Chapter4
265 Words
Jiang Sixun noticed Luo Qi’s tension the moment Jiang Shenghe entered the room. Her guarded posture spoke volumes—she’d always found his cousin intimidating.
“Let’s grab a drink,” Sixun proposed, tossing his car keys.
Jiang Shenghe lingered, finishing his watermelon. Outside the hospital, Sixun’s borrowed sports car—courtesy of mutual friend Qin Moling—idled ostentatiously.
“He’s being forced into blind date(xiangqin) too,” Sixun remarked about Qin during the drive. “Our generation’s curse.”
At the private kitchen restaurant, Qin Moling was already demolishing braised pork when they arrived. “Starving,” he grunted, unfazed by their tardiness.
Over mapo tofu, Sixun circled back to forbidden territory: “Ever think about crossing that line with Luo Qi?”
Jiang Shenghe’s chopsticks paused. “She’s getting married.”
“Doesn’t answer my question.”
A beat. “Irrelevant now.”
Eight days later, Luo Qi boarded the bullet train to Sucheng, her compact suitcase rolling behind. In the business class lounge, Jiang Shenghe stood like a tailored storm cloud—black trench coat, silver wristwatch catching the light.
He ended a call as she approached. “We’re seated together.”
The lie slipped smoothly. Secretary Ju had orchestrated their adjacent seats, claiming “logistical errors.”
As countryside vistas blurred past, Luo Qi queued her comfort film—Before Sunrise, fifth viewing. Jiang Shenghe pretended not to notice her discreet tears during the c****x, his reflection superimposed over her window’s ghostly twin.
When she lifted her phone to photograph lavender fields, he memorized the angle of her wrist.
- Writer
