Her Tentacles 28

Chapter 28: Shopping

Shu Yao hesitated and did not agree. She didn’t think that in the face of those monsters, having one more person would make any difference. Previously, at the Century City fruit tea shop, it was a bustling commercial area, but that didn’t stop those green slime monsters from coming out and having a feast.

But Mu Qing was very persistent.

Whenever she saw her about to go out in the office, even if it was just to go up or down to deliver documents to the leaders, or to go to another building to teach a class, she would get up from her desk and walk over to her, casually finding a reason to accompany her.

Not only Chen Le and Fan Xin, but in the eyes of other leaders, the frequency of their joint appearances also increased. Even Director Zhou would ask Shu Yao if she had a good relationship with the new Teacher Mu and had become good friends.

He had always been very concerned about Shu Yao’s work and life at school, afraid that she would not get along with her colleagues in the office. Now, seeing her break away from her solitary state, he was quite happy to see it happen.

Whether she considered Mu Qing a good friend or not was a separate matter—

Shu Yao found that in the few days that Mu Qing had been following her, those strange scenes had never happened to her again. At first glance, it gave the impression that the prankster hiding in the dark was rather timid.

But, a timid monster? Was that possible?

She had repeatedly caressed the business card given to her by the special department at night, even rubbing the gilded edges until they were soft. She told herself that if this kind of incident happened one more time, she would gather the courage to make a call for help. After all, the power of the state could always give an ordinary person like her a sense of security at a time like this.

But in the end, she never had the chance to make that call.

…

In a flash, it was the weekend.

Situ Jin had already asked Shu Yao to go shopping early on. She called her at ten in the morning sharp. “Are you up?”

Shu Yao sat on the stool in the walk-in closet, her tone a little rushed and anxious. “I’m—I’m looking for clothes. Have you decided where to go?”

Hearing her tone, Situ Jin guessed what had happened. “What are you looking for again?”

“The sock that goes with this outfit, one of them is missing…” Shu Yao pulled open the drawer where she kept her socks, her expression full of confusion. She guessed it might be because Lin Ran had been staying at her place recently, and their laundry and drying times were different. Maybe she had missed one when she was putting them away.

In the past, her clothes for all four seasons were bought for her by Mrs. Shu. Because of Mrs. Shu’s own upbringing, she was always very particular about her child’s clothing, not wanting Shu Yao to be like her, unable to wear good clothes, or having her image affected by poor taste in clothes.

From kindergarten, Mrs. Shu had very high requirements for Shu Yao’s entire outfit, from the color of her hair ties to the matching of her socks. And her protests of it being too troublesome when she was a child were all severely suppressed.

Her mother’s overly high standards for clothing made Shu Yao just want to be lazy in this aspect. Every time she bought new clothes, she would take a picture of the full set, and she would also put them away in sets in her closet, because that way, she wouldn’t make any mistakes.

More than twenty years had passed in a flash.

Now that Mrs. Shu had passed away, she still hadn’t changed this habit, but this habit had mostly become a bad habit and a burden.

Just like now, if she couldn’t find that sock, Shu Yao would have to change out of her entire outfit and into another one.

For others, it would just be a matter of finding a similar color or changing the style and re-matching, but that wouldn’t work for her.

Once, when she was on a date with Lin Jingshu, she had to change her outfit at the last minute because a bracelet had lost an accessory that greatly affected its beauty. This led to her not having enough time to go out, and she was unlucky enough to encounter a subway suspension, and ended up being more than half an hour late.

After hearing her reason, Lin Jingshu had looked her up and down for a long time with a ridiculous expression, and asked her while biting the straw of her milk tea, “Are you an AI? The kind that can only run after being input with the correct program?”

Perhaps it was because she discovered that her impeccable beauty and pleasing attire were all carved out step by step by this suffocating discipline, that later, even if she was stunned by Shu Yao’s appearance, the light in Lin Jingshu’s eyes would disappear at the fastest speed.

Maybe because there was one less person at home, the environment was too quiet, and it was easy for people to fall into such memory fragments. Shu Yao quickly remembered that she was still on the phone and said:

“Why don’t you go first—”

“It’s okay,” Situ Jin replied calmly. “Take your time. I’ll think about where we should meet. How about Galaxy World in the city center? I heard a foreign pearl jewelry brand has opened a store there. My mom quite likes that brand, and I want to check it out too. What about you?”

