Chapter 337

The curtain of the fortune-telling shop was lifted and dropped by the night breeze, leaving the lonely shop owner standing outside to admire the fireworks show in the distance. The "Lovers" tarot card in her hand slowly curled along with the force of her fingers.

"The Dui hexagram signifies joy, the tarot is upright, and with the 'Nine of Cups' and 'The Star', the peach blossom luck in the life palace is moving—'guarding the heart brings good fortune', at this very moment, 'it is appropriate to pour out one's heart', hmm, I feel he must have succeeded in his confession."

The shop owner said softly.

A passerby who happened to hear this was stunned.

So these fireworks were set off for someone's confession? But that wasn't important now; what was important was, what did this tarot reader just mumble?!

Where the hell did this bring me? Is this still tarot?

"Hello, can I have a tarot reading from you?" But the passerby felt that they had to try this combination of Chinese and Western metaphysics.

By the river.

Under the night sky, the fireworks were as brilliant as a shattered dream pouring out like a galaxy.

As the night breeze swept by, the brilliance accumulated in the sky was shaken off with a rustle, becoming a reverse-flowing star rain.

At this moment, both of them only had each other in their eyes; the world centered around them.

Lin Li held the bouquet of fresh flowers and smiled as he continued his words:

"Let's date, what do you think?"

"Then how long would we have to date?" Chen Yuying held the small ball that was still flashing red light, gazing at Lin Li, her voice soft.

"I'm not greedy, dating until 'tomorrow' is fine." Lin Li had always been easy to talk to.

"Is that so? Then I'll consider it."

Chen Yuying wouldn't follow his lead and ask what to do about "the day after tomorrow"; she just turned her head again, looking at the fireworks and drone performance set off specifically for her, her expression feigning hesitation and contemplation.

"Don't consider it anymore, hurry up Class Monitor, these flowers are heavy, I don't want to hold them, hurry up and agree."

Lin Li had already returned to his nature as a "downer" man, extending the bouquet forward, his impatient tone quite a mood-killer.

But because it was Lin Li, it wasn't a mood-killer.

"Heh—" With her hand loosely formed into a fist against her lips, as if this could hide her laughter, Chen Yuying stepped forward, shortening the distance that wasn't far to begin with to almost nothing, and took the bouquet from Lin Li's hands, hugging it to her chest.

The young girl nodded, giving the answer that both he and she knew by heart:

"Okay, then let's date."

As the words entered his ears, Lin Li licked the corner of his mouth, then bit his lower lip with his upper teeth, telling himself he must hold back, but in the end, he still transformed into the "crooked-mouth dragon king."

Even though he clearly knew he would succeed, even though he had made countless psychological preparations, when this moment truly arrived, when the words of agreement entered his ears, the joy was simply impossible to restrain.

Anyone who can't smile at this can be diagnosed with depression.

"Can you say it again? I didn't hear clearly just now." Lin Li asked.

"I said—" Chen Yuying, who had been natural and generous when answering the first time, had said the first half loudly, but perhaps feeling the surging emotions in her heart at this moment, she suddenly raised the bouquet, half-covering her face, her voice soft:

"... I agree to date you."

"..."

"Lin Li," perhaps feeling this wasn't enough to express her heart, the young girl's voice flowed within the sonata of the fireworks under the bouquet: "I like you."

A voice that would make one's heart flutter even after hearing it ten thousand times.

"Is that so," Lin Li said with a smile: "Then Yingbao, I like you."

Finally, he could openly call her Yingbao just like Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu; yay.

"I said it first, why isn't it 'I like you too'." Chen Yuying raised her head upon hearing this, asking in confusion.

"Because my liking you isn't established on the premise that you like me. I have always liked you; even if your answer was 'I don't like you', I would still 'like you'." Lin Li's voice was gentle.

Chen Yuying turned to look at the fireworks, not wanting Lin Li to see her blushing face.

