When one person does something strange, it might raise suspicion, but when more people do it, the suspiciousness greatly decreases.
Song Qiuyu saw that the flight attendant no longer seemed puzzled and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. She felt fortunate and happy to have such a good boyfriend and such good brothers.
She took the cup of plain hot water from the flight attendant, thanked her, then held the paper cup with both hands and took small sips, feeling warmed inside.
Seeing the flight attendant finish distributing the hot water and push the cart away, she immediately thanked them.
“Lao Song, you’re being too polite. That’s what brothers are for.”
Xie Zhuran also drank the hot water and said, “Besides, during those days at the admissions office, we had cold drinks every day. Drinking plain hot water now is good for our health.”
Song Qiuyu smiled faintly and agreed.
Then Lin An cleared his throat twice, lowering his voice unusually softly, and said, “Actually, there’s something I want to ask you, Qiuyu, and also Lao Jiang, but…”
“What is it?”
Song Qiuyu was surprised. After two semesters together, she had never seen Lin An so hesitant.
Jiang Xiao and Xie Zhuran felt the same way and both looked at Lin An in surprise—seemed like this was something very out of the ordinary?
“It’s not convenient to talk about on the plane. Let’s wait until we get off.”
Lin An added.
“Alright!”
Song Qiuyu nodded. She didn’t know what Lin An was referring to, but if it was something she could help with, she would give it her all.
After finishing the plane meal, many people folded up their tray tables, while some just rested their arms on them and went to sleep.
Song Qiuyu was one of the latter.
Her consciousness was quickly swallowed by boundless drowsiness.
What you think about during the day, you dream about at night. That night, she soon dreamed of Lin An’s wedding. In the dream, it was raining heavily—not just a thunder shower, but a torrential downpour.
She attended as a best man, but she outshone everyone, which made her very embarrassed. So she went back to find Jiang Xiao to touch up her makeup, making herself look even more like a beautiful boy.
Even though she tried her best to use makeup to hide the fact that she was a girl, at the wedding, someone still saw through her female identity, and Lin An’s wedding ended up in chaos.
Because of guilt, discomfort, and sadness, she ran out into the rain, doing what Xia Qi had once done.
The wind and rain were fierce. Her figure, walking alone, soon disappeared into the night.
But the sad events didn’t stop there.
After that, she hid from everyone, all the way until the day her illness was made public. She had been hoping for a turning point, but what finally came was overwhelming ridicule and strange looks.
No one recognized that the sick person was a girl. They saw them as monsters, as people coming to steal men and resources. They told them to get out, to go far, far away.
Amid countless insults, she chose to end her relationship with Jiang Xiao, breaking up with him again.
Then, together with her parents, she disappeared from Jiang Xiao’s sight, from everyone’s sight, as if her existence was just a dream.
“Mmm…”
Song Qiuyu was woken up by a cramping pain in her lower abdomen.
The dysmenorrhea she should have been used to, the constant warm flow, the memories of the nightmare—everything stimulated her nerves.
Gradually, she felt her eyes getting wet.
Her mind was buzzing.
“Xi’er, what’s wrong? Had a nightmare?” A worried voice came from beside her.
Song Qiuyu turned her head dazedly, looking at the person next to her. Her consciousness was still half-awake, still lingering on the image of his lost and dejected expression after she had abandoned him again.
She gently furrowed her brows, lowered her eyes, and was silent for just a moment. Then a remarkably cute smile appeared on her pretty face.
She said softly, “I did have a nightmare, but it’s okay now.”
“Don’t force yourself. If it’s not okay, you have to tell me.”
Jiang Xiao, as always, didn’t pressure her to speak. He chose to wait patiently. “I’ll always be waiting for you to send out a signal for help, and then I’ll help you.”
“Phew…”
Song Qiuyu felt a little helpless.
“When you put it that way, I sound pretty useless, always needing to ask you for help.”
As she spoke, she couldn’t help sneaking a glance at the two roommates in the back seat. She lightly scratched her cheek, then slightly restrained her cutesy tone.
“Alright, I’ll try to help myself first. If I really can’t manage, I’ll come to you.”
She withdrew her gaze from her boyfriend, closed her eyes again, and brought her hand close to the aching spot, gently pressing and rubbing.
Jiang Xiao naturally noticed her discomfort easily. Knowing her strong, independent nature, he couldn’t help frowning.
After a few seconds, he saw her slowly open her eyes, reach out her hand, and tug at his sleeve.
“Jiang Xiao, you help me rub it instead. But be careful.”
Her voice was extremely soft, clearly afraid of being discovered.
“Mhm.”
Jiang Xiao understood the urgency of the situation. For now, they had to keep certain things hidden.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to hide much longer.
They just had to wait steadily until the day the truth was revealed.
Then, with Jiang Xiao’s help, the pain from the dysmenorrhea quickly eased.
The plane began its descent.
Watching the ever-changing scenery outside, Song Qiuyu’s mind wandered. She silently prayed that the next five days would be clear and sunny.
