Chapter 13: I Like You

Seeing Xu Xu coming over from far away, Song Yuanyuan calmly glanced at her left hand.

A ring rested firmly on her middle finger, inlaid with small diamonds. Lowkey and exquisite.

She held her heart, exaggeratedly pointing at Xu Xu. “The little cabbage that I’ve raised for so many years, I didn’t check on you for a few days and you’ve already been dug up by a pig?”

Xu Xu was silent for a moment, then corrected her, “It’s the pig I dug up.”

“…You’ve only been married a few days and your elbows have already turned out toward the wild man. Mom is truly hurt.”

Xu Xu ignored her, holding her collar as she sat down.

Song Yuanyuan called a waiter over and ordered a cup of iced coffee for her. Turning around and seeing her do that, she mischievously laughed. “Don’t hold it anymore, I already saw when you walked in. In such a conspicuous place, that one in your family is quite wild?”

Xu Xu’s ears reddened. She used black forest cake to block her mouth.

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“I haven’t told them yet.”

“Ah? Then your new husband still doesn’t know about your family?”

Speaking of Lu Teng, Xu Xu hesitated. “He probably knows…”

That day, they cuddled up on the couch watching the evening news after dinner. When that man’s familiar face appeared on the finance and economics channel, Xu Xu stiffened. She hadn’t seen him for six months, the person beside him had changed to yet another model, tall with long legs. Not her mother.

Her imagination ran wild for a bit. Lu Teng suddenly reached out and changed the channel.

The fuzzy ambiguous sneakshot on the LED screen became a sweet ancient idol drama. 

Xu Xu was still confused, she asked him, “What’s wrong?”

Lu Teng patted her hair, his tone was lazy as he said, “That man is too ugly, I don’t want to look at him.”

At the time, she didn’t feel anything, but thinking back on it afterwards, it was a little strange.

Furthermore, since they began dating, Xu Xu had never mentioned her family and Lu Teng didn’t seem to have the intention to visit his in-laws either.

Inexplicably, Xu Xu just felt like he knew.

……

This afternoon, Song Yuanyuan swept through the entire Ginza shopping mall with the thought of making the most out of being able to meet up with a married woman.

When they finished, she laid on a sofa in the mall, both tired and satisfied. “Feels so good!”

So they say, spending money is a woman’s joy. Swiping away her salary for the last two months really did feel wonderful and refreshing.

She turned around and was just about to say something when she glimpsed Xu Xu leaning against the back of the sofa with her head lowered, focused on texting.

The smile at the corner of her lips didn’t have to be so obvious.

Song Yuanyuan thoroughly felt what it meant to be in one place with your heart elsewhere. Oh, grief and lament. Their little fairy who didn’t touch the mortal world has been completely seduced, just who is this evildoer!

……

It was getting late and Song Yuanyuan had a meeting with a client over dinner later, so hearing that Lu Teng was coming soon, she called a taxi and left first.

As she was waiting for the car from across the street, she glanced back inadvertently. Her little cabbage carrying numerous shopping bags walked along the side of the road towards a Grand Cherokee.

The person in the car should’ve seen her too. He lowered the window and a man’s arm reached out. At first sight, his skin was rather light and he was wearing a silver watch on his wrist, but it was too far to see the brand.

Xu Xu approached the window and said a few words, then the man’s hand lifted, twirled the ends of her hair, and very tenderly rubbed the back of her head.

Xu Xu weakly patted his hand away, went around the front, and got in the passenger seat.

The car window rose again and exited this road with the flow of traffic.

……

The two of them were going to eat outside, but Xu Xu suddenly remembered the newly bought dishwasher at home, so they decided to make do with what they had.

Thus, the two made their way to the supermarket.

Xu Xu was absorbed in picking vegetables in front while Lu Teng pushed the shopping cart, slowly following behind her.

She was in a hurry when she went out this morning, and just wore a chiffon blouse with a Peter Pan collar with a pastel long skirt. Just like her as a person: clean and bright.

Lu Teng slightly lowered his eyes, thinking of that woman from this afternoon who was not quite a stranger with harshness and viciousness between her brows. She was even more irksome with a face that was similar to Xu Xu’s.

The woman arrogantly pushed the door and entered. Seeing Lu Teng, she was obviously taken aback, then frowned as she looked around inside. At a glance, she saw Xu Xu’s photos displayed in the living room.

Xu Xu was smiling brightly, a sight that she hadn’t seen in many years.

She made her way inside with ease and sat down directly on the sofa.

“I am Xu Xu’s mother.”

Lu Teng was calm. He poured two cups of tea and sat down opposite her. “I know, is something the matter that you’re looking for her?”

