TFS | Chapter 9

Rainy days made it hard to catch a ride. The two of them waited quite a while before they finally got a taxi. As soon as the driver pulled up, Qi Yue immediately dragged the person into the back seat.

The moment he sat down, a faint, mixed scent of rain drifted across the tip of his nose.

Qi Yue stiffened and shivered.

He turned his head and saw Xu Linruan sunk deep into the soft seat cushion, a pair of dark eyes shimmering with light, like moonlight immersed in water. Then she smiled at him. “Are you cold? Do you want to come a little closer?”

Qi Yue froze for a second, lowered his head, and looked at his own clothes. He was soaked through, his originally black, fluffy hair hanging limp, his whole body drenched and utterly uncomfortable.

His expression turned conflicted. He thought that in this weather… it really was pretty cold. Could he maybe… get his coat back?

But then he looked at Xu Linruan’s eyes, rippling like spring water.

The young master glared, immediately straightening up his cool, aloof school tyrant posture. He folded his arms, lifted his chin, and looked proud and disdainful. “Who do you think I am, some girl like you? This young master is in great shape.”

So Xu Linruan leaned over, unzipped the jacket, and shared half of it with him, draping it over his shoulders. Clearly, the young master had not expected her to do that. The muscles near her shoulder stiffened, then he quietly shifted back a little.

Xu Linruan pretended not to see his awkwardness and blinked at him. “Is this better?”

The boy turned his face away and said nothing. Yet for some reason, he felt a little nervous. His hand unconsciously tightened, and he kept sneaking glances at her from time to time.

The girl turned slightly to the side. The hair pinned near her ear slipped softly onto the jacket, and the familiar scent immediately became more obvious.

A ripple stirred in his heart, but Xu Linruan beside him showed no special reaction at all. She looked calm and still, with no expression on her face. That rare indifference made the boy feel oddly irritated.

Wasn’t she supposed to like him so much she couldn’t pull herself away?

Why did she not look even a little shy?

What about the blushing, the nerves, the racing heart?

Why didn’t this woman play by the script?

The young master’s gaze was full of annoyance. He let out a cold snort and turned his body away, sitting sideways to her.

Just like the fat orange cat she used to keep when it got angry, even the movements were the same. You servant, why aren’t you hurrying over to coax me?

…………

Heavy raindrops struck the car window and then swept backward in a blur. The rain made dull, muffled sounds against the glass. Outside, the downpour was torrential, while inside the taxi was eerily quiet.

“Yo, you and your girlfriend had a fight? Looks like your girlfriend treats you pretty well.”

The taxi driver, old and unhurried, tossed out the comment casually.

Qi Yue was caught off guard by the remark. His handsome face reddened a little. “She doesn’t treat me well at all. She only knows how to tease me.”

“That means she likes you, so she teases you,” the driver said. “A girlfriend that pretty can be snatched away really easily.”

“When I was your age, I had dated no fewer than three girlfriends…” The taxi driver went on and on, talking about his glorious youthful exploits.

Even with his thick skin, the young master still could not quite withstand the driver’s enthusiastic sharing of experience. As soon as the car stopped, he immediately grabbed the person and ran.

The taxi driver’s voice carried after them through the wind and rain. “Young man, you’ve got good instincts. A girlfriend should be held tightly like that…”

Qi Yue’s movement paused. When he turned back, he met Xu Linruan’s beautiful eyes. She blinked at him as if to say, so this is what kind of person you are.

The young master’s face turned red with embarrassment. He mentally spat and thought, no, he was not that kind of person.

The two of them entered the residential complex.

Qi Yue dragged the person straight into a brick-red villa.

The ground was slick in the rain, and the boy was in such a hurry that he almost fell flat on his face. Fortunately, someone at his side reached out and pulled him, and the young master narrowly avoided the misfortune of getting his face ruined.

The original novel had never included a scene like this. As the supporting female character Xu Linruan, even though she was the male lead’s first love, she had never had the chance to be brought home by him.

Now that the plot had changed, Xu Linruan had become a little interested. With a watchful, amused mindset, she pretended not to notice his little thoughts and followed him in.

A square, minimalist crystal-glass chandelier hung in the spacious living room, casting a bright, clear light over the interior. The floor was covered with a soft rug that felt cushiony underfoot.

As soon as Qi Yue entered, the servants at home hurried over to greet him, bustling around to attend to the little young master with the bad temper. But Qi Yue impatiently waved them all away and then took Xu Linruan straight up to the second floor.

His room was on the second floor. To be honest, this was the first time Qi Yue had brought a girl home, and he was a little unsure too.

But then he thought about it. This was a golden opportunity. A man and a woman alone in the same room, if nothing happened that was unsuitable for children, it would be a waste of the rain he had spent all day soaked in.

What kind of person was Qi Yue? He had lost face all day long, so now he had to win it back somehow.

After Xu Linruan went up to the second floor, Qi Yue led her into his room.

The moment she walked in, she saw the blindingly white bed. It was not as messy as one might expect. The school tyrant’s room was fairly tidy. On the desk sat a computer and a few random little gadgets. Beside them were a mouse, a lighter, and a stack of collected cards, mostly things boys liked.

The boy rummaged through the wardrobe while secretly glancing sideways at the person behind him.

