DFLB – Chapter 39

“Qian Wei, your tricks really work!” It was early in the morning but Mo Tao was so excited that he couldn’t wait to message Qian Wei. “I invited my crush to watch a horror movie this weekend. Normally she likes to put on airs and act like an elder in front of me, but this time the terror made her transform in a second. She practically threw herself into my arms and then almost cried. Then I bought her a bracelet the way you suggested and gave it to her. Though she said that I wasted money, I could see that she was actually very happy because she put it on right away!”

“Of course it worked, did not I, Qian Wei, say that it would? Hahaha, I gave you my guarantee that you would catch that crush of yours, did you not believe me?”

After that weekend, Qian Wei and Lu Xun went back to school as usual and Qian Wei passed along all that she had learned to Mo Tao. His crush had been officially starting her first day of work so Mo Tao wanted to buy her a gift and when Qian Wei heard about that she directly advised him to buy a bracelet. And it seemed to have worked well, considering that he was texting her first thing in the morning with good news.

When Qian Wei heard this she actually felt very happy in her heart. After all, if Mo Tao found that trick so useful then it should work just as well for Lu Xun.

What a pity that the schemes of men often collapsed before the will of the heavens, so just as Qian Wei was feeling smug about her amazing strategic skills, Lu Xun came to her door.

“She wouldn’t take the bracelet.” He said sullenly.

“Huh?” Qian Wei said dumbly.

“She said that the bracelet was just too much and that she couldn’t accept such an expensive gift.”

Qian Wei was simply confused: “That, ah~, she shouldn’t…” Qian Wei remembered very clearly that, in her last life, Mo Zixin had initially not agreed to go out with Qian Chuan, so he had sent her more than 3,000 yuan worth of cosmetics. So, back then, why hadn’t Mo Zixin claimed the gift was ‘too valuable’ for her to receive? Why would she reject a bracelet worth less than two thousand yuan when it was Lu Xun’s turn?

“Anyway, she wouldn’t take it.” Lu Xun lips were pressed into a thin line and he looked very unhappy. 

After being stood up for his movie date now he even encountered a setback when trying to give a gift. Qian Wei could well imagine the sadness that must be overwhelming Lu Xun’s heart. This was really a case of ‘I would have given my heart to the moon, but the moon only shone on the ditch’!

“Whatever, here you go.”

Qian Wei was busy feeling sorry for Lu Xun when suddenly his cold voice sounded out and a small box was thrown at her. Qian Wei subconsciously caught the box and, when she looked down, she found that he had tossed her the bracelet she had bought with him the previous weekend.

Although Qian Wei did really want the bracelet, she felt like it was a little inappropriate to accept it just like this.

“This is too expensive, I can’t accept it!” Qian Wei said earnestly, “I am a woman with integrity and I will never accept a reward for nothing!”

Lu Xun listened to what she said, then smirked and said, “Where did your integrity go when you asked to peek at my exam?”

“…”

“Anyway, I’m giving it to you, if you don’t want it then just throw it away.” When Lu Xun finished speaking, he shoved his hands in his pockets. It was clearly a gesture that said: ‘I’ve given it away and I refuse to take it back’. Then, as if to make it even more clear, he turned and walked away.

Qian Wei’s eyes moved from the bracelet in her hand and then over to Lu Xun’s departing back with a dumbfounded expression.

Lu Xun, Lu Xun, why couldn’t you be this powerful when facing Mo Zixin’s rejection? Maybe Mo Zixin was just making a polite gesture of rebuff for propriety’s sake. Maybe if you stuck with it and pressed her a little bit more she would have accepted your gift. Also, even if she didn’t accept it at first, if you put on this kind of ‘take it or I will throw away’ show then pretty much anyone would accept it eventually, ah~! 

Qian Wei really wanted to roar: Lu Xun, as long as you could come up with 1/10 of your usual strength in front of Mo Zixin, you would not encounter setbacks over a trifle like giving a gift. Could it be that you feel comfortable using this kind of power play against me, but doing it to Mo Zixin would be too big of a burden on your heart? Thinking that far, she was so angry!

