Beauty Snake - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Ji Yunfei Kept the Rose That Was Snapped in Half.

The rose, snapped clean in half, lay quietly on the ground. Its petals were no longer whole, scattered haphazardly across the concrete.

Ji Yunfei reached out, wanting to gather the fallen pieces. But just as her hand moved, a night breeze swept toward her. The petals caught the wind and swirled away, dancing out of reach and denying her the chance to collect them.

Seeing this, Ji Yunfei froze, watching the fragments fly further and further away until they vanished completely from her sight.

She couldn’t describe the taste in her heart, but she felt a sharp sting at the bridge of her nose. Why?

Water shimmered in her eyes, and a few crystalline drops rolled down her cheeks, splashing onto the ground. She lowered her head and wiped the moisture from her face. Following the trail of her own tears, she noticed small wet patches on the cement…

Some were dark, some light… and they hadn’t dried yet.

Besides her own tears… whose were these?

“A-Fei? Are you okay?”

Her left shoulder felt a sudden weight as the warmth of a palm climbed onto her. She turned to meet Su Yao’s concerned gaze.

“I’m fine… let’s go. Walk with me around the lake for a bit.”

Ji Yunfei sniffled, her nose slightly red. She gently removed Su Yao’s hand from her shoulder and picked up the single mangled rose from the ground, tucking it carefully into her bag.

Perhaps because her emotions were such a tangled mess, she failed to notice that as she picked up the rose, the snake scale on her chest flared with a subtle heat…

“That rose… Xie Yin gave it to you?”

“I saw it earlier… from the restaurant.”

“Mhm.”

“What do you plan to do with it?”

“I don’t know… for now, I’ll just keep it with me.”

When Su Yao asked about the flowers, Ji Yunfei truly had no plan. To her, the only thing that mattered was that one broken rose. As for the rest of the cart… she didn’t care what happened to them. They weren’t important.

Ji Yunfei stood up, took the handle of the flower cart, and walked side-by-side with Su Yao along the lakeside boulevard.

“Miss! Wait a moment!”

As they reached the center of the path, a loud female voice rang out from behind. Ji Yunfei glanced around, confirming there was no one else nearby, before turning back.

A petite girl with double “space buns” stood about two meters away, panting heavily as if she had been chasing them for quite a distance. Seeing them stop, the girl caught her breath and looked at Ji Yunfei with bright, sparkling eyes.

“Miss… this might be a bit offensive to ask… but are you selling this cart of flowers?”

“I… I made my girlfriend angry…”

“And there aren’t any flower shops open nearby…”

“So…”

The girl’s voice trailed off into a mumble, her hands twisting nervously behind her back.

Ji Yunfei saw her awkwardness and her eyes softened. She pushed the cart toward the girl.

“I’ll give them to you.”

“These flowers are no longer of use to me… Make sure you make things right with your girlfriend.”

The girl stared in disbelief for a second before a huge grin broke across her face. She rushed forward and gave Ji Yunfei a big hug.

“Thank you so much! But I can’t take them for nothing!”

“I hope you two are happy every day!”

The girl stuffed a wad of cash into Ji Yunfei’s arms before she could say another word. With a wave, she grabbed the cart and ran toward the lakeside plaza.

Ji Yunfei watched her go until she stopped behind another girl with long black hair. The black-haired girl had her arms crossed, her expression hidden. The girl with buns reached out and covered the other’s eyes; the black-haired girl swatted her hand away, turned around, and saw the cart of roses.

Ji Yunfei couldn’t see their faces or hear them, but she saw them eventually link arms and walk away together with the cart. Her thoughts drifted, projecting herself and Xie Yin into those two fading figures. A moment later, she snapped out of it.

“Really… ah… Ji Yunfei, you spineless thing.”

“Can one Xie Yin make you lose your mind like this?”

“This is crazy—”

She patted her head, her hand instinctively reaching into her bag to touch the mangled rose.

Can a broken rose ever bloom again?

Over the next few days, Ji Yunfei adhered to the principle of never leaving the house, living like a “salted fish” until the day of the class reunion.

During this time, she frequently thought of that night—the scattered petals, the wet spots on the pavement… they hammered at her heart constantly. Xie Yin hadn’t contacted her. Ji Yunfei had considered taking the initiative to lay all her cards on the table. But every time, she would open the chat with ‘Serpent-Xie Beauty’, only to close it again.

