Coveted for a Long Time 15

Chapter 15

From childhood to adulthood, in front of many elders, Zhou Jiaqi had always been the more favored one. Outgoing and cheerful, with a sweet mouth that everyone loved, she remained the type the older generation adored even now. Accustomed to being domineering and unwilling to be outshone, she believed Qiao Xi had stolen the attention and affection that rightfully belonged to her. So she would trip Qiao Xi up and play dirty tricks. When she was little, she acted brainlessly; now she was somewhat smarter, knowing not to confront directly but to scheme in small ways.

Qiao Xi had never deigned to argue with her. At this moment, she looked calmly at Zhou Jiaqi and asked without concealment, “Is it me catching up with others, or is it Miss Zhou who wants to catch up?”

Everyone around knew Qiao Xi and Zhou Jiaqi didn’t get along. But after so many years of minor skirmishes, everyone had let it pass. No one paid much attention, and no one took sides, as long as it didn’t affect the relationships between the families. After all, the Qiao and Zhou families were now related by marriage; this was someone else’s family matter.

Upon entering, seeing the stalemate between the two parties, Fu Bei glanced at Qiao Xi calmly but didn’t pay much attention to Zhou Jiaqi.

Zhou Jiaqi’s face instantly froze. Her lips moved, perhaps wanting to call out to Fu Bei.

Unexpectedly, Fu Bei spoke first, but her question was directed at Qiao Xi.

“What did you buy?”

Her voice was slightly hoarse, sounding as if she had caught a cold. Qiao Xi’s stiff expression softened a bit. Seeing the person’s pale face and bloodless lips—today’s temperature wasn’t high, and the cool wind was blowing gently, yet the other party was only wearing a thin shirt, revealing fatigue in her eyes and brows.

Considering she was asked first, Qiao Xi replied reluctantly, “Tea.”

In a tea shop, naturally one buys tea; what else could one buy?

The group by the door tactfully dispersed. The shop assistant came out to warmly receive everyone. Zhou Jiaqi waited tactlessly, intentionally trying to be annoying.

Fu Bei didn’t care about Zhou Jiaqi’s convoluted thoughts. She stood in front of Qiao Xi, seemingly blocking her way to prevent her from leaving immediately.

“Uncle Qiao is at Yipintang. Everyone is out for a gathering today; do you want to go over and sit for a while?”

These words served both to relieve the awkwardness and to explain why the group was together. Seeing them come in as a crowd, Qiao Xi had guessed there might be something happening today; otherwise, they wouldn’t have gathered in a bunch.

Qiao Xi hadn’t expected her to say this. Her expression changed slightly, but in the end, she didn’t throw a fit on the spot. Mindful of Tang Yi’s presence, she restrained her emotions and said lukewarmly, “No thanks. I have something to do at noon.”

Tang Yi felt quite awkward on the side but immediately stepped in to smooth things over: “I have a lunch date with Qiao Qiao. We’ve already reserved a table.”

After saying this, she looked Fu Bei up and down and added, “Hello, Professor. We’ve met before; I’m Tang Yi.”

The pronunciation of “Fu” was the same as “Vice” (Deputy). Calling her Professor Fu sounded like demoting her title by one level. Tang Yi was quite sharp; her two sentences were flawless.

With the topic changed, the conversation naturally shifted. Fu Bei appeared gentle and steady, communicating with utmost tact. After the pleasantries ended, Tang Yi left with Qiao Xi. Only when they were far away did she ask curiously, “Are you very close with Professor Fu?”

It was overcast outside. The sky was shrouded in thick clouds, and the cool wind blew in gusts. Qiao Xi looked at the sky and said evasively, “We live in the same place. Just neighbors.”

Tang Yi was a bit shocked. “The grew-up-together kind?”

She nodded.

