MTMIO Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Not Just Hot, But Also Dry

They played until very late that day before finally calling it a night.

Back home, Lu You took her clothes to shower. Seeing the little giraffe hanging on the doorknob of her wardrobe, her hand paused.

The open wardrobe door had a mirror on the inside. Lu You glanced sideways. Her slightly lowered gaze landed right on her neck, and she subconsciously raised her hand to touch it.

She suddenly thought of her childhood. When she was seven or eight, before their family had moved from Wutong Courtyard to Lanwan Garden, before Lu Huai’an and Zhang Wenyin’s relationship had broken down.

The three of them went to the zoo. Lu Huai’an held her up high, her head level with Zhang Wenyin’s. So she reached out and planted a kiss on Zhang Wenyin’s cheek.

Behind them, in the wooden enclosure, two large giraffes stood back-to-back, heads raised high in opposite directions. The smaller one was right behind Lu You, tilting its head in confusion as it looked at her.

That scene was captured in a photo, developed, and tucked into an old photo album.

For a while, she would often take it out and stroke it, using it to recall that wonderful day, to sigh at how the giraffes in the background foreshadowed her family’s ending.

In earlier years, she often took the photo out to look at it. Lu You clearly remembered that Zhang Wenyin, caught off guard by her kiss, smiled so widely that her eyes crinkled, and teased, “Look at our Youyou’s neck, just like a giraffe.”

Later, longing turned into resentment in the long and hopeless wait. She stopped looking at it, stopped thinking about it.

Gradually, she also forgot about the giraffe “gag.”

Today, Chen Feifei suddenly mentioned it, and she unconsciously superimposed herself onto it.

Lu You thought, it couldn’t be considered narcissism.

The self-comforting effect wasn’t very strong. She didn’t know why, but the sentence “Yue Yunxi likes giraffes” kept flashing in her mind, even though this giraffe wasn’t that giraffe.

It wasn’t until she was lying back in bed, smelling fresh and clean, and scrolling through her phone, that this sentence was covered up by the fresh news in various apps.

Before going to sleep, Lu You routinely browsed through her Moments, her finger slowly swiping across the screen. Suddenly, she paused and swiped back twice.

“Investor” had posted a selfie of a young woman.

It took her a moment to realize that this was Lu Huai’an’s WeChat.

It looked like a photo taken casually while walking down a street at night. The brightness was limited, and the lights of the tall buildings on both sides of the street were diluted by layers of tree shadows, finally reflecting hazily on the woman’s smiling face.

The facial features, thinned out by the dim background, almost completely overlapped with the vague face in her memory in the instant Lu You blinked.

She didn’t know if he was still nostalgic for Zhang Wenyin.

Or if he simply liked this type of appearance.

The women around Lu Huai’an changed back and forth, but they all looked similar.

Lu You slowly exhaled. Suddenly remembering something, she clicked into Lu Huai’an’s Moments, her fingertip quickly sliding across the screen, stopping near the date last month when he had asked her to dinner.

There was also a woman’s selfie.

Although she also looked similar to Zhang Wenyin, she was clearly a different person from the one today.

Sure enough, not going last time was the right decision.

Lu You rolled her eyes in the darkness.

Her phone suddenly vibrated several times, causing her fingers to tingle slightly.

Several new message notifications popped up.

Lu You clicked in and saw that they were from Tao Xin’s former bandmates.

This person had the best relationship with Tao Xin and was quite straightforward. They started by asking how she was doing, and then, without beating around the bush, said they knew she and Tao Xin had broken up.

The last part was: 【Actually, you can’t entirely blame Taozi for this. That Chu Xiao came prepared, approached her with a plan, deliberately seduced Taozi, and intentionally destroyed other people’s relationships. If you break up with Taozi just like that, you’ll be falling right into her trap.】

Lu You felt like laughing a little.

When something happened, they blamed it all on the mistress’s seduction, as if the cheater was completely without fault?

