Chapter 28 Part 2

Qu An’ge stared. “What happened to you?”

Tan Zhenzhen said, “I fell.”

Qu An’ge looked at her with deep respect. “And you still came out to greet me like that? I’m touched.”

Tan Zhenzhen said, “Can’t help it. I just love a spectacle.”

Qu An’ge asked, “Did Xu Mi go out?”

Tan Zhenzhen beckoned Qu An’ge closer. Qu An’ge leaned in, and Tan Zhenzhen whispered, “Are you brainless or what?”

“…” Qu An’ge was dumbfounded for a second before frowning. “Why are you calling me names?”

Tan Zhenzhen looked at her with exasperation. “You go out to eat and don’t say so early on. Xu Mi was already halfway through cooking. And you send pictures of the food? Are you trying to pick a fight?”

Qu An’ge seriously thought it over. Her face instantly paled. “Th-then… how did Mimi react?”

Tan Zhenzhen clicked her tongue. “I’d say she was plenty mad. The door’s locked anyway. Let’s see what you do now.”

Qu An’ge clutched her hair, overwhelmed with regret. If she could turn back time, she would have even chosen to skip the meal. Her first thought was to buy a gift to apologize. But remembering the consequences of buying flowers last time, she realized a gift would definitely be useless for Xu Mi. Deep in thought, she finally said, “Would kneeling in front of the door work?”

Before Tan Zhenzhen could reply, the door behind her swung open. Xu Mi’s voice rang out: “Come in.”

She had locked the door, but upon hearing Qu An’ge and Tan Zhenzhen’s conversation, she felt utterly embarrassed for Qu An’ge. So, above all else, she decided to first stop Qu An’ge from embarrassing herself further in front of outsiders.

Qu An’ge was overjoyed and quickly slipped into the room. She closed the door and heard Xu Mi say, “Go take a shower first.”

Qu An’ge obediently went to shower, the entire time racking her brain for a way to get Xu Mi not to be angry. She replayed the day’s events in her mind and also concluded she’d been completely thoughtless. So, the first priority was to firmly state she hadn’t done it on purpose.

With this in mind, she wrapped herself in a towel and strode out, announcing forcefully, “I really didn’t mean it. I just happened to run into a senior from the entertainment industry. She said she wanted to treat me to dinner, and since it was a rare opportunity, I went.”

Xu Mi frowned. “So noisy. You’re bothering my TV watching.”

Qu An’ge looked over. The TV was indeed on, playing the currently super popular singing competition show, Heavenly Voice. This show became an annual staple later—a true evergreen in variety TV.

Qu An’ge lowered her voice. “A senior in showbiz. She’s in her fifties. Was I supposed to refuse her? How rude would that be?”

Xu Mi felt a little relieved at these words, but couldn’t help wondering if Qu An’ge was lying. Distracted, she let her mind wander. Seizing her distraction, Qu An’ge climbed onto the bed and tried to take her hand. Xu Mi snapped back to her senses and rolled over to avoid her, but her fingers had already brushed Qu An’ge’s skin. She couldn’t help rubbing her fingertips together, feeling the lingering smooth, creamy sensation, like she’d touched mutton-fat jade, making her want to keep touching.

To stop her own train of thought, she frowned. “Can’t you put on some clothes properly?”

Qu An’ge said, “I’ll change once my hair’s dry… Mimi, the food at that restaurant was terrible. Not nearly as good as what you make.”

Xu Mi snorted coldly at this. “If it was so bad, why’d you post nine pictures on Weibo?”

Qu An’ge tried to deny it. “It wasn’t nine! One was a selfie of me. That place is just expensive. If you opened a private kitchen, it’d be way better. Your cooking is absolutely divine, Mimi. Speaking of which, wasn’t there any food left from today? Did Tan Zhenzhen eat it all?”

Xu Mi stayed silent. Qu An’ge pressed on, “I sent you those pictures to show how not-good the food was, really.”

She watched Xu Mi’s expression, saw something flicker in her eyes, and quickly scooted closer, wrapping her arms around Xu Mi’s arm. Xu Mi immediately felt her arm pressing against something soft. Heat rushed to her face, and her heart pounded. She frantically tried to pull her arm away, but Qu An’ge wouldn’t let go. In the struggle, the towel around Qu An’ge fell away. Warm, soft skin pressed directly against her, wrapping around her arm like heated silk. Her mind went blank. She felt her entire body go weak in an instant. Right then, a familiar melody drifted into her ears.

The slow, lingering, quiet melody, played on a simple acoustic guitar. Qu An’ge even stopped her fussing and stared, shocked, at the TV.

On screen, an unknown amateur singer she didn’t recognize was performing “Dream Journey.”

Xu Mi frowned. “Isn’t that the one you sang that day?”

Qu An’ge’s brain felt like it had crashed. The whole thing seemed surreal.

But in the end, she was the one who brought this surreality. A tiny butterfly had flapped its wings, causing a storm thousands of miles away. She’d sung a song that shouldn’t exist yet. She’d thought she could bury the matter by playing ostrich. She never imagined things would spiral so far beyond her control.

This was a national television broadcast, the hottest singing show right now.

And who was this guy? Since Qu An’ge had no recollection of him at all, she suspected he must have been eliminated very early in her past life… or maybe he was the original creator of the song, whom she’d forgotten?

Anxiety churned in Qu An’ge’s stomach. She forgot everything. It was Xu Mi who recovered first. Seeing Qu An’ge completely naked, she quickly yanked the blanket over her. The blanket covered her, but the image seared itself into her mind, like a witch’s curse. She forced her eyes to the screen to distract herself. The male singer on screen had an ordinary face, but his voice was deeply emotional, speaking-singing the lyrics like poetry.

