Band Girl Drink Mixing Action

Aine sweatdropped. No, that couldn't be right? If Xiaoxiang was the Madam Xiang, why didn't she react at all when she saw me? If so, she must have seen my picture on SNS...

I don't want that kind of thing! On the first day of my fresh start, I met someone who knew about my dark past, and even acted with her all day. This is just too much of a trick of fate!

However, at this moment, Aiyin surprisingly did not have too much anxiety and panic that she might have been exposed. This might be because Qingchuan Xiang had given her the impression of being almost tolerant and approachable throughout the day, which made her feel that it seemed that there was no problem if Qingchuan Xiang knew about it, and the other party did not seem like the kind of person who would tell other people's secrets everywhere.

Secondly, I felt a resonance with what Qingchuan Xiang said to Xiao Deng. I also didn't want to stagnate. Although I avoided the original problem, I was also working hard to start over.

"Okay, I'm done changing, you guys can come back."

After hearing what Qingchuan Xiang said, Aine and Deng dared to turn their heads slowly. Aine even squinted her eyes, but left a gap, as if she was afraid of seeing something but also looking forward to seeing something.

But unfortunately, Qingchuan Xiang only changed into a very ordinary outfit at this time, which was the same shirt and pants she usually wore. The only exception was that the pants were shorts of about the same length as her previous school uniform skirt, which fully showed off her youthful and healthy slender calves.

Aine also noticed that the bag that originally contained a change of clothes was now used to hold wet clothes, and it could be seen that not only the outer clothes but also the clothes inside seemed to have been changed.

Xiaoxiang is a sports bra person...

Strange knowledge grew in Aine’s mind.

Xiao Deng was much more innocent. The first thing she did after turning around was to run to her schoolbag and took out a small iron box that was very familiar to Qingchuan Xiang. Then she took out a few band-aids from it and handed them to Qingchuan Xiang without saying a word.

"Band-Aid? Ah, Xiaoxiang, are you injured somewhere?" Aiyin also hurried over, went around behind Qingchuan Xiang, and checked the back of the head and other places that were most likely to have been hit.

"I'm fine. The only problem is that I sweat a lot, which is normal. You see, I bring a change of clothes with me every day." The reason why I didn't wear my favorite trousers was because I needed to be able to stuff my clothes into my bag properly. Trousers would take up too much space.

"That Band-Aid is for... ah, the penguin pattern, so cute! I love penguins."

This sentence could be said to have instantly triggered a switch in the lamp. Xiao Deng turned around with a rare look of excitement, which could be called that of a man. She showed the band-aid in front of Aine and said, "This is a bearded penguin!"

"Beard?" Aine didn't expect Deng to suddenly turn towards her and be so excited. She subconsciously repeated Deng's words.

"Here on his face, isn't there a beard? It's on the Adélie penguin, the white-browed penguin too, and here there's also..."

"Good, good," he said, "introducing the penguin with all his might." Seeing that Deng had indeed fallen into his own world again, Aiyin quickly spoke up, "Didn't Xiao Deng want to give the Band-Aid to Xiao Xiang?"

"Ah." Deng paused as he searched for the iron box, then said to Xiang embarrassedly, "I forgot..."

"It's okay. I wasn't injured in the first place and needed a Band-Aid." Qingchuan Xiang waved his hand, but still accepted the Band-Aid that Deng handed to him.

Sure enough, after Qingchuan Xiang accepted it, Deng was visibly happier. Could it be that he had forgotten that Qingchuan Xiang had just refused to join the band? Aiyin thought helplessly, was Xiao Deng a little too easy to fool?

"Ano, these are Adelie penguins and king penguins."

"Do I have a share?" Aine looked at those sparkling amber eyes and also retracted her gaze. "Xiao Deng loves penguins so much."

"I think it's cute..." Xiao Deng said this with an inexplicable lack of confidence. "I'm just collecting. I think I just like searching."

"Oh, that's true. I'll buy a cute pen even if I don't use it."

Qingchuan Xiang also agreed, folding his arms and nodding. "I'd buy all kinds of drinks, even if they tasted very similar. Besides being a first-time buyer, I'd also buy all kinds of utensils and cups if I saw something interesting."

Deng, who was blamed for liking insects since childhood, was able to have his hobby recognized by both of them at the same time.

So happy...

I was fooled... / Xiao Deng was really fooled completely——

The other two people looked at the lamp of happiness and thought so.

