Chapter 33: If You Agree, Hang Up the Phone

"Jiang Xin? If it's you, knock on the table once. If not, knock twice."

"..."

KNOCK.

Hearing the single tap through the phone—delayed by a long hesitation but eventually delivered—a smile spread across Chen Ye's face.

After spending a few days helping out in his hometown and visiting his long-unseen grandparents on both sides of the family, he had returned to Luzhou City District. He had also brought the "thank-you gift" he mentioned before leaving last time: a rose-red, ice-crackle glazed swan-neck vase, along with enough wheel-throwing skills frantically crammed from his grandfather to be presentable. His family made porcelain and had a small kiln that used to fire bricks.

His official excuse for coming into the city this time was to "visit his uncle's house for a while," but in reality, he was planning to play with clay alongside the pure, mute girl.

The trope of hands-on pottery teaching with the female lead in a DIY shop might be a cliché in TV dramas, but in this era, and especially for a sensitive girl like Jiang Xin—who couldn't speak and could only feel and express her thoughts through physical touch—it was a match made in heaven.

"Are you at home right now? Knock once if you are, twice if you aren't," Chen Ye asked softly.

Soon, another KNOCK came from the other end.

"Are you free this afternoon? Knock once if you aren't, twice if you are," he immediately followed up.

This time, without any hesitation or thought, two rapid sounds echoed through the phone: KNOCK, KNOCK.

Sitting at his cousin's desk, Chen Ye let out a hearty laugh. Hearing the gradually quickening breathing over the line, he said directly, "Alright then. Since you're free this afternoon, I'll come over and borrow your computer again, just like last time. I can give you your gift while I'm at it. Sound good?

"If you agree, just hang up."

The other end of the line remained silent, but the continuous KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK conveyed the girl's dissatisfaction and shyness.

Chen Ye was bullying her!

Jiang Xin raised her right hand and glanced at her reddened knuckles from all the knocking. Her thick, fine eyebrows furrowed, and her lips pressed tightly together. She could tell Chen Ye had no ill intent, but he was definitely doing this on purpose! And he wanted to come to her house again!

She wanted to reject him, just as she had promised Su Siyun she would. But she couldn't speak. Her only way of refusing was to hang up the phone. Yet Chen Ye had completely cornered her! He had stated that if she hung up, it meant she agreed!

What was she supposed to do?!

The thought of "I'll hang up my phone, and you can think whatever you want" never even crossed the young girl's mind. Simply put, she didn't know how to reject people. She was trapped in the logical whirlpool of believing that hanging up meant agreeing to Chen Ye, which in turn meant she had to honor that commitment. She couldn't snap herself out of it.

She even completely forgot that she had explicitly promised Su Siyun not to "waste words on Chen Ye anymore."

She comforted herself with the thought that she hadn't actually wasted any words, since she hadn't made a sound. Chen Ye, naturally, had pinpointed this exact weakness, which allowed him to endlessly exploit the situation.

"Girl, I can use this secret of yours against you for the rest of my life!" he thought. He just wondered where his next classic opportunity to tease her would take place.

Chen Ye's silence allowed them both to hear each other's breathing. However, the more Jiang Xin heard his steady breaths, the more rapid her own became.

She couldn't hang up! But she couldn't just stay on the line forever, either!

Jiang Xin felt like her brain was short-circuiting. However, a second later, Su Siyun once again interrupted her inner turmoil.

"Jiang Xin, the pasta is ready. Are you going to eat now?" Su Siyun knocked on the half-open bedroom door, calling out to Jiang Xin, who was sitting with her back to the door and her head bowed.

Jiang Xin's slender frame jolted. Before she could even think, she hastily hung up the phone. She quickly steadied her breathing, squeezed out a smile, and turned to look at Su Siyun standing in the doorway. Extending her right index finger, she waved it back and forth by her temple, then brought it down in front of her and pointed upward.

It meant, "Right away."

"Hurry up, or it won't taste good," Su Siyun said. She cast a deep glance at the phone Jiang Xin was hiding behind her back before turning and heading to the dining room.

Seeing Su Siyun leave, Jiang Xin finally let out a sigh of relief. Once her nerves settled, she immediately realized that she had just hung up the phone on pure instinct!

Would Chen Ye think she had agreed?! But she hadn't!

At this thought, Jiang Xin quickly unlocked her phone and found Chen Ye's QQ. However, the moment she saw their chat history from five days ago, she remembered that Chen Ye's outdated PHS phone didn't support QQ.

Left with no other choice, she went to her call history and switched to the text messaging screen. Yet, as her thumbs hovered over the keypad, she couldn't type out a single word of the myriad of thoughts swirling in her head.

What could she even send?

"I didn't hang up because I agreed. Don't come to my house."

Or maybe, "I have to go out in a bit. Let's do it another day"?

The first response was too hurtful; she didn't have the heart to send it. The second response was a flat-out lie, and her conscience wouldn't allow that.

A conflicted expression reappeared on the young girl's face. After hesitating for nearly a minute, Jiang Xin ultimately gave up on replying to Chen Ye.

"I'll... I'll eat first. I'll figure out how to reply while I eat," she told herself. If all else failed, she would ask Su Siyun. She seemed like someone who knew exactly how to reject people.

With a soft sigh, she put her phone away, stood up, smoothed out her slightly wrinkled skirt, and walked toward the dining room.

Meanwhile, at his uncle's house.

Staring at the disconnected call, Chen Ye smiled. He had heard Su Siyun's voice, too.

He knew Jiang Xin hadn't hung up because she was agreeing to his request. However, as long as the phone was hung up, she wouldn't try to find an excuse to reject him later. That was just the kind of person she was.

Exhaling softly, Chen Ye stood up and left his cousin's room.

His uncle, Xu Shaoguo, graduated from a vocational college in '87 and now worked as a high school teacher. His aunt worked at the same school. His cousin, Xu Fangzhou, was twenty years old and currently a sophomore at Jinling Institute of Technology. Since Xu Shaoguo and his wife worked during the day, and Xu Fangzhou wasn't on break yet, the only other person at home was his twelve-year-old cousin, Xu Wanwan, who was in the sixth grade.

His "payment" for staying at his uncle's house was helping to keep an eye on his little cousin and checking her homework. After all, her parents wouldn't be back until after the evening study sessions at school.

"Time to eat, Wanwan." Chen Ye cooked two dishes, set them on the table, and knocked on Xu Wanwan's bedroom door.

Soon, a girl who looked to be just over five feet tall opened the door and walked out. She wore glasses, an ill-fitting school uniform, and had her hair tied in a short ponytail. Xu Wanwan broke into a smile the moment she saw Chen Ye. This was mainly because Chen Ye wasn't strict with her and let her play on the computer.

"What did you make, Chen Ye?" she asked, pulling him toward the dining table the second she came out. "Didn't you say you were going to hang out with an older sister this afternoon? Can I come with you?"

Seeing the hesitation on his face, Xu Wanwan immediately grabbed his arm and started whining playfully.

"Chen Ye! Come on! Please! Just take me with you!"

"Go play on your computer," Chen Ye rejected her as he started eating.

"The computer is boring. I want to go see this older sister who 'can't speak but gets better grades than you, is super pretty, and has a great personality.'"

As if suddenly realizing something, Xu Wanwan leaned in close and whispered with a teasing smile, "Chen Ye, do you... like that girl?"