Drifting on a String - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

She didn't say this out loud, and Tao Jin didn't seem interested in asking about Chen Piaopiao's dorm relationships. Chen Piaopiao asked again, "What do you like to eat?"

"Hm?"

"You said you don't like roast duck. Next time, I'll treat you to something you like."

Tao Jin smiled. "Shouldn't I be the one treating you next time?"

"What do you like to eat?"

I like you.

Chen Piaopiao said in her heart for the second time.

"Is the cafeteria okay? Cafeteria Number Three has self-serve hot pot. I haven't tried it yet."

"Okay."

After the conversation ended, it was like returning to earth from a vacuum. A cacophony of sounds rushed in. An Ran and Qi Mian had finished their little argument. Qi Mian climbed down from her bed, holding a rinsing cup and yawning. "Anyone going to the cafeteria? Can you bring me back some food?"

An Ran completely ignored her.

"Have you eaten?" Qi Mian walked up behind Chen Piaopiao. "Wanna go together?"

"I've already eaten," Chen Piaopiao said softly while tidying up the textbooks on her desk. "I had lunch with Tao Jin."

"Huh?" Qi Mian tilted her head, stunned. An Ran also spun around, leaning over the back of her chair. "Did your department have a group meal?"

"No, it was just me and her." Chen Piaopiao lowered her head to put away her pens, opened the drawer, and placed them inside.

Qi Mian had also eaten with Tao Jin, but she still called her 'senior.' Chen Piaopiao, however, called her 'Tao Jin.' It wasn't just familiarity; it carried a hint of casualness. Her calm tone, in particular, was completely different from when Qi Mian had bragged about Tao Jin rolling a roast duck wrap for her.

"How did you two end up having lunch together?" An Ran didn't get it.

"Mm, I stayed at her place last night, and then we came to school together." Chen Piaopiao pressed her lips together, closed the drawer, and, in An Ran and Qi Mian's silence, changed into her pajamas and slowly climbed into bed. "I'm going to sleep a little more. I'm so tired."

"An Ran," she said softly from behind her curtain, "if someone comes back later, can you please tell them I'm sleeping? Thank you."

"Oh, oh, okay." Although Chen Piaopiao couldn't see her, An Ran subconsciously nodded.

Then she looked up and exchanged a glance with Qi Mian.

An Ran and Qi Mian finally had their own little group chat and pulled Luo Yue into it.

"She stayed at Tao Jin's place last night?" The first message was from Qi Mian.

An Ran: That's what she said.

Qi Mian: Why why why why?

An Ran: No idea. Are they that close now?

An Ran: Why don't you ask Wang Xing?

Qi Mian: Why don't you just ask Piaopiao directly? You two are conjoined twins.

An Ran: And you're Mrs. Wang, aren't you.

Qi Mian: Are you sick in the head?

Luo Yue: ?

Inside her curtained bed, Chen Piaopiao's face was illuminated by a faint, dim glow. She held her phone, opened Baidu, and searched: "why does a person always call another person cute".

She scrolled down the web page without clicking on anything.

She was a veteran forum-goer and looked down on the nonsensical answers on Baidu, but right now, she was using a Baidu search as a place to put the clumsy girlish feelings in her otherwise shrewd mind. As she scrolled down meaninglessly, she recalled every word Tao Jin had said to her, every expression, gesture, and tone of voice when she had called her cute.

But after thinking it over and over, the biggest problem was that she didn't know if Tao Jin was gay or straight.

All of her care could be explained away as a 'gentle senior' or 'innate kindness.' If only Tao Jin weren't such a good person.

For the next week, Chen Piaopiao waited for Tao Jin to ask her to eat, but she seemed a bit busy. Chen Piaopiao didn't try to manufacture a chance encounter at the cafeteria like before.

On Monday evening, Chen Piaopiao went to the library to study. From a distance, she saw Tao Jin with her roommate, coming out of the library with books in their arms.

That day, she was wearing a gray miniskirt with her shirt half-tucked at the waist. Her pale, shimmering thighs descended the steps. Her roommate said something, and Tao Jin reached out to gently pat her on the back, then smiled.

Chen Piaopiao bit her lower lip. Just as Tao Jin's gaze swept over, she looked down at her phone, randomly dialed a number, and listened to the "beep… beep…" as she turned and headed for the academic building.

Her rambling footsteps trod on the light and shadows of the trees. The call connected, and An Ran's voice came through: "Hello?"

Chen Piaopiao came back to her senses. "Ranran, are you in the dorm?"

"I am, what's up?"

"Is my egg cooker out in the open? Can you hide it for me?"

As she said this, she felt as if she had eyes in the back of her head. Her heart pounded wildly, screaming at her to turn around and look at Tao Jin.

"Oh, okay, I'll look," An Ran said.

After dragging out the conversation for a few more sentences, she entered the academic building. The blast of the air conditioner was suddenly cool. Chen Piaopiao randomly entered a study room, sat down, placed her books on the desk, and stared blankly at her phone.

