Chen Xi had tossed and turned half the night, sleeping less than three hours before going straight to the shop after leaving the campsite.
During the music festival, business at the shop suddenly increased.
Qin Zhan and Liu Boyang both came, and the three of them were so busy all morning that their feet barely touched the ground.
At noon, during a brief respite, Chen Xi was too tired to even eat and collapsed on the sofa for a nap.
In just thirty minutes of sleep, she dreamed.
In the dream, she was sitting in a car smoking when someone walked over and yanked open the car door.
Chen Xi saw Qin Lie’s expressionless face.
A lingering sensation suddenly traveled from her thighs to her toes.
Chen Xi turned over, her cheeks burning red even in sleep.
The sound of cars came from the shop entrance again. Chen Xi forced open her heavy eyelids and saw brilliant white daylight at the shop door.
Qin Zhan ran to greet the customers at the entrance first. Chen Xi sat up, pinching her throbbing temples to clear her head.
She glanced at her phone. Yang Shan had @ed Chen Xi in their three-person group chat.
“With the kids in the car this morning, it wasn’t convenient to ask you.”
“Last night, you and Qin Lie left one after the other and didn’t come back until dawn. Come clean—did something happen?”
This was followed by a string of suggestive emojis.
Han Susu joined in the teasing, sending: “Did you two sleep together?”
Chen Xi stared at the screen for a moment, then replied with a simple “Yeah.”
Yang Shan sent a bunch of incredulous emojis.
Then asked: “What’s your relationship now?”
Chen Xi got up, dragging her aching legs toward the shop entrance.
Walking while replying: “No relationship.”
After sending the message, she shoved her phone in her pocket and didn’t look at it all afternoon.
That evening, returning home, Chen Xi forced herself through exhaustion to take a long, hot shower.
She stayed under the hot water for a long time, washing away all traces of last night’s chaos from her skin.
But those heart-stopping sensations seemed to have penetrated into her subcutaneous tissue, lingering on her body for a long time.
Wherever her hands touched, tiny electric currents would surge up.
Chen Xi closed her eyes under the rushing hot water.
In her mind appeared Qin Lie’s hard-lined face as he leaned over her, and those eyes deep as a cold pool.
No matter how intense what they were doing became, he seemed unusually calm.
Only those dark eyes, because of their focus, were almost stained with a layer of blood-red.
And those large hands gripping her waist, palms surging with hormones.
Restraint and indulgence, distance and passion.
Chen Xi couldn’t understand how these could blend so seamlessly in one person.
This was probably why she couldn’t control her descent onto the car hood.
When she collapsed onto her bed, she glanced at WeChat.
She didn’t feel like she was waiting for anyone’s message, but her unconscious action made her slightly stunned.
Chen Xi threw down her phone, turned off the lights, and closed her eyes.
She rarely obsessed over anything, and this time was no exception.
Between mature adults, maintaining silence after that kind of thing until now meant his thoughts were the same as hers.
Not wanting to confirm anything, not wanting to change anything.
Chen Xi felt relieved, falling into deep sleep almost instantly.
Outside the window, under the clear night sky, hung a bright moon.
Moonlight filled the quiet courtyard of Dr. Yang’s house.
Qin Lie sat on the steps outside Yang Guan’s door, silently smoking.
Yang Guan, beside him, was also silently puffing away.
Both their faces wore traces of absent-mindedness.
The night was getting deep when coughing sounds came from Dr. Yang’s room.
Yang Guan suddenly spoke: “Let’s go back. I’m tired.”
Qin Lie made an acknowledging sound but didn’t move from his spot.
Yang Guan suddenly smiled and asked, “What’s going on with you and Chen Xi?”