Sword Among Us

“There aren’t many snacks in here, so you’ll have to bear with what we have.” Happy brought out a few bags of red ginger and the snacks that the Three Lonely Wolves had left from the bedroom and placed them on the dining table.

“Xin, pour us some water, will you?”

Happy noticed that when he placed the snacks on the dining table, Xu Yao’s eyes instantly fixed themselves on the small bags of red ginger, but she said nothing.

“I didn’t expect that Xin’s man would be so caring. Xin, if you dump him, remember to tell me.” Xu Xin’s friends seemed to only have noticed at that moment that Happy was actually being very close to them.

“What are you thinking about, you crazy girl?”

“But what even are these snacks? Drunkard Melon Seeds and Drunkard Peanuts? Don’t you have cotton candy?”

“You’ve just eaten a full meal, you know? And you’re still thinking of eating?”

“Whether you eat it or not, I don’t care. I’m just bringing it back to boast about it.”

The girls attacked each other.

Happy intentionally cast his gaze outside the window, and through the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Xu Yao had poured herself a cup of hot water from the water dispenser. She put some red ginger inside, picked up the cup, and the nervousness and uneasiness on her face faded by a large margin.

“What is that? It’s so red. It looks really tasty.”

“Red ginger water. My mother suffered from hemorrhage when she carried me. Now, she seems to still be ill because of it. When I was young, I was weak, and the elderly said that you can replenish your vitality if you eat this. I got better when I sniffed some red ginger water, and in time, I grew used to it,” Xu Yao explained while hugging the cup. While she spoke, she sniffed the fragrance coming out of the red ginger water.

The other four girls, aside from Xu Xin, were all very sensitive girls. They could tell that Xu Yao seemed to have become much more energetic than before. When they heard her words, sentimental and pitying looks appeared on their faces.

When they turned their heads around, they noticed Happy looking outside the window with an indifferent look. He seemed to be in a daze, and they could not help but be puzzled. “What a coincidence. Happy has red ginger as well.”

“That’s right, I never saw you bring out this stuff before, and I never saw you prepare snacks for the Three Lonely Wolves.” Xu Xin still did not notice that there was something off and stared at Happy seriously.

“If you don’t want to eat it, leave it. And here I am, being generous for once.”

Happy’s words immediately defeated the girls.

“You consider yourself generous with just a few bags of snacks?! You stingy millionaire! The world is so unreasonable!”

“That’s right! Bring him back to the university and let the people ridicule him in public! Hmph! You’re treating us this way even when there are so many beauties as your guests? Your standards are too low!”

“That’s right.” Xu Xin giggled on the side.

Xu Yao held her cup quietly, but she cracked a smile. She felt a little gloomy inside. Usually, boys would not hide red ginger in their bedrooms.

“Xin, have you washed the plates? Why are you helping them?” Happy did not show any pleasure or anger. He just reminded her languidly, and she cried out in surprise.

“Ah! I forgot to turn on the water!”

She jumped up from the couch and ran into the kitchen.

“What a clumsy girl, let’s hope she doesn’t break anything.”

Right when Happy muttered those words, the sound of a plate crashing and Xu Xin’s scream rang out from the kitchen.

Whoosh!

The girls looked at Happy as if they were staring at a monster!

“Really, good things never come, but bad things always do. Eat, I’ll go check.” Happy also felt tense, and he quickly ran into the kitchen.

Xu Xin was picking up the shattered pieces of the plate on the floor in a flurry of motion. When she saw Happy enter, she was distracted, and she cut herself on the finger. Red blood instantly poured out.

“Be careful.”

Happy felt tense. He rushed to Xu Xin and did not bother about how men were not supposed to touch women anymore. He grabbed Xu Xin’s hand and shoved it under the tap to clean her wound before he went into the bedroom to get a bandaid. He put it over her wound carefully.

Xu Xin’s face turned red. She pointed at the fluttering bands by her finger and asked curiously, “What kind of shape is this?” .

Happy answered instinctively. “This shape is rather eye-catching and will remind others that your hand is injured so that they will not bump into you carelessly.”

“Do you want to tie a butterfly knot as well? Why are you two so cheesy?”

The girls and Xu Yao had come to stand outside the kitchen at some point in time. They watched Happy being busy and Xu Xin blushing red with envious gazes, and so they teased them.

“Xu Xin, are you alright?”

Xu Yao was clearly much more reasonable than the other girls. She walked over to look at Xu Xin’s wound, and she immediately stared at the bandaid over her fair finger.

The bandaid was not the usual type. It was not the one that the person just wrapped around the wound. Instead, there were two flaps intersecting at the end, causing the bandaid to look like a red scarf.

Xu Yao was instantly stunned upon seeing it.

“Big Sis Yao Yao, do you think that this shape is very strange? Happy said that ‘This shape is rather eye-catching and will remind others that your hand is injured so that they will not bump into you carelessly.’ Isn’t that weird?” Xu Xin intentionally imitated Happy’s tone with her injured finger up, and she looked very mischievous.

“Alright, stop flaunting your lovely butterfly knot. We know that you’re very lovey-dovey with each other. Let’s go.”

“Oh, okay. You go first. I’ll clean up.”

“Don’t. Let me.” Happy sighed in resignation. “You’re injured. If I continue making you work, there’ll be a lot of people who will come causing trouble to me tomorrow.”

When the women heard it, they put on expressions that said that Happy was supposed to do this and that he was at least sensible.

Xu Xin shook her bandaged finger as a show. “Your bandaging skills are pretty good. I’m fine now.”

“I said it’s fine. I’ll wash the plates.” Happy rolled up his sleeves in a familiar motion, but he did not notice that Xu Yao, who had been staring at the bandaid over Xu Xin’s wound, noticed keenly that the way he rolled his sleeves was incredibly unique.

It was very similar to the way she did things when she did house work. She would first fold her sleeves three times before she pushed everything up.

It was so similar! Why was it so similar?!

Xu Yao finally realized that there were many details in her life that were very similar to those of Happy.

And Happy had also prepared red ginger. Could it really be a coincidence?

Xu Yao’s thoughts were a mess, and she stood with a dumbfounded expression. She did not even know what the people around her said later on.

In time though, she left the mysterious base together with the other girls.

*****

Once Xu Yao and the others left the apartment, Happy washed the plates while thinking about his actions. A soft sigh left his lips.

In the end, he could not help but bring out the red ginger. He had even let Xu Yao see the bandaid he used to cover Xu Xin’s wound unintentionally. Thankfully, it was just a tiny detail, so Xu Yao should not have realized anything.

While in his thoughts, Happy did not notice that Xu Xin had already quietly swept all the shattered pieces of the plate into the bin with a broom and stood behind him in a relaxed manner. She stared at the bandaid that looked like a necktie on her finger with a rarely seen flush as well as smugness on her face.

Her hands were on her hips while she watched Happy wash the plates seriously.

*****

After leaving, Xu Yao was filled with complicated emotions.

When she returned to the university, her phone vibrated a few times before she finally picked it up. The voice that came over was very deep. “Why did you only pick up after so long? By the way, did you gain anything when you went over to Happy’s today? Does Happy have any plans for the future?”

Xu Yao was silent for a while before she lowered her head and inhaled the fragrance from the red ginger water in her cup. Then, she raised her beautiful face. “We didn’t talk about anything related to the game.”