TFS | Chapter 34

The next morning, at daybreak, Qi Yue got up unusually early. After washing up, he spent quite a while fussing in front of the mirror by himself.

“What do you think of this outfit?” He came out of the dressing room wearing a stand-collar shirt printed with numbers and a pair of black casual pants. With little decoration on him, he looked fresh and clean, no longer carrying that bad-boy air he usually had.

The butler standing at the door hurriedly said with a smile, “Young Master, this outfit looks great on you. If Miss Xu sees you, she’ll definitely be so dazzled she won’t be able to look away.”

“Really?” A hint of doubt appeared in Qi Yue’s eyes. He somewhat suspected the old butler was just humoring him again. “But isn’t this color a little too plain? Should I change into that black one instead?”

The butler smiled and shook his head. “Young Master, you’re the one who can’t see the wood for the trees[[N]],” he said. “With your looks, this outfit only looks like it was made for you. Trust me this once. Wearing this on a date will definitely work.”

The old butler spoke with complete confidence and even made his guarantee, and only then did Qi Yue finally relax. He looked at himself in the mirror again and again. After confirming that nothing was missing, he left the house happily.

…

Around ten o’clock, Xu Linruan received a message from Qi Yue saying that he had already arrived at the neighborhood gate downstairs, and the text even ended with a goofy smiling dog face emoji.

Xu Linruan found it funny. She dawdled for quite a while before slowly heading downstairs. After leaving the complex, she spotted the boy under a tree across the road waving at her from far away.

The boy ran over to her with a smile. He had probably been waiting for a while, because even his forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat.

Seeing the faintly bright look in Qi Yue’s eyes, Xu Linruan smiled and handed him a pack of tissues. “Mm, have you been waiting long?”

Qi Yue shook his head. He had jogged all the way over, so his breathing was still a little uneven. “No.”

He looked at the tissues his girlfriend was offering him, but he didn’t reach out to take them. Instead, he bent down, lowering his body and leaning his head closer in front of her, then gazed up at her with black-and-white eyes full of expectation. The meaning in those eyes was very obvious. He wanted her to wipe him off herself.

Xu Linruan was very quick to get the hint. After all, when coaxing someone, you had to give them a little sweetness to taste. She reached out and wiped the sweat from him. The young master grinned like an idiot, his mouth stretching all the way to his ears.

“Where are we going on our date?” Qi Yue looked very satisfied. He took Xu Linruan’s small hand, rubbed it in his palm, and casually snatched the tissue she had just used to wipe his sweat before stuffing it into his pocket.

Xu Linruan looked at him with some helplessness. He shouldn’t think she hadn’t noticed that little move. She had no idea when this guy had developed such a strange habit.

She looked up at him. “Where do you want to go?” She didn’t have any particular place she wanted to play, so she was accommodating this young master first.

“I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to stay with you.” Qi Xiao Yue seemed very content. As soon as he turned his head, he could see his girlfriend’s fair, soft cheek. From the side, her eyelashes were long and curled, fine and slender like butterfly wings. She was beautiful beyond words.

He lightly shook her arm. “Today is my birthday. I didn’t even tell anyone else about it. I just want you to keep me company, okay?”

Xu Linruan was a little surprised. She hadn’t known this guy had asked her out for this reason too.

Still, he didn’t look like someone short on birthday gifts, so she smiled, cupped his face, and said rather casually, “Then happy birthday.”

The moment she said that, Qi Xiao Yue’s smile grew even brighter. He held Xu Linruan’s wrist and gently rubbed it, and his originally overly handsome face looked a little not-so-smart because of that silly grin.

A single blessing could make this guy happy for ages. Xu Linruan found that he was actually pretty easy to satisfy.

She couldn’t help patting his handsome face. Seeing how foolish he looked, she tugged at it back and forth. “Have you laughed enough?”

Maybe her strength was a little heavy, because Qi Xiao Yue finally came back to himself. He reined in that goofy expression and then said, “Enough, enough. Ruanruan, be gentle. Let’s go eat first, okay?”

Xu Linruan nodded, then heard him continue, “Mm… after we eat, we’ll go watch a movie, then go to the mall to have fun, then go to the flower room to look at flowers… anyway, let’s do everything couples are supposed to do, okay?”

Qi Yue had already arranged the whole schedule last night. Since he had finally gotten a proper date with his girlfriend, of course he had to try everything they had done before and everything they hadn’t done before.

“That’s all?” Xu Linruan asked, looking up at him.

The young master rarely blushed. “Of course not.”

They were a couple, okay? He had already watched tutorials on everything couples were supposed to do. That was just the basic process. The main event was still later, and that was the best thing not to miss.

Xu Linruan thought his reaction looked a little strange, so she raised a brow and kept pressing. “Then what else?”

Of course it was “check… checking into a hotel.”

Qi Xiao Yue’s brain didn’t even think before he blurted out what he had been thinking.

The air instantly went silent.

Xu Linruan looked at him meaningfully.

An old man walking a dog happened to pass by at just the right moment. The second he heard that, he stared wide-eyed at the handsome young man for quite a few seconds. In the end, he shook his head to himself and sighed with regret, “Young people these days really are getting less and less proper…”

Especially the last look he gave him, which made him seem no different from some beast.

