As She Wished - Chapter 8

Fu Jing hesitated. “B-but I don’t dare…”

“Looks like you still have a little animal’s intuition.” Tao Xian gave her an idea. “How about this? Just say I asked you to pass on a message. Recently, the shop’s water, electricity, and internet have often had small problems, and we also need to prepare for the end-of-month event. I can’t handle it, so ask her to come over at least one day every week to help.”

Fu Jing answered excitedly, “Understood! I guarantee I’ll pass it on!”

After Tao Xian hung up, she could completely imagine the silly smile on Fu Jing’s face on the other end. She felt a little like watching the show, and a little emotional too.

What kind of person was Gu Qingci? She was not an ordinary iceberg. Only a silly, half-grown kid like Fu Jing would dare rush forward on pure enthusiasm. Pouring boiling water over frozen soil—she was afraid the water would freeze in the basin before it could even be poured down.

Now that she was fully awake, Tao Xian simply got up to make something to eat and fill her stomach.

As Tao Xian was cutting a sandwich, she heard her phone ring a few times. It was probably Fu Jing calling to complain to her after hitting a wall with Gu Qingci.

She removed the plastic wrap, wrapped the sandwich to hold its shape, poured cocoa milk into a glass, took an orange, and placed everything onto a wooden tray before carrying it to the wooden table in the living room.

While drinking milk, she casually glanced at the messages Fu Jing had sent.

She guessed that Gu Qingci probably would not be so harsh as to make someone cry, but she definitely would not be too polite either. This time should be enough to make Fu Jing clearly and thoroughly give up.

Tao Xian really could not imagine what kind of person Gu Qingci would like—if such a person truly existed, she would probably be so shocked that she would eat an orange along with its peel.

Fu Jing: [She said okay!]

Fu Jing: [She’ll come every Thursday from now on!]

Fu Jing: [But she’s only free at night, so she’ll come for about two hours…]

Tao Xian choked on a mouthful of milk, the liquid rushing into her nasal cavity. She coughed violently and immediately put down the glass, getting up to search everywhere for a napkin. She coughed until her face turned red and tears came out.

When she had almost recovered, she immediately grabbed her phone and confirmed the contents again.

What was going on? She had not been dazzled and read the words wrong…

Gu Qingci had actually agreed???

She had to hurry and check the almanac to see what kind of day today was…

—

Thursday finally arrived, and heavy rain poured down all day.

Fu Jing arrived at the bar early, worried that Gu Qingci might not come because the weather was bad.

It was a workday on top of heavy rain, so there were basically no customers.

Tao Xian went to the convenience store next door and bought two decks of playing cards. She took the lead in slacking off and played “Fishing for Kittens” with the people in the bar. It was a simple little game where they took turns laying down cards in a long row; if the card one added matched a previous card, one could collect the cards.

Fu Jing said, “Playing like this is a little boring. The ending is already fixed. We’re just flipping the cards over and over to observe the process. How about adding a little variation?”

“What variation? I don’t know how to play complicated card games.”

“Something simple.” Fu Jing’s tone was very casual. “When it’s your turn to play a card, you don’t need to put them down in order. You can draw any card you want. How about that?”

Everyone was indifferent. “Sure.”

A round began. After several rounds of laying down and collecting cards, an obvious difference appeared in the number of cards left by the four people. Fu Jing seemed extremely lucky. Whenever the row of cards became slightly long, she would directly collect the whole thing.

Then Tao Xian, who was next in order, could only put down the bottom card.

After several more rounds of playing and collecting,

most of the cards were in Fu Jing’s hands, and the others were eliminated one after another.

This round soon ended.

The group chatted noisily, idly cracked melon seeds, drank red wine, and continued playing cards.

Fu Jing bit a straw and drank orange juice. She played the cards in her hands carelessly, mainly focusing on listening to their gossip.

They started with strange and curious stories, then gradually began talking about the women Gu Qingci had rejected… There were company presidents and young models who had come here either for a romantic encounter or to look for a partner. Everyone had different methods and different mindsets, but only the ending was the same.

Every time Gu Qingci rejected someone, her words depended on the person. This time, she did not like mature women who worked; next time, she did not like young university girls. Her words were both direct and tactful.

Tao Xian continued, “Then one time, a hot young model pretended to be drunk and sat on Gu Qingci’s lap. You didn’t see it—her face instantly darkened. And then that young model thought she was wavering inside, so she tried to force a kiss on her—”

Fu Jing widened her eyes, listening so intently that she forgot to collect the cards. “…”

“In the end, she didn’t manage to kiss her.” Tao Xian laughed. “And Gu Qingci directly picked up a glass of wine and poured it over her head, saying she should sober up.”

Fu Jing immediately relaxed all over and began collecting cards again. “That’s exactly what she should’ve done! Luckily, there’s no hooliganism crime now, otherwise that woman would have to be locked up.”

She quickly collected all of their cards cleanly again.

Another round ended.

“…”

After three rounds, even the slowest person realized something was wrong.

