【45】You are my Trophy Husband!
Liang Zhiyao didn't sleep well that night. Twice, she woke suddenly, wondering in disbelief: Are she and Tan Xu really together? She couldn't help but pick up her phone, glance at the "Goodnight, girlfriend" text he'd sent her before bed. She'd try to fix her lips, suppress the urge to roll around in bed with a silly grin, reassure herself that this wasn't just some overly realistic dream, and drift off again. After a restless night, she woke up the next morning feeling uninspired. She went downstairs to get a cup of coffee and couldn't help but text Tan Xu, "Good morning, boyfriend." He'd woken up early too, and replied instantly, "Girlfriend, what are your plans for today?" Liang Zhiyao pondered the message. So—what should one do the day after a newly confirmed relationship? The answer varied from person to person. Her only previous, childish, playful romance was in high school, so that day, like many others before it, passed in a monotonous routine of classes, morning exercises, and evening self-study. The only difference was sitting next to that boy in the cafeteria at lunch, constantly worried about a teacher noticing, making her eat with trepidation. And now, with finals approaching, she'd already set daily review goals. Her dislike of uncertainty was compounded by her unwavering loyalty to her established plans, and a day out on a date would inevitably disrupt her schedule and leave her feeling incredibly guilty. Besides, the scholarship award wouldn't be announced until next year, and this semester's GPA would factor into the mix. Her classes, aside from Human-Computer Interaction, were relatively easy to get high marks in, and now with a weekly commute, she had to carve out enough time to study. "I might not be able to leave for too long..." Liang Zhiyao pored over her review plan for a long time, her temper agonizing, but she finally gritted her teeth and compromised: "Hmm...three hours at most." She rarely broke her rules like this; perhaps the dopamine rush from love was truly torturous. Thankfully, Tan Xu had no desire to spend all day together after falling in love. He was just still thinking about that unaccepted Thanksgiving invitation—another round of snooker. "We're not going to Fortune to use our friend's table today," he said as they got into the car. "Let's find a place with a regular snooker game and have a good time." She felt an inexplicable chill down her spine. "Are you looking for revenge? It doesn't seem fair. You often go to Fortune to spar with the boss, and we always play snooker, but I always...
Liang Zhiyao didn't sleep well that night. She woke up suddenly twice and wondered in disbelief, are she and Tan Xu really together?
So I couldn't help but pick up my phone and take a look at the "Good night, girlfriend" he sent me before going to bed. I tried hard to keep the corners of my mouth straight and resist the urge to roll around on the bed and giggle, to make sure that this was not a dream that was too real, and then fell asleep again in a daze.
After tossing and turning all night, she woke up the next day feeling uninspired as expected. She went downstairs to the apartment building to pour a cup of coffee early in the morning, and then couldn't help but send a message to Tan Xu: "Good morning, boyfriend."
As it turned out, he had woken up early as well and immediately replied, "What are your plans for today, girlfriend?"
Liang Zhiyao looked at the message and fell into deep thought. So—what should you do the day after you confirm your relationship?
Different people have different answers to this question. The only time she had a childish romance was in high school, so that day was spent in the same monotonous way like many days before, with classes, morning exercises, and evening self-study.
The only difference was that I sat with that boy in the cafeteria at noon, and I had to worry about being noticed by some teacher at any time, so I ate the whole meal in fear.
And now it happened to be the final quarter, and she had already set daily review goals in advance. Due to her personality, she hated uncertainty and was always loyal to her plans. Going out on a date for a whole day would inevitably disrupt her schedule and bring her a strong sense of guilt.
Besides, the scholarship award will be announced next year, and this semester's GPA will also be taken into consideration. Her classes, aside from Human-Computer Interaction, are relatively easy to get high grades in, and now with a weekly commute, she has to carve out enough time to study.
"I might not be able to go out for too long..." Liang Zhiyao studied the review plan for a long time, feeling bitter and resentful like squeezing toothpaste. Finally, he gritted his teeth and compromised: "Well... at most three hours."
She rarely breaks her principles like this. Perhaps the dopamine secretion brought by love is really deadly.
Fortunately, Tan Xu had no intention of spending all day together after falling in love. He was just still thinking about the unaccepted invitation on Thanksgiving - to play snooker again.
"We're not going to Fortune to use our friend's table today," he said as he got into the car. "Let's find a place with a regular snooker game and have a good time."
She felt an inexplicable chill on her back. "Are you seeking revenge? It doesn't seem fair. You often go to Fortune to spar with the boss, and we always play snooker, but I haven't practiced in ages."
"It's not revenge," Tan Xu teased her, "but I'm asking a master to take the time to give a newbie like me some pointers, okay?"
