That person was actually Chu Yi!
Su Yan gasped, her pupils dilating in disbelief as she stared at Chu Yi.
She even rubbed her eyes, hoping she was mistaken.
Chu Yi should still be at the university city, right?
How could he appear right in front of her?
But after rubbing her eyes, Su Yan looked again.
Across the street was still that same deadpan handsome face of Chu Yi.
The most ridiculous part was that Su Yan inexplicably felt like a wife caught cheating with a fresh young guy while her husband was away on a business trip.
Cui Hao naturally noticed Su Yan acting strange.
He looked in the direction she was staring and saw Chu Yi’s expressionless, handsome face too.
Feeling the awkward atmosphere between the two, his face immediately turned green with jealousy, cursing Zhao Qian for the eighty-eighth time in his heart.
That woman never speaks the truth!
Money.
Originally, it was agreed that she had a very pretty cousin who had never dated before and needed Su Yan to seduce her.
After succeeding, she would pay him eight hundred yuan.
Cui Hao thought, hey, isn’t this a godsend?
Not only could he get a beautiful girlfriend, but he’d also get paid.
Why wouldn’t he agree?
But the originally scheduled time was suddenly postponed, which was fine.
He figured the pure-hearted senior would be easy to trick.
After all, he had been charming his way along the entire route — even a block of dry wood would bloom in spring, right?
Yet the beautiful senior acted like she was just chatting but neither of them should take it seriously.
His full range of skills were completely useless.
That was one thing, but who was this person showing up now?
So this senior actually has a boyfriend?
It wasn’t that Cui Hao was a man of principle who wouldn’t hit on a married woman.
It was just that with one quick glance, he could tell the boyfriend was better than him in every way.
What hope did he have to seduce her?
At this moment, Su Yan turned her head to look at the rose in Cui Hao’s hand.
No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like a hot potato.
She cleared her throat and turned away: “Forget the rose. I was just bored anyway.”
“But…”
Cui Hao was still a bit stubborn.
After all, homegrown flowers are always sweeter than wild ones, right?
If he kept firmly trying to steal her away, maybe he could still pick this high mountain flower.
After all, Su Yan was really pretty, and from a prestigious university.
Taking her out would be a real status symbol!
Plus, with that eight hundred yuan subsidy, it was hard not to be tempted!
Su Yan was anxious to find Chu Yi and didn’t pay attention to his words.
She directly walked toward the road, waving her hand behind her: “Just consider it me helping out. You go do your own thing!”
Cui Hao looked at his phone, thinking that since he still had her WeChat, he could slowly build feelings.
No rush for now.
With that in mind, he stopped pestering and turned to leave.
But before he left, he opened his phone camera and took several photos of Su Yan and Chu Yi, then started typing on his phone.
***
Su Yan hurriedly ran over to Chu Yi’s side and cautiously looked up at him.
Up close, she noticed a bead of sweat on his forehead, and his chest was rising and falling with slight but intense breaths.
“Um…”
She licked her lips, a bit embarrassed: “Why did you come?”
Chu Yi ignored the question and asked instead, “Your phone didn’t charge yesterday?”
Su Yan nodded, surprised: “How did you know?”
Chu Yi didn’t answer, only looking at Su Yan thoughtfully.
Su Yan met his deep eyes and a bad feeling rose in her heart.
Sure enough, Chu Yi calmly asked: “Did he ask you to fight in bed?”
She opened her mouth but was momentarily speechless, stunned by those fierce words.
“No… what… what are you talking about?” she asked, utterly overwhelmed.
Chu Yi had already returned to his usual calm and indifferent expression—or rather, he had always been like this.
It was only his heavy breathing moments ago that made Su Yan think he showed some other emotion.
“Isn’t that how it is? You told me yesterday someone wanted to fight you, but when I came, I saw the guy bringing you roses.
Is this what they call ‘a fierce tiger sniffing a rose’?”
“Would you just shut up!”
Su Yan stepped forward and covered Chu Yi’s mouth, trying to stop his nonsense.
But when she met his calm eyes, she lost spirit and moved her hand away to cover her own ears.
If she couldn’t stop him from speaking, maybe she could stop herself from hearing?
After a long while, seeing that Chu Yi showed no sign of stopping, Su Yan finally lowered her hand.
“I misunderstood. I thought my cousin was planning to hire someone to beat me up. But it seems that’s not the case…”
She glanced meaningfully in the direction Cui Hao had left, deep in thought.
Chu Yi nodded and didn’t ask further: “Then I’ll head back first.”
Su Yan nodded absentmindedly: “Uh… huh?”
Coming back to her senses, she immediately grabbed Chu Yi’s arm: “You’re just going to leave like that?”
Chu Yi naturally nodded, wearing a slightly lazy, casual expression: “What else? Watch you fight that little rascal?”
Su Yan’s expression broke down again: “Can you please speak normally!”
