Chapter 25: A Whole Basket of Embarrassing Moments
“You really pay attention to every little detail…”
“A wedding isn’t the same as taking photos. You need to choose a proper dress. Just pick based on your taste in women. If you really can’t decide, bring your two best friends along too.”
Cheng Fei glanced at him.
“You’ve said all that, but aren’t you going too?”
“Uh…”
Gao Ming did not answer right away. Instead, he slowly pretended to think for a while. Only after Cheng Fei drank a mouthful of soup did he calmly say,
“Of course I’m going. After all, it’s our wedding.”
Sure enough, Cheng Fei sprayed the soup out again. This time, she managed to cover both her clothes and the entire tabletop in the blast radius.
This guy!
If he said he was not doing this on purpose, even ghosts would climb trees to hide from the lie.
She glared at him angrily. Seeing his expression while trying not to laugh made her want to kick him straight in the face.
Cheng Fei grabbed tissues to wipe her mouth, her clothes, the table, and finally the floor before everything was cleaned up.
During the whole process, Gao Ming simply sat there quietly, greatly enjoying how hardworking she was.
He knew her emotions were unstable because of her period hormones. Otherwise, she would not suddenly bite him earlier.
Still, being bitten like that would upset anyone physically and mentally. And since he would have to suffer for several more days because of the wound, teasing her a little whenever she got annoyed counted as letting out his frustration. After that, the matter was considered finished.
That meal felt awkward beyond words.
It was almost as uncomfortable as the first time Cheng Fei came to this house and had to act in front of Gao Ming’s parents.
After taking a shower and lying in bed, Cheng Fei still felt angry and unfairly treated. Her breathing was uneven, and from time to time she let out heavy sighs.
She picked up her phone and stared at the lock-screen photo of Gao Ming that the original owner had set.
Grinding her teeth, she started editing the picture.
Not long later, thanks to Cheng Fei’s “master-level editing skills,” the originally handsome face had turned into something shocking beyond description.
Her mood improved a tiny bit afterward.
Even if she edited him into a ghost, the original owner probably would not care anyway.
Was it childish?
Please.
Gao Ming acting all petty after an accident was no more mature than her behavior.
Tsk, whatever.
As long as she managed to vent some anger, that was enough.
Life continued as usual, and finally the debuff of blood loss and weakness ended on schedule.
The hotter the weather became, the better business got at the small shop.
This year summer arrived especially early. The temperature rose like a plane shooting into the sky, and soon the night market season officially began. Street stalls returned once more.
Tables and chairs from every store were moved outside onto the roadside parking areas.
With only two workers, they were already struggling to keep up. Time became even tighter.
That night, after staying busy until very late, fewer and fewer people remained on the street. Many nearby stores had already closed for the day.
Cheng Fei called Liu Zhi, the new worker, over and prepared to move the tables and chairs back inside before heading home to fight another day tomorrow.
“Boss, can you wait a little longer? Let me finish my drink before cleaning up, okay?”
A slightly hoarse voice called out from behind her.
“Sure, no problem!”
Cheng Fei happily agreed.
Money was money. Even tiny profits still counted. Who would hate earning more?
She turned around and saw the customer remove a shoulder bag and place it on the back of the chair. Inside the plastic bag he carried were two stacked food containers.
Oh.
So he had just gotten off work and came here to eat.
No matter how messy or dirty the table was, Cheng Fei still politely grabbed a rag to wipe it clean.
Her slender fingers looked extremely different against the gray cleaning cloth.
Everyone liked beautiful things, and as a man, he naturally looked a few more times at those soft and delicate hands.
Then his eyes followed her arm upward to her face.
Her eyes, nose, lips, chin, and slender neck above her elegant collarbone…
Because the table was low and the angle was perfect, his gaze kept drifting farther downward…
Cheng Fei was so tired that her mind could barely focus anymore. She only cared about wiping the table and did not notice his gaze.
When she raised a hand to wipe sweat from her forehead, their eyes suddenly met.
The hand holding the rag froze in midair.
Her body stiffened like a rusty machine. Her waist stayed bent in the same position as she quietly stared at the man in the plaid shirt before her.
It was a face she knew so well she was almost sick of seeing it.
Zhou Lin!
A childhood friend.
A brother even closer than best friends.
Feeling guilty after being caught staring, Zhou Lin quickly looked away.
At the same time, Cheng Fei finally snapped back to her senses and suddenly straightened up.
“Hiss!”
From morning until night, besides eating and using the bathroom, she had barely rested at all.
Her legs had almost become as tough as iron from standing all day.
But she forgot about the source supporting all that force, her waist.
Straightening up too suddenly made her bones, muscles, and tendons protest loudly.
Closing her eyes and frowning, Cheng Fei grabbed her aching waist and stepped backward until she sat down in a chair.
How could Zhou Lin continue eating after seeing that?
He immediately asked with concern, “Are you okay?!”
Cheng Fei shook her head.
After rubbing her waist hard for a while, the pain finally eased a little.
“How did you come back?”
Hearing that question from a complete stranger sounded very strange. Zhou Lin turned and looked at her.
“What?”
“Didn’t you go out of town?”
Zhou Lin still looked completely confused.
Who was this woman?
Why was she speaking to him like they had been old friends for many years?
He was certain he had never met this woman before. In fact, they had probably never even crossed paths once.
Cheng Fei let out a long breath and walked into the shop to grab her bag.
“Xiao Liu, clean up outside later. I need to go out for a bit with a friend. I’m leaving first.”
“Okay, Sister Cheng.”
Outside, Zhou Lin still sat there without eating, simply staring at her.
Cheng Fei walked over and smiled.
