Chapter 409 - 306: Do You Know She Likes You?

Gu Muxue stood frozen in place for a long time, occasionally glancing down to meet Xue Rui’s eyes, mentally analyzing what exactly he had done wrong.

’Does Xue Rui have some kind of special relationship with Lin Ruoxi?’

Xue Rui was utterly confused. The girl’s reaction was not what he had expected.

He had imagined that the proud girl would come over, smack him a few times, and then drag him somewhere with fewer mosquitoes.

In reality, however, Gu Muxue was lost in thought. A patterned mosquito landed on the small hand she was using to hold her candied hawthorn, but the girl failed to notice it at all.

Xue Rui wanted to swat it away for her, but just as he reached out, the girl suddenly turned and walked away.

After storming off for a few steps, Gu Muxue paused, turned back, and yelled to Xue Rui, "Get up."

’That’s not the right tone...’ Xue Rui thought, a sense of dread creeping in.

The girl’s icy voice made his heart sink.

’What has Gu Muxue figured out this time?’

He admired Gu Muxue’s powers of deduction, but at the same time, he was deeply worried about his own future.

Gu Muxue was far too clever, nothing like a simpleton like Lin Ruoxi. His recent attempt to placate her might have just backfired on him.

That’s right. When a troublemaking kid who usually won’t admit they’re wrong even after a spanking suddenly starts doing their homework and helping around the house without any warning...

...do the parents think the child has finally grown up?

Sure, parents like that exist, but they’re a tiny minority.

Most parents, however, will predict what’s coming based on their child’s usual character...

...and assume the kid has gotten into some monumental trouble!

The kind of trouble they can’t get out of on their own! And they’re just trying to butter them up in advance!

And just like that, whether he was in the wrong or not, Gu Muxue would be convinced he was.

"My lady, military training must have been exhausting. Allow this humble servant to give you a massage."

Xue Rui stuck to Gu Muxue’s side like a eunuch attending to his master, never straying far. He’d massage the girl’s shoulders one moment and her arms the next.

Gu Muxue breathed an inward sigh of relief. ’Thank goodness Xue Rui is back to his usual shameless self.’

This suggested that whatever mistake Xue Rui had made, it wasn’t an unforgivable one.

Suddenly, Xue Rui’s phone rang. He muted it without even a glance.

"Aren’t you going to get that?" Gu Muxue asked lightly.

Xue Rui shook his head. "It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. Nothing is more important than this."

"Hasn’t it only been two days?" The corners of Gu Muxue’s lips curled up unconsciously. She unwrapped the candied hawthorn and began to eat; Xue Rui knew just how she liked it.

"A day without you feels like a year," Xue Rui said earnestly.

Gu Muxue bit into a whole hawthorn berry, and a sweet and sour flavor spread across her tongue.

’Love is just like this candied hawthorn,’ she thought, ’sweet on the outside, but sour on the inside.’

Xue Rui had started with the sweet talk;

’...and after the sweet talk comes the confession, right?’

"Muxue, let’s go eat first?" Xue Rui suggested.

Gu Muxue shook her head. "You have something you need to say, don’t you? Let’s eat after you’ve said it."

Xue Rui took a deep breath. He had come today planning to "confess," and his earlier accidental maneuver had, in a way, already laid the psychological groundwork...

In any case, his attitude was now properly deferential, and the girl was mentally prepared.

But he was afraid that after she heard him out, she’d be too angry to eat...

"Let’s just eat first."

"You talk first. After you’re done, we’ll go eat."

"How about this, let’s go out and eat while we talk," Xue Rui proposed a compromise.

Just as the two were about to leave, Xue Rui saw a small electric scooter heading toward them.

Xue Rui took a few steps forward, shielding the girl with his body.

"Boss, I got your number from Sister Yu but couldn’t get through. Glad I finally found you."

Li Ruihao pulled a large paper bag from the basket on the front of his scooter. It was printed with the McDonald’s logo.

Xue Rui spoke up. "Give it to the Boss Lady."

’She won’t take it from me,’ he thought, ’but she’ll accept it from someone else out of politeness.’

Li Ruihao nodded at Gu Muxue. "Hello, Boss Lady. You haven’t eaten yet, have you? The cafeteria is packed right now, so I went out and got you something."

Gu Muxue smiled as she accepted the heavy bag. Hearing Xue Rui have someone call her "Boss Lady" made her quite happy.

She glanced at the bag. ’Xue Rui just said he was taking me out, so he couldn’t have planned for this meal,’ she thought. She prepared to pay for it, fumbling around in the pockets of her military training uniform.

Xue Rui held up a hand to stop her, then pulled out two hundred yuan in cash and handed it to Li Ruihao. "This is for reimbursement."

"Boss, really, no need."

"Don’t play games. Just take it. We need to keep business and personal matters separate."

"No, no, no..."

Li Ruihao refused again and again, finally just hopping on his scooter and speeding off.

"He didn’t want it." Xue Rui shrugged, holding his hands out.

’It’s not like I’m trying to take advantage of him; the guy genuinely didn’t want the money.’

’Is a job really worth such a gamble?’

’Buying a ton of food and searching all over campus without even knowing where I was...’

’The most expensive things in life are free. Li Ruihao’s actions have laid his ambitions completely bare.’

But that was a matter for later. For now, he finally had an excuse to get the girl to eat. He picked up the heavy bag. Inside, along with a family bucket, was a kid’s meal.

’When in doubt about what to buy, going with the most famous fast-food brand is never a mistake.’ Xue Rui’s impression of Li Ruihao improved.

Xue Rui led the girl to an empty lecture hall. Once inside, he poked his head out the door and glanced both ways.

"Coast is clear. Let’s sit," Xue Rui said with a smile.

The two sat side-by-side in a corner by the window, eating and chatting about funny stories from their high school days.