TPIL - 29

People who go out to drown their sorrows alone often harbor a motive of wanting to be taken care of, being particularly deliberate, which made Qi Xiaochuan quite disgusted. If it were up to him alone, his way of dealing with it would only be to let the other party fend for themselves. Since they so wanted to degenerate, then so be it; being choked to death by their own vomit outside or freezing to death on the streets in the dead of winter due to hypothermia – it was their own wish, wasn’t it? However, while Qi Xiaochuan’s inner turmoil raged, he still drove and stopped the car carrying Luo Andi at the entrance of the club.

Amidst the dazzling lights and boisterous sounds, Luo Andi tried her best to move inside. Qi Xiaochuan tossed the car keys to the doorman and immediately followed. By the time he arrived, she was already at the entrance dealing with admission. Turning her head and seeing him, she immediately pointed him out to the staff: “I’m with him, two people.”

They moved inside after putting on wristbands. Qi Xiaochuan felt his blood vessels were on the verge of exploding, but he briefly closed his eyes the moment he heard her say “two people.” Good, if it could always be just the two of them. Luo Andi, however, was completely oblivious and even turned her head with concern: “Is it too dazzling? I think it’s a bit much too, we’ll go out in a bit.”

The performance had already ended, and the prices weren’t as high as before, but the shrewd business still insisted on charging a fee. If Luo Andi hadn’t been there, Qi Xiaochuan would have definitely been stingy. The music was deafening. Luo Andi was squeezed away by the crowd several times, only to be forcefully pulled back by Qi Xiaochuan. He held her arm, and she winced in pain. He had no choice but to let go and put his arm around her to guide her upstairs. Passing through the stairs, they finally saw Su Yining enjoying the spacious sofa alone in the booth at the end.

Truly insane. Qi Xiaochuan turned his head and righteously began to order the young attendants nearby, while inwardly vowing that he would never get this drunk in his life. Stay away from alcohol, or misfortune would follow.

Luo Andi, on the other hand, was full of worry. She approached and patted his knee: “Mr. Su, Mr. Su? Su Yining!”

Su Yining lifted his drunken eyes and looked over with a muddled smile, calling her with the sweetest voice: “Andi.” He suddenly hugged her. This action was too commonplace for a drunkard. Qi Xiaochuan, seeing this scene, reacted like Tom Cat getting his tail caught in a toaster, flying into a rage and immediately trying to rescue Luo Andi.

Qi Xiaochuan was furious: “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Knowing that my dad and I are competing for orders recently, you deliberately want to frame me for murder and send me to prison, right—”

Several young club attendants who had just been watching the commotion now realized they had interfered too much and all came over to dissuade him.

In the end, they still managed to carry the relatively unscathed Su Yining out.

Frankly speaking, although not as noble as Gao Jie, Su Yining was a genuine second-generation rich kid. When he wasn’t drunk, he was a relatively normal person. How could he lack relatives and friends willing to pick him up? Forgetting to put Luo Andi as the first emergency contact under such circumstances was simply malicious. Qi Xiaochuan only felt that his proactive offer to accompany her was a truly wise move.

Qi Xiaochuan had originally planned to send Su Yining back. He was just about to direct the staff to carry him into the car when he saw Luo Andi hurriedly jogging over with her phone, telling him that she had already called a car. “It wouldn’t be good if he threw up in your car,” Luo Andi looked at him with a delicate and thoughtful smile.

“...I’ll make him pay for the car wash,” he replied briefly after a delay, his gaze lingering on her, wandering back and forth.

It wasn’t that there were no streetlights, but the branches were layered upon layered, like umbrellas shielding the light. They seemed to be standing in the middle of a polar night, the wind combing through their weary limbs.

Su Yining slumped against the flower bed. Luo Andi was looking at him, while Qi Xiaochuan was looking at Luo Andi. Her gaze was fixed, and his attention was completely focused.

It was a long time before she finally turned her head back. Luo Andi looked straight ahead and faintly tilted her head: “Why do people drink?”

“Why do you drink?” he retorted.

“That’s true, although I haven’t gone recently because of work,” she laughed. “It probably feels very relaxed when you drink, right?”

His mood wasn’t actually bad, but he habitually wore an unhappy expression, looking ahead and asking back: “Why?”

She looked at him as if she had encountered an alien, unable to hide her surprise: “Xiao Xiao, don’t you think so?”

Being asked so solemnly, he hesitated a bit and said slowly: “Getting drunk doesn’t help either, does it? The problems won’t be solved, and you still waste time waiting for the alcohol to wear off. If it were me, I wouldn’t turn into a lump of mud. I’d rather do something meaningful.”

As he said this, he lowered his eyes and glanced at Su Yining. Alcohol was truly a magical thing. A usually refined and meticulous man was now sitting carelessly on the ground. The designer of his expensive suit and coat would probably cry if they knew. Qi Xiaochuan focused his attention on him, completely not expecting Luo Andi to speak at this moment. Her words were like an arrow shot from a bow, flying suddenly and only realizing it was covered in poison after it grazed him.