Xu Linruan’s beauty was widely recognized, a bright and captivating kind of beauty. Her skin was very fair, with not a single flaw on her face. At such close range, he could almost make out the fine down on her cheeks.

The boy casually took a black T-shirt hanging on a hanger and went into the bathroom, planning to change out of his wet clothes.

Xu Linruan looked at him from behind and shook the water from her hair. “Mm, my clothes are all wet like this. Young master, didn’t you see?”

Qi Yue had seen, and he had seen very clearly.

Precisely because they were soaked through, he had seen some things he should not have seen. They were pretty… big.

The young master’s face reddened a little. Feeling somewhat awkward, he pointed at the wardrobe. “There are clean ones in there. Just go take whatever you want.”

It was not as if she had no hands or feet. Did he really have to serve her?

This was just a game anyway. He did not really like her. Bringing her back here was already the bottom line for him. The boy repeated this silently in his heart.

The moment he finished speaking, that face suddenly leaned closer. At such an intimate distance, he could clearly see his own reflection in her eyes, and that useless little heart of his started thumping again.

Damn it. This awful woman was definitely doing it on purpose.

If she kept teasing him like this every day, he was really worried that he would fail to win her over and end up crashing first instead.

Xu Linruan seemed like she wanted to say more, but Qi Yue did not give her the chance.

The boy quickly slipped into the bathroom and called out through the glass door, “Anyway… the clothes are all in the cabinet. Just take whatever you need.”

Let her take them herself?

Xu Linruan raised an eyebrow. Should she say this guy had a big heart, or that he trusted her too much?

Wasn’t he afraid she would take something she should not take? She glanced at the silhouette reflected in the glass door, the corners of her eyes curving slightly, then turned and walked toward the wardrobe.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bathroom, Qi Yue quickly changed into another set of clothes. Standing before the mirror, he raked his fingers through the loose fringe on his forehead with a handsome pose. The face in the mirror still carried some of the vigor of an eighteen-year-old boy.

Qi Yue flashed the mirror a dashing smile. In his black-and-white clear eyes, a determined gleam appeared. “Let’s see this young master take you down in one fell swoop tonight.”

When he heard Xu Linruan calling his name from outside, Qi Yue curved his lips in satisfaction.

But when he walked out, his expression froze instantly.

Damn it!

I told you to take whatever you wanted, not to wear that! My limited-edition trendy T-shirt, my battle robe for the arena, it was ridiculously precious, impossible to buy even if you had money!

And my one-of-a-kind AJs, are those shoes for you to step all over? There are already footprints on them, so hurry up and move your dirty foot. You even stepped your wet clothes on them too. You filthy woman, are you looking for a fight?

The boy stormed over aggressively, his eyes scanning her from head to toe like twin red laser beams. Mm… the clothes were a bit too big, the neckline was too wide, and the exposed collarbone was practically indecent. Although she did look pretty damn good wearing it, could that make up for the unhappiness of having one of his clothes ruined?

Qi Yue lowered his head and glared at her fiercely like an irritable leopard, immediately picking a fight. “Who told you to wear my shirt?”

Xu Linruan looked up at him, her expression somewhat blank. Only after a moment did she come back to herself and speak slowly, “Didn’t you say I could take whatever I wanted?”

She did not avert her gaze either, looking at him with those light, clear eyes.

Instead, it was Qi Yue who felt embarrassed under that stare. Mainly because she was too beautiful, and it made it hard for him to stay angry. He was really hopeless.

“…Even if I did say that, there were so many other clothes. Why did you have to wear this one?”

Was there something wrong with this one?

Xu Linruan blinked and looked down at the clothes on her body. The fabric was quite comfortable, and it fit her pretty well. It was just that the neckline was too wide, so her shoulders kept showing.

She smiled at him slightly.

Perhaps because the smile was too gentle, the young master, who had originally still had a trace of anger, instantly went quiet. His voice unconsciously softened.

“It’s not like… it’s impossible. It’s just this, your clothes are all wet and you put them on my shoes? Fine if you put them there, but you stepped on them too. Don’t you know these shoes are super expensive? Even if I sold you, you still couldn’t afford to pay for them.” He bent down, picked up the wet clothes from the shoe, and shot her a resentful glare.

Xu Linruan said nothing and just looked up at him.

Yet Qi Yue felt that look was a little strange, so he snorted weakly despite trying to sound tough. “Why are you still looking at me? What are you looking at? Don’t think that just because you’re good-looking you don’t have to say sorry. So what if your eyes are big? My eyes are bigger than yours…” The boy made faces at her, looking like an idiot.

Xu Linruan: “…”

Somehow, she felt that this guy’s style had changed too fast. It was getting hard to look at him straight.

Xu Linruan caught the hand that was waving around. Her bright, shining eyes smiled as she looked at him. “Mm… you’re taking my clothes to wash them? But I should remind you, the underwear needs to be washed by hand.”

When Qi Yue heard that, his arm stiffened at once.

His eyes shifted sideways and landed on that wet little piece of clothing. He only felt his whole body burn up. Then the handsome face as white as milk quickly flushed red. How could this kind of clothing be in young master’s hands?

“Damn it, Xu Linruan, what kind of look is that? This young master is not that kind of person.”

The boy threw the clothes away at the fastest speed possible, his eyes widening as if he was afraid that saying it too late would ruin his innocence.