Chapter 32. Not necessarily.
Qi Xueying was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled softly: "...What?"
Cheng Jiashu stared wide-eyed, his gaze darting rapidly between Gu Shiyue and Jiang Luo.
Jiang Luo didn't dare to utter a sound, only regretting that she didn't know the art of escaping underground.
In the past, Jiang Luo would never have reacted this way in this situation. He wouldn't have thought, "So what? It's just accepting a cosplay request from my senior." Given his personality, he would have definitely spoken up openly in the past.
But times have changed.
"What the heck, Brother Yue?" Cheng Jiashu was still in shock. "You mean Jiang Luo accepted your commission?"
Gu Shiyue hummed in agreement.
"...Holy crap, is this Chinese?" Cheng Jiashu looked at Jiang Luo, his pupils still wide with shock. "What is all this nonsense..."
Cheng Jiashu's strong reaction was purely because the person involved was Gu Shiyue. He couldn't believe that someone like Gu Shiyue would commission a cosplay. Regardless of the reason, whether it was for novelty or to provide financial assistance to Jiang Luo under the guise of a commission, it was still shocking.
Jiang Luo felt uncomfortable under Cheng Jiashu's gaze and awkwardly took a sip of water.
Qi Xueying raised an eyebrow slightly, her reaction much calmer than Cheng Jiashu's. Gu Shiyue could even personally queue up for Jiang Luo's comic convention autograph session, so making a commission was nothing to him.
“If that’s the case,” Qi Xueying smiled enigmatically, “then we’ll just have to find another opportunity later.”
The thought of Jiang Luo accepting Gu Shiyue's commission still felt surreal to Cheng Jiashu. He asked Gu Shiyue earnestly, "Brother Yue, do you really know what this 'commission' we're talking about is?"
Gu Shiyue looked at Cheng Jiashu: "You can explain it now."
Qi Xueying chuckled: "He's already made the appointment, how could he not know what it is? What kind of question is that?"
"No! You really know that!" Cheng Jiashu laughed, having already processed the matter. "Then do you know that it's usually girls who commission cosplay, bro?"
Gu Shiyue glanced at Jiang Luo, his expression suggestive: "Not necessarily."
Those two short words made Jiang Luo feel like she had a thorn in her side.
Qi Xueying laughed and said, "That's prejudice. Luo Luo doesn't play any otome games, and she's not a girl, so why can't boys ask her out?"
"I'm talking about the general situation, just explaining it to Brother Yue," Cheng Jiashu said.
Gu Shiyue nodded: "Continue."
"Um?"
"Is there anything else that needs to be explained? Please continue."
Cheng Jiashu laughed: "Why don't you ask Jiang Luo and have him explain it to you?"
Jiang Luo remained silent, focusing solely on eating her food; she was practically invisible.
Cheng Jiashu continued, "You are now his client, the customer, and he has an obligation to provide you with all services—"
Jiang Luo picked up a small chicken wing and stuffed it into his mouth, gritting her teeth and forcing a bitter smile: "You should eat your food."
Cheng Jiashu bit into the chicken wing, and his mouth finally quieted down.
As for why Gu Shiyue suddenly asked Jiang Luo to do a commission, Cheng Jiashu didn't ask. In his opinion, Gu Shiyue probably wanted to use this as an excuse to let Jiang Luo make some money, and it was unlikely that it was just a whim to ask her out.
Gu Shiyue has always taken good care of Jiang Luo. The fact that he asked Jiang Luo to come over to feed the cat was a precedent. Cheng Jiashu knows this, otherwise Jiang Luo wouldn't treat this senior so well.
Thinking about it this way, what's even stranger is Jiang Luo—he actually accepted Gu Shiyue's commission.
The commission fee wasn't cheap, and given his personality, he definitely wouldn't let Gu Shiyue spend that money.
Cheng Jiashu glanced at Jiang Luo.
What's going on here?
Jiang Luo's phone rang. He picked it up and glanced at it; it was Jiang Chen calling.
Finally finding a chance to get some fresh air, Jiang Luo quickly grabbed her phone and stood up: "I'm going out to answer a call."
Jiang Luo was going back to see Jiang Chen this week. Today is Friday, and he was originally going to go home to have dinner with Jiang Chen. But today is Tian Haoyu's birthday, and he has invited Jiang Chen to celebrate his birthday together. Also, Qi Xueying has invited Jiang Luo to dinner, so he changed his train ticket and plans to go back later.