Chapter 21 Love

Finally, after leaving the karaoke bar, Qingchuan Xiang and Aine walked Deng to the tram station together. Deng even turned around and said goodbye to them seriously:

“Today, I feel very happy.”

Xiao Deng also seemed unable to remember to "question" Qingchuan Xiang again why he didn't join the band. Of course, apart from Xiao Deng's way of thinking that could only focus on one thing, the biggest reason was that Qingchuan Xiang was always constantly discussing various topics to guide him.

After watching the lights enter the tram station and the figures gradually disappear, Aine and Kiyokawa Xiang continued to walk forward side by side. Aine was going to another station, and Kiyokawa Xiang's home was nearby, but he did not go home directly, but walked with Aine.

"If you want to ask anything, just ask." In front of Aine, Qingchuan Xiang was even more open than he was with Deng, with whom he had spent more time.

Aine looked at the mysterious girl beside her who was strolling with her in the leisurely glow of the setting sun. She didn't look stunning at first glance. Although beautiful, she was not ostentatious. Only after focusing her eyes on her could her beauty like a lotus emerging from the water gradually unfold, revealing her peculiar and interesting personality.

She is very polite and always speaks the right social words when you are with her, making people feel friendly but not too offensive. However, she often shows her quirky cunning. Occasionally, a joke that seems to cross the line and is a little too intimate will make everyone who thinks she is a well-behaved and lovely guy at a loss and their heart beat fast.

And when you think she is just a lively young lady, she will vaguely reveal her intentions to you.

That's right, scheming. As Aine and Kiyokawa Xiang were delivering the lanterns to the station, Aine reflected carefully on this short but fulfilling day, and discovered many rather "deliberate" aspects of it.

People who are not sensitive enough to social interactions will not be able to notice the feeling of being guided all the time. They will think that everyone is just having an ordinary chat, not realizing that they are unknowingly following the pace of others.

As it happened, Aine was a very sociable person, and she noticed that Qingchuan Xiang was always intentionally or unintentionally steering the topic towards the "band" today.

Kiyokawa Xiang was obviously very skilled in this. Every time she brought up a topic, she was quite natural and did not make people feel awkward. What made Aine suspicious was the part where Kiyokawa Xiang preached about the lamp.

Only at that time did Xiang reveal an almost tough side, which gave Aine the feeling that a certain plan had reached a point where it had to be corrected forcefully rather than being realized through gentle guidance.

Xiang really wanted to form a band with Deng. This was Aiyin's guess.

At this time, it seemed that Qingchuan Xiang also understood what he had seen, and he actually gave himself the initiative to ask questions.

Aiyin opened her mouth and asked, "Why do you want me and Xiao Deng to form a band?" She wanted to ask that, but decided not to.

In fact, in Aine's opinion, what Qingchuan Xiang did was nothing at all. Leading a conversation, in fact, she often did this when she was in junior high school. At that time, maybe Aine wanted others to praise her more, or to get recognition from others.

Even today, in order to have a better start over, doesn't Aine have any intention of "guiding" others?

So this scheme is actually irrelevant. What really makes Aine curious is why Kiyokawa Xiang did this. It is not why Kiyokawa Xiang wants Aine and Deng to form a band, but why Xiang can use such schemes for others.

To put it bluntly, although Aine also likes the cute Deng, her original purpose was for herself. If she could form a band with people like Deng and Xiang, there is no doubt that she would be able to quickly attract everyone's attention. In the final analysis, it was for herself.

And yet, after successfully convincing herself and the Deng band, Qingchuan Xiang chose to walk away? What could she gain from this? Could it be that she really only acted for Xiao Deng the entire time?

But in the end, Aine gave up asking this question, as it involved too private inner thoughts. Even though she almost saw Qingchuan Xiang's naked body today, she had only known Qingchuan Xiang for one day... But maybe they had known each other for a long time, if Qingchuan Xiang was really Mrs. Xiang.

"Xiao Xiang, um...what's your online name? On social apps like Line." Aiyin asked this question in a very low voice with some embarrassment.

Qingchuan Xiang blinked. She obviously didn't expect that when she had almost made it clear that she was willing to reveal some things to Aine, Aine actually asked this question in the end.

As expected, Aine has a great personality.

