DFLB – Chapter 14

Qian Chuan seemed to be speaking very sweetly. Qian Wei didn’t hear exactly what he said but he managed to coax Mo Zixin to laughter again. But on the other side, Lu Xun did not listen to Qian Wei’s advice at all. Instead, he slowly continued to eat his meal elegantly with an indifferent expression.

Qian Wei really hated that this Lu Xun was completely failing to meet her expectations. She decided she needed to make a big move on Lu Xun’s behalf: “Hey, Lu Xun, Mo Zixin, I remember that I still have something I need to do with Qian Chuan. Now we’re done eating, we should go first.” With that, she winked at Qian Chuan.

However, Qian Chuan completely ignored her: “If you have something to do, you can go first. I have nothing to do.”

“I’m feeling lovesick. Didn’t you say you would stay with me?” Qian Wei opened her eyes wide. “If I end up jumping into a river or cutting my wrists, how will you explain it to our parents? Do you even have a conscience?”

Qian Chuan rolled his eyes and said, “Just look at the amount of food you ate just now, you don’t look like a depressed person who can’t get over her love at all. How many meatballs did you just eat? Twelve! As soon as you saw those meatballs your eyes lit up crazily, is that the behavior of a person about to kill themself? ” He turned to Mo Zixin and Lu Xun, “Qian Wei, this person, you can rest assured she will not die. As long as she is still breathing she will struggle to get up and eat. Especially pork, as long as pigs are not extinct, she will not die.”

“I was overeating from the agony of lovesickness!”

“Then at least if you kill yourself, it will mean more money for me. Until now we would have had to split the family properties between us, but now it will all belong to me.” Qian Chuan waved, “Qian Wei, you go ahead, I still have to stay and pay the bill.”

His words made Mo Zixin laugh again: “You two have a good relationship.”

Qian Wei was roaring in her heart: Which eye of yours sees that we have a good relationship?

Qian Chuan smiled at Qian Wei: “Aren’t you leaving? Then hurry up and go. Don’t delay your business.”

Qian Wei’s goal was to take Qian Chuan away from Mo Zixin but sadly once a person started riding the tiger it was hard to get off, it wasn’t like she could suddenly say she didn’t need to leave anymore. She glanced around at the food still on the table, gritted her teeth, and said, “Then I’ll go first!”

“I’ll go, too.” Just as Qian Wei stood up, Lu Xun’s clear voice sounded, “You two can eat slowly.”

Qian Chuan almost smiled from ear to ear: “Lu Xun, you must be careful on the way. I’ll treat you to dinner another day. Us two can have a good chat then. From now on you are my brother. Please take care of Qian Wei and send her back to school! I can rest assured since you are with her!”

Qian Wei looked at Qian Chuan, who seemed a little desperate to please, and thought that this lackey gene of theirs really must run in the family.

Sure enough, Lu Xun looked at Qian Chuan with interest, and then over at Qian Wei. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes spoke volumes.

Qian Wei wanted to save the situation. How could she just let Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin get along alone! That was absolutely impossible!

“Lu Xun, I’ll be fine. I can walk back to school alone. You should stay and have dinner with them.”

Lu Xun glanced at Qian Wei and said lazily, “But I’m not going to send you back to school. I have something to do somewhere else.”

“…” Qian Wei’s heart was roaring loudly: Lu Xun, even if you don’t like me, will you die if you at least pretend to be a gentleman in front of Mo Zixin? Do you have to have such an obvious ‘You’re thinking too much’ look on your face?

Although Qian Wei tried her best to stop the worst scenario from developing, the reality was obviously cruel. By the time she came to herself, she was already on her way out the door with Lu Xun and Qian Chuan seemed to have succeeded in eating alone with Mo Zixin.

Qian Wei was simply heartbroken: “Lu Xun, I have created so many opportunities for you to show your good sides but why didn’t you cherish it? It’s true that nowadays a lot of girls admire the cold type of guy, but you know, girls don’t really want you to be so cold to them after you become their boyfriend. But you, all you do is show a cold face to others all the time. You really must think that you are the only one in the world who is unique and special, and you like to revel in the feeling, don’t you?”

