CHAPTER 32: CHAPTER 31: NO SPICY FOOD

At half-past nine, the birthday party was over.

Backstage, Zhou Huaiyi finally felt at ease, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, and collapsed onto the sofa with a long sigh of relief.

Finally... it’s over.

WeChat made a "ding" notification sound, and Zhou Huaiyi weakly lifted her phone to glance at it: [Xiang: We’re heading back first, take care of yourself]

Zhou Huaiyi froze for a while before replying: [Okay]

She glanced at the WeChat contacts "Dad" and "Mom" on her phone, feeling a wave of emotion: If my parents knew I was in this state, I wonder how they would react...

Zhou Huaiyi was independent since childhood. Father Zhou and Mother Zhou were often busy with their clinic business, and along with a rather troublesome younger brother, they seldom paid much attention to her. While studying at university away from home, Zhou Huaiyi would only occasionally send her father a WeChat message or have a video call with her mother once or twice a semester; other than that, she would hardly call them even twice in a semester.

With less contact with her parents, at least in terms of the soul exchange with Xiang Qichen, Zhou Huaiyi didn’t have to worry about how to handle their calls.

As her mind wandered, she suddenly felt a bit homesick for her parents.

Acting on impulse, she sent each of them a WeChat message.

Yan Qing happened to push the door open and saw Xiang Qichen slumped face-up on the sofa. She walked over and patted him: "Hungry? Didn’t you say last time you wanted hot pot? Let’s go, we’ll go together."

Hot pot!

At the mention of it, Zhou Huaiyi immediately got up with excitement, as if refreshed: "Let’s eat!"

Yan Qing saw his sudden change of expression and couldn’t help but laugh: "Why are you like a woman, changing faces faster than flipping a book."

Zhou Huaiyi restrained her eyebrows, smiled slightly: "Just too hungry."

,

Yang Li had been busy all day and was quite exhausted, too. Zhou Huaiyi felt a bit sorry for him, so she told him to go home and rest early, while she would take a taxi back herself later.

Following Yan Qing to the hot pot restaurant, Zhou Huaiyi dared not speak, keeping her hat low to avoid being recognized, and followed her into a private room before taking off her hat and sitting opposite her.

The waiter came in to take the order, and Yan Qing flipped through the menu, saying: "One very spicy soup base..."

"Wait a minute!" Zhou Huaiyi hurriedly intervened, "Can we get a dual-flavor pot, half clear broth, half very spicy...?"

Yan Qing raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Didn’t you always love spice? Today... clear broth, you’d eat that?"

Zhou Huaiyi laughed dryly, then cleared her throat as if justifying herself: "Uh-huh lately... a bit inflamed, my throat’s not feeling well..."

Yan Qing was taken aback for a moment, but eventually, she instructed the waiter to change the order to a dual-flavor pot as he requested.

After ordering and watching the waiter leave, Zhou Huaiyi’s eyes darted around a bit as she prepared to take out her phone.

Yan Qing suddenly asked: "Is your throat okay? Speaking of which, today’s birthday party had quite some close calls, good thing you reacted quickly. But I never expected your singing to be... quite good..." She muttered to herself after, "Though you used to always be off-key at KTV..."

Zhou Huaiyi bluffed: "...I’ve practiced a lot in private."

Yan Qing sipped her tea and added: "These past few days, you’ve seemed a bit off lately, are you feeling unwell?"

Zhou Huaiyi rubbed the back of her neck, her head slightly bowed: "Not bad, just a bit tired."

Yan Qing: "Mm, take a day off at home tomorrow, and the day after, an early flight to H City to join the group."

"Huh?" Zhou Huaiyi was surprised, "So soon?"

Yan Qing’s look was even more surprised than hers: "You asked for four days off yourself."

Zhou Huaiyi: "..."

God bless, please let the swap back happen tomorrow.

The phone dinged twice, and Zhou Huaiyi quietly placed it on her lap, glanced at it, and it was a reply from her father—

The first was a WeChat money transfer of one thousand yuan.

The second one: [Dad: Out of money again? Your mom is busy with laundry, can’t reply to you, told me to transfer money to you. Use it first, let Dad know if it’s not enough.]

Looking at the "Miss you both (crying)" message she sent half an hour ago, Zhou Huaiyi felt... a bit at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

——

The next day at noon, Yanchuan International Airport.

Xiang Qichen saw Kang Xuan through the check-in and baggage claim process, then escorted her to the security checkpoint: "Go on in."

Kang Xuan shot him a resentful glance: "Zhou Huaiyi! Could you be any more nonchalant! Is this how you treat your best friend? Is this how you treat your best friend who’s about to leave you?!"

Xiang Qichen: "..."

Kang Xuan: "Your behavior these past few days is nothing short of awful! If you treat me like this again when you go home for winter break, you’ll walk your own tightrope, and I’ll fly my private jet!"

Xiang Qichen couldn’t help but chuckle softly: "...Safe travels."

Kang Xuan, even more exasperated, huffed coldly, slung her bag over her shoulder, and stormed through security, all the while angrily tapping away on her phone to send Zhou Huaiyi another message: [Zhou Huaiyi! You’ve got guts!]

At this time, Zhou Huaiyi, who was eating takeout at Xiang Qichen’s house, was like: "..."

Oh no, oh no, when I go home for winter break, my skin and flesh are really going to suffer T^T

Putting down her chopsticks, she quickly dialed Xiang Qichen’s number.

The line rang three times before he picked up: "Hello..."

With a tone teetering between laughter and tears, Zhou Huaiyi asked: "Oh, idol, what did you do to Old Kang..."

Xiang Qichen glanced back; Kang Xuan had already disappeared into security. He said: "Didn’t do anything."

Zhou Huaiyi whined: "How could you do nothing! At the very least, you should have given her a hug or something..."

Xiang Qichen: "..."

Zhou Huaiyi sighed: "Fine, just prepare some of your merchandise and gifts to pacify her."

Xiang Qichen’s eyes twitched as he lifted a hand to hail a taxi by the street, asking: "Are you at home?"

Zhou Huaiyi replied without thinking: "Yeah."

Xiang Qichen: "Got it."

Then, a busy signal followed as the call ended.

Zhou Huaiyi: "..."