“Is no one from your family coming to pick you up?”

“It’s not that far anyway. Walking home is the same, and I can treat it like exercise. What about you? Why aren’t you going home with her?”

Lin An paused slightly. “You know about her?”

“If I looked into you, then stuff like that would’ve been easy to find too.”

“True.” Lin An nodded lightly. Holding Luo Shuishui’s teddy-bear backpack, he walked with her for a while. It wasn’t a long stretch. Along the way, they chatted about the Japanese drama Luo Shuishui had told him to watch.

It really was a pretty good show.

By the time Lin An was almost home, they had to part ways. He handed the teddy-bear backpack back to Luo Shuishui. She took it and held it in front of her chest, then tilted her head up.

“Has Su Yuejin been to your place?”

“No.”

“Then are you going to invite me over to sit for a bit?”

“Better not. Maybe next time.”

“Alright then. Bye?”

“Mm, bye.” Lin An nodded and waved, watching her leave. Then he headed into the old residential complex and climbed five flights of stairs. Sunlight streamed in through the window. It was a little warm. He took out his key and opened the door.

When he got home, Xu Qinghuan still wasn’t back yet.

So Lin An sat on the sofa and read for a while. When Xu Qinghuan came back, she was carrying a plastic bag. Inside were some cold dishes, pig ears, some vegetables, plus a napa cabbage and a box of tofu.

“Well? The result?”

Xu Qinghuan closed the door. Sure enough, that was the first thing she asked.

“We didn’t bang,” Lin An answered.

Xu Qinghuan watched his expression for a second after he said that. Then she walked over, sat down beside him, and reached out, pressing his face into her chest. Lin An caught a sweet fragrance, but he couldn’t breathe.

“Good boy.”

Xu Qinghuan stroked his head and murmured softly. Then she let go. Before Lin An could recover, she planted a loud kiss on his cheek. The whole combo left him a little dizzy.

“Then I’ll go make cabbage tofu soup.”

Xu Qinghuan stood up, padded into the kitchen in her bunny slippers, and turned on the stove. Lin An kept reading there on the sofa. He lightly touched his cheek, as if the warmth of the girl’s lips still lingered there.

What Xu Qinghuan was making was just a very simple cabbage tofu soup. Simple to the point it couldn’t be simpler. A little oil first, then one clove of garlic smashed to bits and fried in the oil. After that, water. Once it boiled, in went the cabbage and tofu, plus salt and chicken bouillon. Cook until the cabbage was done, and that was it—a plain pot of cabbage tofu soup.

She had also bought pig head meat, pig ears, and some cold dishes. Once the rice was done, Lin An ate with her.

This was what so many of their days looked like.

This time, Lin An did the dishes. After washing up, the two of them returned to their own rooms and did their own things. It was a kind of unspoken understanding. Neither of them would interfere too much in the other’s life.

Maybe it was because both of them were a little too self-centered by nature.

…

Lin An cracked the window open a little and felt the evening breeze drifting in. Then he opened his writing software and wrote six thousand words. By the time he finished, it was past seven at night. If Chacha didn’t ask him to game, there really wasn’t that much for him to do.

But right then, his phone rang.

Lin An froze for a moment, because the caller was Xiao Chacha.

“You there?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah. What’s up?”

“Come out and drink with me.”

“Huh?”

“I’m in a bad mood. I don’t want to ask girls out for drinks. I barely have any male friends, and the ones I can call out aren’t close enough. I don’t trust them. I’m scared I’ll get picked up if I get wasted. So it’s you. Come drink with me.”

“Well, Chacha-jie, I’ve got a little something to deal with, so this…”

“A thousand yuan. I’ll cover the drinks and your ride.”

“Hello, where is your bar, ma’am? Your housekeeper Xiao An is at your service.”

“I’ll send you the address in a bit. I’m heading out now. I need someone to listen to a story.”

“Alright. I’m leaving now.”

Lin An was actually pretty happy to take a job like this. Xiao Chacha didn’t have any feelings for him anyway, and he liked drinking too. Lin An knew a bit about lesbians. Their existence wasn’t some fantasy for people to drool over. They really just had no interest in men.

Besides, he didn’t have anything else to do. Going out for drinks sounded nice. He was willing to listen to a story too, so he headed out. He didn’t report it to Xu Qinghuan, because there was no need.

Xu Qinghuan didn’t report to him when she went out either, so it went both ways.

The bar Xiao Chacha mentioned was called Wufei. It was more of a quiet lounge bar. Lin An couldn’t have been happier. Drinking in a quiet bar was real drinking. That was how you actually enjoyed alcohol.

But he got there before Xiao Chacha did. He took a table for two in the corner and waited for her to arrive before ordering.

Xiao Chacha came quickly.

Lin An sat there waiting in silence. When he saw her appear, his eyes brightened a little.

Xiao Chacha was wearing a black T-shirt and white body-hugging hot shorts. The T-shirt was an off-shoulder style. Her hair hung loose and casual. She looked hot and alluring. She wasn’t wearing makeup, but her face was still pretty enough, and her figure was good too. As for her vibe...

