A Slight Smile is Very Charming (微微一笑很倾城) : Part 34

Part 34: The Truth

Wei Wei looks at him, unable to shift her gaze, and suddenly feels a bit of uneasiness.

She doesn’t like this at all.  It’s as if he has become an object for fighting back and showing off; and also in a circumstance that he isn’t even aware of.

Er Xi observes her expression and says nervously, “Wei Wei, you’re not backing out last minute now, are you?!”

What do you mean backing out last minute?  When did she ever say she wanted to fight?!

Wei Wei glares at her while feeling depressed inside.  They’re supposed to be going out for dinner, but with this going on, a simple dinner gathering has become complicated.

Forget it.  She’ll just pretend that those people are not there.  They just happen to be eating at the same restaurant.  With that in mind, Wei Wei reminds her roommates, “You guys better focus on eating and talk less.”

She realizes that that isn’t right since French cuisine is expensive, so she quickly adds, “Don’t eat too much either!”

Xiao Nai hears Wei Wei talking harshly just as he is walking back.  Seeing her natural expression of ferociousness, it’s the first time that he experiences a kind of feeling of speechlessness.

Er Xi takes the opportunity to complain, “Senior Xiao, would you just look at your (family’s) Wei Wei?”

Her words are too pleasing to the ear, making Xiao Nai’s body and mind feel happy.  He turns around to take a look at Er Xi, and officially remembers her.  Agreeing with her words, he educates Wei Wei, “You shouldn’t treat our guests this way.”

Xiao Ling and the others chuckle.

Si Si also finds the nerve to say to Xiao Nai, “But Senior, now that Wei Wei has said this, we don’t even dare to order anymore.”

Xiao Nai smiles, “Don’t worry, my wallet is not yet in Wei Wei’s possession.”

Xiao Ling giggles, “We must take this chance to eat lots.  If we wait any longer, Senior’s wallet will be in Wei Wei’s possession, and we won’t even get to eat preserved vegetables (inexpensive food) then!”

 

Wei Wei doesn’t interrupt them on their lively talk.  She concentrates on looking at the person standing beside her.

His handsome and refined facial features carry a natural sense of arrogance and detachment.  But it seems as if the distance between him and her roommates has disappeared.  Wei Wei is not surprised one bit.  This is how he is; with a little patience, he is always able to make others feel delighted.

Wei Wei didn’t notice it while they were in the car; he’s actually wearing a very formal white shirt, as if he has just come out from a business conference.  It seems right.  He asked them out for dinner right after arriving from his flight.  He didn’t even have time to get changed.

For some reason, Wei Wei suddenly feels stuffed inside.

She doesn’t dare to guess what kind of feelings the Great Master had when driving everyone here, but he most likely thought that this was a normal dinner gathering.  He definitely didn’t know that there was an ulterior motive.

The stuffiness is getting even worse.

They walk towards the restaurant as they speak, but Wei Wei stops her footsteps.  Without much thought, she tugs on Xiao Nai’s sleeve.

“Don’t go in.”

 

Wei Wei feels relieved the moment she says it out loud.  Like a swift breeze, all the troubling and depressing thoughts from the past few days and from seeing LoveChanel just now are gone.

That’s right.  She just doesn’t want to go in.  She doesn’t want to go have dinner for the sake of pride, or for the sake of provoking others.  She just wants to have dinner peacefully with her friends and him, whom she hasn’t seen for a couple of days.

 

Er Xi, Xiao Ling, and Si Si look at each other and don’t say anything.  Wei Wei lifts her head and looks at Xiao Nai, “Let’s go to another place.  I don’t like it here.”

Xiao Nai’s eyes flash slightly.

After a while.

He nods, “Okay, I’ll drive the car over.”

“Mm.”  Wei Wei feels kind of bad because the Great Master is so accommodating.  She lowers her head, “Sorry for the trouble……”

“If you feel bad, come with me to get the car.”

Eh?  Wei Wei raises her head in surprise, and catches a glimpse of mischievousness in his gaze.

>o<

“……you go and come back quickly.”

 

Watching him walk away with a straight back, Wei Wei turns to Er Xi and the others, “You guys won’t blame me, will you?”

Si Si shakes her head, “Nah, if you don’t want to eat here, let’s not.  You’re not even blaming us for planning this behind your back.  We’ve shown ourselves in front of them anyway.  I’m already satisfied, haha.”

Er Xi feels a little disappointed, “Wei Wei, you don’t really need to mind them.”

