Chapter Forty-Eight
"You..." You Congxi stared, speechless. "I..."
This sudden attack caught her off guard.
"What do you mean, what do you mean, what do you mean, what do you mean, what do you mean?" Shen Yue continued aggressively. "Why are you glaring at me? Am I wrong? Isn't that what you think too? Or am I so right that you feel ashamed and speechless?"
You Congxi was forced to lean back by his machine-gun-like barrage of questions, her eyes widening until she finally closed them, trying to avoid the pain.
“Closing your eyes won’t help. You run away from your mistakes, you pretend you don’t see your thoughts, you deceive yourself, isolate yourself, and think you know everything every day,” Shen Yue said. “Today I’m going to fix this problem for you.”
Hearing a rustling sound, You Congxi opened her eyes a crack and saw Shen Yue picking up the cake from the table and putting it back in the paper bag. He beckoned her to look over and gave her a provocative smile: "What are you looking at? You've finally decided to open your eyes?"
A short, clear laugh came from the driver's seat.
You Congxi felt as if his face had been slapped against the car window by Chen Yue and he couldn't get off.
She lowered her voice and quickly cursed, "You're crazy."
“Hmm,” Shen Yue put the bag on the side furthest from You Congxi and said casually, “What should we do? This lunatic likes you. Why don’t you just kill me?”
Another laugh came from ahead.
Driver Xiao Chen glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror, suppressed a laugh, and looked away.
While waiting at a red light, he picked up the water glass from the cup holder and took a sip, his thoughts drifting away.
He was considered a long-time employee of the Shen family, having been responsible for picking up and dropping off the young master since he was in kindergarten. He had never been so attentive to anyone before.
She glanced at Shen Yue's eyes in the rearview mirror, which couldn't hide his smile; the affection in them was almost overflowing.
The most unruly young master fell in love with the most twisted and unconventional saw-mouth gourd.
Xiao Chen shook his head.
It's true that everything has its counter, like using brine to curdle tofu.
You Congxi had no idea why Shen Yue had suddenly gone mad. She was too embarrassed to even listen to what he was saying. Not only was he talking nonsense, but he also stingily took away and hid the cake.
“Don’t close your eyes,” Shen Yue said. “You Xiaoyu, are you stupid? Do you think you can hide your feelings? Do you think I can’t see your feelings if you close your eyes? Do you know that your feelings fall out from your hair the moment you open your mouth?”
“That’s dandruff,” You Congxi said.
Shen Yue sighed and remained silent.
He used to think that he shouldn't push people too hard, and that one day You Congxi would understand his feelings. Later, he discovered that You Congxi didn't reject him and even had some feelings for him. He was delighted but also secretly approached her, afraid of scaring her away.
But she still left, suddenly drawing a clear line between them, forbidding either of them from stepping into that line. Shen Yue was caught off guard, forced to linger outside that line, clinging desperately to his status as a friend.
It wasn't until that phone call during the autumn outing, when You Congxi said she liked him and regretted it, that he became happy again. Then he heard You Congxi say that she was afraid, afraid that she liked him and afraid that he would leave.
Shen Yue then realized that You Congxi was not a heartless scoundrel who was hot and cold; You Congxi was just a coward who dared not say he loved her.
The coward closed his eyes, covered his ears, and pressed his head against the car window, vowing never to listen to his nonsense again.
Shen Yue put away the small table, his gaze swept over the girl's face, and finally he smiled silently.
You Congxi is a coward, so let him be bolder, talk more, and give her all his love. A coward is a little devil who easily receives love; just give her lots of love, lots of oranges, carrots, and little cakes, and she'll drool and float over.
At this moment, you should hug her tightly and tell her, "I love you, I won't leave, like the orange and carrot cupcake inside your belly—"
The coward might drift away in fear, but she will always come back, carefully hug you back, and whisper, "Okay, I'll reluctantly believe you this once."
When the two arrived, most of the others had already arrived.
As soon as You Congxi entered the private room, he was met with a jeer and attack from several people who nearly ripped the roof off.
"Ouch--"
You Congxi pretended to be a deaf person who couldn't hear anything.
She found a seat and sat down. Shen Yue, who had just passed her, was as thick-skinned as a city wall. The little jeers were like a tickle to him, and he wished she would shout even louder.
He plopped down next to You Congxi.
"Hey, there are so many empty spaces in this room, why does our young master always squeeze into that corner?" He Qi said sarcastically.
“Hey, you just don’t understand,” Qu Qi immediately chimed in, “What do you know about the little romantic gestures of a young couple? You’re just a single dog who’s never been in a relationship.”
"Hey, who told you I've never been in a relationship?" He Qizheng glared at him. "Back in junior high, my nickname was 'The Strawberry of Xinghai District,' you know that?!"
"Pfft." Yin Zixuan couldn't help but laugh out loud. When she saw He Qi's dark face, she quickly said, "Sorry, Mr. Qu, I couldn't help it."
“Xuanbao, don’t listen to his bragging. He calls himself a ‘grass’ (a derogatory term for a woman), but I think he’s just a jerk,” Qu Qi said.
