Chapter 13
Chapter Summary: Since he hasn't won her over yet, he has to listen to her.
Since Yao Ye's response was "let's discuss it again," Li Fengjian has recently been like a peacock spreading its tail feathers, making every effort to gain Yao Ye's attention.
For example
"Aren't you going down for a drink today?" he asked her on WeChat.
"No, I'm on a diet, so I need to drink less sugary drinks and more plain water," she replied.
"How about I put some plain water in Kazamado's cup and bring it up to you?" he asked again.
"No need, there's plain water in the art class," she replied.
"Then what other excuse could I possibly have to go up to the fifth floor to see you?" he asked bluntly.
Yao Ye blushed and covered her face with her hands, then chuckled and replied, "Hmph, I'm very busy, you can think of it yourself."
More than ten minutes later, Li Fengjian sent another WeChat message, still unwilling to give up: "I've got it."
So after a while, Yao Ye stared in disbelief as Li Fengjian, carrying a takeout bag in one hand and holding a little girl's hand in the other, arrived at the entrance of the art class with a loving expression.
She asked in surprise, "Where did you conjure up a child from?" Then she belatedly realized, "Oh right, today is Aunt Sun's child's first day of school." She had even arranged for her child to be in Teacher Liu's class, so of course she remembered.
Sure enough, the little girl had pigtails and a round face full of a bright smile. "Hello, I'm Sun Simin, and this is my first day learning to draw!"
Teacher Liu Yue happened to be passing by, so she smiled and led Xiaomin into the classroom. Only Li Fengjian and Yao Ye remained at the front desk. Li Fengjian placed the takeout bag in front of her, saying, "Here you go."
Yao Ye opened it, then gave him a haughty glance, "What, is it really just a glass of plain water?"
"You'll know once you drink it," Li Fengjian said solicitously, inserting a straw into her drink.
She took a sip, and sure enough, it wasn't plain water; it was a cup of roasted chestnut milk tea with just the right amount of sugar.
"Hmph, I already told you I'm going to lose weight." Even though she said that, she still took a big gulp with a smile on her face.
“You are right, but…” Li Fengjian looked at her and smiled softly, “but I understand you.”
"oh?"
"You're somewhat hypocritical. In many ways."
As a result, Yao Ye choked on her milk tea, making her face turn red.
………………
From then on, picking up and dropping off Xiaomin became Li Fengjian's legitimate reason for going up to the fifth floor.
At first, Yao Ye remained calm, pretending to treat him as an ordinary parent. However, one day after class, Yao Ye returned from the restroom and was stunned by what she saw.
Wait, is she seeing things? Why are Li Fengjian and Hu Xiaojun exchanging pleasantries and even scanning QR codes to add each other on WeChat?
Since the incident with the class beauty, Hu Xiaojun has been single again, but he has avoided Yao Ye like the plague ever since. Whether at school or in the art class, if he sees her, he will at most give her an awkward smile, and then quickly walk away with his head down.
Unfortunately, Hu's parents were away on a business trip these past few days, leaving the task of picking up and dropping off Xiao Kui to his older brother. Normally, their nodding acquaintance in art class would have been fine, but what happened today? How did he end up adding Li Fengjian on WeChat?
Hu Xiaojun quickly led his sister away, while Li Fengjian waited for Xiaomin to pack up her art supplies. Yao Ye quietly approached, tugged at his sleeve with a serious expression, and then beckoned him to a secluded spot.
"What's wrong?" Li Fengjian asked, following her.
"I should be asking you what's wrong," Yao Ye said, her face puffed up like a pufferfish. "Did I see that right? You and Hu Xiaojun are adding each other on WeChat?"
“Oh…” Li Fengjian raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t see wrong.”
"Why? What's the point of you two adding each other on WeChat?"
"you guess."
How can I guess?
“It’s very simple,” Li Fengjian said as if teasing her, he was enjoying the moment when her face turned red. “You can think about what kind of connection I have with that Mr. Hu.”
Yao Ye bit her lip, "What could you two possibly have in common... it's just..." She was too embarrassed to say it, but he cheerfully pressed her for more details.
"What is it?"
"Hmph..." She kept a straight face and refused to say anything.
Instead, he laughed and frankly said, "Are you trying to say that the only thing we have in common is that one of us is pursuing you, and the other of us used to pursue you?"
“Yes, yes, yes,” Yao Ye said, putting her hands on her hips. “Then tell me, why do you two need to add each other on WeChat?”
"Perhaps I want to learn from his experience to increase my chances of success?"