Ye Xinyi thought of Fu Jing’s suggestion at the beginning and stared at her in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you memorized all your own cards? So you can draw whichever card you want, like you’re playing with the cards face-up?”

“…”

After being discovered, Fu Jing honestly nodded. “It isn’t difficult.”

“Damn, how is that not difficult?! You’ve been pricking up your ears and seriously listening to us gossip, yet you can still split your attention and memorize that many cards?!”

Fu Jing chuckled foolishly.

Tao Xian could not help shaking her head and sighing. “Little Fu Jing, you really are magical. Just when we all think you’re a fool, you suddenly reveal an extremely high IQ that ordinary mortals like us can’t reach.”

The corner of Fu Jing’s mouth twitched. She stared at them with a condemning gaze and questioned, “You actually thought I was a fool?!”

“She thought that.” Cheng Nannan quickly raised her hand and pointed at Tao Xian, saying with a smile, “She has a bad heart.”

“That’s right. Sister Anjiu has a bad heart.”

Everyone raised their hands in unison and pointed at Tao Xian, each of them wearing smiles full of excitement for the show.

“Looks like I’ve been too gentle lately.” Tao Xian’s eyelid twitched. She furrowed her brows and glared over. “Do you believe this old lady will break each of your fingers one by one?”

Ye Xinyi deliberately acted coy. “If you break them, tonight you can use your own fingers to satisfy me~”

Fu Jing laughed loudly.

“…”

“Fu Jing looks so pleased,” Cheng Nannan sighed. “A top student is even that amazing at playing cards.”

“No.” Fu Jing froze for a moment. “It’s just being good at Fishing for Kittens. What’s there to be pleased about?”

Ye Xinyi opened a pack of soda crackers and started eating, saying indistinctly, “This represents your powerful instant memory ability. You still can’t be proud of that?”

“It’s just having a slightly better memory. What’s there to be proud of?” Fu Jing shook her head seriously. “No matter how good your memory is, it can’t prove a theory. Even if you research some theories, you still can’t build a time machine. The people close to you will still leave forever. The person who loves you most still has no way to stay with you.”

“…”

After a pause of several seconds,

Fu Jing tugged the corners of her lips and concluded, “So what’s there to be proud of about having a good memory?”

Everyone fell silent.

Fu Jing lifted her eyes and belatedly realized that the atmosphere did not seem quite right.

Everyone looked at one another, then gazed at her, their faces full of expressions that seemed to want to say something but could not.

“Of course, I’m still very happy to casually crush all of you at cards.” Fu Jing quickly raised her lips in a smile, her eyes curving. “Do you want to play another card game? Anyway, as long as it’s related to memory or math, I guarantee I’ll win to the end!”

“That arrogant?” Tao Xian rubbed her chin and gave the others a look. “If we switch to another game, we can actually cooperate a little…”

Fu Jing was extremely calm. “I estimate that even if you lay your cards out and discuss together, you still might not be able to beat me.”

“Roar!” Ye Xinyi was unconvinced and was just about to properly explain another card game to her.

But then she saw Fu Jing suddenly stand and head toward the entrance.

—

As soon as Gu Qingci entered the bar, someone at the door held out an enormous bouquet of roses to her.

“For you.”

Caught off guard, she actually accepted it.

Her fair, delicate face was reflected against the bright red flowers. The coldness in her brows and eyes was softened a great deal by the vivid color. She was wearing a crisp black suit, holding a bouquet of gorgeous, dripping roses in one hand, and there was a kind of contrast all over her.

Aiya, aiya, a beauty holding flowers.

Fu Jing’s face carried an infatuated expression, her eyes bright.

“…”

After Gu Qingci reacted, she was somewhat speechless and tossed the bouquet back into Fu Jing’s arms.

Without saying a word, she walked straight inside.

“Why don’t you want them?” Fu Jing held the bouquet herself and chased after her, saying softly, “Do you not like roses? Then what flowers do you usually like?”

Tao Xian coughed and pretended to tidy up the cards. “Hurry and get to work. Think of a way to pull a few people over to play. However many you can bring in is how many.”

“You were playing cards just now?” Gu Qingci said casually.

“That didn’t count as playing cards,” Ye Xinyi rushed to answer. “We were being played by Fu Jing one-sidedly. Fu Jing is super amazing!”

“…”

Gu Qingci’s gaze turned to Fu Jing, looking somewhat surprised. “This little friend is even good at playing cards?”

Fu Jing thought that Gu Qingci very likely liked silly, sweet, innocent girls. She deleted and trimmed her words in her mind, and finally said in an uncertain tone, “I’m okay. Maybe just a little better than Sister Anjiu.”

She used her fingers to indicate a gap of a few millimeters.

She was as modest as could be, even revealing a shy smile belonging to an obedient elementary school student.

As if the arrogant person who had just crushed the whole room had never existed.

Tao Xian, who was drinking red wine, nearly choked. She could not help rolling her eyes and saying, “Don’t cue me.”