When Su Jianan got home after work, she noticed a cheque on the table. The cheque had been issued by… Mu Sijue?
“What’re you guys planning?” She asked Lu Boyan, picking up the cheque. “Why is Mu Sijue giving you so much money?”
Lu Boyan gave the cheque a glance. “I won it yesterday by placing a bet on Germany.”
“How did you know that Germany would win?” Su Jianan asked, feeling curious. “Shen Yuechuan and the others told me that your bets have inconsistent win rates. Sometimes you win, while other times you lose. That’s why they dare not follow your bets. What are your bets based on, anyway? a.n.a.lysis? Statistics?”
Lu Boyan smiled. “I don’t specialize in that area. How am I supposed to a.n.a.lyze any statistics?”
“Then? How did you decide which bet to place?”
“At random,” Lu Boyan said.
Su Jianan, “…”
She was pretty sure Shen Yuechuan would burst into tears if she ever told him that. The guy had been dying to know Lu Boyan’s betting strategy, but in the end, it turned out that there was no strategy at all; Lu Boyan placed all his bets capriciously…
As she allowed her thoughts to drift, Su Jianan came to a decision; next time, if she were to join them in these bets, she would follow Lu Boyan’s bet to the death! This was not her area of expertise either. But she would put her trust in Lu Boyan’s choice!
Lu Boyan handed the cheque to her, “Here.”
This was actually Su Jianan’s encountering such a huge sum of money. She glanced at Lu Boyan anxiously, “Why are you giving it to me?”
“You can do with it whatever you like,” Lu Boyan said. That amount of money meant nothing to Lu Boyan. “You can treat it as your pocket money or something.”
“…” Su Jianan was speechless. Not even Su Yicheng was that generous with her.
Still, it felt strange to suddenly accept such a huge sum from Lu Boyan. In the end, Su Jianan stashed the cheque away in Lu Boyan’s study. She figured would only use it for emergencies.
Shortly after, she got a call from Luo Xiaoxi, who asked Su Jianan if she would like to join her and Su Yicheng for dinner.
“How many chances will you ever get to have dinner with my brother? Why are you asking me to tag along?” For the life of her, Su Jianan could not comprehend what was going through Luo Xiaoxi’s mind. “Don’t you think you should make full use of this opportunity to enjoy some one-on-one time with my brother?”
“Enjoy my a.s.s!” Came Luo Xiaoxi’s m.u.f.fled tone. Su Jianan had no idea where Luo Xiaoxi was calling her from since Luo Xiaoxi had kept her voice very low. “Look, I feel like Su Yicheng’s been acting strangely today.”
That had piqued Su Jianan’s curiosity. “How so?”
“He brought me home this morning, and then he slept on my bed. But nothing happened, of course! But when he woke up, he acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world!” Luo Xiaoxi was at the verge of losing her mind at this point. “Then this afternoon, he asked me to go to his company to translate some doc.u.ment. And now, he’s treating me to dinner? Look, it’s all so weird. Things like these would never happen in the past! What do you think he’s trying to tell me?”
“He’s not trying to tell you anything,” Su Jianan said flatly.
“…”
All of a sudden, Luo Xiaoxi felt a surge of disappointment in her heart. Su Jianan was the person who knew Su Yicheng best. Plus, she was also Luo Xiaoxi’s best friend. Luo Xiaoxi had been having vague doubts regarding Su Yicheng’s behavior, that was why she had called Su Jianan to confirm a few things.
In the end, Su Jianan had told her that Su Yicheng’s strange behavior meant nothing.
Yeah. She should have known. How would Su Yicheng fall in love with her all of a sudden?
“He’s just making the first move,” Su Jianan added suddenly.
“What?” Luo Xiaoxi thought she had misheard Su Jianan. “You mean… Su Yicheng is making the first move?”
“Mmhm,” Su Jianan said, nodding her head. “I already suspected it two months ago when you encountered that fake cab driver. My brother was at his company at the time. It was impossible for him to pa.s.s by Lu Enterprise Media if he had been on the way home. Even if he was, in fact, pa.s.sing by, he didn’t have any reason to follow your cab at all. It can only mean that he was worried about you.”
Luo Xiaoxi was flummoxed. “And then?”
“Well, he must have felt something for you to worry about you, right?” Su Jianan said. “If some random stranger got into the same cab back then, do you think he would follow it?”
