Chapter 16 Helpless, the tip of her nose brushed against the tip of her nose.
Qin Chen kicked Jiang Xuchi, who used the force to roll to the side and brace himself against the back of the sofa to stand up.
Qin Man jumped up and shouted, "Brother!"
She ran over and grabbed Qin Chen's arm. "That guy is so annoying, he's been bothering me for a month."
Qin Chen, still staring at Jiang Xuchi, asked, "Will I pester you for a month?"
Qin Man tugged at his arm and pointed in the direction the boy had run off to, "Over there, don't let him get away, that guy is really ugly!"
After Qin Chen was sent away, Qin Man finally looked at Jiang Xuchi properly.
Seeing a dirty shoe print on the hem of his clothes, Qin Man couldn't help but frown: "Why were you blocking my way just now? Qin Chen has misunderstood you."
Jiang Xuchi didn't speak, but stood up straight, patted the hem of his clothes, and remained calm on the surface.
Qin Man asked curiously, "Why did you come to Fusheng today? I remember you don't like coming here."
At that time, Qin Man was only in the first year of junior high school. She was still immature, retaining innocence and a touch of cruelty, and was completely unaware of Jiang Xuchi's emotional changes.
"I came to see you dance," Jiang Xuchi replied casually. "Didn't you ask me to come?"
Qin Man sent out a group invitation message, but she didn't remember anyone named Jiang Xuchi.
But she still asked with a delighted expression, "Did I dance well?"
"nice."
Upon receiving Jiang Xuchi's concise reply, Qin Man pouted, not satisfied: "Anything else?"
"Anything else?" Jiang Xuchi said, "I can't dance, so you can't tell."
"Then you say it looks good."
"Appreciation will always come."
"You're so boring," Qin Man pouted.
Jiang Xuchi stared at her neck, then gestured to her shoulder, saying, "You fell down here."
Qin Man touched her bare shoulder and was shocked to find that the bra strap had slipped down. She quickly covered herself and ran to the bathroom.
...
As the recollection ended, Qin Man wondered, did Jiang Xuchi really think she danced very well back then?
"Then Jiang Xuchi is in your hands." Seeing Qin Man lost in thought, Zhao Ying repeated, "Qin Man?"
"Okay, sure." Qin Man snapped out of her daze and agreed without really thinking.
On her way out of the school gate, passing the playground, Qin Man was stopped by a shout from afar.
Xi Yue threw down the basketball in his hand and ran towards her, bending down to pick up the schoolbag on the ground as he ran, and stopped in front of her, panting.
“Qin Man, let me take you home,” he said. “I see you take a taxi home every day. Do you want me to have the driver take you?”
"No," Qin Man refused.
Xi Yue said with a grin, "I happen to be going to that area too. Please, give me a chance, I'll give you a ride."
He wrapped his hand around her ponytail and placed it on her shoulder, displaying his shamelessness to the fullest.
Qin Man immediately put on a sour face, wanting to get rid of him, "Can you please stop bothering me?!"
This was the first time she had ever been so serious about getting angry with Xi Yue, which left Xi Yue momentarily stunned.
But Xi Yue also had a temper. He turned cold and said, "I heard that your family seems to have some problems. Even your driver has resigned."
Qin Man's heart sank. "Who told you that?"
Why are you so nervous? Could it be—
"Xi Yue," Qin Man interrupted him, trying to make her tone firm, "Don't listen to rumors blindly, and don't speculate about things recklessly."
Xi Yue was about to say something when Qin Man saw Jiang Xuchi standing at the school gate.
"Jiang Xuchi!" Qin Man called out to his retreating figure.
Jiang Xuchi turned around, glanced briefly between her and Xi Yue, and then fixed his gaze on Qin Man.
Qin Man pointed at Jiang Xuchi and said to Xi Yue, "I still have things to do with him."
Xi Yue had no choice but to leave disappointed.
After Xi Yue walked away, Jiang Xuchi began to walk towards her.
The afterglow of the setting sun fell on his shoulders. As he walked, he rolled up the sleeves of his school uniform. A breeze blew by, bringing with it a few lingering warmths of the evening glow.
Qin Man looked at him, "When are you going to learn to dance?"
"What did Xi Yue tell you?"
When asked both questions at once, Qin Man paused before honestly answering, "He asked me why I didn't have a driver to take me."
“He knows nothing,” Jiang Xuchi said.
