Chapter 256: Chapter 248: Preferring to Speak with Actions
Qiu Mengze’s face darkened. Xue Rui’s guess was right; Qin Tong hadn’t gone to take a shower...
Xue Rui took the phone and replied, "Take a guess. We’ve met before."
Then he handed the phone back to Qiu Mengze.
Next, Qin Tong guessed several names in a row.
’So Qin Tong can be this chatty?’ Qiu Mengze couldn’t understand. He’d always thought she was cold and aloof.
"She doesn’t even know who you are, so why is she so willing to chat with you?" Qiu Mengze asked, completely baffled.
Xue Rui pointed to the row of flashy diamonds under his profile picture and his "Online via iPhone" status. "Now take a look at yours."
Superficial girls like Qin Tong, who poured their energy into decorating their QQ profiles and showing off their device signatures, were exactly the type to be attracted to an account like his, which was maxed out with all sorts of useless bling.
"Money is for showing off to girls, not for spending on them," Xue Rui said.
The phone in Qiu Mengze’s hand vibrated. It was a message for Xue Rui from Lin Ruoxi, and it was almost identical to Qin Tong’s—she also said she was going to take a shower.
He handed the phone to Xue Rui and shook his head with a sigh. ’We’re both in the same boat,’ he thought. ’Neither of us has any room to laugh at the other.’
He stared at Xue Rui’s screen, curious. He wanted to learn from the master, to see just how Xue Rui talked to girls.
Lin Ruoxi: I’m going to take a shower.
Xue Rui replied: Not allowed. Chat with me.
Qiu Mengze leaned back abruptly. ’What the hell kind of move was that?’ he thought. ’You can actually reply like that?’
At the same time, Lin Ruoxi was just about to undress for her shower when she saw Xue Rui’s reply. Her eyes instantly lit up, and she quickly typed back: Okay, then I won’t.
Xue Rui: If you don’t shower, you’ll stink.
’This bastard Xue Rui is such a hypocrite,’ Qiu Mengze thought, shaking his head. ’He was the one who told her not to shower, and now he’s complaining that she’ll stink. Isn’t he just trying to pick a fight?’
Lin Ruoxi: I’ll go wash after you fall asleep.
Qiu Mengze’s brows furrowed. ’Does that mean she’s planning to talk to him until he falls asleep?’
Before long, Lin Ruoxi sent another message: Can I video call you?
Qiu Mengze angrily chugged his Coke. ’What the hell am I supposed to be learning from this?’ he fumed. ’How could I possibly copy that?’
Xue Rui saw her message and sighed. It hadn’t been that long since he’d left, yet the girl wanted to call him every day.
But he supposed it was normal. Guangdong Province was a long way from home, so it made sense she’d feel insecure.
He accepted the video call. Without a word, he just held up the phone so his face was visible.
Lin Ruoxi didn’t speak either, just quietly watched Xue Rui on the screen.
"You guys usually chat like this?" Qiu Mengze asked incredulously.
"Is that Qiu Mengze?" Lin Ruoxi asked.
Xue Rui turned the screen, and Qiu Mengze appeared in the frame.
"Lin Ruoxi, which university did you get into?" Qiu Mengze asked. He didn’t really have much to talk about with her, and now that the college entrance exams were over, universities were the obvious topic.
He was also curious about her final choice. The celebratory banners at their high school had been a big deal, but they never specified which university Lin Ruoxi had chosen.
"The same one as Xue Rui," Lin Ruoxi said.
’Holy shit!’ Qiu Mengze thought. Lin Ruoxi had actually thrown away a hundred or two on her exam score just to go to the same university as Xue Rui.
After chatting with Lin Ruoxi for a bit, Xue Rui said, "I’ll come to Shencheng to get you in a little while. Get some rest."
Qiu Mengze listened for a bit, realizing Xue Rui was surprisingly busy every day. He spoke up, "Let me treat you to a meal tomorrow. You should invite Gu Muxue, too. My dad said I need to thank her."
