I'm not a womanizer for Chihaya Aine

Xiangzi frowned slightly when he heard Qing's words, and said hesitantly: "Isn't this a bit bad?"

Originally, Xiangzi felt that it was a bit inappropriate for them to just find a bench on the side of the road to sit down and talk, not to mention that they had to eat while chatting in a place where there was not even a table. In her opinion, this was somewhat disrespectful to the other party in the conversation.

Qing shrugged and said, "I don't care. Just do as you please. You must be very hungry since you haven't eaten yet. Why don't you talk while eating? I don't think we need to follow those red tapes."

Qing has always believed that food is the most important thing for people. In her opinion, it is simply a fantasy to expect others to do well without eating well. So she couldn't bear to let Xiangzi talk to her on an empty stomach.

Xiangzi was stunned for a moment when he heard Qing's words. The smile he had maintained on his face relaxed. He sighed, looked at Qing helplessly, and said, "That's true. Then I'll start eating without hesitation."

Xiangzi really didn't need to put on a disguise in front of Qing, because Qing had already seen Xiangzi's most embarrassing side. What could be more embarrassing than his father being beaten up by gangsters and still drunk? Xiangzi also felt that he understood Qing's situation to some extent, and in this respect, the two people's situations were equal.

Moreover, there is no interest relationship between Qing and Xiangzi, and there is no emotional connection between them before. Qing also consciously maintains a stranger attitude towards Xiangzi at school to show others.

So from this perspective, it is Qing, a classmate whom Xiangzi has only met two or three times, who is the person who can make Xiangzi put down his disguise the most.

58

Chapter 58: Bento, War, and Icebreaking.

"Demand and supply, these two are the basic concepts of buying and selling. In the process of these two concepts flowing and maintaining balance, there will definitely be a slight gap. And there is a group of people who live in this extremely small area. They gamble their own funds, lives and self-esteem, and hunt and survive in this extremely narrow area full of chaos. People call this group of people "wolves."

Qing's cold and narrative voice recited a rather powerful monologue. Xiangzi beside him sighed helplessly and said, "It's just a half-price bento, why do you say it like the opening of a heroic epic? Is Qing the legendary 'Chuunibyou'?"

"I just don't want to be told that by you, Xiangzi."

When Qing heard Xiangzi say that he was a chuunibyou, he immediately blurted out the rebuttal.

"Huh? What happened to me?"

Xiangzi covered her mouth with her hands in surprise. She didn't think that it was a bit of a second-year syndrome for her to talk about world settings like "elegant scream" and "puppet party under the moon" every day.

It can only be said that this is what chuunibyou is like. Qing was too lazy to argue with Xiangzi, but chose to obey and said in a heroic epic tone: "I mean, the war over this half-price bento actually happens every day. You have to know that wolves will fight each other."

Xiangzi was also attracted by Qing's very infectious narration, and asked with a somewhat naive curiosity: "Really, is there really a war over this half-price bento? Are you kidding me?"

Qing slowly raised his head, looking at the starless night sky with only a waning moon, and slowly said, "As we all know, there are two reasons for the emergence of half-price bento: one is to encourage consumers to go to convenience stores to buy bento; the other is to avoid wasting bento after it misses its best consumption period."

Xiangzi subconsciously looked at the green pepper and shredded potato bento in his hand. The half-price bento that could be bought at this point was obviously the latter.

"The bento boxes that are half price because of the first reason are what the wolves are fighting for. These bento boxes are of various types, and many of them are delicious, such as sushi bento boxes, fried rice bento boxes, curry rice bento boxes, and chicken fried chicken bento boxes..."

When Xiangzi heard Qing's narration and the menu, his golden eyes sparkled. Then he looked at the green pepper and shredded potato lunch box in his hand and suddenly felt it was tasteless.

"The wolves will know in advance the time when each convenience store will put a half-price label on the bento, and will find the location of their favorite bento in advance. At the same time, they must also be prepared to prevent others from grabbing their favorite bento first..."

Xiangzi felt as if she was in the middle of a fierce lunch box battle, imagining that she was the "wolf" who had prepared in advance. She couldn't help but ask: "Do I need to think of alternative lunch boxes in advance and find a new route to compete as soon as possible?"

