Exiting the high speed rail station, the two of them took a taxi straight to the restaurant Zhou Yi had recommended.
To avoid running into Zhou Yi and his group, Xu Yizhu and Ji Xie sat in a nearby cafe for a while, waiting until the peak lunch hour had passed before heading over.
Seeing that the main hall was bustling with people and far too noisy, Ji Xie opted directly for a private dining room. Xu Yizhu utterly abhorred this sort of capitalist extravagance.
“Isn’t the main hall perfectly fine? Why waste money booking a private room?” Though he complained with his lips, his body was entirely honest as he sat right down.
Taking Xu Yizhu’s bag along with his coat, Ji Xie hung them both up on the clothes rack.
“It’s too noisy outside, which ruins the dining mood.”
Xu Yizhu remained silent.
A waiter entered, holding a tablet as she walked right up to Ji Xie to let him order.
Nodding toward Xu Yizhu, Ji Xie said, “Let him order.”
Maintaining a polite, professional smile, the waiter said, “Very well, sir.”
Since it was his first time here and he had no idea what tasted good, Xu Yizhu simply asked, “Do you have any signature dishes here? Or you can just pick whatever you like, as long as you serve enough food for two people.”
The waiter smiled and replied, “Understood. Then we will serve our newly launched couple’s set menu for two.”
Just as Xu Yizhu wanted to refute that they were not a couple, Ji Xie interrupted, “Add a serving of mango juice, and make all the dishes mild with minimal spice.”
Hearing that he wouldn’t be allowed to eat spicy food, Xu Yizhu grew displeased. “If it’s not spicy, it doesn’t taste good.”
Giving him a calm look, Ji Xie stated, “Your diet needs to be light recently.”
Xu Yizhu shut his mouth. As someone who couldn’t live without spice, having his food made mildly was practically an insult to him.
Turning to the waiter, Ji Xie instructed, “That will be all for now. Please make it a bit quick, thank you.”
“Certainly, sir.”
Holding the tablet, the waiter backed out of the room, leaving the private dining room in absolute silence.
Noticing that Xu Yizhu refused to talk to him, Ji Xie patiently asked, “Are you mad just because I wouldn’t let you eat spicy food?”
Averting his gaze, Xu Yizhu picked up the water glass beside him and took a small sip.
Ji Xie continued, “You drank way too much alcohol yesterday. Eating spicy and irritating foods consecutively will trigger stomach cramps. If you’re in pain, you definitely won’t tell me, so I have to prevent it beforehand.”
Knowing he did it out of concern, Xu Yizhu lowered his eyelids to shield his emotions.
Ji Xie was simply too good to him, unconditionally good, which threw him into a panic and made him lose control over himself.
Feeling he couldn’t let this continue any longer, Xu Yizhu knew he had to keep his distance from Ji Xie, or else he would inevitably end up consumed down to his very bones without a trace left.
Out of nowhere, Xu Yizhu blurted out, “Ji Xie, you were just this considerate after we slept together last time.”
“Are you trying to compensate me?”
Ji Xie paused mid-motion as he unpacked the tableware, lifting his gaze to look at him. “You don’t need to stab me with your words, Xu Yizhu. I simply like you.”
Xu Yizhu confessed bluntly, “Ji Xie, you know it. I don’t want to force myself into a relationship.”
Offering a bitter smile, Ji Xie felt utterly helpless against this emotional rollercoaster of being in heaven one second and hell the next.
“Your personality shifts gears a bit too fast; I almost couldn’t keep up.”
Frowning in mild vexation, Xu Yizhu muttered, “Sorry, I don’t know why I always end up like this whenever I’m in front of you.”
A knock sounded at the private room door, prompting Ji Xie to change the subject. “Let’s eat first. We barely had a proper meal yesterday.”
Nodding, Xu Yizhu let the topic drop.
Halfway through their meal, Ji Xie’s phone rang.
“Mom?”
Ji Xie’s mother asked, “Did you find Xiaozhu?”
Glancing at Xu Yizhu, who was quietly focused on eating, Ji Xie answered, “Found him.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Ji Xie’s mother spoke softly, “Then when are you two coming back? Mom wants to have a meal with Xiaozhu.”
