After the Divorce, the Whole World is Waiting for Us to Get Back Together - Chapter 19.2

Chapter 19.2

Before the first dinner at the Romantic House, the final CP arrived late. The steam from the hotpot rose in the round-table dining room. The two people walking through the mist were more refined than anyone else present.

These were two members of idol groups who weren’t particularly famous. The girl was named Su Miaomiao, and the boy was named He Chen.

Since they had debuted late and were juniors to the group of four, they were exceptionally polite and greeted everyone. Cheng Xi’s first impression of them was also quite good.

Now that everyone was here, the hotpot session could officially begin. Just as Cheng Xi was about to get up to go upstairs and call Meng Zhijin, Su Miaomiao walked over to her side with extreme intimacy, smiling at her in a cute and pleasant way. “Teacher Cheng, can I sit in the empty seat next to you?”

Cheng Xi looked at the seat to her left and nodded. “Sure, these two seats were left for you.”

Su Miaomiao nodded and sat down obediently next to Cheng Xi. However, she seemed to have something on her mind. While fidgeting with the utensils in front of her, her eyes swept around the dining room once, and she asked thoughtfully, “Where is Teacher Meng? I don’t see her.”

For some reason, Cheng Xi felt a bit awkward hearing the words “Teacher Meng” from Su Miaomiao’s mouth. But she didn’t dwell on it and answered, “She didn’t rest until early this morning. She’s sleeping upstairs right now.”

“Oh.” Su Miaomiao nodded, her voice still sweet. “Then can I go to the attic to call her?”

Malice was wrapped in an innocent sugar coating, melting little by little. Hearing Su Miaomiao’s words, the alertness already present in Cheng Xi’s heart shifted its direction and stood up completely.

She looked at the young girl before her, who had made a very good first impression, with a heavy gaze and refused. “I can go.”

“Then can I go with Teacher Cheng?” Su Miaomiao requested, not hiding her liking for Meng Zhijin at all in front of the camera. “I’ve liked Teacher Meng since I was a child. I’ve watched her movies countless times, and I’m still not tired of them. Teacher Cheng, can you give me a chance to get close to my idol? Just once~”

As she spoke, Su Miaomiao grabbed Cheng Xi’s wrist, swinging it back and forth like a child acting spoiled.

Cheng Xi remembered; this person’s persona was a childish, “little bratty” type (xiao zuo jing). But she wasn’t a child.

Acting spoiled to achieve one’s goal might seem cute to others or even fans, but to her, it was redundant. It wasn’t that she couldn’t accept all forms of childish cuteness—for example, Yu Tong.

What she couldn’t accept was using others’ lack of guard and sincerity, using the method of acting spoiled and showing weakness to achieve one’s own goals. Having learned to read people’s faces from a young age, Cheng Xi could see at a glance what was real and what was a facade.

Seeing that Cheng Xi hadn’t responded for a long time, Su Miaomiao flashed a pair of pitiful eyes and asked again, “Is that okay, Teacher Cheng?”

The voice was cloyingly sweet, like a cheap fruit candy overloaded with artificial sweeteners.

Cheng Xi had always been a straightforward person; she didn’t care for this kind of soft coercion. Moreover, the person this girl was so hell-bent on seeing with clearly ulterior motives—was Meng Zhijin.

“Teacher Meng doesn’t like to be disturbed when she’s resting. It’s better if you wait here,” Cheng Xi’s voice turned a few degrees colder than before.

Su Miaomiao wasn’t ready to give up: “But I really, really, really, really want to see Teacher Meng. You have no idea how much I—”

But before she could even finish her sentence, Cheng Xi choked the words back down her throat using the very “affection” the girl kept claiming: “If you truly liked Teacher Meng, you wouldn’t bother her.”

Having said her piece, Cheng Xi took the small dipping bowl prepared by the program staff and walked toward the condiment station.

Guarding her “teammate” against someone with suspicious intentions became the fog that masked Cheng Xi’s true reasons for rejection. It also obscured the exact moment her hostility had first surfaced.

Cheng Xi was in a foul mood, and she was somewhat distracted while mixing her sauce.

Just as she picked up a long-handled spoon to add seasonings to her bowl, someone grabbed her wrist. A shadow fell from behind, enveloping her.

Cheng Xi stared at the familiar hand in her field of vision. Stunned yet somehow feeling as if she had expected this she met Meng Zhijin’s eyes.

Su Miaomiao’s voice was still buzzing annoyingly in the background, but for some reason, it no longer felt irritating.

Meng Zhijin, who was supposed to be upstairs resting, had come down at some point. She took the small dish from Cheng Xi’s hand and said:

“Kid, you can’t eat cilantro. Did you forget?”

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