“It’s not that I mind,” Wei Wei says seriously, “If this was a boiling fish in fiery sauce restaurant, I would have eaten here.  Even if there were ten LoveChanels inside, I would have still gone in.  But this is a French restaurant.  You guys don’t even like it, and I don’t like it either, so why should we make ourselves eat something that we don’t like just to provoke others?”

It’s totally not worth it.  They might even have indigestion from it, and more importantly, they would also be offering up the Great Master’s handsomeness!!!

It’s a money losing game.

 

Er Xi wails, “Alright, I get it.”

Wei Wei is pleased.

“You just want to have boiling fish in fiery sauce.”

Wei Wei, “……”

Wei Wei, “That’s basically right……”

 

Xiao Ling makes her last attempt, “Aw, it’s such a waste to give up halfway and leave now.”

“Going too far is as bad as not going far enough (idiom).  This is enough.  Getting things done outside is way better than fighting inside.  Furthermore, oh, Xiao Ling……”

A pair of eyes has been staring at her for a long time now.  Wei Wei lifts her eyes and gazes directly back at them.  She says calmly and confidently, “The best way to deal with an enemy in disguise is to not even give her the chance to fight.”

 

On the way to the boiling fish place, Er Xi declares that she will eat enough boiling fish for it to cost just as much as eating French cuisine.  The fact that boiling fish are delicious at a low price while French cuisines are very expensive in comparison, Wei Wei didn’t think that Er Xi’s declaration would come true.

However……

They actually ate seven catties of boiling fish.

Seven catties!……

Wei Wei is astonished looking at the super big empty bowl with only a couple of bean sprouts left.  Xiao Nai is rather calm and composed.  Wei Wei makes an attempt to save her roommates from losing their image completely, and says while feeling embarrassed, “Actually……We don’t usually eat this much.  The most we eat is four to five catties……”

Xiao Nai nods apathetically and raises his hand to call the waiter, “Menu please.”

Wei Wei is speechless. >o<

Oh, Great Master, are you feeding pigs here?……

 

After dinner, Xiao Nai drives them back to school.  When they pass by a supermarket near the school, Xiao Ling asks to stop the car, “Er Xi, Si Si, and I need to get some things at the supermarket.  Senior, you and Wei Wei can head back first.”

Xiao Nai says, “We’ll wait here for you guys.”

“It’s okay, we’ll ride a bus back,” Xiao Ling quickly turns down his offer.

Yeah right, they also have principles too, okay?!  After eating and drinking for free, there’s no way that they’ll be the third wheels!  They’ll be struck by lightning for hindering a couple from having time alone.

 

Her roommates snicker as they get out of the car.  Wei Wei leans forward subconsciously and shifts her body slightly towards the outside.  Not that she has the intention to get out of the car, but for some reason, her body seems to be acting out of habit and moving like it wants to get off.

On the very next second, someone grabs her wrist firmly and presses it on the soft passenger seat.

Wei Wei turns around in surprise, but can only see him bidding Xiao Ling and the others goodbye.  His expression is so natural as if he isn’t pressing her down with so much force.

Xiao Ling and the others walk away while laughing cheerfully.  Her wrist is still being grasped by someone.  Wei Wei feels a little mad, “Hey.”

Xiao Nai smiles slightly, lets go, and starts driving again as if nothing happened.  After a while, Xiao Nai stops at a red light, and asks softly while looking straight, “Tell me, what happened?”

Wei Wei reacts out of reflex, “Ah?”

“At the French restaurant,” Xiao Nai reminds her, “Why did you want to leave suddenly?”

“Oh~”

“Stop playing dumb.  You’ve never been a petulant person.  What happened exactly?”

>o< Should I applaud him for his compliments?……

Wei Wei says honestly, “There was someone I dislike inside.”

“Hm?  Who?”

Wei Wei suddenly realizes that the person in front of her is the actual culprit of causing her being scolded at.  He’s nothing but trouble!

Therefore, she says annoyingly, “It wasn’t anyone.  She was probably the one who wanted to hand you a flyer but couldn’t.”

 

He suddenly slams on the brakes and makes a wide turn into a small alley.  Xiao Nai stops the car, turns to look at her with eyes carrying a faint smile.

“Wei Wei.”

Wei Wei is a bit frightened from his suddenly move, “What are you doing?”

