Kicked Back to a Rich Family by the Real Eldest Daughter - Chapter 28
Chapter 28
“You, hello.”
Song Xiaoci spoke awkwardly, her smile unable to last for more than two seconds before it vanished. Her face turned pale as if she had been startled.
Why was Tang Jinzhi’s marriage partner her senior! Ahh! Could this world get any smaller!
She forced herself to stay calm and asked, “I heard you just got out of the hospital and have amnesia? How’s your health?”
Seeing Song Xiaoci’s distracted look, Tang Jinzhi glanced at Xie Xiangyi, her eye twitching. She slowly nodded and replied softly, “Yes, I have amnesia. My health is good, thank you for your concern.”
Their conversation was stiff and awkward, and it sounded weird.
Xie Xiangyi lowered her eyes and glanced at the hand that Tang Jinzhi seemed to have just released. Her fingers curled slightly, but her face showed no emotion.
She frowned slightly and looked at the two of them with a puzzled expression.
Their conversation sounded strange. Why did she feel that Song Xiaoci’s reaction was not what she would expect from someone meeting Tang Jinzhi for the first time?
Song Xiaoci’s face was bitter. She secretly glanced at Tang Jinzhi, then at her strict, workaholic senior. The more she looked, the more she felt how hard her life was.
She knew her senior was married, but who could tell her why her partner was Tang Jinzhi!
The marriage partner Tang Jinzhi had mentioned to her before had been right by her side all along.
The wealthy families were so messy. She wanted to go home.
But Tang Jinzhi had forgotten everything, so she shouldn’t know who she was, right?
Zhang Yueqi: “Dr. Song, why are you spacing out in the middle of the road?”
Song Xiaoci was lost in thought. It was only when Zhang Yueqi ran in front of her and waved her hand that she realized her behavior was a little impolite.
“Ah, ah, I’m sorry. I just got off work. Maybe I’m too tired.”
Xie Xiangyi tilted her head to look at Tang Jinzhi, who was frowning and no longer speaking. Then she turned to look at Song Xiaoci. Knowing that Song Xiaoci was off at this time because she had worked a night shift and was indeed tired, she didn’t ask her to eat with them. She simply said, “Hurry back and rest.”
Song Xiaoci nodded and waved her hand. “Okay, okay, I’ll be going now!”
With that, she ran off without stopping for a second.
Zhang Yueqi found it hilarious. She mumbled, “Doesn’t she have a lot of energy?”
Xie Xiangyi raised her eyebrows and looked at Tang Jinzhi again, just as Tang Jinzhi was looking back at her.
She said directly, “I think she knows you. Her face changed when she saw you.”
Tang Jinzhi’s lips twitched. She thought for a moment and said, “You observe very carefully, but I don’t think her face changed because she knows me.”
She thought the other person’s face changed because she saw her as “Xie Xiangyi’s wife” and saw her holding hands with Xie Xiangyi.
Thinking of this, Tang Jinzhi’s fingers moved. She held the air and felt something was wrong.
What? Why did she let go of her hand guiltily just now?
She was Xie Xiangyi’s legitimate wife now. Why would she think of herself so lowly?
Tang Jinzhi was a little angry with herself. Her mind must have been broken just now!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Tang Jinzhi lowered her head, grabbed Xie Xiangyi’s hand, pushed her fingers open, put her own fingers in, and squeezed hard.
“Hehe!”
Tang Jinzhi showed her disdain for her guilty self a few minutes ago. I have a license!
With a license, why would I feel guilty!
Xie Xiangyi couldn’t help but squeeze the hand she was holding. Her eyes were fixed on Tang Jinzhi.
Should she give an explanation?
But Tang Jinzhi just turned her head and glared at her, completely ignoring her.
Thinking of the little expression on Tang Jinzhi’s face when she glared at her, Xie Xiangyi couldn’t help but smile, even though it was a little strange.
Zhang Yueqi, who had fallen behind them again, was already taking pictures with her phone, zooming in on their intertwined fingers for several close-ups.
The three of them entered the restaurant Zhang Yueqi had chosen and sat down. While waiting for their food, Zhang Yueqi quickly edited the photos and sent them all to their group chat.
Tang Jinzhi’s and Xie Xiangyi’s phones rang at the same time, then stopped together.
The two of them looked at each other, picked up their phones at the same time, looked at Zhang Yueqi when they saw the group chat messages, and then lowered their heads to look at the messages in the group.
It was all photos of them.
Zhang Yueqi said with a smile, “I bet you don’t have any photos of you two together on your phones, so I took a few for you. No need to thank me. Just remember to save them.”
