Chapter 17 A Failed Confession "Want to marry me? I'm afraid that's not so easy..."

When Shu Qing woke up, it was already dusk.

No one woke her; she was awakened by a strong aroma of rice.

She stared in disbelief at her open-plan kitchenette—Jiu Su had not only come in, but had even started cooking dinner. Judging from the smell, the rice porridge in the rice cooker was probably almost ready.

In addition to porridge, there are also side dishes to accompany it: steamed egg, stir-fried baby spinach, tomato tofu... and a small bowl of snow pear and white fungus soup as dessert.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Jiu Su turned around and glanced at her. Today, for convenience, he had tied his silver hair into a low ponytail, and rolled up his sleeves a little, revealing a section of his snow-white wrist with distinct knuckles.

He was no longer so immaculate, and he no longer seemed so distant. He told her quite naturally, "Wait five more minutes."

Their interaction was so natural that it was as if they had been living together for over a year as a couple, rather than strangers meeting for the third time today.

"Okay." Shu Qing nodded obediently and asked, "How did you get in?"

"Your little monster."

Shu Qing was a beat late in the morning when she remembered that her Xiao Hong could open the door and had even helped her get takeout.

Where is Xiaohong?

Jiu Su pointed to the bathroom door: "They're soaking in water."

Shu Qing said "Oh," opened her shopping app, picked out several fish tanks of suitable size, and placed an order. Just after paying, a message popped up; Qi Yun had sent her a screenshot.

"Jin Yaoyao has already admitted it!" Qi Yun said. "She apologized in the comments section of both of our posts, and I think everyone has now turned their guns on her. What do you think?"

Shu Qing opened the short video app, and sure enough, the tone of the comments section had shifted again. A torrent of insults pushed Jin Yaoyao's apology comment to the top, while there were also many other words of comfort for her. But in short, few people cared about the video content itself.

Scrolling back further, some people quietly deleted their previous comments criticizing her, while others stuck to their own opinions, refusing to admit that they had been misled and believing that "flies don't land on eggs without cracks."

As for those who apologized for their previous speculations... there were very few, less than ten people.

"At least apologize on her own account." Shu Qing had been involved in social media for a few more years than Qi Yun, and she saw through the other party's little scheme at a glance. She replied to Qi Yun with flying fingers, "She apologized in our comment section. All these angry responses and comforting comments are left under our account, a mess."

"In the future, if unsuspecting passersby come by and take one look, they'll think, 'Oh, this content creator has so much gossip.' In that case, it will be our perception that is most affected, not hers..."

While she was replying to Qi Yun's message, Jiu Su had already prepared the patient meal. He turned off the induction cooker and placed the food on her bedside table. In the center was a bowl of sweet and glutinous white lily porridge, flanked by four small bowls of different colors: red, green, gold, and white, vibrant in color and delicious in both aroma and taste.

So much so that Shu Qing's first reaction wasn't to eat, but to take out her phone and snap a picture as a memento.

Jiu Su didn't understand the social media circles of today's young people. Seeing that she wasn't eating, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm thinking about which day is an auspicious day," Shu Qing blurted out without thinking, "so I can marry you."

Jiu Su: "..."

Shu Qing's brain was a beat slow to register what was happening, and she almost wanted to eat her tongue with the lily porridge.

But Jiu Su was sitting opposite her, and with a half-smile, she continued, "If you want to marry me, your material conditions probably aren't quite up to par, young lady."

Shu Qing stuffed her mouth tightly with tomato tofu to prevent herself from saying anything outrageous or boastful, like "I'm saving up to buy a new house."

Jiu Su lowered her eyelashes and couldn't help but smile.

Since they met, he had given her many ambiguous, mocking smiles, as well as smiles that seemed like tools for social situations. But this was the first time Shu Qing had ever seen a smile so genuine, so spontaneous, that it seemed like a normal person's genuine emotion. Like a glacier melting and frost clearing away, it was the first time she had ever seen such a smile.