Qing shook his head and stated the cold fact in an indifferent tone: "No, it is to kill all the others who want to snatch your lunch box. If you don't have the determination to bet everything in the half-price lunch war, you won't be able to survive in the half-price lunch war..."

Qing turned around and looked at Xiangzi, his calm eyes made people feel as cold as falling into an ice cellar.

"Those who have the naive idea of dreaming of getting a second choice lunch box will only hesitate unnecessarily and be devoured by other wolves and become their prey."

Shoko looked at Qing in surprise and covered his mouth with his hands, but his eyes gradually revealed determination and yearning. The Half-Price Bento War sounded like a war that was very suitable for Shoko Toyokawa, who had killed his weak self with his own hands, to participate in.

Can Toyokawa Shoko become a qualified "wolf"?

Xiangzi looked at Qing seriously and asked, "Qing knows so much about the Half-Price Bento War, are you also a 'Wolf'?"

If so, then perhaps in the near future, Qing will be her opponent - yes, Toyokawa Shoko has become interested in the half-price bento war. It is very interesting to be able to eat delicious bentos at a cheap price and to be firm in one's heart.

Qing looked at Xiao Xiang, who had a serious face and bright eyes, and called him "wolf" very naturally. She resisted the urge to laugh, looked at Xiangzi with some pity and said: "No, generally speaking, I am the clerk who puts the half-price label on the bento."

Xiangzi was not discouraged because Qing was not a "wolf". On the contrary, if Qing told her about the half-price bento war and Xiangzi had to become her rival after that, she would feel a little guilty...

No, I shouldn't have such weak thoughts. If Qing is also a "wolf", she wouldn't expect me to show mercy to her for this reason.

Xiangzi's heart was burning with anger, but it died down after a while. She thought that she had little time to come to the convenience store in advance during the half-price lunch period; secondly, fighting with others for the half-price lunch was a bit too much for her. The main reason she went to work in customer service was that she didn't want to be noticed by too many people.

Xiangzi silently picked up his green pepper and potato shreds bento and started eating. Qing glanced at Xiangzi, then looked up at the moon again and said, "I said so much just to tell you that there are many 'wolves' fighting for half-price bentos, and as a clerk, I have seen countless people fighting with others for half-price bentos. So you don't have to feel ashamed for eating a half-price bento in front of me."

Xiangzi put down his chopsticks and looked at Qing. He found that she was still just looking at the moon in the night sky. He smiled bitterly and said, "You figured it out... Actually, I did care about this matter at first, but after you told me such an urban legend, I don't care so much. Thank you, Qing-san."

It turns out that you were pretending to tell the story just now in order to let yourself let go of your unnecessary self-esteem and shame... You are so gentle, Qing-classmate, you are worthy of being someone who can become friends with Deng. With a friend like you, Deng should be able to continue working hard on the path to becoming a human being.

Thinking of this, Xiangzi felt a little lonely again.

"You are wrong about one thing. This is not an urban legend. This is something that actually happens every day in Japan."

Qing's cold voice interrupted Xiangzi's emo, "I am just stating a fact about the half-price bento. You don't have to thank me."

"Yes, is that so?"

Just now, Xiangzi thought that Qing told such an urban legend-like story just to comfort her.

Qing nodded, then looked at the green pepper and potato lunchbox in Xiangzi's hand, which had almost been eaten, and asked: "It tastes terrible, isn't it, green pepper?"

"Huh? Well, it's actually okay..."

Because of the good education she received since childhood, Xiangzi could not easily say anything to belittle food, and could only answer vaguely.

Qing stared at the green pepper in Xiangzi's lunch and said, "I have always felt that Japanese vegetables are not very tasty, and green pepper is the worst. It tastes woody, hard, and bitter, and there are few dishes that can cover up its shortcomings."

Then Qing looked up at Xiangzi, and the icy expression on his face softened a little.

"I think it's amazing that people can finish eating all the green peppers and not waste them."

Xiangzi did not respond to Qing's praise, but just quietly finished the rest of the lunch box, which was what she had intended to do.

59

Chapter 59: Decompression, testing, and speaking frankly.

How to communicate with a person with too much self-esteem? First, you should let the other person put you and her on the same level, and then try your best to satisfy the other person's self-esteem.

That's what Qing did. After letting Xiangzi let down the wall in his heart, he gave him enough steps so that Xiangzi could finish his half-price lunch box in front of him.