Zhang Yueqi was very confident in her photography skills. Although there were no frontal shots of them, the back and side views were also perfect. Not to mention, the two of them looked great in pictures.
Xie Xiangyi’s eyes flickered. Her gaze lingered on the photo of Tang Jinzhi turning her head and glaring at her. It was a little cute. She hadn’t expected Zhang Yueqi to capture that.
Her finger hesitated on the screen for two seconds before she pressed and saved it.
She continued to scroll through and saved a few more.
Not only did they not have any photos of themselves together on their phones, they didn’t have any photos of each other at all. Xie Xiangyi’s phone didn’t even have many photos of herself.
Tang Jinzhi noticed Xie Xiangyi’s actions out of the corner of her eye. The words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat.
Fine. The photos were nice. She would save them.
She wasn’t as slow as Xie Xiangyi, who was tapping one by one. She selected all of them and saved them all at once.
After saving everything, Tang Jinzhi looked up at Zhang Yueqi, who was showing off to her. She picked up her chopsticks and poked at Zhang Yueqi in the air.
Zhang Yueqi’s smile grew even more smug.
Tang Jinzhi didn’t want to be childish with her. She turned to look at Xie Xiangyi and found that she was still looking at her phone, a smile in her eyes. Tang Jinzhi leaned over curiously.
She saw the photo on Xie Xiangyi’s phone with just one glance.
It was the photo of her grabbing Xie Xiangyi’s hand and pushing her fingers open.
Tang Jinzhi: “…”
She only realized after seeing the photo how serious and stupid she had looked at the time. She was so stubborn and serious. She didn’t expect that Xie Xiangyi was looking at her stupid action at that time.
Noticing Tang Jinzhi’s gaze, Xie Xiangyi turned her head and met those eyes full of resentment.
Xie Xiangyi’s lips couldn’t help but curve upwards. She handed the menu to Tang Jinzhi as if nothing had happened. “See if you want to order anything else. You didn’t even look at it just now.”
Tang Jinzhi stared at Xie Xiangyi’s curved lips without blinking. She randomly pointed at an item on the menu.
Seeing the dish Tang Jinzhi pointed at, Xie Xiangyi’s gaze paused. She put two fingers on Tang Jinzhi’s chin, pushed her face, and made her look at the menu.
“Are you sure you want to eat shredded potatoes with shredded ginger?”
Hearing the ridiculous name of the dish, Tang Jinzhi obviously froze for a moment. Was the restaurant owner crazy? Why would they add this dish to the menu? Was it a joke?
She held onto her momentum from before and gave a cold “hmph.” Her voice was stiff. “No, I’m not ordering it. What we ordered before is enough.”
After saying that, she turned to look at Xie Xiangyi again, her eyes almost burning a hole through her.
Xie Xiangyi chuckled softly and asked knowingly, “Why do you keep looking at me?”
Tang Jinzhi narrowed her eyes: “Were you just laughing at me? I’m warning you, delete that photo. The one from just now.”
Xie Xiangyi, who was being warned, held back her laughter. She denied against her will, “Of course not. I’ll delete it right now.”
Saying that, she took out her phone, pretending to do something. She secretly laughed at how Tang Jinzhi was a stingy person who didn’t even let her save a photo.
Tang Jinzhi held her arms and stared at Xie Xiangyi. She would never allow the embarrassing history of her acting stupid to exist on Xie Xiangyi’s phone.
Under her watch, Xie Xiangyi deleted the photo and the message record in the chat.
Tang Jinzhi looked up at Zhang Yueqi and thought for a moment. Forget it. She trusted Zhang Yueqi’s character. She wouldn’t send their photos to others.
Zhang Yueqi propped her face up and looked out the window. Her whole body was screaming “please pretend I don’t exist,” completely staying out of the way of the couple’s conversation.
But she heard everything they said to each other.
Zhang Yueqi held back her laughter, put down her hand, and took out her phone with a serious expression. She sent a message to Xie Xiangyi. “Mute your phone.”
Seeing the message, Xie Xiangyi’s hand, which was about to save the photos, paused. She thought for a moment and muted her phone.
“Done. What do you want?”
Zhang Yueqi didn’t say anything and just sent photos.
She didn’t know which photo Tang Jinzhi wanted Xie Xiangyi to delete, so she privately sent all the photos she had just sent in the group to Xie Xiangyi.
Zhang Yueqi couldn’t hold back her laughter. She secretly praised herself for being so smart. But when she looked up, two pairs of eyes were staring at her.
Tang Jinzhi’s gaze was cold.