Chu Yi chuckled lightly and strode ahead with long legs.
Su Yan quick-stepped to catch up and walked beside him.
After a while, as Chu Yi busily searched for the fastest way to book a plane ticket, a soft voice came to his ear: “Thank you.”
He looked down in surprise at Su Yan beside him, only seeing the swirl of her hair from this angle.
So obedient.
At that moment, Su Yan looked up, revealing her delicate nose and refined eyebrows and eyes: “Thank you for coming just because of my uncertain guess.”
She had only complained about the matter yesterday and never expected Chu Yi to take it so seriously as to come personally to help.
Although she didn’t say it aloud, after realizing this, Su Yan was genuinely touched.
Her gaze was full of earnestness and gratitude, clear enough to move hearts.
Chu Yi licked the roof of his mouth, strangely feeling a bit thirsty.
Their eyes met without another word.
After a few seconds, Su Yan looked away first: “Um… have you eaten lunch?”
Chu Yi’s gaze dropped to her ear.
Her originally fair and small ear was now slightly flushed, faintly visible beneath her short hair.
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
What had almost come out as “I ate the plane meal” somehow turned into “Not yet.”
Upon hearing this, Su Yan immediately said: “Then I’ll treat you to a meal. Our neighborhood has a lot of good food.”
***
Ten minutes later, the two had moved to a noodle shop.
The noodle shop Su Yan chose was famous nearby, especially for its signature beef noodles.
The ingredients were generous, with large chunks of tender, flavorful beef filling the bowl.
The broth was made from simmered beef stock, rich and fragrant with every sip.
The noodles were chewy, paired with the soup and a bite of beef—the flavor was divine!
Of course, the price wasn’t cheap either.
But since she spoke about this yesterday and he came this afternoon, Su Yan was certain Chu Yi had flown overnight to get here.
Feeling guilty for wasting two plane tickets on her petty problem, Su Yan thought treating him to a Michelin-level meal was only fair.
Chu Yi, looking noble, also ate with enthusiasm.
Although both ate heartily, there was a fundamental difference.
If one had to describe it precisely, watching Chu Yi eat was like a high-society candlelight dinner.
Su Yan, by contrast, looked like a pig eating.
Ahem, aside from her large bites making her appearance unrefined, Su Yan had no other issues.
At least she ate quietly and was well-mannered.
After the meal, both were satisfied.
Chu Yi glanced at the time: “I should go now. Don’t forget to keep up your training these days.”
Su Yan nodded: “Do you want me to see you off at the airport?”
Chu Yi glanced at her: “How? You drive?”
Right, she couldn’t drive.
Wouldn’t she just be a burden?
She sheepishly scratched her nose and smiled ingratiatingly: “Then I’ll call you a taxi.”
***
After sending Chu Yi off, Su Yan returned home.
Zhao Qian had already come back and was looking at Su Yan with a strange expression.
Only then did Su Yan remember the big trouble she had gotten into.
She looked at Zhao Qian, who was curious with a hint of jealousy, and shut her door.
Lying on her bed, she thought about the day’s events.
At first, she had jumped to conclusions, thinking Zhao Qian was hiring someone to beat her.
Now it was obvious she had misunderstood.
But because of Chu Yi’s sudden appearance, she hadn’t had time to sort things out.
Now back home, she needed to carefully consider Zhao Qian’s intentions.
After all, knowing your enemy and yourself means victory in every battle!
One thing was clear: Cui Hao and Zhao Qian were definitely working together; otherwise, their strange behavior was inexplicable.
But Cui Hao hadn’t done anything directly harmful to her.
Setting aside bias and recalling the conversations from the day, Su Yan belatedly realized Cui Hao was constantly trying to find topics to please her.
No, not “please.”
He was flirting.
Realizing this, Su Yan raised an eyebrow and suddenly understood Zhao Qian’s purpose.
Cui Hao had tattoos and smelled faintly of smoke when close.
Although he masked the cigarette smell well with perfume, Su Yan hated the smell of smoke and was very sensitive to it, so she noticed.
A boy like that, and still young, Su Yan didn’t believe he was a model student with both good character and grades.
So if he was just a good-looking delinquent, it made sense.
Zhao Qian was pushing her to get involved with this little punk, obviously hoping Su Yan would fall for him.
And since her parents were conservative, they wouldn’t approve.
Su Yan just needed to reveal this to her parents to naturally drive a wedge between Zhao Qian and her.
Such a deep scheme.
But here, she actually misunderstood two things.
First, she didn’t actually like Cui Hao and probably never would.
Though he tried hard to cover it up, Su Yan could still sense his slick tongue from his words and actions.
Smooth talkers rarely have kindness.
People who speak sweetly but do nothing practical are just empty shells.
On the other hand, Chu Yi’s behavior today, though full of harsh words, was genuinely because he cared about her and had flown here to find her…
No, wait?
Why was she comparing him to Chu Yi now?
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