Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Do you still remember that you were the one who kissed me first? ...

Neither of them said anything, and they each silently admired the night view of the river. As Ruan Xiangyi said, the best time to relax and unwind in this ancient city is at night.

The dishes were served quickly. They set up the charcoal fire, covered it with baking paper, and started grilling. There was no barbecue service here, so Ruan Xiangyi took the initiative to take over the barbecue. She didn't dare to let him grill. However, she ordered all the dishes, so she didn't know if he would be picky.

"If you want any more, you can order more." She added, "It's my treat."

"The meat is ready." She picked up a piece of pork belly and placed it in front of him. "Try it."

Zhao Qingshi looked at the slightly burnt meat on the plate, and Ruan Xiangyi quickly compensated him: "That was because the fire was too big and I didn't pay attention. Try this piece." She picked up another piece, and this one was not burnt.

Zhao Qingshi picked up a piece and put it in his mouth, frowning slightly.

"Isn't it tasty?" she asked.

Zhao Qingshi swallowed it with difficulty and picked up the water glass on the table: "It tastes very strange."

"Huh?" Ruan Xiangyi was puzzled. "How could the smell of barbecue be so strange?" Could it be that the meat was not fresh? It was over. Would he think she was poisoning him?

"The dipping sauce tastes weird." He glanced at the dipping sauce dish in front of her.

"I haven't touched it yet," Ruan Xiangyi hesitated for a moment, as if she could see through his thoughts, and pushed her dipping saucer over. "Do you... want to try it?"

Zhao Qingshi tried it without hesitation and raised his eyes: "It doesn't have that taste."

Ruan Xiangyi thought for a moment: "Did you add Litsea cubeba?"

Zhao Qingshi didn't understand what she was saying: "What is Litsea cubeba?"

"This place is special. It tastes unique and people from other places might not be used to it. Why don't you try another one?"

Zhao Qingshi asked: "Then why don't you have one?"

"I don't like it either."

"Then go make another one for yourself." He put her bowl in front of him. He wanted her bowl.

"I'll grill it." Zhao Qingshi rolled up his sleeves and took the barbecue tongs from her hand. Ruan Xiangyi stared at him blankly and blurted out, "Do you know how to grill it?"

Zhao Qingshi lifted his eyelids and glanced at her, as if to say, "Who are you looking down on?"

Ruan Xiangyi silently shut up and walked to the seasoning area. When she came back with the condiment plate, there were a few more pieces of meat in the bowl.

Zhao Qingshi picked up a piece of steak and skillfully cut it with scissors into long strips of average size. As soon as it touched the oil, it sizzled and emitted a fragrant aroma.

Ruan Xiangyi was really hungry, so she started eating without being polite. Zhao Qingshi put the grilled steak into her bowl. She had a strange feeling, which she couldn't explain, but it was soon replaced by hunger.

"Aren't you going to eat?" She couldn't help asking when she saw that he didn't move his chopsticks much.

"Eat." He picked up a few pieces of meat and put them into his bowl. Ruan Xiangyi suddenly understood why she felt so strange.

She was actually sitting here with Zhao Qingshi eating barbecue, in Yuyao, 300 kilometers away from Yitong. She was eating the meat that Zhao Qingshi had grilled himself, and asked him so calmly if he wanted to eat it.

Ruan Xiangyi started to daydream while holding a piece of potato.

"What are you looking at?" Zhao Qingshi noticed.

Ruan Xiangyi came to her senses and realized that she had been staring at him.

"Sorry, I suddenly remembered something and got distracted." She lowered her head and quickly stuffed the potato into her mouth.

"What's the matter?" he asked calmly.

"nothing."

"Nothing, why are you staring at me?" He stared at her, determined to get to the bottom of things, and was absolutely certain that her distraction had something to do with him.

Ruan Xiangyi had to make up an excuse: "It's just that seeing how skilled you are at baking, I can hardly believe it."

