Chapter 31: The Taste of Oolong Tea

“What did you say?”

Jiang Yueming felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze. 

“I said… if it was you who tricked me, I’d gladly let myself be tricked.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“Why is it okay if it’s me?” 

Xia He walked back over. 

“Why would you get angry if someone else tricked you, but it’s fine if I do it?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe because you’re good to me. Even if you tricked me, you’d still be the person who’s good to me. You blow-dry my hair for me, buy me oolong tea, play games with me, and even let me use your PS5.”

Jiang Yueming paused. 

“That PS5 really is nice. One day when I have money I’m going to buy one too.”

“Do you even know what you’re saying?” Xia He pouted.

The way she looked left Jiang Yueming at a loss. His arm moved, then dropped back down awkwardly.

“I know.”

“Then! You’re not allowed to take it back!”

“Take what back?” 

Jiang Yueming blinked, testing the waters. 

“The PS5?”

“You!” 

Xia He reached out and poked his chest. 

“I’m talking to you about something really important and all you can think about is a game console?”

“It’s not that,” Jiang Yueming took half a step back from the poke. “I was just saying it casually…”

Xia He’s eyes were red, the tip of her nose was red, and she looked both wronged and pitiful.

Yet right at that moment Jiang Yueming had to bring up the PS5.

“Casually?” 

Her voice rose half a tone. 

“You say you’d gladly let me trick you and the very next sentence is ‘the PS5 is nice’? Where’s your emotion? Where’s the deep feeling? Where’s your ‘Xia He, I’d go through fire and water for you’?”

“I never said I’d go through fire and water…”

“You!”

Xia He poked him again, this time with more force. It actually hurt a little against his chest. 

He didn’t dodge. 

He just stood there and took it obediently.

After poking him twice, Xia He suddenly lost interest. 

She pulled her hand back, sat down on the sofa, and turned her back to him.

“Go away,” her voice came out muffled. 

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

“Oh,” Jiang Yueming said. “Then I’ll go sleep in the guest room.”

“You dare!”

The leg he had just stepped forward with pulled back at once. 

Jiang Yueming looked at Xia He on the sofa, who was only giving him her back, and felt a headache coming on.

Why were girls so hard to understand? 

She had just said she didn’t want to talk, and now she wouldn’t let him leave.

He sighed, sat down beside her, and noticed the oolong tea Aunt Chen had bought sitting on the table. 

He picked up a bottle, twisted it open, and gently bumped her arm with it.

Xia He saw the drink out of the corner of her eye, took it, but still refused to turn around. 

Jiang Yueming suddenly thought she looked like a little hamster curled up in the corner with its head buried in wood shavings.

“Xia He.”

“What.”

“Turn around.”

“No.”

“Then at least let me know if you’re still mad or not, okay?”

“Whether I’m mad or not is none of your business.”

Jiang Yueming was momentarily stumped and answered sheepishly, “I’m just scared I won’t be able to coax you properly and you’ll really have someone kidnap me and sell me off. Your driver looks pretty strong. I probably couldn’t beat him.”

Xia He’s shoulders twitched, like she was holding back a laugh, or maybe she was still angry.

To cover it up, she took a sip of the oolong tea in her hands, then hugged the bottle and said in a muffled voice, “Who wants you to coax me.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying.”

“Your eyes are as red as a monkey’s butt.”

“I’ll kill you!”

Jiang Yueming was so startled by those three words that he shrank sideways. 

He almost slid right off the sofa. 

Xia He had already turned around, holding the oolong tea bottle high like she was about to smash it down.

“Mercy, heroine.”

A wise man knows when to yield. 

Jiang Yueming immediately raised both hands in surrender.

Luckily the heroine didn’t really strike. 

Getting hit on the head with the bottom of the bottle would have hurt quite a bit.

Jiang Yueming watched Xia He’s expression carefully and asked in a small voice, “Not mad anymore?”

“Hmph.” Xia He folded her arms.

“How about this? I’ll perform a magic trick for you. Once you see it you won’t be mad anymore.”

Xia He’s interest was piqued. “What magic trick?”

Jiang Yueming said mysteriously, “Sichuan opera face-changing.”

While Xia He was still puzzled, Jiang Yueming drew a circle in the air in front of her face like a conductor waving a baton and said seriously, “Watch closely. The moment to witness a miracle is about to begin.”