Qin Man breathed a sigh of relief, "I hope so."
She looked up and suddenly stared at Jiang Xuchi. "Promise me that at school, only you can know about my affairs."
Jiang Xuchi chuckled softly: "That's a bit unreasonable."
Qin Man took a step forward eagerly and repeated, "Promise me."
She couldn't control anything and could only anxiously reach out and grab Jiang Xuchi's sleeve.
Qin Man couldn't bring herself to beg or coax him, so she couldn't say a word and could only stare helplessly into Jiang Xuchi's eyes.
In Jiang Xuchi's eyes, there was nothing at all, only Qin Man's reflection.
In the end, he neither agreed nor mocked, but simply replied, "Tonight then."
It took Qin Man a while to realize that he was answering her question.
...
The hotel's rooftop is a leisure club for guests, and the fitness area is separated from the outdoor swimming pool by a glass partition. When Qin Man arrived, there was no one there.
The gym has a yoga studio with three walls made of bright mirrors. As soon as Qin Man stepped in, her whole body was illuminated from every angle.
Jiang Xuchi was leaning against the living room door, listening to the phone. Judging from his voice, he seemed to be talking to his mother, occasionally humming in response.
He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, revealing his well-defined forearms. The jawline of his profile was clearly illuminated by the hall lights; he was very handsome and stylish. No wonder the girls in his class all said he was so handsome that it made them fantasize.
Qin Man, with a hair tie in her mouth, was re-dressing in front of the mirror when she heard a noise from the other end of the line. She glanced over and saw Jiang Xuchi hang up the phone and walk this way.
He walked over to Qin Man and reached out to remove the rubber band from her mouth.
"Hello."
Jiang Xuchi tossed the hair tie aside and said, "It's a bit of a waste to tie up such long hair."
"Are you saying I have a bright and beautiful face?" Qin Man asked with a smile.
Jiang Xu didn't answer, but instead dodged the question with another: "Have you thought about the costumes for the gala?"
His hand gently stroked Qin Man's hair.
"Hmm..." Qin Man thought for a while, "The dresses in the closet are probably all expired and not presentable."
Jiang Xuchi tidied the stray hairs by her ears. Qin Man lowered her eyes and looked at his swaying sleeves. Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her backward and forward. After a few steps back and forth, Qin Man realized that Jiang Xuchi was practicing dance steps.
"You're doing it wrong. That's not how you do ballroom dancing."
As Qin Man spoke, she subconsciously tried to guide him towards the correct dance steps, which resulted in them struggling with each other's toes and stumbling along the way.
Jiang Xuchi kept looking at her, his palm pressed against the hem of her school uniform.
"Don't jump around randomly..."
Qin Man was led around haphazardly by him for several steps, almost skin to skin, and her mental defenses crumbled completely.
She blushed deeply with embarrassment and had no choice but to lower her head, forcing herself to focus her attention on her feet.
"Then how do you jump?"
Jiang Xuchi seemed afraid that she couldn't hear him, so he deliberately lowered his head, almost touching her ear.
Qin Man's already disordered steps became completely chaotic. After stumbling twice, she finally stepped on Jiang Xuchi's foot, and her body involuntarily lurched forward.
Jiang Xuchi didn't know why, but with a gentle touch, he fell to the ground, and the two of them fell to the ground.
"You're not studying properly, and you're interfering with me!" Qin Man fell and hurt her knees, so she knelt on the ground and couldn't get up.
Jiang Xuchi helped her sit up, his long legs draped over her sides as if encircling her. He smiled and asked, "How am I bothering you? It's just that I'm getting closer."
Qin Man's cheeks flushed red, and she stared at him speechlessly for a moment.
"Listen to it."
Jiang Xuchi raised his hand and tapped her student ID card on her chest twice.
"My heart is beating so loudly."
Qin Man cursed inwardly.
She stood up. "Get up."
If this drags on any longer, we won't be able to teach this person even a single step by midnight.
Jiang Xuchi stood up straight as she instructed.
"Watch me, I'll do a dance step, and then you follow along," Qin Man said, starting with her feet.
After Qin Man finished dancing, she asked Jiang Xuchi to learn how to dance like her.
She stared at Jiang Xuchi's actions and shook her head, "This is not right."
Then I taught him again.
After two rounds, Qin Man realized that he really wouldn't listen to anyone.