The sweetness in her chest permeated her whole body like blood; her internal organs were not spared, and her hands and feet felt numb and weak.

Her heart was pounding, her thoughts were burning, and the world was dizzy and blurred.

Lin Li walked to Chen Yuying's side to watch the grand fireworks with her.

"Are you happy?" Chen Yuying calmed her mood slightly, and feeling that something was missing, she turned her head to look at Lin Li and asked.

"What?"

"The happiness after a successful confession." Chen Yuying's eyes were sparkling.

"Probably, 95% happiness."

Lin Li turned to Chen Yuying, and as he spoke, his hand went back to hug the back of his own head.

Just like last weekend.

How could Chen Yuying not understand this meaning? Besides, this was what she wanted. She stepped forward, leaning her body forward, resting her face against Lin Li's chest, the branches and leaves of the bouquet rustling between their clothes.

This time, there was no need to "run away" like last time.

It didn't matter who was watching.

No, wait, her dad shouldn't watch yet; Chen Yuying was afraid he might get a heart attack at his young age.

But things like "dad" were temporarily unimportant; let's clear some space in her thoughts first.

Chen Yuying closed her eyes.

Under the cool fabric, the heart was thumping; was it beating for her?

The moment Chen Yuying's body leaned in, Lin Li's hand, which had been resting on the back of his head and itching to move, would not miss the opportunity like last time. Fearing that the other party might escape, it immediately began to move downward.

When his palm touched Chen Yuying's scattered hair, he paused. The strands of hair, carrying body heat, flowed through his fingers like a stream. His curled fingers couldn't help but stretch out, sliding along the curve of her neck toward her shoulder.

Chen Yuying took the opportunity to press her forehead against Lin Li's collarbone, her neckline brushing against his chin, causing a dense itch.

Lin Li's lowered arm naturally wrapped around her waist, touching the warm, soft curves through the fabric, his fingertips unconsciously hooking into the knitted texture of her hem.

Their breathing gradually leveled out amidst the interlaced clothing, and the hand Chen Yuying had climbed onto his back slowly loosened, clasping onto his back.

The fireworks seemed to know who the protagonists they were serving were, burning out at this moment, leaving only white ashes floating on the river surface, and the drones also descended to the ground, disappearing on the other side of the river.

Thus, only the faint moonlight remained, openly peeking at the two of them.

"Are you sad?" Lin Li suddenly spoke.

"Sad about what?" Chen Yuying was a little confused, opening her eyes and looking up.

"Sad about a failed confession." Lin Li said with a smile.

"Who?... Who had a failed confession!"

Chen Yuying was stunned for a moment, then realized what Lin Li meant, and chided him with a mix of amusement and shyness.

"I just blocked your mouth to stop you from speaking, it's obvious I rejected you, if that's not a failed confession, what is? Class Monitor, remember, I am a man who has rejected you once." Lin Li was a bit smug.

"Then I'm angry, I'm going to reject you now too."

"It's useless, the wood is already carved into a boat, remember, messages sent over two minutes ago cannot be recalled, rejection invalid."

"Tch."

The river flowed murmuringly, and the two did not speak again, enjoying the warmth of the embrace.

The noise in the distance seemed to only then begin to reach their ears as time passed.

The moonlight was gradually no longer the only one peeking at them.

"What are you thinking about?" Lin Li gently patted Chen Yuying's back, breaking this beautiful silence once again.

"Thinking about nothing." Chen Yuying closed her eyes, sniffing the unique scent of Lin Li's clothes, and spoke softly: "How about you?"

"I was thinking, now that your center of gravity is leaning on me, if I were to dodge to the side right now, would you go 'thump' and fall to the ground, then drop little pearls and say 'I'm not playing with you anymore'." Lin Li answered.

"Lin Li, you are still so good at ruining the atmosphere." Chen Yuying knocked her fist against Lin Li's back, dissatisfied.