The pressure in Shu Yao’s heart suddenly dissipated, and her voice also carried a hint of a smile. “Okay.”

But when the two met at Galaxy World, it was already lunchtime.

Situ Jin wasn’t in a hurry to go to the boutiques. She pulled her to stand in front of the navigation board, her face deep in thought. “Let’s see what to eat for lunch first.”

Shu Yao wasn’t conflicted. She had rich experience as a rich woman’s accessory and knew that Situ Jin would soon make a decision.

Just then.

A somewhat surprised voice came from behind them. “Teacher Shu?”

These three words made the back of Shu Yao’s neck go numb. The last thing she wanted was to run into a colleague during her vacation. But after turning around and seeing who it was, the resistance in her heart subsided a little.

It was Mu Qing.

She had one hand in her pocket and was holding a bottle of milk tea. A short, sleeveless blue denim top was paired with wide-leg jeans, both casual and fashionable.

Shu Yao pulled at the corner of her lips at her. “What a coincidence.”

This made Situ Jin, who had been looking down and choosing a restaurant, lift her eyelids and size up the person who had come. A moment later, she realized, “This is the new Teacher Mu you mentioned to me last time, right?”

Shu Yao’s social circle was small and simple. Plus, the two of them sent a lot of chat messages every day, so Situ Jin was quite clear about her affairs.

Previously, when she said her eyes weren’t feeling well, Situ Jin had even recommended a good ophthalmologist’s business card to her, but the doctor’s appointments always conflicted with Shu Yao’s leave, so the matter was left unresolved.

Shu Yao hadn’t told Situ Jin in too much detail about the strange things she had encountered, only saying that a very friendly new colleague had come to the office, who would invite her to eat together and had helped her a lot.

Now, Mu Qing smiled at Situ Jin. “It’s the holidays, just call me Mumu. Whenever I hear ‘teacher,’ I always feel like I’m about to go and teach a class—”

Shu, the social phobic, nodded in empathy.

Situ Jin raised her eyebrows. “I heard you take good care of Yaoyao usually. Since we met here, it must be fate. Do you want to have lunch together?”

Mu Qing looked surprised. “Will I be intruding? I just came over to check out a new dance training center upstairs. I don’t have anything else to do after this.”

Situ Jin didn’t mind. She was just out for a casual stroll anyway. “It’s okay, let’s go together.” She was also happy to see Shu Yao make new friends.

…

The meal was more enjoyable than Situ Jin and Shu Yao had expected.

The three of them even went to a nearby milk tea shop afterwards. Situ Jin, adhering to the principle of “a person has four stomachs, one for main courses, one for snacks, one for milk tea, and one for dessert,” pulled the two of them in.

The large picture of the strawberry milkshake on the shop’s promotional sign looked very tempting.

Situ Jin stroked her chin. “Hiss, it looks even better than what I make in my shop. No, I have to try this competitor’s product. What about you guys?”

Shu Yao’s gaze began to wander.

“How about lychee soda?” Mu Qing suggested. “I’ve tried all the milk tea shops here. This one uses real lychee pulp, and the variety is particularly sweet and fresh in season.”

Shu Yao, who had no desire to try the strawberry flavor, immediately nodded.

When they got their drinks, the three of them sat down at a round table by the window. Shu Yao found that Mu Qing’s recommendation was not wrong. The sweet lychee was soaked in sparkling Sprite. The carbonated drink and the bursting pulp collided on the tip of the tongue, instantly painting a picture of a cool summer with the taste buds.

It made her want to buy a few pounds of fresh lychee to take back.

Situ Jin didn’t put all her attention on eating. Instead, she looked at this familiar scene of a leisurely afternoon tea for three, and narrowed her eyes slightly.

She looked at Mu Qing. Even though her temperament and type were the same as that former friend, her expression and the way she spoke were completely different—

No, not different.

But closer to her ideal image of reuniting with Shu Yao and Lin Jingshu on a leisurely afternoon after growing up together.

Mu Qing met her gaze and gave a friendly, questioning look.

Situ Jin smiled. “It’s nothing. I just feel that you give off a feeling of having known you for a long time. No wonder a slow-to-warm-up type like Yaoyao could become friends with you so quickly.”

Hearing the compliment, the smile in Mu Qing’s eyes deepened.

And so, it became a matter of course for them to continue on together.

