“Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Since Li Yan had given him a gift, Qin Yuan hadn’t forgotten what day it was either. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out.
Li Yan blinked in surprise. A piece of paper?
Strictly speaking, it was a check.
“Is this really how you give a Valentine’s Day gift?”
“Yes. Aren’t I doing it right now?”
“I didn’t know what you specifically liked, so I figured money was best. Besides, I was in a rush coming over and didn’t see anything good to buy as a gift.”
“If you don’t like it, I’ll take it back.”
Though Qin Yuan said that, his hand didn’t move to retrieve it.
“Of course I want it.”
“Your money, even a single dollar is priceless.”
Li Yan accepted the check.
The amount written on it was one million.
Li Yan’s heart gave a fierce jolt.
Plenty of people had pursued her, but Qin Yuan was the very first one to hand over a check straight away.
True to his reputation as a romantic and affectionate playboy, this man knew exactly what to give to make someone’s heart race.
“I’m getting a little scared.”
“Scared of what?”
“Scared that I might actually fall in love with you. What will I do then?”
“I can still afford to support you.”
“But I want your love.”
“That just proves you’re greedy.”
“You want this and that too. Should I hand you the sun in the sky as well?”
“Sure.” Li Yan nodded vigorously.
Qin Yuan let out a chuckle.
“You know I have someone I like. Other than him, I won’t love anyone else.”
The joking expression on Qin Yuan’s face suddenly shifted. Li Yan stared at his profile, and after a long moment, she let out a soft sound of acknowledgment.
“I’ll keep it under control.”
She would try her hardest to control herself and keep from truly falling in love with Qin Yuan.
Qin Yuan turned his head and fastened his seatbelt.
Li Yan pulled her seatbelt across and buckled it in.
“Let’s find a hot spring to soak in this afternoon.”
“I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”
“We can just buy one when we get there.”
Hot spring resorts always had swimsuits on sale.
Li Yan leaned back against the car seat. Even if it was a fake romance, it still made her heart flutter.
The sports car started up. Before heading to the hot spring, the two first went to a restaurant for lunch.
The restaurant was quite crowded, and ordinary customers usually had to wait for a table, but Qin Yuan and Li Yan went straight upstairs.
This establishment was owned by Qin Yuan, so a private room was kept reserved for him at all times.
They ordered their meals, and before long, the dishes were served.
Seeing how much Qin Yuan was eating, Li Yan grew curious.
“I thought you didn’t usually eat much.”
“Look at your wrists; they’re almost the same size as mine.”
Li Yan reached out to grab Qin Yuan’s wrist. Since they were dating now, physical contact was only natural.
Inspecting their wrists, Li Yan saw that they were indeed nearly identical in slenderness.
“Qin Yuan, have you ever cross-dressed in women’s clothing?”
Qin Yuan gave Li Yan a sidelong glance. “Go find someone else if you have that kind of hobby.”
He certainly wasn’t going to wear women’s clothes.
“Do you get drunk easily?”
Qin Yuan narrowed his eyes.
“The day you get drunk, I’m secretly going to dress you up in women’s clothes.”
“That’s a nice thought.”
Qin Yuan narrowed his eyes at Li Yan, a shallow smile lingering at the corners of his lips.
“I’ll do it secretly, so you won’t even know.”
Li Yan simply refused to give up.
“If you can pull that off, I’ll hand it to you as your special skill.”
Dressing him in women’s clothes? Not even in their next life.
The two continued eating.
Afterward, they drove toward the hot spring resort. It was a dedicated hot spring valley about a couple of hours away.
When they arrived, the place was bustling with crowds, some groups came together, while others came in pairs.
“I’m so glad you came with me, otherwise I’d be flying solo.”
Li Yan linked her arm through Qin Yuan’s.
They had booked a room online in advance at a hot spring hotel costing several thousand per night, allowing them to soak in private whenever they liked.
