Meeting Again
Wen Xubai’s mind was heavy, Li Haiqing’s words playing on an endless loop in his head. Even after descending the stairs, he couldn’t quite shake off the daze…
“Only one child…?” Wen Xubai murmured.
Was Li Haiqing simply too panicked at the time to see clearly? Or had so much time passed that his memory was playing tricks on him?
His heart felt stifled, making the surrounding noise of the neighborhood sound increasingly piercing to his ears…
Suddenly, a sharp pain struck his shoulder!
“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Mister, are you okay?” A child who looked no older than eleven or twelve stared at him in terror, holding a half-eaten ice cream cone as he apologized profusely.
“I’m fine,” Wen Xubai replied indifferently.
The collision, however, managed to knock his wandering thoughts back to reality.
Only then did Wen Xubai realize with a start that although he was still in the alley, he had no idea where he had wandered to.
Just as he was standing there at a loss, a familiar voice drifted over from behind him:
“Three yuan?! It was just two-fifty at the market the day before yesterday! Boss, that’s no way to do business!”
“What do you mean ‘no way to do business’?! Look for yourself—my cucumbers compared to everyone else’s—can they even compare?!”
Wen Xubai’s heart jolted. He followed the sound.
Sure enough, past the bustling crowd, he saw Qi Zui not far away. Wearing a tank top and shorts, carrying several plastic bags, he was vigorously haggling with a stall owner in front of a vegetable stand.
The owner spat a garlic skin onto the ground near his feet and waved his hand. “You get what you pay for. Look at my cucumbers—straight as an arrow, no worm holes!” He picked one up to demonstrate.
“Even without worm holes, you can’t sell them this expensive?! Besides, aren’t all cucumbers straight?!” Qi Zui argued, eyes wide.
“Hey! You brat! You’re haggling with these old bones?! Forget it, two ninety! You’re not missing that little bit of money!”
“Who says I’m not missing it?!” Qi Zui puffed up his cheeks in annoyance, picked out a bunch of spinach, and tossed it into the basket.
“Let’s meet halfway. I’m buying this spinach too. Count the cucumbers as two eighty. Let’s make it a round number, alright?”
The owner’s brow furrowed like an old walnut. He stopped fanning himself with his palm-leaf fan and exclaimed anxiously, “Two eighty? My cost is nearly two seventy! How is that meeting halfway? You’re clearly giving an inch and taking a mile! You want me to lose money???”
Wen Xubai: “……”
Wen Xubai just watched the two of them arguing back and forth over a few cents, yet for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to walk away.
As they spoke, the owner took advantage of Qi Zui’s inattention to snatch the spinach back from his bag and tossed two tomatoes onto the scale instead.
“Take two tomatoes with you, and I’ll give it to you for two ninety. Otherwise, no deal!”
“I don’t like tomatoes!” Qi Zui muttered. “Ugh, fine, fine. Two eighty, deal or no deal? If not, I’m leaving!”
Saying this, he made a show of turning to leave.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
The owner anxiously reached out to stop him, then pulled his hand back to scratch his head, stomping his foot.
“Aiyaya, I really give up on you! Two eighty it is! You brat, don’t haggle like this next time. I run a small business; I barely make any profit!”
After weighing the items and stuffing them into a bag, the owner didn’t forget to grumble, “Five mao is still money; enough to buy a clove of garlic…”
Qi Zui immediately beamed. He flashed a “make a fortune” hand sign at the owner and laughed, “Generous Boss! I’ll come back to buy from you next time!”
“Get out of here! You stinking brat! Don’t come back to torture me again!”
The owner was amused by his antics and playfully swatted at him with the fan, feigning anger.
“Hehe, thanks, Boss!”
Carrying his bags full of groceries, Qi Zui turned around with satisfaction. But the moment he looked up, he saw Wen Xubai standing not far away, though who knew how long he had been watching. Qi Zui jumped in fright!
“Eh? Aren’t you…”
Wen Xubai: “……”
Watching a tomato roll out of Qi Zui’s bag—dislodged by his sudden jump—Wen Xubai silently crouched down, picked it up, and handed it back to him.
“Th… thanks,” Qi Zui reached out to take it, thanking him as he tried to put it back in the bag.
Seeing that both of Qi Zui’s hands were full and his movements were clumsy, Wen Xubai took the bright red tomato back. Under Qi Zui’s confused gaze, he tucked it securely into the bag for him.
“Didn’t you say you don’t like tomatoes?” Wen Xubai asked.
“Huh?” Qi Zui had intended to say thank you again, but the sudden question caught him off guard.
After a moment, he realized what Wen Xubai meant. He scratched his head sheepishly and laughed, “Oh, this… well, if it’s free, I’d be a fool not to take it.”
He was a full head taller than Wen Xubai. Yet, this large, tall man stood before him giggling like a shy boy.
For some reason, the corners of Wen Xubai’s lips couldn’t help but curve upward…
This person seemed to have an innate ability to influence the emotions of those around him…
Qi Zui didn’t seem to think that his “stingy” display just now was anything embarrassing to be seen by others. Instead, he shrugged nonchalantly.
But the moment he saw Wen Xubai smile, his own grin involuntarily grew even wider.
