Chapter Eighty-Three: Lost Soul

  "Xiao Min, come out and drink some sugar water!" Ning's mom called towards Ning Qingmin's room but didn't see her coming out, so she asked Zhang Yu to go in and take a look while she herself carried a bowl of sugar water out onto the balcony.

  It's hot outside, but Grandma Ning didn't want to turn on the air conditioner. She was sitting on the balcony, cooling off, drinking sweet tea and loudly asking Sun Wen and the others: "What's wrong with Xiaomin? These past few days she's been distracted, like she can't hear you even when you call her."

  "The boss is online and might be too engrossed to hear you!" Sun Wen handed over a bowl of sugar water, took a sip and said: "It's summer vacation now, gotta relax!"

  "But I saw her several times standing at the door of the room, staring blankly at the TV screen without scrolling through pages." Zhang Rui recalled, "Moreover, I remember that when the boss had free time, she would either read textbooks or English books, and those were supposed to be classics. Almost everything online was romance novels, how could she possibly be reading them?"

  "Aren't girls supposed to like romance novels? The boss may be tough, but she's also reached the age of infatuation!" Sun Wu leaned in and said in a low voice, "Don't you guys think it's weird that since she bought those two new dresses, she's been acting strange?"

  "Sun Wu, you're paying more attention to the boss than is normal for an employee!" Zhang Ruili said with a pretended thoughtful expression, "I think you're even weirder."

  Sun Wu was persuaded by Zhang Ruili to hold back, and swallowed his speculation along with the sweet water, sat on the other side, and continued to play it cool as a silent type.

  Sun Wen saw his brother retreat and took the lead to say: "Alright, alright! After Pin Ming Ge and the others left, I think you're even more strange saying things about others!"

  "After Pin Dou Ge left, I was quite lost," Zhang Rui frankly admitted. "After spending some time together, I wasn't willing to let him leave so quickly, what's there to be ashamed of?"

  Just then, Zhang Yu came out and smiled: "The boss is chatting with someone online, let's eat first!"

  Ning Min didn't know that Zhang Rui and the others were discussing her. She was chatting with Zhou Ling online, sent a smiling emoticon and said: "Are you surfing the internet at an internet cafe? Don't stay out so late, go back early!"

  "I'll be back soon. By the way, when you go back to school from your hometown, what will you bring back?"

  "Help me bring a handsome guy!" Ning Qing gave a flirtatious expression. "If there is one."

  "Temporarily out of stock. Lately, business has been bad and all the men have gone to find wealthy patrons." Zhou Ling made a helpless gesture. "I only have an old man available."

  "The market is so bad, yet you're still willing to stay with this old man. Who's Shi Mingzhi? I seriously suspect that Shi Mingzhi is no longer the original product. Even if you want to sell, it's not easy to find a buyer." Ning Qingming sent over an expression of digging her nose. "If you don't even dare to touch it, then just comfort yourself and keep it for your own enjoyment!"

  Zhou Ling's face turned pale with fright "Excuse me... Is it really the innocent Xiao Qingmiao who is chatting with me?"

  "100% genuine, or I'll compensate you ten times!" Ning Qingmin covered her mouth and laughed. She rarely spoke in this tone. Zhou Ling was surprised, as someone who had been feeling down lately, she didn't realize she was making jokes again.

  "Are you in love?" Zhou Ling said with a tone of experience: "When women fall in love, they often undergo great changes in personality!"

  Ning Qing rolled her eyes and said, "You've just started dating yourself, and now you're pretending to be a love expert!"

  "No way, I'm naturally talented, focusing on one thing and becoming a semi-expert is a piece of cake!" Zhou Ling clenched his fist and said with a self-important tone: "I'm so focused on dating, it's hard not to become an expert!"

  Ning Qing couldn't help but laugh, "Even if I wanted to fall in love, who would I fall in love with?"

  "Hehe! You're saying this, it proves you really want to fall in love. Honestly confess, who's caught your eye?" Zhou Ling threw a sly glance and said: "Is it He Fang?"

  "Don't guess randomly!" Ning Qingming replied, hearing her mom outside shouting: "Xiao Min, come out and drink the sugar water quickly, I need to wash the dishes!" She had no choice but to bid farewell to Zhou Ling and hang up.

  Jing Qing was staring blankly at the sugar water, when Zhang Rui Li poked Zhang Yu and said: "Look, she's spacing out again!"

  "Are you dating?"

  "I also want to talk, but with whom?"

  Ning Qing was lost in thought, chewing on Zhou Ling's words, and for some reason, the shadow of Du Huo's family emerged in her mind. She stared blankly at the sugar water in her bowl, her heart in a mess. Hadn't she always liked Guo Shangliang? Did she think that apart from him, she wouldn't like anyone else? Why did thinking of Du Huo make her heart flutter? Was it possible... was it possible that she had fallen for someone else? Ah, ah, what nonsense! She hadn't even been in a relationship with Guo Shangliang since her rebirth, how could she be accused of having a change of heart?!

  Ever since that day, Du Hu's family never called again. Could it be that he had some thoughts and didn't want to see himself anymore?

  Ning Qingmin's mind kept turning over the events of that day when she went shopping for skirts with Du Hujia, feeling perplexed. It seemed like Du Hujia hadn't said anything unusual, and she herself hadn't done anything out of the ordinary either. Yet, why couldn't she stop thinking about what had happened back then?

  Those two skirts were bought and haven't been worn yet, subconsciously, it seems like I want to keep them for when Du Hua asks me out again, as if they were specially bought for myself by Du Hua.

  What's wrong? I seem to be quite out of place!

  Ning Qingmian let out a long, lingering sigh, and when she raised her head, she found that everyone in the room was staring at her. She couldn't help but ask blankly: "What's going on?"

  "Look at you holding the sugar water for half a day without moving, staring blankly into the bowl. We thought there was a cockroach that fell in!" Zhang Yu peeked at Ning Qing's bowl and let out a long sigh, imitating her previous manner, "Boss, you have a big problem!"

  Alas, everyone has discovered the problem, so is there really a problem? Ning Qingming thought, and only then did he feel that he had been holding the bowl for too long. Ning's mother had finished washing the other bowls and was walking out of the kitchen door, waiting to take this bowl from him. He hastily drank two mouthfuls of sugar water and handed the bowl over to Ning's mother.

  "Ringing..." Hearing the ringtone, Ning Qing hastily got up and was about to enter the room to answer it. She rushed halfway before realizing that the ringtone was coming from the TV, not her own phone ringing.

  It's all over! Ning Qingmin stumbled into the room and collapsed weakly onto the computer chair, feeling like a computer that had been infected with a virus.

  I opened the computer again with great boredom, and there was a small horn flashing next to QOO's avatar. I took a look, it was a stranger who wanted to add me as a friend. Under Ning Qing's extreme boredom, I clicked confirm. The other party's username is "Tofu", which looks like it can't be distinguished between male and female. We chatted casually for a few sentences, feeling unenthusiastic, and then "slammed" shut the QOO avatar again, feeling very restless.

  Ning Qing tried her best to recall the feelings she had when she first liked Guo Shangliang, wanting to deny that she had fallen for another person. However, it seemed that this couldn't be denied!