Not to mention that Chu Xiao was the one being “threesome-d.”

If one’s mind was upright, no matter how others tempted them, they wouldn’t be hooked into cheating, right?

She didn’t send these words to the other person.

Her friendship with these people was entirely based on Tao Xin’s connections, and these people were all biased towards their own. No matter how reasonable and well-founded she was, they would all try to excuse Tao Xin’s behavior and persuade her to get back together.

Going back and forth like that, she didn’t know how long it would take to sort things out.

Especially since she was only one person, and they were four.

Just thinking about it was tiring.

She set the message notifications from those people to “Do Not Disturb,” and Lu You clicked back into her Moments, the interface spinning for a few seconds before refreshing with new updates.

Jian Yanzhi posted a photo of seven shadows, seemingly taken when they came out of the doll store. Zhong Mi, hugging two large bags of dolls, looked like a King Kong Barbie.

Yun Zhu posted nine photos, of eating, drinking, and playing.

Zhong Mi spread all the dolls out on the floor, lay on her back in the pile of dolls, took a photo, and posted it on Moments: 【All caught for me by my sisters~ Hehehehehe~ The first one I caught was taken away by Mom [Disdain]】

In Chen Feifei’s selfie, a hand wearing shark five-finger gloves made a throat-slitting gesture: 【From today on, I’m a shark assassin!】

Li Can posted a GIF of an ostrich running, accompanied by three smiley faces: 【Even if you beat everyone on my list to death, I will never wear high heels to run again!】

The corners of Lu You’s mouth rose higher and higher. She saved Jian Yanzhi’s shadow photo and liked their posts in turn.

As if she was running too fast to stop, she also liked Yue Yunxi’s post below.

But when she focused to see what Yue Yunxi had posted, the arc of her lips froze.

The photo was taken in front of a mirror. She could see Yue Yunxi’s slender hand holding her phone, and the other hand holding the little deer plushie she had given her.

The fluffy little deer sat so softly on Yue Yunxi’s lap, its face buried in her chest.

Below, one of her shapely, slender legs was bent, the other extended straight onto the carpet. The lines were smooth and beautiful, her ankles were delicate, and looking down, she was wearing the shoes she had given her.

The wine-red nail polish, the dried rose on the shoe, all set off her fair skin, revealing a hint of coolness, highlighting the slightly protruding tendons, giving off a sense of forbidden sensuality.

She wrote: 【I like it very much.】

Lu You blinked twice, and, as if possessed, she cancelled the like she had just pressed.

The next second, a message from Yue Yunxi popped up at the top of the screen: 【Not asleep yet?】

Feeling guilty, she pressed the like button again.

After a gap of no more than two or three seconds, another message popped up.

Yue Yunxi: 【?】

It was unclear whether she was asking again with a question mark because she saw that she had liked and then unliked and not replied to her message in Moments.

Or whether she was asking why she had liked and then unliked, and then liked again.

Whether it was the former or the latter, it seemed to revolve around her inexplicable behavior.

Lu You clicked into a little time-killing game, wanting to pretend she didn’t see it and not reply.

But the notification messages of others liking the post kept appearing, and a WeChat notification would pop up at the top of the screen from time to time. She always thought it was Yue Yunxi who had sent something again, and couldn’t help but click in to see.

The interface remained on Yue Yunxi’s chat box.

She saw that one question mark, hanging in her view like an upside-down fishhook.

She didn’t know how many notifications there had been. Lu You was so sleepy that she could hardly keep her eyes open, but she couldn’t help but click in.

After hesitating for a moment, she replied: 【,】

Yue Yunxi didn’t reply to her, and the notification messages of others liking the post also disappeared.

Her phone was as quiet as a brick. Lu You slowly closed her eyes.

In her last hazy vision, the comma with its tail gradually merged with the black dot under the question mark…

Lu You inappropriately thought of a sentence, but she was too sleepy, and that sentence was like a fleeting shadow, gone in an instant.