“See? You should smile more. You look really good when you smile!”
Hearing this, Wen Xubai froze.
It seemed no one had ever said that to him before.
A rare look of confusion appeared on Wen Xubai’s usually expressionless face. He pursed his thin lips and pointed at himself. “I… look good when I smile?”
It was only then that he realized he had forgotten to put his mask back on after leaving Li Haiqing’s house…
“Yeah,” Qi Zui nodded earnestly.
After a moment, he rubbed his chin and let out a hiss of thought.
“But that’s not entirely it…”
Wen Xubai: “???”
“It’s not just because of the smile. You’re just good-looking in general.”
Wen Xubai was rendered speechless, unsure of how to respond.
“What? Why are you looking at me with that expression? Don’t believe me? I swear to heaven, everything I’m saying is the honest truth from the bottom of my heart!”
As he spoke, Qi Zui raised two fingers together toward the sky!
Wen Xubai was stunned. Seeing Qi Zui look as if he really wanted to swear an oath, the smile on his lips deepened.
Qi Zui was dazzled by that smile and stood frozen in place.
After a while, he snapped out of it. The man slapped his forehead as if suddenly remembering something!
“Oh, right! I haven’t paid you back for the noodles from last time, have I?!”
Saying this, Qi Zui shuffled all the bags into one hand and made a move to dig into his pocket with the other!
“Eh! No need,” Wen Xubai quickly stopped him.
“How can there be no need! I said I would treat you, so how could I let you pay? If I did that, I wouldn’t be much of a man, would I?!”
Wen Xubai really wanted to say: Actually, I am also a man…
But in the end, he swallowed those words and replaced them with:
“If you really want to pay me back, why not… just treat me to another bowl of noodles?”
Speaking of which, Wen Xubai actually felt a little hungry…
He hadn’t eaten much at the Wen house this morning. At noon, he was busy finding Tan Yu and confronting Li Haiqing, so he hadn’t had time to eat. Now, lunchtime had passed, and it was nearly afternoon…
“Just that?” Qi Zui asked in disbelief.
“Just that.” Wen Xubai nodded.
“Done! No big deal!” Qi Zui laughed heartily.
Without missing a beat, he used his free hand to hook his arm around Wen Xubai’s shoulder!
“Let’s go, we’re heading to the noodle shop right now!”
Wen Xubai instantly went stiff. He hadn’t expected Qi Zui to suddenly hug him like that, and his heart gave a startled jolt.
Qi Zui, however, didn’t notice anything unusual.
After all, in his eyes, men walking with their arms around each other’s shoulders was a perfectly normal thing.
It was only when he got close to Wen Xubai and caught a whiff of a faint, clean fragrance on him that Qi Zui paused for a second.
Why is he like a woman…? Qi Zui thought.
“Are you wearing perfume?” Qi Zui couldn’t help but ask.
“No?” Wen Xubai found it strange. “Why do you ask?”
Children of wealthy families did indeed wear perfume for certain events, but they wouldn’t wear it every day. Besides, he was a grown man, and today he was specifically trying not to draw attention to himself, so why would he deliberately wear perfume?
“Ah… nothing, I was just asking… haha…” Qi Zui touched the tip of his nose to cover his awkwardness.
Seeming eager to diffuse the awkwardness and afraid Wen Xubai might press the issue, Qi Zui quickly changed the subject as they walked.
“Hey, you still haven’t told me your name? I can’t just keep calling you ‘Hey’, right?”
Wen Xubai fell silent.
“What’s wrong?” Qi Zui thought he had said something wrong again.
“Nothing…” Wen Xubai hesitated for a moment before slowly uttering two words: “Chen Che.”
“Chengche?” Qi Zui repeated, mishearing it as the word for ‘crystal clear.’ He laughed, “It suits you.”
Wen Xubai lowered his long lashes, hiding the emotions in his eyes.
“Hey, you’re not from around here, are you?”
“Not from where?”
“Not from Huaihua Alley.”
“How do you know?”
Mindful of the passersby, Wen Xubai nudged Qi Zui slightly, only to see a mischievous grin on the other man’s face.
Then, under Wen Xubai’s puzzled gaze, Qi Zui laughed. “I guessed.”
Wen Xubai: “……”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“Here to find someone.”
“Find who? Me?”
Wen Xubai gave him a speechless look and said helplessly, “Finding a friend.”
“Am I not your friend?” Qi Zui stared at him with spirited eyes.
Wen Xubai’s steps faltered. He turned his head blankly to look at the person beside him.
Unfortunately, given their current proximity and posture, Wen Xubai could only see up to Qi Zui’s chest.
Friends?
“En…” Wen Xubai responded softly, the corners of his mouth lifting into a faint, shallow smile.
“Right? Right?!” Qi Zui exclaimed excitedly, hugging Wen Xubai even tighter.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Wen Xubai was truly afraid of his enthusiasm and quickly nodded in response.
“Hehe, I knew it!”
Having received the answer he wanted, Qi Zui finally relaxed his grip, though he didn’t take his arm down. Content, he continued to walk forward, arm still draped around the other man.
“Doesn’t it make you tired, walking while hugging someone like this?”
“Nope, not tired at all!”
Wen Xubai: “……”
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