The Alley Was Always This Long – Chapter 65

The Date

A bit thrilling.

[I like you,

            

like you so much I want to eat you up, to devour you whole; your bones are my bones, your heart beats with mine.]

---

Cheng Xiang looked at the slight upward curve of Tao Tianran’s lips. Why did her expression feel so… loaded with meaning?

Embarrassed, she turned her head away, her soft, fine hair falling over her face.

            

Tao Tianran propped herself up by her wrists and climbed off Cheng Xiang. Cheng Xiang quickly pulled the duvet over herself, covering her naked body.

Tao Tianran stood by the bed putting on her shirt, leaving Cheng Xiang with a view of her profile. Cheng Xiang stole a quiet glance. Oh, lord… that teardrop curve was the very shape she had just been caressing. Suddenly, her ears burned hot enough to melt.

She asked in a low voice, “What are you doing?”

            

“I’m leaving,” Tao Tianran replied.

“You—you’re leaving already?” Cheng Xiang asked, licking her lips.

Tao Tianran gave a faint smile that was even more loaded. “What else?”

            

Cheng Xiang pulled the duvet over her head and ignored her.

After hiding for a couple of seconds, she sat right back up. “I’ll walk you out.”

She hopped out of bed to put on her clothes. The space beside the bed was so narrow that her leg brushed against the soft, smooth skin of Tao Tianran’s thigh.

            

Tao Tianran pulled her long hair out from under her shirt collar and cast a sideways glance at her.

She walked to the door and unlocked the bolt with a sharp clack, as if opening a hidden box of magic.

It would bring you joy, captivate your heart, fill you with anxiety, and draw your tears. It would also leave you like this—with a thread suspended in your throat, so itchy you couldn’t contain yourself.

            

Cheng Xiang stepped outside, the spring night air rushing to wrap her in its embrace.

Tao Tianran followed behind her, walking past the dilapidated flower pots in the courtyard that had long since ceased to hold any plants.

Cheng Xiang gently pushed open the wooden gate, feeling as though the skin bundled in her shirt still carried the slightly cool temperature of Tao Tianran’s skin. She turned around to close the gate and leaned against the grey brick wall of the entryway.

            

Tao Tianran walked back under the streetlamp where they had stood earlier.

Cheng Xiang slowly traced the mortar joints between the bricks behind her with her fingertips, unsure what she was trying to delay.

She didn’t want to say goodbye.

            

But if she kept dragging it out, she wouldn’t be able to find anything else to say.

Just as her lips parted slightly, Tao Tianran suddenly asked, “Want some ice cream?”

“…Eh?” Cheng Xiang smiled. “Sure.”

            

It was already one in the morning. The only ones awake were the two of them and the tiny insects fluttering through the spring night.

The little shops in the hutong¹ had already closed for the night, so they walked together toward a twenty-four-hour convenience store.

They didn’t walk side by side, nor did they hold hands. Cheng Xiang walked slightly ahead while Tao Tianran followed with her hands in her trench coat pockets. Suddenly, Cheng Xiang took a light, playful hop.

            

“Hey, Tao Tianran, did you play this when you were a kid?” Cheng Xiang turned her head. “Look at the manhole covers on the ground. You can’t step on them. If you step on them, you die!”

They probably didn’t play stepping on manhole covers² in Gangdao.

Sure enough, Tao Tianran said, “No, I haven’t.”

            

“Then hop over it,” Cheng Xiang said, winking.

“I’m wearing high heels.”

“Oh, right.” So Cheng Xiang went on alone, taking another hop whenever she encountered a manhole cover.

            

Outside the convenience store, Cheng Xiang paused slightly as she lifted the plastic door curtain.

From behind her, Tao Tianran asked, “What’s wrong?”

“My mom sometimes comes here to buy soy sauce, you know?” Cheng Xiang chuckled. “Heheh, if she hears the owner say I came here in the middle of the night to buy ice cream, she’ll be shocked to death.”

            

Tao Tianran curved her lips. “Scared?”

“I just think…” Cheng Xiang whispered, “heheh, it’s a bit thrilling.”