She really did feel like a lively, rebellious girl.

This rebelliousness was different from Su Yuejin’s. Su Yuejin’s was soft. It had no real substance. It was fake. But Xiao Chacha’s was real. You could tell at a glance.

Xiao Chacha’s eyes quickly found Lin An in the corner. Then she walked over and sat across from him. Her movements were brisk and forceful, with nothing soft about them.

It made the Miss Xiao Chacha Lin An had seen that day, dressed in an elegant lolita dress, feel like nothing but an illusion.

“Ordered yet?” Xiao Chacha looked completely at ease. She crossed her legs and asked him.

“Not yet. I didn’t know what you like to drink.”

“Tonight’s a get-drunk session.”

“Ah... well, I’m not super into that kind.”

“Two thousand yuan.” Xiao Chacha said it without the slightest trace of mockery. Her tone was pure and natural, full of swagger.

“Then I’m in.”

“What do you like? Cocktails? Beer? Whiskey?”

“I’m fine with anything. Your call. Anything’s okay, just not beer. Beer fills me up.”

“Then whiskey.”

Miss Xiao Chacha ordered a bottle of Yamazaki 18.

Lin An practically loved Miss Xiao Chacha to death. This bottle was expensive as hell. For someone who liked drinking, it was amazing. But the price alone scared people off.

The server thoughtfully brought over two nosing glasses and asked if they wanted ice spheres.

Neither of them did.

“So, Chacha, what happened?” Lin An looked at her face and asked softly.

He didn’t know why, but being around Xiao Chacha came with almost no pressure. Even though they weren’t close, maybe it was because he was used to gaming with her. He was used to how fiery, childish, and cute she sounded while playing.

Xiao Chacha folded her arms over her chest. First, she downed the small pour of whiskey in her nosing glass in one gulp. Then she pulled out a tissue, wiped the corner of her lips, and looked at Lin An’s face. But instead of answering, she asked him a question first.

“Are you a scumbag?”

“Of course not.”

“I... ran into some trouble today. Then the trouble blew up, and I got blown to pieces too.” Xiao Chacha said that, then coughed. That last gulp had probably gone down the wrong way.

Lin An waited for her to finish coughing, then took a sip too.

Damn, that was good. You really did get what you paid for.

“I... the girls I’d been talking to, it all got exposed today. One of them got in touch with the others, then those girls all connected with each other, and then... they cut me off.”

Xiao Chacha said that just as Lin An had swallowed his sip. He froze and stared at her with wide eyes.

“...Huh?”

“How many?”

“Four.”

“That’s insane. Four tracks at once, and now you’ve been caught?”

“Yeah.” Xiao Chacha nodded.

“Then it sounds like... you’re not planning to try to keep any of them?” Lin An asked carefully.

“Those girls did give me one last chance. They told me to choose one. If I really decided to live properly and date properly, then the others would let it go. But in the end, I didn’t choose any of them.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t love any of them.” Xiao Chacha said it plainly, but there was a hint of self-mockery in her voice.

“I don’t really understand the world of lesbians. Can you tell me about it?” Lin An poured her another drink and clinked glasses with her.

“The lesbian world is just love too. It’s just that I’m not a good person... Back then, I always treated relationships like toys. Our kind of love isn’t accepted by society anyway. Most men only look at it with that vague, suggestive gaze. They think girls like that are even more fun to play with. But I especially hate men.”

“Didn’t you say before... that you were bi...?”

“I was messing with you. I’d never like men.” Xiao Chacha shot him a contemptuous look. Lin An shrugged helplessly. Then Xiao Chacha swirled her glass and drank quietly by herself.

“Tell me, for someone like me... how am I supposed to find happiness?”

She looked up at Lin An as she asked, lost and helpless, like a drowning person trying to grab the straw that might save her.

But in truth, Lin An didn’t know that much about her.

And a lot of the time, this was one of those interesting dynamics between men and women. The girl knew the guy didn’t understand her that well, but she still wanted to ask him questions about herself. With incomplete information, if he could still guess right, then he had to be someone who fit her very well.

Actually... all it took was a few little tricks. Say something vague enough. Not just vague, either. You also had to read the way the other person presented themselves, and from that, guess at the core and motives hidden beneath how they spoke, how they acted, and what their usual habits were.

Picking a person apart was a very interesting thing.

“Then first, I’d have to figure out why you don’t like men. Were you born that way? Or... was it something from childhood?”

“You want to know?”

“I need to know the cause before I can give you an answer.”

“Can you save me?” She already seemed a little tipsy.

“I can’t. But I can give advice.” Lin An answered objectively. He didn’t like making grand promises.

“Then do you really want to save me, or do you want to sleep with me?”

“It’s not like you don’t know me. I wasn’t planning to do anything with Su Yuejin either. As for you... tch.” Lin An shrugged.

Faced with Lin An’s jab, Xiao Chacha unexpectedly didn’t get angry. She drank from her glass, then lay down on the table and started telling Lin An her story.