At the same time, the apartment downstairs from Qiao Ling’s handmade shop.
The morning light was dazzling, the bathroom window was open, the cigarette between Xie Rouyin’s fingertips constantly drifting out soft white mist.
She leaned against the washbasin, staring outside the window in a daze.
………
Late at night, the off-road vehicle slowly entered the block, circling around near this commercial-residential mixed-use office building, looking for a parking spot.
Qiao Jing was steering the wheel with one hand, looking around, completely unable to find an empty space. He glanced at Xie Rouyin, who was lazily curled up in the passenger seat, dozing off. Finally, he asked: “That, shop manager, there’s something.”
Xie Rouyin half-drunk, half-awake, let out an “Mm?” sound, voice line drunk and alluring.
He scratched his head, asked: “Do you know… that is, my little sister and Chen Kuang…”
She narrowed her eyes to look at the man struggling with his wording, “You’re saying Lingling likes Chen Kuang, right.”
Qiao Jing stayed silent for a few seconds, found a suitable place, stepped on the brakes, turned his head to look at her: “When did you notice.”
Xie Rouyin had a matter-of-course expression: “From the very beginning.”
“Before Xiao Feng and I moved over.”
As almost the last one to know.
Qiao Jing: “…”
Could it be he really was deaf and blind?
Xie Rouyin saw his awkward expression, found it rather funny, teased: “You really didn’t notice all along? You as a cousin aren’t careful enough.”
Qiao Jing awkwardly rubbed his nose, “Ai, this…”
“Observation skill so dull.” Today she drank very happily, also spoke more than usual, giggling softly: “How did you even date those two girlfriends before, Qiao Jing.”
The two beams of the off-road vehicle’s headlights shone on the little bugs flying chaotically in clusters at the roadside ahead.
The woman’s soft laughter and the car music blended together, subtly just like cigarettes and strong liquor, swallowed together into the stomach, the drunkenness rushing straight to the top of the head.
The light inside the car cabin was already ambiguous and unclear. Xie Rouyin’s jet-black curly hair was rubbed a little messy by herself, paired with crimson lip color, half-drunk fox-like eyes, adding even more hazy atmosphere.
Her facial features were actually on the lighter side, yet compared to any woman he’d seen, even more charming. This kind of allure had nothing to do with appearance; it was fragrance emitted from the bones.
Qiao Jing stared at her like this, throat dry and itchy, fingers holding the steering wheel gradually tightening.
A lot of things, he only dared to ask when Xie Rouyin’s level of sobriety was slightly weaker.
“So you’ve been matchmaking them all along?”
“A little bit, actually didn’t help much.” She crossed and raised her leg, only hooking the tip part of her foot on the high heel, swinging it. The smooth heel and ankle so white they glowed.
“If it’s really mutual affection, there’s no need for outsiders to interfere, sooner or later it’ll happen.”
Qiao Jing found it hard to move his gaze away from her, finally dared to ask: “So, that is to say, you towards Chen Kuang…”
“Don’t have that kind of meaning?”
Xie Rouyin’s gaze became strange, elbow propped against the window, fingertip touching the corner of her forehead.
“You thought I had feelings for Chen Kuang?”
“What gave you that kind of illusion?”
The stone hanging in his heart fell to the ground, Qiao Jing almost couldn’t hold back a laugh. When he spoke again, his tone unconsciously became light: “I just saw you take quite good care of him, felt like it wasn’t like ordinary friends, plus you’ve known each other for so long.”
“In the past year or two, the only man who could get close to you, is just him.”
Xie Rouyin let out a hum-like laugh, “Just now outside the hotpot restaurant, you also saw my little brother.”
“He’s my little brother’s university classmate plus business partner, he’s a technical shareholder of my brother’s drone company.”
Qiao Jing listened, stunned.
Ah?
This person is that impressive?
“Chen Kuang has suffered a lot, it’s already something to feel sorry about, plus he also counts as Xiao Feng’s honorary uncle. He’s so good to Xiao Feng, if I don’t treat him a little better, who should I treat well?” she said.
Qiao Jing was left speechless, in his mind flashed all kinds of scenes of himself previously eating fake vinegar [吃醋, literally ‘eating vinegar’, means getting jealous], then remembered his younger cousin sister’s sentence:
“Both deaf and blind, narrow-minded, treating the whole world as your imaginary enemy, is that enough aready!”
“…” This little girl, she had long known that Chen Kuang didn’t like Rouyin.
