Her eyes were round and large, bright as she looked at you, making it impossible to doubt that she was speaking insincerely.
In fact, Su Xiaomeng was indeed speaking her true feelings.
"When you said you quite liked me that day, I... I was very scared, I thought you..."
"Thought I wanted to toy with you?"
Su Xiaomeng pursed her lips, nodded slightly with some guilt, and then hurriedly said, "But later, when you appeared in the dormitory and told me you actually wanted to compensate me, I knew I... misunderstood you."
"..." Her constant use of "you" left him quite annoyed.
"Meng Meng has always admired you, I should trust Meng Meng’s judgment, you are an excellent person. That night... was just an accident. I also want to recover quickly, so I returned to stay with you, you are Meng Meng’s elder, and I consider you an elder too."
"But just now that pink man said that day was actually your father’s birthday, I was both surprised and... really touched, I realized... you are truly kind to me. So... I can’t stand hearing others ridicule you."
She spoke sincerely, with a coherent and clear narrative, leaving Yin Shixiu with no faults to find.
"Uncle, I didn’t..."
Yin Shixiu raised his hand, blocking her words at her throat, "You don’t have to answer me so quickly, I’ll give you time."
Su Xiaomeng genuinely wanted to say this wasn’t a matter of time, but that she never intended to have anything happen with Yin Shixiu. She only wanted to quickly receive notice from the hospital, remove the child in her belly, and then return to her normal campus life.
"You consider me an elder, but I never saw you as a child, Su Xiaomeng. There are many ways to compensate people, yet I chose the most unnecessary and troublesome one."
Yin Shixiu’s deep voice played a heart-stirring melody in her ear, like a cello.
"You are very young, in others’ eyes, perhaps just a 16-year-old minor, but in my eyes, you are a beautiful woman."
In my eyes, you are a beautiful woman.
Su Xiaomeng lay on the bed, unable to sleep not because of curiosity, but because of Yin Shixiu’s words.
She had been confessed to before; her optimistic, cheerful, and somewhat playful nature with a cute face could not help but attract people. Yet... no one had ever said such things, and no one had ever used the word "woman" to her.
Uncle... is he serious?
The consequence of a sleepless night was having to endure two panda eyes, Su Xiaomeng looked at herself in the mirror and let out a heavy sigh.
She only got up after hearing the sound of Yin Shixiu opening the door and leaving.
There was breakfast made in the kitchen, Su Xiaomeng finished breakfast and sat in the living room watching TV. But as she watched, she began to zone out again, supporting her chin with her hands, looking troubled.
"Su Xiaomeng, do you still hate me now?"
This was what he asked before he left her room last night, leaving her at a loss.
Not asking "Do you like me" but rather "Do you still hate me now."
How to put it? Even at the time of knowing that absurd thing, regarding Yin Shixiu, it wasn’t quite true hatred, more like resentment and grievance.
If he were just an old man taking advantage of his status and power to bully a young girl like her, then she would probably hate him.
But a man who not only said he wanted to compensate her but also did so, how could she possibly hate him?
But to say she liked him...