Night Tide-Chap21

Paipai chattered all the way, sharing her experiences and also discussing the little math genius. She went out once and found out that he wasn’t all that great; he didn’t remember to ask the girls around him if they wanted some chips when he was eating. The English prodigy was a bit better, using his pocket money to buy her an ice cream.

They lived on different floors, calling each other at night.

“But I won’t have a romantic relationship at this age.” Paipai declared.

“If there’s mutual affection, why not try to enjoy the romance?” Xiang Wan, sitting in the passenger seat, turned slightly to ask her.

What the devil does mutual affection mean… Paipai looked uncomfortable, but still responded, “I’m too young, it’s not suitable.”

“Not young,” Xiang Wan shook her head, “At ten, you can be engaged.”

Paipai started to cough violently, while Chao Xin also pumped the brakes.

Xiang Wan glanced at Chao Xin before she continued to elegantly gaze at the scenery outside.

Unable to hold back, Paipai leaned onto the back of Chao Xin’s seat and whispered in her ear, “Auntie, Miss Xiang seems like she’s from some village.”

Her voice was very soft, but Xiang Wan still heard it, calmly looking at her.

“Don’t talk nonsense.” Chao Xin replied quietly.

“Really, at ten, you can only be a child bride in a village.”

Chao Xin cleared her throat, indicating her to stop talking.

But Xiang Wan seemed to be encouraged, sitting upright, “Not a child bride. After a proper engagement, you are promised to a family. You then live at your own home for a few years, serving your parents with filial piety. You could get married as young as fourteen or fifteen, or as old as seventeen or eighteen.”

“Stop talking,” Paipai’s restless little hands were embarrassed, “You might get arrested.”

“I…”

Chao Xin cleared her throat again, “Maybe, customs are different.”

“They are different.” Xiang Wan pondered.

“But don’t say these things in front of others in the future.”

“What about you, Ms. Chao?” Xiang Wan asked.

“What do I…?”

“Ms. Chao, what do you think is the right age to fall in love?”

Paipai perked up her ears.

Chao Xin laughed, “When you meet the right person, it’s the right time.” After saying this, she gave the steering wheel a squeeze.

Paipai looked from Chao Xin to Xiang Wan, and then slumped back, saying, “Anyway, thirties and twenties don’t seem very suitable.”

Chao Xin’s cool gaze softened, while Xiang Wan turned her head curiously to ask her, “Why do you say that?”

Paipai wiggled her small index finger back and forth between herself and Chao Xin, and between herself and Xiang Wan. Tilting her head so her ear almost touched her shoulder, she said, “If you think it’s suitable for you to be with someone that much older, then by that logic, we would be very suitable too.”

“20 minus 10 equals 10, 33 minus 20 equals 13.”

She said.

“13 is greater than 10.”

She added.

A subtle commotion filled the air in front of them. Chao Xin hid a smile behind her lips, while Xiang Wan frowned her eyebrows as she said, “When did I say that it was the three of us?”

“I’m just making an analogy,” Paipai said in her small raspy voice.

There’s no one else here, she was just doing a simple calculation.

Chao Xin broke the silence, “You’re underage.”

“Huh?”

“So you’re not suitable for anyone.”

Paipai furrowed her small eyebrows and puffed up like a pufferfish, “Then who are you suitable for? Why don’t you find someone? Do you know that Zhou Ziqi and I have been calling for four days? He even treated me to ice cream, do you know that? It was rum-flavored. Qiu Shanshan wanted some, and he didn’t give her any. You’re the most suitable one here, so when are you going to find me an uncle?”

Who was she looking down on? She was not happy.

Chao Xin was shaking with laughter, and Xiang Wan couldn’t help but chuckle too. Chao Xin said, “I’m sorry, you’re incredible.”

“Hmph.”

Paipai was angry all the way home and ignored her until Chao Xin tidied up and started cooking with Xiang Wan. It was only then that Paipai came in to take a look around. When she saw the meat that had been minced, her eyes lit up. She casually leaned over and asked Xiang Wan, “Miss Xiang, what’s this for?”

“I don’t know, I can’t cook.” Xiang Wan shook her head.

Paipai winked at her, signaling her to ask Chao Xin.

“You can ask her yourself.”

“We’re in a cold war.” Paipai pouted, “If some adults don’t coax children, children won’t forgive them.”

Chao Xin was washing vegetables with her head down, “Then if the wax gourd meatball soup wants the child to have a taste, will the child oblige?”

“Hmm…” Paipai pretended to think about it, but her tail was already wagging. In a childish voice, she said, “The child thinks that the tomato meatball soup tastes better, with a hint of sour and salty.”

