Drifting on a String - Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Chen Piaopiao reached out, took Qi Mian's chin, and lifted it, closing her mouth for her.
Then she looked at the floor, pulled out a tissue, bent down to wrap up the pickled chili chicken feet, and threw it in the trash can. Then she got a mop to clean the floor.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Giving Qi Mian time to process.
Qi Mian's hands were itching to move. Chen Piaopiao could tell she wanted to grab her phone.
Gossip lovers were always like this. When they got a juicy piece of gossip, they had to share it immediately to feel secure. Zipping their lips was like not getting the gossip at all.
Qi Mian turned to get a wet wipe and meticulously cleaned her hands. Her eyelids twitched as she glanced at Chen Piaopiao a couple of times, then scratched her nose. "Oh, uh, Wang Liying on the 5th floor also likes Tao Jin, did you know?"
"Huh?"
Now that was unexpected for Chen Piaopiao.
Qi Mian leaned in slightly, lowering her voice, comforting Chen Piaopiao in her own way. "You're way better-looking than her. We're not scared."
This…
Chen Piaopiao awkwardly smoothed her bangs. She hadn't really been thinking about competing with other women—oh, no, competing with other lesbians.
"That Wang Liying is so annoying. We're in the same elective, right? She doesn't pay attention in class, just sits there gossiping, whispering with her little friend, like, 'I sent Tao Jin a WeChat message today, and she replied with this and that emoji.' Ugh, seriously. And then her friend says Tao Jin bought her a milk tea at the school gate once."
"I bet her friend likes Tao Jin too, and Wang Liying has no idea."
Qi Mian squinted, raising her eyebrows at Chen Piaopiao with an air of absolute certainty.
Truly worthy of being the little queen of gossip. Give her a stage, and she could perform an entire opera.
For the first time, Chen Piaopiao felt she had underestimated the situation. She had thought Qi Mian would have trouble accepting that she was gay, but instead, she had secretly gathered all this intel and was now analyzing it for her.
The more she listened, the quieter she became. Chen Piaopiao stood there, leaning on the mop. She even buys people milk tea?
Qi Mian had never seen such a cold expression on Chen Piaopiao's face. She tilted her head back and offered her the pickled chili chicken feet. "Want some?"
Chen Piaopiao shook her head and continued mopping.
Qi Mian took a bite, hissing and panting from the spice, tears welling in her eyes as she promised, "Don't worry, I'll definitely help you keep your secret. My lips are sealed."
Qi Mian's idea of "being tight-lipped" meant not announcing it to the world with great fanfare. But she did tell Wang Xing that very night.
Wang Xing had a basketball refereeing class with Lao Hai and they were close, so he told Lao Hai.
Lao Hai couldn't even wait until she got back to the dorm; she sent WeChat messages to Xiao Ma and Tizi from the elevator.
By the time Tao Jin returned to the dorm, the three members of the Hippocampus were sitting in a row, ready to interrogate her about her life.
"Click." Xiao Ma switched on a rechargeable desk lamp and aimed it at Tao Jin.
She didn't have class that day and had gone to a club activity. She was wearing two layered tank tops, one black and one white, over a gray, casual-style maxi skirt that reached her ankles, paired with ankle boots. Very chic.
"Well, well," Xiao Ma beamed, her superficial expression like a gentle mask. "Look who's back, Miss Popular."
Her voice was quite creepy.
Tao Jin glanced at her, then at the other two little followers. "What's wrong?"
Now that was a truly gentle voice, deflecting a heavy blow with minimal effort.
"Today, this dorm has received a piece of news that we are obligated, required, and duty-bound to report to you seriously, earnestly, and promptly, Classmate Tao Jin," Lao Hai announced in a broadcaster's voice, using a rolled-up textbook as a microphone.
Tao Jin put down her bag and, finding her chair had been commandeered, leaned back against her desk. She picked up a cup nearby and took a sip. "Please report, organization."
Usually, this meant they wanted to buy some big-ticket item as a group or were planning a rafting trip.
Tizi clicked her tongue, looking Tao Jin up and down. That figure, that expression, those fingers—she really was quite captivating.
"Chen Piaopiao likes you," Xiao Ma said.
Tao Jin paused mid-sip.
"Chen Piaopiao likes you," Lao Hai emphasized for the second time.
Tao Jin's lowered lashes fluttered.
"Chen Piaopiao likes you," Tizi echoed for the third time.
Tao Jin let out a soft breath, set down her cup, and looked up at them. "Who said so?"
Her voice was very soft, but her hand gripped the edge of the desk, her wrist dipping slightly as she applied a little pressure.
"She's really not human," Xiao Ma whispered to Lao Hai, holding up a hand. "It's over for my Piaopiao."
Same reaction as when other people confessed to her—nothing. They thought since Chen Piaopiao was close to her, it would be different this time.
"Is it possible—I'm just saying, is it possible—that she's a robot?" Tizi furrowed her brow, getting into it, and turned to Xiao Ma.
"An AI, probably. A program," Xiao Ma also turned, nodding firmly at her.
The two of them held hands, patting each other's paws.
"Who said so?" Tao Jin asked again after they had finished their little act, then pursed her lips.
Xiao Ma blinked, then narrowed her eyes to study her expression more closely. She pointed an index finger at her. "Hey? Are you smiling?"
Tao Jin raised an eyebrow and met her gaze, her expression serene and unruffled.
Okay, I guess I saw wrong.
It was Lao Hai who answered the question. "Chen Piaopiao said so."
Tao Jin opened her mouth, then closed it again. After two or three seconds of silence, she parted her lips. "How do you know?"
