h.e.l.lo everyone! Sorry guys, I made an error with the posting and posted the wrong chapter. This chapter was supposed to be posted on Wednesday instead of Sunday. So instead, you have a double chapter release today, to make up for the wrong upload. I really do apologise about that! >.
Also, we currently have a new Meraki-wide event, the ! If you manage to get some sentences about Perfect Fiancé right, we have up to two chapters unlocked. So why not partic.i.p.ate? Just make sure not to give TOO many hints to others, yeah? ?
Join for Perfect Fiancé to discuss more awesome updates or other novels too~ Alrighty, let’s get on with Chapter 9!
Chapter 9: Heart-pounding ExcitementMekongina fish, grilled sweet and spicy. Mmmm….As the examination dates loomed closer, although Su Jin was confident that she would pa.s.s, she still needed to focus seriously. So, this hot-out-of-the-oven suitor of hers, Lu Xi, could only abandon the rest of his plans and send her back to school. He also promised not to bother her until the end of the exam period.
In general, the end of term examinations began on the 20th of June, however, the medical faculty"s final test was set for the 30th- the last day of June. Naturally, the students did not have tests on all of the ten days. All of the university"s examinations were arranged to be held within this time frame, therefore when it was doled out to every faculty, the allocation would be dispersed evenly throughout those ten days. The various faculty papers were s.p.a.ced out, giving some breathing s.p.a.ce and time for students to do their last-minute reviewing.
Time moved forward steadily until it was the 30th of June.
Su Jin, along with her roommates Zhou Qian and w.a.n.g Zhe, walked out of the building. Just as she stretched, she was suddenly prodded on her back. Looking at w.a.n.g Zhe, who had been the one to prod her, with a slightly baffled expression, she noticed that the other was twirling her finger to indicate that Su Jin should turn around and look towards something by her side further away. w.a.n.g Zhe even winked at her.
Surprised, Su Jin glanced past her shoulders.
Under the blooming magnolia tree, a man dressed in a white dress shirt entered her vision.
Someone once said a white dress shirt was the standard to ascertain an Adonis.
Beneath the wide expanse of powdery white magnolia flowers, a startled Su Jin reckoned that no one was likely to ever look any better in a white dress shirt besides him.
Noticing her gaze upon him, the corners of that person"s mouth turned upwards and in his peach blossom eyes, there was a trace of warmth.
Her gaze lowered and Su Jin noticed that he had one hand in a pocket of his dress pants and the other one by his side.
Thank goodness they were empty and it was unlike the time when he arrived at her villa’s door, bearing a bouquet of roses. With just this face of his, it was enough to attract people around him, not to mention the reaction if he had also brought along a bouquet of flowers.
Lightly heaving a sigh of relief, yet Su Jin"s heart felt a flash of melancholy that was unbeknownst to her.
Bidding farewell to her two roommates and having them leave first, Su Jin walked towards Lu Xi.
"Why did you come here?" leaning her head to a side, she asked with a faint smile.
Due to the examinations, the girl"s outfit was extremely modest; it was just a deep blue batwing sleeved top combined with knee-length light blue jean shorts. However, on her feet, she had worn a pair of about four to five centimeter wedged sandals so the top of her head just about reached the height at his jaw.
As for her face, Su Jin hardly ever applied makeup. This face of hers, even if it was bare in broad daylight, it was still extremely outstanding. After putting on makeup… Kindly please refer to that night of the graduation party.
Therefore, in the afternoon sunlight that shone through the leaves of the magnolia tree, one could almost clearly see the fine hair on the girl"s face.
With her previously guarded precaution stripped, and her inability to immediately hide behind it, that pair of glistening eyes had turned pure and gentle.
Unable to resist, Lu Xi caressed the crown of her head.
"Naturally, as a suitor, I am here to ask you out for a dinner and movie date."
Dinner and a movie…
Su Jin rubbed her forehead, what an outdated cliché.
Still… Rolling her eyes, she arched a brow and replied, "what if I refused?"
"Refuse?" Lu Xi seemed to not have predicted this reply of hers and shook his head in shock. He sighed and added in a low voice, "then, the aromatic spicy Mekongina fish that I especially ordered at the seafood bar, that specialises in charcoal-grilled fish, will go to waste."
Mekongina fish, aromatic and spicy flavoured.
As expected, Su Jin swallowed back down her saliva.
