Among Three People Walking, There Must Be One Straight Girl - Chapter 3

With only the two of them left at the table, Xia Wan finally didn’t have to worry about anyone’s dignity. She poked her index finger against Lan Yuyue’s forehead and grumbled: “How much of a shock did you take today to be so passive-aggressive the whole time?”

Lan Yuyue’s head tilted back slightly as she continued to chew. Seeing that Xia Wan was still sitting firmly in her seat, she knew the situation with the little childhood friend wasn’t a major problem. She took out her phone and tossed it over: “See for yourself.”

Xia Wan wasn’t polite either. She grabbed it and pressed the buttons for a long time, but the pitch-black screen gave no response.

“In this day and age, you actually let your phone die.” Xia Wan said as she went to scan for a power bank, muttering, “You didn’t just die on me right after sending that message, did you?”

Lan Yuyue focused only on eating and didn’t answer.

“You… really! When did you have the fallout? This evening?”

No response.

“This afternoon?”

No response.

“At… noon?”

Still no response.

“Morning! Then this afternoon…” You still acted like nothing was wrong and congratulated me on buying the car.

When Xia Wan got her car this afternoon, she immediately filmed a video and sent it to Lan Yuyue. Lan Yuyue even said she definitely had to take a ride in her car if given the chance.

She had forgotten that Lan Yuyue was a master of disguise. Facing people she hated, Lan Yuyue could remain expressionless or even drink and be merry with them. How hard could it be to fake being happy?

“Wait a second, your last meal wasn’t breakfast, was it!” Xia Wan knew Lan Yuyue had a bad habit: she didn’t like to eat when she was in a bad mood. If no one pushed her, she could starve for a whole day.

Xia Wan hurriedly blanched food for Lan Yuyue as the phone entered the boot-up screen.

It was as if the phone didn’t belong to Lan Yuyue, she didn’t care in the slightest. Suddenly, Lan Yuyue said: “A call is coming in, answer it yourself.”

Xia Wan immediately pulled back her chopsticks from the beef. She had absolutely no interest in Lan Yuyue’s wretched family—a family comparable to an old-school melodramatic soap opera. Anyone who touched them was doomed.

Just as Xia Wan’s hand pressed the power button, a call came through. The notification bar at the top kept flashing with newly received messages. Luckily, Lan Yuyue had a habit of silencing notifications.

Some part of Xia Wan’s hand accidentally hit the answer key.

The two of them stared at the call duration timer that was ticking up, remaining in silent speechlessness.

“Your stepsister…” Xia Wan pointed at the phone, not knowing whether to hang up or…

The phone wasn’t on speaker, but in the noisy hot pot restaurant, Xia Wan could vaguely hear a few voices from inside.

“Lan Yuyue, you… I… come back!”

“I… you… how…”

“You are just a bi… die… you…”

Lan Yuyue hung up bluntly. Her hand paused as it reached for the power-off button, and she looked at the mushroom outside the window: “Is the little childhood friend also in a bad mood today?”

Lan Yuyue had never met Lan Ranxing, but she had known Xia Wan for three years and, through the screen, had known Lan Ranxing for three years as well. She had a rough idea of Lan Ranxing’s personality. A carefree, happy puppy. Since the puppy’s spirits were low today, there were definitely other troubles besides her own passive-aggression.

“You knew that and yet you kept picking a fight.” Xia Wan thought Lan Yuyue hadn’t noticed and assumed both were just in bad moods.

Lan Yuyue stuffed the phone into Xia Wan’s hand: “Take it over and let the little childhood friend vent a bit.”

Xia Wan looked at the phone, looked at her bestie, and then at her childhood friend: “She’s your stepsister after all, is this necessary?”

Xia Wan knew Lan Ranxing’s temper. Normally, her words easily offended people, and when she was unhappy, she could practically infuriate someone to death.

Lan Ranxing’s performance today was already considered extremely restrained. She was just squatting at the door looking aggrieved. On any other day, she would have started blasting long ago.

“Consider it my apology.”

“Then I won’t be polite.” Xia Wan was just thinking about how to coax Lan Ranxing; she also liked having a convenient scapegoat.

Outside the hot pot restaurant, there was now one more mushroom.

Lan Yuyue blanched and ate. The smell from the spicy pot side drifted over. She sniffed it, and her chopsticks, as if possessed, picked up a piece of meat and put it into the spicy pot. When the meat coated in red oil came out of the pot, Lan Yuyue already regretted it.

She smelled it—so spicy. Staring at the meat, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and stuffed the palm-sized thin slice of meat into her mouth.

The pungent spice was stimulating, as if Lan Ranxing were hiding in her oral cavity, not restraining her temper but venting her emotions.

She covered her mouth, wanting to spit it out, and scanned the tabletop for tissues. Ahe wanted to destroy the evidence of her crime.

“What’s wrong?” Xia Wan pulled out a chair and sat down, with Lan Ranxing sitting beside her.

Four eyes stared at her. Lan Yuyue chewed a few times quickly. The meat carried a choking stimulus, traveling all the way down her esophagus and into her stomach.

It was kicking and punching all the way down. Lan Yuyue felt like her ears were spitting fire, perhaps she could fry an egg on them.

Her cheeks were flush red, her ears looked like they were about to drip blood, and her neck was also dyed with a rosy glow.

“No… nothing, it was just too hot.” Lan Yuyue pretended to fan her mouth.

Lan Ranxing blurted out: “You’re such a grown adult and you don’t even know how to eat…”

Under the table, Xia Wan kicked Lan Ranxing and gave her a glare. Peace had been hard-won.