"Alright, actually I was thinking, will Ding Zi use the video she's recording right now to threaten me later? You know, I don't think she's a good person, she doesn't even count as a person, she's very evil." Lin Li changed his words.

Chen Yuying, like a startled little deer, raised her head abruptly, subconsciously wanting to break free from Lin Li's embrace, but Lin Li held her too tightly, making it impossible.

Chen Yuying just went along with him, no longer struggling, just began to look around vigilantly.

Then, she saw the direction toward Pinglu Street not far away.

At this time, Ding Sihan, Qu Wanqiu, and Bai Bufan were all standing not far away near a stall, looking at them from afar.

Ding Sihan was the worst, holding a phone, severely violating Lin Li and Chen Yuying's.

Privacy.

"Ah..."

Realizing that these three had already been watching for who knows how long, Chen Yuying let out a whimper. Unable to struggle free, she simply played the ostrich, burying her head in Lin Li's embrace.

Hugging even tighter.

Hehe, plan successful.

Lin Li felt he was simply a genius.

However, holding her like this forever wasn't really a thing, mainly because those three lightbulbs were still waiting, so Lin Li finally let go, smiling and rubbing Chen Yuying's head, his left hand holding her right hand that wasn't holding the flowers, and said softly:

"Let's go, let's go over."

"Mm..." Chen Yuying also knew that hiding forever was impossible, so she gripped Lin Li's hand and followed him toward the market.

"Yo yo yo—"

"Tsk tsk tsk—"

"Woof woof woof—"

As soon as they got a little closer, they could hear the teasing voices of Ding, Qu, and Bai, which made Chen Yuying even more afraid to look at them, keeping her head down and trying her best to hide behind Lin Li.

"Lin Li, did you succeed?" Once they were completely close, Bai Bufan asked with a serious face. "... Sigh, failed." Lin Li closed his eyes in pain, holding Chen Yuying's hand, and shook his head.

"Haha, then you really are a loser!" Bai Bufan put his hands on his hips.

"Sorry, let everyone down."

"A 'sorry' and that's it? Completely insincere, kneel down, let me see your tongue coating!"

"Your mom! I tolerated you stealing my memes, but you're stealing my smooth talk too, and using it on me!"

"Yingbao, you won't abandon us in the future, will you?"

Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu couldn't be bothered to deal with the two lunatics Bai Bufan and Lin Li, directly bypassing Lin Li to look for Chen Yuying, starting to NTR her to her face, saying pitifully.

Sensing the two approaching, Chen Yuying's hand tried to break free from Lin Li's.

This time, Lin Li didn't prevent her from escaping like he did with the hug just now.

Chen Yuying's skin was thin after all, especially now facing the teasing of her best friends.

So Lin Li let go of her hand, smiling as he watched the three girls chattering.

"I, I won't." Chen Yuying raised the bouquet to block her face.

"Ahhhhh, shy Yingbao is so cute," Ding Sihan went up to rub Chen Yuying's cheeks, then kicked Lin Li: "Lin Li, you're such an eyesore, can you get lost?"

Lin Li shrugged and stepped aside, patting his pant legs.

The two hadn't kicked him all day today, they were probably holding it in—now that the confession was over, his clothes and pants could get dirty.

This is human nature; his social skills in reading people still need to be more proficient.

"It's okay Lin Li, although you've been disliked by them, you still have me, Li-bao, you won't abandon me in the future, will you?"

But Lin Li wasn't alone; he still had his fox friends. Bai Bufan saw Lin Li's predicament, so he leaned in shyly.

Lin Li immediately shook his head, his tone calm: "Abandoning pets is against the law."

"Damn, Lin Li, why are you so mean? Even after dating, you're still such a piece of work."

Bai Bufan instantly stopped smiling, then looked at Chen Yuying, raising his hand:

"Class Monitor, I report, I'm actually having an affair with Lin Li, we have an improper relationship."

As long as he could frame Lin Li, Bai Bufan was willing to sacrifice his reputation—anyway, he had already been entered by the physical examination doctor, he was already... not clean...