“A man should be warm? So you like that type of man?” Lu Xun glanced over at Qian Wei.

“Oh, me… ah~, I can accept the cold type, the loyal dog type, the rough man type, the fresh meat type, the sunny warm man type, and the overbearing president type…”

Lu Xun was obviously choked by Qian Wei’s answer. He paused and asked, “Do you have a fetish for collecting all different types?”

“I’m just a person with a broad heart.”

“So which type was the one who made you lovesick?”

Qian Wei gave Lu Xun a dismissive look: “Can you not pay attention to these unimportant details?”

The corner of Lu Xun’s mouth tugged upward: “I just thought that considering you are feeling lovesick, you seem to still be very excitable and do not seem to be in pain at all. So I’m afraid that you might be struggling to cover up your inner sadness by forcing yourself to act normal. But you don’t have to act so stubbornly in front of me, after all, I can be considered tangentially involved.”

Qian Wei said angrily, “I’m fine! Lu Xun, Lu Xun, why can’t you understand all my painstaking efforts? I’m not lovesick at all! I just said some nonsense about being lovesick to cheat Qian Chuan. Originally, Mo Zixin was going to be taking part in the singing contest tonight. Since Qian Chuan was planning to go there I lied to him and said that I was lovesick so I could have an excuse to drag him out shopping and avoid the two of them meeting. But how could I have known that Mo Zixin would not attend the contest but show up here for dinner instead!”

When Lu Xun heard that Qian was not lovesick, he seemed to think that he would not be implicated by her lovesickness, and he suddenly looked more relaxed. But then he said mockingly, “Before Qian Chuan just met Mo Zixin for the first time today, did you assume that he would chase Mo Zixin? You really are a prophet. No wonder you keep insisting that I will want to chase Mo Zixin. Are you delusional?”

Qian Wei patted her chest and explained: “I just know these things! I have a bit of foresight. Didn’t you see it the other day? I predicted those two big questions on the Chinese Legal History exam, didn’t I?”

Lu Xun sneered: “I also have a bit of foresight.”

Qian Wei was not convinced: “What do you foresee then?”

“It’s going to rain.”

Qian Wei looked up at the sky. Although it was cloudy, she saw no sign of rain.

But then, Qian Wei and Lu Xun had not taken even a few more steps when suddenly it became really windy and big raindrops began to fall down.

Qian Wei was dumbfounded: “You… did you really foresee that? Do you really have an ability like foresight that lets you predict the questions on the examination papers? And that’s why you always get such good grades?”

“Of course not.”

“Then, do you have the legendary crow’s beak*? Are you possessed by a  friendly spirit?”

Lu Xun said impassively: “Meteorological News just issued a citywide yellow-level warning for a thunderstorm ten minutes ago. In the future, maybe you should pay more attention to the weather forecast and less attention to feudal superstitions.”

“…”

The Meteorological News’ warning was indeed very accurate. The rain soon rose to the level of a torrential rain and Qian Wei and Lu Xun who were walking down the path had to run for more than ten minutes before they finally found a small cafe where they could hide from the rain. Qian Wei didn’t care about anything else and blindly followed Lu Xun into the cafe.

When Qian Wei entered the cafe, she realized that it was a cat-themed cafe. Although the shop was small, there were all kinds of cats sleeping lazily on sofas and on the floor. They were perhaps long accustomed to human beings because these cats were not afraid of anything. Meowing, they advanced toward Qian Wei and Lu Xun, and a warm furry body jumped straight up onto the table in front of Lu Xun.

Qian Wei hurriedly grabbed the cat away from Lu Xun. But, who knew what kind of strange attraction Lu Xun had, because the cat in her arms seemed to really want to go to him and a few other cats also seemed interested. Before the cat in her hands could wiggle free, there was already another beautiful cat eager to jump up. Qian Wei could only awkwardly hold the cat in her arms in her left hand and use her right hand to catch the other one.

“Lu Xun, stay back!”

