If Lin Weixia had known in advance that Fang Mo would look at her with a teasing look for the entire afternoon, she would never have been instigated to make the call and let herself be laughed at by Ban Sheng.
Ban Sheng smiled and asked her, "Why did you change your gender?"
She couldn't answer, and finally Lin Weixia hung up the phone in a hurry.
Ban Sheng's party lasted until the evening. After it ended, he returned home and took a shower. He came out wearing a silver bathrobe, tied the belt loosely, and leaned over to grab the cell phone on the table.
Empty.
Ban Sheng found that apart from the call in the afternoon, Lin Weixia had not sent him any messages, and she didn't care whether he was drunk or not. He sat on the sofa, hunched over, and began typing on his phone with his thumb. Drops of water kept dripping from the fine black hair on his forehead onto the phone screen.
Lin Weixia was getting ready to go to bed when she received the message. She unlocked her phone to read the message, and could feel Ban Sheng's squinting eyes expressing his displeasure through the screen.
Ban: [Why didn’t you send me a message tonight? ]
Lin Weixia replied and sent messages in bed.
Xia: [Didn’t I just make a phone call this afternoon?]
A minute later, the screen lit up again, and Ban Sheng replied nonchalantly:
Ban: [Okay, got it.]
He added slowly: [Once you have it, you will have nothing to fear.]
Lin Weixia was so confused that she couldn't think of a word to refute. It was clearly him who was asking for attention. The light from the phone screen reflected a face with a slight curve at the corners of the lips, so she replied.
Xia: [Why are you so squeamish?]
Ban Sheng's reply was quite respectful: [I got spoiled by you.]
The curve of Lin Weixia's lips was so big that she could hardly control her expression, so she slapped her face.
After the chat, she sent a message to Liu Sijia, thinking about the wording: [Sijia, are you free tomorrow? I have something to tell you.]
She thought Liu Sijia would ignore her, but unexpectedly she responded quickly, with a tone very different from usual, and replied enthusiastically:
[No problem. I'll take you out to play tomorrow. Remember to dress nicely. [Cheers][Cheers]. ]
[Okay.] Lin Weixia replied with a smile, and her mood unconsciously became much more relaxed.
The next day, Lin Weixia wore a white tank top with blue denim overalls, revealing two arms as white as lotus roots, and the collarbone exposed on her chest was like a beautiful crescent moon.
She originally wanted to go out directly, but then she thought that Liu Sijia might ask her to visit a store or take photos together, so she put on a nude peach lipstick.
Her lips were a radiant red, and her whole face suddenly brightened up. Lin Weixia was like a half-ripe peach pressed down from a branch, exuding a sweet fragrance from the inside out.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was still high overhead. Lin Weixia, who was standing in front of the fountain waiting for someone, was so hot that sweat broke out on her forehead. Soon, a black car turned a corner and stopped in front of her.
The car door was opened and Liu Sijia jumped out of the car. She was wearing a pink and purple sports suit, which matched her long curly hair. She looked bright and full of energy.
"Sorry, I'm late," Liu Sijia trotted over and waved at her, "Look what I brought you. I just asked the driver to take a detour to buy it, so I'm late."
Liu Sijia carried two bottles of salty lemon juice, one without sugar and one with half sugar.
"It's okay," Lin Weixia raised her eyelashes, her eyes shining, "Thank you."
"Last time in the cafeteria, I had just had an argument with my family and was in a bad mood. I lost my temper first. I'm really sorry." Liu Sijia explained to someone for the first time, and her tone was a little stumbling.
Lin Weixia inserted the straw into the cup, and a faint arc appeared at the corner of her lips: "I don't remember what happened in the cafeteria."
"Then let's go to the arcade now."
"good."
Lin Weixia and Liu Sijia each held a glass of summer ice drink, talking and laughing as they walked towards the mall. Just as they were about to arrive, a boy in a white T-shirt and green sports shorts stood at the entrance of the mall and waved at them vigorously.
The smile on Lin Weixia's face froze for a moment, and her eyes under her thick eyelashes were puzzled: "What is that?"
"That's my cousin. He's playing with us today," Liu Sijia said, pulling her arm. "Come on, I'll introduce you to him."
Liu Sijia walked over with Lin Weixia. The boy was handsome and fair-skinned, with a pair of slender eyes hidden under silver-framed glasses. He seemed to have a good upbringing and looked like a child from a wealthy family.
The moment he saw Lin Weixia's appearance clearly, his eyes flashed with surprise.
"Hey, this is my friend, Lin Weixia," Liu Sijia opened her red lips and turned her head to say, "Xia Xia, this is my cousin Lin Sen, he is very casual, you don't have to pay much attention to him."
"Hello," Lin Sen took the initiative to greet in a friendly manner, smiling, "We are from the same family, and our surname is Lin."
