Chapter 7 You still have quite a few romantic entanglements
Chapter Seven: You Have Quite a Few Romantic Debts
The car suddenly fell silent. Neither of them spoke. The moment their eyes met, Li Yue immediately looked away and glanced out the window at the young people rowing and laughing on the lake next to them.
Ling Jianwei stared intently at her slightly flushed face, pursed his lips, and asked, "Are you hungry?"
Li Yue hummed in agreement: "A little."
Ling Jianwei said, "Let's find a place to eat first. What would you like to eat?"
"Dumplings will do."
Ling Jianwei couldn't help but ask, "Do you really like dumplings?"
Li Yue looked back at him and murmured, "It's not a matter of liking or disliking, it's just that I think eating dumplings is more convenient."
He chuckled, "That's true, okay, let's go eat dumplings then."
Ling Jianwei, who had been sitting sideways, asked her as she adjusted the chair, "Would you like to sit in the front?"
Li Yue pulled the coat tighter around her, feeling comfortable and warm, and shook her head: "I'm fine sitting like this."
He didn't insist and drove directly to a dumpling restaurant.
Two large bowls of mutton dumplings were served, and he said, "Order more if it's not enough."
Li Yue said, "That's enough, that's a lot."
She was indeed a little hungry, and as she ate the steaming dumplings, she heard him ask, "Did I just help you save face?"
“Of course, you can tell from everyone’s reaction. They were all very surprised.” Li Yue smiled at him. “I didn’t expect you to be so sociable, not serious or old-fashioned at all.”
He was quite indignant: "When have I ever been serious or old-fashioned?"
Li Yue: "When I first met you, I thought you looked quite serious."
Ling Jianwei said irritably, "I don't know who was hugging people randomly, and when I reminded them to be mindful of their behavior, they thought I was serious and old-fashioned."
When the matter was brought up, Li Yue looked embarrassed and smiled sheepishly: "I really mistook someone else for me at the time."
"Who did you mistake me for? One of your seniors? Someone a year or two ahead of you?"
Li Yue realized that the term "senior" wasn't common these days; at most, people would call them "senior brother," and it was always done jokingly. Lower-year students usually called upper-year students "older students." But clearly, Ling Jianwei understood what she meant.
"Do you hug any older male student you like?" he asked suspiciously. "Or is the groom today your senior?"
“Of course not,” Li Yue denied. “I was in the same year as the groom, but he started school later.”
"So, besides the groom, there's another guy you can hug anytime you want," the man muttered. "You've got quite a few romantic entanglements—the runaway bride, your first love, and a senior from your senior year..."
“The elopement doesn’t count,” Li Yue said in a muffled voice. “Besides, the way I hugged you back then wasn’t what you think.”
"What kind is it?"
"I fainted at the time, thinking I had been to the gates of hell and that I was dead. But when I vaguely saw familiar people, I realized I wasn't dead, and in a moment of excitement, I hugged them."
He seemed unconvinced: "That's it?"
"Um."
"So, you mean I look a lot like your senior?"
"The outline is somewhat similar, but upon closer inspection, they are completely different," Li Yue said. "You are taller and more handsome than him."
Upon hearing this answer, the man first smiled slightly, then his face hardened: "Don't hug people without checking them properly in the future. It's one thing if I hug someone, but if you hug someone who behaves improperly, you might not even realize you've been taken advantage of."
"Oh, I see." Li Yue continued eating her dumplings.
Ling Jianwei ate extremely quickly, finishing the dumplings and soup in no time. He patiently observed the person sitting across the table, who ate dumplings in half, so refined and meticulous, and the man chuckled softly.
“However, it’s normal that you think I’m serious and old-fashioned, I don’t blame you,” he added.
"Why?" Li Yue looked up.
"If you're not serious in the military, how can you keep those unruly brats under your command in check?"
Li Yue laughed upon hearing this: "Are they very mischievous?"
"They're all young men in their teens and twenties. Even if they're not mischievous, they still have their own indelible nature. If you're all smiles and jokes with them, how can you control them?"
"That's true." Li Yue nodded, finished the last dumpling, and started drinking the soup. "The soup is quite delicious."
He asked, "Do you like soup?"
Li Yue said, "Autumn is dry, so it's good to drink more soup."
"At such a young age, he has already learned all about health preservation, just like an old Chinese medicine doctor."
"That's true, there's no such thing as an old Chinese medicine doctor."
The man looked over and said, "If I have the chance, I'll take you to drink authentic health-preserving soup."
Li Yue asked, "Which restaurant?"
He said casually, "My maternal grandfather's family. He loved to study cooking. He used to learn from the imperial chefs and later cooked for state banquets."
Li Yue exclaimed in surprise, "So amazing!"
"It's alright. Although he's old now, his cooking skills are still superb. We love going to his great-uncle's house for meals."
Li Yue nodded.
Although it sounds great, it seems a bit strange to suddenly go to his relative's house for soup. It wouldn't matter if she and Ling Jianwei were very close, like childhood friends who grew up together.
She changed the subject: "I've finished drinking, I can go now."
...
The car drove at a steady speed on the road. When she got out of the car, Li Yue said with a smile, "Thank you for today."