"The Mekongina fish meat is tender and deliciously fresh, and also it does not have any tiny bones. It is an excellent fish that is made for grilling." Glancing at the girl beside him, Lu Xi lightly smirked, "Jin"er, are you really sure that you aren"t willing to try it?"
Su Jin clenched her teeth furiously. The smile upon his face was just like a wolf using a carrot-and-stick method to bait a rabbit. Yet, she still… could not refuse it.
She wasn"t a foodie, it was just that she had no resistance to the food that she loved, especially when the person who invited her was someone she was extremely familiar with.
"Alright." Looking upwards, she nodded at him, "since you are so sincere, I will agree."
Lu Xi could not help but burst into laughter and raised his hand into an inviting posture.
"Jie!" As the two people were preparing to leave, from behind them a girl"s voice resounded.
As she turned back to look, Su Jin smiled. As expected, it was Lin Xiyue.
"Were you having your exams here too?" Su Jin asked as she looked at the girl dressed in a white skirt who had walked a few steps forward towards her.
"Yep." Lin Xiyue nodded and looked at the man standing beside her. Her eyes flashed with a wisp of mocking laughter, "Jiejie"s husband is here to pick Jiejie up, right?"
"Xiyue!" Furrowing her brows, Su Jin lowly exclaimed.
"Alright, alright." Lin Xiyue shrugged and changed the way she addressed him, "Mr. Lu, did you come to find Jiejie?"
Feeling it was a slight pity that the "husband" t.i.tle was so fiercely shot down, Lu Xi looked towards her and nodded.
Noticing that Lu Xi also did not have any intention of talking to her, Lin Xiyue did not mind anyway. After all, after living as neighbours for so long, the outstandingly astute her had already accurately understood what kind of person this brother-in-law was. He appeared gentle, harmless, courteous and modest, however, in reality, he was actually rather indifferent. Presenting himself like this today, it was only because of Su Jin"s presence.
"It seems like this third wheel has troubled someone," shaking her head, she exclaimed, "alright then, I’ll be going home then."
"Wait." Su Jin called out towards the person who had already turned around to leave, "please help me by telling mom that I won"t be coming home for dinner, alright?"
After hearing what she said, Lin Xiyue made an okay sign as she turned to leave. Then suddenly, she seemed to have thought of something and hinted with a sentence towards him, "Mr. Lu, on the 5th of July it"s Jiejie"s birthday, you know. Don"t forget." Afterward, she once more turned to leave.
Raising an eyebrow, Lu Xi asked, "birthday?"
Su Jin nodded, the 5th of July was Su Jin"s birthday. As for her, as an orphan, to even talk about birthdays was already too much of a luxury.
"You just have to wait for an invite," Su Jin looked at the man who suddenly seemed thoughtful and chuckled, "this is the first birthday since Xiyue came back- Dad and Mom will definitely arrange an extravagant one. Also, they will take the chance to introduce Xiyue to everyone too."
As they continued to speak, the two people eventually reached the school gates.
Taking his keys out of his pants" pocket, the black Porsche that was parked by the entrance let out two beeps. Walking forward a few steps, he opened the door of the front pa.s.senger seat then held it for her with an inviting gesture.
When she looked towards the seat, in an instant, she was surprised.
On the car seat, what she saw was a bouquet of lovely, beautiful and fresh red roses.
Her lips curled and as she entered the car, she picked up the flowers in her arms.
"Why red roses?" Looking at the flowers in her arms, Su Jin then looked at the man in the driver"s seat.
Twice now, he had gifted her flowers and both times they were red roses.
"That"s because red roses resemble you the most." As he started the engine, Lu Xi smoothly answered.
Su Jin lightly nodded.
This was true because her appearance, this sort of resplendently stunning beauty, could only be most suited to red roses.
Quickly peering a glance at her, Lu Xi"s eyes suffused with a warmth of gentle merriment.
His young woman was most like red roses.
Even if she seemed flamboyantly wilful or mercilessly apathetic, underneath all that self-protective armor, she was much more tender-hearted than any other.
However… His gaze dimmed, this heart of hers was hidden within a body of thorns that was even more harder to reach than anyone else.
The charcoal-grilled fish bar was an extremely renowned grilled fish shop in Shenhai.
Coincidentally, since it was dinner time Su Jin and Lu Xi, the duo of a beautiful woman and a handsome man, obviously attracted many people"s attention towards them. However, the two were soon quickly brought to a reserved room.
Due to his occupation and appearance, Lu Xi was already used to choosing a private room whenever he went out to eat. As for Su Jin, her pair of eyes had long been enticed by the fish that just been placed on the table.