He had done really well on his college entrance exams, all thanks to the study plans Gu Muxue had given him—even though he knew he was just an afterthought...
"Nope." Xue Rui shook his head. He had no intention of letting this third wheel join him for a meal with Gu Muxue.
’The girl will probably confess to me tomorrow,’ he thought. ’I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.’
Suddenly, a reply came from Qin Tong: You’re no fun.
Xue Rui’s brow furrowed. With lightning speed, he deleted Qin Tong’s QQ contact. The whole sequence of actions was as smooth as flowing water. He had only been running an experiment to give Qiu Mengze a reality check. Why would he keep her around just to take her crap?
Qiu Mengze stared, dumbfounded. Xue Rui deleted people way too fast.
Just then, Gu Muxue sent a message to Xue Rui: Home yet?
Xue Rui paused. ’She isn’t worried I crashed my e-bike, is she...?’
He replied, "I’m with Qiu Mengze. I’ll be home later."
"I’m heading out. You keep playing," Xue Rui said, getting up from his seat. On his way out, he snatched Qiu Mengze’s unopened drink.
Qiu Mengze was speechless. He opened Qin Tong’s chat window again.
He knew Qin Tong was on her phone, but she wasn’t talking to him. A moment ago, she was chatting with Xue Rui. Who was it now?
Could it be some boy he didn’t know?
His fingers flew across the keyboard: I want to treat Gu Muxue to a meal. What do you think would be a good thing to get her?
Qiu Mengze didn’t have many female friends to ask for advice. Gu Muxue came from such a well-off family; what could he possibly treat her to that wouldn’t be embarrassing?
Qin Tong: I think rich girls all like Western food.
Qiu Mengze was shocked. Qin Tong had actually replied to him. He quickly typed back: Do you like it too?
Qin Tong didn’t answer directly. "I just got out of the shower. You can actually get Gu Muxue to go out to eat with you?"
Qiu Mengze: I can. We’ve been classmates for many years.
He wasn’t confident at all as he sent that, but he remembered one thing clearly: a man can never say he can’t do something.
Qin Tong: I don’t believe you. [Pout]
Qiu Mengze: Then you should come along tomorrow. I’ll treat you.
Qin Tong: I’ll think about it.
Qiu Mengze let out a loud "YES!"
Qin Tong usually just rejected him outright. "I’ll think about it" meant he had a chance.
After closing the chat window, he was instantly conflicted. ’Me, ask out Gu Muxue? That’s a joke, right?’
For a moment, he had no idea what to do, so he sent the chat history to Xue Rui.
The older guy playing a browser game next to him had been watching Qiu Mengze’s screen. He lit a cigarette and said, "A girl like that... who knows how many guys will be asking her out in the future."
Qiu Mengze was about to curse him out, but then he realized the guy was almost as old as his father. He resentfully swallowed his words.
"How do you know?"
"My ex-wife was like that. Some women, even if you win them over, it’s useless. You can’t keep them without money. Are you rich?" The man took a deep drag from his cigarette and tossed the pack in front of Qiu Mengze. "Want one?"
Qiu Mengze angrily put on his headphones. "I quit," he snapped. "And don’t look down on someone just because they’re young and poor."
"So young," the older man said, shaking his head. He figured the kid still had a lot to learn the hard way.
...
Xue Rui didn’t see the messages from Qiu Mengze until after he got home. He replied: Just get her to agree to come out. When the time comes, just say Gu Muxue couldn’t make it.
Nowadays, with Western culture being so influential, "Western food" sounded very high-class. He figured Qin Tong was only interested in the fancy meal and didn’t really care if Gu Muxue was there or not.
Qiu Mengze: Do you have any restaurant recommendations?
Xue Rui ignored him. He couldn’t recall any decent Western restaurants in Hedong City. Those kinds of places just ripped off young couples and usually went out of business within a few years...