“Nothing, I just feel it’s rare to see you like this, so,” he rests his elbow on the steering wheel while stroking his chin with his slender fingers.  Xiao Nai eyes sparkles, “I just wanted to stop and take a good look.”

 

Wei Wei glares at him while her face slowly turns red.  She feels as if she is going to die from anger >o<

Although her face turning red makes her look pretty, seeing how she is really mad, Xiao Nai refrains himself and says seriously, “What did that flyer girl wanted to do?”

 

Wei Wei calms herself and decides not to be bothered by him.  After a moment of thought, she tells him everything from start to finish, but of course, she skips over the details such as measurements like 34C ==

Xiao Nai’s face turns colder and colder as he listens.  The intimate atmosphere in the car from just a moment ago is now completely gone.  Wei Wei notices the change in mood and stops talking.

Xiao Nai says expressionlessly, “Continue.”

“That’s about it.  They were eating at the restaurant just now.  Er Xi knew that they would be there, so that was why she wanted to go.”

“Name.”

Wei Wei answers each of his questions, “LoveChanel.”

“There were four of them, who are the others?”

“……As for the others, I’m not too sure,” Wei Wei just doesn’t want to talk bad behind others, “It’s okay.  You can go look them up online, but don’t say anything, just let them be.”

Many people have already started taking her side, and LoveChanel has been humiliated enough.

 

Let them be?  Xiao Nai says coldly, “I’m afraid I don’t have the tolerance.”

The Great Master……seems to be angry for real.  Wei Wei on the other hand, doesn’t feel much about it since it has been a couple of days already.

“I’ve already gotten used to hearing these things since I was young.  I used to take them as a form of motivation, but later, they’re not even worthy of becoming a source of motivation.”  With her eyes shining with confidence, Wei Wei looks at him and says sincerely, “Right now, my source of motivation is——”

you.

 

The time stops.

Her pair of eyes continue looking him; brilliant and gleaming with captivating luminosity.  Xiao Nai can’t think of any words to describe her beauty at this moment.  He wants to cover her eyes so that maybe, his heart will not beat so wildly.

 

Wei Wei feels like she’s suffocating.

They were clearly talking about something normal just a second ago, but how did they get into this atmosphere……

Wei Wei tries hard to shift her gaze towards the window.  She clears her throat and says as naturally as she could, “You shouldn’t continue to park your car here, it’ll impede traffic.”

 

As a family member of the faculty, Xiao Nai is allowed to drive his car into the school, but driving it all the way to the girls’ dormitory seems inappropriate.  Therefore, he parks it underneath his building, and then walks Wei Wei back to the dorm.

The school has always been the liveliest at 8 to 9pm, but due to the exam period, it’s rather quiet.  They walk side by side on the path through the garden where there is no one.  A blanket of stars shine above them as science student, Wei Wei, calculates in her head……

They take a long route; it’s three-hundred meters……

They take another long route; it’s another five-hundred meters……

Altogether, it’s eight-hundred meters.  Mm, if they take a few more alternative routes, she should be able to burn off those boiling fish.

Xiao Nai says casually, “Come eat dinner with my dorm mates after your exams.”

“Ah?” pulled back from her simple addition, Wei Wei nods, “Okay.”

“You don’t want to?” he sounds a bit forced.

“Yes, I do.  It’s just that……”

 

Wei Wei answers him, but suddenly feels a tint of unrealism.

She has always felt that she and the Great Master are in the “ready to be in a relationship” stage, but with all the things that her roommates have done, it feels as if their relationship has been confirmed >_<  It feels so unreal.

Furthermore, she has to go have dinner with his dorm mates……

And, he’s Xiao Nai……

The unreal feeling that is brought by the name has been shrouding her all this while.

 

“Hm?”

“It’s just that, it feels a bit unreal.”

Xiao Nai stops his footsteps and turns around to look at her.

Wei Wei also stops.

Wei Wei is then pulled into his embrace without any warning.  The fresh scent of a man suddenly permeates all of her senses.  His arms wrap around her making her unable to move.  Her head is buried in his chest; she can’t see anything, but can hear him say into her ears:

“I didn’t want to do this so quickly,” he says with a cold and deep voice, sounding even more mesmerizing.  He asks, “Does it feel real now?”

 

It seems like everything is silent, but it also seems like everything is in an uproar.  At this moment, the time in the universe has stopped.  In his embrace, Wei Wei can only hear his heart beating.

What is real, feels even more surreal, but what does it matter?  Even if all of this is unreal, it is the most realistic kind of unreal.