Lu Xun frowned: “What on earth are you doing?”

Qian Wei, who was carrying two cats, was suddenly full of the demeanor of someone seizing a rare opportunity**, and she spoke loudly: “Remember that I told you I have a bit of foresight?”

“So?”

“I can tell you that you are allergic to cat hair. I’ll bet that you didn’t know that before, did you?” Qian Wei began to brandish the cats in her arms, “So I advise you to stay away, otherwise be careful that you don’t end up swelled up into a pig’s head and directly disfigured.”

But Lu Xun only smiled mockingly: “You don’t need to have foresight to know that I have been allergic to cat hair since I was five years old. It’s no secret that I am allergic to cat hair. You could just ask my roommate.” With that, he took a small box out of his pocket, took out a small white pill, and casually stuffed it into his mouth. “That’s why I always carry anti-allergy medicine.”

After eating the pill, Lu Xun walked calmly to Qian Wei and plucked the two cats out of her arms. Then he set them down and went straight to a sofa by the window, seemingly intending to rest.

Qian Wei looked at Lu Xun’s back and felt dumbfounded.

What was this? He had always known that he was allergic to cat hair? Since he was five years old? He always carried anti-allergy medicine around with him? But why was it that in her last life, Qian Wei remembered clearly Lu Xun had only found out about his allergy to cat hair after he started working! Back then, there was a client who brought his cat with him during a consultation and as a result, Lu Xun left the meeting with his whole face swollen. Qian Wei was quite sure that she remembered correctly, because in the end, Lu Xun forced Qian Wei to take care of him all night until his face had been restored to its initial handsome factory settings.

So what was happening here?

“Can I get you two anything?”

“A mocha.” Lu Xun glanced at Qian Wei and said, “And a cup of hot chocolate.”

After the hot chocolate was served, Qian Wei quickly gave up on thinking. She drank the hot drink and trembled because of her clothes that were soaked and glued to her body. The rain outside the window didn’t seem like it was going to stop any time soon so she turned her head and looked at Lu Xun. “Why don’t we have a chat? We can cultivate our great friendship?”

Lu Xun glanced over at Qian Wei and seemed as if he were going to say something. But after he looked at Qian Wei, he hastily turned his head away, a little rudely, destroying his usual image of elegance and nobility.

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“…” But his typical ruthlessness seemed to be intact.

Lu Xun tilted his head away, leaving Qian Wei only able to look at his profile. His beautiful, sharp eyes looked out of the window. His skin was fair and beautiful, and the smooth lines of his profile sitting by the window were captivating. If there had still been people coming and going by outside Qian Wei was sure that if Lu Xun would just sit like this it would attract a lot of customers for the cafe.

Qian Wei stared at Lu Xun’s face for a moment and then looked out of the window. She watched the falling rain dazedly. Lu Xun still ignored her, but from time to time, Qian Wei thought she could feel Lu Xun’s eyes on her, but when she turned to look at him, Lu Xun was always looking elsewhere as if he never looked at her at all.

Under the dim and warm light, Qian Wei finally turned her eyes that were idly scanning the cafe back to Lu Xun, but this time she found a difference.

“Lu Xun, your face is so red! You didn’t catch a cold and have a fever in the rain just now, did you?” Qian Wei pointed at Lu Xun’s cheek. After she spoke it seemed to get worse because even Lu Xun’s ears began to turn red.

However, in the face of Qian Wei’s concern, Lu Xun looked strangely unhappy. He looked Qian Wei in the eye only briefly before quickly looking away. He seemed a little flustered, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have seen.

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*there’s a common Chinese saying where you say someone has a ‘crow’s beak’ when they say something off-hand (usually something bad) that later comes true

**There was actually an idiom here; something like ‘grasp with both hands, and with both hands hold tightly’ ( “两手抓，两手都要硬”的风姿) which I looked up and found out that it was basically a saying to encourage people to grasp opportunity that originated from a certain ‘Comrade Deng Xiaoping’ (邓小平) …whoever that is. A ‘post-Mao’ leader according to google.