Growing Fond of You, Mr Nian

Yan Su emerged from the kitchen with a trash bag. When she was at the door, she caught sight of a trash bag at her neighbor’s door. Just as she was about to pick it up, she heard a voice coming from the apartment.

“Little brat, can you be more mindful about what you say? Don’t make Yan Su feel uncomfortable.”

“Did I say anything wrong? I really had no idea,” Mo Liuxi sounded cold. “Anyone can be a singer now, especially females. As long as they look decent, all they need is some PR packaging and a makeover…”

Yan Su frowned, she looked into the house and Mo Liuxi made eye contact with her.

She quickly picked up the bag of trash and left.

Mo Liuxi was frozen in the spot for a moment before he walked to his door just as Yan Su boarded the lift. He noticed that his trash at the door was cleared.

“What are you doing? Is Xu Zhengxuan here?” Mo Jin asked.

“Nope.”

…

Eight o’clock at night.

Nian Junting was watching television with a plate of honeydew when Xu Zhengxuan glanced over at Yan Su’s room. “Let’s go, Junting, it’s already so late.”

Nian Junting frowned. “Dad, you can drive home in my car. I want to stay here tonight.”

Luosang stopped eating immediately and put down the toothpick. “No you can’t, I’ve already told you, Yan Su is staying with me. You’re only going to cause us inconvenience if you stay here so go home now. I’ll be back home the day after tomorrow when I have no classes.”

Nian Junting pouted unhappily. “I’m worried that you would miss me at night, you’re accustomed to hugging me when you sleep now. What if you get insomnia without me? Forget it, you better come back to the villa with me. I’ll send you back tomorrow morning.”

“…”

Luosang couldn’t be bothered to talk to him anymore so she stood up and handed his phone to him. “Come on, hurry along, I’ll video call you if I miss you. But I doubt I will as I’ve already been staring at your face for two months now so I’m a little tired of it.”

Nian Junting looked at her angrily.

Xu Zhengxuan said quickly, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Luosang stuck out her tongue and pecked Nian Junting’s cheeks. “Junting, distance makes the heart grow fonder. You know me, I’m just trying to play hard to get so things are more exciting when we meet.”

Nian Junting’s face lit up immediately. “I understand. Well then, Luo, I’ll get going. I’m going to miss you, good night.”

He left promptly with Xu Zhengxuan after that.

Yan Su walked out from her room, she was grinning from ear to ear. “Mr. Nian has finally taken his leave?”

“Yeah.” Luosang was thrilled. “I’m finally free, let’s go get supper. I’ve been craving the hot and spicy soup from the stall in front of our school. You know I’ve been living under close supervision for the past two months, he hasn’t allowed me to eat anything outside. He considers all food from outside trash. I haven’t had a single cup of bubble tea or duck’s neck to snack on. I miss the food from school every day. Every time I ask him to buy me food he gives me a lecture about it.”

Luosang was feeling sorry for herself. She was looking forward to school reopening and the day had finally come.

Yan Su found her predicament amusing. “You need to watch your diet when you’re pregnant, don’t you?”

“I don’t need to watch it that strictly, I won’t have too much. Come on, let’s go.” Luosang was pulling her along. “I didn’t eat much for dinner to save some space for the hot and spicy soup.”

“…”

When they left the apartment, Yan Su let her hair down and put on a face mask.

She was a public figure now so she had to be careful about her public image.

“I’ll call Liuxi along, introduce him to Ximei’s delicacies.” Luosang went ahead to knock on his door.

“That won’t be necessary, right?” Yan Su was unwilling as she didn’t like Mo Liuxi now.

“It’s ok, we can get to know each other better. You are going to be neighbors with him after all. It’ll be good to know him,” Luosang whispered to her before Mo Liuxi opened his door.

“Liuxi, I want to bring you to a spicy soup place near our school, it’s much better than the stuff we get from delivery,” Luosang said.

“Alright, I’ll come along then.”

On the way there, it was mostly Luosang who was talking. She found her two companions oddly silent. Mo Liuxi was always quite quiet but even Yan Su was quiet tonight. She didn’t know how to ease the atmosphere as well.

When they arrived at the stall, there were many freshmen there already. The freshmen had entered university a month ago for orientation.

The three of them walked in and the noisy stall fell silent immediately. The crowd was looking at Mo Liuxi and Luosang. Luosang was pretty and attracted the eyes of all the boys while Mo Liuxi was handsome and dashing, attracting the attention of all the girls there.

They had stolen all the attention from Yan Su who was wearing a face mask. The three of them found an empty table and sat down. Yan Su sat with her back to the public, so people wouldn’t see her face. Mo Liuxi was sitting lazily on the old and battered chair. With the orange gas light shining on his face, he looked dreamy like a cloud.

Luosang noticed that there were many girls secretly snapping photos of him. Although she had already anticipated such a response, she didn’t expect him to be so eye-catching even at a soup store. Of course, there were boys taking photos of Luosang as well but someone recognised her quickly.

“Stop taking photos, she is Xu Luosang from the broadcasting faculty, she already has a boyfriend and her boyfriend is the CEO of Shengting Corporation. He’s quite something, he went around telling the students here not to harbor any thoughts for his girlfriend.”

“So, she is Xu Luosang, she is so pretty.”

“Look at the boy sitting next to her, they look quite alike, he must be her brother.”

“…”

When the boys were whispering to one another, a brave girl walked up to Mo Liuxi. “Classmate, can I have your WeChat account? I think you are really rather handsome.”

Mo Liuxi looked up coldly and said, “Sorry, I’m gay.”

“Pfft.” Yan Su nearly choked on the spicy tofu she was eating.

This chap, what a lad. The little girl’s face paled. Why were all the good-looking men gay nowadays.

He had told her so crudely and straightforwardly.

“Perhaps… you could try, women are much more interesting than men,” the girl was persistent.

“I’ve tried before, no they’re not,” Mo Liuxi said with a straight face.