Tong Jia was planning to part ways with Song Yancheng, but obviously Song Yancheng begged to differ.
When they arrived at the building where Tong Jia lived, Song Yancheng held the car keys and stood still beside it. Tong Jia gave him an interrogative glance; she didn’t know why he was still here.
"A movie has been released recently. I hear it isn’t that bad." Actually, Song Yancheng was a little nervous. His palms were sweaty. He didn’t want to return early and still wanted to be with her for a while. No matter what he had to do, he would do it.
All this while Tong Jia had been feigning ignorance to Song Yancheng's hints, but he was being too obvious. Even she felt that he didn’t even have any plans to hide his intentions, directly asking for a date. She thought that it was really funny. Normally, wasn’t there a step-by-step procedure to pursue a lady? Why was he in such a hurry? He wasn’t following convention; Tong Jia didn't know how to deal with it.
"Mr. Song…" Tong Jia said.
"Tong Jia, just call my name directly." Song Yancheng smiled and corrected her.
Tong Jia was silent for a moment, then said helplessly, "Song Yancheng, if I haven’t misunderstood, do you want to pursue me?" She had finally said it. It wasn’t worth it to treat Song Yancheng in a roundabout way. Since he had chosen to not be secretive, then she would also be blunt. It would be easier to talk without beating around the bush.
Song Yancheng was surprised. He hadn’t expected Tong Jia to suddenly ask this question. The two people stared silently at each other for a while. He nodded frankly. "You haven’t misunderstood.”
“Why?" Tong Jia stared at him with her wide eyes. She really didn’t get it. A person like Mr. Song wouldn’t be fascinated by a beauty of her level. For this point, Tong Jia was still very self-aware.
She wasn’t bad looking, but weren't the beauties that Song Yancheng had met no less? She believed that as long as he waved, plenty of people who were more beautiful than her would rush to queue up. She didn’t think it was her personality, because they had met only yesterday, so there had been no time to understand each other.
Suddenly, she visualized the scene of the overbearing president falling in love with her. Tong Jia doubted she was being filmed!
Song Yancheng felt that Tong Jia was very cute like this. He could hardly suppress his grin. She looked like a grumpy child. His eyes were full of tolerance and gentleness. He said slowly, "Actually…"
Tong Jia held her breath and wanted to hear what unknown advantages she had.
“…I also don’t know." Song Yancheng was innocent. What he said was true. He didn't even know why he was like this. It seemed that he had been attracted to Tong Jia for no reason. He wanted to follow her, watch her laugh, and listen to her. For no reason, for literally no reason.
This was the first time that she had encountered such a mindless confession. Tong Jia’s brain was muddled. She had thought that Song Yancheng would say something about her that even her parents wouldn’t know, but… who would’ve expected him to say that HE! DID! NOT! KNOW!
Even though Tong Jia seemed calm on the surface, her heart was beating like crazy. She said with a calm tone, "Song Yancheng, today, I don’t want to watch a movie. I’m sleepy and want to return home and sleep.”
Song Yancheng raised his hand, looked at the time, and nodded. "I understand. You get sleepy when you’re full. Go ahead.”
……
Tong Jia turned her head and distressedly walked into the apartment.
He was also the overbearing president. Why didn't he have any flirting skills? Frankly speaking, as a bystander, Tong Jia appreciated Song Yancheng very much, but she couldn't think about becoming his girlfriend.
But Tong Jia was also a very ordinary person. When facing the pursuit of someone she didn't hate, her first reaction was not to refuse but to wait and see. Besides, she was also in an empty window period[1] now, wasn't she?
She needed to think about it, to think about it a little more clearly.
Song Yancheng did not leave but sat in the car with his eyes closed in repose. After a moment, his phone rang; it was from Feng Hao.
"What's the matter?" Song Yancheng pinched his brow and asked.
“Where are you? Want to have a drink tonight?" Feng Hao was also a single dog. As soon as the weekend arrived, he had no work. He could only call his bros to go out. How would he know, asking the whole circle and everyone had a girlfriend. When he was heartbroken, Feng Hao suddenly thought of Song Yan, who was also a single dog.
"No." Song Yancheng's answer was concise.
Feng Hao paused for a moment, then said loudly, "Don't tell me you have a girlfriend, too!”