Luo Xiaoxi realized something right then: what Su Jianan just told her made perfect sense!
“So, that’s why I said he’s making the first move. Although I can’t tell whether his behavior was planned or that he just couldn’t help himself, but…” Su Jianan smiled. “Xiaoxi, this is a very good sign.”
“Could it be that I’m thriving in both my career and love life?!” Luo Xiaoxi could no longer keep her excitement at bay.
“I guess congratulations are in order, then,” Su Jianan said. From the bottom of her heart, Su Jianan was happy for Luo Xiaoxi. Happiness favors the sincere; that old saying was not a lie after all.
“Hey, that’s what people have been telling me when I was at your brother’s company this afternoon,” Luo Xiaoxi said, feeling puzzled. “Why, though? Could it be that the employees of Cheng An Group can predict my future?”
“Come on, why else?” Su Jianan said as she began unraveling the mystery. “My brother had brought you to the company on his own terms. So they must have thought that there’s something going on between you two. Well, what can I say? You’ve finally won my brother’s heart. Congratulations.”
Luo Xiaoxi pressed her palm to her lips as she broke into a grin. “Now I only hope that I can give them wedding candies soon! Alright then, I’m hanging up now. I’ve got to go have dinner!”
Su Jianan stared at her phone. Luo Xiaoxi had totally hung up on her. She sighed. “s.e.x before friendship indeed,” she said.
At that moment, Luo Xiaoxi had practically forgotten everything else in life let alone just friendship!
After hanging up, she dashed into the restaurant joyfully. As she pa.s.sed by the bathroom, she suddenly halted her steps. She entered the bathroom and checked herself out in the mirror. Then, she meticulously made a few touch-ups to her makeup.
The service staff was serving the steak when she returned to their table. Luo Xiaoxi picked up her knife and fork and began cutting into her steak. After a while, her eyes began drifting towards Su Yicheng until her eyes were practically glued to him. She ogled him openly. She could stare at him all day without ever getting tired of what she saw.
Su Yicheng had been at the receiving end of her stares before. Still, the way she was smiling today seemed far too strange to him. He set down his knife. “Is there something on my face?”
Luo Xiaoxi flashed a smile. In fact, she might as well be sporting pink, heart-shaped eyes at this point. “There’s only one thing on your face, and it’s called handsomeness!”
“… Luo Xiaoxi.” Su Yicheng frowned. “Did you knock your head on something while you went out just now?”
“… You’re the one who’d banged your head!” In an instant, Luo Xiaoxi recovered from her stupor. She shoved a piece of steak into her mouth angrily. “Thanks for killing the mood you dense, obtuse man. I’m not in the mood to talk to you anymore!”
Just then, she realized something else.
She and Su Yicheng had ended up in precisely this kind of stalemate countless times in the past. He would throw out snide remarks while she would deftly throw out her own reb.u.t.tal. In the end, they would always part ways on bad terms.
They had been bickering with each other for over a decade now, and yet there was not a single time where they shared a nice, civilized conversation with each other.
Even if they did end up together, they would inevitably break-up considering both their personalities.
After that Luo Xiaoxi realized that her view of fate and destiny had been overly simplistic. It was impossible for things to go that smoothly between her and Su Yicheng. “Yeah, right. As if it’s that easy for us to be together,” she thought.
When they were leaving the restaurant after dinner, Luo Xiaoxi suddenly shouted, “Oh, c.r.a.p!”
Su Yicheng halted his steps. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been overeating for two days straight!” Luo Xiaoxi said in an expression of pure terror. “When they take my weight reading on the scale tomorrow, my manager will definitely only allow me to have vegetable soup…”
“It isn’t that far away from your place. I’ll walk you home.”
Luo Xiaoxi glanced down at her heels. “I’ll ruin my legs, and I still have a photo shoot tomorrow…”
Su Yicheng glanced around. After a while, he dragged Luo Xiaoxi into a footwear store and picked out a pair of nude color flats. When the salesperson approached them and asked him for the size, Su Yicheng answered without hesitation, “Size 37, please.”
“Alright, then. Please give me a moment. I’ll bring it out right away.”
Only when the salesperson had left did Luo Xiaoxi realize what Su Yicheng had done. “Su Yicheng, how did you know that I wear size 37 shoes?”