Perhaps it was because the day had been too full from morning to night, and the escape room game was too exciting, that she had nightmares all night.

She dreamed that Lu Huai’an dragged a face-changing master in front of her, who waved his hand and changed faces with each wave. She complained that they all looked the same, and asked if he could come up with something new, and then the other person turned into a zombie;

She dreamed of being chased by zombies and racing with ostriches;

She dreamed that Yue Yunxi was swinging her slender white legs on the back of an ostrich, telling her to run faster. The slipper she had given her was on that foot, swaying and dangling, as if it was about to fall off.

When she had the second dream, Lu You just felt a little hot. She groggily got up and turned down the air conditioner by two degrees.

The last dream made her break out in sweat. Not only was she hot, but she was also dry. She fumbled for the remote and turned it down another three degrees.

She tossed and turned between hot and cold for half the night, and then slept for seven or eight hours in an air-conditioned room at 19 degrees. It was impossible not to catch a cold.

On Thursday, Lu You’s cold developed to its most miserable stage. Her nose felt like it was plastered with cement, and not a single breath could get through. The area around her nostrils and philtrum was so dry that it would sting with pain if it touched water. Her left eye was red and swollen, and tears kept flowing uncontrollably.

She had no energy at all. She put Grandma’s medical report in her cloth bag, feeling like a wet towel that had been soaked in water, her strength always pulling downwards.

While she was standing still, a hand reached over, and fingers marked by time held out a cup of steaming water.

Lu You took it. Grandma then handed her some medicine.

“Take your medicine.” Watching her finish the medicine, Grandma took the cup and put it on the coffee table, saying, “Just stay home and rest. Let Xiaoliu take me for the checkup.”

“I’m fine.”

Before she finished speaking, Lu You felt her nose itch. She quickly grabbed a tissue and held it in front of her mouth and nose, turning her head and sneezing four times.

Grandma handed her a few more tissues, “You still say you’re fine? Xiaoliu’s with me. What are you worried about?”

Lu You calmed down and explained, “There are too many smart machines in the hospital now. You might not be able to figure them out.”

“If we don’t know how, we can ask. It’s not like we don’t have mouths.” Grandma gave Auntie Liu a look, saying, “Right? Xiaoliu!”

Auntie Liu nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes, we can ask. These aren’t problems. Don’t worry about the checkup either. I’ll send you the results as soon as they come out.”

Seeing that she still looked hesitant, Grandma deliberately put on a serious expression and grumbled, “Don’t end up having no problems with the checkup, and you give me your cold. I still want to go out and play.”

Amused by the old woman’s childlike manner, Lu You smiled and had to agree, “Okay, then. Be sure to call me if anything happens.”

Handing the packed bag to Auntie Liu, Lu You gave another anxious reminder.

“Alright, Xiaoliu has a good head on her shoulders. Just relax and go get some rest.” Grandma sighed with worry, shaking her head and saying, “Oh, your physical condition…”

“Okay, okay. After I take you on your trip, I’ll get a gym membership and exercise whenever I have time.” Lu You said as she called a car for them, sending them out the door.

After they went out, Grandma glanced at the Tao family’s house next door, remembering and saying, “You can also go for a morning run with your Yunxi-jie, don’t you have that WeChat? When she’s staying in Lanwan, have her tell you, and then you can go for a run together in the morning. After you’re done running, Xiaoliu and I will have just finished walking the dog, and we can come back together. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Lu You was stunned and asked, “Do you often run into each other like this? She goes for a morning run, you walk the dog, and then you come back together?”

“Yes.” Grandma said, “As long as she’s staying in Lanwan, we’re sure to run into each other. Her morning run time is the same as our dog-walking time.”

“Just so?”

Lu You nodded slightly, feeling a subtle sensation.

But her head, heavy with a cold, was muddled, as if it were filled with hemp ropes, pull one, and it’s a mess.

