Drifting on a String - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

If Tao Jin was so good at observing people, so good at guessing what was on their minds.

Then could she guess how much Chen Piaopiao wanted to kiss her right now?

Chen Piaopiao felt like she was in an interrogation room. Her snow-white skin was the harsh lamp, and Tao Jin was interrogating her, while she was interrogating herself.

"Because, you're very outstanding."

Because, I want to kiss you.

"Famously outstanding."

I want to feel your breath on my face, to be intimately close.

"A lot of people probably feel this way about an upperclassman, right? You must have encountered it before."

I want to take off your clothes, to feel your sincerity and sharpness pressed against me.

"I'd really like to be friends with you."

I want you to love me, to love me like an iceberg melting in a wildfire.

"Is that okay?"

Is it?

Chen Piaopiao looked at her harmlessly, her eyelids soft, like a survivor of a dirty interrogation.

Tao Jin's gaze was like an injection, inflating Chen Piaopiao's twenty-percent infatuation to eighty percent simply because Tao Jin seemed so within reach.

Especially when she saw Tao Jin blush, a faint pink under the streetlight, vibrant and alluring.

Chen Piaopiao had thrown a dodgeball of lies, but she'd thrown it very directly. Even someone like Tao Jin hadn't experienced that many times.

She didn't answer. With a slight flare of her nostrils, she started walking toward the dorms.

But Chen Piaopiao's heart leaped. This was the most "un-straight" impression Tao Jin had ever given her.

Evasion, shyness, hesitation—they finally appeared on the usually composed woman.

Chen Piaopiao still wanted to ask, what about you? Why are you paying so much attention to me?

But she didn't. She just followed silently behind Tao Jin and looked up at the stars.

They were so bright, just like the ones she used to see at her Grandma's house in the countryside.

Tao Jin never answered whether they could be friends, but after that, they started chatting much more frequently. Chen Piaopiao had Qi Mian ask senior Wang Xing for a copy of Tao Jin's class schedule and engineered a few chance encounters in the cafeteria. But after two or three times, Tao Jin caught on. She'd say a soft "hello" in the line and then start to laugh.

It was a pleasant laugh, not one that suggested she felt offended.

They occasionally went to the bathhouse together, and afterward, they'd still walk to the corner store to bring back a slice of watermelon or a wedge of cantaloupe for An Ran.

When Tao Jin got sick, Chen Piaopiao went upstairs to bring her medicine. Tao Jin was lying on her top bunk, and she thanked her in a hoarse voice.

Chen Piaopiao leaned against the metal guardrail, looking up at her, and reached out to tuck in her blanket.

Then she asked if she had any hot water and offered to go fill a thermos for her.

Tao Jin's roommate came in holding a washbasin and said, "Hey, junior, why don't you fill mine up instead? She sneezed once, and people from upstairs and downstairs have already brought her three thermoses of water."

Chen Piaopiao blushed. It was rare for her to blush. Tao Jin watched her intently and laughed again.

"What are you laughing at?" Chen Piaopiao asked in a small voice.

Tao Jin found it hard to say, so she took out her phone and typed for her to see: "You don't seem like the type to be so thin-skinned."

The two of them were very close. Chen Piaopiao stood slightly on her toes and could smell the faint scent of English pear from Tao Jin's collar.

After reading it, Chen Piaopiao pursed her lips and also took out her phone to type a reply: "I usually trick An Ran into getting water for me."

So when the roommate said that, she suddenly felt a little guilty. Just a little, not much.

Ever since her "confession" to Tao Jin, Chen Piaopiao didn't hide her "vicious" little schemes as much. She had fallen for a gentle and tolerant girl who had once called her unsavory machinations "cute."

Tao Jin laughed hoarsely and whispered to Chen Piaopiao, "You should go back and get her a few thermoses to make it up to her."

"Mm." Chen Piaopiao nodded agreeably and whispered back.

She wasn't very good at taking care of others, because throughout her entire childhood, she had used all her strength just to take care of herself. When her Grandma was unwell, she would be sent to her Uncle and Aunt's house. She once heard her Aunt straightening her Cousin's collar while quietly telling him, "If you want to eat zhajiangmian, come back early, you hear?"

It was said tactfully, but it clearly meant she didn't want Chen Piaopiao to eat any.

Chen Piaopiao's thick skin was probably developed back then. The next day, she quickly packed her schoolbag, squeezed onto the bus home, and made it in time for that zhajiangmian.

Her Cousin didn't manage to get on the bus. By the time he got back, Chen Piaopiao was already on her second bowl.

Chen Piaopiao thought that someone as free and fulfilled as Tao Jin would never understand her life's journey. And Tao Jin indeed didn't understand, but she was accepting.

She was willing to see the dark spots on Chen Piaopiao in a brighter light.

She even said that Chen Piaopiao was brighter than any lamp, bright enough to make people unafraid of the dark.

Of course Chen Piaopiao wasn't afraid of the dark. The year her parents divorced, her Grandma led her by the hand up the stairs of an old tube-shaped apartment building where all the voice-activated lights were broken.

Tao Jin had a good constitution and recovered quickly. Three days later, she came to inspect the dorms with a few other upperclassmen from the student department. That day she was wearing a short, waist-baring t-shirt with a loose, oversized shirt over it. Below her denim shorts were a pair of long, straight legs. She sauntered in lazily and leaned to one side.

