TFS | Chapter 30

The afternoon sun was scorching, with only the occasional cool breeze drifting by.

Beside the camphor tree downstairs from the library, a tall, slender boy stood with one hand in his pocket, his posture lazy and brazen. Half of his navy shirt had been tucked into his waistband, faintly revealing the muscles at his waist and abdomen.

He leaned against the tree trunk, the outline of his side profile sharp and well-defined. He looked both careless and striking, and the girls passing by sometimes couldn’t help whispering about him.

After finally enduring until lunchtime, Qi Yue turned down a few friends’ invitations and deliberately ran to the library to wait downstairs for someone.

He remembered that Xu Linruan had said she disliked a high-profile life, and also disliked being watched and talked about by classmates, so he didn’t directly rush inside to look for her.

After patiently waiting under the tree for a while, he saw a familiar figure emerge from the stairwell. Qi Yue stood up, wanting to greet her, but then he remembered what she had said and worried that others might notice, so he hesitated and didn’t move. Being so restrained only made him look a little slow.

Just as he still hadn’t reacted, an obnoxious bastard patted Xu Linruan on the shoulder.

Qi Yue narrowed his eyes, watching that shameless dog of a man openly try to flirt with his girlfriend.

“Senior, do you want to go grab lunch together?” The boy’s gentle smile drew the attention of quite a few girls passing by.

Xu Linruan turned back to look. The boy standing behind her was Xu Canyang. Because they had once bought study materials together, the two of them were fairly familiar with each other.

Xu Linruan gave him a polite smile.

Qi Yue’s expression darkened slightly. Seeing his girlfriend smile at another boy, that bit of irritation rising in his chest kept growing, and he had completely forgotten his girlfriend’s warning.

She was just about to answer.

Then a voice suddenly cut in. “She already has plans.”

Both of them were a little surprised and looked toward the speaker at the same time. The gloomy-faced boy was walking over in their direction.

When Xu Canyang saw who it was, his face was clearly surprised.

“Qi Yue?” His gaze moved back and forth between the two of them. Since the last time the two had fought, this was their first meeting.

Qi Yue couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. A mocking smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, it’s me. What about it?”

“Nothing.” Xu Canyang didn’t think much of it. He just felt that this guy’s attitude was too much, too flashy, but on second thought, that seemed to be his usual way.

When he didn’t hear Xu Linruan refuse him, he vaguely understood something. “Alright then, if senior doesn’t have time, we can make plans another day too.”

After saying that, he still maintained his manners and gave Xu Linruan a slight smile, but when he turned to look at Qi Yue, his expression was obviously far less friendly.

After the person left, Xu Linruan turned slightly, a smile tugging at her lips. “I didn’t even know we had arranged a date.”

The boy kicked at a pebble by the roadside, sounding a little displeased. “As your boyfriend, don’t I even get this little bit of special treatment?”

“Mm, you’re jealous?” Xu Linruan tilted her head. A few strands of hair fell across her cheek, and in those clear black-and-white eyes of hers, she could plainly see the unmistakable trace of irritation.

“No.” The boy looked away, his tone a little flat. “I’m not that petty.” Since he had already decided to be with her, he wasn’t going to get angry so easily and give those with ulterior motives a chance to take advantage.

“I just think that for someone who wants to steal my girl, he should be stuffed in a sack and properly beaten up.” Hearing Xu Linruan’s words, Qi Yue restrained the emotion on his face, turned toward her, and looked at her without blinking.

His serious expression made Xu Linruan suddenly feel that this originally just slightly arrogant but still somewhat principled delinquent really might do something as irresponsible as stuffing someone in a sack.

That was not a good sign. Xu Linruan slightly lifted her chin. The boy in front of her was a whole head taller than she was, and standing before her he looked like a little giant, blocking most of the sunlight and giving off a rare sense of pressure.

She took a small step forward, closing the distance between them. The boy’s throat bobbed unconsciously, and his gaze fell on her lips.

“Qi Xiaoyue, you’ve really got guts now. You’ve done plenty of bullying with power before, haven’t you?”

The boy turned his face away and denied it. “I didn’t bully anyone with power. He was the one who liked you first.”

“But I didn’t like him. Because of that, you want to bully him? Leaving aside the fact that this is his own business, don’t you think you’re meddling too much?” Xu Linruan felt that this guy’s possessiveness was a little too strong, and once he got tangled up in something, he became unreasonably stubborn.

She had always thought being unreasonable was a woman’s privilege. She hadn’t expected this guy to be especially good at it too.

“Of course I know that, because the person you like is me.” Qi Yue paused. As he said this, his aura somehow weakened a little. He couldn’t stop sneaking glances at her face.

Seeing that she wasn’t looking at him, he felt a little disappointed, so he reached out to touch her hand. Once he made contact, he quietly held on.

Then, while holding her hand, he continued casually, “Anyway, I don’t care. You’re my girlfriend, you’re mine alone. If anyone dares chase after you, I’ll kill him…”

His tone was cocky and willful, looking exactly like an infuriating little bastard.

Xu Linruan was completely speechless. “That way of thinking is wrong. Qi Yue, you’re being way too much.”

She lowered her head to look at that restless hand. His hands were beautiful too, with long knuckles and round, full nails. His fingers squeezed her palm neither too hard nor too soft, carefully toying with it as if he had found some interesting toy.

Her fingers were getting a little numb from being pinched. Guessing this guy could probably play with her hand for an hour, she couldn’t help but pinch him back. “…Have you had enough?” she said, pulling her fingers back.