Jiang Chen had just finished eating, while Tian Haoyu was on his way back by subway.
"Brother, what time is your train ticket? When will you arrive at the station? I'll come pick you up."
"You don't need to answer. Have you finished eating?"
"Yes. I'm going back."
"Going back so early? Why didn't you stay out longer? Isn't today Xiaoyu's birthday?"
"There's nothing fun about it."
Tian Haoyu, sitting next to me, complained loudly: "I asked you to come to my house to play games and you wouldn't come! How can you be like this! It's my birthday today, I'm so angry."
He had a loud voice, and Jiang Luo heard him clearly. She couldn't stop laughing and scolded her brother: "What's wrong with you, Jiang Xiaochen? It's her birthday today, and you can't even fulfill such a small request?"
Jiang Chen glanced at Tian Haoyu and muttered, "The gift was given, the cake was given, and the meal was eaten. Is there anything else you're not satisfied with?"
Given Jiang Chen's clueless and naive personality, this was indeed a very good thing. If it were someone else, he might not have agreed to go out to dinner with them.
Tian Haoyu was so angry he looked like a pufferfish, arms crossed and silent.
Jiang Chen sighed: "I understand."
Tian Haoyu turned to look at him: "Want to go to my house?"
Jiang Chen nodded: "Mm."
Tian Haoyu was immediately appeased: "Hehe, okay."
Jiang Luo said on the other end of the phone, "It's okay, I'll be back in a while. You two have fun."
"Then send me a message when you get on the bus."
"good."
After finishing the call, Jiang Luo stood in the garden for a while. He cupped his face and rubbed it vigorously when he suddenly heard Gu Shiyue's voice behind him: "Why don't you go in?"
Jiang Luo quickly turned around, her face slightly red from being rubbed: "I... I'll do some exercise."
"You can exercise indoors too. It's cold outside, come inside."
Gu Shiyue was wearing a coat and looked like he was about to leave. Jiang Luo opened her mouth, "Senior, you..."
"I have something to do, I'll be leaving now." Gu Shiyue already had things to do tonight and didn't plan to stay long in the first place; his dinner here was unplanned.
"So fast? Have you eaten enough?"
"I wasn't hungry anyway. I'm leaving." Gu Shiyue raised his hand as he passed by him, gently touching the top of his head with his palm. "See you next week."
Jiang Luo turned around, staring blankly at Gu Shiyue's departing figure, and raised her hand to touch the spot he had just touched.
Jiang Luo and Gu Shiyue's commission was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Normally, the client would decide the schedule for the day of the commission. However, this time was different. Jiang Luo was worried that Gu Shiyue might not be familiar with the process, so she took the initiative to ask him what he wanted to do on the day of the commission.
He asked on WeChat two days in advance, and Gu Shiyue replied: It's up to you.
Jiang Luo thought for a moment and asked him: Do you want to play an escape room game?
Gu Shiyue: Okay.
An afternoon isn't enough time to just play an escape room game. Playing video games is also a good option for two guys. Alternatively, you could go to an amusement park, but if you go to an amusement park, there might not be time for other activities. Besides, Gu Shiyue doesn't seem like the type of person who would like to go to amusement parks.
Thinking about it this way, playing video games isn't suitable either, since Gu Shiyue probably doesn't like playing games either.
Jiang Luo was struggling with her decision when Gu Shiyue sent her a message: Is that all?
Jiang Luo: No, no
Jiang Luo: I'm still thinking about it.
Jiang Luo: I don't know what you like to play~~
Gu Shiyue: Choose the one you like to play.
Gu Shiyue: Don't you like playing games? You can go play games.
Jiang Luo: I'm not that into playing games [puppy eyes shifting.jpg]
Jiang Luo: You don't usually play games, so let's change the activity, let's choose something you like.
Jiang Luo: I really don't love playing games that much, really (serious face)
Gu Shiyue: No need to change, this is fine.
Jiang Luo chose both the escape room and the video game arcade. On the day of the commission, the two met at the school gate. Jiang Luo was cosplaying as Takashi Natsume, wearing a Japanese winter school uniform and carrying a dark green crossbody bag with a large cat teacher plush toy hanging on it. Because of his distinctive features, he was quickly recognized by students passing by on his way to the school gate.
