126 The Kind and Honest Han Yixuan
Tonight, while Pei Ningle was singing in the bar, for the first time, she had an embarrassing moment where she couldn’t hit the high notes.
In the bar, the regular customers were quite surprised. After all, in everyone’s impression, although Pei Ningle’s appearance and voice were relatively young, her singing technique had always been impeccable, with almost no slight off-key moments. When had she ever made such an obvious mistake?
Fortunately, she sang the next few songs steadily without any more problems.
After the performance, Pei Ningle bowed and left the stage, walking towards the rest area next to the back kitchen.
Bar owner Yan Zitao stood at the door, and when she arrived in front of him, he asked, “Are you not in a good mood today?”
“Sorry, I…” Pei Ningle didn’t know what to say for a moment, so she could only vaguely gloss over it, “I’m feeling a little unwell today.”
Yan Zitao: “I won’t ask more. Anyway, if there’s something unhappy, you must talk to your friends more and enlighten yourself.”
Pei Ningle: “Mhm, I understand.”
Yan Zitao pointed to the door behind him. “Just in time, your best friend has arrived. You can talk now if you want.”
Pei Ningle: “?”
Yan Zitao left, and Pei Ningle pushed open the door of the rest area with doubts. Sure enough, it was hard to say if she counted as a best friend, but she was definitely an acquaintance.
It was a girl who looked a little more mature than herself, sitting on the sofa reading a book. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she looked up, smiled, and greeted, “Finished singing?”
It was Han Yixuan.
Pei Ningle closed the door, came to her, and pointed to the sofa. “Can you let me sit for a while?”
There was only one single sofa in the rest area. The chairs had been moved away by someone, so the only place to sit was occupied by Han Yixuan. And Pei Ningle had been singing for so long just now, plus she was already in a bad mood, so she naturally needed to sit down and rest properly. Moreover, the rest area at this time was by default for the resident singer in this bar.
Han Yixuan patted her thigh. “Sit here.”
Pei Ningle glared at her without saying a word.
“Alright, alright, I’ll give you the seat…” Han Yixuan closed her book and stood up.
While sitting on the sofa, Pei Ningle glanced at the book in Han Yixuan’s hand. Hmm, probability and statistics or something, just like Wang Heng’s books, incomprehensible.
Han Yixuan considered her words and said, “Let’s talk about business. In the text message you sent me this afternoon, you said Wang Heng went to learn martial arts today and met that woman?”
Pei Ningle nodded, her small face looking quite solemn. “I brought the binoculars you gave me last time today. From a distance, I saw Wang Heng walk into that martial arts gym alone, and more than two hours later, he came out with that woman…”
“Wait a minute,” Han Yixuan interrupted, “you waited there the whole time? More than two hours?”
Pei Ningle: “I was listening to music, looking for inspiration. So my eyes could keep watching over there.”
Han Yixuan imagined the scene and couldn’t help but sigh, “You’re really suited to be a detective. Others would get bored listening to music too much, but you, you can wait for more than two hours. Your patience is really good…”
Pei Ningle said anxiously, “Don’t talk about me, I’m asking you about business! What if one day Wang Heng suddenly brings that woman and introduces her to us as his girlfriend? What should we do?”
Han Yixuan wasn’t panicked at all and asked back, “Do you think that woman could really become his girlfriend?”
“Is it impossible?”
“It’s possible that she’s used by Wang Heng as a shield, but really starting to date… heh, absolutely impossible!”
While making this conclusion, details of her time with Wang Heng before and after the college entrance exam flashed through Han Yixuan’s mind. She had forgotten many scenes, but his shy look as a young man, and his helpless tone when he later revealed his family background, were still so clear and real.
If he didn’t accept my confession, then he absolutely wouldn’t easily confirm a relationship with another girl—Han Yixuan was very sure of this. However, there was no need to tell Pei Ningle, this superficial ally, lest it provoke her.
So, Han Yixuan further inferred, “We can both see that that woman probably likes Wang Heng, but we still don’t know her name or her situation. Of course, we can’t let her run wild, so you should know what the most important thing is right now, right?”
Pei Ningle tilted her head. “Stalk that woman?”
“No need to stalk. You clearly have a better and more efficient choice,” Han Yixuan held up her index finger and gave an example. “You can ask Wang Heng directly, ask him who that woman is.”
Pei Ningle frowned. “If I ask directly like this, won’t he know I was stalking him?”
Han Yixuan immediately offered advice, “You can pretend to be casual. Just say you went out to buy something, passed by that martial arts gym, and happened to see him and that woman! This is very simple. If he answers that he was tutoring, then you can just follow up and ask about his new job.”
Pei Ningle shook her small head, imagined the scene, and was still a little worried. “Ask about his new job? How do I ask?”
“It’s simple, you can say this…” Han Yixuan’s bag was on the coffee table. She stuffed the textbook in, took out a pen and a scratch pad, and lay on the coffee table to write.
She divided Wang Heng’s possible different answers into three situations and matched three coping methods for these three possibilities. For each option, she wrote down relatively natural lines.
“Now you know what to say, right?” Han Yixuan tore off this page and handed it to Pei Ningle.
Pei Ningle looked at it for a while, suddenly put down the paper, stared at the love rival standing in front of her, and asked, “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll get Wang Heng before you?”
Han Yixuan smiled. “I told you before, if it’s Little Le, I think it’s okay. Although I’ll be very sad too, it’s better than other inexplicable girls…”
Before she finished speaking, the deeply moved Pei Ningle had already pounced over and hugged Han Yixuan.
“You’re so kind, Little Xuan!”
Although the other party couldn’t see the expression on her face from this angle, Han Yixuan still smiled. “You’re great too.”
“No, I actually lied to you… My real name isn’t Wang Le, my name is Pei Ningle…” Whispering guiltily like this, Pei Ningle hugged her, burying her face deeper into her shoulder.
Han Yixuan also hugged Pei Ningle. Because she was slightly taller, it looked like an older sister hugging her younger sister, a picture of sisterly affection.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
While speaking, gently patting the back of the girl in her arms, Han Yixuan suddenly felt a trace of guilt. Was she being a little too calculating with an honest person?
And she hadn’t hugged anyone like this for a long time. Although she wasn’t hugging the boy she liked, but rather a superficial ally and actual love rival, holding that petite and soft body in her arms still inevitably gave her an indescribable, wonderful feeling.