"...If that's really the case, it would be strange if he could add you on WeChat so readily," Yao Ye said, pursing her lips. She glanced at Xiao Min, who was finishing tidying up her tools and walking out of the classroom, and a thought suddenly struck her. "Ah, I get it! Could it be related to the children!"
“You got it right.” He was still looking at her, unable to look away: her look of sudden realization was indescribably adorable. “Xiaomin and Hu Xiaokui have become friends. One of them took a liking to the other’s Frozen pencil case, and the other took a liking to the other’s plush rabbit keychain. So the two kids urged us to add each other on WeChat so we could exchange purchase links. Don’t worry, that’s all.”
"That's all?"
“What else could it be?” he laughed. “I probably don’t need to ask him for advice… After all,” before Xiaomin could run over, he leaned down and whispered in her ear with lightning speed, “I think my chances of winning are pretty high.”
After saying that, he walked up and took Xiaomin's hand, turned around and smiled at her, whose cheeks were flushed, "We're leaving, goodbye, Teacher Yao."
…………
Although Li Fengjian confidently stated that they would delete each other's purchase links after exchanging them, Yao Ye was still somewhat uneasy.
The next day, as she passed Hu Xiaojun after class, her gaze unconsciously followed him. Hu Xiaojun noticed and paused, at which point Yao Ye mustered the courage to approach him.
Just as she was wondering how to bring it up, Hu Xiaojun thoughtfully offered, "Are you trying to ask about what happened last night when I added the bubble tea shop owner on WeChat?"
“Hmm…” Yao Ye nodded.
Hu Xiaojun smiled wryly, then simply took out his phone. "Here, take a look for yourself."
Yao Ye quickly took the document with both hands and browsed through the chat history between the two men from the previous night.
Li Fengjian first sent the purchase link for the plush rabbit, saying, "This is a gift I'm giving to my child. There are many imitations, but this one is genuine and of very good quality."
Hu Xiaojun also sent a link to the Frozen pencil case, saying, "I bought the pencil case from this store; they have several colors to choose from."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Then I'll delete it for now," Li Fengjian said. "There's nothing I can do; Yao Ye seems to mind us adding each other on WeChat."
"oh."
"I haven't won her over yet, so I have to listen to her."
"Understood. Keep it up."
Hu Xiaojun took the phone from Yao Ye and said, "Then, we deleted each other's contacts."
"Um, thank you..." Yao Ye couldn't help but blush.
"No need to thank me. It was just a small favor for me to help him pursue you."
Yao Ye's face turned even redder, "He..."
"He's obviously pursuing you, isn't he?" Hu Xiaojun put his phone back in his pocket and said casually, "Xiaomin isn't his child, so why does he always pick her up and drop her off? It's as clear as day."
Yao Ye pursed her lips and remained silent.
Hu Xiaojun continued, "And one day before class, I overheard him chatting with Xiaomin. He said..." He paused, as if keeping her in suspense, and Yao Ye immediately pressed him for details.
"What did he say?"
Hu Xiaojun gave a wry smile. "At first, Xiaomin asked him why he always took her upstairs and picked her up from school to go back to the milk tea shop. He explained that Xiaomin's grandmother was the most capable employee at the milk tea shop and was very busy. Xiaomin then asked if he, the shop owner, wasn't busy either. After thinking for a while, he began to coax the child, saying that if Xiaomin was willing to let him pick her up every time, he would treat her to juice and buy her the pencil case and toys she wanted. Xiaomin smiled as soon as she heard this and never asked again why it wasn't her grandmother who picked her up."
"He actually did all this behind the scenes..." Yao Ye muttered to herself, both amused and exasperated.
“You put a lot of thought into it, didn’t you?” Hu Xiaojun said.
"Hmph, it's all about playing tricks."
"He went to great lengths just to win you over. So I'm just doing him a favor, and also to thank you."
“…Thank you, me?” Yao Ye pointed to herself in surprise.
“Yeah,” Hu Xiaojun scratched his head sheepishly, “I heard that Lili was dating several men at the same time, and it was you girls who found out, right? After that, whenever I saw you, you always looked at me with a very complicated expression…”
"Yes, is there?"
"Yes, you may not have noticed it yourself. However, I don't like being looked at with such pitying eyes, so I basically avoid you whenever I see you."
"So that's how it is..."