She buried her head in the freezer, peering inside.

            

Standing behind her, Tao Tianran gazed at the slender, pale nape of her neck. She felt a strong urge to reach out and wrap her hand around it, but remembering that the night-shift owner might know Cheng Xiang, she kept her hands restrained in her pockets.

Cheng Xiang browsed for a while, then picked out a cream wafer brick³. “We Beicheng kids grew up eating these. They’re delicious. Do you want one?”

“Not for me.” Tao Tianran walked to the counter to scan the code and pay. “How much is it?”

            

Cheng Xiang and the owner said in unison, “Two yuan fifty.”

She rubbed the tip of her nose and laughed.

The owner smiled and asked Cheng Xiang, “Eating ice cream so late at night?”

            

Cheng Xiang curled her lips and agreed, “Yeah.”

Without offering any further explanation, she obediently stood behind Tao Tianran.

The owner had watched her grow up and knew Director Ma. Thinking about it like that… it really was a bit thrilling.

            

After Tao Tianran paid, they walked out of the store together. The Bentley was parked at the entrance of the hutong. Cheng Xiang nibbled her ice cream as she accompanied Tao Tianran over. “You should get going.”

“Mm.” Tao Tianran pulled open the car door. “Well, I’m off then?”

Cheng Xiang suddenly laughed and ran over, holding the ice cream up to her lips. “Take a bite.”

            

Tao Tianran looked at her.

“It’s really good. Chinese women don’t lie to Chinese women⁴.” Cheng Xiang fluttered her thick eyelashes.

Tao Tianran bent her slender neck and took a bite.

            

“Good, right?” Cheng Xiang asked smugly.

Some milky white cream clung to Tao Tianran’s lips. Cheng Xiang glanced at them and couldn’t help but remember how they had just been holding each other naked, kissing, and how that cool, fresh breath had been breathed into her own mouth.

Oh, gosh… stop thinking about it, stop thinking!

            

Cheng Xiang pointed inside the car, stuffed the ice cream against her own lips, and mumbled, “Hurry up and go. Look what time it is.”

Tao Tianran smiled faintly, got into the car, and rolled down the window.

Cheng Xiang waved at her.

            

With a soft “I’m off,” she drove away from Hundred Flowers Alley.

Cheng Xiang watched the car’s taillights merge into the flow of traffic, then turned around to walk back into the quiet hutong.

After a couple of steps, she suddenly burst into a run, leaping over two manhole covers. When she reached the streetlamp, she spun around gracefully on her tiptoes, only then realizing she was smiling.

            

She wanted to laugh out loud. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. She wanted to dream.

Sparsely scattered pear blossoms of late spring drifted onto her shoulders like a snow that defied the seasons.

The amber glow of the streetlamps forged a counterfeit dawn.

            

Cheng Xiang finally realized that the moment you are finally together with the person you love is a magical one.

It reverses the seasons, turns back time, coaxes you into dreaming dreams you never dared to before, and makes you feel as though nothing in the world is impossible.

Out of breath, Cheng Xiang ran back into the siheyuan⁵ courtyard, almost forgetting to step quietly and keep her head down. She closed her bedroom door behind her. The ice cream in her hand had mostly melted, so she tilted her head back to take a sip, sat on the edge of the bed, slipped off her shoes, and looked at the phoenix tree in front of her.

            

As if speaking to the tree, she whispered, “Did you see her?”

“Is she beautiful?”

She laughed at her own question. What a nutcase.

            

---

The next morning, Cheng Xiang was awakened by the loud pounding of Director Ma’s hand against her door.

“Xiao Xiang! Cheng Xiang!”

“What is it?” Cheng Xiang forced her eyes open.

            

After receiving Tao Tianran’s WeChat message confirming she had arrived home safely last night, she had tossed and turned in bed until three in the morning before finally drifting off.

With hands on her hips, Director Ma shouted outside the door with a robust voice, “Get up, hurry! I pan-fried chive pockets⁶ this morning. Eat up before you head to work.”

