My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

“You two talk. We won’t bother you,” Bai Lu said, then left with Su Nian’an and Xu Youyou.

By the time Xia Xingye wanted to ask them to stay, they were already gone. She was a little afraid to look at Jiang Yingyue. With Jiang Yingyue standing in front of her, she had no choice but to take a deep breath and reassure herself that everything would be fine as long as she explained clearly.

She looked up to meet Jiang Yingyue’s eyes but was defeated the moment their eyes met.

Jiang Yingyue looked at her with a sadness Xia Xingye had never seen before. Jiang Yingyue was always gentle, and though she was a woman of few words, her gentle demeanor had never changed, except now, when she exuded an air of profound sadness.

“Sister,” Xia Xingye whispered, opening her mouth to explain, but afraid that her explanation would only make Jiang Yingyue sadder.

“What do you want to say?” Jiang Yingyue didn’t avoid the issue but asked her directly.

Although she was still sad, she didn’t back down: “Say whatever you want. I’m listening.”

No matter how much Jiang Yingyue didn’t want to think that way, she had to accept the truth: Xia Xingye suddenly avoided her not because she had done anything wrong, but because Xia Xingye felt they were not a couple and realized she had crossed a line, which was why she was avoiding her.

The track field was dark, with no lights on, and even the moon had hidden behind the clouds. It was almost impossible to see the person in front of her, yet Xia Xingye could feel Jiang Yingyue’s intense gaze on her.

As much as Xia Xingye had longed for Jiang Yingyue’s attention before, she now wished Jiang Yingyue would ignore her.

After waiting for a long time and still not hearing Xia Xingye speak, Jiang Yingyue’s voice floated across: “I won’t pester you. Since you feel we are only ordinary friends, then from now on… we are ordinary friends.”

Hearing Jiang Yingyue say this, Xia Xingye should have felt relieved, but for some reason, her heart felt inexplicably heavy. But Jiang Yingyue didn’t bring up the subject again. Instead, she said: “I came to drop someone off at the school and thought I’d check on you. Since you’re fine, I’ll be going now.”

“Wait!” Xia Xingye grabbed Jiang Yingyue’s hand. Her body acted faster than her mind; before she could figure out a reason to keep Jiang Yingyue, she had already grasped her hand.

By then, the moon had come out. Jiang Yingyue looked at her held hand but didn’t speak.

Xia Xingye thought for a long time before she could scrape a question from her mind: “Who did you drop off at school? Do I know her?”

“You know her. The driver from the other day, Mi An. She was dropping off a friend at school but accidentally got hurt, so she asked me to help bring her.”

Hearing “the driver,” Xia Xingye immediately remembered who it was. Mi An was simply too distinctive; even her short hair didn’t hide her beauty. It was a beauty unrelated to the superficial world, an immediate sense of personal charm that radiated from her, even though they had only spent a brief moment with Mi An.

“Then be careful on your way back, Sister.” Xia Xingye slowly released Jiang Yingyue’s hand. She really couldn’t think of any reason to keep Jiang Yingyue there.

“I’m not going back,” Jiang Yingyue put the hand Xia Xingye had held behind her back, her fingers curling and uncurling slightly. “Her neighbor is feeling a little unwell, and she asked me to go and check on them after dropping off her friend.”

Xia Xingye was confused and asked: “Why does an unwell person need you to go and check?”

Jiang Yingyue said calmly: “She knows what I do.”

Xia Xingye pursed her lips and remained silent.

Last time, Mi An clearly didn’t know Jiang Yingyue’s identity, but after only a short time apart from Jiang Yingyue, Mi An knew what Jiang Yingyue did.

She felt uneasy and asked: “Do you have to go right now? It’s very late.”

For some reason, she didn’t want Jiang Yingyue to get too close to others. She couldn’t pinpoint the reason, and besides, she had no right to interfere with Jiang Yingyue, as this was Jiang Yingyue’s work.

The more she tried to persuade herself, the more she felt she was making excuses. She hadn’t been this anxious about Jiang Yingyue’s work before.

An intuition told her that Jiang Yingyue wasn’t just going to work; something else might happen. But she couldn’t say what that something was, nor could she use it as a reason to stop Jiang Yingyue from going to work.

Xia Xingye’s conflicted feelings were clearly written on her face, and Jiang Yingyue saw them clearly, yet she acted as if she hadn’t noticed, merely saying: “I’m leaving.” She didn’t linger after saying that, quickly turning and walking away.

Watching Jiang Yingyue’s receding figure, Xia Xingye’s heart twisted into a knot. She irritably ran her hands through her hair, wishing she could dig out her heart and see what she was truly thinking. She could feel that she cared deeply about Jiang Yingyue, but she was unwilling to admit their relationship.

For a moment, Xia Xingye considered going to her mother and asking her what was going on. But that thought vanished moments later. She was an adult now and couldn’t rely on asking her mother about everything, especially since her mother was also very busy.

Xia Xingye didn’t go to anyone in the end. After reaching the dorm entrance, she texted her roommates saying she wouldn’t be returning to the dorm tonight and then left. She had packed up her belongings when she moved out of the dorm before. These days, because she was avoiding Jiang Yingyue, she had bought a new set of necessities for the dorm.