He replied, "Is saying thank you all that's needed?"
Li Yue was stunned: "How do you want me to thank you?"
He said, "I haven't decided yet."
"Then... you can't expect me to pay you, can you?"
He was speechless: "You think I'm so mercenary?"
Li Yue frowned: "Or should I treat you to dinner?"
"No need. Just keep me company to pass the time."
"How should we deal with it?"
The man's long, slender fingers tapped the steering wheel, seemingly in thought, before finally looking at her: "Are you free tomorrow?"
"There should be."
"Then I'll come pick you up at 11 a.m. tomorrow, and we can think of somewhere to kill time."
"All right."
Li Yue got out of the car and walked straight to the family compound. On the way, she thought that this man was probably bored at home on vacation and wanted to find someone to pass the time.
But doesn't his family arrange any blind dates for him? Besides his parents, he also has older brothers and sisters. His eldest brother is a generation older than him. Don't his sister-in-law and the like try to introduce him to potential partners?
What a strange man.
-
I got home at four in the afternoon, and my cousin said, "Yanmei came to see you just now."
Li Yue responded and went to Gu Yanmei's house.
Gu Yanmei's house was on the second floor. Li Yue called out a few times from downstairs, and she came out, holding a red envelope in her hand. She waved it and then ran downstairs in a flash, stuffing the red envelope into Gu Yanmei's hand: "This is your red envelope for being a bridesmaid. Why didn't you come back after you left?"
Li Yue took the red envelope, glanced inside, and saw that it contained 50 cents.
"I found it boring, so I just left. How's the situation over there?"
“What else can we do? Rongrong was surprised and a little angry, but I think she brought this on herself, so we can only accept it.”
Li Yue said indignantly, "If she hadn't provoked me, I would have just let it go and not stolen her thunder. Who knew she would go around telling everyone that they were originally together and that I stole her away."
"You actually say that? That's quite awful," Gu Yanmei said.
Li Yue said, "I've already done more than enough by not staying and ruining her wedding banquet."
Gu Yanmei smiled and said, "But we've all been talking about your Deputy Battalion Commander Ling. When did you two get together? We're really curious."
"This is a long story, let's wait and see."
"Let's see first?" Gu Yanmei asked, puzzled. "He's so outstanding, so tall, so handsome, and a deputy battalion commander. He even said himself that he's trying to win you over. What could you possibly be dissatisfied with?"
It's all just an act... Li Yue held the fifty cents and asked her, "Want to buy some melon seeds to eat?"
"Okay, let's chat about that deputy battalion commander while we're eating sunflower seeds."
Li Yue: "There's really nothing to talk about."
They bought two ounces of sunflower seeds, put them directly into their pockets, found a place to sit down, and chatted while eating the sunflower seeds.
Gu Yanmei asked about Ling Jianwei again, and Li Yue sighed, "We're really not what you think. We're not dating. I impulsively said he was my boyfriend to spite Rongrong."
“But I think he’s quite sincere.” Gu Yanmei slapped her thigh. “I understand now. He’s really pursuing you, isn’t he? So it’s only a matter of time before you two get together.”
The more she explained, the more complicated it became. Li Yue said, "Anyway, don't tell Rongrong yet. I want to annoy her for a couple more days."
Gu Yanmei agreed: "She has always liked to compete with you since she was a child. You were too kind in the past and always gave in to her. If you really find someone like Deputy Battalion Commander Ling, she will definitely be so angry that she can't sleep."
Li Yue smiled coldly: "That's her problem. She's married now, so you'd better keep your distance from her in the future."
Gu Yanmei: "My mother also said that there will be a lot of trivial matters after marriage. Rongrong may come to me to confide in me. I just listen and don't get involved in other people's family affairs."
“Actually, I’m constantly being mistreated at home. My sister-in-law said yesterday that I’m just eating for free at home. My brother said that some graduates have been assigned to work in the countryside, and that if I really can’t find a job, I should go to the countryside too.” Gu Yanmei sighed. “Just enduring this day after day isn’t a solution.”
As early as September and October, other cities had already begun mobilizing graduates to go to the countryside, and the large-scale rural mobilization will start in December.
Li Yue tentatively suggested, "If you really have to go to the countryside, it's best to go with someone you know well, so you can at least look out for each other."
“That’s what I think too,” Gu Yanmei said. “But if you had gone directly to Deputy Battalion Commander Ling, there would have been no need to go to the countryside. You could have just joined the army.”
Li Yue was too tired to continue the conversation when her cousin Du Qinglan ran over with a letter in her hand: "Sister, it's a letter from your aunt."
She handed the letter to Li Yue, then took the melon seeds from Li Yue's hand and started cracking them open.
As Li Yue opened the letter, she said, "Last time I wrote to her saying I wanted to go there, and I even asked her if she could help me find a job."
However, upon opening and reading the letter, Li Yue immediately deflated like a punctured balloon.
"What's wrong?"
My aunt said in the letter that she can't introduce me to jobs right now, but she can introduce me to potential partners.
Speechless.
...
A note from the author:
----------------------
[Sunglasses] (Second watch of the night)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com