Qi Xiao Yue: “…”

He also felt very ashamed. The moment he said it, he felt too embarrassed to face anyone. His ears were burning hot red, and his little heart kept thumping nonstop.

“Checking into a hotel? Qi Xiao Yue, your skills are getting bigger and bigger, huh.” His girlfriend tucked the loose hair by her ear and smiled at him with gentle eyes and brows.

The boyfriend, driven by an overwhelming will to survive, immediately felt the hairs on his back stand up. “No…”

“Don’t misunderstand. That’s not what I meant.” He was a little anxious and still knew how to salvage his shattered image, so he flushed and hurried to explain. “Actually… it’s just the kind of thing couples do, you know? The two of us sleep on the same bed for one night, and besides kissing and hugging, we don’t do anything else.”

He didn’t dare look up at Xu Linruan. Like a pitiful little dog, he lowered his head and looked very wronged.

This guy was actually pretty good at acting pitiful, and he especially liked to play the victim in front of Xu Linruan. Staring at her with those watery eyes, he poured out his heart while rubbing her little hand. “Okay, sorry, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have had that kind of thought. That kind of thought is wrong, but no one ever taught me it was wrong.”

He glanced at Xu Linruan, and his tone softened even more. “You know, my parents divorced when I was very young. My dad kept a whole bunch of little lovers and never took care of me in daily life.

“I’m not very smart, and when it comes to how men and women get along, I’ve just been going by instinct. I like you so much, so I want to be close to you, want to kiss you, hug you, sleep with you, and I want you to do that to me too. Besides, we’re already a couple, so why wouldn’t we be allowed to do that kind of thing?”

That last question was asked with a grievance that carried a faintly righteous air. Xu Linruan glanced at him. If she hadn’t known what he was really like, she really might have believed this nonsense.

This guy had grown up in excellent circumstances. Even though his parents were divorced, when had his family ever deprived him of anything material?

But there was one thing Xu Linruan did believe.

This guy was probably a little starved for love. Being starved for love had turned him into a pervert[[N]], and she had no idea where he’d learned all these shameless little acts of acting spoiled. He was so clingy it was unbearable.

Xu Linruan suppressed the urge to smack that handsome little face and asked casually, “Are you telling me that you’re really lacking love?”

Qi Yue’s expression twisted for a moment. He probably thought it was embarrassing to have it said out loud, so he turned his face away and said quietly, “It’s a little embarrassing, but I think what you said is right. I am lacking love.”

“So… can you maybe love me a little more?”

That question was a little beyond the syllabus, and Xu Linruan admitted she couldn’t do it. For her, love was a seasoning in life, not a necessity. The most important thing was being happy.

But saying that would easily hurt his pride, and the young master was such a glass-hearted little thing. If he got unhappy, he would shatter into pieces, and then she’d still have to coax him.

So she reached out and rubbed his face, saying in a gentle voice, “When have I ever not liked you? You’re the one overthinking things. If you keep being this obedient, of course I’ll keep liking you like this too…”

It was obvious that these words pleased someone. Qi Xiao Yue tried hard to press his lips together, but the corners of his mouth still rose uncontrollably. “Then if I stay obedient, you have to keep liking me too. No lying.”

The way he smiled was a little foolish, exposing a row of neat, white, sticky-rice teeth.

Xu Linruan couldn’t help laughing too.

…

The two of them went to eat together. Qi Xiao Yue took her to a nearby couples’ restaurant. He had booked the place last night, preparing it in advance for their date.

After they ate, the two went to watch a movie, then to the arcade to play games. The young master had boundless energy, pulling her hand as he strolled everywhere.

Anyway, when she was with him, there was no need to worry about awkward silence. This guy had a thick skin. When he was hit, he would act spoiled and put on a show of misery, asking for comfort and hugs. When he thought of something funny or interesting, he loved sharing it with her, as if he wanted his whole body glued to hers.

He didn’t seem to find it tiring at all. Even later in the evening, Qi Xiao Yue was still slowly dragging things out with Xu Linruan, refusing to go home.

He was still thinking about what they had talked about during the day.

But his girlfriend refused to cooperate, and he didn’t dare bring it up. He was afraid that if he made her angry, she would stop talking to him.

Still, he felt that the opportunity was rare. It had not been easy to schedule time together, and both the place and timing were already arranged.

He was just waiting for his girlfriend to say she was tired, then he would suggest checking in to a h- cough, a hotel, and the two of them would lie under the covers and just chat, while also doing some naughty things. Just thinking about that scene made his head feel dizzy and floaty.

But his girlfriend refused to cooperate. She was a little tired from walking, so she stopped by the railing to rest. After a while, she hooked one hand around his collar and said in a very casual tone, “Qi Xiao Yue, did you bring your ID card?”

Her voice was a little seductive. He felt that something was off, but his girlfriend’s posture was too domineering. She leaned close to his ear and softly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go check into a hotel.”

His girlfriend looked at him lazily, and his gaze fell on her face.

Th-this was that reckless?

But looking at her like that, he somehow felt his heart beating even faster.

Qi Xiao Yue’s whole face turned red. His brain was buzzing in utter chaos. Even while being led along by her, he was still thinking, this script was wrong. He should have been the one saying this.