Jiang Lezhi smiled at him and typed a message on her phone: 【Is there anything you like? I can give it to you.】
Tan Qingze let out a cold laugh. “Do you think I’m short of the things you can give me? Get to the point! I don’t have that much time!”
Jiang Lezhi glanced at him cautiously.
The expression on Tan Qingze’s face was a little fierce…
Besides, after she had kissed him last night, Jiang Lezhi remembered that he had been very angry.
If she told him now, would Tan Qingze simply turn around and leave?
After thinking it over, Jiang Lezhi typed a few more words on her phone and held it out to him: 【I’m sorry!】
“You asked me to meet you just to apologize for what happened yesterday?”
Jiang Lezhi looked a little guilty…
More precisely, it was for what had happened last night, as well as for what she was about to say.
During the meal, Jiang Lezhi ate as slowly as it was possible to eat. No matter how much she thought about it, she still couldn’t find a reason or excuse.
Who would just walk up to someone and tell them they wanted to kiss them?
Tan Qingze grew more and more impatient as he watched Jiang Lezhi. She was practically counting the grains of rice as she ate!
Was the restaurant he had chosen really that terrible?
After a long while, Jiang Lezhi finally put down her bowl and chopsticks. Tan Qingze stood up. “If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.”
Jiang Lezhi reacted quickly and grabbed his hand.
She mouthed, “Something’s wrong.”
Jiang Lezhi’s cheeks were so red that it was almost unbelievable. She summoned all her courage and finally made up her mind.
There was no more dignified way to do this now.
Even if Tan Qingze rejected her, it didn’t matter. She would cling to Tan Qingze like a ghost!
Tan Qingze, however, was frightened by Jiang Lezhi’s appearance at that moment.
He had seen that look of someone blushing and hesitating, unable to figure out how to begin, far too many times.
Could Jiang Lezhi… like him?
For some reason, he felt a little irritated.
If he rejected her, would she cry all the way home again like she had last night?
Seeing Jiang Lezhi type continuously on her phone, Tan Qingze grew more and more uneasy.
Maybe he should just run away while he had the chance. Jiang Lezhi couldn’t catch him anyway!
Jiang Lezhi held out her phone screen. Tan Qingze read the words aloud without thinking, “Can I go somewhere private with you and kiss you…”
He didn’t manage to read the rest.
His entire body retreated a full step, and the expression on his face became indescribably vivid.
He had imagined Jiang Lezhi confessing her feelings to him. He had imagined that perhaps she had encountered some difficult problem she couldn’t talk about. He had even imagined that Jiang Lezhi might ask to borrow money from him.
But he had never imagined that Jiang Lezhi would ask to kiss him!
When Jiang Lezhi saw that he hadn’t finished reading, she held the phone out again, wanting him to read the rest. Who would have thought that Tan Qingze simply refused to look?
His expression was complicated, and his tone solemn, as though he were admonishing a young girl who had lost her way. “Jiang Lezhi, please have some self-respect!”
He could understand that a girl might experience puberty especially intensely, and that it was perfectly normal for her to have those kinds of thoughts. But what she was doing now was not normal at all!
He had seen far too many people confess their feelings to him. Some had even wanted to marry him after meeting him only once or twice.
But this was truly the first time someone had not wanted to be with him or become his girlfriend, and had simply wanted to kiss him!
He had thought last night had already been outrageous enough. He hadn’t expected Jiang Lezhi to open his eyes even further.
Tan Qingze kept refusing to look at the phone. Jiang Lezhi was so anxious that she grabbed his arm and shook it, desperately pushing the phone in front of him.
But he stubbornly refused to look at it again, as though he were afraid the words that followed would be even more explosive.
Jiang Lezhi was so anxious that she was practically on the verge of speaking.
Even that failed to move him to look one more time.
Fortunately, the first sentence had already given him quite a shock. Tan Qingze remained standing where he was, not knowing what words could possibly describe how he felt.