“But since I have the chance today, I’d like to be honest. Actually, I’m not that upset about Lili treating me like an ATM.” Hu Xiaojun shrugged, his eyes flashing. “Ever since I got the short end of the stick with you, I’ve been feeling really down. To be honest, at first I just thought you were cute and funny, but I didn’t think you were hard to win over. I thought that as long as I spent the time and effort, you would eventually be won over.”
Yao Ye grinned, "Is this... a compliment or an insult?"
Hu Xiaojun laughed, "But in practice, you remained completely indifferent to me, even pretending to be stupid and avoiding me, which was very discouraging. So I came up with a very foolish idea: to pursue a girl who is prettier and more charming than you, and who seems much harder to pursue at first glance, just to prove myself!"
Yao Ye's eyes widened, and after a long while, she said seriously, "That's really stupid!"
Hu Xiaojun was amused by her seriousness, laughing until tears streamed down his face. "Yes, that's why I pursued Lili very seriously, putting in effort, time, and money. I tried very hard, but honestly, I don't think I felt much of a romantic feeling... Sometimes I even felt like I was just completing a task to satisfy a little bit of my own self-righteous dissatisfaction... Do you know when I was most excited during my relationship with Lili?"
"How would I know?" Yao Ye said.
“You don’t know, but you were there at the time.”
"ah?"
"That time, in the cafeteria, you ran into me. You came up to me and started talking, and I told you your seat was taken, and I even pointed out Lili, who was buying a drink, to you." Hu Xiaojun sighed. "That was the most exciting moment of my entire relationship. Unfortunately, it only lasted a few seconds. When I saw you, I was only surprised, without a trace of jealousy, and even wanted to give you my sincere blessings. After that, I... never mind. Anyway, when I found out that Lili only saw me as an ATM, to be honest, I was only surprised, nothing else. So, we broke up peacefully. I heard she's officially with that guy now."
"It seems so."
"I wish them well."
Before saying goodbye, Hu Xiaojun said, "Actually, I've always been quite curious. I don't think I'm any worse than that milk tea shop owner."
Yao Ye was at a loss for words.
Hu Xiaojun muttered to himself, "That's true, feelings don't follow any logic. In terms of looks and figure, Lili is far superior to you."
"Hey, is this a compliment or a criticism?"
Anyway, I wish you happiness.
…………
The following evening, Li Fengjian led Xiaomin up to the art class again. Xiaomin greeted Hu Xiaokui cheerfully and then went into the classroom hand in hand. Hu Xiaojun nodded to Yao Ye and then went to the coffee shop to kill time.
Li Fengjian paced back and forth at the front desk, slowly moving closer to Yao Ye, and asked her in an almost whispered voice,
"Xiaomin has taken a few classes and really enjoys them. Aunt Sun plans to enroll her in classes regularly."
"Hmm, very good." Yao Ye remained reserved, not even looking up, staring intently at the class schedule in her hand.
"I think that I've done my part in picking up and dropping off Xiaomin, helping her fall in love with art classes and become a regular customer here. I may not have made any great contribution, but I've certainly put in a lot of effort."
Yao Ye then raised an eyebrow and glanced at him. "What, is Aunt Sun very busy? So busy that you, the shop owner, have to pick her up and drop her off?"
"...She is indeed very busy, skilled, and fast; she is the backbone of Kazama-do." Li Fengjian cleared his throat.
“Okay,” she couldn’t help but laugh, “it sounds like you’re trying to take credit.”
"It's not that I'm trying to take credit, I just want to make a small request of you. I wonder if you can agree to it?" Li Fengjian's eyes were eager to try.
His gaze held a hint of danger, causing Yao Ye to instinctively shrink her shoulders. But then she noticed a bag in Li Fengjian's hand—a bag with a Frozen design.
"Oh, this," Li Fengjian explained, following her gaze, "The pencil case I ordered for Xiaomin arrived, and I also bought a stationery set. I'll tell her to focus on her studies today, and I'll give it to her afterward."
Yao Ye's eyes flickered as she recalled what Hu Xiaojun had said: "He went to great lengths just to win you over."
“Let’s get back to the point,” Li Fengjian tapped the table, relentlessly insisting, as if he had made up his mind to say these words tonight. “I just want to make a small request.”
"Tell me first..." Although she didn't know what he would ask for, she had a vague feeling that she might agree. So, she asked him nervously, "What do you want to ask for?"
Li Fengjian moved even closer, so close that his eyes were filled with her cautious silhouette, "I..."
"Um……"
"I think……"
"Um……"
"I'd like to meet you somewhere outside the Belle Shopping Mall."
"...Oh." That's it? She blinked, a sense of relief mixed with a hint of disappointment.
………………
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