Chapter Twenty-Four: The Old Friend Arrives at the Door for the Third Time

  After Qiao Chu took off her raincoat, which was still dripping with water, Auntie asked anxiously: "Isn't it not raining outside yet? Little Qiao, you didn't wear the raincoat that just came out of the water and wasn't wrung dry, did you?"

  "No," he shook his head solemnly, "the raincoat was originally dry, but just now when I passed by a store, the boss accidentally poured a basin of water on me, and it became like this." He held up the raincoat and smiled again, "Fortunately, I've been wearing it all the way."

  Yun Jie's Ah Xiu suddenly came back to her senses and rushed over to take the raincoat, then one person pulled on a sleeve, glaring at each other without letting go, their tense expressions completely unlike the deep affection they had shown before.

  Qiao Shi let out a snort and moved to one side, then suddenly pulled out a book from who-knows-where and waved it at me, raising an eyebrow with a pleased expression: "A Yao, I specially brought this book today, so you can't chase me away now, right?"

  At that time, I hadn't seen the title of that non-materialistic book yet. After hearing his words, I immediately swallowed back the "How come you're not studying hard in school?" that had already rolled to the tip of my tongue and excitedly changed it to "Can you wear a raincoat and let me paint a 'Temptation in the Rain' for you?"

  But he firmly refused me: "No way, wearing a raincoat is inconvenient for action, I want to read carefully."

  This reason is too strong, I was forced to surrender. Just as I wanted him to go find a corner and fend for himself, he seriously said to me: "Anyway, you have nothing to do, why not just supervise me on the side?"

  So I, having nothing better to do, accepted this task which sounded quite glorious but was actually even more pointless.

  The rain outside suddenly subsided, and the water curtain window turned back into a glass window. The lights from the street lamps and shop signs refracted through the accumulated water, casting blurry and dazzling colors. The streets were empty, which made me feel a little disappointed - I had expected to see some couples embracing each other, drenched in the rain. However, this feeling of disappointment was quickly dispelled when I was delighted to discover that the French plane trees had withstood the storm's destruction, not only regaining their majestic appearance but also displaying a more subdued and solemn demeanor, as if they had been baptized by the rain.

  This solemnity deeply infected me, and I thought of a matter that had been troubling me for several days.

  "Xiao Qiao, have you felt that recently A Qian and the others' attitude towards you... seems a bit strange?"

  He looked up at me and said firmly, "No."

  I looked at him suspiciously: "Are you sure?"

  He fell silent for a while, then suddenly looked wronged: "A Yao, did you think again that I like Tony this time?"

  I dryly laughed and said: "How could that be? You're thinking too much! Alright, you continue reading your book, I guarantee I won't disturb you again."

  He raised an eyebrow, and under my astonished gaze, he stroked his eyebrows again, revealing a puzzled expression: "Huh, why do my eyebrows feel a bit cramped?"

  My eyes twitched, and I didn't respond.

  From the last time I mistakenly thought that Cheng Qiao liked Lu Zikuan to now, we have gathered once in between, and throughout the process, I found that the BFF party has become quite subtle and strange in their attitude towards Cheng Qiao.

  Although Cheng Qiao doesn't have that kind of dignity that makes people respect him, he is after all Mu Mu's senior and a member of the student council. So it's understandable that Mu Mu is being cautious and respectful when facing him. But I don't understand why Xiao Yu just kept staring at Cheng Qiao silently all night without saying a word. When I asked her if she had made another enemy, she looked at me with an extremely pitiful gaze and said to Hai Yan, "Is Yaoyao's future going to be ruined by us being his accomplices?"

  I was taken aback for a moment.

  Then she saw Umisho comfortingly patting Feather's shoulder: "Yes."

  "Although he is indeed a great god-level character, I also like the great god, but," said Xiaoyu in distress, "I really have some sympathy for him."

  "Don't think that way," Haiying laughed happily, "I think the good show has just begun."

  "What exactly do you mean?" I squeezed out word by word.

  "It doesn't make any sense." Ah Qian looked at Cheng Qiao with a complex expression, then looked at me with the same complex expression. "Yao Yao, don't think too much about it."