Xia Wan blanched another piece of meat. When she put it into Lan Yuyue’s bowl, the red oil on Lan Yuyue’s chopsticks emitted an inviting glow. She looked at Lan Yuyue teasingly.

Lan Yuyue knit her brows slightly, signaling her to shut up, and continued to eat as if nothing had happened.

The red oil on the chopsticks entered Lan Yuyue’s mouth. Combined with the still-hot meat, the irritability that had just quieted down in her mouth surged back again.

Lan Yuyue grabbed the plum juice very urgently. The newly filled plum juice sloshed, and her white dress was stained with color.

Across from her, Lan Ranxing silently kept her mouth shut and lowered her head to eat, not daring to speak.

Thinking about the bad thing she had just done, she felt a bit guilty. Added to the fact that Lan Yuyue hadn’t snapped back at her when she had been mouthed off just now, her guilt intensified.

Taking a glance at the steadily increasing battery percentage on Lan Yuyue’s phone, she mentally prayed that the stepsister would find Lan Yuyue a bit later.

It was only when Xia Wan pulled her to leave that she noticed the black patch on Lan Yuyue’s chest.

“What are you looking at!” Lan Yuyue glared at Lan Ranxing, who kept staring at her chest. That look—if you didn’t know better, you’d think she wanted to strip her naked.

Being snapped at, Lan Ranxing felt she was back in form. Her guilt faded, and her mouth took the lead.

“Looking at how flat your chest is. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was looking at your back.” As she spoke, Lan Ranxing puffed out her own chest, which wasn’t much better than Lan Yuyue’s.

“Heh.” Lan Yuyue poked Lan Ranxing’s chest. The sensation wasn’t much softer than when she usually poked herself. She praised, “Wow, this is so big~ Did it flatten out because you’re lying down?”

As Lan Ranxing took a step back, Lan Yuyue took a step forward.

Lan Ranxing’s delayed guilt returned again. In her ears echoed the foul-mouthed words of that stepsister. She felt a quiet pity for Lan Yuyue and decided to endure it a little longer.

Lan Yuyue was already heartbroken over her little dress that she was wearing for the first time. Lan Ranxing had recklessly crashed into her. Seeing that Lan Ranxing didn’t snap back, she pinned Lan Ranxing into a corner. Her hands went behind her, unceremoniously stroking Lan Ranxing’s back.

Lan Yuyue kept getting closer to Lan Ranxing. She could feel the person in her arms turning rigid, her breathing halting, and she could even hear the quickened heartbeat.

She gave Lan Ranxing’s back a couple of firm strokes. She leaned closer, pressed closer, and her breath settled by Lan Ranxing’s ear.

She watched as Lan Ranxing’s ears turned red bit by bit and the fine hairs on her cheeks quivered. Maliciously, she slowly blew air against Lan Ranxing’s ear.

The person she had trapped breathed rapidly, her heartbeat felt like it was about to burst out of the ground.

“Your chest isn’t as good as your back either~”

Lan Ranxing violently pushed Lan Yuyue away: “Are you sick!”

Lan Yuyue’s body fell backward. Lan Ranxing rushed forward to grab her, but her hand caught only air.

Xia Wan caught Lan Yuyue as she fell back. Lan Yuyue clung to Xia Wan with tearful eyes: “Wanwan, she pushed me, and even said I’m sick~”

“You!” Lan Ranxing’s guilt over pushing her vanished again.

Meeting Xia Wan’s disappointed eyes, Lan Ranxing followed behind the two like a child who had done something wrong.

Arriving at the car, Xia Wan spoke first to assert dominance: “Both of you, get the hell into the back seat!”

In the back seat, the two sat far apart. Lan Yuyue watched the heavy traffic outside. The streaks of neon lights were dazzling. Her eyes were a bit sore, yet she kept watching.

“I’ll send you back first.” Xia Wan in the front seat said abruptly. Though no name was used, everyone knew who she was talking to.

“No. I’m running away from home today.” Speaking of running away from home, Lan Ranxing remembered the fact that her parents were starting a smurf account again, and gloom settled back into her heart—even though she had just forgotten about it.

Lan Yuyue stopped looking out the window and admired the interior decorations: “How old are you that you’re still playing ‘running away from home’?”

Lan Ranxing shot back righteously: “Aren’t you?!”

“I’m certainly not. I came here just to ride in Wanwan’s new car, right Wanwan?”

Xia Wan in the front seat looked at the road washed by rain. From time to time, there were puddles of water reflecting the streetlights and obstructing her vision. Encountering an unrefined driver with their high beams on, her hand frantically flashed her lights until the person across finally realized and switched to low beams.

Xia Wan took a few deep breaths: “If you two don’t want three lives lost in one car, then shut up!”

When she opened the front door, Xia Wan regretted it. she should have just taken these two Great Buddhas to a hotel and opened a room for each of them.

Lan Ranxing familiarly took out her slippers, entered the house first, and sat grandly on the sofa, humming a song.

Xia Wan gave the guest slippers to Lan Yuyue. Lan Yuyue was more reserved: “Wanwan, are Uncle and Auntie not home?”

“They went on a trip.” Lan Ranxing answered first.

Lan Yuyue looked around the apartment, which was less than two hundred square meters but neatly organized.

“Wanwan, where am I sleeping today?”

Lan Ranxing, slumped on the sofa, pricked up her ears.

Xia Wan’s home had four rooms: Xia’s mom and dad stayed in one, Xia Wan stayed in one, there was a study, and the guest room had almost become Lan Ranxing’s exclusive room.

Xia Wan said nonchalantly: “Sleeping in my room with me, obviously.”

“Okay.”

“No way.”

Xia Wan massaged her forehead and said crossly: “If she doesn’t sleep with me, is she supposed to sleep with you?!”