"What's the big deal?" Zhao Qingshi put another piece of raw meat in. The cuffs of his shirt slid down a few inches. He rolled them up and said nonchalantly, "I went camping in the mountains with my friends. I grilled all the barbecue they ate."

"Wow, that sounds amazing," she agreed.

Zhao Qingshi didn't understand what she meant by "amazing." Barbecuing meat? He felt a craving for a cigarette, so he took out a cigarette and held it between his fingers. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

Ruan Xiangyi shook her head.

A lighter chimed crisply as Zhao Qingshi lit a cigarette and took a drag. His back was to the night, the white smoke obscuring his true features. Ruan Xiangyi's gaze followed his hands. They were beautiful, a bony beauty that made it impossible to look away. The joints were long and slender, the skin like a flawless piece of jade, the veins rising slowly upwards to the wrist. Further up, an impeccable face, softly blowing smoke rings, a white shirt with two buttons undone, his eyes piercing with lacquer. One hand held a cigarette, the other expertly turning the flesh underneath.

No wonder Ruan Lingyu screamed so loudly.

There are a lot of handsome guys in the world, but the handsome guys who look like assholes are more attractive.

Ruan Xiangyi was half full and didn't dare to eat anymore, for fear of making her stomach bloated and nauseous again.

Suddenly, the waiter brought two bowls of rice wine dumplings. Ruan Xiangyi asked, "We didn't seem to order this. Was it the wrong order?"

The waiter said that today was their boss's grandson's full moon celebration, and he had specifically instructed that rice wine dumplings be given to every guest today.

Zhao Qingshi asked: "What is this?"

"These are rice wine dumplings," Ruan Xiangyi said. "Here, there's a custom of making these rice wine dumplings when a child is full-term. You can try them. They're not the kind you see on the market. They're made purely of glutinous rice flour, solid and without filling."

Zhao Qingshi scooped up the glutinous rice balls and took a bite. Ruan Xiangyi reminded him, "But if you eat too much of this fermented rice, you'll get drunk."

"Are you drunk?"

Ruan Xiangyi: "Yeah."

Zhao Qingshi drank half a bowl of wine with half belief and half doubt, then raised his eyes to look at her, stubbornly asking her for confirmation, can this really make you drunk?

“…”

After dinner, the two of them strolled along the river. Seeing it was still early, they both suggested finding a bar to sit at. Zhao Qingshi sat down and ordered a drink, while Ruan Xiangyi ordered a juice and some snacks. The ambient lighting enveloped them like a heat wave, and Jane Zhang's "Difficult" made them sing along.

Zhao Qingshi stared at her profile, watching her head swaying with the rhythm. With his mind in a daze, he took a sip of wine. After the music stopped, he ordered a song called "Lonely Tequila" by A-Mei.

When the melody came to mind, Ruan Xiangyi turned her head and said in surprise: "I know this song!"

Zhao Qingshi shrugged.

After the song ended, some audience members came up to sing. Ruan Xiangyi was tired of humming and sat up straight. She saw that the wine in front of him was almost empty. She took a bite of a French fry and saw that he ordered another glass of wine. "I won't be able to resist you if you get drunk later."

"I won't get drunk." He said firmly, and the clarity in his eyes was still obvious.

Ruan Xiangyi didn't say anything.

"After all the procedures are completed in a few days, I will come over to transfer the household registration to you," said Zhao Qingshi.

Ruan Xiangyi nodded: "Thank you for this time. Please write me an IOU. I will pay you back when I make money later."

"You didn't take that card?" Zhao Qingshi suddenly asked.

Ruan Xiangyi paused for three seconds before realizing what card he was talking about.

"I left it at the front desk." Ruan Xiangyi asked, "Didn't they contact you?"

Although she didn't know how much money was in the card, it was still money.

"Why not?" His focus was completely opposite to hers.

Why not?

Of course, you don’t want it if you don’t want it.

"You have no place in the Ruan family, and your mother is not a big tree you can rely on. Why don't you use her to support yourself?" His voice was low and his eyes were deep.