All three judges had already pressed their “I Like It” buttons, meaning the singer had passed this round.

Qu An’ge was silent. Xu Mi was silent. They quietly listened to the rest of the song. The show’s production crew labeled the singer as Cao Zhixuan. As the music ended, he stood and bowed. The audience and the judges gave a long round of applause. The process felt unprecedentedly long in Qu An’ge’s eyes, making her heart clench.

A judge finally spoke: “Zhixuan, is this your original song?”

Cao Zhixuan gripped the microphone. “Ah, no, sorry. I heard it online about a week ago. The moment I heard it, I decided to change my song. I felt I had to perform it on this stage.”

The judge looked surprised. “I haven’t heard this song before.”

Cao Zhixuan said, “Maybe you don’t browse the internet much, teacher. This song blew up online last week. A girl sang it. I hadn’t heard it before either. It’s probably her original.”

Xu Mi turned her head to look at Qu An’ge. She knew better than anyone: Qu An’ge had never shown any musical talent growing up.

Qu An’ge laughed awkwardly. “I… I really did hear it from a friend. He’s just, uh, low-key.”

Qu An’ge realized for the first time how truly careless she’d been. She was a reborn person; she should have been more cautious.

Xu Mi just said “Oh” and kept watching. But a small question formed in her mind. Qu An’ge had no more heart for jokes now. She got up, put on pajamas, and dried her hair. When she picked up her phone, she saw her Weibo follower count jumping by the thousands every refresh, as if there was a code error. The red notification dot immediately piled up to 99+ the second she cleared it. She decided to ignore it entirely, tossed her phone aside, and looked at Xu Mi again.

Thanks to that incident just now, Xu Mi’s attention had been diverted. She didn’t seem so angry anymore. Qu An’ge got into bed, pretending to scroll on her phone while secretly observing Xu Mi. Suddenly, a WeChat message from Tan Zhenzhen popped up—

【Just so you know, I secretly saved you a bowl of the soup Xu Mi made. It’s in the fridge. Don’t forget to drink it.】

Qu An’ge was ecstatic. She replied—【Thanks, sis! I’ll definitely return the favor!】

She stood up to leave, looking back as she opened the door. Xu Mi was looking up at her, puzzled, head tilted slightly, as if wondering where she was going. But the moment their eyes met, Xu Mi quickly looked down, pretending to read her book.

Qu An’ge inwardly screamed. Too cute!

And Xu Mi was definitely paying attention to her. Ignoring her was just playing hard to get!

She turned on the light, went to the living room, opened the fridge, and indeed found a palm-sized ceramic soup bowl covered with plastic wrap. Inside were corn, spare ribs, and goji berries. Qu An’ge took it out, heated it in the microwave, and set it on the table. As she stirred it with a spoon, she noticed there were also potatoes and tomatoes in there. It smelled completely clean, no gaminess—only the savory richness of bone broth and the sweet aroma of tomatoes. The broth was milky white, tasting thick and savory, clinging to her tongue as it slid across. The aftertaste was pure umami. She imagined it had been even better fresh from the pot.

She thought about the dishes from Apricot Grove Pavilion she’d posted earlier. They couldn’t compare to Xu Mi’s cooking. She hurried back to the room, wanting to take a picture of this late-night snack.

Entering the room, she saw Xu Mi head down, reading, pretending not to see her. A secret joy bubbled in her heart. Xu Mi clearly knew Tan Zhenzhen had saved a bowl of soup. By default, she was letting Qu An’ge have it.

Realizing this, she was even more moved. She couldn’t help but say, “Mimi, I love you.”

Xu Mi’s fingers tightened on the page, but her face showed no reaction. She just looked up and said, “Eating so late at night? Careful you don’t get fat.” Her heart was racing wildly because of Qu An’ge’s “I love you.”

She was also worried her face might be turning red. Luckily, Qu An’ge had already gone back out, just leaving the words, “It’s fine, it’s healthy food. Won’t make me fat.”

Qu An’ge took nine photos of that bowl of soup from every angle and posted them on Weibo, captioned—【Heartwarming Midnight Snack】

Since her follower count was currently exploding, this post quickly got tons of comments. Some marveled, Does this beauty not get fat? Others asked who made the soup. Qu An’ge scrolled through comments while drinking, then happened upon Xu Mi’s post with the spare rib soup recipe and immediately reblogged it. Everyone was shocked, asking—【No way, no way, this is the same blogger who made it?】

Qu An’ge was about to reply when Xu Mi suddenly opened the door and came out. “Delete that reblog.”

Qu An’ge froze. “Why?”

Xu Mi was silent for a moment, then said, “Online, I… for the moment, I don’t want to be associated with you.”

A bolt from the blue!

At that moment, Qu An’ge briefly, fleetingly, experienced what Xu Mi must have felt back then. Was this what it felt like? This feeling of being abandoned?

Her brain turned to mush. She couldn’t even think. Xu Mi walked over. “Besides, I don’t want to get dragged into that world of yours.”

Qu An’ge snapped out of it. “Oh, oh, you mean, you don’t really like showbiz, right?”

Xu Mi nodded. “Yeah. I’m happy posting things in my own little corner right now.”

Qu An’ge was somewhat convinced, mostly because she was truly terrified of upsetting Xu Mi again. In her hesitation, Xu Mi stepped forward, took her phone, and deleted the reblog.