Chapter 40: Come on, let Auntie give you a kiss

Xie Buchend asked Lin Shu if she had no plans for New Year's Day, and why she had run off to the shopping mall all by herself.

Lin Shu curled her lips. "Zhou Ya is at tutoring."

Xie Buchend said, "Then you should go get tutored too."

"Tutored your head. I am not going in there to inhale carbon dioxide. Don't you know people get drowsy in oxygen-deprived environments?"

"Oh." Xie Buchend said solemnly, "Thank you for telling me."

Jerk!

Lin Shu turned the question back on him, asking why he wasn't going to help out at the shop today.

Mentioning this, Xie Buchend took a deep breath, and his resentment was visibly heavy.

"My cousin went on a date, so the shop is closed today."

"Then why are you still here..."

"He didn't tell me," Xie Buchend said expressionlessly. "I only found out after I arrived and called him."

That was truly a dear cousin.

Lin Shu laughed like crazy, hahaha.

Xie Buchend gave her a disgruntled look.

Lin Shu was wearing a light camel-colored wool coat, with a base layer and a skirt underneath. Her leggings were tucked snugly into snow boots—a total baby afraid of the cold.

Her hair was unbound.

Probably left hanging down for warmth.

A clip was pinned to the side of her head, featuring a little cow cat on top of it.

When she smiled, the cat seemed to come alive, and the New Year decorations in the mall lit up along with it. Not long ago it had been Christmas, and red and green themed ornaments still lingered in the corners.

They walked over to a dessert shop and sat down.

Hot milk-stewed peach gum, spoonful after spoonful, as if she wasn't afraid of the heat.

"Are you not eating anything? You should eat a little, otherwise it makes me look like I eat so much..."

"Oh."

Xie Buchend picked up a deep-fried cheese rice cake stick.

Lin Shu hurriedly stopped him, telling him to eat the fried chicken wings instead and leave her rice cake stick alone.

"Oh."

Xie Buchend took a bite.

Lin Shu let out a cry, waving her claws and scratching the air like a cat.

Damn rogue bro!

Xie Buchend chuckled and placed an additional order.

Lin Shu pressed down on his phone and shook her hand. "Forget it, just break half off for me from the bottom. The stuff on the table isn't even finished yet."

Xie Buchend wrapped it in greaseproof paper and snapped it in the middle.

The cheese filling in the center stretched into strings.

A long, thin strand.

Lin Shu pushed her bowl away, leaned her head forward to catch it, and nibbled her way back, biting into the rice cake stick in Xie Buchend's hand along the trail of cheese.

Their eyes met.

Lin Shu muttered something unintelligible, though she didn't know what to say, her gaze clearly telling Xie Buchend to let go.

Xie Buchend let go.

And she shrank back into her seat.

With the rice cake clamped in her teeth, Lin Shu straightened up and chewed with a series of soft crunches. Halfway through swallowing, she noticed Xie Buchend was acting a bit bizarrely quiet.

She lifted her gaze.

The boy was leaning sideways against his seat.

Wearing a sour face.

Inside his deep blue down jacket, he was practically wearing nothing underneath except a thin T-shirt, adorned with a very slender necklace whose pendant was a little dog sticking out its tongue.

His face was icy cold; aside from being handsome, nothing else could be read from it.

Yet his neck was entirely pink.

His collarbones were dyed a rosy red, as if suffering from an allergic reaction.

He was practically a human gradient.

Lin Shu thought to herself, how is Xie Buchend acting just like Zhou Ya when she sees Lin Zhou—other than his face not being red, everywhere else is red.

Could it be...

Good grief, she almost figured it out.

Fortunately, a pair of shameless lovers were kissing each other in broad daylight, right out in the open, right next to Lin Shu and Xie Buchend.

Lin Shu cast a sideways glance with her chubby eyes.

She could clearly see the man's hand tightly wrapped around the woman's waist, feeling around like someone stealing chickens for the first time.

Xie Buchend clicked his tongue.

Clearly sharing Lin Shu's exact sentiment.

Four waiters acted like an atmosphere squad, taking videos and applauding nearby.

Faced with Lin Shu and Xie Buchend's speechlessness, they seemed completely oblivious, enthusiastically inviting the two of them to join the dessert shop's promotion as well—

Kiss at the shop entrance, get your meal for free.

It was an event that started on Christmas and would run until January 3rd.

They had happened to run right into it.

Mistletoe hung at the entrance of the shop.

According to Western tradition, people standing under the mistletoe could not refuse a kiss, even if they were Tom and Jerry.

...

The young couple finished kissing and separated.