"Just dance along to the beat and get a feel for it. If you still can't learn it, I'm really out of ideas." Qin Man's patience ran out. She took out her phone, picked a dance song, turned it on, placed it on the floor, and sat down on the bench to watch him dance.
Jiang Xuchi's improvisation resulted in something quite comical. In the very last part, he even stepped on the wrong foot, causing him to stumble.
In that funny moment, Qin Man, who had been keeping a straight face, burst out laughing.
"Jiang Xuchi, are you tone-deaf? How come you can't keep up with the beat?"
Qin Man laughed so hard her shoulders shook.
Jiang Xuchi stopped what he was doing, bent down to turn off the music on the phone on the ground, picked it up and handed it to Qin Man, then sat down next to her.
He didn't deny it, letting Qin Man mock him relentlessly.
Even when she got home, Qin Man couldn't help but smile when she recalled Jiang Xuchi's comical dance moves.
Only after realizing he was laughing did he forcefully suppress the corners of his mouth.
...
A week later, Jiang Xuchi finally learned the dance steps.
Furthermore, in front of all the members of the publicity department, he danced with Qin Man, and he danced so smoothly that Qin Man even suspected that he had been faking it.
"What a handsome man and a beautiful woman! It's such a pleasure to watch you dance!" Zhao Ying clapped her hands and kept praising Qin Man, then asked, "The style and theme of the party have just been decided, so we can order the dresses now."
What is the theme?
Qin Man let go of Jiang Xuchi's hand. Her palms were hot from nervousness. To hide it, she moved closer to Zhao Ying and looked down at the banquet planning proposal.
"Oh, let me introduce you..."
Zhao Ying flipped back to the first page of the proposal.
Qin Man was somewhat absent-minded all day. She held the fashion magazine Zhao Ying had given her, flipping through it more than a dozen times, but there wasn't a single dress in the photos that she could afford.
She sat alone in the meeting room next to the activity room. The curtains were drawn, the light was dim, and the noise of people playing ball on the playground could be heard in the distance.
Qin Man closed the magazine and sighed.
The sound of a lock turning came from the doorway. Qin Man looked over nervously, but when she saw it was Jiang Xuchi, she turned her head away expressionlessly.
Jiang Xuchi walked behind her and picked up the magazine from under her eyes.
Which one do you like?
Qin Man: "None."
"Is it that they don't have any, or that they can't afford them?"
Qin Man snatched the magazine back from his hands, exasperated: "I can't afford to buy any of them, can't I at least look at it?"
Jiang Xuchi reached out and covered her five fingers, grasped her hand, and turned to the latest recommendation page.
The double-page spread features a runway photo of a model wearing a light blue fishtail halter dress, the hem of which is adorned with tiny crystals and pearls. Against a dark background, the dress shimmers with dazzling light.
This was the first piece Qin Man saw, and in the end, it was the only one she was satisfied with.
But it's very expensive.
Jiang Xuchi lowered his eyes, his gaze shifting back and forth between the magazine and her, as if he were examining her or perhaps imagining something.
After a moment, he spoke: "Do you want it?"
Qin Man looked up at him.
A beam of twilight shone through the gap in the curtains and fell on his face, the gold light shining into his eyes. She couldn't discern his emotions or what he wanted to do.
Because they were looking at a magazine together, they were very close, and she could hear his breathing.
"What can I give you in return?" Qin Man's voice was like a low murmur.
"you guess."
After Jiang Xuchi finished speaking, he suddenly turned his head, his nose brushing against hers.
The slight itch on her skin stimulated Qin Man, and it seemed as if a nerve in her brain had finally snapped. With a "snap," the magazine fell from her hand.
She tried to back away, but found that Jiang Xuchi's arm was already blocking her way, and her long hair wrapped around his sleeve and then around his shoulder.
Jiang Xuchi didn't speak or take any further action. He looked at her with calm eyes, his gaze unwavering amidst the mingled breaths of the two of them.
Qin Man's heart raced, and her short, rapid breaths betrayed her helplessness.
The meeting room was silent.
What exactly did he mean?
Qin Man dared not look at him anymore, but lowered her eyes and carefully examined the magazine lying on the ground.
The awkward atmosphere in the meeting room made her feel suffocated; she needed to find something else to distract herself.
Fortunately, Jiang Xuchi didn't say anything. He smoothed the static-filled strands of hair back to her and then left.
Qin Man sat there, crumpling the hem of her school uniform skirt.
She knew that she had to guess his thoughts in order to get a dress.
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