Ji Xie replied, “We’ve already returned.”
Pulling the phone slightly away from his ear, he asked Xu Yizhu, “My mom wants to have a meal with us. When do you have time?”
Startled, Xu Yizhu didn’t immediately process why Ji Xie’s mother would want to dine with him.
“When are you free?” Ji Xie asked again.
Xu Yizhu answered, “Whenever is fine.”
“Alright, I’ll arrange it.” Putting the phone back to his ear, Ji Xie said, “Let’s make it the day after tomorrow. I’ll bring him over then.”
After his mother gave a few more instructions, Ji Xie uttered a brief affirmation, hung up the phone, and turned back to Xu Yizhu.
Curious, Xu Yizhu asked, “Why does Auntie want to have dinner with me?”
Ji Xie explained, “Zhou Yi ran into my mom first yesterday, so she’s probably just worried about you.”
“Do you want to go? If you don’t want to, we won’t go.”
Setting down his chopsticks, Xu Yizhu looked at him with an earnest gaze and replied, “Why wouldn’t I want to go? I like Auntie very much.”
Breaking into the first genuine smile since entering the private room, Ji Xie asked him, “Then why don’t you like me? My mom and I look quite alike, you know.”
Xu Yizhu offered another explanation: “I don’t dislike you, and I admit I have a favorable impression of you. But…”
Pronouncing every single word with utmost sincerity, he continued, “I don’t want to date. It will waste my time, energy, and money.”
“Of course, none of those are the most important part.”
Pressing further, Ji Xie asked, “Then what is the most important part?”
“Emotions. I don’t want to live every day in constant anxiety, arguing over trivial matters. Nor do I want to constantly worry about being abandoned one day.”
“Ji Xie, as long as I never start, I will never get hurt, nor will I hurt anyone else.”
Listening to him speak sentence by sentence, Ji Xie felt as though his heart was being sliced into tiny, irreparable pieces by those razor-sharp words.
Terrified of being abandoned, and thus too cowardly to try, Xu Yizhu was a thorough coward through and through.
Forcing a weak smile, Ji Xie remarked, “Xu Yizhu, you’re much cuter when you’re drunk.”
When drunk, he would expose his soft underbelly to act coquettishly, unlike now, bristling like a hedgehog with spikes all over to protect himself.
The tips of Xu Yizhu’s ears turned red. Feigning composure, he declared, “I was drunk, so I take zero responsibility for my drunken behavior.”
Unable to help whether to laugh or cry, Ji Xie retorted, “Xu Yizhu, you really know how to play dead.”
When paying the bill, the waiter kindly reminded them, “Sir, couple dining gets a forty percent discount here.”
Casting a glance at Xu Yizhu standing not far away, Ji Xie started to say, “No need, he—”
Before he could finish, his arm was linked by someone. Following the curve of the arm, Ji Xie saw Xu Yizhu looking up at him, a curve playing at the corner of his mouth as he seamlessly altered the rest of his sentence, “He’s just a bit shy.”
Secretly pinching Ji Xie’s arm, Xu Yizhu shot him a sharp warning glare.
Forty percent off!
That saved over a hundred yuan!
Catching the signal, Ji Xie told the waiter, “Yes, we are a couple.”
Maintaining her excellent service attitude, the waiter replied, “Splendid. If the two of you could take a slightly intimate photo for us to keep, that would be wonderful. We’ll select the best couple from them, and the winners will get a fifty percent discount on all future dining.”
Tempted by the offer, Xu Yizhu found their food quite to his liking, though it was admittedly a bit pricey.
Disentangling his arm, Ji Xie wrapped it around Xu Yizhu’s waist instead and smiled. “Is this okay?”
The waiter answered, “Yes, please hold on for a moment while I adjust the camera.”
Xu Yizhu rarely took photos, so his smile turned rather stiff when facing the lens. Prompting him gently, the waiter reminded, “Sir, no need to be nervous, you’re very photogenic.”
Trying again, Xu Yizhu forced his smile to look a bit more natural.
“Xu Yizhu.”
Ji Xie called out to him out of nowhere.
Reacting faster than his brain could process, Xu Yizhu turned his head to look at him.