“She avoided me for half a year, so it turns out she found a boyfriend.” A pair of cold eyes sized him up and down for two seconds. “How long have you been together?”

Lu Teng said honestly, “Two months.”

The woman lifted her brow. “She really has become anxious from the pressure.”

……

Lu Teng withdrew from his memories. Xu Xu was standing in the seafood section, waving at him. “Do you eat crab?”

Lu Teng pushed the cart over and glanced at the creatures baring their teeth and brandishing their claws behind the fiberglass. “You know how to cook them?”

“I’ve made it once. I got caught by its pincer and bled a little.”

Xu Xu recalled the matter that wasn’t too long ago and laughed, “At that time, I was only in my second year of high school and I read online that you can get a strange illness from getting injured by a crab. It scared me so much that I cried for two days.”

Lu Teng lowered his eyes. Looking at her beautiful slender fingers, he couldn’t imagine why a fourteen year old little girl had to make crabs on her own.

He smiled and rubbed Xu Xu’s head, taking her toward the groceries section. “Then forget it, I can’t watch you cry.”

Xu Xu subconsciously retorted, “Then last night you still…”

Halfway, she stiffly changed the topic. “What kind of meat do you want to eat?”

Her voice was small and Lu Teng couldn’t hear clearly at first. He reacted five seconds later, raising his eyebrows. “What about last night?”

Xu Xu’s ears reddened again. She walked in front with the cart and kept going, putting vegetables next to her into the cart.

Lu Teng licked his lips, smiling as he followed behind her.

He seemed to have misunderstood something this whole time?

……

After picking vegetables, Xu Xu took a look in the snacks section, then picked up a few cans of dog food for the little Samoyed at home along the way.

Under the excuse that there was no room for a third dog between a newly wed couple, Lu Teng had stuffed the Samoyed to Lu Shan Chuan for these past few days with an expression of disdain. “You can raise it, no need to give it back.”

Lu Shan Chuan: “…” You’re really quite unrestrained after your disguise met its demise.

She crouched in front of the dog food shelf with three bags of different brands in her hands, a little lost.

She had only had a cat before when she was little. She honestly didn’t know much about dog food.

Just as she was about to pull her phone out and search on Baidu, Lu Teng bent over and pulled a bag out. “The pup likes to eat this brand.”

Then he took two other flavors off the shelf and tsked. “It eats more and more each month.”

Xu Xu crouched on the side, raising her head to watch him. Lu Teng’s face under the light was dripping with tenderness yet his lips were still feigning disdain as he made fun of how his dog son had been spoiled by Lu Shan Chuan.

Really like him so much ah.

Xu Xu raised her head to look at him for two seconds, then suddenly pinched and shook the hem of his shirt.

Lu Teng was confused, but cooperatively crouched down. Before he could say anything, Xu Xu leaned closer and dropped a kiss light as a dragonfly touching water on his face.

Lu Teng froze.

Xu Xu didn’t say anything. She remained crouched where she was, a sweet dimple on her cheek and doe eyes bright and sparkling.

Like a little schoolgirl in high school daringly hiding under the trees to secretly exchange kisses with a boy.

Lu Teng had never hidden in the trees to share kisses with a female classmate, he had only a few specious dreams in those times when his knowledge of intimacy was vague.

The vague appearance of the girl in the dream became clear at this moment; she had Xu Xu’s eyes, Xu Xu’s lips, and also that little dimple on her left cheek.

Lu Teng’s Adam’s apple bobbed and his eyes shifted to the side with some difficulty.

He was really done for.

Lu Teng, you are a f*cking beast!

……

The source of evil, Xu Xu, was completely unaware that her small gesture brought by her emotions had caused Lu Teng’s mind to come up with a couple of positions. In a happy mood, she was about to stand up.

“Xu Xu.”

A rather emotional voice suddenly sounded from behind her.

Two people crouching in the deep corner of the shelves doing bad things were suddenly caught and, of course, they jumped in fright.

Xu Xu hurriedly stood up with the help of Lu Teng’s shoulder, her legs numb with tingling pain.

Turning around, they saw a lean man pushing a cart, his face filled with pleasant surprise as he stepped forward. “I didn’t expect to be able to run into you here!”

Xu Xu looked at the man’s unfamiliar face, no words came to her for a while.

The man scratched his head in embarrassment. “It’s me, Lin Chen. We had a meal together before.”

Xu Xu remembered and subconsciously glanced at Lu Teng behind her. “Hello, long time no see.”

Lin Chen glanced at the can in her hand. “You have a dog too?”