Su Yicheng did not even remember how he knew. All he knew was that Luo Xiaoxi had mentioned it to him at some point. He did not even bother committing it to memory at that time. He had no idea how, but today, the memory just came to him.
“I judged it based on what I saw,” he said casually. He could not bring himself to tell Luo Xiaoxi the truth.
“Tsk, tsk.” Luo Xiaoxi shook her head. “Gee, just how many women’s legs did you check out in the past. You must be super experienced if you’re able to guess my size with just a glance.”
Su Yicheng, “…”
The saleswoman brought out the size 37 flats. When Luo Xiaoxi tried it on, she realized that the shoes looked rather good on her; it was a good match for the dress she wore.
“Your legs are white and beautiful. This design won’t look good on just anyone. But in your case, it does,” the saleswoman smiled. “Miss, your boyfriend certainly has good taste.”
“His taste is exceptionally good, I’ll give him that,” Luo Xiaoxi said as she continued her appraisal of the shoes. “But he isn’t my boyfriend.”
“… Oh, I’m sorry for a.s.suming. It’s just that you two really look good together.” The saleswoman’s smile stiffened, and she quickly changed the subject. “So. What do you think of the shoes? Are they okay?”
“They’re good. I’ll just leave them on, then.” Luo Xiaoxi stood up. “Do you mind packing up the shoes that I was wearing when I came in?”
“Of course. Please head over to the payment counter while I pack up your shoes.”
Luo Xiaoxi was just about to head over to the cashier but Su Yicheng got there before her.
The store had quite a number of customers at that time, and for some reason, there was now a scowl on Su Yicheng’s face, so Luo Xiaoxi did not try to argue with him. She allowed him to pay for the shoes instead. Just then, a girl came up to Luo Xiaoxi and asked, “Sis, is that big brother your boyfriend?”
Luo Xiaoxi shook her head. “Nope.”
The young girl instantly saw hope. “Then do you mind introducing me to him? I like him! My name is Mengmeng!”
Luo Xiaoxi considered the girl’s suggestion seriously. After a while, she shook her head. “Nope. It’s true that he isn’t my boyfriend right now. But he will be my boyfriend one day in the future. That’s why, Little Sister, I suggest you look for another man.”
“Um…”
The girl still had a confused look on her face when Su Yicheng walked towards them after he paid for the shoes. He took the package from the saleswoman and said, “Let’s go.”
Luo Xiaoxi grinned and looped her arm in his. Together, they walked out of the store. “Did you see the girl beside me just now? She asked me to introduce her to you if I’m not your girlfriend.”
Su Yicheng looked at her with interest, “And what did you say?”
“I gave her your number.”
“…”
At Su Yicheng’s lack of reaction, Luo Xiaoxi grew curious. “Aren’t you supposed to get mad? You know, back in high school, when Jianan gave me your number, you even gave her an earful!”
Su Yicheng felt the onset of a headache. “How can you still remember something from so long ago?”
“How can I not remember?!” Luo Xiaoxi shot him a death glare. “Su Yicheng, you’re planning to wait for her call, aren’t you?”
“So what if I am?” Su Yicheng smiled back at her as if without a care. “It’s not like I’m your boyfriend or anything.”
He was right. Absolutely right. He was not her boyfriend.
Luo Xiaoxi knew that she was acting like a petulant child right now. She should act in good taste and give Su Yicheng a generous smile. The problem was that she was unable to suppress the swell of anger she was now feeling in her heart. “Stay the h.e.l.l away from me!” She snarled before she walked away, abandoning Su Yicheng.
“What the h.e.l.l?” She thought. “He’d get p.i.s.sed off when I got his number but act like everything’s all fine and dandy when other girls got his number? What kind of man is he!”
In her anger, Luo Xiaoxi had picked up her pace. Su Yicheng did not bother to keep up with her steps. Instead, he followed closely behind her. As he watched Luo Xiaoxi storming off in anger, the corners of his lips lifted slightly.
Honestly, just how far did she think the payment counter was from where she stood at the couch? The fact was that he had heard every single word of the exchange between Luo Xiaoxi and the girl while he was paying at the counter. Her response to the girl had extinguished the flames of anger that had ignited in his heart when she emphasized to the saleswoman that he was not her boyfriend.
The reason that Luo Xiaoxi had lied to him just now was none other than to p.i.s.s him off.
Then again, he liked it better if she was the one who was angry.