The fact that Xiangzi could finish his half-price lunch box in front of her indirectly showed that Xiangzi's overly strong self-esteem had been put down in front of her.

Qing wanted Xiangzi to let go of his extra self-esteem not because she wanted Xiangzi to do something, but because she didn't want Xiangzi to be on edge all the time. In Qing's view, Xiangzi was just a problem child like Deng, who deserved to be loved, but Deng was easier to handle, while Xiangzi was much more troublesome.

Of course, Qing just told Xiangzi about the interesting thing about the Half-Price Bento War. In fact, he didn't have such a purpose. At most, he just wanted to see Xiangzi's reaction.

And Xiangzi's reaction really made Qing feel very interesting. One can only say that the second-year Xiangzi and Bai Xiang who pretends to be dead from time to time are still very cute.

So Qing felt relaxed after talking to Xiangzi. These days, he was either bearing gravity or fighting, or he was emotionally strained. Even when he was not interacting with people, he had to consider the future layout and arrangement. It was very relaxing to have a casual chat with Xiangzi like he just did.

But the fun chat time ended here.

After Xiangzi finished his lunch, he threw the disposable lunch box into a nearby trash can and came back. The two of them were about to officially start today's topic.

After the conversation just now, Xiangzi no longer felt any restraint and directly chose to start the action and asked: "Qing, after you went back last night, did you check your body for any injuries? Are you feeling well?"

When Qing heard Xiangzi's opening move, she knew that what Xiangzi wanted to talk about was related to what happened last night. Qing didn't have much desire to talk about this topic, so she said perfunctorily: "It's okay, nothing serious."

Xiangzi was not dissatisfied with Qing's perfunctory response, but continued to ask: "Have you found the stone your friend gave you?"

As expected, asking about his physical condition earlier was just a pretext to bring up the matter about the lamp. At this period, Xiangzi was still very concerned about the lamp.

Qing said truthfully: "I haven't confirmed it with her yet. Is it strange to ask me to bring so many stones to school?"

Xiangzi felt a little regretful when she heard this. She still cared a little about whether she could identify whether the "owl-shaped stone" that Deng mentioned was the one she found.

However, Xiangzi's regret was not reflected on her face. She continued, "Thank you very much for pretending not to know me this afternoon and not telling anyone about what happened last night. This helped me let it go."

After saying that, Xiangzi smiled at Qing in a friendly way. This time, her thanks were sincere. Xiangzi was very sensitive about whether her personal information would be leaked. She was really worried that Qing would tell others what happened last night, and then she would not be able to stay in school. So she was really grateful to Qing for keeping this secret for her.

Qing did not accept Xiangzi's thanks, but just shook his head and said: "I don't want others to know about that. Things that happen outside of school should not be known to people in school. So just like our casual chat now, I won't tell others."

Xiangzi also shook his head and said: "No matter what, it is a great help to me. Although I have nothing to repay you, please accept my words of gratitude."

Qing did not refuse after hearing this, but just said: "I have the same idea as you in this regard, and I don't want anyone to know about this. So please don't tell others about our relationship, Xiangzi."

Xiangzi nodded when she heard that. She understood Qing's idea very well. After all, they were the same kind of people. Then she made an expression as if she remembered something, and showed appropriate curiosity and asked: "By the way, after school, you and Aiyin came to me to talk about forming a band. You said that there was a lead singer who didn't show up. She was your friend. Was she the friend who gave you the stone? Or was it actually Aiyin?"

In order to avoid appearing to be particularly concerned about Qing's friend, Xiangzi added Aine's name at the end of the sentence. Her curious expression made it seem that her question was asked very naturally.

Qing stared at Xiangzi's golden eyes expressionlessly and said, "Yes, her name is Gao Songdeng. If you want to ask questions about her, you can ask directly."

Xiangzi was shocked that Qing discovered what she was thinking, but she remained calm and said, "No, I'm just curious. Qing, you misunderstood."

Qing sighed and said, "If we are not mistaken, you are the keyboardist of Crychic, the band Deng used to be in, right?"

When Xiangzi heard Crychic's name, she leaned back subconsciously, clenched her fists, and her expression became serious. Her alertness, which had been put down, was raised again. She asked in a deep voice: "Why do you know?"

