The corner of Chu Xia's lips twitched. "Err. No. I'm not. I mean, I'm not sure... Err..."
She was spouting all sorts of excuses. She couldn't possibly say that she had gotten drunk and pounced on a man one night, could she?
Shen Tong's eyes suddenly flashed. "I remember now. Didn't you just return to China not long ago? You were overseas before, and then you flew back and forth to do fashion shows."
"That's right. Why? What's wrong?" Chu Xia didn't understand what Shen Tong meant.
"Didn't you know that traveling and overworking can affect the human body's endocrine system? Your period is probably in disorder because you've been running back and forth," Shen Tong said very seriously.
Chu Xia heaved a sigh of relief and her heart, which had been in her throat just now, finally settled back into its place.
She reckoned that was the reason why her period was late, so it was unlikely that she was pregnant. With Shen Tong's words, she felt even more at ease.
"That's good. I was really worried at one point! I'm hungry. Let's find a place to eat!" Chu Xia touched her stomach. She didn't know why she had been eating so much recently.
It seemed that she couldn't fill her stomach.
"You guys choose a place to eat. Today, it's my treat!" Qin Sheng said.
Half of her worried heart was relieved. It seemed that suffering from cold could cause amenorrhea. She didn't need to worry that she was pregnant.
Shen Tong looked at the surrounding streets curiously. "Chu Xia, Qin Sheng, can we eat at that restaurant? It's so unique. It's a wooden house."
Qin Sheng looked at the building Shen Tong mentioned. It was a two-story building with what looked like treehouse at the top. Of course, it wasn't a real treehouse, but a bar.
"That's a bar, not a restaurant," said Qin Sheng.
Shen Tong's eyes lit up. "A bar? I've never been to a bar before! Please take me there!"
Her little heart was filled with excitement. Sikong Jue would never take her to these places.
Qin Sheng looked at the excited Shen Tong and agreed. The three girls would just have some sweet wine and maybe some other drinks. It should be fine.
"Alright then. Let's go to the bar, but there's not much to eat there," she explained.
"It's okay. I don't need to eat much," Shen Tong said confidently.
Qin Sheng laughed. This silly girl really hadn't been to a bar before. A bar wasn't like a restaurant, where you could eat whatever was on the menu.
"No matter what we eat, I don't care, as long as it's edible. I'm starving to death!" Chu Xia held Qin Sheng and Shen Tong's hands and walked into the bar.
Shen Tong walked into the bar and looked left and right. It seemed like she had discovered a new continent. As it was still early, there weren't any customers here yet.
The stage in front of the bar wasn't big. Below it were round tables with high-backed semicircular sofas. Two or three semicircular sofas could be put together to form a small enclosed area.
Qin Sheng chose a seat in one of the corners. It was usually quieter here. She picked up the menu and helped Chu Xia and Shen Tong order food and drinks.
Soon, the waiter brought a pile of things to the table.
Shen Tong looked at the small basket of food and smiled. It was the first time she saw food packed in a small bamboo frame.
"There are fried ribs, grilled lamb chops, grilled t-bone steak, fried onion rings, French fries, cheesy mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and a few desserts and bread," Qin Sheng said.
Chu Xia reached out to grab a large t-bone steak and took a bite. "It's so delicious. It tastes like black pepper! Shen Tong, you eat it too. And don't forget to have some French bread. It all smells so good."
After eating, she finally felt human again.
Shen Tong picked up a fried rib and chewed it. "It smells so good! Qin Sheng, I thought you said you couldn't buy much food in a bar! There are so many delicious things here!"
Qin Sheng sighed. "I've ordered almost all the edible things in the bar!"
Originally, these dishes were meant to be eaten with wine, especially for the customers who ordered drinks. Now, they were treating them as proper meals.
"This is good enough! I've never eaten such delicious food before!" It didn't take Shen Tong long to eat two ribs.
Soon, glasses of colorful sweet wine were served.
Shen Tong looked at the wine and couldn't help but want to try it.
"It's delicious! The wine doesn't look like wine at all. It looks like a normal drink," she said.
"But there's alcohol content. Just try it. Don't drink too much though," Qin Sheng instructed Shen Tong.
"I'm not going to drink too much! Rainbow-colored wine! Wow! I never knew things like this existed..." Shen Tong held the sweet wine and refused to let go.
Qin Sheng looked at the gluttonous Chu Xia. "Are you very hungry? When did you become so greedy?"
Chu Xia shook her head. "I've been so hungry recently. I always want to eat."
"Be careful or you'll get fat! The thin body you've worked so hard to maintain is going to be ruined," Qin Sheng complained.
She felt strange too. But, she had no appetite at all. She didn't want to eat any meat and only ate the fruits.
Chu Xia chuckled. "I'll eat until I'm full. Only after I'm full will I have the strength to lose weight."
She would probably regret eating all this once she was full, but she couldn't control her hunger and wanted to eat more.
"What's the point of losing weight? It's not healthy for the body. Brother Jue said that being healthy is beautiful. Being skinny isn't healthy. It doesn't look good at all," Shen Tong said.
Chu Xia thought of something. "Shen Tong, why did you come out on your own? Didn't Sikong Jue forbid you from leaving the pharmacy on your own?"
Shen Tong, who was happily eating the ribs, instantly lost the motivation to eat. Her eyes turned teary and her lips pursed. Only then did she suppress the urge to cry.
"Don't cry! What happened?" Qin Sheng handed a tissue to Shen Tong. When she wanted to cry, she struggled to hold it in too. It was very hard to hold it in.
Shen Tong took the tissue and cried out loud. "Brother Jue doesn't want me!"
Chu Xia was stunned. "What? Sikong Jue abandoned you? D*mn, what kind of person is he? I'll happily help you cripple him!"
Shen Tong shook her head repeatedly. "No, it's not that he doesn't want me. It's, it's..."
Her little face flushed red. She lowered her head and was embarrassed to say that Sikong Jue didn't want to be intimate with her.
"What is it? Tell me quickly!" Chu Xia couldn't wait to ask.
"Brother Jue isn't willing to have a baby with me." Shen Tong's voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible.
Qin Sheng was stunned. "He doesn't like babies? You're not young anymore, you should have a baby."
"It's not that he doesn't like babies, it's that he doesn't want to touch me." Shen Tong finally revealed her hidden pain.
Chu Xia's heart sank. "Are you saying that Sikong Jue doesn't want to touch you? Then what about the past? Did he suddenly stop touching you?"
Shen Tong wiped her tears away. "We've never had an intimate relationship, even though we've been engaged for years. Chu Xia, you said that you were engaged like us. Is it normal to not have intimacy?
"Do you think that he likes someone else? Didn't you two know each other before? Tell me quickly, did he have a relationship with a girl in the past, or did he have feelings for another girl?"