Looking at it like this, wasn’t he purely just a foolish dog!?
Xie Rouyin glanced sideways at his face full of complicated expression, raised her eyebrows, puzzled: “You actually thought I would like that type of man like Chen Kuang.”
“He’s a very good person, but not my type.”
Qiao Jing brewed his words, silently averted his eyes, not daring to meet her directly: “You said it yourself, I’m dull in this kind of thing.”
“So? If it’s not Chen Kuang’s type, then what type is it?”
The pulse that had just settled down grew chaotic again.
It seemed because of his sentence, the atmosphere inside the car grew even thicker.
Xie Rouyin’s gaze towards him slightly changed, her dark eyes with the passage of time and drunkenness became even deeper, not speaking for a while.
To tell the truth.
Qiao Jing’s figure and appearance, among all the men she had seen, could rank in the top five.
In past years she had always been dealing with sharp-minded or self-proclaimed clever elite men.
A man like Qiao Jing with thick eyebrows and big eyes, not much scheming, male hormones emanating extremely purely—was a bit of a novelty.
He would also, like other men, show off now and then, occasionally play the hero, but not lewd at all.
Especially carrying a body full of lean muscles, yet always looking at her with those dog-like expectant eyes.
Xie Rouyin found it especially amusing.
But—
She hooked up the corner of her lips, turned her head to look towards the car window glass outside, pulling at her own collar a little, sighing: “So hot.”
“Don’t you feel it.”
The electric waves in the eyes between a man and a woman didn’t need language to understand each other.
Although Qiao Jing was dull, he still caught that momentary flicker in her gaze before she turned her head, an inexplicable courage and heat rushing up.
He unfastened his seatbelt, leaned over.
Xie Rouyin did not expect him to suddenly lean in, was dazed for a moment, leaned back, looking at him almost sticking close to herself, then he reached out to press the button for her, lowering the car window by half.
The cold air from outside drifted in faintly, she shivered without warning.
Did not know if it was from the cold, or…
Qiao Jing did not return to the driver’s seat, but just like that, one hand propping against the passenger side door, the other hand propped beside her.
His sturdy figure completely enveloped Xie Rouyin’s field of vision.
His gaze dark.
“Like this, still hot?”
Xie Rouyin lifted that raised leg of hers slightly, her knee just happened to brush past his thigh that had knelt down, the inner side.
The sound made by delicate skin rubbing against the fabric of long pants, was like a natural aphrodisiac.
Qiao Jing, like a dog receiving its master’s signal, finally lowered his head indulgently, drawing near that face of hers that could capture souls.
The man’s fresh breath rushed toward her, Xie Rouyin did not move, her gaze always drowsy, yet also without any excess emotion.
When their nose tips touched, she raised her hand to press against his chest, breath fragrant: “What are you trying to do.”
Qiao Jing tucked her stray hair behind her ear, “Isn’t it what you want.”
Xie Rouyin laughed, corrected: “I said hot.”
He was certain: “You want it already.”
Her confident gaze flickered: “What I meant was…”
Qiao Jing lowered his eyes, as if there was a moment of self-mockery, his large hand grasped her knee that had just been rubbing messily, “It’s you who forgot.”
“This year, March sixteenth, the two of us were on a business trip in Chongjing, you drank too much, in the hotel.”
He rubbed her smooth knee, lifted his eyes to ask: “You really don’t remember at all?”
Fragmented memories surged, Xie Rouyin was dazed, slowly blinked.
She never neglected normal desires and needs. After giving birth to Xiao Feng, most of the time she settled it herself, but if she happened to encounter a one-night affair she also wouldn’t care too much.
She had originally thought that night was with a stranger. After all, the next day there was only herself in the room, drunk to the point of blackout, only remembering the other party’s hands and mouth were superb, she hadn’t felt that comfortable in a long time.
Did not expect it was.
“We…” This time it was her turn to become slow.
Qiao Jing let out a muffled breath, looking at her with somewhat resentful eyes, “That night, you were rubbing against me like this, hugging me, kept rubbing.”
“You wanted it, Rouyin, this time I wasn’t wrong, right.”
The relationship between the two of them was very subtle.
Xie Rouyin had thought, if she wasn’t planning to give him any kind of explanation, then might as well maintain the last layer of distance, always stay as friends and business partners.
But she did not expect, that this layer of relationship had already been pierced by her own hand half a year ago.
This man, for the past half year, just what kind of attitude had he been facing her with.