Her palm vibrated. She had received a WeChat message. It was from An Ran.

"I don't see it, but there's a curling iron in the basin. I hid it in your wardrobe for you."

Then came a photo of the curling iron.

"Than…" Chen Piaopiao was typing.

Suddenly, another message came in: "Are you in class?"

It was from Tao Jin.

Chen Piaopiao read the four short words twice before tapping back to her chat with An Ran. She replied to An Ran first, even sending a heart-hands emoji, before switching back to the chat with Tao Jin and typing, tap, tap, tap: "No, I'm studying on my own. What's up?"

"I just saw you, at the library."

"Oh, you don't have class?"

"No, I just finished up a group project."

A few seconds later, another message arrived: "Have you been busy lately?"

You're the one who's busy… Chen Piaopiao bit the corner of her lip and typed: "Not busy."

"I haven't seen you eating in the cafeteria," Tao Jin replied.

The corners of Chen Piaopiao's mouth twitched into a smile before she demurely pressed them together. She slowly typed: "I asked a senior for your class schedule before, so I could time it right to find you. But then I accidentally deleted it while clearing out my photo album."

There was no response from the other end. Chen Piaopiao's little heart felt like it was being tapped by a dense flurry of finger-sized mallets.

Five minutes later, she received a picture.

Tao Jin's class schedule.

With a soft exhale, Chen Piaopiao smiled. She propped up her blushing cheeks with one hand, laid her phone flat on the table, and typed with her left index finger, as if tapping on water: "?"

"Didn't you say you lost it?"

Tao Jin's replies were always so watertight. She'd lost it, and Tao Jin happened to have it, so she sent her a copy. As for any hidden meaning, she didn't say.

"Received," Chen Piaopiao didn't say either.

Closing her phone and ending the conversation, Chen Piaopiao's keen emotions gave her a sixth sense. There was some ambiguity between her and Tao Jin, an atmosphere not quite like that between a senior and a junior. She couldn't say how strong the ambiguity was, but Tao Jin was allowing her to get closer, as if an invisible hand had given her a gentle push.

That evening, Chen Piaopiao asked Tao Jin to go to the bathhouse again. Before they went, Chen Piaopiao said she was stuffed from dinner and suggested they take a couple of laps around the track first.

When a runner passed by, Chen Piaopiao's arm would inadvertently brush against Tao Jin's. When a stray soccer ball flew toward them, Tao Jin reached out and pulled Chen Piaopiao back.

Just this insignificant physical contact was like a flickering candlelight—faint, extinguishable with a single breath—but it always sent Chen Piaopiao's heart into a state of turmoil.

The next day, they met up for hot pot. The cafeteria's hot pot was very basic, and the flavor wasn't anything special. They both agreed that the papaya milk from the adjacent window was a much better value.

Chen Piaopiao returned to the dorm rubbing her full stomach. An Ran was booking a flight home for the National Day holiday. Luo Yue was leaning over, an arm around her, as they looked at flights together. Their hometowns were in the same provincial capital, in neighboring cities, and Luo Yue wanted to fly back together for company.

"Let's book an earlier one. It's cheaper. We just have to get up early," Luo Yue said.

"This one is just after six. We'd have to get up at three or four. The elevator won't be running, so we'd have to carry our suitcases down. Plus, there's no airport express train, so a taxi would be over a hundred." An Ran did the math for her. "If you calculate it all, isn't it about the same price as a normally timed flight?"

Turning her head and seeing Chen Piaopiao had returned, An Ran asked casually, "Piaopiao, what are your plans for National Day?"

Chen Piaopiao chewed on the straw of her papaya milk. "I don't know."

The flight back was expensive, and taking the train would be a hassle. Maybe she could find some part-time work. The pay was higher during the holidays.

After some thought, she opened her computer and went to the school forum. It usually had part-time job postings from alumni, which were much more reliable than those from outside.

She spent the entire afternoon screening some suitable options and noting them down. Then, she rubbed her sore neck and went to take a shower.

She returned to the dorm drying her wet hair. A glance at the time showed it was just past eight. Only Qi Mian was in the room, scrolling through short videos. Seeing her return, Qi Mian kicked her feet and started putting on her slippers. "I'm going to wash up. You're not going out, right?"

She didn't want to bring her key, so she had deliberately waited for Chen Piaopiao to come back before going.

Chen Piaopiao nodded, put down her basket, and sat in her chair to dry her hair.

The door was shut by the hurried Qi Mian. A moment later, there was another knock.

It was probably Qi Mian, having forgotten something. Chen Piaopiao got up and turned the doorknob, only to see a not-so-familiar face. It was Tao Jin's roommate from the 11th floor, the one who always liked to joke around while holding her washbasin.

She peeked into Chen Piaopiao's dorm and asked in a hushed voice, "Junior, are you free?"

"Huh?"

"We're playing cards upstairs. Wanna come?"

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