Want to Kiss

"Xingyu, why are your lips so red?"

After leaving the theater, Lin Piaopiao and Nan Xingyu went to the restroom. Looking at her in the mirror, Lin Piaopiao said,

"I'm so jealous. They're so red and pouty, you don't even need lipstick."

"..."

Nan Xingyu washed her hands.

She thought to herself, Xi Jin-brand lipstick. I don't want it one bit.

Outside the restroom.

Xi Jin and Jiang Yu had come out first and were waiting outside.

Jiang Yu glanced at the person beside him.

Xi Jin liked wearing black jackets. With both hands in his pockets, he watched the restroom entrance, his refined profile as lovely as a painting, an air of cool aloofness and noble elegance surrounding him.

He only had to stand there doing nothing to draw eyes.

Quite a few girls looked over.

Some recognized him as the shooting champion and wanted to approach him, but the coldness in his eyes drove them back.

Jiang Yu had never expected it.

Nan Xingyu was his girlfriend.

He recalled Nan Xingyu's unusual behavior at the dinner that day.

So it had been because of Xi Jin.

But the two of them didn't seem to want the outside world to know about their relationship.

Just as he was wondering about it, Xi Jin spoke calmly.

"Brother Jiang, if you have something to say, just say it."

His gaze remained fixed on the entrance.

Jiang Yu paused briefly. "It's nothing."

At that, Xi Jin let out a soft, derisive laugh and turned to glance at him.

"Didn't you see us kissing, Brother Jiang?"

"..."

The bluntness of his words made Jiang Yu's heart tighten.

So Xi Jin had already noticed him looking back just now.

He was staking his claim.

"I hope you'll keep our secret, Brother Jiang. My dad doesn't know."

Xi Jin's tone was flat.

But Jiang Yu felt that he wasn't making a "request," but issuing a "warning."

All of a sudden, the person before him seemed

like a stranger.

Xi Jin's gaze shifted to Nan Xingyu, who had just come out.

Jiang Yu followed his gaze.

Nan Xingyu shot Xi Jin a glance, with a girl's customary willfulness.

Xi Jin's lips curved almost imperceptibly, his gaze clinging to her as though drawn out in silken threads.

Only after learning about their relationship did Jiang Yu realize how obvious their little secretive expressions had been.

As the only one still in the dark, Lin Piaopiao was wholeheartedly trying to match Nan Xingyu and Jiang Yu.

The group reached the parking lot.

"Xingyu, sit in the front passenger seat."

Lin Piaopiao said, "Once Senior Brother Jiang drops off the great master, the front seat will be empty. It'll be like he's our chauffeur."

Before Nan Xingyu could speak, Jiang Yu opened the car door. "It's fine. I can take you two back to school first."

Nan Xingyu breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as she was about to open the door and get in, she brushed past Xi Jin, who was heading for the front passenger seat.

His fingertips deliberately grazed the back of her hand.

A jolt of electricity shot through her, startling her into pulling her hand back at once.

He opened the car door and cast her a casual glance from the corner of his eye, a hint of a smile she couldn't understand on his face.

After getting in the car, Lin Piaopiao sent Nan Xingyu a message.

[Senior Brother Jiang is so clueless! My hint was that obvious, and he still didn't take it!]

Nan Xingyu sent back a "stop" sticker and added:

[Stop trying to set us up. There really is no chance for us.]

[But I really think Senior Brother Jiang is interested in you.]

Nan Xingyu didn't reply again and tucked her phone back into her pocket.

The two got out at the gate of Peking University.

The car drove off into the night once more.

Xi Jin leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, resting with his eyes closed.

Jiang Yu wanted to ask him about it several times, but he felt it was someone else's private business.

Since they had chosen to keep it hidden, they must have had a compelling reason.

Finally, Xi Jin broke the silence first.

"Brother Jiang."

"Hmm?"

Jiang Yu glanced at him.

With his eyes closed, Xi Jin said slowly, "She and I have known each other since we were seven."

He volunteered the information.

Jiang Yu's grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"She's my family's gardener's daughter."

"..."

That sentence alone told Jiang Yu why they had to keep their relationship a secret.

"What are your plans for the future?"

Jiang Yu asked.

Xi Jin opened his eyes slightly and smiled with feigned ease. "Get married."

Jiang Yu glanced at him. "Does your dad agree?"

Xi Jin's tone grew a little colder. "It doesn't matter."

"..."

Seeing his reaction, Jiang Yu understood.

The next day.

Jurisprudence class.

Nan Xingyu was on edge throughout the whole class, afraid he would suddenly appear like a ghost.

Not until the bell rang at the end of class

did she see that he still hadn't appeared.

Xi Jin never played by the rules.

How could he be so "well-behaved"?

She was a little afraid he might be cooking up another nasty trick.