Oh, she really is my mother…

            

Cheng Xiang struggled to sit up, thinking, Of all the things to make on the very first day of your daughter’s relationship, why did it have to be chive pockets?

The first day of our relationship?

Cheng Xiang chuckled twice, buried her face in her palms, and rubbed her head vigorously like a dog shaking off water.

            

During breakfast, Cheng Xiang took a bite of the crispy, golden-brown chive pocket. It tasted delicious, but: “Mom, could you make chive pockets less often in the future?”

“Why?”

“Uh…” It wasn’t that she had a reason, exactly—it was just that the smell was too strong, which would get in the way of kissing.

            

“By the way, did you go out last night?”

“Cough, cough, cough!” Cheng Xiang nearly choked to death. “Why would I go out in the middle of the night?”

“Right? That’s what I thought, but I swear I heard something.” Director Ma furrowed her brow in confusion. “Do we have a thief? Our Neighborhood Committee⁷ really needs to step up our security awareness campaigns.”

            

“Where would a thief come from?” Cheng Xiang grabbed a tissue and wiped her mouth. “What is there to steal in a house nowadays? It’s not like we keep cash lying around. You should focus on those anti-fraud campaigns instead, so people don’t get scammed into traveling to Thailand.”

After finishing her meal, Cheng Xiang slung her canvas bag over her shoulder and dashed out of the courtyard. “I’m off to work!”

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the area by the entrance.

            

She remembered the very first time she had met Tao Tianran right here, by the entrance of her family’s courtyard. Back then, she had thought this woman was so cold, such a mature, elegant yujie⁸, and so utterly out of reach. But now… heheh.

Cheng Xiang ran all the way to the bus stop.

She clocked in at the office, sat down at her cubicle, turned on her computer, and out of habit reached out to flick the leaves of her little solar-powered flower.

            

Right on cue, a WeChat message from Tao Tianran arrived: 【Good morning.】

The corners of Cheng Xiang’s lips turned up. Her computer was agonizingly slow to boot up, so she rested her chin on the back of her hand, propped her phone up on the desk, and typed out letter by letter: 【Good morning.】

Another message came in, and Cheng Xiang switched away from her chat with Tao Tianran.

            

It was from Qin Ziqiao: 【Why didn’t you send me a picture of what you had for breakfast this morning?】

【Oh.】 Her chin still resting on her hand, Cheng Xiang typed back with a slightly guilty conscience: 【My mom pan-fried chive pockets this morning. I was in a rush to get to work, so I didn’t have time to take a picture.】

She kind of wanted to show off to Qin Ziqiao.

            

But she didn’t know how to show off without sounding like she was blatantly showing off.

A colleague lightly tapped on Cheng Xiang’s desk, warning her, “The boss is here.”

Cheng Xiang sat up straight.

            

Sigh, I can’t think of a way, I can’t.

---

Meanwhile, Tao Tianran carried her bag into the Kunpu office.

When her assistant knocked on the office door to ask if she wanted some coffee, she looked at her.

            

“Teacher Tao, is something wrong?”

“Did the Big Boss not look for me today?” Yi Yu’s quietness was rather unusual.

“Oh,” the assistant smiled. “The Big Boss isn’t in the office today. She went to the zoo.”

            

Tao Tianran: “…?”

At lunchtime, a colleague came over to invite Cheng Xiang. “Xiangzi, we’re going to get river snail rice noodles⁹. Want to come?”

Cheng Xiang was horrified. “No, no, absolutely not!”

            

Why is every single food option so smelly today?!

She slumped back in her computer chair, turning slightly from side to side with her toes on the floor. Opening the orange app, she browsed the nearby delivery options. To be safe, she ordered a salad.

A salad shouldn’t leave any smell, right?

            

Cheng Xiang rarely ordered salad, so this felt incredibly fancy to her. She had even gone out of her way to avoid the place her colleagues had warned was overpriced and a poor value.

When the delivery arrived, she ran out to collect it. Returning to her desk, she opened the brown paper container, which was made of some unknown eco-friendly material.

She poked around. A pile of lettuce leaves.

