Chapter 6 Six

Chapter Summary: Wasn't what just happened a little ambiguous?

Yao Ye got angry.

This was the first time she had ever lost her temper with Li Fengjian in the year or so they had known each other.

Looking back now, the coincidences and clues could indeed easily lead to misunderstandings. But misunderstandings from others are one thing—they can be clarified. How could Li Fengjian misunderstand her like that? What did he really think of her? Did he think she was stupid, dull, or so naive and foolish that a designer handbag was enough to corrupt her?

Li Fengjian also deeply felt Yao Ye's anger.

Li Fengjian sent her apologetic WeChat messages, but she never replied to a single word. And that very evening, Yao Qin personally came to Fengjian Hall to make purchases again.

"Same as always, five cups of plum green tea, no ice and a little sugar. Now."

Li Fengjian silently placed the order for her, and Aunt Sun couldn't help but ask again, "Where's Yao Ye? Is she busy again?"

“She’s not busy,” Yao Qin smiled, the sweetness of last night’s proposal still lingering on her lips. “She’s just being lazy today. I asked her to run an errand, and she could come up with a thousand and one excuses, but she just couldn’t be bothered to come down even once.”

Li Fengjian listened silently. It seemed that Yao Qin was unaware of Yao Ye's anger towards him. However, the fact that Yao Qin's face resembled Yao Ye's made Li Fengjian increasingly uneasy, and he could no longer suppress the urge to see her.

So, while he was making it, he called out to Yao Qin, "Boss Yao, you go upstairs and get busy. I'll bring it up to you when it's finished."

Yao Qin was already busy, and was more than happy to oblige, so she thanked him repeatedly and went back. Li Fengjian, after packing up the plum green tea, carried it heavily in his hands, just like his heavy heart, and resolutely went up to the fifth floor.

…………

Apart from the teachers who were still organizing activities, most of the staff at Tulip Art Class were preparing to leave work.

Yao Ye sat absentmindedly at the front desk tidying up her things, putting her phone, earphones, and other items into her LV bag. But she was clearly in a bad mood today, and the joy that designer bags brought her seemed to have long since vanished.

Feeling something heavy being placed on the front desk, Yao Ye subconsciously looked up. The first thing she saw was a takeout bag with the words "Kazamado" printed on it. She was startled, her heart skipped a beat, and when she slowly looked up again, the face of that all-too-familiar man wore an expression that felt strangely unfamiliar to her.

Li Fengjian looked at her with mixed feelings. "Your sister ordered plum green tea."

"Oh..." she stammered. On her phone, she could be aloof and indifferent, but when he suddenly stood in front of her, all she felt was the urge to run away. Oh God, how strange. Wasn't he the one who did something wrong? Why was it that she was the one who couldn't help but want to turn and run?

Could it be because his expression at that moment gave off a feeling that he wanted to devour her whole?

Yao Qin ran out of the classroom, intending to grab her takeout before going back in. Li Fengjian took a cup out of the bag and placed it in front of Yao Ye.

"Here you go," he said.

Only after seeing her sister enter the classroom did Yao Ye dare to show a gritted-teeth expression. "Red date milk tea, is it to replenish my blood and qi? Or to apologize to me?"

"...both."

"Then you don't need any of that!" Yao Ye said, getting angry. She picked up her bag, came out from behind the front desk, turned around and left. "I'm off work, goodbye!"

"Wait..." Li Fengjian couldn't let her go. He couldn't bear the torment of sleepless nights, staring at his phone but receiving no reply. He quickly followed her, but restrained himself and only dared to stand behind her, step by step.

Why are you following me?!

"You go downstairs, I'll go downstairs too."

"Okay, then I'll go back to my house later, and you go back to your Kazamado!"

"Ms. Yao, I sincerely apologize to you."

"Need not."

"Yao Ye, I sincerely apologize to you."

"Really, you don't need to! Please stop following me!"