“There are some things that aren’t convenient to talk about here. Come with me somewhere quiet so we can talk properly.”
Zhou Lin swallowed nervously.
“Miss… uh… that’s probably not very appropriate, right?”
Cheng Fei also felt helpless.
Her relationship with Zhou Lin was the kind where they talked about everything without hiding anything. They knew each other better than even their own parents did. They were brothers who practically grew up naked together.
There was a reason she had not contacted him immediately after everything happened.
Besides the strange fear in her heart, the biggest problem was Zhou Lin’s jealous girlfriend.
She could not tell the truth openly. With a face beautiful enough to instantly attract attention, going to find Zhou Lin would be easy, but afterward, if his girlfriend did not make a huge scene, that would be the real surprise.
But now that he was standing right in front of her, and the words had already slipped out uncontrollably, all her worries suddenly disappeared.
Living without someone you can truly talk to is simply too painful.
Cheng Fei knew how powerful her current appearance was, so she deliberately smiled lightly. While Zhou Lin was distracted, she leaned close to his ear and whispered a few words.
Zhou Lin instantly froze.
His expression became serious, and his eyebrows twisted tightly together.
“You…”
“Beer with peanuts, secrets with peace and quiet. Let’s go talk in the suburbs.”
As she spoke, Cheng Fei pressed the unlock button for the car parked by the roadside.
Zhou Lin still stared at her back in disbelief.
Even after getting into the passenger seat, he continued staring at her with the same expression.
And maybe Cheng Fei was doing it on purpose, seeing him like this, she simply held back and refused to say another word.
Only when an unfinished building in the suburbs appeared in sight did Cheng Fei finally get out of the car. Carrying beer and peanuts, she looked toward him.
“Come on down, ‘Busted Butt.’”
Zhou Lin ignored her words. Holding his bag tightly, he frowned.
“Who exactly are you? How do you know these things?”
Cheng Fei placed both hands on her waist.
“I am Lu Wei.”
“Impossible!”
Zhou Lin waved his arm hard, got out of the car, and slammed the door shut.
“Lu Wei is already… gone.”
The first half was shouted loudly. The second half became soft, but the sadness and emotion inside it could not be hidden.
Cheng Fei lifted her head and looked at the sky, feeling so touched she almost wanted to cry.
“So you already know…”
“I came back early from my business trip. On the way back, I heard…”
Halfway through answering, Zhou Lin suddenly realized something was wrong.
“Who are you really?!”
Cheng Fei quietly moved a little closer and sat on the car hood.
In the middle of the quiet countryside late at night, a beautiful woman suddenly getting close to him, what kind of situation was this?
There were only two possible answers.
Either she wanted something from him. Although he was not rich and did not have much money, he had heard stories about people targeting others for their organs.
The second answer was much simpler.
He was dreaming. A ridiculously beautiful fantasy dream.
But the pain in his chest whenever he thought about Lu Wei proved this was clearly not a dream.
Tsk.
How careless had he been to get into a car with someone and come to such a deserted place?
“I’m telling you, stop being so scared, okay? With how I look now, are you really afraid you’ll lose control and pin me down or something?”
Zhou Lin wanted to take out a cigarette to calm himself, but seeing the person beside him was a woman, he stuffed the cigarette pack back into his pocket.
“If we’re both scared, maybe we should just leave. The middle of nowhere really isn’t a good place.”
After speaking, he prepared to walk toward the roadside. But before he could take a step, Cheng Fei’s voice sounded behind him.
“Remember when we caught fish in the river as kids and you cut your butt? Busted Butt!”
Hearing that, Zhou Lin froze.
He turned around and gave Cheng Fei a doubtful laugh.
“Miss, you sure investigated a lot. I don’t know what you really want, but… I’m honestly not some rich guy like you think. If you want to spread those embarrassing stories, then… go ahead.”
“Fine! The person who stitched your wound back then knew about it too, so it’s not really a secret. But what about this?”
Not wanting him to get annoyed and leave, Cheng Fei started speaking faster.
“In the third year of middle school, your girlfriend Wang Min transferred into our school. The moment you saw her, you liked her. You hid under your blanket whispering ‘I like you’ so many times the blanket almost got soaked with spit, but you still didn’t dare confess.”
“Before summer vacation, you were scared that after entering high school you wouldn’t end up at the same school and lose your chance…”
“Then one day during class, a mouse suddenly ran into the room and the entire classroom exploded into chaos. The girls screamed like crazy. Wang Min was your deskmate, and she got so scared she grabbed onto you tightly. That’s when you two slowly started talking more.”
“I bet even now she still doesn’t know that you found that mouse in a trash can on the way to school, wrapped it in paper, and secretly carried it into class in your backpack.”
By now, Zhou Lin already believed it.
The woman in front of him really was his old best friend.
But he had absolutely no idea what kind of expression he should make.
Forget friends, he had never even told his parents about that secret.
The only exception was Lu Wei.
Seeing him frozen in shock, Cheng Fei thought he still refused to believe her, so she immediately brought up another story.
“And then there was the time your brain completely broke!”
“In second year middle school, during the August 1st school return day, we skipped off to the internet café like usual to play private servers. After downloading the game, some adult website popped up. Back then we were hot-blooded teenagers, how could we resist?”
“Later we added some girl on QQ because we wanted to watch a live show!”
“And then… your straight-man disease acted up again. The girl said if there were no tools, she could just use her hands, and you seriously told her to do push-ups instead!”
The memory still felt vivid even now. Cheng Fei let out a heavy sigh.
“A whole week of breakfast money! You idiot… one random sentence from you made all our money go down the drain!”