Peach-Orange! – Chapter 387 – Simultaneously Ringing Phones

Time continued to pass, and daily life remained unchanged despite the kidnapping incident.

School, after-school, meals, daydreaming, sleep.

And completing the daily task of interacting with Dongfang Yang, the human-shaped NPC.

Chi Xiaocheng’s life was just that monotonous. She felt she had prepared everything, waiting only for the system to notify her that Su Tao’s character weight had significantly decreased.

At that time, the rich female antagonist would officially make her entrance.

The world’s will would establish this new character as the “protagonist,” shifting its focus away from Su Tao, no longer manipulating this doomed character, and thus unable to further influence Su Tao.

The breeze stirred by a butterfly’s wings mirrored the rhythm of Chi Xiaocheng’s current life.

Seemingly unchanged, yet growing faster and faster.

Su Tao appeared perfectly normal in front of Chi Xiaocheng, but the latter’s alternate account, Doctor Cheng, once again began receiving messages from the anxious girl.

How to relieve anxiety?

Worries about money, worries about emotions, concerns over every little thing regarding Chi Xiaocheng, and the heavy workload from school… all of it weighed on her.

Chi Xiaocheng herself was, of course, an excellent stress reliever.

Hugging her, breathing in her faint citrus scent, feeling her softness—

It was incredibly soothing.

But the closer something was, the harder it became to let go.

Chi Xiaocheng’s sweet, gentle demeanor could ease Su Tao’s stress, yet it also invisibly added to it.

She no longer actively pressured Su Tao as she once had, but Su Tao would overthink and pressure herself.

‘Xiaocheng goes out with Dongfang Yang every day! How far has their relationship progressed?’

‘Si Chen also came to see Xiaocheng once… what did they talk about? Why didn’t Xiaocheng tell me anything?’

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At school, Xiaocheng still gets confessed to. The forums say some rich young master sent her a truckload of red roses. Even though she rejected him, he vowed never to give up.

‘Xiaocheng is just too cute, too perfect.’

‘She keeps radiating charm, always attracting attention. Right now, I can still hold her and enjoy her softness, but what if her emotions fully recover later? Will she fall for someone else?’

‘What if this life disappears? What will I do then?’

‘Just how much has Xiaocheng’s emotional recovery progressed? Does she like me a little now, or does she still not feel anything?’

‘After all, when I secretly kiss her, she doesn’t refuse. She just blushes shyly.’

‘But if she does like me a little, why does she keep going out with Dongfang Yang?’

‘So annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying so annoying.…’

‘Xiaocheng absolutely cannot be taken away by them!’

“I should protect Xiaocheng even more thoroughly. That way, no one can hurt her.”

Su Tao began checking Chi Xiaocheng’s shared location more frequently, struggling to focus in class. Whether returning home or going out, she paid extra attention to her surroundings.

She also messaged Chi Xiaocheng more often, immediately sending inquiries if her location seemed off.

This gave her a slight sense of security.

But it still wasn’t enough.

There was one major problem left to solve—

Dongfang Yang!

Everything he did was so upright, so just, that Su Tao had no way to make him stay away from Chi Xiaocheng for good.

When she brought it up before, Chi Xiaocheng had casually dismissed it, saying they were just hanging out to pass the time and nothing would happen.

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But the “something happening” that Chi Xiaocheng worried about was not the same as what Su Tao feared.

At a loss, with her strategist Jiang Nan refusing to offer further advice, Su Tao hesitated for a long time before deciding to endure a scolding.

On this weekend night, she and Chi Xiaocheng were in their room.

Su Tao sat at the old secondhand laptop, struggling with the unreliable drawing tablet, until her frustration drove her to pick up her phone.

She glanced at Chi Xiaocheng, who was sitting on the bed, engrossed in her phone, seemingly in the middle of an intense conversation.

Lately, Xiaocheng had been using her phone a lot, always chatting with someone.

‘Who is she talking to so much?’

Su Tao frowned. The constant ding-dong notifications never seemed to stop.

‘Does she really have that many friends?’

The more she thought about it, the more agitated she became. Su Tao opened her phone and messaged a friend to vent her frustration.

Su Tao: “Chengcheng!”

Su Tao: “Chengcheng, are you there?”

No immediate reply. Su Tao knew her friend might be busy, but she desperately needed someone to talk to.

She stood up, about to step outside.

Voice cal!

Call?

Yes.

Su Tao tapped her phone a few times and moved her chair aside.

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Then—

Both her and Chi Xiaocheng’s phones rang simultaneously.

The ding-ding-ding-dong of WeChat’s call tone filled the air.

Su Tao instinctively turned toward Chi Xiaocheng, one hand resting on the chair’s armrest, a hint of confusion on her face.

In that instant, she noticed Chi Xiaocheng’s slightly stiff expression.

Then, Chi Xiaocheng also instinctively looked up at Su Tao.

Their eyes met.

An awkward atmosphere began to spread.

The petite girl pouted. “Weird, why is Dongfang Yang calling me at this hour? Does he want to hang out? It’s so late.”

As she spoke, she glanced at the small alarm clock on the bedside table—

20:49.

With a tap on her phone, Chi Xiaocheng declined the call—

And Su Tao’s ringing call to Chengcheng was also abruptly disconnected.

Su Tao looked down at her phone, where the words “Call declined” were displayed in bold.

She fell into momentary contemplation.

A coincidence?

Or rather—

Could it really be that much of a coincidence?

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Chengcheng….

Cheng Cheng….

Xiaocheng….

Su Tao froze, as if realizing something earth-shattering. She immediately made another call while discreetly observing Chi Xiaocheng.

This time, only her own phone rang. Chi Xiaocheng’s remained silent.

Su Tao even tiptoed to peek at Chi Xiaocheng’s screen.

Hmm, no WeChat call interface popped up.

‘Must really have been a coincidence.’

‘Maybe I’m overthinking it.’

After waiting a while and seeing no answer, Su Tao concluded that her friend was genuinely busy and hung up.

Unbeknownst to her, Chi Xiaocheng’s heart was bleeding.

That’s right, she was surprised! Chengcheng was also one of Chi Xiaocheng’s alternate accounts!

Who knew why Su Tao had suddenly decided to call? Chi Xiaocheng had been logged into the Chengcheng account on a secondary WeChat instance.

The moment the call rang out and Su Tao looked over, she had been stunned.

The second time, anticipating Su Tao might call again, she had used her illusion skill to simulate an unchanged phone screen just for Su Tao’s eyes.

Her emotional energy points were draining like blood.

But judging by Su Tao’s reaction, she probably hadn’t suspected anything… right?