“I…I don’t want to lose you…to lose you, Kazamado’s No. 1, because of this misunderstanding…”

"Oh, really?" Yao Ye suddenly stopped in her tracks, almost causing Li Fengjian to bump into her. Her cheeks puffed up with anger. "So I'm still the most esteemed No. 1 guest of Kazama-do? I thought in your eyes I was just a stupid, foolish idiot who would willingly degenerate for a designer bag!"

"I..." Li Fengjian knew he was in the wrong, and his face turned bright red as he almost bumped into her. "I didn't think you were stupid or dumb, or that you were an idiot..."

"Then how could you think I...I..." Yao Ye grimaced, but her eyes involuntarily reddened. How could he see her like that?

"I'm just worried about you! I'm worried that you'll be deceived by a bad man because you're so naive and innocent..." Li Fengjian panicked, the tears in Yao Ye's eyes making him flustered. "I sincerely apologize to you. What can I do for you to forgive me?"

"I forgive you, hmph, let me think about it..." Yao Ye sniffed.

The two happened to stop on the second floor, where a gleaming gold sign of a secondhand luxury goods store was right in front of them. So, in a fit of pique, she pointed to a Chanel bag in the window and said, "Didn't you say you'd lend me money to buy a Chanel if I wanted one? Fine! Let's go in now and buy a classic Chanel!"

She was just being stubborn and using his words to shut him up.

Unexpectedly, Li Fengjian looked relieved and actually headed towards the luxury store. This completely baffled Yao Ye, who quickly stepped forward to stop him. "Hey, you're really going?"

“Didn’t you say you’d forgive me if I bought it?” Li Fengjian said.

"I...you...hey...you don't know how much a classic Chanel bag costs!"

"It's only a matter of ten thousand yuan or so, it's nothing. Let's go, let's go, they're going to close down soon."

"Wait, wait! You, you, you..." Yao Ye jumped up and down anxiously, frantically checking the price of the classic model on her phone, then shoving the screen right under Li Fengjian's nose. "Look carefully, this is the price! You're lending me the bag? You really mean it?"

Li Fengjian stared, his expression gradually turning to astonishment, his mouth agape as if he could fit an egg in it. As a straight man who knew little about luxury goods, he really couldn't understand what was so special about a bag that cost fifty or sixty thousand yuan.

Seeing the change in his expression, Yao Ye raised her eyebrows and said, "See? Even if it's secondhand, it won't be much cheaper! You're lending me this much money? Aren't you afraid I'll just renege on my promise?"

Li Fengjian stared intently at her, paused for a moment, but still walked towards the Chanel in the shop window.

Now, it's Yao Ye's turn to have an egg stuffed in her mouth.

"Hey, Li Fengjian, are you serious?! Don't think I wouldn't max out your card and then become a shameless scoundrel who doesn't pay back the debt. My meager part-time salary is far from enough to pay it back!" Yao Ye said anxiously.

"If you can't pay it back, you can pay it back slowly," he said casually.

"I might not be able to pay it back in three to five years!" she said angrily.

"It's fine to pay it back slowly over a lifetime."

"Then...then...I really can't come out yet?"

Yao Ye was truly anxious. She saw Li Fengjian almost step into the store, and the attentive shop assistants were already greeting him. Li Fengjian's hand was even pointing to the bags in the display window! Yao Ye seemed to see herself burdened with Chanel and 50,000 yuan in debt. This was too bizarre! She quickly shook her head, grabbed Li Fengjian's arm, and left without a second thought.

Li Fengjian was dragged and pulled along by her, and the two of them ran like this, disheveled and entangled, for a long time before finally stopping. Then he looked down and silently watched her fingers gripping his sleeve.

Yao Ye's frantic heartbeat gradually calmed down. Once her mind cleared, a strange emotion suddenly welled up within her. She suddenly found herself unable to meet Li Fengjian's gaze, so she released him, turned her face away, but maintained her stubborn tone.

"Hmph, fine, fine, I'll mercifully forgive you then, but don't let it happen again... I really have to go home! Don't follow me anymore, go back to Kazamado!"

With that, she turned and ran away without looking back.

