DFLB – Chapter 31

When Mo Zixin’s cousin Mo Tao finally arrived the feeling Qian Wei was experiencing could almost be described as ‘longing’. As soon as she saw Mo Tao’s figure, Qian Wei was so excited that she almost cried. Finally! Finally this period of waiting with Mo Zixin was over. Her cousin rescued Qian Wei from the terrible plight of memorizing the law.

In the end, he was Mo Zixin’s cousin, so Mo Tao’s appearance was completely above the standard. Although he was not as delicate as Mo Zixin his facial features were soft and graceful. He had a brilliantly shining pair of affectionate peach blossom eyes and, in addition, because he was from the English department he was more immersed in European and American culture, so his clothes were very westernized, with a very foreign style. On a university campus in 2009, this kind of person who was able to dress so fashionably was one in a thousand.

“Brother! Over here! ” Mo Zixin waved her hand and greeted him warmly.

After Mo Tao sat down, Mo Zixin simply introduced the two people to each other.

“Oh, dear!” Mo Zixin suddenly picked up her cell phone. “My roommate forgot her key and was locked out of the dorm. I have to go and open the door for her! Why don’t you two eat first? Excuse me for a moment!” With that, she picked up her bag and hurried off.

Although Mo Zixin was beautiful and had good grades, Qian Wei had to say that her acting skills left something to be desired. This really seemed too deliberate.

Facing the complete stranger Mo Tao, Qian Wei felt a little embarrassed. When she thought about it, even if you included her last life, this was her first ever ‘blind date’. So she could not help but feel embarrassed and secretly looked over at Mo Tao. The other person was really a young talent. According to Mo Zixin, he was a popular figure in the English Department. There were fewer boys than girls in the English department so with Mo Tao’s appearance, coupled with his outstanding language skills and authentic pronunciation, he had really made a wave of young girls intoxicated with him. So nowadays they never stopped chasing him.

In her previous life, Qian Wei was oppressed by Lu Xun’s intense workload, so she never had a chance to fall in love at all, but now, since she was already on a blind date, she felt a little curious in her heart.

Compared with her awkwardness, Mo Tao seemed quite natural: “What would you like to order?”

‘Girls should be gentle and easy to get along with when they meet a blind date for the first time’. Qian Wei remembered that line in one of Liu Shiyun’s magazines that she had seen in the past, so she subconsciously smiled and said, “There’s nothing I dislike. I can eat everything. You can just order for us.”

Mo Tao was a little surprised. He obviously appreciated Qian Wei’s move but out of politeness he reconfirmed: “Anything’s fine?”

“Just order what you like.” Qian Wei kept a fake smile plastered on, “I believe your tastes, your favorite foods must be good so I think I will like it.”

With her confirmation Mo Tao called the waiter and began to order.

“Vegetable tempura, Japanese teppan tofu, fruit salad, Japanese mushroom hot pot, vegetarian roll, avocado sushi.”

Mo Tao was very generous and ordered a lot of dishes even though it was their first meeting. However, Qian Wei became more and more confused as she listened: “This… why did you order nothing but vegetarian dishes? Wouldn’t you like some sashimi or meat?”

Mo Tao looked surprised: “Ah, I thought Zixin told you.” He smiled faintly. “I’m a vegetarian.”

“…”

Qian Wei be cool, be cool… eventually she couldn’t endure and decided to be honest: “I’m sorry! Although you are really good, but… I can’t give up pork, beef, mutton, fish, chicken, pigeon, rabbit, eel, cow, frog, oysters, or arctic shellfish for love.” She finally felt her tension relax after saying so. “Although you may not like me, I think it’s better to say it now so as not to mislead you and waste your time. After all, even if you don’t force me to be a vegetarian, we won’t be able to eat together. There will be too many contradictions between us in the future.”

“Hehe.” When she finished she heard Mo Tao’s low laughter. His lips parted slightly and his beautiful peach blossom eyes curved. “Actually, I wanted to tell you something too.” He paused. “I’m not interested in falling in love for the time being. I’m really sorry, it’s just Zixin insisted that you are a good girl, and she hoped I could get to know you. She is so kind-hearted, so I really couldn’t refuse. That’s why I thought of just coming out and having dinner with you first and then apologizing to you face to face. I’ll just say that I’m not in the mood to fall in love right now.”

Qian Wei was surprised: “Ah? Why?”

When it came to this topic, Mo Tao looked a little sad.

Qian Wei looked at his expression and immediately understood: “You already have someone in your heart, don’t you?”

Mo Tao seemed stunned: “Is it so obvious?”

“Yes! It’s obvious!” Qian Wei nodded. “At a glance anyone can see that you are a young man who is trapped in a whirlpool of feelings.”

“…”

“But since you like them so much, why don’t you chase her? You are so qualified that no girl would refuse.”

Mo Tao sighed: “I also want to chase her, ah~, but I don’t even have to think to know the result. She would definitely refuse me.” He glanced at Qian Wei. “She is seven years older than me and my former neighbor. She always took care of me when I was a child. She is really gentle, beautiful, and capable and I have liked her for a long time. Even my vegetarianism was thanks to her influence.”