Lin Weixia finally relaxed and said, "Hello."
The three of them took the rotating elevator all the way up to the fourth floor of the mall. Behind the two rows of claw machines was the arcade they were going to. It was crowded with people, students, adults with their own children, all squeezed together on the weekend.
Lin Sen exchanged several hundred coins at the cashier in one breath, then carried a basket and followed the two girls.
"What do you want to play?" Lin Weixia asked.
Liu Sijia pointed to the dance machine not far away and said, "I've wanted to play that for a long time."
"Okay, but I can't play for too long." Lin Weixia nodded.
She wears a hearing aid and is afraid that if she sweats too much, the hearing aid will get wet and the sound reception will not be good.
The two girls quickly stood on the stage machine. Following the movements of the characters on the game screen, they opened and closed their legs, waved their arms, and their long hair hit their faces from time to time. Their faces were filled with youthful smiles.
Soon, passers-by gathered around and stood aside to admire their dance, and some even took out their mobile phones to record it. The children nearby also followed suit, shaking their heads and dancing, and shouted in a baby voice:
“My two sisters are so beautiful!”
After dancing for a while, Liu Sijia gasped and kept shouting to stop, holding her stomach: "I can't take it anymore, Weixia, you play first, I'm going to the toilet."
"good."
After Liu Sijia ran to the bathroom, Lin Weixia also stopped. Her fair forehead and the back of her neck were covered with sweat. She was feeling for a tissue in the pocket of her overalls.
Suddenly someone handed over a wet wipe. It was Lin Sen.
Lin Weixia was stunned for a moment and took it, and whispered, "Thank you."
Lin Sen, holding a cup of Coke in his hand, followed Lin Weixia outside and asked with a smile, "Don't you want to play anymore?"
"Well, I'll wait for Scarlett to come back."
The two of them were standing outside the dense crowd. Lin Weixia stood in front of the claw machine waiting for Liu Sijia, but no matter how long she waited, Liu Sijia didn't come back.
Lin Weixia played claw machine to kill time. She caught her eye on a cavalryman in the window. The cavalryman, riding a horse with a stern face, looked very much like Ban Sheng.
If she caught this doll, she would give it to Ban Sheng.
I don’t know if it was because the pliers were too loose or because she was just unlucky, but Lin Weixia couldn’t clamp it no matter how hard she tried. Although she looked quiet and had a cold personality, she didn’t care about anything.
But once the desire to win is aroused, Lin Weixia will do what she does now, repeatedly clamping the ball and immersing herself in the game.
Lin Weixia stared intently at the little cavalryman in the glass window, her eyelashes never moving. The pliers moved to the left, and she was about to press the blue button.
A figure came over, a hand covered the back of her white hand, and a cold breath came from behind. Lin Sen held her from behind in a rather ambiguous posture, leaning close to her ear and said, "You have to hold it in the middle like this."
His tone was low, and for some reason Lin Weixia thought of the signal of a snake spitting out its tongue and coming out of its hole to look for food.
Lin Weixia felt a chill on her back. She immediately shook off his hand, half-crouched and turned sideways to escape from his confinement. She said in a distant tone, "I'll go see if Scarlett is okay."
Lin Weixia left with a cold expression and walked to the bathroom. She turned on the faucet and a stream of white water rushed into the square sink in a torrent.
Her mind was in a daze. After she came back to her senses, she squeezed a little hand sanitizer, put her hands under the faucet and washed her hands frantically, rubbing them repeatedly until the porcelain-white backs of her hands turned red.
Lin Weixia then stopped as if she had obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Lin Weixia dried her hands and walked out. She took out her cell phone from her pocket and started sending messages to Liu Sijia.
Xia: [Scarlett, are you okay? ]
+: [It’s almost time. I ate something bad this morning. ]
Lin Weixia held the phone, her eyelashes fluttered, and she continued typing: [Let's find a place to eat later. I have something to tell you. Just the two of us.]
After the message was sent, the screen did not light up again for a long time. After a while, Liu Sijia replied, seeming to disagree: [Ah? Is it okay for him to follow us? I asked him to stay aside while we were talking. Because after we are done, I still need to go with him to do something. ]
Lin Weixia didn't reply. Three minutes later, Liu Sijia came out of the bathroom with an apologetic look on her face. Liu Sijia took her arm and walked towards the arcade to meet Lin Sen.
On the way, Liu Sijia asked her how she was getting along with Lin Sen. Lin Weixia pulled the corner of her mouth and said in a somewhat cold tone: "Not bad."
"My cousin is a very interesting person. You will find him quite interesting as you get to know him better." Liu Sijia rarely praises someone.
