Chapter 80
In fact, after "establishing a relationship", Chi Jun and Xu Qingzhou's lives did not change much.
They still lived under the same roof. Xu Qingzhou was busy studying as usual, while Chi Jun was busy with work when he had it, and would meet up with friends when he didn't have work, while also taking care of all the housework in the small rented apartment.
Overall, life was ordinary yet warm.
As for kissing...
Of course, there are.
However, when doing this, he no longer needed to coax and deceive Xu Qingzhou like he did the night he turned back into a fox. Instead, relying on his status as her boyfriend, he took a bite out of the girl on a whim, arrogant and shameless, frank and carefree.
Xu Qingzhou was too shy. Even after so many times, when Chi Jun suddenly stole a kiss from her, she would still be shocked and frightened for a moment, her eyes widening in surprise. Then she would quickly blush and pretend to do something else to avoid him.
Every time Chi Jun sees her reaction, he finds it both funny and amusing.
This only made him more aggressive, and he enjoyed teasing her all the time.
However, a single sentence from the male ghost made Chi Jun suddenly realize something—
Zhouzhou never directly told him "I like you," let alone initiated a kiss.
Chi Jun's brief silence confirmed the male ghost's suspicions.
He laughed even harder, and after finally managing to stop laughing a little, he gasped for breath and wiped away tears, saying:
"Brother Jun, Zhouzhou is so sweet and gentle, could it be that you forced her to become a bandit's wife?"
Chi Jun glanced at him sideways.
"Does such a handsome chieftain need to be forced?"
He ignored the male ghost, picked up a lollipop, and rode away on his electric scooter.
*
In the few hours before picking Xu Qingzhou up from evening self-study, Chi Jun had nothing to do back in his small rented room. On the way, he received a call from Li Rui, who asked him to go to an internet cafe to play games.
Chi Jun agreed.
When he arrived at the agreed-upon internet cafe, he found only Li Rui sitting in front of the computer, engrossed in a game. Just as he finished, Li Rui turned to look at him and tossed him a bottle of tea.
"You're here?"
Chi Jun sat down in front of the empty machine next to him, unscrewed the tea bottle, and took a sip:
Why are you all alone?
“I didn’t want to either,” Li Rui leaned back in his chair and rubbed his neck. “I can’t even call out the names of those bastards.”
"Wang Shuai has a fever and says he's too weak. Li Gou was sick a while ago, and he's still recovering at home... Everyone else is either busy with this or that. Well, in the end, I'm the only one with nothing to do~"
After Li Rui finished speaking, he looked at Chi Jun:
"No, you count as one too."
Chi Jun gave a perfunctory smirk and remained silent.
While playing Spider Solitaire, Li Rui casually chatted about his friends, occasionally reminding Chi Jun that several of his friends had recently caught colds and fevers, possibly from the flu virus, and advising Chi Jun to be careful.
Chi Jun: "Mm."
"Hey, Wang Shuai is single again, you knew that?"
Chi Jun recalled briefly that he had seen Wang Shuai's official announcement on WeChat Moments some time ago while browsing his Moments.
"I have a vague recollection of it."
"That bastard, he's about my age, kind of handsome, but he changes girlfriends one after another, I'm so jealous! You, a top-tier handsome guy, don't even have a girlfriend, what makes him so special? What makes him so special? Huh?"
"But this guy is also quite pitiful. It's said that he had a fight with his girlfriend when he posted the official announcement on his WeChat Moments because she didn't want to post a photo of them together. Wang Shuai's pride was hurt. She said she wouldn't post a photo together and wouldn't even kiss him. She must not like him."
"Actually, I think there might be some truth to what he said... If you can't even kiss someone, what kind of relationship is that? Right?"
Chi Jun remained silent.
He suddenly felt quite annoyed.
Fortunately, a woman's voice suddenly interrupted Li Rui's incessant chatter.
"Hey handsome, here's your instant noodles."
"Okay, sure," Li Rui immediately took one of the buckets of pickled cabbage noodles from the receptionist with a smug look on his face, exaggeratedly brought it close to his nose and took a couple of sniffs, forgetting the previous topic: "Yeah, that's the taste. Internet cafes have to have instant noodles, no arguments!"
He hurriedly stuffed a mouthful of instant noodles into his mouth, and seeing that Chi Jun hadn't moved, Li Rui urged him:
"Eat up, I specially ordered the Sichuan peppercorn flavor for you, it's spicy and delicious."
Chi Jun's face remained expressionless as he turned to stare at the monitor in front of him, lazily wiggling the mouse.
"I ate too much tonight, I can't eat anymore."
"Hehe, if you put it that way, I'll just eat two portions by myself without any hesitation."
Li Rui, with a great appetite, quickly slurped down two bowls of spicy and sour instant noodles, a fine layer of sweat appearing on his forehead.
He casually wiped himself with a piece of paper, quit Spider Solitaire, and enthusiastically started playing the online game.
"Come on, I'm incredibly strong now after eating two bowls of instant noodles."
But I don't know if Chi Jun didn't eat instant noodles or what, although he didn't make mistakes like he was completely clueless like last time, he still made several mistakes in the middle of the game tonight. After a few rounds, not only did he fail to intimidate the opponents, but he also completely dampened the enthusiasm that Li Rui had just gained from drinking two buckets of instant noodles.
"Hey bro, what's wrong with you? Taking a stroll after dinner?"
"You're not feeling well either, are you?" Li Rui said, reaching out to touch Chi Jun's forehead.
Chi Jun raised his hand to block it, saying, "It's nothing."