Wow! Qian Wei thought, really wouldn’t expect that, ah~, really couldn’t see it but Mo Tao, this fashionable guy, turned out to be in an unrequited love between a younger man and an older woman*.

“There is no hurdle that cannot be crossed!” Qian Wei patted her chest and said, “Dare to chase her! Just let this master here give you advice and you’re guaranteed to succeed!”

Mo Tao was only one year older than Qian Wei. He was 20 years old this year, and the woman he likes was seven years older. That meant she was only 27 years old, which was a little younger than Qian Wei was in her previous life. Qian Wei could at least boast that she understood the mentality of 27-year-old women.

“But even if she accepts me, will we be able to live for the rest of our lives well in the future?” Mo Tao’s voice was full of doubt. “The public’s tolerance for love between younger men and older women is very low. Not to mention that she is not two or three years older, but seven years older. I don’t want to just fall in love with her. I want to accompany her for the rest of my life.”

“Don’t worry, society will become more tolerant in a few years. Love between younger men and older women will not be looked down on so much and it may even become a new trend. I think that the mature older sisters will gradually understand the appeal of the little puppies. There will be many celebrities who will fall in love with this sort of age gap. In the future, society, ah~, it will become more and more tolerant and diverse. People will no longer judge the appropriateness of a relationship by age but more by whether the two people love each other or not.” Qian Wei reassured Mo Tao.

Mo Tao was skeptical: “Really?”

“Really!” Qian Wei nodded solemnly, “Believe me!” She knocked on the table. “Most of your competitors are her peers, so first we need to do an analysis and list the strengths and weaknesses of you and your potential competitors, and then break them down one by one. Your advantage is you are a youth who is full of passion and vitality, and you are more emotionally pure than a mature man. Naturally, your disadvantage is that your future is less stable, and your mind may not be calm enough, so you have to do something to reassure her about these points.”

Qian Wei spoke analytically and Mo Tao listened attentively. The two went back and forth and by the time the meal was over, Mo Tao and Qian Wei had already forged a revolutionary friendship.

“I suddenly feel enlightened after hearing you say this. I’ll do as you suggested first, then in a few days I’ll invite you to dinner and you can give me an analysis!”

Qian Wei waved her hand: “Skip the meal. Let’s exchange phone numbers and add each other to QQ. In the future, you can just find me directly and not waste the money for a meal, not to mention that I’m not used to your vegetarian diet.”

Mo Tao smiled and said, “Next time, you can eat meat and I’ll eat vegetarian.” He blinked mysteriously, “And I’d suggest you come out to dinner with me, it will help Zixin feel more at ease.”

“What do you mean?”

“From what I know about her, she was so eager to introduce you to me because she hopes that we will fall in love. I’m afraid she fell in love with some guy and thinks that you may be her competitor, so she is anxious to push you out of the battle first. If you come out with me regularly every week, she will feel more at ease.” He smiled. “Although she is my cousin, I will not be partial to her. If you are interested in that boy and act boldly, I will cover for you with Zixin. Of course, the premise is that you must help me chase the person I like.”

Qian Wei sighed: “In fact, I am also quite puzzled about this. How can she think that I am her competitor? With her looks and abilities, shouldn’t it be easy to beat me? And I really don’t feel that way about Lu Xun, he and I are not from the same world! I can’t even imagine it, okay?”

Mo Tao smiled: “Well, who can say. You may not realize it yourself but you have a sort of affinity. I don’t feel any pressure when I’m with you, it’s very relaxed, and unconsciously I feel very happy.”

“Alright, alright, stop flattering me. I’ll give you good advice even if you don’t do that.”

“But I agree that we should eat together regularly!” Qian Wei decisively finalized the plan. She would grasp this opportunity with both hands, not only to help Mo Tao with his love, but also to help Lu Xun and Mo Zixin!

Mo Tao looked down with a strange expression and said, “Then, if you don’t mind, I have a somewhat unkind request.”

“Hmm?”

“If you don’t have a boy you like at the moment, could you please pretend to be my girlfriend?” Mo Tao sounded a little shy. “Could we pretend to be in love or to be dating? It is embarrassing to say it but there is a girl who chases me all day long, swearing that she will never give up because I am single. I refused her several times and told her that I had someone I liked, but she just won’t listen. It makes me very uncomfortable and I was thinking, since we will eat out together regularly anyway, why don’t we just put on a show to fool her?” Mo Tao seemed very sincere, “Just until she gives up! Please!”

Qian Wei touched her chin. Wasn’t her goal to make Mo Zixin and Lu Xun get together? It would be a big mistake to let the future boss’s wife think she was a threat! Therefore, doing this favor for Mo Tao could be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

So she nodded. “I’ll do it, but you’ll have to buy me a good meal!”

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*so the term used here is ‘姐弟恋’ which literally means sister younger-brother love according to MTLs. The only term remotely close in English is ‘cradle robber’ which… 1.) I never hear spoken or written, and 2.) Doesn’t really carry the same kind of meaning I don’t think? So i rewrote it a little – which is why there are all these clunky lines about ‘love between younger men and older women’ or ‘age gaps’