“Xiao Xiao is so strong,” Luo Andi said, “different from all of us.”

He turned his head back somewhat unexpectedly. She took a step forward, stepped down the stairs, and also stepped onto the road illuminated by the petrol-like lights, leaving him with only a fleeting smile and the back of her head.

Qi Xiaochuan asked, “Are you angry?”

“No,” Luo Andi didn’t turn her head.

“Do you like Su Yining?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then do you still like me?” he asked as he walked forward.

“I don’t like you anymore,” her answer was very firm.

He persistently asked, “You don’t like Xiao Xiao anymore?”

“Mm,” she replied, “The current me dislikes Xiao Xiao very much. Even if I liked Fu Shenxing, I wouldn’t like Qi Xiaochuan.”

“Who is that?”

“Don’t you know? The male protagonist of ‘The Things in the Palm,’ a ruthless man.”

Ruthless? Qi Xiaochuan was still confused, but he had already walked around to her side: “The chef at the braised spicy shrimp tail restaurant?”

“Of course not,” Luo Andi turned her head back, both amused and annoyed, just in time to meet his eyes.

They seemed to be looking for their own reflections in each other’s eyes.

Qi Xiaochuan said, “You’re angry, aren’t you?”

Luo Andi shook her head: “No.”

Belated embarrassment surged up, and he awkwardly pressed his hands behind his back, feeling at a loss: “Uh...” She actually disliked him. For so long, he hadn’t noticed at all.

She seemed to let out a sigh of relief and suddenly said, “Okay. A little bit.”

This was probably the best news he had heard in the past seven days, and perhaps the only thing that had stirred his emotions other than anger and displeasure.

“Everyone has their weak moments, why are you so strong?” Luo Andi murmured to herself, “Gao Jie’s crush doesn’t like her, Shi Wei is isolated by the boys in her grade, Mr. Su hopes to gain the approval of his elders, only you are like this.”

She was genuinely puzzled.

When she met Gao Jie, she was lost, her phone had no battery, and she was wearing ill-fitting shoes that had rubbed her feet raw. The things she had wanted but couldn’t get her whole life, and she had always held herself to a high standard of possessing them, until the boy she liked made a dazzling appearance, only to bring tears and helplessness that were unfamiliar and caught her off guard.

Zhong Shiwei’s hobbies were peculiar, and his personality was aloof. The fact that he was liked by the opposite sex actually caused him a lot of inconvenience. Being unconventional in a place like school was particularly easy to become a thorn in everyone’s side. But in fact, he was just a boisterous boy. No matter how much he pretended to be aloof, he often felt depressed inside.

Su Yining had been left in the country by his parents since he was a child. Compared to him, his parents were more concerned about the company’s profits. His aunt’s doting suffocated him, but it also did give him a taste of being loved, like a heavy and aged lover, turning into a rusty shackle.

They all found Luo Andi, grabbed her, held her tight, poured out their hearts to her, needing her gentleness.

She looked at him, a smile on her pure face that concealed desire, yet it was like a crescent moon rising from a azure shallow beach, the sea and sky the same color, hazy and unclear: “Only you are like this.”

The booked online taxi was late. Qi Xiaochuan had to pay three times the amount to persuade the driver to take Su Yining, but he also left the address and asked the driver to mail the receipt to the company, willing to pay extra for the same-city postage to get it reimbursed for the drunkard himself. Soon, the taxi Luo Andi had called herself arrived. Before getting into the car, she waved goodbye to him.

“Rest early,” Luo Andi said.

Qi Xiaochuan felt like Cinderella in the fairy tale. No matter how unreasonable her requests were, he would definitely fulfill them. Qi Xiaochuan knew he would sleep dreamlessly and wake up the next day full of energy. There was no reason, he just knew.

It was the second week after that that he went to finish the felt craft. The finishing work was no simpler than before. When he arrived at the store, the air conditioning hit him in the face, making him feel refreshed.

Luo Andi said, “Welcome. There are other customers today, would you like a private classroom?”

Going would mean fewer chances to see her. Qi Xiaochuan said, “No need. It’s fine to sit downstairs with others.”

He continued to poke the felt. What should he do with it after it was finished? That was not yet within his consideration. When he had done it before, almost every time he encountered a group of housewives or junior high school students, he would be surrounded by their chattering for a long time. Qi Xiaochuan admitted that he was very good at handicrafts. If he went bankrupt one day, he might actually be able to find a job in a craft factory. Although nowadays everything was automated and mechanized, there was hardly any room for manual operation. When doing these meticulous and repetitive tasks, his thoughts always couldn’t help but wander far away.

Suddenly, a middle-aged woman sat down next to him, took off her headscarf and sunglasses, and then began to enjoy fragrant black tea and cookies.