“That relationship…” Tang Yi was stunned but didn’t say much. Thinking about the scene just now, she guessed Qiao Xi might not like those people very much, so she dropped the subject. She recalled that during previous chats, whenever Fu Bei was mentioned, Qiao Xi was always reluctant to talk about her. Guessing something might have happened between the two, but ultimately respecting others’ privacy, she pretended to know nothing.

leaving the tea shop, they went to a well-reputed Chinese restaurant nearby for lunch, then went shopping at the mall afterward.

Before dark, Qiao Xi drove Tang Yi back to her apartment. After returning home, she took a bath. Since it was still early, she watched a movie.

She wasn’t in a good mood and did things listlessly. Leaning back against the sofa, lost in thought, she barely watched the TV even after the movie ended.

Living alone was lonely, and time always seemed exceptionally long. After suffering through half the day, it wasn’t even 9:30 yet. Not yet bedtime, she went downstairs for a walk, bought some random things, and went home. After returning, she continued watching TV. Somehow, she fell asleep that night, sleeping on the sofa until dawn. Fortunately, she had draped a thin blanket over herself last night; otherwise, she would definitely have caught a cold.

When her thoughts ran wild, Qiao Xi would find things to do, trying to keep busy and throw the troubling issues to the back of her mind.

A new customer at the shop wanted a full back tattoo. She didn’t take the order. A full back piece was hard to handle and execute. The customer knew absolutely nothing about tattoos, speaking like a wannabe gangster, as if getting a full back tattoo would make him like Chen Haonan from Young and Dangerous.

Hearing the rejection, the customer cursed, “You won’t even do business when it’s offered. What kind of shop are you running? Just close down!”

Working in the tattoo industry, one often encountered such weirdos. It was considered civilized if they didn’t curse or greet eighteen generations of your ancestors as soon as they opened their mouths. Qiao Xi calmly asked the person to leave, waiting until five or six o’clock to close up shop.

The security guard at the complex entrance was familiar with her. Seeing her return, he reminded loudly, “Miss Qiao, you have a package. Don’t forget to pick it up.”

Busy all day, she hadn’t checked her phone. Only then did Qiao Xi discover the pickup notification message, so she got out of the car to collect the package.

The package was a very large box, almost too big to hold. The security guard asked enthusiastically, “Do you need help carrying it up? Or leave it here first, and I’ll bring it to your door after my shift change later.”

Qiao Xi thanked him but politely declined.

“It’s fine, it’s not very heavy.”

The residents of the complex were quite humane, usually helping each other out when they could. The neighbors got along harmoniously.

Carrying such a large cardboard box home was difficult. While taking the elevator, someone even lent a hand. The package was sent from Beijing. Qiao Xi didn’t recognize the sender, nor had any friend notified her of sending anything.

Thinking it might be from her master who had been missing for a long time, she didn’t pay much attention. She rested for a while and drank some water before opening the package.

The cardboard box was packed full of various small boxes. Qiao Xi found them familiar; the boxes were covered in foreign characters she couldn’t read. They looked like snacks she had eaten as a child, but she couldn’t recall specifically.

After pouring everything out, sure enough, they were all snacks. She was momentarily puzzled about who would send these. Sending snacks didn’t seem like something her master would do; that person fooled around everywhere all day, and remembering her at all would be impressive enough.

The phone rang. It was an unfamiliar string of numbers.

Qiao Xi had only given her new number to two people: Tang Yi and Qiao Jianliang. Everyone else contacted her via chat apps. After hesitating, she answered the phone while opening a box.

The call connected, but the person on the other end didn’t speak first.

Qiao Xi frowned, opening the box and asking, “Hello, who is this?”

The sound of wind blowing came from the phone, whooshing for a while. After a long pause, the person finally whispered, “It’s me.”

The voice was deep and hoarse. After speaking, she coughed muffledly a few times. The sound was exceptionally clear in the desolate and empty dusk.

—Fu Bei.

Qiao Xi was stunned. She accidentally knocked over a snack box at her hand, and the candy inside instantly spilled all over the floor.

When she saw the packaging of the candy on the floor clearly, she was stunned again.