Chapter 139: I Want You to Kiss Me

The waiter glanced at Xu Yanfeng, using his eyes to confirm whether what Xia Xi said was true. But Xu Yanfeng seemed not to have received the signal the waiter was sending, still in a petrified state, his gaze fixed on Xia Xi's face without blinking.

He felt this dreamlike illusion for the first time, as if everything happening before him wasn't real, and he needed to carefully discern whether she was real or illusory.

But his brain had stopped working, his other senses failed, leaving him feeling as if he had lost his soul, even making it hard to focus his eyes.

Xia Xi couldn't be bothered to wrangle with the clueless waiter, so she simply went around him, lifted her head, tightened her grip on the arm holding the roses, and strode toward Xu Yanfeng with a determined, somewhat heroic step.

Stopping in front of him, she lifted her smiling face and finally spoke the four words she had been holding in all the way: "Happy New Year!"

Xu Yanfeng stared at her fixedly; her smile grew brighter, more radiant than the bouquet of roses blocking her view. She waved her hand in front of his eyes twice, worried he hadn't heard her clearly, and repeated: "Xu Yanfeng, Happy New Year."

After a long while, Xu Yanfeng came to his senses, his throat tightening, almost unable to make a sound.

Xia Xi tiptoed closer to him: "Don't you have anything you want to say to me?"

Xu Yanfeng's throat rolled; he had something to say to her: "How... did you end up here?" Even though he knew the answer in his heart, he asked anyway, and despite his effort to stay calm, his hesitant tone betrayed his true emotions.

"You don't know?" He's so smart, Xia Xi didn't believe he couldn't guess.

Xu Yanfeng remained silent; he just wanted to hear her say it herself.

"I came all the way to Nancheng just to see you and give you New Year's blessings—otherwise why would I come?" Xia Xi, as he wished, frankly stated her purpose, then shoved the roses from her arms into his hands, her tone rising: "This is a New Year gift, I picked it myself, it even has thorns—perfect for you, right?"

The roses hit his face, and Xu Yanfeng instinctively grabbed them; Xia Xi freed her hands, stepped back, pulled out her phone to check the time: "I bought a return ticket, I have to go now."

Xu Yanfeng said in disbelief: "Now?"

"Right." Xia Xi slipped both hands into her down jacket pockets, shrugged her shoulders, her expression calm and satisfied: "I said I came specially to see you; having seen you, I should head home."

If she didn't leave, would she stay to see the new year? She did want to, but it wasn't realistic. She had to rush back, for tomorrow is the first day of the lunar new year, when she must kowtow to her elders to pay New Year's respects—a rule that cannot be broken.

She smiled at him, walking backward step by step, her gaze reluctant, one hand emerging from her pocket to wave at him: "See you when school starts, Xu Yanfeng." She said it again: "Happy New Year."

Having retreated to the door, Xia Xi wasn't paying attention and her back bumped into the glass door.

She barely stopped her steps, fully aware that if she opened the door behind her and walked out, she would no longer see Xu Yanfeng; suddenly feeling a bit reluctant, she was spurred by emotion to run back to him, fished out a handful of candy from her pocket, grabbed one of his hands, and placed the sweets in his palm: "Please have some."

Since the family finished preparing the New Year goods, candies, nuts, fruits, and snacks were piled everywhere; she almost always stuffed sugar into the pockets of every coat, and when she occasionally felt it, she would peel one and pop it into her mouth.

"I'm about to miss the vehicle—I really have to go."

Xia Xi let go of his hand, no longer dragging her feet backward as before; she turned and ran, flung open the heavy glass door, and dove straight into Nancheng's icy air.

By the time Xu Yanfeng regained his senses, clutching the candy in his hand, Xia Xi's figure had already vanished from sight.

He chased after her, but the street was sparsely populated with pedestrians and few vehicles; he looked around in all directions, yet couldn't find Xia Xi. What had just happened felt like a brief dream—he hadn't even gotten a clear look at the person in the dream before it ended abruptly.

Xu Yanfeng dialed Xia Xi's phone, his movements mixed with a bit of panic; since he didn't have her phone number, he placed a WeChat voice call.