Liang Zhiyao was a little flattered by the compliment, and then he heard him say seriously: "My tuition for today is in the back, please accept it, Mr. Liang."
She turned her head and found a backpack on the back seat. It was the same brand as hers, but in a different style.
"This is?"
"I bought this gift for my girlfriend a while ago, and now I finally have a reason to give it to her," he said frankly. "Didn't the strap of that bag break?"
Liang Zhiyao felt his heart melt into a soft pool.
The strap broke on the day when heavy rain caused a power outage. At that time, she felt that everything was going wrong and she felt so aggrieved that even drinking cold water would make her teeth ache.
After that day, she put her backpack aside and switched to a single-shoulder canvas bag. She never knew that Tan Xu had noticed it during those few minutes while driving her home, and that he had always remembered it.
"Thank you," she winked and smiled at him, "I really enjoyed it."
"Don't be too moved and give up," he raised an eyebrow, "I've made great progress recently."
Self-deprecating aside, Tan Xu was actually quite skilled, and the difference in their skill levels wasn't that significant. Liang Zhiyao hadn't played snooker seriously in a long time, and today wasn't like the first time. He'd been provoked into a frenzy of victory, and even though he'd practiced on his own for a while, he still hadn't quite warmed up to the game.
In the end, it wasn't a complete failure. After five games, she narrowly won 3-2.
"I feel like you're much better than last time," she said, unscrewing the bottle cap and drinking from it, "You've made rapid progress."
"Men have a strange desire to win," Tan Xu said. "Ever since that beating, I've been gritting my teeth and practicing diligently, but I didn't expect to lose so narrowly. But now I've gotten over it. My girlfriend is a great basketball player, so I can brag about it. It's called 'success doesn't have to be mine.'"
After falling in love, Liang Zhiyao discovered that Tan Xu's shamelessness had reached a new level, and he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"Come to think of it, I was a bit impulsive that time. The initial shot seemed a bit far-fetched, but I held my breath and tried to be accurate. I was just annoyed with you."
"Are you unhappy with me? Why?" he was puzzled.
I had only exchanged a few words at that time, and hadn't used those frivolous flirting tactics on her, but she already disliked me?
"Don't you remember asking me to be your sparring partner for $200?" She glared at him. "I was literally nauseous from playing American Pool that day, and I didn't know you wanted to play snooker. I really didn't want to play anymore, but you ended up accusing me of being a jerk without a profit. I feel really wronged."
"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely. "I really didn't think too much about it at the time. After being stood up by a friend, I was watching you betting on a ball game with someone. The more I watched, the more amazed I became. I was obsessed with how to challenge you to a game, and I was a bit unscrupulous."
After thinking about it, he realized, "So that's how you got the negative impression of me in the beginning?"
"That's about right," Liang Zhiyao nodded. "I was able to climb back from the negative points and still fall in love with you. I'm blind."
"That's a bit of a double-talk." He looked around to see if there was anyone around, then suddenly grinned, hugged Liang Zhiyao from behind, and maliciously tied her hands behind her back. Someone who usually wears a gentle mask suddenly becomes aggressive, which is unsurprisingly shocking.
"You really don't think I'm pretty? How can you be 'blind'?"
"...If you put it that way, it's true." Liang Zhiyao felt that after a night of calming down, she seemed to be less shy. She spoke more naturally and could joke with him. "Actually, we girls can be superficial and hypocritical sometimes. I'm also vulgar. In the final analysis, I'm just attracted to handsome guys. If I changed my face and did the same thing as you, I might always get negative points."
He laughed and retorted that it was the same for them. If someone else showed amazing skills, he wouldn't necessarily have to go up and talk to them.
This feeling was magical. Before yesterday, Liang Zhiyao always had to choose his words carefully when speaking to Tan Xu. This extra attention stemmed from their previous delicate relationship - he cared a little about him, but was also worried that being too close would lead to an unmanageable ambiguity.
When she hadn't thought it through, she was extremely cautious about sending out any signals, so when she spoke to him, her tone was always hesitant but with a hint of deliberate frankness, reinforcing the identity of "friend" over and over again.
Now that her role had suddenly changed, she should have needed to adapt. But after taking a different approach, directly breaking through the long-standing, rigid boundaries, she discovered that breakthroughs and transformations were not that difficult.
On the way back, they stopped by a supermarket near the school to do some shopping, but there was an unexpected incident.
Lin Jiayue and her best friend were pushing carts and came into direct contact with them in the fresh food area of the supermarket. In an instant, both sides' movements suddenly stopped.
Liang Zhiyao looked at them for two seconds, and the other party also looked at her and Tan Xu for a few seconds. Finally, they left without saying anything.