"It's fine, you two continue your promiscuity, our Yingbao isn't here to break you up, she's here to be the mistress." Ding Sihan answered for Chen Yuying.

"Exactly," Lin Li also patted Bai Bufan's shoulder, "Our country firmly practices monogamy, which means one person can have one husband and one wife, it doesn't conflict, baby, I still love you too, don't be jealous."

Bai Bufan shrugged, sighing helplessly.

The four of them talked nonsense. Lin Li was thick-skinned, which resulted in only Chen Yuying feeling a bit embarrassed, keeping her head down and saying nothing.

The four looked at each other and all laughed.

After the teasing, the five of them continued with the three girls walking in front, and Lin Li and Bai Bufan following behind.

However, everyone's thoughts were no longer on the stalls on both sides.

"Yuying, how does it feel, isn't it a big surprise? You completely didn't expect Lin Li to confess at this juncture?"

"How did you feel when you saw the fireworks? What was in your mind? What did Lin Li say when he confessed?"

Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu couldn't help but transform into stubborn marmots, eagerly wanting to know the first-hand information.

"She knew I was going to confess." Lin Li, following behind, couldn't help but smile and inform them.

"Ah?" Ding Sihan turned back in confusion, "How did she know? Did we give you two alone time too obviously? That shouldn't be, right?"

Bai Bufan turned his head away with a guilty conscience upon hearing this.

No, why am I feeling guilty, it was Lin Li who started it.

"It's neither, it's all Wang Ze's fault." Lin Li smiled and shifted the blame.

"What does it have to do with Wang Ze?" Ding Sihan was even more confused and curious.

Lin Li told the three the whole story.

"Ah?"

"Ahhhh, you mean Yingbao was also planning to confess to you just now? What a two-way rush! My god! Kill Bai Bufan to add to the fun for these two! This is so shippable!"

Ding Sihan didn't even have time to care about the explosive news that Wang Ze had successfully hooked up with a senior; her shock was focused on this point.

Bai Bufan was also looking for a handy murder weapon, preparing to slaughter himself.

Damn, Lin Li really managed to get into a sweet relationship, how can I live, might as well die and sell dog meat!

"I, this man among men, this male among males, resolutely refused the Class Monitor's courtship, but as a price, the Class Monitor found out I was going to court her, sigh, the sense of surprise is indeed gone."

Lin Li sighed:

"Speaking of which, the Class Monitor is too casual, she actually planned to confess just because she saw a couple."

"It was just a matter of a sentence anyway..."

Chen Yuying felt she also had reasons to argue, so she retorted weakly.

Then, her brain, which seemed slow tonight, finally realized something, looking at Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu, her bright eyes widening slightly:

"Sihan, Wanqiu, so you already knew about tonight?"

"Yeah," Ding Sihan nodded, there was no need to hide it now: "Yuying, didn't you hug Lin Li in front of me last week? He decided to confess this week.

Because he felt this was a signal that you didn't intend to continue the ambiguous relationship.

Although Lin Li also felt that for you two, it was actually just a matter of a sentence on QQ or WeChat, but for the sake of ritual, he still had to prepare."

At that time, Lin Li called her "Mom" in the garage downstairs at Ding Sihan's house just to discuss this matter.

Letting Ding Sihan give him some advice was also something they decided together, the basic outline of this week's plan.

That small ball that would flash red light didn't flash all the time; the remote control was with Lin Li, so there was no need to worry about someone finding it before Chen Yuying and taking it away, causing the subsequent events to fail.

As for the location, that was the purpose of Lin Li coming here yesterday, to confirm the approximate position.

When he heard on Monday that Wang Ze planned to come to Pinglu and also planned to confess, Lin Li's exclamation of "What a coincidence" was not just about coming to Pinglu, but even more about the fact that he also planned to confess.