After watching Grandma and Auntie Liu get into the car, Lu You dragged her tired body back into the house, sat down on the sofa, turned on the WeChat notification sound, randomly picked a variety show to pass the time, waiting for Xiaoliu’s message.

The hospital wasn’t far from home.

After more than ten minutes, the phone rang “ding-ling-ling”. She quickly picked it up to look. Auntie Liu had sent three voice messages.

“We’ve arrived at the hospital safely. It’s alright today, not too crowded.”

“You have to check in on the machine. A little nurse helped us with it. Now we’re waiting for the doctor to call our number.”

“We ran into Teacher Yue. She said she would accompany Grandma for the checkup. Teacher Yue is so reliable, we can be more at ease.”

Lu You was stunned for a moment.

Teacher Yue?

Yue Yunxi?

Lu You unconsciously frowned, pressed the send button, and asked, “Why is she at the hospital too?”

Two minutes later, Auntie Liu sent a voice message that lasted a minute.

“She is–” Her voice receded as if Auntie Liu turned her head to ask, “Teacher Yue, why are you at the hospital?”

“To get some medicine.” Yue Yunxi’s voice sounded a little ethereal from a distance.

“Oh, Teacher Yue said she’s here to get medicine.”

Lu You closed her eyes, thinking, I can hear you.

There was a gap of two or three seconds. Lu You picked up a cup from the coffee table to drink water, and heard Yue Yunxi’s voice come out of the receiver again, “Are you sending a voice message to Youyou?”

Auntie Liu responded, “Eh, she’s worried about you.”

It was concern, that’s right.

But conveyed through someone else, the meaning was a little distorted.

Her throat itched, and she choked a little, immediately erupting into a storm of coughing. Lu You’s face turned red from coughing.

It took her a while to recover. She didn’t ask Auntie Liu about Yue Yunxi anymore, but individually clicked into Yue Yunxi’s chat box, seeing the up-and-down question mark and comma.

She didn’t want to send anything at all.

Until Yue Yunxi took the initiative to poke her, sending her the checkup report and telling her that the doctor said the old woman was recovering very well, but she still had to pay more attention to her diet and emotions, and she could go out on a trip to cultivate her mind.

Lu You typed the words “Thank you” in the input box, paused, and then cleared them all, only replying: 【Okay】

After a while, she added: 【I’ll treat you to a meal sometime】

As she drank water, Yue Yunxi sent a reply: 【Okay.】

The two words entered her eyes. The water, placed at a suitable temperature, seeped into her lips, slowly flowing through her itchy throat.

It was really strange, she politely said thank you, and she told her not to be so polite all the time.

She politely invited her to a meal, and she didn’t say those words.

Could it be that Yunxi-jie was a foodie?

Lu You was amused by her thought, which contrasted with Yue Yunxi’s gentle feeling.

As she laughed, a voice message popped up on the left.

Yue Yunxi: “Don’t forget to tell Lizi.”

Lu You replied: 【Okay, [Scratching Head.jpg] Almost forgot.】

After replying, Lu You immediately switched to Li Can’s chat window, telling her that Grandma’s checkup was fine.

After the two discussed the trip, a message notification from Yue Yunxi popped up on the screen, a voice message.

Just as she was about to click to listen, the Bichon at home suddenly got up from its doghouse, raised its little head, stared at the door for a while, and wagged its tail as it ran over.

Then the doorbell rang.

Thinking it was Grandma and the others back, Lu You got up to open the door.

Outside, Tao Xin was holding the Bichon doll that she had returned. Seeing her open the door, her shoulder line slowly slumped down.

Before she could completely relax, the door “slammed” shut again.

Tao Xin stubbornly continued to ring the doorbell.

Lu You’s ears hurt from the noise.

The discomfort from the cold made her mood very bad. When she opened the door, she couldn’t control herself and rolled her eyes, “You’re already twenty-six, can you not be so childish?”

Tao Xin’s body swayed slightly, her eyes instantly filled with mist, biting her lower lip tightly, she hugged the puppy doll after she switched hands.

