I Am The Third Party (GL) - Chapter 3

“I’ve seen it,” she said.

“Really?” I feigned indifference, wiping the dark liquid from my hands with a towel. I placed the glass in front of her, the bottom of the glass making a dull thud against the table. “I don’t remember much.”

“Oh?”

She leaned closer to the ice cream, swiping a piece with the tip of her tongue and slowly sliding it into her mouth, her eyelids lifted, her gaze fixed on me.

Her tongue was reddish, and from such close proximity, I could see the bulging taste buds on the tip of her tongue, smeared with the creamy, pure white ice cream, a sensuality indescribable.

For some reason, seeing her tongue, a mixture of red and white, and her gestures, somewhere between frank and provocative, sent a drizzle through my heart, a fine, delicate drizzle, like prickling my face, a slight itch.

Saying too much would only make things worse, but not saying anything would be right. I really didn’t know how to answer her.

And as a woman, my instinct told me: This woman is dangerous.

I need to cut ties with her and stay away from her.

Even though we haven’t met much, just from her appearance and actions, I’m certain she’s not innocent.

Just like when freshly graduated college students go for a job interview, the interviewer can instantly tell they’re new to the world rather than seasoned veterans; they exude a youthful air.

Similarly, it’s easy to tell the difference between an innocent civilian and a martial artist fighting on the edge of a knife.

This woman stood before me, licking the ice cream floating on her coffee, her attention focused on me.

She reminded me of a jaguar lurking in the jungle at night, its claws crushing shards of flesh, its eyes glowing green in the darkness, amusement-filled as it gazed at the herbivore, oblivious to the approaching danger.

Cats have a vicious nature: they treat hunting as a game.

Even ordinary housecats know that if they catch a mouse, they shouldn’t devour it all in one go. The correct approach is to chase and play with it until it’s exhausted, and only then begin to slowly savor its meal.

This is what I fear most.

Some people are like cats; they enjoy tormenting others, often without a clear purpose, simply for fun.

For example, the person sitting across from me right now, a large feline woman with a beard.

I didn’t respond for a long time, but she didn’t mind. She focused on her coffee, no longer staring at me with that creepy look.

I sighed softly, my back drenched with sweat, and I longed to take a shower.

Why hasn’t that damned Xiao Xuewu come back yet? It took so long to buy those grapes, I’ll have to deduct it from my salary next month.

“Classmate Qiao Xianyu, I left your water card here.” She fished from the br3ast pocket of her leather jacket, pulling out a blue card covered in layers of clear tape. Slowly, she moved it across the table and pushed it towards me.

I glanced at her, took the card, and said, “Thank you.”

It was perfect. It saved me the trouble of having Aunt Zhang get a new one.

She said nothing else, but looked up at the clock on the wall. It was almost nine o’clock.

I found that clock at a flea market. Every hour, a woodpecker would fly out of the small wooden door above the clock and chirp, making new customers jump a little.

I suddenly wanted to see the woman frightened by the woodpecker.

“What are you laughing at?” she asked, baffled.

Did I laugh?

I couldn’t help but touch my cheek, only to see her pull a twenty-yuan note from her trouser pocket and hand it to me.

I pushed the money toward her again, waving my hand and saying, “This drink’s on you, as a token of my gratitude for saving my life.”

She smiled and said, “Just now you thought I was the plague god, and now I’m your savior?”

“Beep, beep, beep—”

It was exactly nine o’clock, and the woodpecker burst out of the door.

I curled my lips to see her reaction, but she froze for a moment, then quickly glanced at the clock on the wall. The woodpecker was nodding frantically, beeping.

Seeing her expression of both anger and amusement, I chuckled. In a good mood, I poured myself a glass of soda, walked around to the other side of the bar, clinked glasses with hers, and drank it down.

“Your sense of taste is truly unfathomable,” she said.

“Your sister has many more profound qualities. Learn from her.” I pursed my lips, twirling the cup in a circle on my wrist.

I thought about it and said seriously, “To be honest, I don’t know why you came back to find me. I know you must not be a girl from an ordinary family, from the gangs, or from the village downstairs? That has nothing to do with me. You bumped into me last night, if you hadn’t taken me with you to hide, I would probably be in danger now.

“But it is undeniable that you almost made me lose my life, it’s your fault. I have nothing to do with the world you live in, you don’t have to worry about me betraying you, let alone hurting you.

“Let’s be frank, I don’t want to have anything to do with you. If you want to find something new to play, there are many lovely students in HKUST, you can go to them.

“Today I’ll treat you to coffee as a thank you, we’re even, okay?”

She listened very seriously, which was beyond my expectation.

I thought she would completely ignore what I said, just like thousands of hooligans, trying to find trouble with me.

It seems that female hooligans are still of higher quality.

“Okay. “She put her middle finger and thumb together and tapped the glass, “But one cup of coffee is a bit stingy, you can treat me to a meal at noon.”

“Okay, but I have to go to work, so let’s eat at school.”

Her phone vibrated twice, and I kept quiet.

She took out her phone and looked at the caller ID, frowned, showed an impatient expression, and pressed the answer button.

“What are you making a fuss about?”

“Speak for yourself and know how much you are worth.”

“Wei Laosan? Okay, you call them all over, I’ll deal with them as a group, and if they drive a team of tanks, I’ll use missiles to blow them out of the People’s Republic of China.” “

The time starts from now on, and don’t let me see you again for all the time to come. “

She tilted her head and held the phone away from her ear in disgust.

We were very close, and I heard a sharp female voice coming from the loudspeaker: “Qi Xi, you bastard!”

