Qingqing yanked Xu Ye into a narrow alley between buildings.
Her face was flushed, her eyes slightly panicked, her expression thoroughly adorable.
“Xu Ye, you can’t do this!”
“Do what? What did I do?”
“If you come to find me, you have to come quietly from now on.”
“I’m not a thief,” Xu Ye said, exasperated. “Why would I sneak around?”
“I don’t care, it just can’t be so — so loud and dramatic. Our campus is small. Half the school saw you come for me just now.”
He shot back immediately. “And if I’m not this obvious about it, what happens when some creep bothers you while I’m not around? You’re way too good-looking to leave unattended.”
He’d been stepping forward as he talked, and before she’d quite noticed it, Qingqing had backed all the way to the wall. He put one hand against the wall beside her and looked down at her. Qingqing, for her part, had gone very still, like a small startled rabbit — she couldn’t quite bring herself to meet his eyes.
“My school doesn’t have creeps. You’re the biggest creep here!”
She pushed at his chest with both hands, but he didn’t move. She could feel his heartbeat under her palms, steady and strong.
Her face went even redder.
Through her peripheral vision she could tell he was still watching her — his jaw working slightly, like something in him was deciding something, like she was prey. Her heart was doing something uncertain, and she said quickly, “Are you hungry? I’ll treat you to dinner.”
“I’m starving.”
“Then—”
“But I don’t want dinner.”
Qingqing blinked up at him. “Then what do you want to eat?”
“You.”
“Xu Ye!”
Watching her face go so red it was almost luminous, he stepped back and laughed. “I was joking! I’ve been running around since this afternoon and my stomach’s been growling for the last hour. You owe me something good.”
Qingqing gave him an aggrieved look, then conceded. “Let me drop this off at the dorm first.”
“Sure~”
“You are not coming inside the women’s dorm. Stay right here and wait for me.”
“I know, I know.”
He watched her hurry off and smiled to himself.
He knew it wasn’t the right moment yet — the wall move just now had only been a test. A way of reading her.
If she’d been angry, it would mean she still thought of him as nothing more than a friend.
If she’d been flustered, it meant she at least didn’t dislike him, and there was somewhere further to go.
If she’d melted entirely and done nothing to stop him — that would mean they’d already arrived somewhere official, the kind of relationship that didn’t need labeling. But that wasn’t particularly realistic given how little time they’d actually spent together. There was a reason people said familiarity bred affection. [TL: 日久生情 — a classical idiom, roughly meaning “feelings develop with time and closeness”]
Flustered it was. That was enough to know.
Qingqing got back to the dorm and opened the door to find all three roommates grinning at her.
She pretended not to notice, set the strawberry bouquet on her desk, and said softly, “Help yourselves to the strawberries. I’m going to dinner.”
“Have fun~”
“Go get him~”
She escaped before they could say anything else. Her roommates were impossibly nosy, and Zhang Ruowei in particular had a habit of holding forth on topics that left Qingqing red-faced for a good fifteen minutes afterward.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Let’s look at the cafeteria.”
Qingqing glanced at him. “You want the cafeteria?”
“Is that a problem?”
She didn’t push it, just led him out of the alley. A half-second before they emerged, she spun around, pointed a finger at him, and said, “No talking out of turn. And no… funny business!”
“Understood.”
They walked toward the cafeteria side by side.
It was peak dinner hour — people streaming in and out of the entrance. Xu Ye had said it before, but art school students really did occupy a different tier on the looks scale. Even the ones who weren’t naturally striking knew how to present themselves — foundation, contouring, even some of the guys. At a glance, the whole cafeteria seemed to be populated with attractive people.
Xu Ye was reasonably confident in his own looks at eighteen, but “completely relaxed” would be overstating it.
He followed Qingqing inside and scanned the room. “Where do you usually eat?”
She pointed at one of the serving windows.
“Then let’s do that.”
He walked up to the counter. She followed.
He picked braised pork with potatoes, sautéed baby greens, and tomato and egg. He’d just picked up the tray to go when the cafeteria auntie behind the counter called out, “Hey, student — you haven’t paid yet.”
Xu Ye smiled. “My girlfriend’s got it.”
The auntie glanced at Qingqing, then held up another tray. “What would you like, dear?”
Qingqing crinkled her nose slightly. “Same as him.”
“Same as your boyfriend, then.” She started spooning out an identical set of dishes without missing a beat.
Qingqing paid, carried her tray to the table, and sat down across from Xu Ye. She looked at him for a long moment. He deliberately kept his eyes down, focus on his food, pretending not to notice. Eventually she gave up and started eating too.
Halfway through the meal, as if on cue, Jiang Meilin sent Xu Ye a message. She wanted to know what Qingqing was up to — but she’d long since learned that asking Qingqing directly got her nowhere. Xu Ye had become her one reliable source of intelligence on her own daughter.
Ever since the semester started, Jiang Meilin had sent more messages to Xu Ye than to Chen Qingqing.
Xu Ye opened his phone.
Jiang Meilin: Xiao Xu, have you eaten yet?
He thought for a moment, and while Qingqing wasn’t watching, he turned slightly and snapped a photo of the two of them at the table. He sent it over, then typed: Eating right now.
Jiang Meilin opened the picture and zoomed in. Sharp as ever, she immediately noticed that both trays had the exact same dishes on them.
Jiang Meilin: Are you at Qingqing’s school right now?
Xu Ye: Yeah, I came over this afternoon.
She homed in on the key detail instantly. Xu Ye: Your school’s pretty far away, isn’t it? What about tonight?
Xu Ye: I’ll find a hotel nearby.
Jiang Meilin read that, sat with it for a moment, and sent him a five-hundred-yuan red packet. [TL: 红包 — a WeChat cash transfer formatted as a digital “red envelope,” the modern version of the traditional gift-giving tradition]
Xu Ye: Auntie, this is—
Jiang Meilin: Get somewhere decent. And when you two are out, don’t let Qingqing stay out too late.
Xu Ye understood exactly what she was telling him.
He replied: Understood, Auntie. I know what you mean.
Jiang Meilin: Good. Finish your dinner. I’ll check in with you again tonight.
Xu Ye: Okay.
Qingqing, seeing him put his phone away, asked, “Who were you talking to?”
“My mom.”
“Your mom?”
“Yeah.”
She muttered under her breath, just barely loud enough to hear: “Since when does someone look that happy talking to their own mom?”
Xu Ye just grinned. “Hehe.”
(End of Chapter)