But at least now, probably because of how his first skirmish with Mo Zixin had ended up as such a fiasco, Lu Xun finally seemed to develop a sense of urgency. Qian Wei found that he would call her to discuss tactics more and more frequently these days.

At one point she was with Mo Tao in a cafe discussing Mo Tao’s next move in his pursuit of his neighbor, but then Lu Xun called her.

“Can we meet an hour from now? I’m busy right now.” She asked.

Surprisingly, Lu Xun was actually very reasonable and he replied succinctly, “Okay.”

Qian Wei was about to hang up when a waiter walked up to the table she was sharing with Mo Tao and said, “Can I get you anything?”

“I’ll have a latte.” Mo Tao looked at Qian Wei and said, “What do you want?”

“Me? I’ll just have a latte too.” After Qian Wei answered Mo Tao she turned her attention back to her phone, said goodbye to Lu Xun, and was ready to hang up.

“Wait a minute.” But suddenly, Lu Xun, who was on the other end of the phone, stopped her and said, “I want to see you right now.”

Qian Wei: ???

“Erm, I think that this issue can’t wait even a minute.” Lu Xun coughed, and his voice sounded a little unnatural. “Anyway, I want to discuss countermeasures with you right away. I’m afraid that the longer I wait, the more variables there will be. Maybe Mo Zixin will even agree to go out with someone else.” Probably Lu Xun was really very anxious because, as if he was afraid that Qian Wei would disagree, he quickly added, “Plus, didn’t you say that even if you were on a date you would put me first?”

“No problem!” Qian Wei agreed immediately. After all, Lu Xun was the future boss so, of course, he had the final say!

Qian Wei didn’t say another word, she just said a brief farewell to Mo Tao, and then quickly hung up the phone and rushed to the place where Lu Xun wanted to meet.

When she thought about Lu Xun, who was usually calm, becoming so nervous that Mo Zixin might end up with someone else that he couldn’t even wait one extra minute, Qian Wei felt a certain sense of schadenfreude. Qian Wei thought: hey, hey, just look what’s happening to you now! This is really quite the turn of events, isn’t it? I’m really starting to think that Mo Zixin was sent by God just to punish you, Lu Xun!

Qian Wei and Lu Xun agreed to meet in a restaurant that specialized in western food that was just off-campus. Qian Wei really felt that Lu Xun had become approachable lately, she thought it was probably because he had experienced several blows in succession recently, maybe it evened his temper out a bit. Or maybe it was just that he at least knew the principle of kissing up to his military advisor. As an example, the restaurant selected by Lu Xun was not some kind of fast food restaurant, rather it was an authentic western-style restaurant where, just by looking at the furnishings inside, anyone could see that it was a high quality establishment. When Qian Wei saw that she felt greatly gratified, it seemed her efforts weren’t in vain. 

On regular days, Lu Xun had always relied on his natural beauty and never paid too much attention to clothes. But recently, ever since he started to pursue Mo Zixin, he had begun to pay a lot more attention to fashion. It really showed too because he wasn’t wearing his usual casual shirt and trousers today, instead, his clothes were a bit more formal and it clearly showed that some care had gone into selecting them, but not too much.

When any 19-year-old man wore these sort of semi-formal clothes, even if he was not especially handsome, he would have a degree of attractiveness in other people’s eyes, not to mention someone like Lu Xun who had truly lethal beauty.

Qian Wei said sincerely, “Lu Xun, It seems that love has really enlightened you. Just look at you now, your outfit clearly has a lot of thought put into it. You should try wearing that in front of Mo Zixin. After all, when you’re dressed like that people really can’t help but stare at you. It’s very lethal.”

But surprisingly, Lu Xun seemed a little shy. He coughed as if to disguise his embarrassment and looked away: “Really?”

When she saw Lu Xun acting shy, Qian Wei was struck by how strange it was, how different he was from his adult self. Right now, Lu Xun really looked his age and it made Qian Wei sort of want to play a prank on him.

“Yes really, you are a delicious feast for the eyes.” She nodded and spoke with deliberate exaggeration. Then she cupped her face in her palms and pointedly stared at Lu Xun.