Chao Xin nodded, “Hmm, it’s good that your Miss Xiang also likes tomato meatball soup.”

After saying this, she went to the refrigerator to get tomatoes.

However, the phrase ‘your Miss Xiang’ was very subtle. It made Xiang Wan pause for a moment, not just because Chao Xin’s memory of it was so vivid, but also due to Chao Xin’s thinly veiled amusement in using a different way of addressing her.

Forms of address are peculiar things. The most ambiguous is ‘you’, and the most ambiguous is also ‘her.’

But occasionally, the most ambiguous is to bypass ‘you and me’, using the third person to refer to each other from a distance.

You both know very well that your relationship is closer, but bringing in a third person adds a layer of cover that seems to hide more than it reveals.

Xiang Wan took the icy tomato from her hands, “Let me do it, I’ll cut it.”

“Be careful,” Chao Xin handed her the knife, “The tomato is soft, it’s hard to hold, last time when you cut it, I was very worried.”

Xiang Wan pursed her lips, steadying the tomato with her bare hand. As she sliced down, juice oozed out, the fruit turning soft and tricky to handle.

She asked softly, “Were you watching me the whole time last time?”

She didn’t use ‘Ms. Chao’ this time but the more personal ‘you’.

“Mmm, I was afraid you wouldn’t know how to cut it.” Chao Xin continued watching her movements, “Stop talking now, concentrate, be careful with your hand.”

Their hushed conversation, set against the backdrop of the setting sun, felt like whispered sweet nothings.

Paipai couldn’t stand it anymore, she yelled out loud.

“?” Chao Xin turned her head.

“I think you two are so mushy…” She muttered a complaint with her brows furrowed.

“You can’t suddenly yell when someone is cutting something, Chao Bei.” Chao Xin said her full name, leaning back against the countertop with both hands, seriously telling her.

Paipai was most afraid of her in this state, she immediately backed down, like a little quail, hanging her hands and saying, “I won’t yell anymore.”

“So, you admit that you two are mushy?” She asked, aggrieved.

Chao Xin chuckled, teasing her, “I won’t deny it.”

Paipai gave a mournful cry, pretending to cry as she left. She felt that everything had changed, that there were earth-shattering changes in the house.

She was no longer the most important woman in Chao Xin’s life. Chao Xin had even ruthlessly taught her a lesson because of Xiang Wan, and shamelessly admitted that they were mushy.

“Chao Xin, you’re so mean.” She didn’t dare to speak up until she had turned the corner, then said with a sob in her voice.

She had only been gone for twenty days!

Listening to the noise outside, Xiang Wan’s eyes crinkled with amusement.

By the time the food was served and they had taken a few bites, Paipai was okay again, continuing to share fun stories from summer camp. The two adults attentively listened to her explaining the value of the pennant she had won. They sat at the dinner table until nearly eight, and Paipai felt very comfortable, especially with Xiang Wan’s curiosity, always asking this and that. Paipai enjoyed playing the explainer, and quickly thought that Xiang Wan moving in was a good arrangement.

She felt a bit closer to Miss Xiang.

After washing the dishes, the three of them sat on the couch to watch TV.

“I found ‘The Last Emperor’ that you wanted to watch last time.” Chao Xin, sitting on Paipai’s left, passed the remote control to Xiang Wan on Paipai’s right.

Paipai intercepted it.

“Let’s watch ‘The Penniless Sisters’,” Paipai said.

“‘The Last Emperor’.”

“‘Detective Peggie’.”

Chao Xin didn’t respond, she pressed the play button, and ‘The Last Emperor’ began.

Paipai sat in the middle, her lips trembling, feeling as if she had been battered and bruised. She thought she shouldn’t have come back. Due to jet lag, she was still feeling dizzy, only maintaining her composure by sheer willpower.

With Paipai sitting upright, the two adults lay on the couch, tilting their heads back to chat with each other behind Paipai.

“Do you have plans the day after tomorrow?” Chao Xin asked.

“No.”

“Then come with us to the amusement park.”

Us? Paipai’s antennae quivered at that.

“Let Paipai rest and adjust her jet lag tomorrow, I’ll book the tickets for the day after tomorrow.” Chao Xin continued.

“Alright,” Xiang Wan smiled.

Paipai also leaned back, nestled between the two, contentedly holding Chao Xin’s hand, “I’m a bit touched.”

“You two watch ‘The Last Emperor’, I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.”

Paipai sprang up energetically, her head not feeling so dizzy anymore.