Chapter 162: Xie Qin

Walking out of the wonton shop, Xie Qin was wearing the gloves his grandmother had knitted for him; Shen Li looked down at their clasped hands and curved her lips.

Xie Qin turned his head to look at her, "Where are you planning to take your boyfriend on a date?"

Shen Li hesitated for a moment; to her, Haishi and Wuchuan were no different—except for the cities being different, there was nothing else different; what Haishi had, Wuchuan also had.

But Xie Qin had rushed over from Wuchuan from so far away; she wanted to take him out to have a good time and didn't want him to feel that coming here was a boring thing.

"Xie Qin, can I use your phone for a bit?"

"Here." Xie Qin didn't ask much and took his phone out of his pocket to give to her; Shen Li let go of his hand, entered her birthday password, and then began looking for a guide on playing in Haishi from an app.

Xie Qin lowered his head, looking at the page she had searched for on the screen, raised his eyes to look at her, and wanted to laugh a little: "You aren't very familiar with your own turf?"

Shen Li didn't look at him and continued walking while looking for fun places nearby, "I don't go out much usually, and I rarely come here to stroll."

This past week, she had spent most of her time at home and hadn't gone out either.

Finally, Shen Li chose a few fun locations nearby, and after finding them, she gave the phone back to him.

Xie Qin didn't rush to take it, "Keep the phone; when we eat later, use my phone to pay."

Shen Li shook her head: "You came, I'll treat you. No need for you to pay; my mom gave me quite a bit of living expenses these past few days, and I've saved it all without spending much."

"That's fine too." Xie Qin took the phone and continued to hold her hand; the two walked through the alley to the pedestrian street, where almost everyone who came was a tourist.

After walking for a while, Xie Qin suddenly suggested, "Let's go to a mobile phone store in a bit; I'll buy you a phone, and you hide it secretly so your family doesn't find out. No matter what, you can't be without a phone when you go out. What if there's an emergency and you can't contact me?"

"Nothing will happen." Shen Li lifted her eyelids to look at him and said, "Mom cleans my room; it's not easy to hide things at home. If she finds out, she'll only be stricter with me; that's too tiring."

"Anyway, it's only a year; by then, the number of times we see each other will increase."

"Just wait a little longer."

Yu Lizhen had been a Dean of Students for so many years; her insight was very sharp, and she hadn't checked students bringing phones into school any less; she was quite professional in this regard.

Even if Xie Qin bought her a phone, no matter how well Shen Li hid it, she would find it at home.

Rather than being sneaky like this, it was better to honestly endure for a year.

Right now, Shen Li hadn't been restricted from her freedom to go out by her mother; she was just afraid that if she found out, she wouldn't even have the chance to go out and see him.

He knew her parents were strict, but he didn't expect them to be strict to this extent.

Xie Qin felt a bit annoyed, but he could only suppress this emotion in his heart. Until he stopped walking, Shen Li stopped as well; the two looked at each other face-to-face, and then Shen Li was supported by her back and brought into his arms, his arms holding her tight. He lowered his head, burying his face in her sensitive neck, as if he had to accept his fate.

"How often do you plan to see me?"

Shen Li tilted her head, her chin resting on his shoulder; she thought about it carefully in her heart and told him: "Next weekend, the high schoolers have final exams; we'll be at that same place, and I can go out early to see you. Is that okay?"

Xie Qin couldn't take the initiative to contact her; only Shen Li could find him. Whenever she found an opportunity to meet, she would call him and let him wait for her there.

He gave a muffled "Mm" in response.

Xie Qin used to think that falling in love was a simple and easy thing.

But later he discovered that what was hard to deal with wasn't the effort he spent pursuing Shen Li at the beginning, but her family.

He couldn't do anything, but he had to submit.

Shen Li hugged his waist for a while, then pushed him away, looking straight into his eyes; she had words hidden in her heart and was a bit hesitant, not daring to say them out loud. She stared at his face. Xie Qin was also looking at her, waiting to hear what she had to say. After a long while, Shen Li finally spoke slowly: "Xie Qin."

Seeing that she had words hidden in her eyes, Xie Qin raised an eyebrow, "Speak."

"The number of times we meet might not be many. Most of the time, there's no way to send you messages or call you. It's just..." Shen Li pursed her lips, her brows lightly furrowed, "During this blank time, don't like anyone else, okay?"

Her expression looked a bit serious, full of uneasy worry, quite different from the calm and composed Shen Li of usual; all kinds of bad emotions were written on her face.

Xie Qin wondered what was the matter, looking at her like that, until she said these nonsensical words.

He laughed out loud, raised his hand, and pinched her face lightly: "Besides you, who else could I like? Stop thinking about these random things in the future."

"It was me who made you repeat a year; not being able to see you, the one who is most uncomfortable is me, you know!"

Xie Qin wanted to make this point clear with her.

Xu Zhouyuan, Zhou Mingyu, and Qiao Lang were still in Wuchuan, hanging out with Xie Qin; they didn't plan to go back until near the New Year, and they hadn't mocked him any less these days.

Xu Zhouyuan was on the phone with Zhang Zixin, taking the opportunity to mock Xie Qin: "Yo, living like a widow again?"

The words were not only ugly but also pierced the heart with every word.

Shen Li: She was also uncomfortable.

Then, Shen Li heard him say in a leisurely tone, dragging out the tail of his words: "Xu Zhouyuan says I'm living like a widow."

Shen Li pursed her lips, a bit unhappy that he said that about Xie Qin: "Don't pay attention to him."

At this moment, Xie Qin leaned down, his line of sight parallel to hers; the distance between them was instantly closed, "Are you still worried now?"

The meaning in his words was: such a big man is still keeping himself chaste and living like a widow for you; any tiny bit of sense of crisis is redundant.

Shen Li: "A bit better."

A little comfort, but not much.

Xie Qin's eyes rippled with a smile: "Then... what do you want me to do?"

She didn't know.

Shen Li didn't have much sense of security either; she lowered her eyelids, feeling a bit lost.

Xie Qin: "How about you take a chain and tie me to your hand like a dog?"

Shen Li: "..."

Yu Lizhen returned relatively early today, carrying the vegetables she had just bought from the market; she opened the door and saw Shen Li walking out of the bathroom in her pajamas, "Why are you taking a shower in the middle of the day?"

Shen Li wiped the ends of her hair with a towel and answered faintly: "I went out to play, I was sweaty."

Yu Lizhen's voice sank a bit, a bit stern: "Who did you go out with?"

Shen Li didn't change her expression: "Alone."

After saying that, she walked past her and returned to her room.

There was still suspicion in Yu Lizhen's eyes; seeing the tightly closed room door, she didn't ask any more and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Sitting at the desk, Shen Li had an English dictionary spread out in front of her, with a photo placed in the middle; looking at Xie Qin in the photo, a faint arc curled at the corners of her lips.