I Am The Third Party (GL) - Chapter 13

I gently unfastened the box’s small clasp and carefully opened the lid.

The carved mirror on the lid reflected my pale face. Beneath it, nestled within the champagne-colored lining, lay a folded, pure white ribbon.

“What’s this?” Xiaoli flicked the ribbon with her index finger. “A ribbon? What’s it for? Such a nice jewelry box, and you’re using it to store a useless, tattered ribbon? What a waste.”

“Hey, Xianxian, are you going to use this? You don’t have much jewelry anyway, so give me this box.” Xiaoli reached out to snatch the jewelry box from my hand.

“Wait.” I quickly snatched the white ribbon from the box and shoved it into my pocket, waving at her. “I’ll keep this, you can take the box.”

Xiaoli smacked her lips and gave me a look of disbelief. “You’re so stupid! You don’t want something valuable, you want something useless.”

She didn’t want something valuable, you want something useless.

I struggled to pull the corners of my mouth together, my body slumping against her. “Let’s go back.”

At the corner of the Art Center’s main entrance, Xiaoli exclaimed, pointing to the exhibition sign by the door. “Look, that’s Yan Sinan on the poster, the designer for this fashion show. So she looks like this, a true classic beauty.”

I glanced at the poster. Quietly, amidst a cluster of white camellias, sat a small, delicate-faced girl with bangs. She wore a white cheongsam embroidered with red plum blossoms, a pale red chiffon shawl draped over her shoulders. Her lips were slightly pursed, her cheeks rosy.

Xiaoli sighed, “She’s so talented, so young, to hold her own fashion show. She’s got both good looks and talent. This kind of docile type is a man’s dream.”

I chuckled inwardly. A man’s dream?

Perhaps it’s more a woman’s dream.

The weather changes so quickly. It was sunny this morning, but now it’s overcast.

I looked up. “It’s going to change.”

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Dragging my tired body open, I walked to the dining room, pulled out a chair, and sat down. I picked up the sticky note I wrote that morning and stared at it for a long time. I was lost in thought. When I woke up, it was 7:30, and half an hour had passed. I wasn’t hungry, but my mouth felt dry.

I wanted to taste something, so I ate the sandwich I made this morning. It had been sitting out all day and was very cold. But my hands were cold, my stomach was cold, and what I ate was cold. It was all cold, so it didn’t matter. 

I cleared the table of leftovers and sat for a while. Seeing that it was almost 9 o’clock, I got up and took the fur coat given by the chairman, a gift from me, to find a dry cleaner to clean it. I specifically asked the laundry owner to be careful not to damage the coat. 

The boss said yes with a lot of words, revealing a pair of black teeth, “Oh, I know, I can tell that the wool material of your coat is very expensive. How dare we be careless? We can’t afford to pay for it if we break it!” I choked and touched the coat with trembling hands, “Can you tell that this coat is expensive?” The boss snorted and stroked the fur of the coat like a puppy, “Of course! Otherwise, you will spend a lot of money to buy mink fur?” Holy sh1t! I almost jumped up. “Mink?” The boss looked at me like I was crazy. “Little girl, don’t underestimate me.

We work in the laundry business, so how can we not know the ins and outs of this material? Ha! Look, you haven’t even taken off the tag yet. SAGA, the crown-grade mark of Nordic origin.”

“Uncle, how much can I make if I sell this to you?” The boss glared at me. “Little girl, you’d better pay me the dry cleaning fee. I’ll wash the best for you. Sell it to me? I can’t afford it.” “No, no, no, please don’t wash the most expensive one for me. The cheapest one is the best!” “Girl, you wash such expensive clothes for the cheapest one?” I laughed timidly.

“I just bought mink and I’m short of money.” The boss snorted and walked in with the clothes. Ah, big bosses are different. They are so arrogant even when giving gifts. Having snagged such a great bargain for nothing, I was instantly elated.

My mood soared, and I was thinking about listing it online for sale. I wondered how much I could fetch. Well, I’ll go back and find out what this mink fur with the SAGA logo is worth… I put my hand in my pocket and felt something soft, a strip of something. I took it out and looked at it under the streetlight.

It was the white ribbon. Almost subconsciously, I thought of Xiao Xuewu. I wondered how she was doing all alone at HKUST. I’d find time to check and see if this little girl was slacking off.

I walked home, and before I could even turn the key, the door suddenly opened from the inside. A tall, dark figure slumped over me, two strong arms tightly wrapped around my neck, and his breath hitched in my face.

My breath hitched, and I raised my hands in surrender. “Qi, Qi Xi?” She remained silent, holding me so tightly that I felt like she was strangling me . “Qi Xi,” I patted her back gently. “What’s wrong with you?” She leaned into my arms, silent. Ugh… “Go in, go in, go in, let’s talk first!” Like a butcher, I dragged Qi Xi, a pig, into the bedroom and threw her onto the bed. The room was pitch black, a blinding darkness. But I didn’t plan to turn on the light.

For some reason, I felt that Qi Xi didn’t want to see the light right now. I walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, taking up only a small portion of the edge, leaving half of my butt hanging out. I rake my fingers through her hair, one stroke at a time, almost singing a lullaby.

The small room was dark and silent, the heavy curtains blocking out all light, seemingly even the sound. Only the gentle sound of the wind echoed, echoing the soft ticking of the clock. I tilted my head back, inhaled gently, my nostrils trembled, my hair fell, and slid down my shoulders. Qi Xi’s smell is very special.

Everyone has their own unique smell, and some people have a particularly fragrant smell. But no one is as special as Qi Xi, and it smells particularly strong to me. It’s like the external s3x hormones of insects, tempting me to break the law, to fly into the fire, and drown in her infinite warmth.

Even if her warmth is not for me. After a long time, I felt that her breathing had calmed down, so I leaned over to her and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”