At that time, Shu Yao was given several designer dresses by Situ Jin and was told to go into the fitting room to try them on. She held the dresses, dazed and helpless. “Weren’t we just shopping for you?” How did it turn into buying for her?

Her friend, who loved to play the game of “Miracle Yaoyao,” said righteously, “I suddenly want to repay you for saving my life again.”

Shu Yao, looking down at the dresses that were either backless or low-cut: “?”

Are you sure it’s repaying, not rewarding yourself with a beautiful woman?

She said helplessly, “I can’t wear these to school—”

“Who said you have to wear them to school? Don’t you have leave?” Situ Jin casually picked up a small cookie brought by the sales associate. “Besides, aren’t you going on a cruise for your vacation?”

“Please, it’s a cruise. All the beautiful women with good figures will definitely be wearing super sexy swimsuits, sunbathing on the deck, and playing in the pool. Don’t you think you’ll look out of place walking by in your Qing dynasty attire?”

Shu Yao: “…”

Scolded for being feudal, she could only lower her head and walk in with the clothes.

The first long dress had slightly wide shoulder straps, with a gray starry sky print on a white background, and large Van Gogh sunflowers blooming on it. Even though the skirt was long, it had a slit design that could reveal her long legs. The two shoulder straps simply crossed into a large X on her back, revealing all the skin from her lower back up.

When she came out, she saw Situ Jin staring at Mu Qing’s ear. “Huh, you have so many ear piercings. Why don’t you wear earrings or studs?”

Shu Yao also looked over.

The ears, which were usually hidden by her hair on both sides and were not very obvious, now entered her field of vision. The left ear, facing Shu Yao, had one piercing on the upper part of the ear bone, one in the middle, and two on the earlobe below.

It was exactly the same as the position of Lin Jingshu’s ear piercings in her memory.

Because Shu Yao had very seriously picked out holiday gifts for her, knew that she liked studs very much, and had also gone to the boutique with her to choose earrings, and had seen their position up close.

At this moment, Mu Qing casually touched her ear. “I’m a teacher at school, so I can’t be too flamboyant. It’s not appropriate to wear those, and I’m also afraid of giving the students a bad impression. It’s troublesome to take care of them usually, so I might as well just let them grow back.”

Situ Jin laughed when she heard that. It was the first time she had seen someone who had endured the pain of getting so many ear piercings, only to want to be lazy and let them grow back.

Shu Yao’s words joined in at this moment. “Is it because of keloid scarring?”

Previously, Lin Jingshu had complained to her many times that because of her scar-prone constitution, her ear piercings were always inflamed. Even though she always had iodine at home, they still developed keloids and required surgery. Even so, she refused to give up her desire to look cool.

The two of them heard her words and looked over at the same time.

Mu Qing first rubbed her ear. Her fair ear was turned over by her fingertips. “Hmm? Not really. I’ve been tough since I was a child and don’t scar easily. I just find it troublesome now.”

Indeed.

There were no surgical scars on her ear at all. It was smooth and clean.

Shu Yao inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

Then she thought, she really didn’t know what was wrong with her, always thinking of that person today. Was it really because she didn’t know many people usually? So she couldn’t help but make associations when she saw a similar type?

Mu Qing looked her up and down in the long dress and said with approval, “You look very beautiful in this dress, like a princess.”

Situ Jin, who was about to applaud and shower her with compliments, stopped her action.

Shu Yao’s expression was also subtle.

Mu Qing timely noticed that the atmosphere was wrong and looked back and forth between them in confusion. “What’s wrong, did I say something wrong?”

Situ Jin, who suffered from “princess PTSD,” and Shu Yao, who had a deeper understanding of the sarcastic meaning of “Her Highness,” both shook their heads.

In the end, Situ Jin still swiped her card and bought her this dress, as well as another short skirt that greatly accentuated her waist-to-hip ratio. And when she was checking out, she rubbed her face and said, “If it weren’t for the fact that you have a partner, I would have wanted to see you in a swimsuit today! Hmph, Lin Daiyu is getting off easy. Let her buy you the swimsuit!”

Shu Yao: “…Lin Daiyu?”

Wait, what kind of ridiculous nickname is this!

Situ Jin didn’t care. A rich woman has her own willfulness. After she had finished dressing up Princess Yaoyao, she pulled Shu Yao to the pearl jewelry boutique and bought her a single, round pearl collarbone necklace, at the same time teasing her:

“Remember to take a picture of it with this dress when you get back, so you don’t forget the matching next time and just end up not wearing it.”

