Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Ning Xi felt her composure crumbling, yet she forced a smile. “Xiao Xie, you really don’t have to force yourself to buy Luckin Coffee just for the sake of appearances. You really don’t.”
Luckin Coffee, nine yuan and ninety cents a cup. Hahahaha.
She wasn’t about to admit whose composure was actually crumbling.
Xie Lanchen took a sip of his coffee. “Is that so? Drinking coffee is just one of my few hobbies. I’ll try to keep a lower profile next time.”
Ning Xi burst into laughter and slapped Xie Lanchen on the back. “Hahahahahahaha, you kid!”
He actually understood her humor and didn’t think she was an idiot.
Xie Lanchen was hit so suddenly that he couldn’t help but cough.
“Did you choke? I told you that drinking Luckin Coffee in front of my Mixue would end in disaster,” Ning Xi remarked with incredibly thoughtful, high-EQ concern.
Xie Lanchen glanced imperceptibly at Ning Xi’s hand, took a deep breath, and sighed silently.
[Hahaha, once that girl Ning Xi gets happy, she has no sense of how much strength she’s using.]
[Lowering my phone to half-mast for a second of silence for Xie Lanchen.]
Beep beep beep.
Ning Xi’s phone suddenly started ringing incessantly.
Where Did This Simp Come From: “Save me!”
Where Did This Simp Come From: “I’m being driven to death by this family’s dog, ahhhhhhh!”
Where Did This Simp Come From: “I’m going to be bitten to death, ahhhhhh!”
Where Did This Simp Come From: “Danger!”
Ning Xi didn’t hide her phone while looking at it, so Xie Lanchen accidentally saw the profile picture for “Where Did This Simp Come From.”
“Is that Fu Zhi? What happened to him?” Xie Lanchen’s smile was faint, his tone calm.
Ning Xi’s expression turned solemn as she fell into deep thought. “The situation on his end seems a bit complicated.”
She then handed the phone to Xie Lanchen.
“Look at the first word of these four messages from Fu Zhi. Do you think he’s using the acrostic ‘Save, Me, Me, Danger’ to hint that he’s in trouble?”
Ning Xi pushed up her non-existent glasses.
“…”
[You successfully managed to find a ‘hint’ in a blatant SOS.]
[Thank goodness it’s Ning Xi. If Fu Zhi had messaged anyone else, he would have been rescued ages ago.]
[Probably not. Ning Xi, don’t be so sensitive.]
Xie Lanchen couldn’t help but laugh.
Ning Xi calmly put her phone away.
Did Fu Zhi really think the whole world was his mother?
As long as he didn’t die, he’d live-that was her only blessing for Fu Zhi.
However, as if anticipating that Ning Xi would ignore him, Fu Zhi sent more messages in quick succession.
Where Did This Simp Come From: “I’ll pay!”
Where Did This Simp Come From: “Get here fast, ahhhhhhhh!”
Don’t Let the Dishonest Off: “Send your location.”
Where Did This Simp Come From: “?”
Where Did This Simp Come From: “Why did you change your nickname again?”
Where Did This Simp Come From: “My life is hanging by a thread over here, and you’re in the mood to change your nickname?”
A minute later.
Realizing that Ning Xi wasn’t going to answer his question, Fu Zhi obediently sent over his location.
Ning Xi checked the navigation and found it was only a few hundred meters away.
Thinking that she might need to exert a lot of energy later, Ning Xi went to buy a small cake.
She voiced her urgency while stuffing her face.
“Oh, I really am worried about Fu Zhi. But a person has to grow up; he can’t rely on me for everything, right? We aren’t related. If he were willing to call me ‘Mom,’ I might reluctantly consider him half a son…”
“I’m forcing myself to finish this cake despite my anxiety. How can a person be as strong as I am…”
[Strong? Good lord, I almost thought I misheard her.]
[Hahahahaha, is Ning Xi afraid that Fu Zhi might actually survive?]