It rang only three seconds before being answered, and Xia Xi's clear voice came through: "What's wrong?"

"You..." Xu Yanfeng's mind was a little scrambled, he lost the ability to organize his words, momentarily not knowing what to say; he took a deep breath to force himself calm: "Where are you now?"

Xia Xi let out a puzzled "ah": "I've gotten into a taxi, heading for the high-speed rail station."

Xu Yanfeng had originally intended to drive her to the high-speed rail station, but hearing her reply, he didn't say anything else, only adding: "Be careful on the road, send me a message when you get home, or give me a call."

On the other end of the line, Xia Xi must have laughed; her tone shifted, sounding unusually cheerful, each word seeming to carry a little tail: "Will you reply if I message or call you?"

The events of a few days ago were vivid in his mind; he had been aloof, not replying to messages, not answering calls, making it seem as if a galaxy lay between them.

Xu Yanfeng caught her hint, pinched his forehead with a finger, and said: "I will."

Xia Xi was the greediest; hearing that, she couldn't help but push further: "But I won't get home until very late—will you reply no matter how late it is?"

She was already overjoyed, yet she affected a pitiful, whiny tone to tug at his soft heart. It was merely because they were on a voice call and he couldn't see her expression; if it were a video call, she surely wouldn't dare laugh so openly.

Xu Yanfeng needed to ensure she got home safely, so without hesitation he agreed.

Xia Xi still felt it wasn't enough, and taking the opportunity she made an even more excessive demand: "From tomorrow, the day after, the third day onward... whenever I message or call you, will you always reply?"

Xu Yanfeng didn't fall for it.

Not hearing his voice, Xia Xi knew he was silently refusing; she turned the corners of her mouth down and muttered: "Xu Yanfeng, can't you not be so calm, rational, and restrained?"

Xu Yanfeng didn't directly answer her question, gave a light cough, and said: "I'm hanging up."

"Hey hey, wait a moment, don't hang up yet. Can't you keep me company a little longer? Just now everything was rushed, we hardly exchanged a few words." Xia Xi sat in the car; outside, neon light streamed in, multicolored, sweeping across her face, illuminating her bright eyes and upturned corners of her mouth—every subtle expression showed her delight: "I even forgot to ask you for a New Year gift."

Xu Yanfeng followed her lead and asked: "What gift do you want?"

Xi Xi raised her eyebrows, completely unaware what "being polite" meant: "You're going to give me one?" Her tone was too surprised, because she hadn't expected to gain an unexpected joy from this trip.

Xu Yanfeng didn't speak; his silence meant assent.

Xia Xi glanced at the uncle driver ahead, raised a hand to cover her mouth, fearful of being overheard, and whispered: "I want you to kiss me, or I can kiss you—either is fine."

Xu Yanfeng hung up the phone.

"Hello? Hello? Xu Yanfeng, did you drop the line?" Xia Xi shouted a few times into the air, only then realizing the call had ended.

How could this person be so unresponsive to flirtation? She had just thrown a straight ball his way, and he promptly put down his bat and walked off, refusing to meet her ball head-on. Xia Xi muttered at her phone screen for a while, thinking she still wasn't resigned, and sent a message.

WeiaiXYF: "Coward!"

Those three words easily stirred Xu Yanfeng's memory—regarding the New Year gift she wanted, he had already given it to her; she just didn't know.

Xu Yanfeng returned to the top-floor private room holding a bundle of somewhat wild roses; as soon as he entered, he naturally drew attention.

Tang Yizhou tossed the orange peel from his hand: "I was asking what you went off to do—turns out you were buying flowers. Where did you buy these? They're untrimmed, unwrapped, like you dug them straight from the flowerbed and wrapped them in newspaper—also rare. Who are you intending to give these flowers to?"

Ling Yan rested one hand on the sofa armrest; when she turned her head to look, her heart leapt wildly, like a fish frantically wagging its tail in the tank behind the sofa—she too had a fish in her heart, happily swaying.

There were only three girls in the private room; the other two were her close sisters, not very familiar with Xu Yanfeng—he had bought roses, so if they weren't for her, who else could they be for?