Ruan Xiangyi was silent for a while, then suddenly lowered her head: "I don't want to think that this is the money I earned by selling my body." She felt that it was her shame, the dirt that she would never be able to wash away in her lifetime.

Sell ​​yourself?

His eyes sank. She actually used such an ugly word to describe herself.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-three."

Twenty-three years old...

Zhao Qingshi thought, he is already 29 years old this year, a six-year age difference.

He laughed: "What a little girl."

I thought she was at least 25 years old.

"Ruan Xiangyi." He rarely pronounced her name, and never addressed her in such a serious tone. "Look at me."

Ruan Xiangyi raised her head blankly, looked carefully, and saw a line of tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Listen, this isn't money from selling your body. Don't think so lowly of yourself. This is just a form of compensation. If you don't want it, then don't take it." Zhao Qingshi stared into her gleaming eyes. "This is our first time, and you just think this is a ridiculous thing that happened out of sheer passion. No one except you and me will know about this mistake, and no one will ever mention it again."

This was the first time Zhao Qingshi comforted someone, even though his words were extremely outrageous.

"As for the money, you can pay it back if you want, or not if you don't want. I don't need the three hundred thousand."

The thorn in Ruan Xiangyi's chest was finally pulled out.

At half past ten, the two left the bar. Zhao Qingshi was already drunk. Ruan Xiangyi held his hand weakly, thinking of his resounding words "I won't get drunk". She should have recorded it and shown it to him.

Back at the hotel, Ruan Xiangyi sent him back to the room. He fell headfirst on the bed. She suspected that he was pretending. She stood by the bed and observed him for a while, but it didn't seem like that. She remembered that he didn't drink much. His alcohol tolerance was even worse than hers.

Ruan Xiangyi stood up and prepared to leave the room, but the moment she turned around, she was dragged down and fell onto the soft bed. She was so frightened that her ears turned red.

Zhao Qingshi had already sat up from the bed, propped up one leg and smiled: "What are you looking at? I said I won't get drunk."

Ruan Xiangyi was dissatisfied: "Then you need someone to support you when you walk."

Zhao Qingshi smiled: "Maybe I'm too tired?"

asshole!

Ruan Xiangyi cursed fiercely in her heart, and as if she was not satisfied, she picked up a pillow and threw it at him. Her angry look was completely different from the person who had avoided him everywhere and cried in the bathroom before.

Zhao Qingshi didn't dodge and was hit by the pillow.

After throwing it, Ruan Xiangyi ran quickly, but she didn't escape. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she was caught again. The world was spinning around, and Zhao Qingshi was lying on top of her. This was an extremely dangerous position.

Ruan Xiangyi retracted her legs, not daring to act rashly. "Are you really still awake?"

"Do you think I'm sober or not?" He stared at her face, his throat moistened by wine, and there was a different kind of hoarseness in it.

"You were drunk that night too, weren't you?" he asked.

Ruan Xiangyi turned her head away, remaining silent. Silence meant acquiescence. Zhao Qingshi held her face, looking directly at her, and pressed her wrist. He laughed at her blushing face, "Do you remember that you were the one who took the initiative to kiss me?"

In the same position, she broke free from his restraints, put her arms around his neck, and rushed forward.

She didn't say anything, and tried to push him away with her hands. Zhao Qingshi stared at her lips and suddenly bent down. Just as they were about to touch, Ruan Xiangyi's calm voice came: "Zhao Qingshi, you are getting married soon."

Zhao Qingshi chuckled lightly, and said something so rude as before: "Is it okay if we don't get married?"

Ruan Xiangyi was furious. Was this how his theory worked?

"That's not possible either." He turned his head to the side, his chest rising and falling, "I have someone I like."

"Your senior brother?" Zhao Qingshi chuckled and said arrogantly, "I didn't take him seriously at all."

After saying that, he let her go and returned to his usual cold and distant attitude: "Go back."

The author has something to say:

----------------------

Admit it, you're attracted to her by her looks.