Suddenly the focus of an intense gaze from Qian Wei, Lu Xun, a man who had been watched by thousands of girls without ever so much letting his heart skip a single beat, felt uncharacteristically uncomfortable. And while his face was barely able to maintain an illusion of calm, his ears turned red at the speed of light, clearly revealing his true feelings.

Qian Wei could only think that Lu Xun looked a little cute right now.

Ah~, this was the sickly sweet smell of love! She really couldn’t believe that Lu Xun had changed so much!

Today Lu Xun seemed to have something weighing on his mind so even after they both sat down he didn’t say anything for a long while. It wasn’t until the food was served that he finally opened his mouth.

“Right now I have been following your advice to have more contact and create more opportunities to meet her so that we can slowly and imperceptibly enter each other’s lives. But I’ve been thinking, what if she has begun to like me? If the time seems right should I confess my love to her?”

“No! Of course not!”

Lu Xun was a little surprised: “Why not? Haven’t you been telling me that I need to take the initiative?”

To show her seriousness, Qian Wei set down her knife and fork, and then said earnestly: “Lu Xun, this is what you don’t understand. ‘Taking the initiative’ doesn’t mean that you should be the one to confess to her. You shouldn’t take love so lightly. Ultimately, love is a game played between two people with a winner and a loser. It involves marketing yourself. You want to make a girl like you and if you think about it, it’s actually very similar to selling yourself to her. And just like when you’re trying to sell merchandise, you have to let the other person know about the performance of your product, its characteristics and merits, and its performance-to-price ratio. Now you tell me, if you take the initiative to rush up to someone and say, ‘buy me, buy me’ or ‘Please, I want to be bought by you’, do you think that they will be interested in making a purchase?”

“…”

“Haven’t you heard the saying that if something is too easy to get, people won’t cherish it? That is actually a very reasonable saying. Would a really good product be sold by a hawker calling out from roadside stall somewhere? …of course not! A product’s excellence is inevitably tied to a number of important factors, and finding a person to fall in love with is the same way.” Qian Wei spoke eloquently, “Both men and women won’t cherish a relationship that comes to them too easily. That’s why you have to make Mo Zixin think that you are an excellent product, that way she will take the initiative to confess to you herself. You can’t be the one to let her know that you are fond of her or that you want to be with her.”

Lu Xun was silent.

Qian Wei patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him: “Don’t worry. I’ve done a lot of research on the psychology of women. Just trust me. The ‘initiative’ I’m talking about here can only be gained with strategy. And the strategy is for you to take the ‘initiative’ by showing off your most attractive points to Mo Zixin so that she will notice you first. At the same time as you are showing her more and more of your strengths, you should also be increasing contact between you two and letting her get used to your presence by her side. Then, before you know it she will become dependent on your presence and, at that point, you will quickly back away. For example, you will make up some excuse to disappear for two days and won’t take the initiative to contact her during that time. When that happens she will realize ‘Ah~, I need him by my side. I feel uncomfortable whenever he is away.’ And once she has that realization, that’s when you will show up again, and then you two can be together!”

After she said all that, Lu Xun finally looked up. He stared at Qian Wei for a while and then asked, “Are all you women really like this?” From his tone, it was obvious that he didn’t agree with Qian Wei.

“Have you heard the saying that women are from Mars and men are from Mercury? Men and women think differently. Just take me as an example. As a person, I actually have a very strange mentality, for instance, if I find out a man likes me, even if I didn’t mind him before, then suddenly I’ll stop liking that man. ” Qian Wei took a sip of her orange juice before continuing, “I know that you may think that love should be something sincere, you might think that as long as you have a sincere heart you will definitely succeed. But in reality, that is rarely the case. Often times, even if a person has a sincere heart for someone else, even if it’s so sincere that they would dig it out and show it to the other person, the other person would probably just feel shocked to see that – not moved.”

Lu Xun finally seemed persuaded after this explanation. He looked at Qian Wei doubtfully but did not retort any further. Instead, he asked, “You said that if you find out someone likes you, then you won’t like them. Why is that?”

Qian Wei touched her chin: “To be honest with you, I really don’t know. Maybe I have the legendary cheap scum disposition… forget it, forget about me! Let’s quickly discuss what you need to do next. I can’t just eat such an expensive meal for nothing!”

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