Several students from the community asked him to take photos with them, but Jiang Luo declined all of them, as he wouldn't take photos with anyone other than the client during the commission period.
Gu Shiyue rarely drives to school. It's inconvenient to drive into the school during the day because the roads are full of students and there's nowhere to park. His car was parked on the side of the road near the school gate, and Jiang Luo saw it as soon as he came out. He walked towards the car, and halfway there, a girl passing by walked up to him with her phone and asked if he could collect stamps with her.
Jiang Luo shook her head and declined. She glanced up and saw that Gu Shiyue had opened the car window. The window slowly rolled down, and Gu Shiyue was sitting in the car, looking over.
Jiang Luo quickly walked over, opened the car door, and got in. He was a little slow to adjust his state today, his mind was in turmoil, and on a whim, he blurted out, "Hello."
Gu Shiyue turned to look at him and replied, "Hello."
Jiang Luo couldn't help but laugh, lowering his head to tug at his earlobe. His main problem was not knowing how to address Gu Shiyue. Calling him "senior" would be out of character. But without "senior," he felt completely lost about how to talk to Gu Shiyue.
Gu Shiyue started the car and asked, "Are you going to treat me like a stranger today?"
"No... I just suddenly didn't know what to call you," Jiang Luo explained. "Calling you 'senior' might be a bit out of character..."
What would you like to call me?
Jiang Luo thought about it and realized that calling him "brother" was actually quite out of character, and he couldn't bring himself to call him by his full name, so it would be better to just call him senior.
"Let's still call him 'senior'," Jiang Luo said.
The two of them had lunch first, and then went to the video game arcade. It was a newly opened store with a nice environment and spacious private rooms. The staff helped them set up the equipment and then closed the door and left.
Jiang Luo took the cat teacher plush toy off his bag and let it sit on the sofa, even giving it a cushion to lean against. He took out an alcohol wipe, cleaned the game controller, and handed it to Gu Shiyue: "What kind of game do you want to play?"
Gu Shiyue took the controller: "You recommend it."
Jiang Luo thought for a moment and said, "How about we go as a two-player game? It's a popular one, lots of people play it, the kind where you play as a two-player challenge."
“Okay.” Gu Shiyue looked down at the game controller in his hand. He doesn’t usually play games. Games like this that require a controller were something Liang Siheng taught him to play when he was a child. So many years have passed, and he’s become quite rusty with how to play them.
Jiang Luo used the controller to switch game interfaces, found the two-player mode, and clicked on it. The TV was loading the story; Jiang Luo had already completed this game several times and could recite the beginning of the story by heart.
After the cutscene ended and the game officially began, Jiang Luo picked up the controller and explained the functions of each button to Gu Shiyue.
"The joystick on the left controls direction, and the one on the right controls the view." Jiang Luo said as he operated the controller, controlling the little character in the game. "The cross is jump, the circle is crouch, and the square is dash."
“And these two buttons above,” Jiang Luo pressed the two buttons on the outer edge of the top of the controller, “you’ll use these two when you’re using items, I’ll tell you more about them when we’re in actual combat.”
"Um."
This game isn't particularly difficult, but it does require a lot of imagination. The first time you play it, you'll definitely feel a bit lost and not know what to do. Jiang Luo didn't want to spoil Gu Shiyue's gaming experience, so even though he had played it many times, he didn't give Gu Shiyue any instructions on what to do at each step like a game manual.
In fact, Gu Shiyue didn't need his prompting at all. He figured out the gameplay logic after playing for a short while, cooperated well with Jiang Luo, completed the tasks very quickly, and was quite skilled at operating the controller, as if it were his first time playing.
Jiang Luo had played this game with several clients before. Some had played it a little, while others had never played it before. None of them had noticed that Shi Yue was so skilled at it.
"Senior, have you played this game before?"
"No."
"You're amazing! You're so good at it on your first time playing." Jiang Luo recalled playing mobile games with Gu Shiyue before, and how quickly he picked it up. Sure enough, smart people are good at everything, whether it's studying or playing games.
"Isn't it boring to play this with me?" Gu Shiyue asked suddenly while looking at the TV screen.
Jiang Luo turned and glanced at him.
"You've played this game many times, haven't you?"
Jiang Luo smiled and said, "I've played this game many times, but playing with you is never boring."
"Playing with someone else?" Gu Shiyue asked casually, fiddling with the controller. "Was this the same game you played with that male singles player last time?"
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