"I don’t.”
After Song Yancheng answered his question, Feng Hao had no time to be cynical, since Song Yancheng added, "However, I have someone I like.”
Feng Hao at the other end was completely overwhelmed. He couldn't believe that the person who would’ve said such a thing would’ve turned out to be Song Yancheng. He hesitated for a long time before asking, “…Are you Song Yancheng?”
"If you don’t have anything else, I’m hanging up." Song Yancheng didn't want to talk nonsense with Feng Hao anymore.
"Wait, wait! Wait a minute!" Feng Hao's voice was full of excitement. "When did this happen? Why don't I know about it! Who is it, which lady, is it the person from the Academy of Fine Arts who teased you at the birthday party?!”
“No." Song Yancheng decided to listen to Feng Hao.
Someone seemed to have pressed the pause button on Feng Hao. He became silent for a moment. He had known Song Yancheng for several years, and Song Yancheng was one of the cleanest in the circle. He was clearly capable of fooling around and enjoying the pleasures of life, but there had been no woman around him. Feng Hao once asked Song Yancheng, and Song Yancheng had answered this question at that time. He’d said, “Why should I waste my precious time on people who don't matter?”
Now… someone important to Song Yancheng had appeared?
Feng Hao was sincerely happy about this, and also expressed his full concern. "I won't ask. Please tell me when you want to talk. No matter what problems you have with this girl, as long as I can help, just ask.”
"There’s a real problem, right now." Song Yancheng also felt that he seemed to be good at this. "After she invited me to a meal at noon, I invited her to watch a movie, and then she said she was sleepy, so she went upstairs to sleep, so how can I ask her to dinner?”
"..." Feng Hao was continuously being surprised. "She invited you? She invited you? She invited you?”
Song Yancheng: "…En.”
Feng Hao blew up completely. He said regretfully, "How can you let a lady pay the bill?! Say, do you want to be famous?! If the lady puts this matter on Weibo, can you be angry!”
Although Song Yancheng felt that it had been wrong to let Tong Jia pay the bill at first, Feng Hao was too agitated, okay?
"She insisted on paying the bill, and I didn't want to bother her.”
Song Yancheng felt that if he had argued with Tong Jia about who would pay the bill, Tong Jia would’ve been impatient.
Feng Hao couldn't afford to fall down on the sofa. After a long time, he said anxiously, "If this lady is still willing to contact you, ask to marry her shamelessly, too.”
"Back to the point, how can I ask her to dinner later?" Song Yancheng was very open-minded in asking for advice. In this regard, he really had little to no experience.
"You can ask her out in a natural and poised manner. If she wants it, it's best. If she refuses, you can buy some fruit and send it to her. And yes, you can book a seat now. Don't wait for her reply. Weibo has said that the most annoying thing is not knowing where to take her to eat. You have to arrange everything in advance. At the very least, you have to have some sense in your heart." Teacher Feng gave out his knowledge earnestly.
Song Yancheng nodded. He found himself on the phone, but Feng Hao who was at the other end couldn't see it, so he replied, "Yes, I see.”
Feng Hao hung up the phone with peace of mind. There was a sense of joy that his pig was finally going out to pick cabbage[2].
Tong Jia fell asleep when she got home, and didn't wake up until three o'clock. Looking out the window, she felt like it had been ages. She was dazed for a few minutes before getting up and going to the living room. Her phone vibrated. She went back to the bedroom and picked up the phone from the bedside table. She turned it on to see, and could not refrain from laughing.
【It's not good to take a long nap in the afternoon.】
Tong Jia quickly replied to the text.
【En.】
Who would’ve known that the phone would ring no less than five minutes after the text had been sent, and it would be from Song Yancheng?
"Are you hungry?" As soon as the call connected, the first thing Song Yancheng asked was about her hunger.
…It was only three o'clock.
"I’m not.”
Song Yancheng was disappointed to hear this answer in the car, but soon thought of what Feng Hao had said. "Are you thirsty?”
He had already bought a lot of fruit.
Translator Notes:
[1]: Empty window period means a period of time in which one is single.
[2]: Pig finally going out to pick cabbage: in this idiom, a pig represents a male and a cabbage represents a female. So it means a man meets a good girl.