            

She poked around some more. Three pieces of chicken breast.

And she poked around one last time. A tiny handful of almonds.

Cheng Xiang prodded the almonds with her wooden fork and counted them one by one. There were exactly six. She grabbed the delivery receipt to check the actual payment: it was indeed forty-two yuan.

            

Her brow knit together, and out of habit she raised her hand to rub the space between her eyebrows.

She grabbed her phone and sent a voice message to Qin Ziqiao in an exaggerated tone: “Let me tell you! Whatever you do, don’t lose your mind and order a salad for lunch. It’s a sadder meal than what your capybaras get!”

Qin Ziqiao didn’t reply.

            

Cheng Xiang blinked. What is going on?

---

The zoo.

The Beicheng Zoo where Qin Ziqiao worked had an annual quota: they had to find an adoptive sponsor for every species of animal.

            

Simply put, visitors could log onto the zoo’s app, pay a fee, and adopt an animal of their choice. Not only would they receive regular health updates, but they could also visit the zoo to experience caring for the animal alongside the zookeepers.

Sponsors snapped up the lions, tigers, and leopards in no time. Even though the annual adoption fee was by no means cheap, it was incredibly cool. Plus, when the sponsors came for their hands-on experience, they only had to sit in a tour vehicle and toss a few chunks of meat out the window—an absolute breeze.

Generally, the animals left unadopted at the very end of the year, aside from the hippos, were the capybaras¹⁰.

            

This was because, for one, they weren’t particularly cool. And secondly, when sponsors came to experience caring for these animals, it was actually grueling work.

They had to squeeze into waterproof overalls, shovel piles of dung, and pitch stacks of hay.

And the smell… well, you can imagine.

            

Once the hippo named Niuniu was finally adopted, the zoo director called Qin Ziqiao into his office and said, with heavy gravity, “Xiao Qin, you’re the only one left who hasn’t met their quota this year.”

Qin Ziqiao maintained her cool, expressionless face.

“Aren’t capybaras internet sensations?” the director asked. “You managed to find a sponsor last year. Why is it so difficult this year?”

            

Qin Ziqiao replied coolly, “They’re yesterday’s news.”

“…” The director waved a hand. “You must overcome this obstacle. You can’t be the one holding our zoo back!”

On the day Qin Ziqiao accompanied Cheng Xiang downstairs to toss a coin, she had been standing outside a convenience store when she overheard a woman on the phone asking, “If you have connections at the zoo, can you get me in to feed the capybaras?”

            

Qin Ziqiao had stepped forward without hesitation. “You want to sponsor a capybara?”

“Just talk to me.”

When Yi Yu actually arrived at the zoo, she felt highly skeptical.

            

She squinted at Qin Ziqiao, who was putting on her waterproof overalls. With her hime cut¹¹ and icy face, she looked like some chuunibyou kid going through a teenage phase.

If Qin Ziqiao was capable of handling this job, then Yi Yu highly doubted its intensity. She asked Qin Ziqiao, “If this work doesn’t keep me fully occupied, can I get a refund on the eight-hundred-yuan annual adoption fee?”

“Heh.” Qin Ziqiao gave a chilly laugh.

            

Yi Yu raised her eyebrows. Staring at Qin Ziqiao, she thought to herself, My, how does this kid manage to laugh while keeping her face completely expressionless? Truly a marvel.

By noon, Yi Yu finally understood the meaning behind those two chilly laughs.

Standing under the intensifying sun of late spring turning into early summer, cold sweat rolled down her forehead, and her blank stare practically screamed three questions: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?

            

In a voice as faint as gossamer, she asked Qin Ziqiao, “Hey… why does it eat so much grass?”

“It’s not that much,” Qin Ziqiao said, her face tranquil. “It’s feeling melancholy today, so its appetite is off.”

Yi Yu stared at the brown lump by her feet.

            

Melancholy? This brown furball? How on earth can you tell?

She looked at Qin Ziqiao’s slender arms and legs. “You do this every day? Aren’t you exhausted? Can your body even handle it?”

