She extinguished the cigarette butt on the ground and picked it up with her index finger, muttering,
"If my kid ever learns to smoke, I'll make sure they won't recognize their mom. This stuff's expensive and hard to smoke; the only upside is probably the buzz."
Qi Ting stored the cigarette butt in a small plastic bag and tossed two pieces of chewing gum into her mouth before turning around to head back. She thought she saw Sister Zhou Zhou practicing singing on her phone from a distance, but up close, it seemed like she was chatting instead.
As she opened the driver's side door, she happened to hear Lin Wanzhou playing a recording out loud.
"Sister Zhou Zhou, is that your new song? Sounds pretty good!"
"No, this is Pei Muchan's new song," Lin Wanzhou said while responding to messages, not even looking up.
