Chapter 282 - 259: Lin Ruoxi’s Rights

Xue Rui smiled and took a step back. The young lady leaned forward, her body extending slightly past the edge of the circle, but her feet didn’t dare step out. Now she was too far away to hug him, and she anxiously shuffled to the side.

Xue Rui found it amusing. ’This girl is obedient to a fault.’

’Where was the boldness she’d had when she’d force-kissed him?’

’If this were Gu Muxue, she would’ve stomped away the circle he’d drawn and come over to bite him...’

A flicker of disappointment flashed in the young lady’s eyes, and her arms gradually drooped. Xue Rui hadn’t hugged her.

"Come and get me," Xue Rui said with a smile, taking a few steps outside the circle.

The young lady’s eyes immediately lit up. ’Xue Rui wants to play a game with me...’

The two of them looked much like the other young couples chasing each other playfully nearby. Lin Ruoxi was in charge of catching Xue Rui, but with a twist: Xue Rui walked around the outside of the circle, while the young lady walked around the inside, never daring to step over the line.

Yu Minlan sighed as she watched. Lin Ruoxi was obedient to an absurd degree. If she was told not to leave the circle, she absolutely would not leave it. Her inflexibility was a bit much.

After playing with the young lady for a while, Xue Rui walked over and hugged her. "You’re free. If you want to come out, just come out. No one can control you. Obedient kids are the ones who tend to get hurt."

That’s just human nature. Even in the same family, it’s hard for parents to treat their children with perfect fairness. The troublemakers often receive more affection, while the obedient children are frequently ignored.

Because they’re so obedient and don’t cause any trouble, people naturally don’t feel the need to pay them much mind.

When obedient children feel wronged, they tend to internalize it and not burden others with their emotions...

Lin Ruoxi was exactly that kind of child. He might have unintentionally hurt the young lady’s feelings, but she would never complain. It would probably take him a long time to realize it, and by then, his attempts to make it up to her would always be a little too late.

He loved how obedient the young lady was, but sometimes he wished she would rebel just a little, maybe even throw a small tantrum...

In their relationship, it seemed like the young lady was the one who always listened to him, but in reality, he was the one being doted on.

The one who is pampered always grows complacent.

Xue Rui felt helpless too. ’Nothing to be done. That’s just human nature.’

Lin Ruoxi said nothing, just nuzzling against Xue Rui’s face with a look of pure enjoyment.

Yu Minlan’s lips parted, but she stopped herself before any words came out...

In the end, she swallowed her words.

She’d never been in a relationship herself, but that didn’t mean she was clueless. Her college roommate went through partners more often than she changed clothes; she’d seen every type of couple imaginable.

But the dynamic between Lin Ruoxi and Xue Rui was unlike anything she had ever seen or heard of.

It was as if Lin Ruoxi was bound by countless shackles, but none of them had been placed on her by Xue Rui. She had tied herself down.

She felt their dynamic was unhealthy, but Lin Ruoxi looked so genuinely happy right now. Her face was radiant with a smile of pure contentment, an expression Minlan had never seen on her before.

Xue Rui pinched the young lady’s cheek. She leaned into it, her eyes squinting in pleasure, letting him do as he pleased.

Finding her soft, squishy cheeks irresistibly cute, Xue Rui took out his phone and snapped a picture.

He patted the young lady’s head. "I’m just going to sit over there for a bit. When you and Yu Minlan get tired of playing, we’ll head somewhere else."

"Um, so... can I leave the circle?" Lin Ruoxi asked.

"If you want to leave, just leave. You don’t have to ask me," Xue Rui said with a sigh of exasperation. He’d just explained it all so clearly, but it seemed the young lady hadn’t absorbed a single word.

The young lady pouted, her spirits sinking.

Xue Rui took a deep breath. "Yes, you can."

The young lady nodded, satisfied, and went back to playing in the sand with her shovel.

’The pressure is immense!’ Xue Rui thought. ’The girl needs his approval for every little thing, as if she were a computer program that required him to sign a user agreement for every single action. It’s like she’s creating an audit trail for work...’

’It’s... so devious!’

’Doesn’t that mean all the responsibility falls on him?’

Yu Minlan crouched down and whispered, "Ruoxi, Xue Rui already told you. If you want to leave the circle, you can."

She felt like Lin Ruoxi’s brain just switched off whenever she was with Xue Rui, making her unable to understand the simplest things.

"Mm, I understood," Lin Ruoxi said meekly.

’She just didn’t like hearing ambiguous things; they made her feel insecure. She needed to hear Xue Rui say it himself, out loud.’

"You’re his girlfriend now! You have to learn to exercise your rights!" Yu Minlan said, full of righteous indignation.

Lin Ruoxi asked curiously, "Um, what rights do I have?"

Yu Minlan thought for a moment, then launched into a tirade. "Like checking his phone, ordering him around, making him run errands..."

The more Yu Minlan said, the more cathartic it felt. Every day, it was Xue Rui ordering her to run errands, and his bossy, commanding attitude really got under her skin.

The thought of her boss being ordered around like a lackey filled her with a strange sense of satisfaction, and she desperately wanted Lin Ruoxi to try ordering Xue Rui around right that second.

However, just as she was lost in this fantasy, Lin Ruoxi’s soft, gentle voice reached her ears.

"Xue Rui is my boyfriend. Those are his rights, too."

’She had just asked Xue Rui for a hug, and he’d given her one. That was a girlfriend’s right.’

Yu Minlan slapped her thigh in exasperation, feeling like Lin Ruoxi was a hopeless case. ’Why is she suddenly bringing up gender equality?’

"You can’t just listen to everything he says. You need to have your own opinions," Yu Minlan urged. If Lin Ruoxi kept this up, she would lose herself completely.

Lin Ruoxi gave a faint smile. "Mm, I do have my own thoughts. And I am very free."

’Lin Ruoxi actually understands everything,’ Yu Minlan thought. ’Fine, keep spoiling Xue Rui. Sooner or later, it’s going to blow up in her face.’

In reality, the freedom Lin Ruoxi believed she had was one defined by the boundaries Xue Rui set. If the price of true freedom was losing Xue Rui, then she would rather do without it.