The sports car was parked in the lot. It was still early in the day, and people were everywhere.
Clinging to Qin Yuan’s arm, Li Yan coaxed him with a pout to walk around and sightsee.
In truth, she wanted to parade Qin Yuan around and show him off, letting passersby see what an incredibly handsome boyfriend she had.
Qin Yuan saw right through Li Yan’s intentions and indulged her every whim.
He didn’t mind doing these things; after all, he found a certain joy in it himself.
“So many delicious snacks! If I’d known, I would’ve eaten less earlier.”
“You can run and skip around all you want.”
“No way. If I ran around dressed like this, people would think I’d lost my mind.”
Li Yan was wearing a high-slit, halter-neck long dress paired with high heels.
Standing over one meter seventy tall to begin with, the heels pushed her close to one meter eighty, yet walking beside Qin Yuan, she still appeared slightly shorter.
It gave Li Yan a delicate, petite feeling that she rarely experienced with others.
With many men, she had to wear flat shoes just to match them.
The crucial part was that even when she wore flats, some guys still ended up shorter than her.
It wasn’t that Li Yan looked down on shorter people, but she personally preferred partners taller than herself.
Someone like Qin Yuan was quite literally her dream boyfriend.
They walked past several barbecue stalls, the rich aroma of grilled meat wafting over and making Li Yan’s mouth water.
Qin Yuan turned to look at Li Yan. She hadn’t been acting like this in the morning; now she had transformed into an excited child, shedding all traces of her mature, sophisticated charm.
Still, this kind of contrast was quite nice, and at the very least, Qin Yuan enjoyed it.
There was a nearby mountain open for hiking.
The two began walking up the mountain trail. Li Yan was wearing high heels, but after a short while, she simply kicked them off and walked entirely barefoot.
City folk tended to be a bit delicate; she grew tired before they had even walked very far.
Qin Yuan walked ahead and waited for Li Yan to catch up. When she finally reached him, he shook his head with a smile.
“Hop on.”
Qin Yuan bent down, turning his back to Li Yan.
Li Yan stared at Qin Yuan’s back. “I’m worried I’ll crush you.”
“You don’t weigh enough for that. Get on.”
Qin Yuan urged her onward.
Li Yan climbed onto Qin Yuan’s back, and for the rest of the trail, Qin Yuan carried her as he walked. Li Yan snapped a few photos, vowing to save every single one of them properly.
They stopped to rest halfway up the mountain. Qin Yuan took off his outer jacket and laid it out on the grass for Li Yan to sit on.
Though he had carried someone up a stretch of mountain road, his face wasn’t flushed and he wasn’t even breathing heavily. Li Yan reached out to grab Qin Yuan’s arm, squeezing it with slight force; although Qin Yuan looked slender, he clearly had a solid build beneath his clothes, packing genuine muscle.
“I’m going to take a nap.”
Li Yan leaned against Qin Yuan’s chest and closed her eyes to rest. Qin Yuan, on the other hand, felt neither tired nor sleepy, his peach-blossom eyes gazing calmly at the distant scenery.
Midway through, his phone rang. It was Fang Chen and the others calling to ask where Qin Yuan was. Since it was Valentine’s Day and none of them had partners, they figured they could cobble a group together to have some fun.
“I have a girlfriend now.”
A single sentence from Qin Yuan successfully dropped Fang Chen’s jaw in utter shock.
“We’re over at Tianfan Hot Springs.”
“Oh, come on! You’re ditching your friends for a woman? Is our friendship of all these years fake to you?”
Fang Chen immediately launched into a passionate protest against Qin Yuan’s heartlessness.
“Yep, totally fake.”
Qin Yuan’s indifferent tone carried zero emotion.
“Just wait, we’re heading over right now. You want to enjoy a private two-person world? Keep dreaming.”
Fang Chen abruptly hung up with a click.
“Fang Chen and the others are coming over later.”
Qin Yuan mentioned it to Li Yan.
