What!
What did she mean, it’s my birthday today, so I get to play with her foot?
What kind of person do you take me for?
Christ, what’s the matter with my hand, why has it stopped doing what it’s told?
Damn it.
This isn’t my fault.
My hand moved on its own!
Nothing to do with me!
Chen Qingqing’s feet really were very well looked after. The ankles were slender and soft, the arches elegantly and finely curved, the skin fair with pink showing through — altogether extremely inviting.
While Xu Ye’s hands stroked back and forth beyond his control, Chen Qingqing’s own small hands had long since closed into fists. She kept her head down, her lips pressed lightly together, holding out against the ticklishness coming up from her foot.
There was no telling how long it went on.
Chen Qingqing’s cheeks were burning. “Is… is that enough?”
Xu Ye gave a very reluctant “Mm.”
Only then did Chen Qingqing draw her foot back. She was just about to put her sock on when Xu Ye was up and over in an instant. He snatched the sock away and sat down in front of her, all attentiveness, to put it on for her.
On an ordinary day Chen Qingqing would certainly not have given in so obediently.
But thinking that it was this big rotten thing’s birthday, she didn’t resist, and let her foot rest on his knee without protest while he got the sock onto it.
Once the shoe and sock were back on, a message came through from Zhang Ruowei and the others at exactly the right moment.
The two of them got up and headed for the Times Square parking garage. As they passed a public restroom, Chen Qingqing said quickly, “There’s a restroom right there. Go wash your hands.”
“Wash my hands for what?”
Chen Qingqing said, in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s, “You just had your hands on my foot. It’s dirty.”
“It isn’t dirty. It smells nice.”
Chen Qingqing raised a small fist and hit him once on the back, then switched to a commanding tone. “Go!”
Five minutes later the two groups met up in the parking garage.
Zhang Ruowei, Shen Xinyi and Jiang Yu had all bought some clothes. Seeing Chen Qingqing coming over, Shen Xinyi went straight up to her. “Qingqing, listen — that shop upstairs has a promotion on, half price on everything. I got two jackets for three hundred yuan.”
“What kind did you get?”
“I’ll show you when we get back to the dorm.”
“Okay.”
Xu Ye waved everyone into the car, and on the way back he remembered the Youwei Taobao store and raised it. “While you’re all here — do me a favor, would you?”
“What favor?”
“You know I told you before about a boss I know who’s changed trades and gone into Taobao? Her store’s live now. It’s called Youwei. In a bit I want each of you to place one order for me and send me the order details. I’ll put a red packet in the group. And when the delivery comes, all of you leave a good review.”
“Padding reviews?”
“That’s right.”
Zhang Ruowei, phone in hand, frowned. “What did you say the store was called again?”
“Youwei. The you of ‘entice,’ and the wei you get by putting a grass radical on top of the wei in ‘smile.'” [TL: spelling out a name by naming a common word each character appears in is standard practice in Chinese, where many characters share a sound.]
Zhang Ruowei typed the name into the Taobao search box and hit search. Zhitongche was already running, so a long list of links from the store came up right away.
Shen Xinyi, Jiang Yu and Chen Qingqing all crowded in beside her, and one look was enough…
“Xu Ye, you sick pervert.”
“Menace.”
“Scum.”
“Hang on.” Xu Ye was exasperated. “What have I ever done to any of you? I ask you to pad a review and you swear at me?”
Zhang Ruowei folded her arms across her chest and gave a hmph. “Only you could come up with a business this indecent.”
“If it makes money that’s all that matters. Who cares whether it’s decent.”
Jiang Yu said it with perfect righteousness. “Well, I’m not buying. Think how awkward it’ll be picking the package up.”
“What’s awkward about it? It comes packaged, doesn’t it — something like this is obviously shipped discreetly.” Xu Ye explained. “Order whatever you like, then. I’m paying either way. Send me the order numbers afterward and I’ll have the boss send you a few empty packages. That works, doesn’t it?”
Zhang Ruowei leaned in at once. “You’re paying for all of it, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then I don’t want an empty package. It isn’t costing me anything anyway.”
Xu Ye laughed. “Exactly. It’s all free to you. And some of it is actually wearable — the JK schoolgirl set, for instance.”
“Wearable, is it. The skirt’s shorter than the underwear.”
“Nobody’s telling you to wear it outdoors. You can wear it on your own, or when you’re with your boyfriend.”
Shen Xinyi took Chen Qingqing’s arm. “Qingqing, do something about him.”
Chen Qingqing shook her head, her face perfectly composed. “Don’t talk to me. I don’t know him at the moment.”
“Hahahaha~”
…
The weekend.
After lunch, Xu Ye drove back to school.
The two days had gone by in a blink, proving the old saying — happy times are always short — and even Xu Ye felt he hadn’t had enough of it.
Only Yang Fei was in the dorm. Li Tongwen was minding the fruit shop, and Zhang Xinzhou, like Xu Ye, had gone to see Yan Qing on Friday evening and still wasn’t back.
Xu Ye didn’t ask any more about it. He hung the new clothes from his backpack in the closet, then threw the dirty ones he had changed out of on Friday night into the bucket and left them to soak with detergent.
“Xu Ye, something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
“The campus singing competition final is tonight. Li Lulu’s already invited you and me in advance — a group dinner on Thursday, to celebrate the competition being a complete success.”
Xu Ye turned it down flat. “I handed the sponsorship to you. You’re the one who’s been dealing with them all along. What would I go for? Just go in my place.”
“Come on. Lulu asked me specially to bring you. She said you’re their biggest sponsor this time, and if you come it’ll make her look good.”
“Lulu? Ha. Listen to you, nice and cozy.”
“That’s settled, then. Thursday evening. I’ll come get you.”
“We’ll see.”
“Don’t ‘we’ll see’ me. They’re all student union people. If you don’t come I’ll be on my own, and I’m a bit nervous about it.”
Xu Ye waved a hand impatiently. “Fine, fine. If I’m free Thursday I’ll go.”
“Great. I’ll message her back now.”
Seeing Yang Fei get his phone out and start chatting with Li Lulu, Xu Ye picked up his own and sent Chen Qingqing a message.
Xu Ye: “I’m back at school.”
Chen Qingqing: “I know.”
Xu Ye: “Did you miss me?”
Chen Qingqing: “…”
Chen Qingqing: “We were together an hour ago.”
Xu Ye: “I don’t miss this lousy university one bit. I’ve only been back a little while and I already miss you a bit.”
Chen Qingqing: “I don’t believe you.”
Xu Ye: “It’s true.”
Chen Qingqing: “How much, then?”
Xu Ye: “My head is full of you.”
Chen Qingqing: “Tch~”
Xu Ye: “I hope we can see each other tonight.”
Chen Qingqing: “Tonight?”
Xu Ye: “In a dream.”
Xu Ye: “A dream with just the two of us in it.”
Chen Qingqing: “You’re not allowed to bully me in the dream.”
Xu Ye: “As if I would.”
Xu Ye: “In the dream I’m going to bully you. Really badly.”
(End of Chapter 227)