Leaning on her pitchfork, Qin Ziqiao replied with utmost seriousness, “Why wouldn’t I handle it? Starting from my mother, we’ve fed capybaras in this zoo. I’m a capy-second-generation¹².”

            

Yi Yu: “…”

“I need water.”

“No. The work isn’t finished yet.”

            

With another weak wave of her hand, Yi Yu rasped, “I’ll donate thirty thousand to your capybaras. Just let me have a sip of water, will you?”

Before long, the zoo indeed received a thirty-thousand-yuan donation earmarked for the capybara pavilion from Yi Yu.

As Yi Yu tilted her head back to gulp down an entire bottle of Wahaha pure water, Qin Ziqiao stole a glance at her.

            

This woman… is seriously loaded.

Why did she even come to feed capybaras? Is she really one of those more money than brains¹³ types?

Qin Ziqiao stood in place, the reality of the situation slowly dawning on her.

            

She peeled off her waterproof overalls, washed her hands, opened her locker, took out her phone, and with a solemn expression, typed out a message.

---

When Cheng Xiang finished work, she received a WeChat message from Tao Tianran: 【What are you doing tonight?】

With her legs hidden under her desk, Cheng Xiang softly stamped her feet in excitement. She walked over to the window and parted the blinds; sure enough, Tao Tianran’s Bentley was parked by the curb.

            

A colleague asked, “Xiangzi, are you leaving?”

“You guys go ahead.”

Cheng Xiang returned to her desk, swiveled halfway around in her chair, and held her phone, carefully typing: 【I have to work late tonight.】

            

Sigh, it’s not good to lie like this.

She deleted the line and retyped: 【Um, I’m a bit busy tonight.】

Tao Tianran replied: 【Don’t worry, I won’t go to your place. Even if you don’t know how, it doesn’t matter.】

            

…What is she even talking about!

Cheng Xiang steeled herself and replied: 【I can also not be busy.】

【But, um, when we meet, could you please not…】

            

Ah, such a romantic amateur¹⁴—just typing out the word ‘kiss’ made her face burn for ages.

Rubbing her ears, she finally forced herself to finish the sentence and sent it to Tao Tianran: 【Could you not kiss me?】

Tao Tianran sent a voice message, her laugh a soft, airy sound. “Why?”

            

Cheng Xiang didn’t turn on her speaker. She held the phone flush against her ear, the breathy chuckle sending a tickle through her. Standing up once more, she walked back to the window and quietly parted the blinds again.

Below the office building, countless office workers shuffled about like tiny ants. Standing by her car on the roadside, Tao Tianran had shrunk to a small speck as well.

Yet, she could still vaguely make out her head bent, seemingly looking at her phone.

            

Cheng Xiang let the blinds snap back and typed out an honest confession: 【Because I ate chive pockets today.】

【It wasn’t that I wanted to, but my mom made them and insisted I eat one.】

Even though she had only eaten them for breakfast, the more she thought about it, the more self-conscious she became!

            

Tao Tianran sent another voice message, brief and only lasting two seconds.

Cheng Xiang held it to her ear.

Tao Tianran’s breathy laugh was even softer this time, followed by a simple: “Oh.”

            

…What does ‘oh’ even mean?!

Cheng Xiang threw caution to the wind, slung her canvas bag over her shoulder, and rushed downstairs. Under the apricot-orange sunset, she ran toward Tao Tianran, who was waiting for her by the car. As she approached, her shyness caught up with her. She slowed her pace, brushed her bangs aside, and let out a nervous laugh. “Heheh.”

Tao Tianran looked at her.

            

The ends of her hair on the left side still curved outward, just as they had last night; even after a whole day, they refused to lie flat. Tao Tianran stepped forward and, using the warmth of her palm, gently smoothed them down.

Ah… Cheng Xiang’s face flushed red once more.

To change the subject, she asked, “You didn’t work late today?”

            

“Mm. The boss is out, so there’s no one watching me.”

Cheng Xiang curved her lips. “Like you need a boss to watch you. I don’t believe it.”