Shu Yao obediently nodded.

…

After Situ Jin had satisfied her addiction to dressing up Princess Yaoyao, the three of them passed by an indoor ice rink. Mu Qing suddenly said, “I suddenly want to try that. What about you guys?”

Whether it was a real ice skating rink like this, or a skating rink with a smooth floor and a musical background, they were both long past their heyday of being wildly popular.

But when they were young, the three of them had still played together.

Situ Jin was happy to explore new places to play. She would vote yes for arcades, dance halls, and skating rinks. And Lin Jingshu was very athletic and good at everything except studying. With the two of them choosing first, Shu Yao could only silently join in.

But she always got injured when she was with Lin Jingshu. Even when she was just learning to ride a bike and wanted to give someone a ride, Shu Yao was the victim who was brought along to crash into a stone.

And Situ Jin would often stand by with her arms crossed, either sarcastically mocking Lin Jingshu’s nature of being a bad player who still loved to play, or going over to point at Shu Yao’s forehead and ask her if she would dare to risk her life with that madwoman again next time.

Shu Yao’s eyes couldn’t help but soften.

In front of her, in the large shopping mall, a small corner was sectioned off as a real ice rink. At this time, there were only a few children being taught to skate by a teacher, and it looked very empty.

It was at this moment that Situ Jin’s voice rang out crisply. “Okay.”

So they both looked at Shu Yao at the same time.

Just like… before.

Before she could react, she had already nodded in agreement.

But it had been a long time since she had been on the ice. When she put on her ice skates and stepped onto the ice again, Shu Yao found that she had even forgotten the instincts left in her body. She was so clumsy that she could only hold onto the railing of the enclosure. And to make matters worse, those few children were now skating past her smoothly with their hands behind their backs, making her look even worse by comparison.

Situ Jin walked to her side and extended her hand to her.

Mu Qing, who had done a single Axel jump on the spot nearby, her ice skates scraping a small patch of snow from the ice when she landed, also came to her side and also extended her hand to her.

Shu Yao cautiously grabbed both of their hands.

As the three of them’s ice skate tracks spread smoothly on the ice, the translucent window on the side revealed the twilight sky outside. The sun had set, and the large lights of the ice rink lit up. The sound of Chopin’s “Träumerei” from the piano training institution opposite had somehow reached here.

It made them feel as if they had traveled back in time, back to a happy childhood.

When the time was up, Shu Yao heard Situ Jin still mulling over whether to extend it, even muttering to herself about changing this winter’s skiing trip to an ice-skating trip in the northeast instead.

And she was smiling and walking toward the exit. Her limbs, which had been so hard to retrain, were finally coordinated, and she had recalled the physical skills of skating from before.

But halfway there, something seemed to be moving under the ice.

She couldn’t help but look over.

An ice-blue, round, gem-like creature, like an elegant dancer, was expanding and contracting, getting closer and closer to her eyes, as if it were about to jump out of the ice and drill into her eyeball—

Shu Yao immediately wanted to retreat.

Unfortunately, she forgot she was standing on the ice. Her ice skates slipped, and her vision turned. The dome above the ice rink came into view, and in her peripheral vision, someone was rushing toward her.

She even heard Situ Jin gasp.

Just as she was about to fall, her waist was caught steadily by a hand.

Forced to straighten up and fall forward, she crashed directly into the other’s embrace.

The familiar, very reassuring scent of sea salt filled her nostrils.

Shu Yao was stunned for a moment, then instinctively reached out and hugged the other’s waist, looking up with a smile. Her nose, which was a little red from playing in the ice rink for too long, was particularly obvious on her cold, white face:

“Lin Ran!”

“How did you find me?”

…

Lin Ran had known since morning from Shu Yao that she was going to Galaxy World to shop with her friend. At this moment, she was at the exit of the ice rink, one hand feigning to hold onto the nearby wall for support, the other hand holding the person in her arms.

The way Shu Yao had fallen had puzzled her. It was as ridiculous as a normal person tripping over their own feet while walking on the road.

But there was something that concerned her even more.

Her friend in the ice rink, Situ Jin, she had of course met before.

But there was another person there.

Although she was just an ordinary human and had a face that was unfamiliar to her, the first second they made eye contact, Lin Ran felt an inexplicable sense of disgust for this person.

—Like a loathing that was engraved in her instincts.