Qi Xi raised his eyebrows, hung up the phone indifferently, stretched out his hand to me, raised his chin, and said, “Cell phone.”

“Huh?”

“Give me your cell phone.”

I was a little stunned by what she said on the phone just now, and my hands trembled as I took out the phone from my pocket and gave it to her.

She snatched it and opened the screen saver. She was stunned when she saw my God of Wealth. The corners of her mouth twitched, and her fingertips moved quickly to dial a string of numbers.

Soon, her phone vibrated and she hung up immediately.

She saved her number in my address book. I looked over and saw that her name was “Qi Xi”.

She also saved my name in her phone. I leaned over and said, “My name is Qiao Xianyu.”

But I saw that the name she entered was “Little Fairy”.

Hey, blind bear! Who allowed you to give your sister such a girly nickname?

If you were going to give her a nickname, it should have been something ethereal like “Sister Fairy” or “Sister Fairy.

” “I have something to do, so I’ll leave first. Remember to treat me to lunch,” she shook her phone.

I hesitantly agreed.

Her constant chatter had me distracted all morning, and I even swapped a guy’s caramel macchiato for a cappuccino…

————————

At noon, the woodpecker came out and beeped again.

I took off my apron and threw it on the back of the chair. I told Xiao Xuewu to keep an eye on the business while I went out to buy food.

But today, I told her to wait a little while because a friend was coming over and I had to treat him to dinner first.

She quickly said it was okay and that she wasn’t very hungry.

It was the end of class, and the crowd was huge.

I squeezed through the crowd and called Qi Xi to ask what she wanted to eat. She said it was anything, but it would be best to go somewhere less crowded.

I figured the only less crowded place at this hour was probably the alleyway by the back door. It was a bit out of the way, so students wouldn’t want to go far, but there were a few decent restaurants.

“Would you like to have a rice bowl?” I said,

“Sure.”

“You know the back door of HKUST? I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up, I followed the crowd out of the campus. From a distance, amid the clamor

, I spotted Qi Xi. After all, a woman that tall would stand out anywhere. I estimated Qi Xi to be nearly 5’8″, wearing a black jacket, long legs, and mid-cut pirate boots. She stood at the back door, her bangs rustling in the wind, swaying slightly between her ears and cheeks.

Passersby couldn’t help but glance at her, as if they’d spotted a rare creature.

Tsk, what’s so good about her?

She’s so tall and rude, I don’t believe she’d ever get married. Big br3asts, what good are they?

Women, it’s better to be petite and charming like me. Men will only like you, will only care for you…

Ahem, ignoring the fact that I’ve never had a man confess his love to me or been in a relationship in the past 25 years, everything is still beautiful.

As if sensing something, Qi Xi suddenly turned her head in my direction, her eyes fixed on me.

Her gaze passed over the clamor and the cold air, resting on me.

Suddenly, I felt a surge of air, a strong wind whistling past. Amidst the falling red maples of late autumn, the fragrance of gardenias suddenly washed over me, the scent of midsummer gardenias.

The fragrance and warmth intoxicated me, making me unable to extricate myself.

I know a term called “episodic memory” that I once saw in Youth Digest.

It describes how, sometimes, due to the unique atmosphere of a situation, people develop unique psychological perceptions, freezing and storing a memory of events over a period of time in their minds.

People often become addicted to this kind of self-hypnotic state.

But this perception isn’t necessarily real; it’s all just a figment of our imagination.

“What are we going to eat?” Qi Xi asked.

“I told you on the phone we’d like to have rice bowls,” I said.

I led the way, and Qi Xi followed obediently behind, surprisingly well-behaved.

But the stealth glances at her along the way irritated me.

I don’t like walking under the gaze of others.

I hate being with her, and it’s her who draws the attention.

This feeling is subtle and unpleasant, constantly disrupting my concentration and making me irritable.

I hate things that are out of my control, and that naturally includes my emotions. I don’t want them to be constantly influenced by the outside world.

My grandfather taught me from a young age to learn self-control, to be calm and composed, to be able to come in and go out. I need to think clearly

about what to keep and what to let go, and never let my emotions cloud my mind and lose my true self.

I honestly realized that even if I can’t be as detached as my grandfather said, I can still live a peaceful life every day, avoiding arrogance and impatience.

On the surface, I act like a big shot, and sometimes a bit reckless, but in my heart, I always have a clear sense of proportion, weighing what’s important and what’s not.

My uncontrolled emotions made me irritable.

Feeling uneasy, I took Qi Xi to a small restaurant.

I handed her the menu, and she glanced at it and asked what I wanted.

I said, “Chili pepper and shredded pork rice bowl.”

She said, “She wants one too.”

I smiled inwardly; this person was quite casual about her food.

“Actually, everything you said is quite right, except for one thing.” She pulled two pairs of chopsticks from a box and gave me one.

“What am I right about, and what am I wrong about?” I looked at her bewilderedly, not having any idea what she was talking about.

“Everything you said to me this morning in the cafe was right. There’s only one thing wrong: if I had seen you in danger last night, even if it weren’t for my own safety, I would have saved you anyway,” she explained.

Oh, save you, then.

It’s nothing. You’re such a kind person. Thank you so much. “

I placed my hands on my legs under the table, slowly tightening them, clasping them tightly together. I said nonchalantly, “Thank you.”

Her eyes narrowed as she smiled, like a yawning leopard.

Qi Xi leaned down, lying on the dining table, and said lazily: “What should I do, I’m hungry.”

“There are a lot of people at noon, so you have to wait a while, just bear with it…”

Before I could finish my words, I was interrupted by the aggressive girl who came over from the opposite side and yelled, “Qi Niuxi, you turtle bastard, you heartless man!”