Gu Lingluo (the patron) let out a slight exhale, turned back, and her expression was flat: “Has anyone ever told you that your acting is terrible?”
“Eh?” Liu Xia (the student) froze, and the tears she had just started to brew were instantly held back.
No way! She thought her delivery was good, and her appearance of being on the verge of tears was very convincing!
Gu Lingluo lowered her eyes and looked at the astonished girl—wide-eyed, slightly open-mouthed, utterly bewildered—a sight that was both irritating and amusing.
It seemed Liu Xia truly had no self-awareness.
“Order takeout,” Gu Lingluo said.
“Eh?”
“Forget it.”
Gu Lingluo turned to leave again. Liu Xia quickly made an ‘Erkang’ hand gesture (an exaggerated reach of despair in Chinese pop culture) and cried out, “Don’t go, don’t go! I’ll order right now!”
Fumbling with her phone, she quickly opened the “Have you Eaten?” app.
After she placed the order, Gu Lingluo walked into the kitchen with familiar ease, poured a cup of hot water, and handed it to her, her tone indifferent but brooking no argument: “Drink it.”
Liu Xia looked at the water, then at the patron’s face, as pristine as snow and frost. Faced with such a beautiful face, even water she didn’t like became sweeter than honey.
Indeed, beauty is justice!
Gulping down more than half the cup, Liu Xia quietly scooted closer to Gu Lingluo.
She had finally managed to keep the person here; wouldn’t it be a huge waste not to seize the moment and start her performance?
Although the patron had just criticized her acting, this didn’t discourage her in the slightest. If her acting were truly terrible, the patron, who never knew the meaning of the word “polite,” wouldn’t have stayed.
She felt, on the contrary, that the patron must have been stunned by her explosive acting, believed her plight, was overcome with sympathy, and wanted to stay and take care of her but was too embarrassed to say so, hence the deliberate criticism.
Yes! It must be like this!
Who knew the patron had such a proud and adorable side?
Liu Xia was oozing with misplaced confidence, feeling that she could win over Gu Lingluo, swear eternal sisterhood (or brotherhood/friendship), and save her life in minutes.
However, the moment she leaned over, Gu Lingluo immediately shifted away.
Liu Xia chased, and Gu Lingluo shifted; this repeated until, with a few chases and shifts, Gu Lingluo was squeezed to the far right of the sofa.
Gu Lingluo gripped the armrest tightly, leaving creases on the leather edge.
She truly shouldn’t have been sympathetic! This woman is completely shameless!
She must have been confused. Why did she suddenly recall the pitiful sight of Liu Xia curled up on the sofa when she was sick last time? Why did she forget her fundamentally reckless, frivolous, and fickle (referencing the previous chapter’s dating confusion) nature?
If it weren’t for her nine thousand years of cultivation (a humorous reference implying ancient-level self-discipline) preventing her from breaking her word, she would genuinely want to abandon her and leave.
Gu Lingluo silently recited a Purity Mantra three times. Just as she thought about getting up to sit elsewhere, a weight suddenly landed on her shoulder—Liu Xia’s head had shamelessly rested there.
Liu Xia murmured, “It feels so nice to have someone with me…”
Gu Lingluo: “…”
Recite the Purity Mantra three more times.
If she got up now, Liu Xia would likely fall over and hit the armrest. Although the armrest was soft and wouldn’t cause serious harm, given Liu Xia’s shamelessness, she would definitely use it as an opportunity to raise her recklessness to a new level.
Gu Lingluo preferred to let her rest her head on her shoulder than listen to her dramatics, so she allowed it and remained still.
While Gu Lingluo was deep in thought, Liu Xia’s performance began with a fanfare.
“Don’t laugh when I tell you this, but even though my family doesn’t have a throne to inherit, we do have a small company. My family favors sons over daughters, and they kicked me out of the house and threw me here before I even finished high school. It doesn’t make much difference, though. Whether I’m at home or here, I’m always alone. No one talks to me, no one pays attention to me. Even when I eat, it’s alone. Everything is alone, I… sigh!”
Liu Xia let out a heavy sigh.
How was that? Pitiful enough?
Gu Lingluo cast a cold glance at her. “Everything is alone?”
“Yes. Although I have Hao Yan and Gai Gai (friends), that’s only at school. Once school is out and I come home, I’m still by myself. You might not believe it, but no one has ever been to my place except you and my family. Not even Hao Yan or Gai Gai. And probably no one will in the future.”
“Boyfriend.”
“What?”
“Don’t you invite your boyfriend over to sit?”
