah!”
Song Qiuyu’s hand trembled, and the tissue fell to the floor.
Thump, thump—the room door was knocked.
“I’ll get it!” Seeing Sang Tian was still taking off her shoes, Xie Zhuran went to open the door himself.
When the door opened, a hotel staff member stood outside.
The staff had specially prepared four sets of disposable toiletries, four clean towels, and four pairs of clean slippers for them.
Xie Zhuran thanked the staff and brought everything inside.
“This hotel’s service is pretty good. Too bad they don’t give out bathrobes—our clothes are all soaked! It’s really uncomfortable not to take a shower.”
He handed out the slippers one by one.
Song Qiuyu agreed, but if the hotel really provided bathrobes and everyone wanted to shower, it would get a bit troublesome.
Not just for her—Sang Tian would probably find it awkward too.
“Just bear with it. We almost had to find another place to stay. In the worst case, we might’ve had to sleep under a bridge arch!”
Song Qiuyu took the slippers. Actually, going to a 24-hour convenience store might have worked too?
She slipped her freshly dried bare feet into the slippers and stood up from the lazy sofa.
Picking up a dry towel, she wiped the water from her face and neck, then handed another clean towel to Jiang Xiao.
Jiang Xiao took the towel and silently wiped himself down.
“I’m done drying.”
Lin An walked out of the bathroom.
Seeing this, Song Qiuyu quickly shot Jiang Xiao a look, hinting that he should tell Sang Tian to go dry her hair first.
Jiang Xiao ignored her.
“Sang Tian, why don’t you go first?”
Song Qiuyu had no choice but to speak up herself.
What a good girl Sang Tian was, and Jiang Xiao still didn’t care?
Could he stop thinking about that dead white moonlight, Shen Xi?
Seeing Song Qiuyu call Sang Tian as he wished, Jiang Xiao grew thoughtful.
Things were progressing smoothly this time, but it still wasn’t enough.
Sang Tian hesitated, then nodded, taking a towel and heading into the bathroom. “I’ll be quick!”
“Lao Lin, what do you think is going on between Song Qiuyu, Sang Tian, and Jiang Xiao?”
Xie Zhuran paused in the middle of drying his hair, letting the towel hang over his head as he pondered with a strange expression.
“It’s a situation you can’t figure out.”
Lin An sat on the edge of the bed, changing his shoes.
Xie Zhuran fell into deep thought.
Sang Tian soon came out.
“My hair’s too long. It takes forever to dry it all, so half-dry is good enough. Song Qiuyu, you guys should go dry yours!”
Sang Tian smiled at Song Qiuyu.
“Jiang Xiao, you go ahead. I’ll wait until you’re done!”
Song Qiuyu responded without hesitation.
Jiang Xiao was stunned. Even for this, she wanted him to go first?
He’d already decided he needed to correct her self-sacrificing personality. Now seemed like the right time, so he firmly refused.
“Your hair is long too. If you let me go first, aren’t you worried you’ll catch a cold?”
“It’s fine. My hair isn’t that long.”
Song Qiuyu was surprised.
If it were the old Jiang Xiao, he would have just gone.
“You don’t owe me anything. You don’t have to give in to me every time.”
Jiang Xiao turned away coldly and sat back down on the lazy sofa.
“……”
In reality, she actually owed him quite a lot.
“How about I go first?” Xie Zhuran pointed at himself.
“Then you two can go after?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Song Qiuyu rubbed the towel on her head, feeling a little frustrated.
She quietly sat down on the lazy sofa across from Jiang Xiao. Remembering what he’d just said, she couldn’t help but smile.
“I know you’re worried about me, Jiang Xiao, but I’m not giving in to you. I’m nice to you because you helped me a lot back in middle school!”
She hugged her arms and thought for a moment. “And even today in class, when the teacher called on me, didn’t you help me out?”
“We’re friends. Friends are supposed to help each other!”
She was sure that not a single word she said was wrong.
Jiang Xiao neither agreed nor disagreed.
Song Qiuyu really was the typical self-sacrificing type.
But what she said wasn’t wrong either.
They really did help each other out.
Xie Zhuran’s hair was already half-dried, and he wasn’t very wet to begin with, so he finished quickly.
“Have you decided yet?”
Xie Zhuran came out of the bathroom.
“Jiang Xiao, hurry up!” Song Qiuyu nodded toward the bathroom.
When Jiang Xiao didn’t move, she teased, “Are you waiting for me to help you dry your hair?”
Jiang Xiao’s eye twitched, and he stood up from the lazy sofa.
He quietly walked into the bathroom.
He hadn’t even picked up the hairdryer yet—
“Ding!” A new QQ message arrived on his phone.
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