He took a step forward with single-sided familiarity and said, “Those two brands you have are pretty good, my dog likes to eat those too.”

Then, a lengthy monologue on raising dogs casually followed.

The development of things was a little weird. Shouldn’t she and Lu Teng confide in each other and their feelings intensify, and husband and wife return home together be what happened next?

She awkwardly stood in place while Lu Teng played with her left hand behind her, silent but unable to ignore it as he expressed his dissatisfaction: Who is this person?

The next second, Lin Chen gave him the answer on his own.

He lowered his voice, the corners of his eyes slightly drooped. “I was wrong before, I was truly frightened. I’ve never thought about getting married so soon before.”

“Later, I wanted to find you again, but the matchmaking agency said you were married already.”

“I’m the one who missed such a good girl.”

“…”

Her back felt a little cold.

Lin Chen seemed to be selectively blind the entire time, treating Lu Teng as if he was part of the background as he emotionally expressed his remorse and regret. Even before he left, he had to heave a sigh of great vicissitudes. 

Xu Xu: “…”

It was just one meal together, just what are you being sentimental over??

When Lin Chen’s desolate figure turned into the shelves and completely out of sight, Lu Teng finally stepped forward. His voice sank, “And which loving blind date candidate is this?”

Xu Xu’s will to live was still very strong, she very honestly explained, “We just had a meal together.”

“I didn’t like him.”

“I didn’t even keep his phone number.”

Lu Teng “oh’d” and lowered his head with his lips taut, pushing the shopping cart out.

Xu Xu put her hand to her face, then followed him with quick steps.

On the way back, Lu Teng was very quiet, maintaining a posture with his eyes lowered at a 45 degree angle.

Xu Xu felt like she was like a philandering romantic woman, and Lu Teng was the submissive little wife suffering in silence.

After all, she was a person who had a dozen blind dates and the kind that could give someone a headache for two months if they were to run into one every week.

Quietly following him out of the elevator, the moment she entered the house, Xu Xu smelled the very faint scent of women’s perfume.

In fact, Mother Xu doesn’t put on perfume much, but since she was young, Xu Xu could always capture her smell in the apartment every time she secretly paid a visit.

An arrogant, domineering, vain scent.

She caught Lu Teng’s sleeve. “My mom came by?”

“En.”

“What did she say?”

Lu Teng had his back to her and nothing could be heard from his voice. It was a simple declarative sentence. “Nothing much. She just introduced your family, your fiance, and that bet made in a fit of pique.”

He paused. “Oh, and she gave me an eight figure check.”

Having a check thrown at him for the first time in his life was also a very miraculous experience.

Xu Xu pursed her lips, stood on her tiptoes, and turned Lu Teng’s face. “You accepted it?”

Lu Teng didn’t move, his eyes looked down at her.

The lights weren’t on in the entrance hall. Her face was taut and a faint 川 appeared between her brows.

He unhurriedly ah’d, his tone drawn out. “She showed me the photos of you and your so-called fiance. I don’t seem to have any reason not to accept.”

Xu Xu wildly imagined a scene in which Mother Xu acted arrogantly while Lu Teng bore the humiliation and she stomped in anger. She pulled out the little red book from her bag and shoved the picture of the two of them in front of him. “You’re the person that I share a marriage certificate with! That kind of self-recognized fiance doesn’t count!”

Her cheeks were flushed red, like a little lit firecracker.

The appearance of her steaming with anger was also so cute.

Lu Teng couldn’t help himself. He bent down, caught her behind the knees, and placed her on top of the shoe cabinet.

With their eyes leveled, Lu Teng calmly said, “En, I threw the marriage certificate at her face, and said…”

He paused as if he was carefully recalling the event. “I said, laozi is the one that has a marriage certificate with Xu Xu, your self-recognized fiance doesn’t count.”

Xu Xu shifted her leg to avoid the icy surface of the cabinet and ah’d in response. She licked her lips, somewhat at a loss. “You really threw it at her face?”

A chuckle spilled from Lu Teng’s chest. He lifted his head to capture her slightly parted lips. “I lied.”

Their breathing quickly became disordered.

Xu Xu cupped his face, suddenly thinking that she actually didn’t dislike this kind of intimacy.

As she was carried into the bedroom, Xu Xu hugged his neck and earnestly said, “Lu Teng, I like you very much, the kind of like where I want to spend a lifetime with you.”

So you don’t need to have wild thoughts. Don’t need to deny the only time I’ve been moved in my life of more than twenty years because of others’ specious words.

Lu Teng’s steps paused, the corners of his lips rose into an arc uncontrollably. “What a coincidence, me too.”