Wu Xuehan lowered her lashes, her eyes moving beneath her eyelids, as she moved her chair back to its original position, too afraid to look at Tang Li, her speech somewhat hesitant: "I don’t watch often, just occasionally."
"Even occasionally is not good."
At this moment, Qin Yansheng returned from outside.
Finding that no one in the private room was talking, he closed the door behind him with a smile, asking: "Why are you all just sitting there dumbly?"
"We just finished chatting," Tang Li replied with a pressed-lip smile.
Shortly after Qin Yansheng returned to his seat, the waiter began to serve dishes.
During the meal, Tang Li got up to go to the restroom.
Wu Xuehan hurriedly put down her chopsticks, prepared to follow, but Tang Li turned her head and said: "You keep eating; I’ll be right back."
"..." Wu Xuehan had no choice but to sit back down.
After Tang Li left, she became restrained and uneasy.
Qin Yansheng took the initiative to strike up a conversation: "Ah Li usually doesn’t talk much at home, but I see she’s quite open when she’s with you, so it seems she must get along quite well with her classmates at school."
"Ah Li is really nice, she’s good to me too."
After saying this, Wu Xuehan didn’t know what else to say.
She was afraid of misspeaking.
"Ah Li and her elder sister look quite alike," Qin Yansheng picked up a soup spoon, smiled as he started ladling soup into his bowl, "But their personalities are quite different. Compared to her sister, Ah Li seems like a child who hasn’t grown up, and her sister is almost a powerful woman—in front of her, I hardly have any human rights."
Wu Xuehan placed her hands on her legs and pursed her lips.
Seeing Qin Yansheng had finished, she grew even more restless because she really didn’t know how to continue the conversation.
At this time, the waiter just happened to bring over a plate of fried spring rolls.
Thinking of the saying ’eating from someone’s hand shortens the tongue,’ Wu Xuehan stood up first to help take the plate, placing it in front of Qin Yansheng: "You have some, these are freshly fried chrysanthemums, very crispy."
Realizing that she had called the "spring rolls" "chrysanthemums," Wu Xuehan’s face flushed red, worried that Ah Li’s brother-in-law would be unhappy, she subconsciously explained: "I didn’t mean that in any other way, and I’m not mocking you, it’s just... a slip of the tongue, you’re Ah Li’s brother-in-law, I’m sure you definitely don’t like men."
Tang Li came out from the restroom, felt the strange vibe, Wu Xuehan sat with her head lowered, looking like she had done something wrong.
When the meal was over, Wu Xuehan didn’t utter a word.
When leaving the clubhouse, Tang Li encountered someone in the corridor.
Bai Yiqian was wearing a shirt and trousers, a cigarette in his mouth, saying goodbye and hugging a few old classmates at the door of the private room, laughing and joking. Then his gaze caught Tang Li, and afterward, he looked at Qin Yansheng beside her.
He naturally recognized Qin Yansheng.
From a distance, Tang Li did not intend to greet him.
After all, they weren’t close.
Seeing she didn’t move, Qin Yansheng extended his hand to encircle behind Tang Li, concernedly asking: "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing." Tang Li withdrew her gaze and smiled slightly.
After they walked away, Bai Yiqian strained his neck to look a few more times, then turned back into the private room to fetch his coat, said goodbye to the others, and left first.
That afternoon, Song Baiyan was fishing by the lake at Yunqi Villa, when a figure hurried over.
Bai Yiqian plopped down onto a low stool.
He casually picked up a bottle of mineral water from the lawn, unscrewed the cap, and took a few gulps to quench his thirst. Then he kicked Song Baiyan’s leather shoes with the tip of his shoe: "I’m telling you, you still have the mood to fish, your woman has already fallen for someone else and gone to reel in other guys!"