Chapter Ten: The Aftermath of Saliva

  "Bang!"

  "Bang!"

  Next to me came two loud thuds, I took a deep breath and tried to keep my voice calm: "Of course... not counted. Little Qiao classmate, let me give you a good lesson, although in the broad sense of indirect kissing, it refers to when an object is touched by person A's lips and then again by person B's lips. But in the narrow sense, it must be that one eats the other's saliva. Just now I just sprayed fruit juice with my saliva onto your face... okay, mouth too, but you didn't eat any of it at all, so..." I choked, my voice suddenly trembling, "what are you doing?"

  He paused for a moment, then retracted his tongue that had been sliding back and forth on his thin lips: "Oh, I don't know what's wrong with me, but suddenly my lips feel so dry, so I wanted to moisten them with saliva." One second later, he suddenly let out an "ah" sound, and looked at me with a pitiful expression that was unprecedented: "A-Yao, did... did I just drink your saliva?"

  I loosened my tightly clenched fist, picked up the glass of orange juice in front of him, and almost squeezed out the words: "Cheng Da Xue Sheng, do you think this cup is for decoration or what?! Your lips are dry, won't you drink something to moisten them?! Don't you know that saliva will only make your lips drier?! Seeing him raise his eyebrows again, I growled, "Shut up! Don't use the juice as an excuse for me messing with it, I didn't even spit in this direction just now!"

  He was cut off by me and looked at me with a wronged expression, discontentedly pouting: "For the first time I've seen a victim not being disgusted, yet the perpetrator still has so many opinions."

  I was stunned for a moment, and it seemed... that's indeed what happened. But thinking about the source of the matter, I continued to argue confidently: "But if you hadn't suddenly leaned in close, I wouldn't have sprayed it all over your face, it would have only sprayed onto the glass window!"

  He became even more wronged: "How was I supposed to know you have this special fetish of spraying water when stimulated?"

  I'm so angry: "This is a normal physiological reaction, okay? Everyone will!"

  "Everyone does? But I've never seen people around me spit it out, they just swallow it back... yeah, and then choke."

  I looked at his hesitant appearance and felt strange: "Is there something wrong with them, they would rather be choked than spit out, that feeling is very uncomfortable, I just can't bear it."

  "So I always thought that when people drink water and get stimulated, they can only choke. It turns out..." He looked at me with a smile, "A Yao, you've helped me solve another unsolved mystery."

  I was stunned and couldn't say a word. Cheng Qiao smiled at me, her eyes slightly narrowed, the originally upward-slanting outer corners of her eyes even more so, with a smooth and seductive curve, like she had drawn on deep black eyeliner. Those eyes were clearly so alluring, yet her face wore an innocent and harmless expression, it was such a contradictory combination, but... it looked good to the point where I couldn't move my gaze away.

  "What are you doing?" a cold voice suddenly rang out.

  I raised my head as if I had been startled awake.

  The distance that was once separated by a glass window and a wide road, I didn't get to see A's face clearly. Now it's right in front of me, and I have to say, I'm really shocked. The bangs on her forehead were wet with sweat, and the chestnut-colored hair that usually looked elegant and beautiful now looked a bit disheveled. But none of this mattered, as I gazed at this face that was almost made up with heavy makeup and had a flush from the previous passionate kiss, making it look overly flashy instead of its usual cold elegance. I really felt like throwing my head back and laughing out loud three times, then taking her picture to keep as a souvenir for later. But she appeared at such an opportune moment that she inadvertently stopped me from continuing to make a fool of myself in this dire situation. And since being robbed of three apples by kindergarten kids, I've lived by the motto "repay kindness with kindness, repay grudges with grudges"... so in the end, I still managed to hold back my foolish impulses.

  To prevent Xiao Qiao from blurting out something with a double meaning, I quickly scooped up a spoonful of durian dessert and shoved it into his mouth. The ceramic spoon clinked against his teeth, making a crisp sound. As he scrunched up his face in distaste, I smiled sweetly at him before turning to Ah Qian beside me and saying, "We were just chatting. Who knew Xiao Qiao loved durians so much?"

  "Oh? You're not satisfied with just chatting and want to try it out in person?" A shallow expression seemed to suddenly dawn on her, then she put down the things in her hand and pointed a slender finger at the table near the glass.

  The sarcasm of this remark was not inferior to the fact that Xiaoyu, who had already vowed to become a vegetarian, suddenly told me that she was now three months pregnant. I stiffened my neck and looked over, the miserable table surface directly knocked me back to my senses. Good, I had forgotten to clean up the crime scene just now. I immediately grabbed a towel and wiped the table while laughing dryly: "You know I'm most intolerant of stimulation when drinking water." After wiping, I handed the towel to Ah Xiu, who was already standing up, and blamed Ah Qian at the same time: "Why didn't you help Yuniang up when you came over?"

  She sat beside me and glanced at Yún Jiě with a faint smile, saying: "I thought Yún Jiě had been working too long today and was resting on the ground because her feet were sore."

  I actually wanted to remind her that when people are tired, the first choice for resting should be a chair, this is common sense. But obviously Ah Qian was right, Yun Jie as a "dessert dessert" service staff who is supported by 2,500 yuan, during working hours she only has one choice, which is to stand.