“I’m a single dog (Chinese slang for single person); where would I get a boyfriend?”
Gu Lingluo said nothing, but her already frost-and-snow-like face grew even colder. The room’s 22-degree Celsius temperature couldn’t thaw her three feet of ice.
Heaven is my witness! The previous parts were lies, yes, but everything from the part about Hao Yan and Gai Gai onwards was absolutely true! What did the patron mean by that?
Could it be… she saw her sitting by the lake with Qi Fei (the boy from the last chapter)?
No, no, no, how is that possible?! They were separated by the entire lake; they were far enough away that unless they screamed their lungs out, the patron definitely couldn’t have heard what they were saying.
Of course, a boy and a girl sitting by the lake together was a little bit ambiguous (àimèi), but she couldn’t just assume a relationship based on that!
“You didn’t misunderstand something, did you? I truly don’t have a boyfriend! This afternoon, Qi Fei said he had something to talk to me about, and we just went to the lake and talked for a couple of sentences—just two sentences! We left quickly. We truly, truly, truly are cleaner than scallions mixed with tofu (a Chinese idiom for complete purity)!”
Clean?
Ha!
Gu Lingluo suddenly felt an unspeakable irritability. She didn’t even want to recite the Purity Mantra anymore. She flung her arm and stood up.
Liu Xia was startled. She instinctively threw her arms around Gu Lingluo’s neck, half her body lifted and suspended in the air.
Gu Lingluo’s voice was icy: “Let go.”
Liu Xia looked confused: “What’s wrong? What did I do to upset you this time? I’m wrong, okay?”
“Let go!”
“No!”
Liu Xia hugged her even tighter.
“Tell me what’s bothering you! If you don’t say anything, how will I know? No matter how much I like you, no matter how much I worship you as a god and treat you as my guiding light, I’m not a tapeworm in your stomach (a Chinese idiom for mind reader). How can I know what your forbidden zones are? If you tell me, I won’t step on your landmines anymore, and then we can coexist in peace better, right? Just tell me. I’ll listen to whatever you say. You’ll soon realize that I am definitely a thoughtful, reliable, gentle, and trustworthy…”
Before the word “ji-you” (a Chinese slang term for ‘girl-friend’ or a close female friend in the LGBTQ+ community) could leave her mouth, Gu Lingluo reached her limit.
She used to think Liu Xia was merely stupid, but now it seemed she wasn’t stupid at all—she was cunning beyond measure!
What was she trying to imply now? Did she want to try to play both sides, dating both men and women?
Did she think that just because they were separated by a lake, she couldn’t hear anything?
She agreed to date him so readily, and now she’s pretending to be utterly devoted and innocent? Does she really think she’s blind, deaf, easy to fool, and beyond redemption?
Shameless!
Disgraceful!
Contemptible!
Gu Lingluo frowned, turning her head to pry off the arms tightly wrapped around her. Liu Xia adjusted her posture, kneeling on the sofa, refusing to let go.
One was looking up, and the other was looking down.
Gu Lingluo said: “Let…”
Her lips suddenly softened, and her voice cut off abruptly.
The accident came too suddenly, crashing in like a huge wave from nowhere!
Liu Xia wasn’t sure what Gu Lingluo felt, but she was stunned, truly stunned.
Before her were the patron’s eyes, like cold moon and clear stars. Beneath her lips was something soft and utterly indistinct, possibly lips. Their eyes locked. The only sounds in her ears were the ticking of the clock, the thump-thump of her heartbeat, and the satisfied purring of the little kitten.
Liu Xia blinked. Her brain had crashed and was awaiting a reboot. Her tongue, lacking direction, instinctively moved a little. So soft…
She unconsciously parted her lips. Before her instincts could make the next move, Gu Lingluo suddenly reacted as if she’d been electrocuted. Her breathing instantly grew heavy. She pressed on Liu Xia’s shoulders, forcing her back down onto the sofa, and covered her eyes with her hand.
“Don’t open them!” The seductive, hoarse voice was irresistible.
Liu Xia obediently closed her eyes. Her heartbeat was completely chaotic.
Gu Lingluo’s ragged breaths misted her cheek. Something cool and icy seemed to press against her forehead, the sensation quickly spreading throughout her body.
Liu Xia couldn’t help but shiver, and her mind instantly cleared quite a bit.
Wh-wh-wh-what was she trying to do?
Could it be… one kiss wasn’t enough, and she wanted a second one?
No way! Is the patron gay?
Gay?!!!!!!!!!!