...
The next day at noon, Xue Rui went out as planned to have a meal with Gu Muxue.
He had actually wanted to take her to the food court yesterday. It was filled with all sorts of regional snacks. Street vendors often sold them near the school gate, but her upbringing was very strict, and she’d never tried any of it before.
To be fair, it also had to do with the grimy environment. The greasy stains on some of the stalls looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in years and didn’t seem very sanitary. That’s why he brought her to a nearby shopping mall instead. It was a bit pricier, but much cleaner.
From a distance, he saw Gu Muxue getting out of a car. She was wearing a long, warm-white dress and a round, woven bucket hat. She looked quite cute, with the air of an elementary schooler on a class trip.
"What should we eat?" Gu Muxue asked as she walked up.
Xue Rui noticed she looked a bit haggard, as if she hadn’t slept well last night.
’It’s just a confession. Did she have to get this nervous over it?’ he mused. ’I used to confess to someone once a day.’
"Let’s get some snacks. They’re on the basement level," Xue Rui said, holding open the heavy curtain at the mall entrance for her.
But as soon as they entered, he saw familiar figures. Qiu Mengze and a girl had just finished browsing the first floor and were now walking toward the elevator.
"Xue Rui?" Qiu Mengze looked surprised. He glanced behind Xue Rui and was shocked to see Gu Muxue.
Gu Muxue looked slightly surprised as she entered. She gave Qiu Mengze a polite smile. "Have you eaten yet?"
"Not yet, let’s go together," Qiu Mengze said with a smile, walking up and grabbing Xue Rui’s arm.
Xue Rui stared for a second. ’Is this kid nuts?’ he thought. ’Couldn’t he tell that was just a polite pleasantry?’
"Brother Rui, I’m begging you," Qiu Mengze whispered, glancing over at Qin Tong. "Muxue’s already here, right? And Qin Tong was just asking about her."
The main thing was, he was nervous being alone with her and had zero experience on dates like this. It would be best to have a couple there to show him the ropes.
Xue Rui sized up Qin Tong. She had reddish-brown hair, wore the currently popular ripped jeans, and had several decorative chains on her wrist. She looked much more mature than her peers, appearing very stylish.
Some people might not be naturally beautiful, but after a girl dolls herself up, who can tell what she originally looked like?
Take her face, for instance. To Xue Rui, it looked like it was caked in a layer of spackle—and a poorly smoothed one at that. Girls her age were still practicing their makeup skills, and her technique was far from mature.
’Qiu Mengze said he touched her face,’ Xue Rui thought. ’His hand must have come away caked in that stuff.’
He still preferred naturally beautiful girls like Gu Muxue and Lin Ruoxi, whose cheeks you could pinch anytime, anywhere.
Girls who were dolled up were for looking at, not touching. They’d revert to their original forms after taking off their makeup at home, and the cognitive dissonance was just too much to handle.
"Muxue, thank you for tutoring me before. I’ll treat you to Western food," Qiu Mengze said.
Qin Tong walked over and greeted them. "Hi, I’m Qin Tong from the liberal arts class. We went to the same high school."
As she spoke, her eyes were fixed on Gu Muxue’s outfit, and she also sized up Xue Rui.
She gave Qiu Mengze a surprised look. ’He really managed to ask Gu Muxue out?’
Gu Muxue was famously a "rich young lady," and facing girls like her always made Qin Tong feel a faint sense of inferiority.
"Hello, Qin Tong," Gu Muxue said with a small smile.
Xue Rui pretended not to know what was going on between the other two and deliberately asked, "So, what’s the relationship between you two?"
Qin Tong paused, then said flatly, "Friends."
Gu Muxue’s face reddened slightly. She felt Xue Rui’s question was also directed at her. She took a deep breath and gently took Xue Rui’s arm. "Xue Rui and I came here to eat."
She preferred to let her actions do the talking.
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