Xiangzi was able to let down her guard against Qing because there was no interest or interpersonal relationship between her and Qing. But if Qing already knew about Crychic and her current situation, Xiangzi would have to be alert.

Aomi Shoko looked furious as she explained, "This is the conclusion that Aine and I came to. First of all, the lead singer of our band is Takamatsu Teru, the bassist is Nagasaki Suyo, and the new drummer who joined today is Shiina Tatsuki. They were all members of Crychic before, and both Teru and Suyo have deep feelings for Crychic. In this case, it would be difficult for us not to understand Crychic, right?"

Did Sushi and Lixi also join Qing and her friends' band? Xiangzi was surprised by this information.

Since Mu hasn't come to see Xiangzi yet, even though Xiangzi has been harassed by Su Shi's text messages and Su Shi's pressure on Mu to open the box of Xiangzi, she already has a bad impression of Su Shi, but at least it hasn't reached the point where Su Shi is squatting behind her in Yuqiu.

And in Xiangzi's opinion, Qing and her friends' band should still be led by Qing and Aine, and the possibility of being instigated by Su Shi to come to her is very small. In addition, the words used by Qing before, "If I'm not mistaken" and "The conclusion that Aine and I came to together", reveal the meaning of these two sentences. Su Shi did not deliberately reveal her information, and Qing and Aine's understanding of Crychic was not guided by Su Shi.

So now, Xiangzi did not leave with an unhappy look on his face when he heard Aine say "together with Nagasaki Motoyo" as in the plot.

Qing continued to explain: "Aine had seen Deng's notebook before, and there was a song called "Haruhi Kage" with lyrics and music score, and the name of the piano position in the score was 'Shoko'. Combined with the fact that you had intentionally or unintentionally led the topic to my friend, Deng, it is not difficult to conclude that you are the keyboard player of Crychic."

Qing's inference concealed the fact that she already knew the answer, and it was based entirely on facts. In fact, Aine did infer it, so Xiangzi couldn't find any flaws in Qing's inference.

Moreover, Qing specifically emphasized the existence of Aine here. On the one hand, it strengthened the concept of "this is the conclusion that Aine and I came to together"; on the other hand, it downplayed the influence of the old Crychic members on Qing and Aine's subjective judgment.

Just as Qing had expected, Xiangzi no longer acted like a little hedgehog with its fur standing on end, but lowered his head to think.

60

Chapter 60: Rhetoric, pretending to be confused, and feeling guilty.

Toyokawa Shoko was originally a young lady with a naive personality. Unfortunately, changes in her family forced her to abandon her naive side and work hard to support herself and her father as a high school girl.

So Xiangzi, who used to instinctively believe in the kindness of others, now always thinks about the intentions of other people's behavior when facing them. This is a change in her way of thinking.

And now Xiangzi is guessing about Qing, thinking about the content of Qing's conversation and the purpose of the conversation, thinking about which words are credible and which words have flaws.

Seeing that Xiangzi was looking at her thinking seriously, Qing roughly guessed what Xiangzi was thinking about. She took the initiative to answer some of Xiangzi's questions.

"I'm telling you this because I think it's too tiring to beat around the bush when we both know who the other person is talking about. And I don't think there's any need for me to hide this. If you continue talking to me, you'll definitely find out that I already know you're a member of Crychic. Rather than not telling you now and letting you find out and then suspect me, I might as well be honest with you now."

Qing's words are telling Xiangzi why she took the initiative to bring up Crychic. What she said is also consistent with Xiangzi's impression of Qing as straightforward. This straightforward impression was left when Qing was unable to distinguish the stone given by a friend.

Xiangzi stopped thinking about it and followed Qing's words and asked: "So now that you know I'm Crychic's keyboard player, what will you do?"

Qing said in a somewhat casual tone, shook his head and said: "I can't do anything. If I really wanted to do something, you wouldn't have come to me to talk just now, but I would have taken the initiative to find you. Of course, it's impossible for me not to have a few small problems in my heart, but that's not important."

What Qing said made sense and was also true. After all, if the two had not met by chance tonight, there would be no current conversation. Moreover, it was Qing who wanted to leave at that time, and it was Xiangzi who stopped Qing and made him stay. From this perspective, it is unreasonable to doubt Qing's motives.

