Li Li frowned. “I know her hand is hurt, but that’s no excuse for bumping into someone without so much as an apology! She’s always had this stubbornly pigheaded temperament — she’s been like this since childhood, it’s completely insufferable!”
Su Man bit her lower lip and stared daggers at him!
Yet Li Li didn’t look at her. He turned to the girl beside him and fussed over her one sentence after another:
“Is your foot alright? Can you walk in a bit? If you can’t, tell me — don’t push through it, alright?”
“…It does hurt a little.” The girl lowered her head meekly and gave a soft sigh. “I can only walk slowly… Ah, if only where I’m staying were a bit closer.”
“Let me take you back later,” Li Li said. “Tomorrow I’ll help you apply for a new room — where you’re staying really is too far; it’s inconvenient going back and forth to headquarters.”
“Oh Li Li, you’re so good to me…”
“It’s nothing, just a small thing.”
Su Man watched the two of them go back and forth, her eyes reddening by degrees, biting her lip in silence.
She abruptly stood up and said woodenly, “I’m going to the restroom.”
Zhu Shu watched her, hesitated for a moment, and then also rose to her feet.
“You’re going to the restroom too?” Lu Ang mumbled through a mouthful of meat. “You women are so much trouble — can’t even use the bathroom without holding hands…”
Zhu Shu laughed awkwardly.
She hurried off in the direction Su Man had gone.
In fact, Su Man hadn’t gone to the restroom at all — her tears were on the verge of falling, and she’d simply needed somewhere without people to just sit quietly. She hadn’t expected to hear footsteps behind her; she wiped her eyes and turned around. It was Zhu Shu.
“What are you here for?” Su Man said irritably.
Zhu Shu didn’t come close. She stopped about ten paces away, paused for two seconds, then said, “I saw — you didn’t bump into her. I didn’t say anything just now because… Li Li probably wouldn’t believe me.”
“I know.” Su Man bit her lip, her eyes drifting back toward the banquet. “He’d definitely say, ‘Zhu Shu, you don’t have to speak up for her,’ or ‘it’s not the first time she’s stirred up trouble’…”
Zhu Shu smiled. “Su Man, you really know him so well — you even got his inflection right!”
“Of course — we grew up together!” Su Man smiled too, with a tiny flash of pride, “I even know what pattern was on his split trousers when he was little!”
Then the smile faded from her face as quickly as it had appeared. She murmured, “We used to get along so well. I’m not sure when it all started going wrong — now every time we see each other, it’s nothing but fighting…”
“Come on.” Zhu Shu moved closer and tentatively took her by the arm. “Li Li acts the way he does with you *because* you’re so close — he doesn’t guard his words around you. Don’t take it to heart.”
Su Man thought about it and felt her dramatic exit was rather over the top. She exhaled slowly. “Let’s go back.”
The two of them returned to their seats.
As they passed the seat of the young girl named Xiao Qian, Zhu Shu gave Su Man’s arm a gentle tug.
Su Man blinked, confused.
She watched as Zhu Shu plucked a single long broken hair from her shoulder — and then winked at her.
Su Man was completely baffled — and then she saw Zhu Shu’s expression change in an instant!
Features suddenly taut!
Eyes instantly brimming with tears!
With a light flick of her fingers, the hair landed on the back of the young girl’s neck — and simultaneously, Zhu Shu let out a stifled, trembling shriek:
“Ah! A spider just dropped down!”
“AHHHHH——”
The girl screamed! She shoved the table violently and leaped to her feet! Stomping her foot, clawing at her back!
“A spider! A spider!” She wailed. “Get it off me!! GET IT OFF!!”
Li Li scrambled to his feet in a panic: “Where? Where’s the spider?!”
“Ah… I’m sorry, I think I must have seen wrong…” Zhu Shu said in a small voice, eyes still glistening with unshed tears. “I hope I didn’t frighten you? But your foot seems fine now? I’m so glad… I was just worrying — jumping and stomping around like that, would the injury get worse?”
—