Luo Andi passed by not far away. Su Yining’s aunt hurriedly put down her teacup and immediately raised her arm to greet her. During work hours, Luo Andi only nodded and smiled, and the aunt was also satisfied. Qi Xiaochuan witnessed this scene, kept silent, and continued to lower his head to shape the felt. Su Yining’s aunt glanced over distractedly, and the sigh she let out was a compliment that he had heard so many times his ears had calluses: “Oh, young man, you’re doing a good job. Is this easy to make?”

Qi Xiaochuan completely ignored her.

But the aunt was not the kind of person who considered other people’s feelings. She forcibly moved her chair over, pointing and saying, “Did you poke this out? Oh my, it’s so magical, how did you make this? Looking at it makes me want to make one too...”

He wanted to directly hand her two hundred yuan and tell her to take a taxi to a blind date corner and chat with someone else, but he was afraid that the woman would start screaming shrilly and never stop, which would affect Luo Andi’s performance. Qi Xiaochuan simply kept silent.

The aunt said to herself, “Young man, at your age, why aren’t you out on a date with your girlfriend? What are you doing playing around in a place like this?”

Why did people of this age seem to be born with the responsibility of checking household registrations? Regardless of whether they knew each other or whether the other person was willing, as long as they wanted to, they had to interrogate you from head to toe.

“Andi! Andi!” The aunt didn’t get a response and immediately looked elsewhere for her value, “Come and pour me a glass of water.”

Luo Andi whispered a few words to her colleague next to her, then walked over and did as she was asked: “Would you like to learn a little about our courses?”

“Oh dear, let me take a look first,” the aunt took the brochure, smiling kindly at her, “You go ahead and get busy.”

Qi Xiaochuan finally raised his head. And Su Yining’s aunt also smugly noticed his gaze, generously introducing to a third party behind the person’s back: “...That was my nephew’s girlfriend just now.”

Nonsense. He sneered, finally revealing his true colors, devoid of any cultivation: “Do you have any evidence?”

As if encountering a lunatic, Su Yining’s aunt also showed a strange expression: “What? What evidence is needed for that? She and my nephew are that kind of relationship, their feelings are very good, they are often together.”

“But no one said that being together means being boyfriend and girlfriend,” he put down the felt and the needle, in case he was held accountable for wielding a weapon in case of an accident, and adopted a rogue attitude, saying, “Donald Trump and Joseph Biden are still debating in the presidential election together, they aren’t a couple either.”

The aunt couldn’t bear it anymore: “Are you out of your mind? Other people are having a good relationship and making friends, is it your turn to interfere? Are you deliberately picking a fight?”

Qi Xiaochuan continued without changing his expression: “Am I deliberately picking a fight or are you gossiping here?”

“You! You! You!” Having been a wealthy lady for so many years, the aunt had obviously not been contradicted like this by many people. “What’s wrong with you? What bad luck! Are you a piece of social garbage retaliating against society? You can’t stand seeing others doing well, you’re unhappy yourself, so you have to go around causing trouble everywhere!”

He sat there, scanned from head to toe by her hostility.

Not knowing which word had struck a nerve, Qi Xiaochuan unexpectedly fell silent. “If she really...” he said when he spoke again, “then of course I have nothing to say.”

Even he himself shied away from the words that were about to come out.

Noticing the commotion, the new employee didn’t know what to do and quickly asked a senior colleague for help. When Luo Andi quickly arrived, the first thing Qi Xiaochuan thought of was that he had caused her trouble after all. He stood up and casually replied when asked what had happened: “Nothing, just a little quarrel.” The felt craft was finished, and it was terribly unsightly. He didn’t hesitate to squeeze it hard and throw it directly into the trash can next to the underground passage.

A new season had arrived. He had originally thought about many other things, but now all that remained was to work harder.

He wanted to earn money.

More and more money.

How much money would it take to buy a time machine and go back to the past? Or, more realistically, how much money would it take to let Luo Andi live the life she had before? If she went back to that life, would she be able to be simply happy? Or rather, would he have the ability to make her happy?

He wondered if it would be better if he didn’t see her anymore. After all, if he became a stumbling block to her happiness, he would probably never forgive himself.

His phone vibrated. It was a message from Luo Andi. She asked him, “What happened? It feels like you won’t come anymore. Is the next class rattan weaving or continuing with felt craft ^^?”

Qi Xiaochuan immediately overturned his decision from the previous second: “Rattan weaving.”

Luo Andi read his message and quickly replied, “Okay, then I’ll make a reservation for you.”

She slowly typed a message to him: “Want to go to Luo Chuishun’s grave together?”

After thinking for a while, she deleted it word by word.

The anniversary of Luo Chuishun’s death was approaching. They were twins born on the same day, like two conjoined lions, growing up together since childhood. Even though they were different genders and had different abilities, they were still so close. Girls were supposed to be gentle, kind, and understanding. The teachings she had received from her parents had long since become ineffective. After he died, she often had the feeling that a part of her had died with him. She didn’t hate him, but she still remembered the past.

“Sister,” Luo Chuishun leaned his ear against her shoulder, the two children snuggling together. He often asked her, “Do you really like Xiao Xiao?”