While they were joking around, Shen Yue called over a waiter and ordered some drinks and snacks, and even specially ordered a glass of iced orange juice for You Congxi.
“Yes,” He Qi said in a low voice, “I like it.”
You Congxi rested his head on his left hand, pretending to be deep in thought.
"What's wrong? Did you just wake up?" Qu Qi said, playing two roles at once. "Oh, I was just sleeping."
"Why are you two sleeping?" He Qi asked.
"Because we're neighbors, right? You know, the neighbors across the hall, the kind of neighbors you can just walk a couple of steps from when you open your door," Qu Qi replied.
"Sigh," Shen Yue sighed helplessly, "Alright, You Xiaoyu is going to hang herself in shame and indignation in a bit."
Everyone looked over, and then burst into laughter, almost falling over.
"Oh my god, that's hilarious!" Qu Qi, You Congxi's closest friend present, laughed the loudest. "When have I ever seen the usually outspoken You Xiaoyu so shy..."
"Shut up." You Congxi's ears and neck turned completely red, and the threat she uttered was utterly harmless.
She now feels like hanging herself from the rafters; these scoundrels of hers are going to shame her to death.
She glanced at the grinning Shen Yue and even suspected that the entire private room was filled with his shadow clones, otherwise why would they all be provoking her?
The two were so close that You Congxi could smell the clean scent of soap on the boy. She felt a little dazed; they were strangers who didn't know each other back then, but now they could sit so close.
As the saying goes, even the most virtuous woman can be won over by a persistent suitor. She thought she had rejected him thoroughly and ruthlessly, but to her surprise, Shen Yue became more and more determined. By a twist of fate, he found her weakness. The more she pushed him away, the more he wanted to get close to her, repeatedly saying that he liked her, as if he wanted to show her his heart.
She knew she couldn't handle this.
"Hey, what's going on between you two?" He Qi asked. "Are you two together now, or have you been together for a while?"
You Congxi warned Shen Yue with his eyes not to talk nonsense or he would bite him to death.
“They weren’t together,” Shen Yue said.
Before You Congxi could even catch his breath, Shen Yue continued, "We're currently in the pursuit stage."
You Congxi almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Poor thing," Qu Qi said, looking at Shen Yue with a hidden meaning, "You can never wake someone who's pretending to be asleep."
Shen Yue smiled but remained silent.
Yin Zixuan nodded in agreement: "That's right."
He Qi was completely bewildered: "What are you saying? I don't understand."
You Congxi sighed: "Study, okay? Study."
If she listened to them continue, she would smash her head against Shen Yue's perpetually taut muscles and die together with him.
With time running out and tasks piling up, Xun Songyue, for some unknown reason, assigned five or six group assignments in one go. The group was so busy they were spinning like tops, and even their lunch was ordered by Shen Yue and delivered to their private room.
After working until evening, He Qi stretched for a full ten seconds, slammed his hand on the table, and roared, "Let's have a good meal!"
“That’s right, let’s have a good meal!” Qu Qi said, “I’m exhausted.”
"Mmm," Yin Zixuan responded weakly.
Shen Yue was also exhausted and leaned on the table, asking what he wanted to eat.
Everyone in the room was exhausted, except for You Congxi, who was still full of energy. She looked around and laughed, "You guys are too weak. How come I'm not tired?"
"Of course you're not tired! That dog Shen Yue is so biased, he practically treated us like slaves when assigning tasks. What do you, a slave owner, have to be tired about!" Qu Qi was so angry she almost jumped up.
You Congxi rubbed his nose, feeling a little guilty: "...It's my treat today."
Qu Qi clamored to give the despicable slave owner a good beating, while You Congxi found a newly opened hot pot restaurant with a high average price per person. The five of them wolfed down their food and ate haphazardly, each of them walking out with their bellies bulging.
I didn't drink alcohol during dinner because I have class tomorrow.
You Congxi and Shen Yue got into the car amidst the teasing glances of several people. You Congxi felt that she had become desensitized after a day of mental torment and waved her hand indifferently.
She bumped into something while moving, and upon closer inspection, it looked like a bag. It was too dark inside the car, so she picked it up and held it to the window, using the light from outside to examine it.
It was that awful orange and carrot cupcake from this morning.
A warm feeling enveloped me, accompanied by the familiar scent of soap.
You Congxi subconsciously turned around, but before he could see what it was, the bag in his hand was snatched away.
Shen Yue picked up the bag and left. He glanced at the girl who was frozen in place and curled up the corner of his mouth.
You Congxi was still reeling from the near-kiss of almost kissing that bastard Shen Yue on the face.
A large, smug hand reached out and waved in front of her eyes. She heard the person's cheeky voice: "Are you stupid?"
Anger surged from the depths of his heart to the top of his head. You Congxi slowly turned his head and said, word by word, "Chen Yue, do you want to die?"
Shen Yue had just taken a bite of cake when she heard this and smiled at her.
"Oh dear, I'm so scared."
"..."
From then on, Shen Yue was officially banished to the cold palace by You Congxi for three days and three nights.
According to reliable rumors, Shen Yue served as You Congxi's personal eunuch for three days, but still couldn't get him to say a word to him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