Xia He instinctively held her breath.

Jiang Yueming finished drawing the circle and stopped right in front of the tip of her nose, giving it a light flick.

“Change!”

Xia He stared at him, waiting to see what trick he would pull.

Nothing happened.

The living room stayed quiet for two seconds.

“What changed?” Xia He blinked.

“It changed,” Jiang Yueming pointed at her face and smiled gently. 

“White face to red face. See? You’re smiling now, aren’t you?”

Xia He froze for a second, then unconsciously touched the corner of her mouth. 

Sure enough, her lips had curved up at some point without her realizing.

She had clearly been angry just moments ago, ready to smash him with the bottle, yet her mouth had lifted on its own, pulled upward by some invisible string no matter how hard she tried to press it down.

Only after another couple of seconds did she realize Jiang Yueming’s “face-changing” referred to changing her own face.

“You dared to mess with me!”

Xia He raised the bottle again and instinctively wiped the smile off her face. 

At that exact moment—

Jiang Yueming said, “Change!”

Xia He’s face had just turned cold, perfectly following his command and becoming an icy expression. 

Once she realized what had happened, her hand holding the bottle froze in mid-air.

Her expression was stuck halfway between “wanting to laugh” and “pretending to be angry”—neither one nor the other. 

She didn’t want to actually change her face the way Jiang Yueming said, but she also didn’t want to laugh, so she could only hold this ridiculous look.

“Look, it changed again.” Jiang Yueming shook his head with a grin, sounding a little cheeky.

Xia He burst out laughing with a pfft.

Seeing the atmosphere return to normal, Jiang Yueming secretly let out a breath of relief in his heart and moved a little closer.

“Not mad anymore?”

“You…” Xia He wanted to be angry and wanted to laugh at the same time. “You really are…”

“Made you so mad you wanted to die?”

Xia He rolled her eyes at him. 

There was no killing intent in that look at all. 

Instead, the smile at the corners of her eyes made it charming and full of feeling, like a spoiled little complaint.

Jiang Yueming didn’t know that right now Xia He’s heart felt sweet as honey. 

He had finally let himself show his real side in front of her—no more restraint, no more awkwardness.

Her first-stage mission—starting as friends with Jiang Yueming—had been a huge success.

Xia He leaned back against the sofa, hugged her knees, rested her chin on them, and turned her face to look at him. 

The overhead light poured down, softening her curved brows and eyes even more.

“Jiang Yueming.”

“Mhm.”

“From now on, you’re not allowed to perform that magic trick for anyone else.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I’m afraid someone else will beat you to death,” Xia He said with a smile. 

“If you dare perform it for anyone else, I’ll… take my PS5 back.”

Jiang Yueming opened his mouth. “You said you were going to give it to me?”

“I can give it whenever I want and take it back whenever I want.”

This was what it felt like to have a rich young miss, Jiang Yueming thought silently.

Still, for the sake of the PS5 he compromised.

“Fine. I’ll listen to you.”

The light rain had stopped at some point. 

The air after the rain carried a fresh scent, mixed with the fragrance of plants from the garden outside the window.

The moonlight was just right—pure white as snow.

“Jiang Yueming.”

“Mhm?”

“Come a little closer.”

Jiang Yueming didn’t understand why, but he leaned forward anyway.

“Closer.”

He leaned in a bit more. 

There was now less than a fist’s distance between their faces.

He could even feel the warmth of her breath, carrying the faint, clean scent of oolong tea, brushing against his cheek again and again.

“Xia He, you—”

He didn’t finish. 

Her lips had already pressed lightly against his.

Time stopped in that instant. 

Jiang Yueming’s mind went completely blank.

His eyes widened in shock and he even forgot to close them. 

His gaze lost focus for a moment, then at that extremely close distance he caught the slight tremble of Xia He’s eyelashes.

When they separated, Xia He covered her face and ran back to her room. 

Jiang Yueming stayed frozen in place.

His thoughts had stalled. Only one sentence remained in his head.

It’s all lies.

Everything written in those novels and anime was a lie. 

Where was the candy flavor? 

Where was the flower-like fragrance?

None of it.

All he had tasted was the flavor of oolong tea.

Done for, he thought.

From now on, every single time he drank oolong tea he would remember tonight’s kiss.

Moonlight poured in through the window and fell across his burning cheeks. 

He remained motionless, lost in his thoughts.