Qingchuan Xiang pretended to be serious, holding his chin with his right hand, and deliberately lengthened his tone: "What's your name——"

"Xiao Xiang, stop teasing me like this. You said I can ask you."

"Huff." Qingchuan Xiang didn't continue to pretend, "Aine should have guessed it, my online name is 'Mrs. Xiang'."

"Oh, is that so..." Aine was visibly depressed, which was rare since Xiao Deng had been in charge of this task all day long.

"I thought you would deliberately avoid this matter. I was thinking that I would only reveal it when you asked me to be your Line friend."

"...Because it's something I'll have to face sooner or later. Since I've already avoided that terrible experience in London, if I continue to ignore Xiao Xiang in the 'present', then my determination to start over will become a joke."

Qingchuan Xiang suddenly stopped and stared at Aine's face.

"What's wrong?" Aiyin was stared at so directly that she subconsciously looked into Qingchuan Xiang's eyes, but she embarrassedly avoided him when Xiang's gaze remained unchanged.

It's really hard not to be moved when being stared at by such a pair of beautiful eyes like the sea.

"I was just thinking that Aine might be quite my type."

“Hmm, is that so…eh?” Aine’s face flushed red, and her hands waved uncontrollably in the air, “Is this a confession?”

"Yeah--?"

Qingchuan Xiang laughed and answered Aine's question in a questioning tone. Then he stopped explaining and ran in front of Aine and walked quickly.

For Kiyokawa Sho, although Aine took an evasive approach to the problem, she finally chose not to be trapped by the past, but to continue moving forward. This choice just matched Kiyokawa Sho's obsession with "rejecting boring stagnation and maintaining mobility."

So, Qingchuan Xiang thought that he must really like Aine.

"Wait, explain clearly—I'm not as easily fooled as Xiao Deng!"

Chapter 22: Nectar-like

After returning home, Aine said hello to her mother who was cooking. The mother and daughter happily talked about how smooth the first day of school was. Then she ran back to her room and the first thing she did was to throw away her schoolbag and throw herself on the bed.

“Today was such a fulfilling day…” Aine buried her head in the quilt and muttered to herself. It was because so many things had happened that she felt exhausted the moment she relaxed after returning home.

Aine crawled onto the bed again, letting herself lie down completely, letting out a sense of laziness. As her body relaxed, her mind began to become more active again, and all sorts of thoughts began to surface in her mind.

Aine thought of London, which was always shrouded in fog and rain. The cold and damp weather, the limited and unpalatable English food, her own difficulty in speaking English fluently, and the miserable environment of having no close friends...

Now, Aiyin has almost only a negative impression of London. In the past few months, Aiyin has really suffered too much mental pressure in that foreign country. At that time when she was trying hard to smile, hanging out in various Internet celebrity stores, and relying on the simple and superficial praise of netizens on SNS to support herself from collapsing too early, she met "Mrs. Xiang".

When Aine was unable to bring herself to confess her miserable current situation to her former classmates and was unwilling to make her parents worry about her, the netizen whose original intention was to criticize her poor tea-making skills unexpectedly became her only person to cry to.

Aine implicitly expressed her discomfort in London to Mrs. Xiang, and she always comforted her appropriately and taught her many simple mixed drinks that could be made with various common drinks in small shops. For Aine at the time, this really became a very interesting thing, bringing a lot of color to her dull and gloomy life in London.

Even my transit in London - the opportunity to integrate into the local social circle - was due to the little tricks of brewing black tea taught to me by Mrs. Xiang. With my limited knowledge, I was able to brew a pretty good black tea, which won the praise of several roommates.

This was a rare improvement after Aine's repeated setbacks in London. However, due to her own arrogance and short-lived enthusiasm, she felt that she had already mastered the original black tea before she even fully mastered it. In the end, she made a big fool of herself and became a laughing stock...

Forget it, forget it quickly——

A terrible memory that tasted like "looking up at the stars" was brought back to her mind! Aine rolled around on the bed in agony, and finally hit the wall with a bang.

"it hurts!"

This immediately brought a few tears to Aiyin's eyes, and she calmed down again.

However, it was precisely because of this collision that Aine temporarily forgot what happened in London.

Don't think about it anymore, it's all in the past! Aiyin tried hard to restrain her mind from continuing to recall her dark history, but as everyone knows, the brain is quite rebellious. The more you don't want to think about something, the more it will go against you.

Aine quickly turned her brain around and thought of something else... just thinking about the first day of school today!