She hated her own tendency to retreat, and she hated Xie Yin’s effortless, invisible “flirting” that always managed to shake her resolve. Yet, seeing that her avoidance was pushing Xie Yin further away, she found she couldn’t accept that either.

Truly a contradictory, insecure, and cowardly person…

“A-Fei… perk up. We’re going in.”

Noticing her mind was wandering again, Su Yao poked her before they entered the hotel private room.

“Ah? Oh… let’s go, Sister Yao.”

Startled, Ji Yunfei quickly straightened her clothes, nodded to Su Yao, and pushed open the heavy door.

Inside were faces both familiar and strange from her memory. Seeing them enter, a man with glasses stood up first, looking pleasantly surprised.

“Sister Yao! Ji Yunfei!”

“Long time no see!”

“Come, sit!”

The man led them to their seats. Ji Yunfei looked at him, unable to place who he was. She leaned close to Su Yao and whispered, “Who is this…?”

“It’s Li Tian… my little lackey from back then. Don’t you remember?”

At Su Yao’s reminder, an image flashed in Ji Yunfei’s mind: a rebellious boy with a red mohawk and a wild look in his eyes. She looked at the polite man in glasses and then back to her memory. She couldn’t help but click her tongue.

Puberty really is a second chance at life…

“Come on, everyone! The whole crew is here!”

“I’ll start us off with a drink!”

A girl with short hair raised her glass, drawing everyone’s attention. Ji Yunfei found her face familiar, yet couldn’t match it to anyone. She began to wonder if she had developed face blindness.

“The Class Monitor has spoken! Come on! Drink up!”

“Class Monitor…?”

Hearing the others, Ji Yunfei looked closely at the woman leading the toast. Finally, she matched the face—Li Qi, the monitor. But the Li Qi from college had hair down to her waist and spoke in a whisper. She was a world away from this woman Downing a drink with such gusto.

Mhm… girls change just as much as boys…

“Can you drink?” “Um… a little.”

Su Yao interrupted her shock, thoughtfully placing coconut juice and a low-alcohol cocktail in front of her. Once Ji Yunfei made her choice, Su Yao opened the cocktail and poured it into a tall glass.

Ji Yunfei took the glass, stood with Su Yao to clink with the group, and finished the drink.

“Mmm… this—let me introduce you all. My girlfriend, Lin Lin!”

Perhaps because Li Qi had already been drinking before they arrived, her face was flushed and her eyes were hazy. With an uncontrollable grin, she pulled the sweet-looking girl beside her into a hug and introduced her loudly.

“Ohh~ Another happy couple~” the crowd teased in unison, their voices full of banter but mostly blessings.

“Sorry, Qi-Qi drank too much… I’ll take her out for a bit,” Lin Lin said, her own cheeks turning pink as she hurriedly led the stumbling Li Qi out the door.

With the ice broken, the room erupted into chatter.

“Sister Yao! Even I’ve found someone, surely you haven’t…” Li Tian poked his head over, his eyes full of pride. His words made Su Yao’s fist tighten.

“Back off. Mind your own business,” Su Yao replied with a fake smile, brandishing a fist. Li Tian immediately backed down, running away while laughing. Before he vanished, he yelled back:

“It’s okay if you don’t say it now, hehe!”

Ji Yunfei laughed at the exchange, but her curiosity was piqued. In the midst of the conversation, she downed a few more drinks. Despite the low alcohol content, she started to feel a bit lightheaded.

She propped her chin on her hand, squinted, and poked Su Yao’s back. “Sister Yao… let me in on the secret too…”

As the words left her mouth, she felt the person in front of her stiffen. Su Yao turned slowly, her eyes holding an emotion Ji Yunfei couldn’t quite read. Su Yao sighed, and her warm breath, smelling faintly of alcohol, brushed against Ji Yunfei’s ear.

“You can ask all you want when we play the King’s Game at the bar later…”

“Don’t be impatient.”

“Mmm… okay then.”

“I’m going to the restroom first.”

Ji Yunfei’s first thought was to splash some water on her face to sober up. If she was drunk now, she’d never survive the party later.

As she wobbled toward the restroom, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure flashing past the corner.

“I must be seeing things… right?”

Despite the thought, her heart hammered. She hurried toward the corner where the figure had disappeared. She looked around, but there was no one there.

Was it you again? Xie Yin…

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