Shang Lu came back again.
The tall, long-legged young man standing at the entrance had a strikingly handsome and refined appearance, but his gentle eyes were only looking at one girl.
Jiang Yan was surprised. At the end of the day, Jiang Yan saw this romance as merely a task and a meal ticket for satisfying her desires. She knew the two would eventually break up, so she played it naturally.
Finding that she was working a night shift, Shang Lu could blame her for not responding to his messages or give her money due to their difference in social status, but he couldn't accompany her like this.
Jiang Yan suddenly became a bit flustered, her ink-black, clear eyes gazing at Shang Lu. After hesitating for a moment, she asked him, "Why are you here?"
Shang Lu thought to himself, his girlfriend was still so adorably naive, unable to hide her innermost thoughts, making her an easy prey for an old fox like himself.
Shang Lu found a stool to sit on, looking at her in the dim light as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and said, "To keep my girlfriend company."
Without external factors, having someone's company is much warmer than being alone.
The internet cafe was located on a not-so-busy street. Shang Lu went out for a while and brought back some piping hot oden for her.
Crunchy fish cakes, sweet-not-spicy ones, hand-peeled bamboo shoots, tofu skewers, beef meatballs, along with mushrooms and radish, drizzled with a non-spicy broth.
Jiang Yan couldn't figure out Shang Lu, but on the slightly chilly night, her fair fingers retracted into her sleeves as she propped her chin up, dreamily watching Shang Lu and saying, "I kind of like oden now."
Who was Shang Lu? The rumors of his wealthy background were no exaggeration - he was born into privilege, a veteran of the world of power and profit, with a discerning heart. Even with his eyes closed, he knew that when Jiang Yan said she liked oden, she was referring to him.
Shang Lu calmly asked with all the implied conditions, "Do you like oden more than red envelopes now?"
Jiang Yan was chewing on a radish and nodded with a smile, "Yes."
So you see, his darling had a heart.
Shang Lu had actually come on a small electric scooter. After she got off work, he put a helmet on Jiang Yan and sent her home.
With the helmet on, Jiang Yan leaned against Shang Lu's back and said, "We're like an old married couple now."
Shang Lu patiently responded.
"Are you happy now?" Jiang Yan asked bluntly and adorably, like a child.
Shang Lu answered seriously again, "Yes."
Jiang Yan immediately followed with the remark she had been planning, "So even without kissing, we can still be happy."
Shang Lu slowly responded in a very serious and calm tone, "Right now, I really want to kiss you."
Jiang Yan didn't dare say anything else.
"Why?" After a while, she asked again like a curious baby, seizing the chance to ask a strange question while Shang Lu couldn't reprimand her.
Because he wanted to satisfy his insatiable desires, wanted her surprise and rapture reflected in her eyes to be caused solely by him, wanted—
He liked her, which was something Shang Lu couldn't control.
He wanted too much. Afraid of scaring this naive little money-swindler, in the end, Shang Lu told her gently, "Because it would give an irreplaceable sense of intimacy."
In front of the one he liked, Shang Lu would also become tactful and patient.
Jiang Yan didn't understand; she just felt it was profound, an answer beyond her comprehension. So she didn't ask anymore, directing Shang Lu to ride the little scooter to a dilapidated residential building with narrow alleys.
"See you tomorrow." The girl he cherished walked backwards, bidding him farewell, then scampered into the building. Her figure merged with the gloomy shadows below, then vanished from sight.
From her candid attitude, Shang Lu could tell she didn't mind revealing the gap in their living conditions, because she had always assumed the two wouldn't end up together.
But Shang Lu wanted to be with her, and this divide wasn't something that could stop him. As he had said from the start, he was quite formidable.
See you tomorrow. The man walked into tomorrow's anticipation, with the full moon at his back.
But tomorrow always brought new surprises.
Shang Lu patiently waited for his girlfriend to finish eating, only for his little girlfriend to mysteriously take him to a small pavilion in the woods to dine.
Oh, she finally took the initiative. The man's mind immediately envisioned young lovers being affectionate in the forest, his flushed lips unconsciously curving into a suggestive, alluring arc.
However, his little girlfriend took out her phone from her pocket.