"Originally I planned to use that 'can be a bit excessive' medium request to coerce you," Lin Li added with a smile, "but later I found it wasn't necessary, this medium request should be saved for other bad things in the future."

"You actually all kept it from me..." Chen Yuying pursed her lips. The content of her blaming words didn't have a blaming tone; instead, there was a hint of a smile:

"So, do you also have a small group chat without me."

"We really don't, Bai Bufan and I only found out yesterday, we were isolated." Qu Wanqiu shrugged.

"I support that." Bai Bufan nodded.

"People and dogs who can't keep secrets don't deserve to know in advance, just isolate us if you want." Lin Li had no intention of repenting.

"Hey, Lin Li, so where did you conjure these flowers from? I'm really curious about this."

Bai Bufan looked at the fresh flowers in Chen Yuying's hands with some curiosity.

Yesterday he even asked Lin Li if he needed help in this regard, but Lin Li said he had everything prepared.

This bouquet was very large, it couldn't be hidden on his body.

"Hidden in the bushes at the confession spot." Lin Li casually made up an excuse that sounded decent.

In reality, of course, it was placed in the "Qiankun Ring," and it was bought last week.

With the current capacity of the "Qiankun Ring," holding such a bouquet was absolutely no problem, and it could even keep it perfectly fresh.

This is the meaning of cultivating immortality!

If the system's manufacturer knew about this in the afterlife, they could also smile in the underworld.

"What about the fireworks and drones? Did you make an appointment in advance for people to set them off for you on the other side?" Bai Bufan asked again.

"That's definitely not it, making an appointment is so prone to accidents, it must be that there are people waiting on the other side at all times, only needing one message from me to start." Lin Li explained immediately.

"Damn, people specifically waiting?" Bai Bufan's eyes widened, "How much money did that cost?"

"It's okay, it cost 4,700 in total, the drones were a bit expensive, including operation, although it was a very simple performance, they still charged over 2,000. As for the fireworks, you get what you pay for, I think this 1,000+ was quite worth it, it was indeed beautiful, having people wait wasn't expensive, it actually only added 200..."

Lin Li reported the cost breakdown one by one.

Bai Bufan swallowed, shook his head and sighed: "Damn—"

4,700, for an ordinary high school student, is undoubtedly a super huge sum of money.

Bai Bufan's weekly living expenses, excluding weekends, were only 200 yuan—this money doesn't sound like much, but the cafeteria at Nansang School is very cheap after subsidies. This money is completely enough for cafeteria and school supermarket consumption, living comfortably without counting the weekends staying at school.

But if weekends are included, it seems tight, though his family would give extra.

And Lin Li's ten minutes, rounded up, directly spent his regular living expenses for a semester.

"The rich brother in the gutter, there is already a sad thick wall between us."

But Lin Li suddenly becoming a local tycoon wasn't the first day Bai Bufan knew about it, so he didn't question where the money came from, just looked at the night sky and began to sigh:

"I hope in my next life, as soon as I'm born, I can smell the expensive skincare products on my mother, hear my old-money father's hearty laughter, and feel the touch of my soldier grandfather's thick palms.

Opening my eyes, I see my chairman grandfather going out to work with his secretary, wearing an ancestral jade bracelet from my grandmother's family on my left hand. At this time, my stomach makes a sound, and a well-trained senior maternity center nurse in neat attire gently picks me up and brings me to the huge floor-to-ceiling window for feeding.

Squinting at the high-rise buildings in front of me, my noble grandmother says kindly from the side, 'Wealth whispers, my little angel, it seems you like that building? Hahaha, dear, you are its owner'."

Bai Bufan had already entered fantasy time, imagining this beauty, and even started role-playing.

Seeing him so happy, Lin Li added with a smile:

"It will come true."

Bai Bufan looked at Lin Li suspiciously; he didn't believe Lin Li could understand human nature.

Lin Li finished his words: "It's just that at night, you will also see your nanny walking towards you with her newborn child."

Bai Bufan: "?"

(End of chapter)