It was as if nothing in this world could make him happy for even a short time, except that she liked the dish he cooked... and her unintentional teasing remark.

In a split second, Shu Qing thought: Does he really like me?

The moment this thought crossed her mind, her heart leaped into her throat, the sweet and sour tomato in her mouth suddenly lost its flavor, and all five tastes rushed to her heart, making her a little impatient.

Perhaps he really didn't have any ulterior motives, or perhaps it was just the simplest kind of intention between a young man and woman?

Shu Qing knew this wasn't a rational thought, but it held a sweet allure for her. Being liked wasn't unusual for her—she could appreciate the beauty of others, and she wasn't completely oblivious to her own appearance. Ever since junior high, being approached by boys her age, even if not daily, was still a regular occurrence.

However, being secretly liked by someone she vaguely had feelings for was a completely new experience... Of course, this was mainly her own fault; after living for over twenty years, she finally developed a long-overdue "heart of spring."

As if the east wind had swept across the fields, and in an instant, thousands of flowers bloomed everywhere. For the first time, she experienced the feeling of "heart fluttering".

But then, my heart wavered. From which note will the next bugle call begin?

Shu Qing was extremely inexperienced, so she couldn't make up her mind. She mentally reviewed all the guys who had ever been interested in her, only to find that they were all failures. She then cleared her mind, feeling both amused and exasperated.

She then sought advice from the novels, anime, and even games she read, only to find that everyone's feelings of attraction and confession were accompanied by life-or-death crises. No one could tell her what to do if she suddenly felt her heart flutter while eating.

"...Let's talk about it after we finish eating," Shu Qing thought listlessly, taking a bite of her steamed egg. "Even if someone wanted to confess their feelings, they wouldn't do it at the dinner table, would they?"

She ate her meal almost absentmindedly, then sat in bed holding her bowl, poking at the sliced ​​pear with a small fork, staring blankly at Jiu Su's back for a long time before calling out to him, "Jiu Su."

Jiu Su froze almost imperceptibly: "Aren't you a senior?"

"Forget it." Shu Qing's original topic was thus steered away, and she mocked him, "Did you even graduate from university? You're already lying to people who call you 'senior'?"

Jiu Su was clearing away her dishes when she heard this and gave her a cold look.

Shu Qing continued to tease, "Hey, how old are you anyway?"

You wouldn't want to know.

Shu Qing chuckled, now concluding that he really hadn't graduated from university yet—a caring male college student, very nice, younger men are perfect.

She smiled and called out again, "Jiu Su."

"..." Jiu Su finally sighed silently, "Do you really have to call me that?"

"Then what do you suggest I call you?" Shu Qing asked rather unashamedly. "How about I call you by your real name? 'Jiu Su' isn't your real name, is it? What was your real name?"

Jiu Su closed her cupboard and watched her silently.

A name was on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't say it. He bit his lip so hard that when he finally spoke, it was almost imperceptibly cold and hard.

He said simply, "This is my real name."

Shu Qing: ?

Using one's real name to argue online, Shu Qing sighed with concern, wondering what was wrong with this person. She felt that this person's knowledge was probably all focused on "natural energy knowledge" and "cooking skills."

Forget it, we can teach this slowly. It's all about the fun of raising a younger man/woman.

She placed the empty dessert bowl back on the bedside table, then lowered her head, twisting her fingers, pondering how best to bring things up with Jiu Su—mutual unrequited love sounded nice, but she preferred to be straightforward. After all, besides eating, isn't the purpose of having a mouth to explain things?

Shu Qing started to organize her thoughts again, thinking to herself, "I can't go off-topic this time!"

Just then, Jiu Su wiped her hands clean, walked closer, and gently touched her forehead.

His intention was definitely to check if her fever had subsided, but the moment his icy hand touched her, it was like a blast of ice and snow, and a sharp, cold sensation shot straight into her mind like lightning.