"Do you know each other?" After they walked away, Tan Xu asked curiously, "Why does the atmosphere feel like a meeting between enemies?"
"Hmm... the heroine of the rumor-mongering incident," she sighed, "actually there was a sequel. I almost became a fallen girl."
Remembering that Tan Xu didn't know about the complicated sting operation, she briefly explained the whole story.
She was ashamed to describe this experience before because she couldn't get around an embarrassing fact - when that tempting olive branch was offered to her, she was really moved.
But now I feel that in the end, people are judged by their actions rather than their hearts. No one is perfect, and it is normal to waver when faced with temptation. At least she finally stuck to her bottom line, and I felt inexplicably more calm.
At the end, she smiled and said, "You don't know, at that time my mind was in a mess, and I was struggling with my conscience. You dragged me to look at photos in the library, and I suddenly felt very scared. If I really fell, I didn't know what you would think of me."
It is difficult to tell the truth when one is involved. Now that I think about it, she might have been attracted to him a long time ago, otherwise she wouldn't care so much about what Tan Xu thought of her.
"You won't," he shook his head. "Although it's nice to be labeled a savior by you, and my vanity is greatly satisfied, but from what I know about you, even without me, you wouldn't agree to do that kind of thing in the end."
"Maybe." She didn't comment. "But in any case, it was you who made me make up my mind at that time."
"But this behavior is still very bad," he said suddenly seriously. "Although you didn't fall for it in the end and escaped because of your high moral standards, it's still scary to think about it. Don't you hate the other person? If it were me, I would probably find a way to get revenge after knowing this."
Liang Zhiyao was more open-minded. "It's annoying, but I've been feeling more and more that wasting time on people I hate isn't very meaningful. The most important thing is, the online bullying these two experienced after the cheating news went viral was much more severe than what I went through. Their reputations were completely ruined. Is this just retribution for evil?"
"And oh," she suddenly thought of something interesting. "From what I know about Lin Jiayue, she loves to compete in strange places. When we ran into each other just now, I saw a tall, long-legged, handsome guy with eight-pack abs standing next to me. I guess he's jealous right now. So, I sound like the protagonist of a cool drama. Then you are my Trophy Husband, which corresponds to Trophy Wife. In the European and American context, it refers to the beautiful vase next to a rich old man!"
Thinking back to that time when Lin Jiayue dragged Han Xingzhou around the coffee shop where she worked, she, who was so keen on female competition, must be so angry now.
Tan Xu's focus was on something else. He raised the corner of his lips and asked her, "What did you call me just now?"
“…”
Liang Zhiyao originally just wanted to play a meme, and naturally associated the famous "Trophy Wife" with the corresponding word to replace it. Only then did he realize that the name was ambiguous. It was only the second day of love, and who would call someone like that?
"...That's not the point at all," she said, utterly embarrassed, and quickly looked away. "Don't keep finding fault with my language."
"Besides, height and long legs are nothing, but what are eight-pack abs?" He chuckled. "Have you seen or touched them? How can you know so clearly?"
Liang Zhiyao didn't dare to look at him. He was so embarrassed that he wanted to go back a minute and shut himself up.
Tan Xu was a gym rat, with nicely defined muscles. His chest muscles were clearly visible in a T-shirt or shirt, and his abdominal muscles... she assumed they were there. But in this scene, it was like she'd been caught secretly fantasizing about him. It was hard to explain.
She realized now that avoiding teasing required subtle learning, but she also needed to address her thick skin. For example, she should have calmly replied, "Why, don't you have one?" and let him fall into the trap of self-proving. That would have been much better. It was like arguing with someone: afterward, you can always think of a powerful response, but in the moment, you just feel shy.
"I've thought of something else," Tan Xu teased Liang Zhiyao, noticing she was silent. "Let's forget about the $200, but next time we play snooker, how about we bet on something else? I'm improving so quickly, and you don't have time to practice. You might be overtaken one day."
"What do you want to bet on?" She was still confused, thinking that Tan Xu saw that she was not amused and mercifully changed the subject, so she quickly took the opportunity to get out of the situation, not realizing that there was a connection between the context.
"For example—let's bet on the name you just mentioned, how about that?" He deliberately lowered his head, brushed his lips against her ear, exhaled hot air, and whispered:
"From now on, every time you lose, call me."
Author's Note
Reversible light path
author
08-18
Forgive me for being a country dog, this old joke called xx is really never boring -w- Sister Lin's final scene finally became part of the young couple's play. Starting today, I will resume updating every other day, still on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, but the time will be changed to the evening, and I will try to post it before 11 o'clock.
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