After the three of them met, the atmosphere was a little subtle. When they walked out, it was already dark, and Liu Sijia suggested going to dinner.
Lin Sen walked to a nearby place, took out his cell phone, and made a call skillfully. After a while, he came back and said, "I asked Uncle Wang to reserve a VIP box for us at Grand Hyatt Residence. Weixia, Jiajia said that you like light food, so I have specifically told them to make the food lighter, with less oil and less spicy."
"His family runs a hotel. What do you think? Lin Sen is very considerate." Liu Sijia carefully helped her put on the hairband and whispered to Lin Weixia.
Lin Weixia raised her eyelashes and looked at Lin Sen. After receiving her gaze, Lin Sen adjusted his glasses, a hint of shyness flashed across his face, and he was completely different from before.
"Ah, but I want to eat at a food stall today," Lin Weixia opened her rosy lips and turned to look at Scarlett, "Why don't we go to Ning Chao's house? He said I can get a discount if I go."
Lin Weixia made her words very clear. She didn't want to eat with Lin Sen in a closed private room. If she couldn't refuse, they might as well eat in an open-air food stall. There would be more people there, and the restaurant they were going to was owned by a classmate she knew.
Liu Sijia hesitated for a moment and then agreed.
They happened to be getting off work at the time, and groups of people poured out of the subway entrance. People were crowded together, and pedestrians bumped into each other's shoulders from time to time.
The air was hot and muggy, and even the wind was scalding hot.
After turning into Goldfish Street, the environment inside seemed like another street cut out from the Nanjiang City with its tall buildings and bright lights. The road conditions were much worse than outside.
Lin Sen's expression didn't look good at all, but he tried his best to hold it in.
Although Liu Sijia also had a look of disdain and arrogance, it seemed to be just on the surface. She couldn't put down the little gadgets on the mobile stalls.
A kid playing on a skateboard was playing with his friends on the street and throwing balls at each other. Suddenly, a badminton flew over from not far away and hit Lin Sen on the head. His face looked extremely ugly.
Lin Sen was wearing sneakers. He crushed the badminton with one foot, and said with gritted teeth: "Can't we go to a place with better environment?"
Liu Sijia rolled her eyes at him and said, "Since you're here, just bear with it."
The three of them soon arrived at Ningji Food Stall. Only Ning's father and mother were there. The two elders said that Ning Chao had gone out to buy goods and would be back soon. Liu Sijia greeted Ning's father and mother obediently, which surprised Lin Sen.
Lin Sen was wiping the table carefully and repeatedly. Seeing that he was about to tear it apart, Liu Sijia was speechless and scolded him, "You should pay for the damage to someone else's table!"
"No, Jia Jia, how come you know this kind of person?" Lin Sen was so angry that he almost laughed.
Liu Sijia was speechless for a moment. Lin Weixia was pouring tea and interrupted calmly: "I am also such a person. My home is in Shuiwei Lane."
"No, that's not what I meant." Lin Sen looked embarrassed and had to change the subject. "By the way, Wei Xia, what do you like to do?"
"Reading mystery novels." Liu Sijia answered helpfully.
When Ning Chao came back from purchasing goods, he saw Lin Weixia and the others having fun. Just as he was about to go over, he noticed there was another boy next to them. So when the dishes were served, he went up to them to say hello, said "enjoy your meal", and also gave them a free bowl of iced mung bean soup.
The three of them chatted and ate together. Lin Weixia's attitude remained lukewarm until Lin Sen mentioned that he studied next door to No. 13 Middle School, had met Gao Hang, and told him some stories about him.
Lin Weixia's attitude was no longer as distant as before, and her complexion looked a little better.
When Ban Sheng received Ning Chao's message, he was in a bar with a group of friends. The moment he swiped the screen and saw the message, his face changed. He picked up his lighter and cigarette and left the group behind.
The lights flickered, and his companions looked puzzled: "What happened to Mr. Ban? I never see any expression on his face normally, but now he looks so dark, who has offended him?"
"My soul was taken away by a little butterfly." Li Yiran threw a tomato into his mouth.
It was not too late when Ban Sheng arrived at Goldfish Street. The lights were too dim and there were all kinds of people. He saw Lin Weixia sitting there quietly, with a faint smile on her lips. There was a boy sitting next to her, looking at her from time to time.
A leaf fell on her soft black hair, and the boy reached out, put his arm around the back of her neck, and leaned towards her to pick up the leaf.
Ban Sheng was standing not far away. He was thin, wearing a black shirt and black pants. He held a cigarette between his wet fingers hanging at the edge of his pants. He tapped it casually, and the ashes fell down. The scarlet flame was about to burn the bone of his middle finger.
With a "click", he broke the cigarette silently. He stood in the darkness, his eyes like two sharp blades, his face sullen, staring at the two of them silently.