After saying these words, Ke Yiqing became confident, as if stating an obvious truth: “He must not show his face because he’s ugly. Who knows what he looks like…”
Shu Nian looked at her, not knowing what to say.
Ke Yiqing, having thick skin as usual, calmly defended herself: “In life, one needs to brag sometimes to make things more interesting.”
“…Hmm.”
“I bragged purely out of personal interest,” Ke Yiqing put her sunglasses back on, overemphasizing awkwardly, “not to hide certain things.”
The more Ke Yiqing spoke, the more Shu Nian found her thoughts strange, unable to understand what she was trying to express. But she could tell that Ke Yiqing was quite outgoing and talkative.
Shu Nian nodded and hesitantly said, “Um, Miss Ke. About what I just told you, about that person being Teacher A-He, could you please not tell others?”
“Ah, that?” Ke Yiqing agreed readily, “I won’t say anything. Please keep my secret too. I’ll be going now, I have something to do.”
Shu Nian raised her hand and waved: “Alright, goodbye.”
Shu Nian was about to turn back to find Xie Ruhe. But Ke Yiqing returned after walking just a few steps as if remembering something: “Do you know a police officer who lives here?”
Shu Nian answered honestly: “Yes.”
Ke Yiqing paused, her tone somewhat certain: “Named He You?”
“Yes.” Shu Nian blinked, “Do you know him?”
Ke Yiqing scratched her chin, her expression suddenly becoming awkward: “You and he are…”
Her words stopped there. Shu Nian waited for a long time but didn’t hear the rest, so she volunteered: “Officer He and I are neighbors. He lives upstairs from me.”
“Neighbors?” Ke Yiqing’s expression immediately returned to normal, “You and He You are neighbors?”
Shu Nian nodded again.
Before she could say anything more, Ke Yiqing suddenly handed over her phone as if finding a treasure, brazenly asking in a low voice: “We’ve chatted for so long, why don’t we add each other on WeChat?”
“…”
This sudden gesture left Shu Nian a bit confused.
Seeing Shu Nian did not react, Ke Yiqing waved her phone in front of her.
Shu Nian came to her senses, said “Oh,” and didn’t refuse. She obediently took out her phone from her pocket and opened WeChat to scan Ke Yiqing’s QR code.
During this time, Ke Yiqing asked: “By the way, I never asked your name.”
Shu Nian said: “My name is Shu Nian.”
“That’s quite nice.” Ke Yiqing put her phone away and accepted the verification, “I’m Ke Yiqing. Let’s keep in touch. I’m leaving now, I have something to do.”
Shu Nian responded with an “okay.”
When she turned around, she found Xie Ruhe still standing in the same spot.
For as long as Shu Nian had talked with Ke Yiqing, he had been standing there, without showing any impatience. She walked back to him and asked: “Why didn’t you go back to the car?”
Xie Ruhe glanced in the direction Ke Yiqing had left and asked: “Who was that person?”
Shu Nian said: “Don’t you know her?”
Xie Ruhe shook his head.
“Ke Yiqing!” Shu Nian mentioned a few TV drama titles to him, and seeing he still had no impression, she added: “Plus, she debuted as a child actress. During our ninth grade, in that very popular family drama, she played the male lead’s daughter.”
Xie Ruhe still shook his head: “I don’t know her.”
“I met her when I went for voice acting before. I don’t know why she would be here.” Saying this, Shu Nian remembered that she had called Xie Ruhe “Teacher A-He” in front of Ke Yiqing.
She carefully apologized: “I’m sorry.”
Xie Ruhe was stunned for a moment: “Sorry for what?”
“I just called you Teacher A-He in front of her.” Shu Nian knew her behavior was inappropriate and sincerely apologized, “I’m sorry.”
“…” Xie Ruhe had forgotten about it, but upon her mention, he remembered, “Hmm? You haven’t called me that in a long time.”
Shu Nian didn’t know how to explain and didn’t dare tell the truth, so she vaguely said: “It’s just that she said earlier she knew you, so I instinctively called you that… no, I mean…”
Xie Ruhe frowned and stated bluntly: “I don’t know her.”
Shu Nian was interrupted by him and immediately closed her mouth, then softly said “Oh.”
Because of Shu Nian’s words, Xie Ruhe thought of a time long ago when he saw a WeChat message someone sent to Shu Nian in his recording studio. The message essentially said that he had romantic feelings for that person.
And it was from someone he had no impression of.
This time, Xie Ruhe wasn’t clear about what this person had told Shu Nian.
But thinking that once again, it was something he hadn’t done and would make Shu Nian misunderstand. Even if she didn’t care at all, Xie Ruhe still found it difficult to tolerate, and his mood became irritable and depressed.
Xie Ruhe lowered his eyes, his expression focused: “Shu Nian, about matters concerning me—”
Shu Nian looked up, stammering: “What?”
“If you want to know, you can always ask me.” He didn’t hide his unhappy emotions at all, “I don’t have anything I can’t tell you. Rather than hearing things from others that even I don’t know about, it’s better to let me tell you unreservedly, anything you want to know.”
The scene was quiet for a moment.
Shu Nian immediately understood the reason for his displeasure and opened her lips, wanting to explain: “I…”