  At this time, Yun Jie, who was on the ground, had already stood up strongly, silently and quickly by herself. I gave her a thumbs-up in admiration, but she just glanced at Cheng Qiao, who was concentrating on drinking dessert, with resentment and ran away.

  Everyone else is ugly when someone beautiful appears. Fine, I'll tolerate it.

  "Hmm?" I poked A-Qian's shoulder, which was sprinkled with golden glitter powder, "Looks like this new boyfriend of yours carries some weight in your heart, you're all dressed up and looking like a heavenly chicken descending to the mortal world for the first time."

  She raised an eyebrow: "I don't have a new boyfriend."

  It's really strange, the usually sharp-tongued lawyer didn't scold me for my wording. I leaned in closer to look at her flushed cheek and ridiculously long false eyelashes, and asked in a low voice, "I'm asking you, how much blush did you put on?"

  She gave me a sidelong glance.

  I nodded my head proudly: "Still want to deny it, just now you were kissing that giant outside, although his facial features couldn't be seen clearly, but judging from the thick black beard on his face, I knew he must be a Marxist."

  "That's Tony, but he's not my boyfriend."

  Is there an English name? But now even if it's a Russian name, I'm angry: "Whether it's Tony or Tang Bowen, Xiaojiao and I both saw it. Can ordinary friends still do something as indecent as kissing in the street?" Cheng Qiao immediately nodded in agreement, I turned my head back in satisfaction and continued to say, "If you have the ability, come and kiss Xiaojiao too! Then I'll believe it."

  Cheng Qiao covered her forehead and sighed: "A Yao, you can't...treat me like this."

  A shallow smile spread across her face: "It's rare to hear the idiom 'hurtful and vulgar' from your mouth, but I'm sorry, I've already broken up with him, so we're really just friends."

  I was taken aback: "Already? You've been with him all along? But how come we didn't know about it?"

  She propped up her chin and thought for a moment: "No, Xiaoyu and the others all knew, originally wanted to tell you, but at that time you went to take dessert class, so didn't see him. Tony is French, came to China to experience exotic atmosphere, later he returned to France and we broke up. Didn't expect just ran into him in the city center again, so happened to send me over."

  "It was like that," I thought back to the scene at the time, clicking my tongue, "But you've already broken up with him, how can you still be so intense? This street is outdoors, okay?"

  "It was just a momentary impulse, and it didn't go as far as shooting without aiming, so what's there to be afraid of?"

  "But didn't you say he left? How did you run into him again?" Cheng Qiao seemed very good at grasping the key point.

  "Oh, because after he returned to France, he discovered that he had been deeply captivated by China, and even the scenery in his hometown didn't seem pleasing to him. After thinking it over, he felt that China was still better, not only were the mountains and waters good, but the people were also good, and even the air had a sweet fragrance." A shallow hummed, "If I'm not mistaken, he said he would live in China from then on."

  "What's wrong with that?! In my heart, France is just as he described it - shouldn't the taste of French pastries and perfumes on the Champs-élysées be sweeter and more fragrant than anything else?! I exclaimed excitedly, but suddenly felt a little uneasy in my heart. "This view of mine that coincidentally matches his... could it be the legendary worship of foreign things?!"

  Qiao comforted me: "No, you're just used to it, and being used to it has made you numb."

  A shallow laugh, "Xiao Qiao is right, after he has lived here for a while, he will understand the kind of people who live here and how many carcinogenic fragrances are mixed in the air. At that time, even if the President of the country asks him to stay, he won't dare to live here."

  I remain silent, although this phrase doesn't sound very pleasant, but it's also a fact. Like before when I saw an online post that had a lot of resonance, "China's Complete List of Safe Food", I was excited with the idea of "from now on only eating these" and refreshed the page three or four times, but the result was still a blank page. At first, I thought it was a computer malfunction, just as I was about to shut down and restart, my brain suddenly had an epiphany.

  Nowadays in China, what food is still safe?

  "But Xiao Qin, that Tony, he must have stayed in China for you, right?" Cheng Qiao blinked his eyes, always addressing Ah Qian as Xiao Qin.

  "Ah, Xiao Qiao, you talk too much! Believe it or not, I'll expose all your secrets to Yaoyao!"

  Qiao immediately turned her head and pretended it had nothing to do with her.

  I was thrilled in an instant! Although I didn't have a good impression of the giant with a goatee, I didn't expect him to be so infatuated that he would even risk being poisoned at any time and move to China for Xiaoyan. Although he actually doesn't understand our country's situation very well, I was still moved! But what thrilled me wasn't him, it was Little Qiao Gege!

  I drooled on her face and hooked her neck: "Dear Qianqian~ is there any small material that you want to shake for me?"

  Cheng Qiao looked at Ah Qian with a tense face, and I also looked at Cheng Qiao's tense face, my heart beating so fast that it was almost bursting out of my chest. I felt like something earth-shattering was about to explode above my head, turning into a gentle stream that would nourish my long-withheld desire for gossip.

  A shallow took a sip of the orange juice I had drunk and slowly opened her mouth: "Actually, Xiao Qiao he..."

  At this time, I almost saw that the little blood color on Qiao's face was fading away at a visible speed!