Chapter 27.1 - Special Appearance (1)
Luo Zhi sat down, placing her phone and wallet on the table, and politely nodded to the person across from her.
"Not watching the movie at four o'clock? Won't it be too late?" Xu Ri Qing's smile carried an obvious hint of provocation.
Luo Zhi smiled as well. "You don't actually think you're that clever, do you?"
"Why?"
"You managed to think of changing your phone number and sending a new message, and then, after I asked about the 4 o'clock movie, you calmly took a gamble, assuming I was trying to trick you. This shows that you figured out I already had doubts after receiving the anonymous message you sent in the morning, and I was also half-suspicious of the text you later sent pretending to be Sheng Huainan. You are indeed bold, and I was indeed tricking you. But what if I’m actually even more suspicious than you think? What if I just called Sheng Huainan directly and asked him? What would happen then? Or maybe when you were texting me, it was right before bed, when boyfriends and girlfriends are exchanging goodnight messages? Wouldn’t you be afraid that I was actually texting the real Sheng Huainan at that moment? If I told him about this and brought him here to the café today, wouldn’t you find that exciting? Come on, stop playing such childish tricks. If you’re going to pretend, at least pretend to be Zhang Mingrui, and make sure to inform him not to mess up." Luo Zhi slowly folded a napkin while deliberately avoiding eye contact with Xu Ri Qing.
The person across from her fell silent for a moment, then asked, "You know me, and you know Zhang Mingrui."
"Although my understanding of you might be just as full of misunderstandings as your understanding of me."
"Since you've analyzed this so clearly, why are you here?"
"People are naturally curious. Besides, you went to such lengths to get me to come out. You can dodge the first of the month, but not the fifteenth."
"Since you're curious, why didn't you reply to my message yesterday morning?"
"I'm curious, but I’m also quite reserved." Luo Zhi shook her head and interrupted her, "Beauty, get to the point."
"Are you Sheng Huainan's girlfriend?" Xu Ri Qing looked at her, and her gaze almost carried a trace of resentment.
"Huh? No."
"Then why did you say earlier..."
"What I meant earlier was that from your perspective, if you think we're a couple, then you should be more thorough and clever when you're lying."
"Why are you so sure I think you two are a couple?"
"Are you playing a game of 'Why' with me? If you don’t think that, then why did you bring me here today?"
Xu Ri Qing lowered her head, the sharpness she had at the beginning now completely disrupted by Luo Zhi’s words. Luo Zhi glanced at her phone, which had already dimmed, but said nothing.
"So, you mean, you're not Sheng Huainan's girlfriend?"
"That guy… He doesn’t make me feel secure. You never know what he’s thinking or whether he’s telling the truth. He looks all smiley, but he always gives me the creeps. I’m really not that familiar with him."
Luo Zhi looked out the window, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Xu Ri Qing take a deep breath when she heard this.
"Did Sheng Huainan mention me to you before?"
Luo Zhi nodded. Xu Ri Qing’s beautiful face, when examined closely, appeared quite haggard. Her foundation was thick, but from her seated position, Luo Zhi could still see her dark eye bags and pimples at the corners of her mouth. A few harsh words almost escaped Luo Zhi's mouth but were swallowed back.
"I once saw you two talking outside a supermarket. Later, Sheng Huainan said there had been some misunderstanding between you, him, and Zhang Mingrui, but thankfully it was cleared up afterward, or it would have been troublesome."
"Misunderstanding?!" Xu Ri Qing’s eyes narrowed.
Luo Zhi raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to speak.
But Xu Ri Qing didn’t say anything. She just lowered her head and bit at the dead skin on her lips.
"You brought me here to say something?" Luo Zhi glanced at her phone with some concern.
"Nothing."
"Then fine, if I were Sheng Huainan's girlfriend, what would you have wanted to say?"
Xu Ri Qing had regained her cold expression and sneered, "There’s no ‘if’ in this world."
"Indeed, there’s no 'if' in the world," Luo Zhi smiled, "But there are many 'buts.'"
Xu Ri Qing shook her head irritably and fell silent again. Luo Zhi suddenly felt impatient and wanted to leave immediately. She took a few long breaths, then calmly looked at Xu Ri Qing and said, "You don’t want to tell me that he actually likes you, do you?"
Xu Ri Qing didn’t get angry, her voice only slightly trembling, "So what if he does? You wouldn’t understand. Don’t ask me for proof."
Proof?
Luo Zhi suddenly thought of Agatha Christie’s book Endless Night.
Ellie was sitting on the floor playing her guitar, singing to herself, while the male lead watched her.
Ellie said, "You looked as if you loved me."
At that point, the story hadn’t yet revealed the male lead’s dark plot. Luo Zhi had always been fascinated by that not-so-complicated mystery novel. No one knew whether Ellie had known from the start that the man didn’t love her, but on that night, she said to her husband using the subjunctive mood, "You look at me as if you love me."
Ellie didn’t have any proof that her husband didn’t love her. In fact, every detail showed how meticulously he cared for her. But she just knew.