After figuring this out, Xiangzi's tension was relieved a lot, and she asked casually: "What's your problem?"

Qing glanced at Xiangzi and said, "From the several conversations I've had with you, I can sense that you're quite interested in Deng's situation. But logically speaking, you and Deng were once teammates, and you were also classmates in the next class at the same school. If you wanted to, you should be able to contact Deng easily. Why did you ask me for information about Deng's situation?"

When Xiangzi heard Qing's question, her mood, which had originally relaxed a little, became serious again. However, this time she was not nervous because she was wary of Qing, but because she was thinking about something bad.

Qing Jianxiangzi showed a heavy expression and said nothing, then he said to Jietai: "I won't tell anyone, including Deng. If you still don't want to tell, it's okay. This is just a small question I'm curious about. It doesn't matter if you don't know."

Xiangzi sighed softly. She shouldn't have told her thoughts to anyone who had anything to do with Crychic. The only person she could rely on was herself. Trying to share her pressure by talking was a weak act.

However, Xiangzi had a very good impression of Qing, an acquaintance who he had known for less than two days and could not even be considered a friend. First of all, Qing was the one who could pull Deng out of the failure of Crychic and re-form the band; secondly, Xiangzi felt a sense of being a kindred spirit in Qing; finally, Qing's words really made Xiangzi feel comfortable, as if she could keenly perceive all of Xiangzi's concerns and constantly gave Xiangzi a way out. Talking to such a straightforward person who also had high emotional intelligence really made one feel at ease.

So Xiangzi finally told Qing the reason why she ignored Deng: "Because I hurt Deng... and I can no longer hold Deng with me, so Deng should not rely on me anymore. Given Deng's personality, if I don't cut ties with her completely, she will probably still come to me with a fluke mentality."

If Qing continued to ask questions along the lines of what Xiangzi said, he would ask the question "Why can't you be with Deng anymore?" This is a complete landmine question. Not only will Xiangzi not answer Qing, but it may also make Xiangzi angry again. The most important thing is that Qing herself knows the answer to this question.

So Qing asked another question, she asked with a teasing tone: "Even though you said that, you still care about the lights, right?"

Xiangzi did not deny it. She subconsciously touched her other arm with one hand and said, "Because I feel guilty towards Deng, and I also hope that Deng can find his own way and move on."

Qing nodded and said with a look of reasoning and analysis: "It seems that you are not the one who caused the disbandment of Crychic. Then is the disbandment of Crychic due to the guitarist named Mu?"

Xiangzi was surprised by Qing's reasoning, because she knew that the disbandment of Crychic was her own fault. Although she just wanted to quit the band at that time, she still hoped that Crychic could continue its activities after losing her. However, Mu did add the final blow to the disbandment of Crychic.

But no matter what, Xiangzi would not deny that he was the murderer of Crychic's disbandment, so Xiangzi asked curiously: "How did you come to this conclusion?"

Qing explained: "It's very simple, because of your attitude towards Deng. Deng always thought that Crychic disbanded because he didn't sing well, but both Su Shi and Li Xi expressed their desire to continue playing in the band with Deng, and they didn't think that the disbandment of Crychic was Deng's fault. And judging from your attitude that you care about Deng, your thoughts should be similar to theirs. After all, if you think Deng didn't sing well, you wouldn't care so much about Deng, right? So excluding all the people I've met, the remaining guitarist I haven't met should be the reason why Crychic broke up."

Xiangzi didn't pay much attention to Qing's reasoning, but instead caught a point and asked with great concern: "Wait a minute, are you saying that Deng thinks that the disbandment of Crychic is the reason why she didn't sing well?"

Qing nodded and said, "That's what Deng said. Although later, Aine and I took Deng to karaoke, we felt that Deng must have misunderstood, and Su Shi and Riki also confirmed this. Aine and I also spent a lot of effort to make Deng stop blaming herself."

As he spoke, Qing seemed to suddenly remember something and added casually: "Oh, by the way, you seemed to have said that Deng was the one who needed to practice the most. Deng seemed to have thought that you meant that she didn't practice well and that's why she didn't sing well during the Live."

Xiangzi was so shocked by what Qing said that his lips slightly opened, and then he murmured to himself with some regret: "It's not surprising that Deng would think so with his personality... I clearly said it was my own fault at the beginning..."