………………

The more Yao Ye pondered that strange emotion that had suddenly gripped her heart, the more flustered she became. She finally came to her senses; Aunt Sun had misunderstood her, and after explaining herself, she no longer held a grudge. But Li Fengjian was different. No matter how sincerely he apologized, it wouldn't work. He simply didn't see her that way!

As for their scuffle in front of the luxury store tonight, Yao Ye acted on impulse, but after calming down, she felt increasingly uneasy, wondering if what had just happened was a little...

Is it ambiguous?

Is there even a little bit...?

Has it gone beyond the boundaries between the shop owner and regular customers?

"He wouldn't really lend me over 50,000 yuan to buy a bag, would he...? Even my own sister might not be willing... He wants me to pay it back slowly over the rest of my life... Isn't he afraid I'll default on the debt?" Back in her dorm, lying on her bed, she couldn't help but mutter to herself, when suddenly she heard a low sob coming from Su Yan in the next bed.

Just a few days ago, Su Yan was praising her sister's marriage proposal as incredibly romantic, but these past two days she herself had broken up with her boyfriend and was in a really bad mood. Yao Ye, afraid of disturbing her, quickly suppressed her own wild thoughts and closed her eyes to sleep.

………………

The next morning, sitting in the classroom for a theory class, Su Yan was still sullen, her eyes red. Zhang Jiajia, who was very close to her, sat down next to her and quietly comforted her.

The professor asked everyone to discuss freely, so the girls put down their books and secretly started discussing topics related to relationships.

Su Yan listed all her boyfriend's faults, then sobbed reluctantly, "He's such a jerk, but... tell me, does this mean we've broken up? What did he mean by all those things he said?"

Zhang Jiajia gently comforted her, but didn't know how to answer, so she could only laugh awkwardly, "...I don't know what he meant either...Oh, don't look at me like that, I don't have much experience in love...Why don't you go ask Yao Ye? Maybe she has a different opinion?"

Yao Ye, who was sitting not far away and lost in thought, was taken aback when she heard this. How did she end up being dragged into the conversation for no reason?

Su Yan glanced at Yao Ye, then smiled through her tears, "Yao Ye, let's just forget about it. She's great in every way, except she's just clueless when it comes to love."

"Why do you say that?" Zhang Jiajia asked, as she wasn't particularly familiar with Yao Ye before.

Su Yan wiped away her tears. "Hu Xiaojun used to like her so much. He was always chasing after her and even enrolled my sister in her family's art class. But Yao Ye was clueless and couldn't spark any romance. Now Hu Xiaojun has changed his mind and is pursuing the prettiest girl in the next class."

"Really?" Zhang Jiajia said in surprise. "But doesn't Yao Ye have a boyfriend? It's normal for her to ignore Hu Xiaojun."

Yao Ye vaguely heard it too, and was suddenly startled. She hesitated whether she should step forward to explain, while Su Yan was also stunned, completely distracted by this sudden gossip.

"Yao Ye has a boyfriend?" Su Yan had almost forgotten about her scumbag boyfriend. Gossip really is a foolproof remedy. Her eyes lit up. "How did you know? Why do you know but I didn't?"

"What a coincidence! Last time Yao Ye had a fever and was resting in her dorm, her boyfriend delivered takeout, but he couldn't get into the girls' dorm area, so he stopped me and asked me to help him bring it in. He even sincerely wanted to give me a hundred yuan tip. If it weren't her boyfriend, who would be so worried about you and care about you?" Zhang Jiajia said.

"Wow, he sounds like a nice guy. How come Yao Ye has never mentioned him before?" Su Yan chuckled gossipy. "I'll definitely interrogate her about it later. Humph, she doesn't even tell her roommates she's dating!"

Yao Ye felt wronged and wanted to run over to defend herself. But before she could even take a step, she abruptly pulled back.

How should I explain this to them?

The man who went to great lengths to get her a drink of milk tea, even though she had a fever, and was willing to pay a hundred yuan for the service, wasn't her boyfriend; he was just the owner of the milk tea shop she frequented.

Will they believe that?

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

Yao Ye cupped her burning cheeks, belatedly realizing for the first time that Li Fengjian had done so much for her, far exceeding the scope of a relationship between a boss and a regular customer.