Her phone vibrated. Jiang Lezhi saw a message from Mother Jiang pop up in the chat window: 【Mom’s almost at your school! I’ll be able to see my healthy baby very soon. I’m so excited!】
【Where should Mom go to find you later?】
Jiang Lezhi’s heart sank. She wrapped her arms around Tan Qingze’s neck, rose onto her toes, and moved to kiss him on the lips.
Tan Qingze hadn’t expected Jiang Lezhi, who had been looking at a message the second before, to launch a surprise attack at him the next. At that moment, he had nowhere to dodge.
The lemon scent unique to Jiang Lezhi enveloped him, and Tan Qingze’s lips gradually began to go numb.
Her soft lips only rested against his for a few seconds before quickly pulling away.
Jiang Lezhi had no time to explain anything. She ran toward the school gate.
Tan Qingze remained rooted to the spot, completely disheveled in the cold wind. Once he came to his senses, he shouted curses at Jiang Lezhi’s retreating back without the slightest regard for his image. “Jiang Lezhi! You shameless pervert!”
When she reached the school gate, she saw that Father Jiang and Mother Jiang were already there. They looked as though they had been waiting for a while.
Jiang Lezhi quickly steadied her breathing and smiled at them.
The smile on Mother Jiang’s face never faded when she saw Jiang Lezhi. Both of them looked at Jiang Lezhi expectantly, until Jiang Lezhi slowly opened her mouth.
“Mom, Dad!”
Father Jiang and Mother Jiang’s eyes reddened almost instantly.
Mother Jiang’s lips trembled several times before she could no longer hold back. She hugged Jiang Lezhi and began to cry. “She’s really better. My Lezhi is really better!”
*
When Tan Qingze returned to the dormitory, the expression on his face was even more unpleasant than it had been when he came back the night before.
Lin Zhiyang and the other roommates exchanged glances.
Lin Zhiyang moved closer. “What’s going on? Did you have a fight with Jiang Lezhi?”
Tan Qingze cast him a cold glance.
Lin Zhiyang had never expected him to respond. He had only made the comment because he couldn’t resist being annoying. He certainly hadn’t expected to hear Tan Qingze say, filled with deep resentment, “She’s toying with me!”
Lin Zhiyang: ???
Who?
Who was toying with Tan Qingze?
Jiang Lezhi?
Holy crap!!!
Tan Qingze downed half a bottle of water, but it still didn’t vent his frustration. Jiang Lezhi was toying with him!
Was he some kind of pushover?
He had kindly helped her so she wouldn’t fall to the ground, and Jiang Lezhi had gone and kissed him. Had she become addicted to it?
Once or twice—he was the one with something wrong with him! Why did he have to keep getting involved with her?
Tan Qingze had a ball of frustration lodged in his chest that he couldn’t release. He snatched up the coat he had casually tossed aside and walked out again.
“Hey, where are you going now?”
Tan Qingze remembered that Jiang Lezhi had run toward the school gate just now, didn’t she?
He really wanted to see what this woman was trying to do.
Did she really think he, Tan Qingze, was a man with an easy temper?
The expression on Tan Qingze’s face was so terrible that he looked as though he were about to go get into a fight. Everyone who passed him unconsciously moved a little farther away.
He walked very quickly. When he was almost at the school gate, he indeed saw Jiang Lezhi.
She was walking between two people, holding onto their arms, her face bright with smiles. The two people looked older, as though they were her parents.
Tan Qingze, who had just wanted to grab Jiang Lezhi and give her a beating without caring about the consequences, came to a stop.
Forget it. He would deal with her after her parents left!
He followed behind Jiang Lezhi and her parents, close enough to hear their conversation.
Then a soft, sweet voice drifted over from ahead, and Tan Qingze suddenly felt as though his brain wasn’t working properly.
Jiang Lezhi’s mother’s voice sounded… pretty young.