In a flash, Ji Xie’s lips pressed lightly against his cheek.
Click, the camera captured the moment in time.
Appearing thoroughly satisfied, the waiter praised, “You two are the best-matched couple I’ve photographed in days. Wishing you a lifetime together.”
With complete contentment, Ji Xie replied, “Thank you.”
Xu Yizhu: “…”
What had he just done?
Had he actually lost his mind and let the man kiss him in broad daylight in a public establishment?
It wasn’t until he was half-pulled and half-hugged out of the restaurant by Ji Xie and bundled into a taxi that he finally snapped out of his shock.
Furious yet forced to maintain his cool exterior, Xu Yizhu demanded, “Are you just bullying me because you know I can’t beat you up?”
Shamelessly, Ji Xie countered, “Nonsense, I was simply driven by impulse.”
Impulse my foot!
Xu Yizhu announced, “From now on, we maintain silence. Don’t talk to me, I want some quiet.”
Ji Xie replied, “Don’t wish for quiet, Zhou Yi will get jealous.”
Huh?
Oh, Lin Jing, Jingjing…
Completely out of patience for him, Xu Yizhu turned his head away to gaze out the car window.
On the day of the appointment, the sky was overcast and a chilly wind was blowing. Just as Xu Yizhu was debating whether to put on a trench coat,
Ji Xie called him, telling him to open the door.
“Isn’t it this afternoon? Why are you here so early?” Xu Yizhu complained grumpily.
“My parents are leaving tomorrow, so I wanted you to accompany me to buy them some things.”
Stepping aside to let him in, Xu Yizhu asked, “Is there some emergency?”
“Not really an emergency, just that they got tired of looking at me and want a change of scenery,” Ji Xie said casually, showing not a trace of dejection.
“I’m pretty tired of looking at you too,” Xu Yizhu muttered under his breath.
Not catching it clearly, Ji Xie leaned his ear closer to Xu Yizhu’s lips. “What did you say? I didn’t catch that.”
“I said!” Xu Yizhu suddenly raised his volume, “You’re so annoying!”
There was no trace of actual annoyance in his tone; instead, it sounded like a flustered, coquettish reprimand born of embarrassment.
Covering his ears with an exaggerated expression of distress, Ji Xie cried, “Xu Yizhu, are you trying to murder your rela—”
Sweeping a freezing glare across him, Xu Yizhu asked with a fake smile, “Murder my what?”
“Murder…” Stumbling over his words and lacking confidence, Ji Xie tried to suck up, “Can I kiss you to make up for it?”
Xu Yizhu retorted, “Do you want me to beat you up instead?”
Prudently, Ji Xie zipped his mouth shut.
In the end, Xu Yizhu stepped out wearing a slightly thick khaki sweater paired with blue jeans.
The two first headed to the mall to buy gifts for Ji Xie’s parents. Passing by a storefront, Xu Yizhu caught sight of a scarf and decided he wanted to buy it for Ji Xie’s mother.
Though he wasn’t sure if she would like it.
Chuckling, Ji Xie said, “My mom will be thrilled just having you show up.”
“I still have to buy something, Auntie is a wonderful person.” Calling over a shop assistant, Xu Yizhu asked her to wrap it up.
“Am I not good to you?” Feeling slightly jealous, Ji Xie grumbled, “You never even thought about buying me anything.”
Xu Yizhu asked him, “Are you lacking anything?”
“I am!”
“Oh.” With an innocent smile, Xu Yizhu replied, “Too bad I’m out of money.”
Ji Xie: “…”
He really wanted to pin him right here and kiss this snarky mouth until it swelled up.
Afterward, Xu Yizhu bought a box of tea leaves for Ji Xie’s father.
Though Ji Xie had originally invited him along to help consult on gifts, it had somehow ended up in reverse, with him trailing behind Xu Yizhu like a beast of burden running errands.
Staring at his hands, which were filled to the brim with shopping bags, Ji Xie couldn’t help a strange thought crossing his mind.
Why did this feel suspiciously like bringing a partner home to meet the parents, where the partner was busy currying favor with the future parents-in-law by buying flattering welcome gifts?