"She told Qi Mian, Qi Mian told Wang Xing, Wang Xing told me, I told Xiao Ma, and Xiao Ma told you." Lao Hai recited the path.
They thought Tao Jin would press for more details, but she just glanced down at her phone, then looked up. "Give me my chair."
"Huh?"
"I have homework to do."
"Oh." Xiao Ma got up and returned the chair to her.
Then she sighed and patted her two allies. "Let's go, let's go, let's go. Meeting adjourned, meeting adjourned, meeting adjourned."
Back in her seat, she craned her neck to ask Tao Jin, "Can we still ask Piaopiao to play mahjong with us in the future?"
This was important.
Tao Jin didn't answer. She was looking down, texting.
Her ears were red.
Xiao Ma leaned over the back of her chair, looking at Tao Jin's pink ears. She instinctively felt that something was different about this incident. Last night, around this time, from this same angle, she had seen Tao Jin looking at Chen Piaopiao's Moments feed. She had scrolled past it, browsed a bit more, then scrolled back up, tapped on a photo, and zoomed in.
Tao Jin wasn't usually interested in other people's photos. This was the first time Xiao Ma had seen her zoom in on one, which was why she had pounced, throwing her arms around Tao Jin's neck and asking who it was.
"I don't know." Her voice was very soft, very gentle.
Xiao Ma poked back at the screen, realized it was Chen Piaopiao's post, and then, still using Tao Jin's hand, looked closely. She was captivated by Le Chu and launched into a seven-or-eight-sentence barrage of "She's so cool."
Tao Jin didn't say much, just smiled, took her phone back, and placed it on the desk. Then she asked Tizi, "I'm craving watermelon. How about you, Tizi?"
"Me too." She'd been thinking about it ever since she got back to the dorm.
"But I don't want to move," Tao Jin said.
"Me neither."
Tao Jin looked at Xiao Ma. Tizi looked at Xiao Ma.
Three seconds later, Tizi said, "Hey Xiao Ma, didn't you say you wanted to lose weight?"
Oh. Xiao Ma got off Tao Jin. She hadn't changed her clothes yet anyway. "Fine, I'm going. How much should I buy?"
"Half, thanks." At that moment, Tao Jin had again subtly lifted the corners of her mouth.
Thinking back now, that smile seemed to say—Finally, some peace and quiet.
Could it be she didn't want to hear me go on and on about how cool that biker chick was? Xiao Ma hissed under her breath. Interesting.
Golden October. They say it's the season of harvest, but the little fox who had cast a whale-sized net hadn't felt a single nibble. The net had sunk to the bottom of the sea without catching even a single small fish or shrimp.
They still interacted as usual, but after being rejected, Tao Jin never asked Chen Piaopiao to go to the bathhouse with her again. The club's performance rehearsals were in their final stages. Tao Jin was always present below the stage, and Chen Piaopiao would occasionally help out. Their interactions were all very normal.
While standing with her arms crossed and giving notes to the actors on stage, she would say softly to Chen Piaopiao beside her, "Piaopiao, pass me the water, please."
When a club member was helping to order food, she would also add a reminder, "Piaopiao doesn't eat fatty meat."
But at the same time, she would also say, "Chen Xi doesn't eat spicy food," and "Chuchu doesn't want shredded ginger."
It was as if she had never heard the news that Chen Piaopiao liked her.
Chen Piaopiao was getting a little antsy from the waiting. With no class in the afternoon, she found herself walking toward Tao Jin's apartment complex. It felt like the only "special" place connecting them, and she was afraid she'd forget it if she didn't come back.
She got in the elevator, entered the passcode, and found the apartment empty. She sat on the sofa for a while, spacing out for an hour.
Then she heard the sound of the lock turning. She turned her head. Tao Jin was back.
When Tao Jin saw Chen Piaopiao, she was startled at first, but she quickly regained her composure and said with a smile, "What are you doing here?"
Chen Piaopiao stood up. "My grandma said she's missing a charger. She wasn't sure if she dropped it here, so I came to help her look for it."
"Did you find it?" Tao Jin asked. The halo of the setting sun on her face gave her a gentle, profound charm.
"No."
It probably wasn't here to begin with. Chen Piaopiao took a shallow breath, picked up her bag, and after a moment's thought, said, "Um… you should probably change the passcode. I don't think we've left anything else behind."
Tao Jin pressed her lips together, her gaze on the arm of the sofa. Her voice was very low. "Is that so?"
Haven't you left anything behind?
Chen Piaopiao's heart began to pound, as if a tiny spoon were gently digging at its root, making it itch.
She wanted to say something, but her phone suddenly vibrated, shattering the shared breath between them. Chen Piaopiao snapped back to reality and answered the call. The room was so quiet that Gaogao's voice sounded a bit loud. "Piaopiao, so what's the verdict?"
"What's what verdict?" Chen Piaopiao turned her head to the side, not remembering.
"Did you forget? I told you a couple of days ago, Shimo from the group chat wants to ask you out to dinner. You know, the one who said during Truth or Dare at our party that you were her type. Didn't you say you'd find some time? So, what's the word? She's waiting."
A flicker crossed Chen Piaopiao's eyes. She lowered her voice and made an excuse. "Um… I've been a little busy lately. Our club has a performance coming up."
"You're not busy," Tao Jin said gently. "It's pretty much all taken care of."
This…
Gaogao on the other end of the line fell silent. Chen Piaopiao, her excuse cut off, was also silent. She gathered her gaze and looked at Tao Jin.
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