Tao Tianran smiled faintly with her.

            

“So, are we…”

“Going to eat?” Tao Tianran suggested.

“Eat?” Cheng Xiang said. “I’m not hungry.”

            

Shoot, Cheng Xiang, what are you saying? You sound like you don’t want to eat because you want to do… other things with Tao Tianran.

Right on cue, Cheng Xiang’s stomach—having only processed a single salad for lunch—let out a perfectly timed rumble.

It was incredibly loud! A girl walking past even turned her head to look!

            

Cheng Xiang immediately slapped a hand over her stomach, her canvas bag sliding down her arm to hang from the crook of her elbow.

Tao Tianran ducked her head, unable to hold back a genuine chuckle this time.

When she looked up, the twilight of late spring was reflected in her dark eyes. “Let’s go have Japanese food, all right?”

            

Japanese food? That’s so expensive.

Cheng Xiang proposed, “How about we get malatang? My treat.”

“I’ll buy Japanese this time, and you can buy malatang next time,” Tao Tianran said. “Consider it a celebration of us being together.”

            

Oh… ‘being together.’

Cheng Xiang couldn’t argue with that.

She followed Tao Tianran and climbed into the passenger seat of the Bentley. Tao Tianran merged into traffic with practiced ease, still driving with one hand.

            

“That’s pretty cool,” Cheng Xiang remarked.

“Mm?”

Cheng Xiang puckered her lips, gesturing toward the slender wrist resting on the steering wheel. “Why do you always drive with one hand?”

            

Yes, why?

Tao Tianran cast her mind back. It was probably because when she went to pick up the car back then, Cheng Xiang had accompanied her. On the way back, she had sat in the passenger seat, toes pointing inward as she pressed down on the paper floor mats. “Tao Tianran, are these papers supposed to be taken off?”

“Yeah.”

            

“Heheh.” Cheng Xiang had rubbed the tip of her nose. “They rustle so much when you step on them. It feels like stepping on fallen leaves.”

Tao Tianran had glanced over at her.

Cheng Xiang’s fingers were always so slender and soft, looking as though they were perpetually waiting for someone to hold them.

            

Tao Tianran had pursed her lips and hadn’t taken Cheng Xiang’s hand, yet the feeling had carved itself deep into her heart. From then on, she had habituated herself to driving with one hand, as if always ready to reach out and hold Cheng Xiang’s.

Now, she lightly rubbed her fingers together on her free hand resting at her side. “Oh, it’s just a habit.”

She still didn’t reach out to hold Cheng Xiang’s hand.

            

She would wait patiently until Cheng Xiang felt more relaxed.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Cheng Xiang looked exactly like a curious pet mouse. After scanning her surroundings, her eyes locked onto Tao Tianran’s rearview mirror. “I really think it looks too bare here. You don’t even have a 「safe travels」 car pendant hanging from it.”

“Do you want to give me one?” Tao Tianran asked.

            

“Huh?” Cheng Xiang blanked for a moment. “Oh, of—of course I can.”

Well, she certainly doesn’t stand on ceremony.

Cheng Xiang rubbed the tip of her nose and looked out the window, wanting to smile again.

            

Her calves swung gently back and forth. She felt a quiet flutter of delight at Tao Tianran’s forwardness.

Tao Tianran drove her to a Japanese restaurant. With its wabi-sabi facade and dry landscape courtyard, it screamed high-end at first glance.

A host was waiting at the entrance. “Welcome, Miss Tao.”

            

They were led to a private dining room. Cheng Xiang looked at the dark ebony door plaque, which was branded with a tiny crescent moon and bore the name 「Tsuki no Shizuku」.

Shoes had to be removed. Once they sat down, a server knelt to pour their tea.

Cheng Xiang sat on her calves, wiggling her toes slightly, feeling somewhat out of place.

            

The dishes were served one by one.

It was a formal kaiseki¹⁵ meal. The sakizuke¹⁶ was a seafood and seasonal vegetable vinegar gelee. The server introduced the course in a soft, low voice, explaining that it was paired with Hokkaido Hiiragi-style sea urchin, Matsuba crab leg meat, and octopus.