  "She rebuked me: 'What are you kidding? You're all like this now and I'm supposed to think less of it?!'"

  "Then you..." Ah Qian furrowed her brow, "Forget it, think whatever you want, anyway you won't figure it out."

  Just before I was about to blow my top, Cheng Qiao excitedly spoke up: "A Yao, I've got a scoop! Actually, they're secretly planning to help you find a blind date!"

  I was shocked by those four words, but I don't understand why my girlfriends were also collectively shocked.

  "Blind date?" I repeated with difficulty.

  He innocently widened his eyes and scanned around in the circle of close friends: "Isn't it?"

  Then I saw the four best friends of Qiu Mei Party standing in front of Cheng Qiao, all giving her a thumbs up. A shallow one even gritted his teeth and squeezed out three words: "Really smart!"

  After that night, I thought about it and still felt that something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong. But just now, Cheng Qiao's answer was so firm, plus his extremely aggrieved questioning, I no longer had the idea of continuing to think rationally about this matter.

  After several days of strong winds and heavy rains, City B finally welcomed the "persistent high temperature day" in the mouth of the forecaster. I returned to my busy state with great joy, accompanied by **.

  On Friday evening, when Yún Jiě came to the kitchen to tell me that the little handsome guy had come looking for me again, I was washing green beans. Listening to her tone of resentment and seeing her resentful expression, my hand shook slightly, with severe consequences: several grains of green beans rolled into the drain one after another. I looked at the dark hole in pain - now green beans have risen by another 10 cents!

  I turned around and put the remaining green beans away, until I left the kitchen and could still see Yun Jie's sharp eyes staring at my back through the glass window. My mouth twitched involuntarily, and I actually wanted to ask her kindly if she didn't feel ashamed of coveting a young man who was young enough to be her son? But then I thought again that I had once lamented that beautiful men should be shared by all people, as long as they weren't used for anything obscene. However, it seemed that linking Yun Jie, who had been guarding her chastity for decades, with the handsome young man Cheng Qiao... I sighed, and indeed, whatever you think about is obscene!

  As soon as he saw me, Cheng Qiao, who was sitting in the corner, immediately stood up and waved at me with a casual yet elegant gesture. I also responded with a slight wave of my hand to indicate that I had seen him too.

  It seems that the numerous times he was hit on previously finally made him realize something. I remember the most aggressive one, a girl who directly pounced on him. Under my gaze, which was about to split apart, the cup of mango juice on the table, which had taken three imported mangos to squeeze out, shook violently for a while... and ultimately fell over. Then, after that girl successfully touched Cheng Qiao's thigh, she smiled with a trembling face, took out three 100-yuan bills from her bag, and handed them to me. This unexpected bonus made me realize with surprise that Cheng Qiao was actually a beautiful young male version of the lucky cat, which also made me think of an idea to make money through his good looks.

  "You're telling me to have Little Qiao sit next to the counter, and then put up a sign that says 'Above the knee 15 cm, free to touch, one hundred yuan at a time'?" Auntie looked at me in disbelief.

  I smiled at her shyly and nodded slightly.

  She sighed: "Yao Yao, one cannot be shameless as a person." She paused for a moment and looked at me again, "Also, don't show such an ugly smile to your own aunt."

  Under Aunt's ruthless and severe suppression with the four words "shameless" and "despicable", I heavily and painfully gave up this idea completely.

  Just as I was seven or eight steps away from Cheng Qiao's position, a slender hand suddenly stopped me.

  I smiled and bowed my head: "Hello, are you going Dutch?"

  The owner of the hand lowered his head and didn't speak, I continued to smile and repeat: "Excuse me, are you putting out your hand to pay the bill," I paused for a moment, "or just wanting to stretch your strong arm?"

  Sparkling.

  I was startled, this voice is really hoarse... After thinking for a long time, I feel that only "unpleasant" can be used to describe it. The owner of the voice finally raised his head, staring at me steadily, with pale complexion and dark, deep eyes forming a sharp contrast: "Long time no see."

  I was so shocked that I couldn't speak for a while.