Listening to his mother’s tirade, Xiao Su’s expression twisted in disbelief. However, he was not given the chance to speak as Liang Yahe continued to scold him. When she was done with her lecture, she still gave him no chance to speak. Instead, she ended it with a threat. “You better treat her well in the future; do you understand? You should cook sometimes too. With the way you are, do you even deserve a girlfriend as beautiful as she is?”
He said nothing in response. Wait. How am I unworthy? “Mom, you can’t say that.”
“Why can’t I say that? If you are worthy, then why have you been single all this while? Can’t you put in a little effort? You’ve even made your family worry about you. Now that you’ve gotten yourself a girlfriend, cherish her well. Otherwise, I’ll look for a hundred blind date candidates for you.”
A hundred. Pursing his lips, he no longer wanted to continue the conversation. Perhaps, there were all the more reasons to continue with the cooperation between him and Jiang Xiaobai now.
“Let’s go. Remember to help her fill her plate while we are having lunch later. Be gentler toward her; do you understand?” Afterward, she finally let him out of the room. At the same time, Jiang Xiaobai finished serving the dishes. Thus, everybody washed their hands and served the rice.
Xiao Su exchanged a glance with Jiang Xiaobai. Then, he randomly picked a seat at the table. At that moment, Liang Yahe kicked him hard in the shins. It hurt so much that he frowned from the pain and glanced at his mother. She then forced a smile at him. “Go on; sit next to Bai. I’m going to sit here with your Dad.”
He was speechless. How is this or that seat any different? Still, seeing as Liang Yahe had spoken, he sat next to Jiang Xiaobai. As soon as he sat down, Jiang Xiaobai whispered in a voice low enough that only the two of them could hear, “I spoke without thinking and accidentally admitted to being in a relationship with you.”
The expression on his face remained unchanged as he replied indifferently, “It’s fine.” Even if they denied it, his mother would forcefully label them as boyfriend and girlfriend anyway. If that was going to be the case, it would be better to just admit to it. At the very least, there would be fewer unnecessary issues cropping up.
Seeing him looking so indifferent about it, she let out a breath of relief. I thought it would cause trouble for him. If he gets mad at me and refuses to be my shield against my parents, what will I do then?
“Xiao Su, hurry and help Xiaobai fill up her plate.”
Just as he prepared to start eating, Liang Yahe smilingly reminded him. He paused. However, before he could say a word, Jiang Xiaobai’s voice rang out from next to him, “There’s no need; I can do it myself. Mrs. Xiao, Mr. Xiao, please have more.”
“Xiao Su, did you not hear what I said?” Liang Yahe raised her eyebrows. Thus, Xiao Su had no choice but to place some food on Jiang Xiaobai’s plate. When he was done, his expression seemed to say ‘That’s enough, right?’.
Staring at his expression and the look in his eyes, Liang Yahe could barely hold herself back from punching him in the face. What is wrong with this stupid child? How can he act like such an impatient mute just because I asked him to serve his girlfriend? Does he have any awareness about being a boyfriend?
Jiang Xiaobai looked at the food on her plate, then looked at Liang Yahe’s expression. She seemed to have figured out something from it. Subsequently, she thoughtfully helped Xiao Su place some food on his plate and smilingly told him to eat more. No matter what, he had helped her out in front of her mother. Therefore, if he required some help, how could she not play along?
At first, he could not understand the reason for her sudden enthusiasm. However, listening to the way Liang Yahe complimented Jiang Xiaobai, he immediately understood what was going on. Throughout the meal, Xiao Su suffered many eye-rolls. On the other hand, Jiang Xiaobai was showered with compliments and praises. In short, in the course of that one meal, he began to have an existential crisis.
The Xiao couple was very taken with Jiang Xiaobai. They went on and on, complimenting her for her looks and her ability to cook. When they learned that she wrote manuscripts for a living, they even praised her for being cultured. Then, when Liang Yahe was done praising Jiang Xiaobai, she would start criticizing Xiao Su; she would criticize him to the point where it seemed like he could get nothing right. By the time the two elders left that evening, Xiao Su was utterly speechless. He sat on the sofa, looking like his head was killing him. Then, Jiang Xiaobai sat down next to him.
“Did I cause any trouble for you?” she asked, thinking she should show some concern. “I stay at home every day and I thought your parents didn’t know where you lived. It was so unexpected to see that they have their own set of keys. When they first came into the house, I didn’t even know who they were. It gave me such a fright.”
In response, he lifted his head and stared at her silently; his gaze was dark. Under his gaze, her guilty conscience prickled. “W-What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Were you happy receiving so many compliments today?” he gloomily asked out of the blue
“Pfft.” She couldn’t stop her laughter from bubbling up after hearing his reply. “Of course, I’m happy. Your mother is so good at it; she complimented me to the sky and back! Still, are you her biological son? Why was every word she said to you so scathing? I don’t think I heard her mention a single good thing about you. Even so, you shouldn’t feel sad. It just proves that you are her biological son.”
Is that so? Then, am I supposed to feel honored? The living room fell into silence. After a while, he replied, “I’ve always been single and unmarried. For that, she has been very unhappy with me.”
When talk of being single came up, Jiang Xiaobai recalled the conversation she overheard during the day. “During the day, I heard them saying that they wanted to introduce blind date candidates to you. Moreover, they said there were many for you to choose from. You’re quite a ladies’ man.”
Xiao Su frowned unhappily at the words ‘ladies’ man’ and quickly said, “Now that they know of your existence, I don’t think they will try to introduce a blind date candidate to me anymore.”
“Then, do you want to go on a blind date or not? My existence has helped you solve your problems, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
At first, she thought he would deny it. Unexpectedly, he admitted to it so readily. Thinking back to Uncle Yanming’s request, she blinked her eyes. “In that case, I’ve done you a large favor.”
To that, he did not reply.
“Look, if your parents had not met me when they came over, they would have arranged many blind dates for you. If that happened, you would have gotten sick of meeting people. However, you were saved from a lot of trouble because of me, right?”
He glanced sideways at her. She sat leaning against the sofa and stared at him with a pair of bright, shining eyes—she looked at him as if he were her prey. Those eyes… He was way too familiar with them. “Go on; you have something you want to beg from me, don’t you?”
Beg? She blinked. “What do you mean by ‘beg’? Don’t put it in such a terrible way, will you? We are helping each other out.”
“Sure. You can put it however you like.” He couldn’t be bothered to fight her on this.
“Does that mean that you have agreed to help?” She suddenly leaned closer. She was so near that she was almost touching his face. Her beautiful and delicate eyelashes were right in front of him, fanning out like two tiny, little fans while her beautiful eyes practically shone with light.
A sweet scent coming from the girl wafted into his nose. He couldn’t help frowning, wondering what sort of perfume she was using. “Can you not use such strong perfume next time?”
Jiang Xiaobai was left speechless by his words. “What perfume? I’m not using any perfume.”
Is that so? Xiao Su stared at her suspiciously. If so, why does the scent coming from her make me feel short of breath as well as a tightness in my chest?
