“Mmf—”

Chen Qingqing couldn’t stand any more of it and clapped a hand over his mouth. She pointed at him with the other one and said, doing her best approximation of fierce, “One more word out of you and I’m going back to the dorm.”

Xu Ye tried to answer, but with his mouth covered nothing came out, so he only blinked obediently.

Only then did she let go — and then, deciding his mouth was disgusting, wiped her hand twice on him.

Xu Ye polished off breakfast and lunch in one go, and quickly.

Once he had finished, Chen Qingqing lost her appetite too. But she still had rice left in her bowl, and she had scooped half of it into his before she even started. When she moved to put the lid back on, he stopped her. “What are you doing? You haven’t finished.”

“I’m full.”

“You’ve barely eaten anything. How can you be full?”

“I really am full.”

Xu Ye sat back down, took the box out of her hands, scooped up a spoonful and held it to her mouth. “Open~”

“I really can’t eat any more.” Chen Qingqing pouted, a note of wheedling in her voice.

“Be good~”

She couldn’t win against him. She opened her mouth and took the rice off the spoon, and he scooped up some of the dish and held that out too.

By now she was rather embarrassed.

She reached for the spoon. “I’ll do it myself.”

“No. I’m feeding you.”

“I’m not a child. Why do you have to feed me?”

Xu Ye grinned. “When you’re old I’ll feed you like this too. Come on, open wide…”

“You’ll get old faster than I will.”

“Ha. Who knows what happens later. One more mouthful.”

“I really can’t.”

“Three more and that’s it.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“You said so.”

“Mm.”

He coaxed three last mouthfuls into her, threw the takeout boxes into the bin out in the corridor, and then the two of them waited another half hour in the hotel.

It was almost one before they left the room to go down and collect Zhang Ruowei and the others from the school.

In the elevator Xu Ye teased her deliberately. “There’s nobody in here. Can I kiss you?”

“Shameless.”

“All right, not on the face, then. On the mouth is fine.”

He put his mouth forward as he said it, and Chen Qingqing retreated into the corner, blocking him with her bag. “Dumb pig. There’s a camera in here.”

“So what, let them watch. What’s wrong with a couple kissing?”

“Get away from me.”

“Fine.” He gave up quickly enough, and once she had lowered the bag he said, smiling, “In that case you’d better mind your mouth this afternoon.”

“Why?”

Xu Ye said cheekily, “Because I could kiss you at any moment.”

“Hmph.”

Chen Qingqing turned her head away and said haughtily, “Don’t even think about it.”

…

Chen Qingqing had messaged her roommates from the car, so by the time Xu Ye pulled up at the dormitory the three of them were already waiting outside.

The moment the car stopped they got into the back.

“We’re in, driver. You can go.”

“The three of you have done your makeup very nicely today.”

“Of course!” Zhang Ruowei laughed. “The weather’s this good, so there are bound to be plenty of good-looking men about. How am I supposed to go and chat one up without doing my makeup properly?”

Xu Ye laughed. “Fine. If you see one you like the look of later, tell me and I’ll go and get his WeChat for you.”

“Deal.”

Shen Xinyi was a quiet girl, but she had spent long enough in that dorm for her character to open up, and she asked, curious, “Xu Ye, don’t you have a fruit shop and a company at your school? You come here every weekend — what happens to them?”

“It’s all arranged. They stay at school and do the work and I’m a hands-off boss.”

“That’s an easy life.”

Xu Ye signalled and changed lanes, and once the car had stopped at the crossroads he said, “At university you either study properly or you enjoy yourself properly. Four easy years at university, forty hard years after. Four hard years at university, and that’s forty-four hard years in total.”

Zhang Ruowei covered her mouth, laughing. “Hahahaha. There’s actually something in that.”

Jiang Yu asked suddenly, “Have any of you thought about what you’ll do after you graduate?”

“Haven’t a clue,” said Zhang Ruowei.

Shen Xinyi shook her head too. “I’ve never thought about it either.”

“Qingqing, what about you?”

Chen Qingqing was about to answer when Xu Ye turned his head and got in first. “I’ve got it all worked out. We’ll both be twenty-two when we graduate, so we go straight off and register the marriage, and aim to have a child inside a year. Then I’m out earning while she and my mom and her mom look after the baby at home. And whenever I’ve got time, we hand the child to the grandparents and the two of us go off traveling and have a world to ourselves.”

Chen Qingqing’s face went scarlet on the spot.

What marriage.

What child.

What world to ourselves.

What on earth are you talking about!

She rushed to correct it. “He’s talking crap. Don’t listen to a word of it.”

Then she reached over and pinched his arm hard, several times, saying furiously as she did, “That’ll teach you to say things like that. That’ll teach you. Now be quiet.”

But to the three watching from the back seat, this amounted to nothing other than — flirting. And. Squabbling.

Zhang Ruowei, Shen Xinyi and Jiang Yu looked at one another and each gave a small smile. Nothing more needed to be said.

Seeing that she had gone red to the ears, Xu Ye didn’t dare say anything else. He drove to the mall, bought camping snacks and drinks, food for the barbecue and some outdoor gear, and then went straight to the Binjiang Green Space.

March, and the weather warm and mild — there were a fair number of people out.

Xu Ye spread the blanket he’d bought at the mall across the grass and tipped all the snacks and drinks onto it. The five of them sat round in a circle, talking and eating, and all found it extremely pleasant.

Once Chen Qingqing and her roommates got onto subjects that belonged to the four of them, Xu Ye stopped joining in. He took out a potato chip and held it up to her mouth, and she was enjoying the conversation so much that she ate it without thinking. At that he lay straight down and put his head on her thigh, the same as yesterday afternoon.

Chen Qingqing was still listening to Jiang Yu talk about her high school days and thought nothing of it. By the time she caught up with herself, all three roommates had already seen, so she simply carried on as though nothing had happened.

Zhang Ruowei stood up at that. “I’m going to the bathroom. Who’s coming with me?”

Jiang Yu was up quickly. “I think the bathrooms are over there. I’ll come.”

Shen Xinyi was half a beat behind.

It took a look from Zhang Ruowei before she said, “I’ll go too, then.”

The three of them left, and Chen Qingqing was rather puzzled. They had been talking perfectly happily — why had all three suddenly gone?

Seeing her look confused, Xu Ye said, smiling, “What are you looking at? They did it on purpose.”

“Did what on purpose?”

“Left the two of us alone on purpose.”

“Get off me.”

“No.”

Chen Qingqing took his face between both hands and kneaded it about. “Do you know what you are? You’re a rogue.”

Xu Ye raised a hand and pointed at the sky, laughing. “Look at that white cloud. Doesn’t it look like a heart?”

Chen Qingqing lifted her head and followed his finger, and then said, confused, “There aren’t any clouds.”

Xu Ye saw his chance. He sat straight up, hooked a finger under her chin and bent down and kissed her.

By the time she had caught up, he was already laughing. “Ha. You’re far too easy to trick.”

“Xu Ye! You’re finished!”

He got up and took off at a run.

Chen Qingqing was on her feet immediately and after him, calling as she went, “You stand right there~”

In the distance:

Zhang Ruowei watched the two of them chasing each other across the grass and said, thoroughly satisfied, “Doesn’t this feel to you two like watching a Korean drama?”

“Those two are sweeter than the leads in a Korean drama.”

“It really is lovely.”

“When are we going back over?”

“No hurry. Let them have a bit longer.”

(End of Chapter 215)