Xia Xingye practically ran to the school gate. Just as she was about to hail a taxi, she remembered Jiang Yingyue saying she wasn’t coming home tonight and was going to check on Mi An’s neighbor.

Xia Xingye didn’t know where Mi An lived and hadn’t kept or asked for Mi An’s contact information before. Now, to know where Jiang Yingyue was, she had to ask Jiang Yingyue.

Should I ask Jiang Yingyue?

This thought spun around in Xia Xingye’s mind.

If she asked, would Jiang Yingyue think there was a possibility between them? But if she didn’t ask, would it make her seem too heartless?

If they were just friends…

Xia Xingye frowned. If they were just friends, asking shouldn’t matter, right? She persuaded herself this way and finally sent a message to Jiang Yingyue:

“Sister, where are you right now? Can you send me your location?”

Xia Xingye considered many possibilities, such as Jiang Yingyue refusing her, not telling her where she was going, after all, they were just ordinary friends. But to her surprise, Jiang Yingyue sent her a location, along with another message: “I’m going here. Are you coming too?”

Xia Xingye held the phone in one hand, her other foot nervously kicking the ground twice, before she tentatively sent a message asking: “Can I come?”

“Yes.”

Xia Xingye turned around when she heard a voice and was surprised to see Jiang Yingyue. She asked: “Sister, why are you here?”

“I haven’t gotten a taxi yet,” Jiang Yingyue explained. “Aren’t you coming with me? Do you want to take a taxi yourself or ride with me?”

Jiang Yingyue seemed to have returned to the gentle, easy-going person she remembered. Her words were completely natural, without any hint of the unhappiness from earlier when Xia Xingye said they weren’t a couple. It was as if they had truly reverted to before, truly being ordinary friends, as Jiang Yingyue had said.

“Let’s take one car,” Xia Xingye mumbled.

Neither of them spoke after getting into the car. Jiang Yingyue was busy with her phone, occasionally sending messages.

Xia Xingye secretly glanced over, biting her lip. Jiang Yingyue hadn’t been so engrossed in her phone before. Was she making new friends now?

The thought of Mi An immediately put Xia Xingye on alert, her defenses rising.

Did Mi An really only ask Jiang Yingyue to come because her neighbor was unwell? Was it not for some other motive?

Although she claimed that she and Jiang Yingyue were just ordinary friends and hadn’t crossed any lines, she acknowledged that Jiang Yingyue was excellent, and if she wanted a romantic partner, it wouldn’t be difficult for her. She also believed that Jiang Yingyue was single only because she chose to be, not because she couldn’t find anyone.

Jiang Yingyue didn’t stop using her phone the entire way, clearly chatting with someone. Jiang Yingyue’s typing speed wasn’t fast, but precisely because it wasn’t fast, Xia Xingye felt she was talking to the other person for a particularly long time.

Xia Xingye admitted that she was indeed jealous, but she still didn’t think her jealousy was related to a romantic relationship. She felt she was only jealous because she didn’t want her friend to get too close to others.

Jiang Yingyue didn’t know what Xia Xingye was thinking, and she didn’t want to investigate right now. She was indeed going to work. Because she had met Mi An before, Jiang Yingyue didn’t hold back when talking to her. When Mi An asked her what she did, she honestly told her she was a Daoist.

Upon hearing that she was a Daoist, Mi An didn’t question her like most people. Instead, she asked very excitedly if Jiang Yingyue could help her with something.

When they arrived at Mi An’s complex, they saw Mi An waiting at the entrance.

Mi An was relieved to see Jiang Yingyue. She went up to hug Jiang Yingyue and said excitedly: “You’re finally here. I thought you’d be too busy tonight.”

As she spoke, someone pulled her away. Xia Xingye pulled Jiang Yingyue away, then hugged Mi An herself, patted her shoulder, and said: “Sister and I are here. Tell us what’s going on quickly so we can solve it and go home early.”

Mi An was stunned by Xia Xingye’s series of actions and was still a little confused after the hug, but when she heard Xia Xingye say to hurry up and resolve the issue, she led the way, saying: “I told you about my neighbor before. She has leukemia.”

Jiang Yingyue nodded. She did remember Mi An mentioning it. Mi An had even cut her hair to sell to raise money for her neighbor’s leukemia treatment.

“But lately, I feel like it’s not just simple leukemia,” Mi An said, taking out her phone and showing Jiang Yingyue a picture. “These are her medical records.”

Xia Xingye took Mi An’s phone and handed it to Jiang Yingyue. She looked at the medical records with Jiang Yingyue. The records contained a little girl’s information, stating that no problems had been found in the check-up.

Both of them looked at Mi An simultaneously.

Mi An explained: “It’s because the check-up showed no problems, but the bleeding always won’t stop, which is why they said she has leukemia. Up until now, we’ve thought it was just faulty hospital equipment that couldn’t detect it. But no one else has had a malfunction with the equipment.”

At this point, she paused and said: “After I met you two that day, I met someone who told me that there were unclean things around me. Although it sounds incredible, I’m starting to wonder if that’s actually the case. If so, is there someone who can fix it?”

So, when she learned that Jiang Yingyue was a Daoist, she wasn’t afraid. Instead, she was very happy, thinking that maybe her little neighbor could be saved.