Chapter 28: An Apology

“You’ve only just met her and you’re already calling her Weiwei, but when it comes to me, it’s always ‘Mei Xue’ this, ‘Mei Xue’ that.”

Fu Yi pouted.

Her reply surprised Yu Qing.

After all that thinking, he never expected this to be what Mei Xue cared about.

He supposed she had a point—it was a bit off.

“Since Mei Xue says so, should I call you Lin Mei Xue from now on?”

Yu Qing smiled, pretending to have a sudden realization.

“Hey! Senior! You’re really bad, you know!”

As expected, Mei Xue became a little agitated.

Her small hands waved restlessly, as if she wanted to pull Yu Qing’s ears until he could no longer feign selective hearing or act dumb.

“Aren’t you always calling me Senior too?”

Yu Qing retorted at the right moment, tossing the ball back.

“My ‘Senior’ is different, though.”

“Actually, my ‘Mei Xue’ has a special meaning too.”

“Aiya, Senior, where did you learn all this? You’re really not popular with girls when you act like this, you know.”

Fu Yi put her hands on her hips, a bit helpless.

She didn’t really need to spend this much time with Yu Qing.

But for her, doing anything at this school was just to add a line to her resume—there was nothing she absolutely had to do.

She did what she wanted, following her own interests.

Like her own Back Garden, she was here to satisfy her desires and unleash her true nature.

And now, after Zhou Min’s persuasion, she temporarily put aside investigating the woman who snuck into her room.

Right now, what she wanted most was to mess with Yu Qing.

She rarely experienced such emotional fluctuations because of a man.

Moreover, Yu Qing seemed to have a mysterious pull about him.

What started as simple curiosity turned into an urge to tease, and now she wanted to squeeze and knead him.

Fortunately, her emotional control was strict, so these feelings didn’t affect her actions.

After suppressing those emotions, only a special curiosity toward Yu Qing remained in Fu Yi’s heart.

“Is that so? Sorry, it’s all stuff I read in novels. Looks like it doesn’t work in real life. I knew single dog authors couldn’t write real romance.”

Yu Qing chuckled awkwardly, continuing to spout nonsense and mess with Mei Xue’s mind, trying to make her unconsciously reveal more emotion.

There was one thing Yu Qing paid close attention to about Mei Xue—her real personality.

Honestly, he couldn’t recall exactly when, but at some point, he started to doubt whether the lively Mei Xue before him was truly as she seemed.

Maybe it started with Lin Wei—how someone could act one way in front of people and another behind closed doors left a deep impression on him.

Somehow, he felt Mei Xue might be the same.

During that research survey, he’d accidentally glimpsed Mei Xue’s cold, emotionless face, and it caught his attention.

So, the third point in that encrypted file was about uncovering Mei Xue’s true nature.

If she really was different, he’d need to change all his plans.

Up until now, he’d been deliberately provoking Mei Xue, but always within the limits of a joke—not enough to make her truly angry.

“Tch, Seniors used to get embarrassed so easily. Now you’ve turned into an old smooth-talker. Not cute at all anymore.”

Fu Yi pouted in displeasure.

“Isn’t it because Mei Xue is so enthusiastic? We’ve only known each other for a few weeks but feel like siblings. What’s that phrase again?”

Yu Qing put on a thoughtful look, then suddenly snapped his fingers, raising a finger.

“We’re all junior”

“Shut up, Senior!”

Before he could finish, Fu Yi, her face red, interrupted him.

Even though she strongly protested, there was no other emotion on her face, which made Yu Qing feel a little guilty.

Though he liked to banter, most of it was an act.

No matter how close they became, she was still a girl, and being too shameless felt awkward.

Besides, Yu Qing had transformed into Fu Yi himself before.

So even though Fu Yi was beautiful, it felt oddly like looking in a mirror—he couldn’t even muster any nervousness.

As for why he could shamelessly plan to take over Mei Xue’s life yet feel embarrassed about something so trivial—

Those were two different things.

Taking a life was a real plan—no room for hesitation.

But embarrassment was just a feeling, and there was nothing to feel embarrassed about.

Teasing “himself” a bit wasn’t a big deal.

“Alright, alright, I really know I’m wrong now!”

Yu Qing pressed his palms together in a sincere apology.

“Order whatever Kafei you want this afternoon—my treat!”

“Hmph, who pays for their crimes with Kafei? Drink too much and you can’t even sleep at night!”

Fu Yi turned away, still pretending to be angry.

After a while, she made a reluctant expression.

“But since you’re being so sincere, Senior, I’ll graciously accept. Just don’t complain if what I drink is expensive.”

“Peace offering accepted?”

“Senior, are you joking~”

She said she was going to squeeze Yu Qing dry, but in the end, she only ordered a Kafei worth thirty or so.

As a child from a wealthy family, she probably rarely drank such cheap Kafei.

Inside the Kafei shop, Yu Qing also ordered a Ningmeng Shui and sat across from Mei Xue.

Yes, he had gone out of his way to buy it from Mi Xue Bing Cheng on the way here.

He watched as Mei Xue sipped her Kafei in small gulps, occasionally stirring it with a spoon.

Her every move radiated elegance.

Yu Qing mimicked her, peeling the plastic lid off his Ningmeng Shui.

When Fu Yi took a sip, he took a sip.

When Fu Yi stirred with her spoon, he stirred with his straw.

It was a rather silly action, but Yu Qing found it oddly entertaining.

He repeated the motions so often that his body started doing them unconsciously, his thoughts drifting away.

He didn’t notice his Ningmeng Shui was nearly empty, and despite all the motions, he hadn’t actually drunk a single drop.

“Cough! Cough cough!”

Suddenly, a coughing fit from across the table snapped Yu Qing back to reality.

“Are you okay? Did you choke? Why are you spilling? Are you alright?”

Yu Qing grabbed a napkin and handed it to the coughing Mei Xue.

“It’s fine, I just drank too fast…cough cough!”

She coughed twice more, then took the napkin from Yu Qing, giving him a resentful look.

He claimed to like her, went to the trouble of asking her out to a romantic Kafei shop, then brought his own bottle of Ningmeng Shui, didn’t say a word after sitting down, and even copied her drinking posture.

Then he spaced out while drinking.

Fu Yi almost burst out laughing from sheer exasperation.

“Drank too fast?”

Yu Qing looked doubtfully at the half-full Kafei in front of her.

If that was drinking too fast, then what about his already-empty Ningmeng Shui?

Did he gulp it like a whale?

He couldn’t understand.

“What? Hard to accept?”

Under Yu Qing’s suspicious gaze, Fu Yi stiffened her neck and replied defiantly.

“Uh, it’s fine, I guess.”

Yu Qing awkwardly rubbed his nose.

He hadn’t meant to upset Mei Xue this time, yet somehow still almost got scolded.

A woman’s heart is like a needle at the bottom of the ocean.

Yu Qing shook his head with feigned wisdom.

The lazy side of his personality threatened to surface, and he almost wanted to say something dumb.

But seeing the dangerous glint in Mei Xue’s eyes, he decided to bury that thought deep down.

Even so, his action didn’t escape Fu Yi’s notice.

She adopted a casual, ‘ready to watch a show’ posture, which annoyed her all over again.