half thorns, half joy

"you……"

"Huh?" Xiao Zihan couldn't help laughing at Tang Xuan's silly expression, "Why, haven't you met me for a few days?"

Tang Xuan squeezed her palms with the hand hanging by her side, forcing herself to calm down quickly.She pulled up the corner of her mouth and smiled embarrassedly, and explained: "No, I'm just a little surprised."

"Are you so surprised?" Xiao Zihan was still teasing Tang Xuan.

"... Are your exams over too?" Tang Xuan didn't want to dwell on the same topic for too long, so she avoided the topic with a different tone.

Xiao Zihan nodded, "Well, I just finished the last exam this morning. I went out for dinner with my friends, and I happened to pass by, so I wanted to come in to see if you were there."

Tang Xuan didn't care about the ambiguity in Xiao Zihan's words, and continued to ask with a smile as if she didn't understand, "You guys will be on vacation after the exam, you should go home too."

"Well... it doesn't make any difference to me, I'm a local, and my home is not far from the school."

"That's it, that's pretty good." Tang Xuan looked envious. In fact, she knew Xiao Zihan's situation very well.

Xiao Zihan glanced at the faint sadness on Tang Xuan's face, and asked, "What about you, do you... want to go back?"

Tang Xuan shook her head, "If you don't go back, you'll be alone anyway, so it's better to stay and work."

"……Um."

Xiao Zihan was still about to say something, when the phone he was holding in his hand suddenly rang, and the word Cai Jinyu flashed on the caller ID.

Tang Xuan glanced at it, put on a smile again, and said to Xiao Zihan, "Hurry up and have dinner with your friends, and we'll talk next time when we come over."

"Okay." Xiao Zihan turned around, stopped after walking a few steps, turned back and stood in front of Tang Xuan, and asked in a low voice, "Are you going to work here this holiday?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then I'll go eat first." Xiao Zihan raised his mouth, waved to Tang Xuan, and left the coffee shop.

Looking at Xiao Zihan's leaving back, the smile on Tang Xuan's face gradually disappeared, and her eyes dimmed.

The rational side of her brain told her that everything was expected, Xiao Zihan cared more and more about her, and she would be able to take Xiao Zihan down in a short time.

But another voice was complaining for Xiao Zihan again, not to mention whether Xiao Mingyuan had anything to do with his cousin's death, even if it did, it had nothing to do with Xiao Zihan, Xiao Zihan was innocent and shouldn't be deceived by her like this.

After contemplating for a long time, reason overcame emotion.

Tang Xuan knew very well that if she didn't rely on this unreasonable method to get close to Xiao Zihan, an ordinary person like her would never be able to reach Xiao's class, let alone find out the cause of her cousin's death.

Now that she has taken this step, she can no longer regret it.

In the evening, Tang Xuan returned to the dormitory after get off work, and received a text message from Xiao Zihan on the way. The content of the text message was a short video. In the video, a few boys and girls were standing by the seaside, holding fireworks sticks in their hands, having fun.As soon as the camera turned, big and big fireworks exploded in the sky, which was too beautiful to behold.

Tang Xuan had just finished watching the video when another text message slid in.

"Next time you rest, come out and play together."

With such a straightforward invitation, Tang Xuan stared at the text message for a few seconds before replying with two words.

"Okay."

After answering the text message, she put the phone in her pocket and went back to the dormitory with her arms folded.She had a strong premonition that she and Xiao Zihan were going to be together soon.

Xiao Zihan didn't show up for a while.Tang Xuan guessed from Xiao Zihan's social updates that Xiao Zihan went abroad to play, and Cai Jinyu was with him.

However, judging from Xiao Zihan's tone, he didn't seem to be having a very good time, as if he was being forced out.

Two weeks later, Xiao Zihan returned home.

When he came to the coffee shop, Tang Xuan was taking an order for a customer.Seeing Xiao Zihan pushing the door in, Tang Xuan turned her head and smiled at Xiao Zihan, motioning for Xiao Zihan to sit down first.

"Wow, I said, why did you drag me here as soon as you came back? It turned out to be because of this reason." Cai Jinyu patted Xiao Zihan on the shoulder with a teasing smile.

Xiao Zihan shook off Cai Jinyu's hand, and said expressionlessly, "I didn't ask you to come here, you insisted on coming with me."

Cai Jinyu opened the chair and sat down, sighed a long sigh, "Fortunately, I followed, otherwise I wouldn't know that you are actually picking up girls behind my back."

"Hey, don't talk nonsense." Seeing Tang Xuan walking towards him, Xiao Zihan immediately turned his eyes sideways to warn Cai Jinyu.

Cai Jinyu shrugged and stuck out her tongue.

"Come here." Tang Xuan smiled slightly, "What do you need?"

"Then what do you recommend?" Cai Jinyu rested her chin on the back of her hand and looked at Tang Xuan with a smirk.

Tang Xuan's cheeks flushed red, and she coughed lightly, maintaining her professionalism to recommend: "If you want a latte for coffee, I recommend pairing it with the newly launched cake in the store. It's delicious when paired together..."

"Okay, then I'll order a portion as you said." Xiao Zihan saw that Tang Xuan was cramped, so he opened his mouth to help Tang Xuan out of the siege.

"Okay." Tang Xuan felt relieved, and when she turned to leave, Xiao Zihan asked again, "By the way, when do you get off work today?"

Tang Xuan was taken aback, seeing Xiao Zihan's serious expression, he didn't look like he was joking, so she replied truthfully, "07:30."

"Wait for dinner when you get off work?"

Before Tang Xuan agreed, Cai Jinyu chimed in and said, "That's it, it's 05:30, we'll wait for you to get off work."

"This..." Tang Xuan hesitated.

"Go to dinner, Zihan has something important to tell you." Cai Jinyu continued to add fuel and vinegar.

Tang Xuan saw that Xiao Zihan was a little embarrassed by what Cai Jinyu said, so she nodded generously and agreed, "Okay then, wait until I get off work."

"Okay!" Cai Jinyu snapped his fingers excitedly.

Tang Xuan turned around to place an order, and as soon as she left, she heard Cai Jinyu teasing Xiao Zihan behind her, saying that Xiao Zihan could not get a date if it wasn't for him, and asked Xiao Zihan to thank him.

For Cai Jinyu who suddenly stepped in, Tang Xuan felt helpless. Although they were both sons of rich families, compared to Cai Jinyu, Xiao Zihan was much easier to deal with.

So, Cai Jinyu and Xiao Zihan sat in the store chatting casually. Tang Xuan could clearly feel Cai Jinyu's gaze sweeping over her body, scanning her like an X-ray, and it almost never stopped.

Nervous and uncomfortable, Tang Xuan accidentally bumped into the table while serving coffee to a middle-aged man when she was about to get off work, spilling the coffee in her hand.

Suddenly, a thought appeared in Tang Xuan's mind.

She didn't even have time to ponder whether this idea could be implemented, her body had already acted first.