Words are the voice of the heart; why embellish them?

Shu Qing blurted out, "Do you like me?"

Jiu Su froze completely, forgetting to pull her hand away from her forehead, standing there like a statue.

His long, thick hair was now undone and cascaded down his shoulders, creating a small, enclosed space.

The exchange of glances heated up wildly in this small space. Shu Qing saw the blood rising up to his ears, burning the icy man with the life force of a mortal being.

She reached out and touched his ear as if possessed, thinking: The answer is obvious...

“Didn’t you say,” Jiu Su seemed to have a switch on her ear, and with her touch, he was finally energized and regained his mobility? He suddenly straightened up and took a half step back, “that I was doing good deeds and accumulating merit?”

Shu Qing asked weakly, "Do you really have to argue with me about such a few words?"

Jiu Su avoided her bright gaze and said softly, "I'm telling you, I'm just helping you."

The crimson color receded from the tips of his ears like a tide, and he returned to his original, unattainable state.

Shu Qing rationally knew that this was the first time in her life that she had been rejected after confessing her feelings—even though her question wasn't even a sentence like "Do you like me?" which could hint at her feelings.

However, she didn't feel the discouragement and frustration that one would expect after a failed confession. Instead, she frowned and looked bewildered, as if she were facing the most challenging math problem on an exam.

Jiu Su had been watching her expression out of the corner of her eye, and when she saw her frown, it felt like a long needle had been unexpectedly pierced into her heart.

A pain that seems insignificant... yet its penetrating power is extremely strong.

"It's nothing," he thought. She was never one to dwell on matters of the heart, and she certainly didn't lack the resolve to say, "If you have no feelings for me, then I'll let it go."

Give her some time. If this passable human skin weren't in front of her, she would probably... be able to see through it soon.

Just let it go.

“It’s just friendship,” he said softly and slowly, “you don’t need to take it to heart.”

Shu Qing stared at him expressionlessly.

“You’ll probably be better by tomorrow,” Jiu Su continued. “It’s really inconvenient for me to stay any longer, so I’ll take my leave now. You should get some sleep.”

"Oh, okay." Shu Qing mechanically replied, relying entirely on the politeness she had developed since childhood. "Then be careful on your way."

While eager to escape, Jiu Su felt a pang of sadness for her own decisive and unwavering stance, and inwardly let out a sharp, cold laugh, mocking her own weakness.

He simply opened the door and left without even looking back.

Shu Qing: "..."

She sat on the bed for a while with a blank expression, until the little snake wriggled its tail and crawled onto her wrist. Then she frantically rubbed the snake to release the anger that was stuck in her chest.

What the hell? Does Jiu Su have feelings for her or not? Does she think she can't tell? She's not blind!

Her phone screen suddenly lit up. Shu Qing thought that Jiu Su had something left unsaid, so she hesitated for a while before picking it up to look, only to find that it was Qi Yun's reply.

“Then I’ll tell her we don’t accept it!” Qi Yun inserted an “Angry Sanzang” emoji between the two messages, “and tell her to apologize on her own account and stop with these tricks.”

“Yeah.” Shu Qing, always looking for revenge, replied casually, “If you’re sincere, then apologize live.”

If you try to hold back, you'll only get angrier. If you back down, you'll only cause breast hyperplasia. Expecting her to swallow this grievance is wishful thinking.

Whether it's Jin Yaoyao or Jiu Su, they're all the same; don't even think about fooling them.

After replying, Shu Qing felt a slight release of her pent-up frustration. She tossed her phone aside, leaned back on the bed, and gritted her teeth, thinking, "Let's see how long you can keep up this act!"

But... why is Jiu Su doing this?

Could it be that there are some downsides to dating her that she doesn't know about?

A note from the author:

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"Enduring it only makes you angrier, while backing down can lead to breast hyperplasia"—this is a popular internet meme.