Lin Piaopiao sat beside her. As soon as class ended, she pulled out her phone and checked it.

"Oh, Xingyu, the counselor said in the group chat that someone's coming to our dorm."

"Oh."

Nan Xingyu packed her bag.

"Jiang Yuexi,"

Lin Piaopiao read aloud. "That's a pretty nice name. It says she's an exchange student."

In the blink of an eye, another Friday arrived.

Xi Jin had been gone for several days.

Jiang Yu also seemed a little colder toward her. After class, he didn't linger, but took his lesson plans and left.

Nan Xingyu couldn't help wondering whether Xi Jin had done something.

[Do you miss me?]

Class had just ended, and the students were filing out of the classroom. Nan Xingyu looked at the words on her phone screen.

Like hell she missed him.

It would be best if he stayed away for a month, a year, a lifetime... uh, that was too long.

A year without showing up.

So she could catch her breath.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, she obediently replied: [I do.]

The next second, a photo slid onto the screen.

Nan Xingyu glanced at Lin Piaopiao, who was taking notes, then carefully shielded the screen with her hand before opening the photo.

In the photo, Xi Jin was at a chamber of commerce event.

He wore a black casual suit, the collar of his gray shirt slightly open, a beam of fluorescent light falling across his face.

Even the deadly angle of a photo taken by a straight guy couldn't hide his noble air.

That damn man.

His personality was so perverted, yet he just had to be born with a face that was exactly her type.

She enlarged the photo with her fingers. A pretty girl was sitting diagonally behind Xi Jin, looking toward the camera, and had happened to be caught in the shot.

[Yours.]

Xi Jin sent another message.

Nan Xingyu copied his camera angle, deliberately scrunched up a double chin, and took a photo with dead-fish eyes before sending it to him.

[Baby, you're so cute. Want to kiss.]

Seeing the message, Nan Xingyu's eyelids drooped.

He was sick.

That afternoon, she returned to the dorm after class.

A new person had arrived.

Nan Xingyu thought she looked a little familiar.

Jiang Yuexi greeted them with a smile and took out some exquisitely packaged chocolates to share.

"It's our first meeting, so here's a little gift."

"Wow!"

Lin Piaopiao looked at the box. "Isn't this that super expensive handmade chocolate?"

She hurriedly opened it, handed one to Nan Xingyu first, then tossed one to Li Ziyan.

"I've only ever seen it on my phone. One piece costs several hundred yuan."

Li Ziyan took a bite, and her eyes lit up. "It's so good!"

Jiang Yuexi looked at Nan Xingyu, who hadn't touched her chocolate. "Xingyu, why aren't you eating?"

Nan Xingyu was reading. Hearing her, she looked up, and unable to resist her enthusiasm, picked up the chocolate and peeled off the wrapper.

She joined in the praise. "Mm, it's really good."

Lin Piaopiao said, "Xingyu, you've never had chocolate this good, have you?"

"Mm-hmm."

Nan Xingyu nodded.

In fact, Xi Jin had bought her every flavor of this brand of chocolate.

Naturally, she didn't dare say outright that she'd eaten it before.

With her spending habits, how could she bear to buy chocolate that cost several hundred yuan a piece?

For some reason,

the silky, milky sweetness in her mouth took on a hint of bitterness.

Looking at the beautiful Jiang Yuexi, who had an innate air of nobility, she couldn't help thinking:

Xi Jin should be with someone like her, shouldn't he?

"Let me treat everyone to dinner tonight."

Jiang Yuexi made the suggestion.

Lin Piaopiao said, "No, no, you've already treated us to chocolate. How about the three of us split the bill and treat our new roommate to dinner?"

Li Ziyan raised her hand. "Sure."

Nan Xingyu, chewing her chocolate, chimed in, "Agreed."

Jiang Yuexi insisted. "The restaurant belongs to my youngest uncle. Taking you there would help support his business, so it's settled."

Her warm invitation was hard to refuse.

Ten minutes later, the group climbed into a convertible sports car covered in pink rhinestones.

"Ahhh, a Porsche 911—"

Lin Piaopiao had already lost control. Sitting in the front passenger seat, she couldn't wait to pull out her phone and take all sorts of photos.

The car finally stopped outside a modern Chinese restaurant.

Nan Xingyu watched the cars passing by. They were all worth over a million yuan.

Clearly, the people who came here to dine were either rich or noble.

As soon as Nan Xingyu entered the lobby, she felt a gaze shoot toward her.

She reflexively looked to the side.

Xi Jin was standing not far away, looking in her direction.

Besides several men in sharply pressed suits, Xi Kun was also at his side.

Nan Xingyu immediately looked away.

But out of the corner of her eye, she noticed.

Xi Jin was walking toward her.

What was he going to do?!