"How about I order you two more bowls of instant noodles to add some energy? The kind with a strong, tangy, spicy flavor and aged vinegar, how about that?"
"Need not."
Chi Jun stood up and picked up his coat from the back of the chair: "I'm going to pick up Zhouzhou from evening self-study."
"Huh? So early? It's only nine o'clock."
"Um."
"Alright then, I'm all alone again..."
...
*
Ever since Xu Qingzhou started attending evening self-study sessions, Chi Jun has been picking her up every night.
Chi Jun arrived early tonight, but the school gate was deserted; the parents who were supposed to pick him up hadn't arrived yet.
The campus was quiet and dark at first glance, with only the teaching buildings still lit. The security guard sat in the small security room, grinning as he scrolled through short videos.
Chi Jun didn't know why he came so early.
Perhaps he was so upset that he didn't want to do anything.
Or perhaps, he was eager to see Xu Qingzhou as soon as possible, hoping to glean some answer he desired from her expression and demeanor.
He sat astride the electric scooter, waiting absentmindedly.
After some time, more and more parents came to pick up their children at the school gate.
As the crisp, melodious school bell rang, a buzzing sound filled the teaching building, and students began to appear on the main road of the campus.
As usual, Chi Jun waited for Xu Qingzhou in the corner of the bushes in the green belt west of the school gate.
About ten minutes later, by the light of the streetlights along the main road, he caught a glimpse of Xu Qingzhou walking along the road, accompanied by a male and a female classmate.
Chi Jun immediately recognized the boy as Zheng Yangshu.
The girl had never seen it before.
The group seemed to be discussing something. Zheng Yangshu gestured with his hands as he spoke, while the girl listened attentively, her expression serious and puzzled.
As they got closer, the girl's expression suddenly changed.
She stared at Chi Jun, her eyes sparkling with undisguised excitement, and tugged hard at Xu Qingzhou's school uniform sleeve.
"Qingzhou, this must be your famous older brother, right? Wow, he's really handsome!"
The girl lowered her voice.
Despite his keen hearing, Chi Jun still managed to hear it.
He looked at Xu Qingzhou with a sharp gaze, tinged with a hint of inquiry.
Xu Qingzhou did not clarify the past title of "brother". He just smiled slightly, as if a little embarrassed, waved to the girl and Zheng Yangshu, and then walked towards Chi Jun.
Zheng Yangshu greeted Chi Jun from a short distance away, then turned and walked towards her car.
What would you like to eat?
After picking up Xu Qingzhou, Chi Jun turned his head and asked a question as he started the car.
[Mini Wonton Bar]
"Um."
Studying is a mentally taxing activity. Xu Qingzhou used to study at home in the evenings and would always have a snack like a steamed bun or mantou around 9 pm. Now that she attends evening self-study sessions at school, Chi Jun would take her out for a late-night snack after her sessions before they returned to their rented apartment to continue studying.
As usual, Xu Qingzhou ordered a bowl of hot, freshly cooked wontons at the shop. He scooped them up spoonful by spoonful, blew on them, and ate them slowly, trying to relax the tension that had been building in his mind all day.
Chi Jun didn't order anything, just sat with his legs open, leaning against the chair opposite him and scrolling through his phone.
Unlike his usual easygoing demeanor, where he would chat with the boss or ask Xu Qingzhou if anything interesting had happened at school that day, and crack a couple of jokes, Chi Jun seemed unusually silent tonight.
His face was expressionless, even somewhat indifferent. When the boss spoke to him, although he responded to every word, it was obvious that he was a little absent-minded, as if he had something on his mind.
Xu Qingzhou initially thought that he might be being overly sensitive and suspicious.
Even after finishing his meal and riding his electric scooter back to the rented courtyard, Chi Jun remained aloof and indifferent, let alone taking the initiative to talk to Xu Qingzhou or crack a joke.
Xu Qingzhou squeezed the strap of her backpack and silently followed Chi Jun up the stairs.
After opening the door and turning on the light, Chi Jun tossed his keychain onto the small dining table, took off his coat, grabbed his pajamas, and headed downstairs to take a shower. As he turned around, his sleeve was suddenly tugged gently.
Chi Jun turned his head.
Xu Qingzhou was holding his sleeve in her hand, looking at him with concern in her eyes.
Are you unhappy?
Chi Jun glanced at her silently, then looked up at the dark night outside the door.
"No."
Why are you making that face?
Chi Jun looked down at her.
What's wrong with my expression?
Xu Qingzhou then followed his example, lowering his eyelids and turning his face and eyes cold.
Perhaps feeling that her expression wasn't quite right, she crossed her arms, trying to look cool, then fluttered her eyelashes and looked at Chi Jun, as if to say with her eyes: That's how it is, like this.
However, her awkward imitation didn't make her seem unhappy at all; on the contrary, it created a striking and endearing contrast.
Chi Jun stared at her for a few seconds, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turning up, and suddenly lowered his head to lean towards her lips.
Xu Qingzhou sensed that he was about to kiss her again, and instinctively smiled and turned her head away.
But the moment she turned her head, she saw that Chi Jun was still bent over, staring straight at her, and the smile in his eyes had vanished.
Instead, there was seriousness and calmness.
He looked at her, then slowly and solemnly cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to meet his gaze. His Adam's apple bobbed, and after a long silence, he finally spoke:
"Zhouzhou, do you like me?"
"Are you just being my girlfriend to accommodate me?"
He remembered that Xu Qingzhou was very afraid of being alone. She had made many, many efforts and compromises for this.
Perhaps this is just one of her many compromises.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
