Qin Wei picked up her chopsticks and answered Sun Tiantian's question at the same time:
"I bought it from the supermarket...why are you looking at me like that?"
Sun Tiantian was a little surprised:
"You don't even have a car, did you walk over there?"
"I took the bus."
"?"
Seeing her bewildered look, Qin Wei decided to tell Sun Tiantian what she had done today.
"Talk while eating."
Qin Wei was about to pick up a shrimp to eat.
"Wait."
Sun Tiantian took out her phone, snapped a bunch of photos, then posted them to the [The King of Soldiers Returns] group chat, and then picked up her chopsticks,
"Go ahead and eat."
Qin Wei began to tell her about today's events.
"After lunch, I went downstairs for a walk since there weren't many people downstairs. It was around 4 pm when Aunt Zhou said the supermarket was having a limited time event for tangyuan, and asked if I wanted to go together. I said sure, so then..."
"Stop."
Sun Tiantian seemed to have heard a knowledge blind spot,
"Who's Aunt Zhou?"
Qin Wei blinked at her:
"Oh, Aunt Zhou from next door? You don't know her?"
Sun Tiantian shook her head, signaling for her to continue.
"So the six of us took the bus together..."
"Six people???"
Sun Tiantian was surprised again. She had been living here for almost two years and hadn't met six people in the community!
Qin Wei nodded:
"Aunt Zhou, Aunt Chen from the first floor, Aunt Liu from room 602 on the third floor, Sister Shao from room 701 on the seventh floor..."
The more Sun Tiantian listened, the more confused she became. She even knew their surnames, where they lived??
"Anyway, the five of us took the bus to the supermarket together, and we're going again tomorrow."
Five minutes later, [The King of Soldiers Returns] group chat —
【future: Tiantian did you make this?】
【Sun Tiantian: Weiwei made it! Future, what have you been up to lately?】
【future: Shooting a show on an island, the signal here isn't great. Luckily I downloaded all the comics and novels before coming, otherwise I wouldn't know how to get through the days T_T】
【Shen Qingqing: The food Weiwei made is pretty tasty, not to hide it from you all, I was the first one of us to have tried her cooking~】
【Youyou: So envious, I wanna try it too】
【Qin Wei: Sounds good~ Future, when will you be back?】
...
The five chatted casually in the group for a bit before going about their own business. After eating, Sun Tiantian insisted on washing the dishes herself. Qin Wei sat on the couch and watched some TV for a bit before walking over and standing in the kitchen doorway to tell Sun Tiantian:
"I'm going downstairs for a walk, be back in a bit."
"Okay...eh???"
Sun Tiantian put down the bowls and chopsticks to chase after her, but Qin Wei had already gone out the door to take the elevator down. Sun Tiantian was a little worried that since it was summer, there would be many people out in the community at night. Was she not afraid of being recognized?
Sun Tiantian washed her hands and hurriedly changed her clothes to follow her out.
Coincidentally, someone sent her a video call invite. Sun Tiantian put on her earphones and answered while waiting for the elevator.
"Teacher Qiao, what's up?"
Sun Tiantian saw Qiao Sixiao on the other end who had just finished work, and was still a bit surprised.
Qiao Sixiao walked towards the dressing room area, then said:
"I just finished work and saw the group messages. No particular reason, just checking in randomly."
Sun Tiantian: "......"
Qiao Sixiao: "......"
Sun Tiantian: "..."
Qiao Sixiao: "......"
"You seem to be out. Are you busy? We could chat when you're free." Qiao Sixiao broke the silence first.
Sun Tiantian suddenly said:
"Ah no no, not busy at all. Weiwei's cooking is delicious!"
"Is that so?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Sun Tiantian nodded vigorously at the phone screen.
"Teacher Qiao, have you been very busy lately? Why not have Weiwei go stay at your place? Of course it'd be best if I could stay too. I can cook too to help out..."
As Sun Tiantian got to this point, she pondered:
"It'd actually be quite a warm scene cooking together in the kitchen...Weiwei cutting vegetables, Teacher Qiao washing vegetables next to her...whoops, Weiwei why did you cut your hand, you need to be more careful..."
Qiao Sixiao interrupted Director Sun's plot arrangements:
"Cutting your hand while cutting vegetables? What kind of silly setup is that? I don't have time to take you two kindergarteners in. I haven't even been home in a long while...Where's Qin Wei?"
Only then did Sun Tiantian remember: "Oh right, Weiwei went for a walk downstairs. I was just about to go look for her!"
...
The garden downstairs was quite big. Sun Tiantian was video calling around trying to find Qin Wei here, while at that moment, Qin Wei was sitting in a pavilion by the fountain.
"Don't stand on ceremony Little Qin, these walnuts I bought from the supermarket today, go ahead and crack open!" Aunt Zhou brought over two fruit plates, one with walnuts and one with freshly cut fruit.
As she heartily invited Qin Wei to snack on the walnuts, she also took out a plastic bag from her pocket for Qin Wei to spit the shells into.
Sister Shao helped herself to a handful of walnuts without hesitation, and cracked them while saying:
"Sister Zhou, which female celebrity have you seen snacking on walnuts?"
Aunt Tang on the side was leisurely knitting a sweater. Hearing Sister Shao's words, she simply looked up with a smile before continuing her knitting.
"Oh I'll have some, I quite like walnuts." Qin Wei spoke while looking around, then grabbed a handful to start cracking.
Seemingly knowing what Qin Wei was thinking about, Aunt Tang said to her:
"Go ahead and eat, don't worry too much about your image. There are five communities around this scale here, who'd think to find you here. No one is taking pictures, don't worry."
Qin Wei nodded happily as she cracked walnuts.
These women had run into each other this afternoon and were already friends by now.
Initially being recognized, Qin Wei had felt a little uneasy, even afraid because of her bad reputation. Unexpectedly, the aunties were first excited for a bit upon finding out that she was temporarily living here, and invited her to go grocery shopping together.
Aunt Chen was also cracking walnuts. Seeing everyone quiet down, she immediately said:
"Little Qin, you don't have a boyfriend right? I have a nephew who works in IT, 27 this year. He's a good young man..."
Sister Shao rolled her eyes at Aunt Chen:
"Wake up Aunt Chen, Little Qin is a celebrity!"
Aunt Chen refused to back down and retorted:
"Female celebrities need to get married too! My nephew is good looking! Sister Zhou has seen him before, and even said my nephew looks like Shen Kai!"
Aunt Zhou did not deny this, but also raised her own doubts:
"Let's say, with Little Qin's status, instead of finding someone who looks like Shen Kai, why not just find Shen Kai himself?"
Sister Shao nodded: "Good point."
The five looked towards Qin Wei simultaneously.
Spectator Qin Wei was stunned for a second, then shook her head:
"No, no, no, no, no!"
Aunt Liu whispered:
"Our Brother Kai is handsome and rich, plus you two know each other already and seem suited for one another. You're both at the age to marry too...Don't resist the idea that much...You're still wanting to fool around now, but once you're tired of that, you'll look to settle down. I feel Shen Kai is great. I'm his fan. I think he's just full of merits, I don't even know why you rejected him?"
Aunt Chen glanced at her old homie:
"Could it be because Shen Kai doesn't have social security benefits?"
Aunt Liu: "?"
Sister Shao: "??"