Xie Xiangyi was holding her phone and showing it to Tang Jinzhi. She looked at Zhang Yueqi with a half-smile.
She said slowly to Tang Jinzhi, “See? I would never secretly keep them.”
Tang Jinzhi was very satisfied with Xie Xiangyi’s honesty.
Zhang Yueqi’s heart was chilled to the bone.
After getting her phone with the deleted photos back, Zhang Yueqi felt betrayed. Xie Xiangyi had stabbed her in the back!
How could she have the nerve to betray her to show her loyalty!
It was unbelievable. Tang Jinzhi, who usually seemed to not care about anything, couldn’t accept others keeping her embarrassing photos.
The problem was, the photos weren’t even ugly!
Ignoring Zhang Yueqi’s accusing expression, Xie Xiangyi opened her saved photos again and checked them. Not a single one was missing.
The scene of Tang Jinzhi saving all the photos at once reminded her. She had also selected every single one, but she had chosen to save them to her favorites.
No one found out, and Xie Xiangyi didn’t plan to tell them.
The food they ordered was all served. Xie Xiangyi maintained a graceful smile, put down her phone, and started to enjoy the food with satisfaction.
For a moment, she felt like she had become childish, but she didn’t dislike the feeling. A good mood was the most important thing.
She was usually at the hospital. Even on her days off, she didn’t come out to stroll around. Although the main purpose of today was to get Tang Jinzhi to come out, she also felt like she was finally taking a breather.
She didn’t have to be tense all the time. Xie Xiangyi was in a very good mood right now.
If this was considered a way to release stress, then Xie Xiangyi felt that she would really like it.
Perhaps a good mood brought on a good appetite. Xie Xiangyi ate more than usual today. She would occasionally check on how Tang Jinzhi was eating, carefully observing what she liked and what she didn’t.
She was trying to understand Tang Jinzhi.
Tang Jinzhi also keenly noticed the change in Xie Xiangyi’s behavior toward her.
This change didn’t start with this meal. There had been obvious signs since the night they decided to punish Zhang Yueqi.
Since then, Xie Xiangyi had become noticeably less tense when she was with her.
If before, Xie Xiangyi was trying to treat her as her wife because they were married, then now, Xie Xiangyi was subconsciously hinting to herself that this person was her wife.
Xie Xiangyi was gradually opening up to her and even trying to let her into her life.
This was something Xie Xiangyi was doing subconsciously.
She might not even have noticed it herself.
The change was so obvious and so fast.
Tang Jinzhi was a little flustered. She couldn’t change this sudden development. She could only let herself and Xie Xiangyi continue like this, and she didn’t dare to guess the outcome.
The only reason Tang Jinzhi could think of for this change was the conversation she had with Xie Xiangyi that night, the one about Zhang Yueqi.
Perhaps her concern for Zhang Yueqi had changed Xie Xiangyi’s opinion of her.
Tang Jinzhi looked up at Zhang Yueqi, who was eating with a smile in her eyes.
Perhaps this younger sister, who was not related to Xie Xiangyi by bl00d, was the real family in Xie Xiangyi’s heart.
“Let’s go. Don’t sit around.”
Zhang Yueqi finished her last bite of ice cream and put down her spoon. Tang Jinzhi and Xie Xiangyi had already finished eating and were waiting for her.
They walked out of the restaurant and into the mall.
Tang Jinzhi didn’t say she wanted to go home. The two people next to her were in high spirits, and she didn’t need to be a downer at this time. Since they were already out, it was okay to stroll around.
Xie Xiangyi looked at Tang Jinzhi. Her hand, which was at her side, moved. As they were leaving the escalator, she took Tang Jinzhi’s hand.
She didn’t interlace her fingers like Tang Jinzhi had. She just simply held her hand. She didn’t think Tang Jinzhi would refuse, as Tang Jinzhi was the one who initiated it first.
Sure enough, Tang Jinzhi just glanced at her and didn’t say anything.
The three of them strolled around the mall with the purpose of digesting their food. The mall was crowded, and half of Xie Xiangyi’s attention was on Tang Jinzhi. She was relieved to see that she wasn’t scared or resistant.
Tang Jinzhi didn’t want to buy anything. The only place she stopped was a lottery ticket stand they passed by. They bought three scratch cards, each costing ten yuan.
Zhang Yueqi rarely played with these. The big prizes from scratch cards weren’t even as much as her monthly allowance, but now she loved playing. Tang Jinzhi said that whatever she won was hers.
“Big prize! Big prize! Big prize!”
She was lying on the table, scratching and muttering. Xie Xiangyi couldn’t stand it and moved away from her.