If not for tonight, did he plan to hold it in for a lifetime and not say?
Xie Rouyin blinked, the maturity and control she usually had broke off a corner, her brain rapidly turning, thinking how to resolve the current situation.
However, the already slightly sulking man did not plan to give her time to think clearly. He lowered his head, pressing down to kiss her lips.
Tasting the fragrance inside her mouth, Qiao Jing felt pleasure rush to his brain, almost unable to hold himself back.
The kiss ignited instantly, the last bit of reason between adult men and women decisively thrown away.
Xie Rouyin was both annoyed and gradually swallowed up by the restlessness that made every part of her body itch. She hugged the back of his neck, taking the initiative to bring his big hand to hold her heartbeat.
The two of them breathing heavily, Xie Rouyin tilted her head, enjoying Qiao Jing sucking at her neck, voice fragmented: “…park the car properly… go upstairs.”
During the gap when Qiao Jing was sucking, he stopped, refusing and reminding: “Right in the car.”
“Xiao Feng is still at home.”
Xie Rouyin was inexplicably provoked by this sentence, a hot flow surged in her lower abdomen.
The intense yet brief kiss was interrupted. Qiao Jing straightened up, returned to the driver’s seat, pressed the car key — the car lights all turned off.
The off-road vehicle’s back seat could be laid flat at one hundred eighty degrees, no different from a bed. He reached over to pick her up, breathing so rough it overflowed with a granular feeling: “The back is spacious.”
The atmosphere had reached this point already. A drunk person didn’t have much thinking ability either. Xie Rouyin thought, even if something happened, it was fine.
Anyway, the red line had long since been crossed, the difference between fifty percent and one hundred percent was just about allowing one Qiao Jing in.
However, just as Qiao Jing lay down flat before her, Xie Rouyin was still a little surprised.
Qiao Jing’s breathing and gaze were both chaotic, and he was already fully raised up in front of her eyes, yet he seemed to completely ignore his own burning desire.
He held her thigh, gently pulling it towards his own face, urging: “Sit on top.”
“Same as last time, is that enough.”
Xie Rouyin’s rationality completely snapped.
That high nose bridge of his, and that rough yet flexible tongue, strong hands.
Her body remembered.
………
Dong dong.
At the same time the knocking sound rang, Xie Rouyin got burned on her fingertip by the cigarette butt, snapped back to her senses, looked outside the bathroom door.
From outside the bathroom door came Xiao Feng’s tender voice: “Mama, can I come in?”
“Of course you can.” Xie Rouyin quickly stubbed out the cigarette, fanning the smoke smell out the window.
Xiao Feng pushed open the bathroom door and walked in, frowning, “Mama, you’re smoking again?”
“Mm, didn’t sleep well last night.” Xie Rouyin picked up a hair tie, preparing to comb her daughter’s hair: “It’s still early, not sleeping anymore?”
“Today is our group’s duty day.” Xiao Feng stood properly in front of mama, filling the cup with water to brush her teeth.
She looked at mama in the mirror, worried: “Mami, can you smoke less in the future?”
Xie Rouyin gently agreed: “Mm, okay.”
“Smoking is especially bad for the lungs.” Xiaofeng spoke earnestly like a little adult: “Little Uncle Kuang said, his mother’s lungs got sick, when lungs get sick, it will be especially painful.”
She smiled, planning to braid her daughter’s hair into pigtails, “Uncle even told you that?”
Xiaofeng proudly: “Yes, I and Little Uncle Kuang are good friends.”
“In Binyang dialect, that’s called ze tie!” [贼铁: local slang, means very close/good friends, literally ‘super iron’.]
Xie Rouyin was amused by her daughter, bending over laughing, didn’t stop for a long time.
The small single-person apartment echoed with the playful laughter of mother and daughter.
………
Two days later, exactly nine o’clock in the evening.
Today Qiao Ling closed the shop earlier than usual. With nothing to do, she decided to go for a round at epic.
Since that night, she hadn’t brought up those two kisses, and Chen Kuang also didn’t say anything.
But the atmosphere between the two of them at home had undergone earth-shaking changes—she could feel it.
The real ambiguous period seemed to be in progress.
Because of that, her mind was almost completely filled with Chen Kuang, always wanting to see him a little more each day.
Didn’t expect that as soon as she entered the bar, before she had a chance to greet Chen Kuang, she first saw Dan Zi sitting on the side.
She came again.