Wait, do they have to introduce every single dish like this? Doesn’t that mean she and Tao Tianran won’t actually be alone for the whole meal?

            

Cheng Xiang had no idea whether it was more polite to eat every scrap of a formal kaiseki meal or to leave a tiny bit behind.

Stealing a glance at Tao Tianran across from her, she saw that the other woman’s small plate was completely clean. She quickly followed suit and finished her portion.

Next came the hassun¹⁷: sea moss with elvers, accompanied by taro purée and sake-steamed New Zealand black gold abalone. It was at this moment that Tao Tianran spoke up. “Could you bring all the courses out at once?”

            

The server was visibly taken aback. Tao Tianran was clearly a regular here, and the server addressed her with familiar deference. “But Miss Tao, if we do that, the flavor of the dishes will suffer…”

“It’s fine,” Tao Tianran said flatly.

The server hesitated but said nothing more, bowing before making her exit.

            

After a brief wait, there was a gentle knock at the door. The server brought in the soup, sashimi, main dish, and all the remaining courses up to the kettle rice and dessert. Bowing, she said, “Please enjoy your meal.”

She withdrew and closed the sliding door behind her.

“There,” Tao Tianran said. “No one else will disturb us.”

            

The private room was relatively small and enclosed, decorated with a small hanging scroll depicting a monk walking under the moon. The lighting was a mellow, amber hue reminiscent of aged wine. When Tao Tianran spoke in her lowered voice, it seemed to carry a faint echo.

As a thick wave of intimacy drifted through the air, Cheng Xiang pinched her own earlobes. “But no one eats kaiseki this way.”

“No, they don’t.”

            

“She said it would ruin the flavor,” Cheng Xiang murmured.

“Do you mind?” Tao Tianran asked.

Cheng Xiang lowered her head and smiled.

            

“You don’t have to sit so rigidly.” Tao Tianran was the first to relax her posture, shifting into a casual seating position.

Cheng Xiang copied her movements, glancing at the ice cream on the table. “This one looks like it’s melon-flavored.”

“Probably.”

            

“Won’t the ice cream melt if it’s served so early?”

“Perhaps,” Tao Tianran paused slightly, “it’s waiting for you to eat it right now.”

Oh, Lord… that’s so seductive.

            

“But aren’t we supposed to eat in order?”

“There is no order,” Tao Tianran said. “Eat however makes you happy.”

Cheng Xiang curled her lips and pulled the ice cream toward herself.

            

Tao Tianran slid the other dish over to her as well.

“Aren’t you having any?”

“I’m not much for sweets.”

            

Cheng Xiang used a delicate silver spoon to scoop a tiny bit and popped it into her mouth, the refreshing sweetness melting instantly. She scooped another spoonful and held it out toward Tao Tianran. “Try some. It’s not too sweet. It’s really good.”

Tao Tianran leaned forward slightly. Her straight black hair slid along the side of her face, and she tucked it behind her ear with her slender fingers before parting her lips slightly.

The overhead light cast a delicate glint on her lips.

            

She took the ice cream, her lips glistening slightly as she swept her gaze upward to meet Cheng Xiang’s. “You said you ate chive pockets, so we couldn’t kiss. Now that you’ve had sweet ice cream, can we kiss?”

Cheng Xiang’s heart was itching with unbearable desire. To hell with the chive pockets!

Biting her lip, she stole a glance at the private room’s door. After ensuring no one would come in, she was just about to slide over to Tao Tianran’s side of the table when her phone suddenly buzzed.

            

“Hold on a second,” Cheng Xiang said to Tao Tianran.

She pulled it out to check. It was three consecutive WeChat messages from Qin Ziqiao:

【Babe, I’m the one who ran into a pig-butchering scam¹⁸, not you.】

            

【Get over here now. This is an emergency.】

Followed by a location pin.

Cheng Xiang was taken aback. She said to Tao Tianran, “I think we need to go somewhere.”

            

Tao Tianran knit her brows. “Now?”

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