When they got off the plane, they saw Xia Qi and her mother picking them up from a distance.
Unlike Xia Qi, her mother was a mature woman with big curls, very fashionable and stylish, exuding elegance from head to toe.
“There aren’t enough rooms at home, and we have a lot of guests. You might have to stay at a hotel these few days.”
Xia’s mother looked at the three people accompanying her son and said with a smile.
This was naturally within their expectations, so they had no surprised expressions and readily agreed.
As for the guests Xia’s mother mentioned—
They actually included their parents as well. Anyone who was free was already on their way.
“Lao Lin, didn’t you say after getting off the plane, you had something to ask Lao Song and Lao Jiang?”
Xie Zhuran looked at the person reminiscing with his family and spoke as if just remembering.
At that, Song Qiuyu also remembered. But she saw an even more troubled expression on Lin An’s face.
She immediately had a feeling that no matter how much they asked, Lin An probably wouldn’t say.
“Cough, cough. Let’s do it later. It’s not convenient right now.”
Sure enough, Lin An adjusted his glasses, a bead of cold sweat trickling down his cheek as he avoided the topic.
“It’s already two in the morning. Let’s get out of the airport quickly. Go home if you’re going home, or head to the hotel. Let’s rest early.”
Hearing this, everyone was stunned. Huh? What kind of thing is it?
But even Xia Qi was suspicious and tried every trick to pry it out of him, yet Lin An didn’t utter a single word.
This only amplified everyone’s curiosity.
Song Qiuyu was not smiling. Sometimes, she really wanted to kick everyone who spoke in riddles out of this world.
Especially those scheming, bespectacled riddle-speakers.
At this rate, even if Lin An asked, she might not help.
They arrived at the hotel smoothly.
The hotel had plenty of rooms prepared, and everyone got their own room.
Song Qiuyu’s first instinct was to share a double room with Jiang Xiao, but the hotel had arranged single rooms for everyone.
Since it was hard to bring up that matter, she smiled and accepted reality.
Just as Song Qiuyu was stretching, ready to wash up and sleep, her phone suddenly buzzed with a new message.
Mmm…
Could it be Jiang Xiao?
She scratched her neck, put down her change of clothes, quickly grabbed her phone, sat down on the lazy sofa, and opened it.
But the message wasn’t from Jiang Xiao—it was from Lin An.
[Lin An]: Qiuyu, this is very important. I need your and Lao Jiang’s consent before I can continue asking.
What is it really? First time seeing Lao Lin like this.
Song Qiuyu rubbed her smooth chin, frowned in confusion, thought for a moment, and replied, “Tell me first.”
Lin An seemed hesitant but quickly sent a message: “Qiuyu, you’ve already done that kind of thing with Lao Jiang, right?”
Seeing this message, Song Qiuyu’s entire face instantly turned bright red. Her mind buzzed, and it buzzed for a long time before she could barely snap out of it.
Huh? Done that kind of thing? What kind? It couldn’t be what she was thinking of right now!!
She couldn’t sit still. She immediately stood up from the lazy sofa, then pressed her lips together in embarrassment, confirming the message from her roommate.
The words in the chat window gradually became unfamiliar. No familiar characters remained.
Then, as if Lin An felt he hadn’t been direct enough, he added, “I mean… you’ve been ‘drilled,’ or to put it more vulgarly…”
“Uh…”
Song Qiuyu was at a loss for words. She could tell Lin An was trying hard to find the right vocabulary.
Maybe because she was now a girl in the end, Lin An had to be more cautious in his wording…
Thinking of this, she felt a sense of secondhand embarrassment that was almost deadly. She suddenly understood Lin An’s hesitation all this way—this was what it was about?
She took a deep breath, glanced in Jiang Xiao’s direction, thought carefully for a moment, and then quickly replied with a few sentences to dispel his concern.
Even if she had become a girl, her social relationship with them wouldn’t change.
Brothers were still brothers, friends were still friends.
At most, now that she had Jiang Xiao as a boyfriend, she had to be mindful of certain personal issues sometimes.
Like the Virtuous Wife Code.
“That’s good. Then I’ll feel free to speak.”
Lin An breathed a sigh of relief and replied like that.
Back when he thought his two roommates were into gay stuff, he was under a lot of pressure.
After all, it was hard to imagine a good brother being pinned down by another good brother and constantly letting out battle cries.
That image was too mind-shattering, too horrifying.
He just wanted to wish them well.
Now, one good brother had turned into a girl.
But that sense of shock hadn’t lessened—it had only deepened.
Still, the same rule applied: just wish them well.
“No, I think I get what you mean. You don’t need to say more.”
Song Qiuyu rejected her roommate’s attempt to describe that embarrassing matter again. She felt she understood.
Probably he wanted to get some experience for the bridal chamber with Xia Qi.
That kind of thing really wasn’t suitable to discuss with others, or with parents. You could only ask an experienced brother.
Lao Lin was really going all out.
“But Lao Lin, did you talk to Jiang Xiao about this first?”
“I asked both of you at the same time.”
Lin An replied instantly.