Combining the tender white fish meat with the brilliant red spicy soup, the aromas intertwined as they wafted out, striking onto every taste bud.
Su Jin ate happily, her beautiful phoenix eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with bright joy as her lips became increasingly rosy.
Lu Xi"s eyes darkened and silently, he used the serving chopsticks to pick a piece of potato that was under the fish to place onto the plate before her.
Looking at the potato that was on her plate, Su Jin graced Lu Xi with a smile as she glanced at him.
After a delightful meal, Ms. Su was brought by Mr. Lu to a five-storey cinema.
Looking at the movie tickets that Lu Xi collected from the ticket collection machine, Su Jin was at first surprised but soon could not resist laughing.
"Heart-pounding Excitement"
She had no idea that he would actually bring her to watch this film.
Of course, it wasn"t that this film was not good enough.
"Heart-pounding Excitement" was filmed in Los Angeles, California. The distributor was China"s biggest broadcasting company, Cheng Ming Productions" American division. It was a two-dimensional film and not the currently trendy three-dimensional films. However, since a half a month ago, it began airing worldwide, topping a few other major films and had steadily occupied first place in the box office in both China and the United States.
This was not even the main point.
Most importantly… While Su Jin sat in the movie theater as she held the must-have item when watching movies- popcorn- and looked at the credits appearing on the movie screen, she could not help but turn her head to look at the man sitting beside her.
"Heart-pounding Excitement"
Script written by: Lu Xi, Directed by: Lu Xi.
Sensing the girl"s gaze upon him, Lu Xi turned and raised an eyebrow at her. An expression of earnest inquiry was upon his face.
Blinking, Su Jin"s gaze turned back towards the film.
As for this film that had a high rating of 9.7 on Douban (a social networking website in China), she had yet to watch it and therefore, was full of antic.i.p.ation.
One and a half hours swiftly pa.s.sed.
Carrying the half-eaten popcorn in her arms, as Su Jin walked out, there was still a smile on her lips.
"How was it?" Lu Xi lowered his head slightly, asking in a low voice as he looked at the smile upon the girl"s lips.
When she became clear-headed, Su Jin looked towards the man beside her. Although a smile was upon his distinct, handsome face, his usually calm and composed peach blossom eyes reveal a hint of nervousness.
Was he bothered about her evaluation then?
A smile curved from her lips and a bright effervescence filled Su Jin"s inky eyes.
"It"s wonderful!"
It was not a cursory comment but the movie was actually extremely remarkable. The movie plot structure was extremely simple. It was merely about a love story between a pair of children who were innocent playmates that turned into a couple who were childhood sweethearts. It was unlike other adolescence movies that definitely had premature pregnancies or abortions. There wasn"t any illnesses or a third party like in emotionally dramatic films either. It was simply a film that talked about love, however, to mention that it was merely a love story seemed unsuitable. After all, the entire film"s most intimate scene was just a hug; to be accurate, it was one of those bear hugs.
In fact, the more straightforward a movie was, the more it tested a director"s skills. In this film, every frame was genuinely artistic. In the new generation of directors, it could be said that Lu Xi"s grasp of composition and lighting was unparalleled.
Thinking for a bit, Su Jin added on, "the script was great and the filming even better." She grinned, "apart from the premiere night of your film, as the renowned low-profile director, you did not engage in promotional activities, otherwise, I"m afraid your popularity would be comparable to that of an list celebrity."
"What use do I have for popularity?" After listening to Su Jin"s teasing remark, Lu Xi shook his head as he smiled. He continued to query, "what do you feel about it?"
"Feel?" Blinking, Su Jin recalled what she saw for the past ninety minutes and her vermillion lips lightly parted and she uttered a four-word phrase(1).
(1) (pēng rán xīn dòng) 怦然心动 – It means to feel a rush of excitement, this is a Chinese idiom that reflects a person feeling antic.i.p.ation towards something, however, four-word phrases that are common in Chinese are not easily rephrased well into four words in English.
"Heart-pounding excitement."
The entire film was steeped in vibes of pure and innocent love just like the heart-pounding excitement during your first love. Even if she was truly an older leftover woman, her heart could not resist being moved by the sweetness of the film.
Heart-pounding excitement…
The curl at the edge of his lips deepened and Lu Xi"s alluring peach blossom eyes were lit with vibrant colour.
For his young lady to understand these four words from the film- at least it was not painstaking labor done in vain.
Translated by irisu-san
Edited by Ely, Minodayz