Qi Mian was in the middle of a face mask. Seeing her, she reacted dramatically, running over in a few steps. "Senior Tao Jin~~~"

An Ran pursed her lips and shot Chen Piaopiao a look. She pinched the skin on her neck and stretched it, signaling for Chen Piaopiao to listen to Qi Mian's trembling voice.

"Why doesn't she just go sing opera," An Ran sent in their small group chat on WeChat.

"Acting like she's so close with Tao Jin."

An Ran was busy grumbling when an unfamiliar shadow fell over her. She looked up. "Senior?"

She placed her phone face down on her lap.

"Mm." Tao Jin gave the room a casual glance. She was just helping a friend with the inspection, so she wasn't being very strict. "Have you been secretly using any high-power appliances?"

Chen Piaopiao propped her chin on the back of her hand, smiling with pursed lips. Even if they were, who would tell the person doing the inspection?

After An Ran shook her head, Tao Jin came over and rested a hand on the back of Chen Piaopiao's chair. "What about you? Have you been using any secretly?"

"No." Chen Piaopiao looked up at her, still appearing perfectly harmless.

"Did you get the water yourself?" Tao Jin glanced at the thermos and asked softly.

"Mm." Chen Piaopiao nodded.

"Good."

Tao Jin patted her shoulder and moved on to the next bunk.

The familiar, fresh scent dissipated as the door clicked shut. An Ran hugged the back of her chair, a little confused. "Is that what they check during dorm inspections?"

"I don't know." Chen Piaopiao shook her head.

"Tao Jin is pretty gentle." An Ran smacked her lips, savoring the thought.

This was the second time she'd met Tao Jin, but the first time she had been too nervous to interact much.

"Right? She's super nice. We've had a meal together," Qi Mian said, coming over while eating some Bugles.

"She even rolled a Peking duck wrap for me."

"Yeah, right. Keep bragging." An Ran turned back around in her seat, not wanting to deal with her.

"She really did." Qi Mian tugged on the collar of An Ran's shirt, leaned over to look at her homework, and lowered her voice. "Hey, let me copy yours."

Chen Piaopiao put down her phone and rested her head on the desk again, her quiet lashes fluttering.

Rolled a Peking duck wrap?

Tao Jin had never rolled a Peking duck wrap for her.

A little worry crept into Chen Piaopiao's heart. She suddenly realized that while she might have become friends with Tao Jin, Tao Jin had many friends. She wasn't lacking one, nor would one more make a difference.

Those conversations she had mulled over repeatedly in the dead of night probably didn't have much hidden meaning. She wasn't sure if their ambiguous colors were dyed by a young girl's hopeful heart or were simply misinterpretations dredged up from memory.

The Theater Festival was scheduled for after the National Day holiday, so Chen Piaopiao and Tao Jin's work-related interactions increased. But Tao Jin was very busy, and they barely spoke during rehearsals.

At most, it was just things like, "This chicken leg rice is pretty good."

Finally, a Friday arrived. The club needed to go off-campus to buy costumes for the ensemble cast. There was a wholesale market next to the zoo in Beicheng with low prices and a wide variety of goods, where you could find clothes of any style.

Chen Piaopiao happened to have no class during the second afternoon period, so she volunteered to go with Tao Jin.

The wholesale market was huge and chaotic. The two of them wandered through the rising and falling sounds of haggling until they were dizzy and smelled of fabric. But the play they were rehearsing was a period piece, and the market mostly sold modern fashion. Their legs ached, but they still couldn't find anything suitable. During dinner, Tao Jin mentioned a night market in Qianmen with a few custom cheongsam shops and asked if she wanted to go take a look.

Of course, Chen Piaopiao agreed. They took a taxi to Qianmen, passing the colorful lights and sounds of small bars along the river, and after many twists and turns through the hutongs, they finally found the cheongsam shop.

The two of them carefully selected the fabric and styles, including student uniforms and dance costumes. After sending the owner the quantities and measurements, they paid the deposit.

They emerged with aching backs and sighed at the same time.

Then, in the quiet, late-night hutong, they both laughed at the same time.

Black tiles, gray walls, old wooden doors, a streetlight with moths circling it, a silent alley, and the Tao Jin of summer.

Her laugh was relaxed and weary, yet bursting with youth.

"What time is it?"

She looked down at her phone. "Eleven o'clock. I'll call a cab."

"Mm… we have to get out of the hutong first," she said thoughtfully.

But Chen Piaopiao didn't move.

Tao Jin raised her eyes, questioning her with her gaze.

"If we go back to the dorms now, we'll be marked down for a late return." She pursed her lips, looking at Tao Jin.

This… Tao Jin was clearly a bit troubled, and also apologetic.

"I can't get marked for a late return. I heard it affects your evaluation for honors, and I really need the scholarship money." Chen Piaopiao said the last sentence with great sincerity; it was the honest truth, straight from the heart.

"Then…"

"I'll just stay out all night," Chen Piaopiao said after a moment's thought. "I'll find somewhere safe, don't worry."

She had done it before. In fact, many university students did. If they were out late for karaoke or a meal with roommates, they would just stay out all night and go back the next day to avoid getting marked for a late return.

Tao Jin put her phone away, relaxed her body against the wall, and watched Chen Piaopiao for a moment as she looked down, trying to find a place.

Her hair was so thick it made the black tiles look like a faded old photograph. Or rather, the entire alley looked like an old photograph, while Chen Piaopiao herself overflowed with vibrant life.

Stubborn, persistent, refusing to admit defeat. Even though she was always so quiet.

Tao Jin pondered for a moment, then asked her softly, "My place… want to come?"

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