Only then did Lu You notice that there was a shocking scratch on the back of that hand, remembering what Tao Xin’s assistant had said a few days ago about Tao Xin almost being hit.

She suddenly felt a little sorry.

She took a long breath, her attitude softening slightly, “What are you here to do?”

Tao Xin’s tears fell in large drops, and she said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

“No need to say sorry, I won’t forgive you.”

Tao Xin’s eyelashes trembled, and the little light that had just lit up inside dimmed in an instant.

“Is there anything else?” Lu You asked patiently.

Tao Xin bit her lip and said, “I’m a little thirsty, can I come in for a glass of water?”

Lu You glanced at the house next door.

Tao Xin said without blinking, “They’re not home, they locked the door, and I don’t have the key.”

Lu You had no choice but to step aside and let her into the house.

Entering the living room, Lu You took out a paper cup, poured a glass of water from the water jug, and handed it to Tao Xin.

Then she went to the kitchen, filled the kettle with water and turned it on, saying to Tao Xin without turning her head, “Drink it and go back.”

“Where do you want me to go back to?”

Lu You chuckled, “Aren’t you participating in a show? You come back every few days, doesn’t your manager say anything?”

“How do you know I’m participating in a show.” Tao Xin took small sips of water.

That question was quite ambiguous.

If it were before, Lu You might have been touched, but now she just felt a little speechless.

“Yunxi-jie said it last time.”

Mentioning Yue Yunxi, Lu You remembered the voice message she hadn’t had time to listen to yet. Worried that something might have happened to Grandma, she quickly took out her phone and clicked to listen.

Yue Yunxi’s soft voice came straight out of the speaker in a winding manner.

“Hmm~ Memory’s not bad?”

Containing obvious teasing.

How timely, she had forgotten about this voice message.

Playing it at such an awkward time.

The atmosphere was steamed and strange in the sound of the kettle working. Lu You lowered her eyes and swallowed, feeling the heavy-headedness of the cold even more.

Tao Xin’s face changed, and the hands hanging by her side clenched tightly, her nails sinking deeply into her palms. She suddenly “heh” laughed, not knowing how many lemons she had swallowed, and said, “Your relationship with my sister is already this good?”

Not wanting to bring up the ambiguous and intimate teasing just now, she paused and said, “I even report my show to you.”

Lu You frowned.

It was clearly that time when the three of them were stuck in front of the car that Yue Yunxi mentioned this matter, and Tao Xin herself was there. She had only heard it casually.

Now it sounded as if she and Yue Yunxi were already so close that they had started talking about each other’s family matters.

She didn’t like this tone very much. Lu You didn’t explain much, but asked faintly, “Can’t I?”

The sound of the kettle working grew louder and louder, reaching the critical temperature, the water inside bubbling and surging. The sound of the door opening also came from the living room.

Footsteps mixed with talking. Grandma greeted, “Yunxi, come in and sit for a while.”

Auntie Liu said, “It feels like the weather is going to change, I’d better take all the clothes back first.”

Grandma was in a hurry to go to the toilet, and asked Yue Yunxi to see if Lu You was in the kitchen.

From the glass of the kitchen door, she caught a glimpse of Yue Yunxi’s figure getting closer and closer. Tao Xin blinked her tear-stained eyelashes, turned her gaze back to Lu You, and, following Lu You’s lowered long eyelashes, landed on the kettle opposite.

Steam rose from the small spout.

With a “clatter,” the water boiled.

Tao Xin’s low, hoarse voice fell along with it:

“After breaking up with me, you immediately became so close to my sister, heh, anyone who didn’t know better would think the two of you were getting together.”

At the kitchen door, Yue Yunxi’s footsteps paused, and she stopped there, her eyes falling on the thin figure in front of the island through the glass.

The white steam swirled and lingered in front of Lu You, blurring the expression on her face.

Making it impossible to see any outward emotion.

She could only hear a nonchalant “Mm.”