“That girl named Su Xiaoyue,” Xia He asked Jiang Yueming, “how did you meet her?”
Jiang Yueming was busy devouring the food in front of him. He lifted his head from the bowl at her question.
“Just… we ran into each other at the bookstore. She came up and started talking to me. I think it was because we were both reading… the book you recommended, uh, that one.”
Jiang Yueming spoke with his mouth full, words muffled. He swallowed and added, “We only chatted for a bit. Nothing much.”
Xia He sat across from him, holding a piece of sparerib with her chopsticks. It hovered in mid-air, never reaching her mouth.
“Ran into each other?” Her tone gave nothing away. “She just came up and talked to you?”
“Yeah.” Jiang Yueming lowered his head and shoveled another mouthful of rice, completely oblivious that anything about it was strange.
Xia He finally put the sparerib in her mouth and chewed slowly.
“What did she talk to you about?”
“Just the book. Human Chair. She said she liked it too and asked what I thought of it.” Jiang Yueming thought for a moment and added, “Oh, right. She asked my name, and we chatted a little after that.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Xia He set her chopsticks down and took a sip from her water glass.
“What do you think of her?” she asked, sounding casual.
Jiang Yueming was in the middle of lifting a piece of braised pork to his mouth. He paused.
“What do I think of her?”
“I mean…” Xia He’s fingertip traced a circle along the rim of her glass. “Her as a person. What do you think of her?”
Jiang Yueming chewed the pork and considered it. “She’s alright. Pretty talkative, and she’s good-looking.”
He said it without thinking, simply stating an obvious fact.
Su Xiaoyue really was beautiful—anyone with eyes could see that. There was no point denying it.
But he didn’t notice the way Xia He’s finger stopped moving on the rim of her glass.
“Good-looking?” she repeated.
“Yeah. Why?”
Xia He looked at him, stayed silent for two seconds, then suddenly smiled.
“No reason. Just asking.” She picked up her chopsticks again and placed a piece of green vegetable into her own bowl. “So when she was talking to you, did you feel like anything was off?”
Jiang Yueming tilted his head and thought. “Not really. It felt normal.”
“Normal.” Xia He repeated the word.
Jiang Yueming finally sensed something was different.
He looked up and studied Xia He carefully—her expression seemed calm, and the corners of her mouth even carried a faint smile.
But something about that smile felt off, like it had been painted on.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “You don’t like her?”
Xia He’s chopsticks paused.
“No,” she said. “I don’t even know her. What’s there to like or dislike?”
“Then why do you keep asking about her?”
“Just curious,” Xia He said, placing another piece of meat into his bowl. “A stranger girl suddenly comes up and talks to you. Is it so strange that I’m asking? What if she’s a bad person?”
Jiang Yueming laughed at the reason. “What kind of bad person could she be? She’s just a girl who likes books.”
“Bad people don’t wear signs on their faces.” Xia He’s tone was half-joking, half-serious. “You’re too naive. You’d probably thank someone for selling you.”
“I’m not an idiot,” Jiang Yueming muttered, unconvinced, and shoved the meat she had given him into his mouth.
Xia He watched him eat it, and the curve of her lips became a little more genuine.
“Eat slower. No one’s going to steal it from you.”
Jiang Yueming made a sound of acknowledgment and slowed down.
They ate in silence for a while. The atmosphere gradually relaxed. Steam from the hotpot rose between them, softly blurring their outlines.
“By the way,” Xia He spoke again, “she said she’s in Class Three?”
“Mm, I think so.”
“Have you seen her before?”
“Nope. Today was the first time.”
“You two were chatting that well on your first meeting?”
Jiang Yueming looked up at her. The question sounded familiar.
“We were just talking about a book. That’s not exactly ‘chatting well.'” He scratched his head. “Are you picking a fight with her today? Why do you keep asking?”
Xia He didn’t answer right away. She picked up the strainer, scooped a few more slices of meat from the pot, and placed them in Jiang Yueming’s bowl with slow, deliberate movements.
“I just think,” she said, setting the strainer down and looking at him, “it’s not normal for a complete stranger to be that enthusiastic toward you.”
“What’s not normal about it?”
“A girl you’ve never met before suddenly acts so friendly on the first meeting. Don’t you think that’s suspicious?” Xia He countered.
Jiang Yueming was stumped.
He thought back to his conversation with Su Xiaoyue—she really had been very forward, striking up a conversation, sitting right next to him, sharing the book with him.
But it hadn’t seemed excessive. Maybe she just had an outgoing personality?
“Maybe she’s just friendly by nature,” he said.
Xia He looked at him. Something unreadable flashed through her eyes, too fast for him to catch.
“Maybe.”
“If we’re talking about being enthusiastic… aren’t you pretty enthusiastic too?”
Xia He’s hand froze mid-motion as she picked up more food.
“Me?”
“Yeah. From the time we met until now, it’s only been about a week, right? You said we chatted a bit during duty shift, but I still can’t remember it. And look—you keep putting food in my bowl.”
Jiang Yueming stared at the growing mountain of meat in his bowl. Even with how fast he was eating, he couldn’t keep up with how quickly Xia He was serving him.
“What, you don’t like it when I’m enthusiastic toward you?” Xia He’s cheeks puffed out slightly.
“That’s not it. Honestly, I’m pretty happy about it.”
Xia He’s puffed cheeks stayed puffed, but after hearing those words, she couldn’t keep up the fake-angry act. The corners of her mouth twitched, trying to lift but holding back, and a faint blush crept up to her ears.
The hotpot steam billowed between them. Her expression flickered in and out through the vapor, like looking at a flower through mist.
“Why are you happy?”
Xia He’s voice softened. Her cute little nose tilted up slightly, like a proud young girl.
“Isn’t that normal? Anyone would be happy.”
The slight lift at the corners of Xia He’s mouth froze halfway.
“Anyone would be happy?” Her little face fell instantly. “Hey, Jiang Yueming, do you think I act like this with everyone?”
Jiang Yueming was chewing meat when the words suddenly made the food lose all its flavor. An inexplicable pressure made him look up in confusion. The source of that pressure was the girl sitting across from him.
His heart skipped a beat.
“I didn’t mean it like that…”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I just meant… you’re really good to me.”
Jiang Yueming struggled for a long moment before finally squeezing out the sentence.
“So if someone else was good to you, you’d be happy too?”
“That’s different…”
“How is it different?”
Jiang Yueming opened his mouth, but found he had no comeback.
Xia He watched his flustered expression. After a few seconds of silence, she let out a soft sigh.
The sigh was very light, almost lost in the bubbling of the hotpot, but Jiang Yueming heard it. Not only did he hear it—he caught the softness in it, the kind of sigh mothers often made, full of helpless fondness.
“Jiang Yueming,” she said his name, “do you think I act this way with everyone?”
She had asked the question once before, but he hadn’t answered. This time she asked it more directly, so directly that he couldn’t dodge it.
“…I don’t know,” he said.
“You don’t know?” Xia He tilted her head. “Then let me tell you—”
She paused, as if gathering her words or steeling herself.
“Jiang Yueming, I only act this way with you.”