Li Yan had met Fang Chen yesterday. Birds of a feather flock together, and all the guys in Qin Yuan’s circle were handsome.
Though they might not possess Qin Yuan’s top-tier looks, they were still the kind of guys who would turn heads on the street.
“They’re coming over just to watch us show off our affection?”
Li Yan gazed at Qin Yuan with deep, affectionate eyes.
“Mmm, we’ll make them die of jealousy.”
Li Yan burst into bright laughter. “I’m so lucky I ran into you.”
“If anyone else had beaten me to it, I would’ve killed them.”
“Don’t break the law.”
Qin Yuan was extremely sensitive to anything law-related these days.
After all, he used to be a lawless scoundrel in his past life, and that attitude had ultimately cost him his life.
“Right, right, just speaking figures of speech.”
Li Yan stretched lazily.
“Let’s head down the mountain.”
“I’ll carry you.”
Li Yan suddenly said.
Qin Yuan glanced down at Li Yan’s bare feet.
“If you carry me, the two of us will probably spend Valentine’s Day night in the hospital.”
If Li Yan tried to carry him, they’d likely just tumble straight down the mountain together.
Li Yan let out a huff.
In the end, Qin Yuan was still the one carrying Li Yan.
Once they reached the bottom and stepped onto flat ground, Li Yan suddenly scooped Qin Yuan up in a bridal carry.
Qin Yuan froze. In both of his lives, nobody had ever carried him like this.
Especially not a woman.
“You…”
“Don’t talk, or I won’t be able to hold you much longer.”
Li Yan started walking with Qin Yuan in her arms. Fortunately, there weren’t many people around; otherwise, having a woman carry him like this would have dealt a serious blow to Qin Yuan’s pride.
Even so, no matter how strong Li Yan’s arm strength was, Qin Yuan was still a full-grown man weighing over a hundred pounds. After carrying him for just a few minutes, she could barely take another step.
Qin Yuan’s feet dropped back to the ground.
Li Yan’s arms were flushed red.
“Looks like I need to work out more.”
Her personal record used to be half an hour, but now she couldn’t even manage a few minutes. Li Yan shook out her hands, feeling slightly disappointed in herself.
Qin Yuan had laughed several times today. His choice really hadn’t been wrong, and keeping Li Yan by his side was proving to be a fantastic decision.
Qin Yuan suddenly squatted down to help Li Yan put her shoes back on. Li Yan rested her hands on his shoulders. Who wouldn’t love a man this gentle?
It was practically playing foul.
“All done.”
Qin Yuan stood back up.
“Let’s go grab some barbecue.”
With their trip up and down the mountain, over an hour had passed. It was now past five o’clock, making it the perfect time to slowly enjoy some barbecue before hitting the hot springs at night.
As the two walked toward the main street ahead, quite a few people cast glances their way. While attractive couples were common on a day like this, pairs approaching the absolute ceiling of visual perfection were exceedingly rare.
A few people in the crowd wore expressions slightly different from everyone else.
Everyone had clearly witnessed the moment the woman picked Qin Yuan up and carried him just now, and someone had even snapped a photo.
Glancing down at the picture on their phone again, they realized it wasn’t an optical illusion, and Qin Yuan had genuinely been carried by a woman.
If word got out, this was bound to turn into quite a juicy piece of news.
Xie Fengbei and his friends had also come to the hot spring resort. They had just arrived and were discussing what to eat for dinner when a familiar face suddenly entered his field of vision.
Only this time, that face looked a bit different from usual, being scooped up and held in a woman’s arms, in a full bridal carry no less.
It should have looked like a bizarre sight, but for some reason, Xie Fengbei felt that paired with Qin Yuan’s delicate and exquisite face, which was even prettier than a woman’s, it possessed a weird kind of suitability.
It was almost as if someone like Qin Yuan was naturally meant to be carried by others.
Rather than being the one to do the carrying.