When Aine began to recall what happened today, the first person who appeared in her memory was the person who kept appearing in her memories of London - Kiyokawa Xiang.

"What kind of person is Xiaoxiang?"

If Aiyin had to use only one word to describe her impression of Kiyokawa Xiang after the day, Aiyin would probably use the word "full of contradictions".

Whenever you have a certain impression of Qingchuan Xiang, her behavior in the next second may show completely opposite characteristics.

Qingchuan Xiang can be very reliable and reassuring. Most of the time, she always looks calm and indifferent, and speaks clearly, which makes people subconsciously listen to her words carefully. In the small karaoke box today, when Xiao Deng said the "lifetime" remark that caught him off guard, he subconsciously thought of Qingchuan Xiang. It seemed that as long as she was there, she would be able to help him solve sudden problems.

However, Qingchuan Xiang always displays a natural, unconscious, and even clumsy feeling in various places. She can always maintain a normal social distance under normal circumstances, but she always suddenly shows very inappropriate interactions, such as...

Aine seemed to hear the gurgling sound of wet clothes being gently taken off from behind her. She didn't pay attention to it at that time, and only now did Aine react. After turning around, she found that Qingchuan Xiang had even changed her underwear.

In other words, if I turned around in advance for a few seconds, I would see Qingchuan Xiang, who was naked and covered in water like a shower...

It’s so hot. Aine, who had buried her face in the quilt, suddenly raised her head and realized that her face was already radiating a warm heat, as if it had been bathed in spring sunshine.

If a benefactor who once gave you help like heaven's will when you were discouraged appears before you again, what would you want to do?

Aiyin has read many novels, including many romance novels, and she often sees plots where the protagonist falls in love with someone because they received help from someone in times of difficulty.

At that time, Ain was skeptical about this. Ain was looking forward to love. In her opinion, love should be like cotton candy, sweet and soft. A small bite can leave an endless aftertaste that will melt your heart.

Love should be pure, and the way Aine imagines love is love at first sight. But if feelings arise from helping someone in need, doesn't that mean there's something else going on, a sense of guilt towards the other person?

But Qingchuan Xiang...

She is really cute and seems to have a good personality. She is very popular in school and even sings beautifully. Although she is a little scheming, she also has her own little plans. It is better to say that Qingchuan Xiang, despite having her own little thoughts, has always taken care of her and Xiaodeng's thoughts, which has become a plus point that makes her even more adorable.

And there’s…

"I was just thinking that Aine might be quite my type."

Even without the quilt covering her this time, Aine could clearly feel her face getting hotter and hotter.

"It's so foul."

Chapter 23: Disharmony

Two or three days had passed since the first day of school, and Yuqiu had already entered the atmosphere of taking classes seriously on the second day.

But Qingchuan Xiang was the type who was not serious in class, and Xiangzi confirmed this.

Although Xiangzi was listening attentively in class, because Qingchuan Xiang was sitting right in front of him, when he looked away from the blackboard, he would pass by Xiang's position.

So during the 45-minute class, Xiangzi looked at Qingchuanxiang a total of more than ten times, and every time - Xiangzi could be sure that every time she looked at Qingchuanxiang, the other party was not listening to the class carefully.

She was either gulping down water or lying on the table. She was not sleeping, but was looking out the window next to her. Another possibility was that she was secretly reading extracurricular books.

"Ding-ding-ding-ding-"

Another class ended. Xiangzi lowered his head to check the notes he had taken in the previous class. After class, he would quickly review the knowledge learned in this class. This was a little trick for Xiangzi to remember the knowledge points.

A big part of the reason why Xiangzi chose to study at Yuqiu, a school that focuses on admission rates, was to get the scholarship set up by Yuqiu to motivate students. The amount of the scholarship was quite generous. It could directly waive one semester's tuition and still have a little bit of surplus, which was quite attractive to Xiangzi.

Therefore, Xiangzi spent most of his time in school studying, and even had little interaction with his classmates. I'm afraid that the only person in the class who could talk to Xiangzi for more than ten sentences a day was Qingchuan Xiang.

However, today, after Xiangzi finished organizing the notes from the previous class, he did not continue to prepare for the next class. Instead, he looked at Qingchuan Xiang in front of him, as if he wanted to ask her something.

But Qingchuan Xiang stood up immediately as the bell rang and ran out of the classroom.