After successfully getting their free meal, they politely said thank you, and then gave Lin Shu and Xie Buchend an encouraging look.

Are they insane?

They had just happened to meet, happened to be eating here, and furthermore they were students—what kissing, who eats a kiss...

Xie Buchend gave a slight shake of his head to signal his refusal.

Lin Shu had a sudden burst of inspiration and asked, "Does it strictly have to be a mouth-to-mouth kiss?"

"Um..."

The staff looked at each other. Perhaps seeing that both were good-looking and desperately wanting to see them share one, they said, "Kissing on the cheek is fine too."

Lin Shu stood up, and before Xie Buchend could react, she leaned over and planted a quick peck on his cheek with lightning speed.

...

...

...

Lin Shu turned her head back and asked, "Is this okay?"

"I guess so."

The staff member looked a bit hesitant, but agreed, though they asked Lin Shu to kiss him one more time because the last one was too fast and they hadn't captured a photo, and they needed pictures for promotion.

"Ah... Never mind then. The two of us aren't that kind of relationship, it'd be bad if acquaintances saw us."

She waved her hand, completely devoid of awkwardness.

Xie Buchend rested his elbows on the table, burying his face in his hands, leaving only the necklace on his chest blinking intermittently.

Lin Shu went back to eating.

As if nothing had ever happened.

Tsk.

Xie Buchend kicked her under the table.

With her spoon still in her mouth, Lin Shu looked up and raised an eyebrow.

Xie Buchend gave her a chilly look.

Lin Shu spat out the spoon and said in a low voice, "What are you acting so awkward for? It's not like it's your first time anyway."

...

Huh?

"What do you mean it's not my first time?"

Xie Buchend's voice sounded a bit fierce.

Ah, he was actually being fierce to her!

Straightening her posture and her words, Lin Shu gave a well-behaved and obedient explanation, "Well, you know... didn't I gnaw on your face once in the KTV?"

"Is that the same thing? You were drunk then."

"Uh."

Lin Shu hemmed and hawed, beginning to spin excuses, "It's not that serious, right? I didn't even make a big deal out of it, why are you fussing? Besides, with the way you look, there's no way that was still your first kiss anyway. And all I did was brush against your cheek, I didn't even get to taste anything..."

Xie Buchend lowered his gaze.

"Are you a scumbag, Lin Shu?"

This speech was simply legendary.

Xie Buchend directly began to doubt Lin Shu's biological gender.

His gaze contained anger, mingled with a trace of evasiveness and shyness.

Lin Shu's eyes gradually grew clear and innocent.

Xie Buchend turned his head away, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose between his eyes, the pale pink of his neck creeping up to his ears.

"I'm sorry..."

Lin Shu said.

Xie Buchend couldn't be bothered to dignify her with a response.

The girl paused for a moment and added, "If you want, I can let you kiss me back. I've never been kissed either."

...

"I give up."

Xie Buchend waved a hand, awkwardly tugging at his collar, keeping his head lowered the whole time.

He muttered that girls ought to have a bit of self-awareness and shouldn't go around making intimate physical gestures toward members of the opposite sex on a whim. Touching was one thing, how could she dare use her mouth?

Lin Shu repeatedly apologized.

How could she possibly explain that in her heart, Xie Buchend felt like a son of the same age—handsome, loyal, and her wells of maternal affection overflowed endlessly.

Could she be blamed for this?

Certainly not.

Most definitely not.

They finished eating in silence and wandered around in silence.

How incredibly awkward.

Lin Shu answered a phone call; it was a boy from her class asking about homework. She patiently answered and discussed two problems with him.

She hadn't put it on speaker, but Xie Buchend still heard the other person asking Lin Shu if she wanted to go eat pizza buffet, since he had a coupon.

Lin Shu was in a state of neither wanting nor not wanting to go.

"I just ate dessert and rice cakes, I'm a bit greasy, you guys go ahead."

"Oh, is that so? Are you going to eat alone?"

"...No."

"With a guy?"

"You could say that."

"What do you mean 'you could say that', Lin Shu? Don't tell me the other person is a ladyboy?"

...

Lin Shu laughed. "It's a guy, but we just happened to bump into each other, so that's why I said 'you could say that'."

"A coincidence... is it really that much of a coincidence?"

The male classmate on the other end dragged out his syllables, sounding rather sarcastic.

Xie Buchend leaned close to the phone, cleared his throat, and spoke in a supreme, breathy low register, "Yeah, it really is just that coincidence. And what a coincidence you are too, classmate, asking about homework just to see if she wants to go grab a bite."