Tang Jinzhi had already finished scratching hers. She won twenty yuan. Her tone was quite surprised. “Hey! I made ten yuan.”
Before, she was a total loser and would always lose money.
Xie Xiangyi walked over at this time and put her card into Tang Jinzhi’s hand. “You didn’t make or lose money, because I didn’t win.”
Tang Jinzhi wanted to say that you were you and I was me, but she couldn’t. She and Xie Xiangyi were indeed together. She had paid for everything.
“Then my luck is better than yours.”
Xie Xiangyi smiled: “You could say that. Do you want to play again?”
Tang Jinzhi shook her head. “No. Let’s cash out. It’s better to quit while we’re ahead, or we’ll lose money.”
She had learned from her past experiences with her bad luck.
But Zhang Yueqi hadn’t given up yet. After winning ten yuan, she started on her second card, and she won another ten yuan.
Zhang Yueqi was not convinced and bought another one, her third.
Tang Jinzhi leaned next to her. “Why are you still not giving up? It’s better to quit while you’re ahead. It’s okay as long as you don’t lose money. We’re just participating.”
Did she really think she could change her fate for this month with ten yuan?
Zhang Yueqi was quite obedient. She nodded. “Last one. You watch me scratch.”
Xie Xiangyi looked at the two of them scratching the cards together and didn’t go over. She stood alone and wiped her hands with a wet wipe. She had gotten some on her hands while scratching.
“Ahh! Five hundred! Five hundred!”
Zhang Yueqi excitedly hugged Tang Jinzhi’s arm and yelled.
Tang Jinzhi also checked the scratch card she had just scratched in disbelief. It was a real winner!
A lucky person!
Zhang Yueqi didn’t used to think 500 yuan was a lot, but now it was different! This was almost as much as the family card limit Tang Jinzhi gave her! This was a huge fortune!
Xie Xiangyi also went over in surprise and looked at it. It was indeed a winner.
But she was only surprised for two seconds. Then, while the two of them were happily cashing out, she calmly took Tang Jinzhi’s hand, held her fingers, and lowered her head to wipe her hand.
Tang Jinzhi was full of questions.
What? What was she doing?
“Huh?”
Xie Xiangyi looked up at her, then looked at the light. It was a little backlit, so she simply pulled Tang Jinzhi to turn around and continued to wipe her hand under the light.
Tang Jinzhi: ?
Xie Xiangyi said concisely: “It’s on your hand. It’s dirty.”
Tang Jinzhi looked at her own clean hands, then at Xie Xiangyi. She thought for a moment and didn’t pull her hand back, allowing Xie Xiangyi to wipe it.
Fine. She heard that doctors were a little obsessive-compulsive. She could understand.
Zhang Yueqi excitedly cashed out her 500 yuan. When she turned around, she saw this scene.
She smiled smugly and teased on purpose, “Oh~ You need your wife’s help to wipe your hand~”
Tang Jinzhi was stunned for a moment. She had forgotten that she could do it herself. Now…
Her fingers moved. She wanted to pull her hand back, but she felt that pulling it back now would be a little suspicious, so she just stayed still.
Xie Xiangyi gave Zhang Yueqi a faint glance and handed her a wet wipe. Her voice was cold. “Wipe your own hand clean.”
After saying that, she continued to lower her head and wipe Tang Jinzhi’s hand. For no other reason than that this was the hand she wanted to hold.
Tang Jinzhi’s hands were very beautiful. Xie Xiangyi subconsciously squeezed her knuckles.
The feeling from her fingers was too clear. Tang Jinzhi licked her dry lips, and the base of her ears turned slightly red.
Seeing that Xie Xiangyi was still playing with her fingers after she finished wiping, Tang Jinzhi finally couldn’t hold it anymore. She pulled her hand back and urged, “Okay, let’s go.”
Zhang Yueqi, who now had money, was full of ambition and led the way. She was going to treat them!
Now, they weren’t just aimlessly walking. Zhang Yueqi had a clear goal. First, she went to a bubble tea shop to buy three bubble teas, then she led the couple to the movie theater.
Tang Jinzhi was quite interested in watching a movie. This was her first time experiencing watching a movie with two female protagonists in a theater. She was very curious.
In fact, Zhang Yueqi had already seen this movie. She looked at Tang Jinzhi with a complicated expression. She hoped she wouldn’t find it cheesy after watching it.
Anyway, the movie was extremely sweet and suitable for young couples. The online ratings weren’t very high. People said they had seen too many of these kinds of movies and that they weren’t original and the protagonists were too cloying, but Zhang Yueqi couldn’t buy tickets for any other movies at this time.