“Don’t call me cold-hearted. After all, if Fu Zhi can’t even complete the task of walking a dog, it just means he’s not working hard enough.”
Ning Xi finished her cake and clapped her hands together to dust them off.
As she prepared to set off, she spotted a soft-serve cone from Mixue for only 1.90. After a moment of thought, she figured that while she hadn’t earned a massive fortune today, an extra 1.90 wouldn’t break the bank, nor would saving it make her rich. So, she went over and bought a cone.
[Ning Xi is spending a lot of money in the most penny-pinching way possible, hahaha!]
[Ning Xi: Why you gotta expose me like that? Do I not deserve any dignity?]
Just as Ning Xi held up the cone and was about to take a bite, her phone suddenly rang.
“Winter melon, honey melon, cantaloupe, if you don’t love me you’re a dope; apple, mango, dragon fruit, I’m the one who’s super cute…”
Startled by the sudden blast, Ning Xi jerked, and the cone flew right out of her hand.
“Who changed my ringtone?! Who was it?!”
Then, she had a total meltdown.
“My ice cream! I didn’t even get a single bite!”
Ning Xi looked down to find her cone, only to be met with a shocking sight.
The cone she had accidentally tossed had somehow spun several full circles in the air before landing perfectly upright, wedged right into a crack in the pavement.
It wasn’t dirty at all; it was flawless.
Ning Xi picked it up and stared at the cone, feeling a complicated mix of wanting to eat it but being unable to bring herself to do so.
At that moment, she caught sight of Xie Lanchen, who was still leisurely sipping his coffee nearby.
Ning Xi shoved the cone into Xie Lanchen’s hand.
“Hold this for me. Come on, big sis is gonna take you to see the show in her luxury ride.”
Ning Xi pointed toward the beat-up little bicycle she had left by the roadside-a bike that hadn’t garnered a single glance from a passerby the entire time.
Xie Lanchen looked at the bicycle, which seemed so old it was practically falling apart: “?”
Ning Xi had already hopped onto the bike and patted the back seat.
“Get on! My riding skills are top-tier.”
She figured the cone shouldn’t go to waste, so she’d give it to Fu Zhi to eat later. However, she couldn’t hold the cone while riding, so she decided to give Xie Lanchen a lift and let him serve as the designated holder.
[A guy like Xie Lanchen has probably never sat on the back of someone else’s bicycle in his entire life, right?]
[If Xie Lanchen actually gets on Ning Xi’s bike, I’ll believe it’s true love.]
[Wait, is Ning Xi sure that tiny bike can even carry two people?]
As it turned out, the rickety bicycle could not only carry two people, but it did so with ease.
With a complicated expression, Xie Lanchen climbed onto Ning Xi’s “getaway vehicle,” still holding the cone she had forced upon him.
“Off we go for a joyride!”
Ning Xi pushed off and pedaled happily for a few paces, tempted to stand up on the pedals to gain speed. But just as she was about to make her move, she remembered Xie Lanchen was sitting behind her and decided against it.
On the back seat, Xie Lanchen let out a soft sigh of relief.
The next second, as they approached a downhill stretch, he saw Ning Xi suddenly let go of the handlebars. She threw her arms wide, embracing the oncoming breeze.
“Xiao Xie, do you feel this sense of freedom?”
Xie Lanchen: !!!
The bicycle sped down the hill, going faster and faster.
The wind whistled past.
It whipped Ning Xi’s hair back, occasionally brushing against Xie Lanchen’s face.
Xie Lanchen took a deep breath and simply closed his eyes.
[Xie Lanchen: Sitting on the back of your bike is a death sentence!]
[Xie Lanchen must be regretting agreeing to this right now, hahahaha!]
[You really can’t guess what Puppy Ning is thinking sometimes.]
[Whoever invented Ning Xi is a genius; her mental state is just inexplicable.]
However, amidst the netizens’ teasing, Xie Lanchen-who had been keeping his eyes shut-actually listened to Ning Xi. He slowly extended his arms.
He let himself feel exactly what she had described-
That sense of freedom.