Qi Yue still wanted to cling to her, but she shoved him away forcefully. The boy paused, then lifted his head to look at her with a somewhat pouty, wronged expression. “We’ve already made up. You’re my girlfriend now.”

This guy was putting on a pity act again. No idea where he had learned this trick.

“Mm, so?” Xu Linruan responded carelessly without changing expression, watching him act as if he was determined to drag this out forever.

“So, you’re not lying to me, are you?” Now he wouldn’t even let her hold his hand.

Qi Yue couldn’t help glancing at her. His suspicious nature surfaced again. He had probably been hit hard enough that he no longer entirely trusted what she said.

“…Why would you think that? You think I’m lying to you?” Xu Linruan smiled at him and naturally tossed the question back.

“I just think…” You don’t seem to like me that much. But he didn’t say the rest.

“Forget it…” Qi Yue didn’t keep pressing the topic. Instead, he looked at her with an expression that suggested he had something to say but was holding it back. After struggling for a while, he finally continued, “You really wouldn’t lie to me?”

Xu Linruan glanced at this guy. Did he really have to be this suspicious?

“You don’t believe me?”

“No, I do believe you.” The boy pouted and gave a small rebuttal.

“It’s just that you lied to me so badly before. I don’t feel safe now.”

“Unless… you prove it to me?” Before she could answer, Qi Yue couldn’t help adding another line. His gaze on her was a little tense. “Prove it to me, and I’ll believe you.”

Those dark, bright eyes looked at her full of expectation, the meaning in them clear as day.

Mm, and this kind of thing still needed proving?

Xu Linruan sneered inwardly. After circling around and around, so that was what he had been waiting for.

She slightly tipped her chin up. “Then how do you want me to prove it?” The girl’s brow lifted faintly, and the smile at her lips became thin.

The boy looked away somewhat guiltily and said as if it were no big deal, “Uh… actually, it’s not some terribly difficult thing. Just, you know, kiss me once. Kiss me once, and I’ll believe you.”

Qi Yue’s ears were a little red. As he spoke, he leaned his head toward her. The movement was especially decisive and quick, with not the slightest hesitation.

Xu Linruan found it funny. This guy’s skill at taking advantage of her was really getting stronger and stronger.

“Qi Xiaoyue, your胆子 is getting bigger and bigger, huh? Don’t forget this is school. Aren’t you afraid of being discovered if you want to do something bad?” The girl tilted her head and pressed one hand against his face as he leaned in forcefully.

The boy was pushed back a step, rubbing his squeezed cheek. His attempt to steal a kiss had been rejected, and he looked at her several times with some dissatisfaction. “We can just go a little farther inside. No one will come over at this time.”

That was true enough.

But Xu Linruan had no intention of spoiling him like that. She glanced at him lightly, a trace of a smile on her lips. “That won’t do.”

Those eyes looking at him were gentle and calm, which made the already somewhat dissatisfied Qi Yue feel even more frustrated. “Why not? We’re clearly a couple.”

He felt wronged, and a little embarrassed into anger. Couples were supposed to be closer, but her attitude toward him was like she was coaxing a child. He couldn’t feel her concern for him at all.

The boy pressed his lips tightly together, his gaze fixed on her.

To be honest, sometimes he really did dislike the way she treated him, like a toy she had bought on a whim, something she could casually throw away once she no longer liked it.

This won’t do, that won’t do… He had no idea how many times he had already been rejected.

That made Qi Yue increasingly restless. He had only been somewhat displeased at first, but now her attitude had pushed him into shame and anger. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you thinking about secretly dumping me again?”

To put it in plain terms, the young master was overthinking things. Even more plainly, he was acting up!

It was the same as a girl without a sense of security wrapping her arms around her boyfriend’s neck, acting spoiled, asking for a hug, and begging for comfort. It was just that, in her case, the male and female roles had been reversed.

Xu Linruan felt speechless. When she had read books before, how had she never noticed that this guy was so childish, so clingy and difficult, with such a nasty habit of wanting affection all the time and acting cute at the drop of a hat?

But after getting along for so long, she had also pretty much figured out that this guy responded to softness, not force. She took a step forward, reached out to pull down his collar, and then, under the boy’s stunned gaze, stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek hard.

After kissing him, she pushed him away again, like a machine that had finished its task without any emotion, and casually soothed him. “Good boy, is that enough now?”

Qi Xiaoyue was dumbfounded.

He still hadn’t reacted to what had happened. By the time he came to his senses, the first thing he saw was the lips his girlfriend had just kissed him with, bright red and soft. Although the contact had been too brief for him to really feel anything, his throat still moved up and down unconsciously.

He thought to himself that he definitely wasn’t that pathetic. One light kiss and he’d be satisfied? If she wanted to appease him, at the very least it had to be a deep kiss, and it had to be the kind that involved deeper contact.

But even while he thought that, the flush on his ears wouldn’t go away no matter what.

…

The boy touched the cheek she had kissed, the corner of his mouth curving slightly. Although he looked like a proper, serious person on the surface, deep down he couldn’t help but feel a surge of embarrassment. “…That kind of thing is so embarrassing, especially at school.”

He lowered his head, his cheeks slightly red, looking somewhat embarrassed. “Next time you kiss me, remember to be a little more restrained. If… someone sees it, then I won’t have any face left, will I?”

Xu Linruan rolled her eyes at this guy. Hah, what a dog of a man. Who was it that had been whining nonstop, demanding that she prove it to him?