Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Before I went on the blind date, my mom had shown me a photo of Li Shuyu.
A one-inch ID photo with a white background.
The man in the photo had short black hair, neat and clean-cut.
He wore a white shirt and a perfectly proper tie.
His sharply defined face was turned straight toward the camera, utterly expressionless.
I couldn’t exactly call him handsome, but he did make you want to take a second look.
I teased her, “So this is the elite you were talking about? Parents are university professors, he went straight from his master’s to his PhD, and now he works at a research institute?”
My mom nodded again and again.
Then she launched into another round of praise for Li Shuyu.
He looked decent, had a good temper, and had never given his parents a moment’s worry from childhood to adulthood.
I couldn’t help asking, “If he’s that outstanding, why does he still need blind dates? Don’t tell me there’s something wrong with him.”
My mom was struck speechless.
Then she started threatening and bribing me, insisting I had to meet him that weekend.
She also told me to add him on WeChat.
So we could get to know each other a little before meeting.
I obediently did as I was told.
He accepted my friend request very quickly.
Then sent a greeting:
[Hello, I’m Li Shuyu.]
A very formal hello.
So I replied just as formally.
[Hello, I’m Jiang Hao.]
I casually tapped into his Moments.
It was squeaky clean. There was nothing there.
I didn’t know if he’d blocked me from seeing it.
And after I sent that greeting, he didn’t reply again.
Not until seven that evening, when he sent me the café location and table number.
Inviting me to meet that weekend.
Brief and to the point.
All business.
So cold.
That weekend, I arrived at the café exactly on time.
The moment I walked in, I saw Li Shuyu sitting by the window.
He looked almost no different from the photo.
Short black hair, neat and clean-cut.
The buttons of his white shirt were fastened properly all the way to the top.
The collar sat just beneath his prominent Adam’s apple.
I hadn’t looked closely at the photo.
Only after seeing him in person did I notice there was a tiny mole to the left of his Adam’s apple.
As he spoke, it trembled lightly.
For some reason, it was a little… suggestive.
“Miss Jiang?”
Li Shuyu’s slightly low voice sounded beside my ear.
I immediately pulled my gaze back and said awkwardly, “Huh? What did you say?”
Just now, I’d been too busy staring at his neck.
I hadn’t paid the slightest attention to what he was saying.
I gave him an apologetic smile.
“Sorry, I spaced out for a second.”
Li Shuyu had a good temper.
He said softly that it was fine, then repeated himself.
“Miss Jiang, what would you like to drink?”
“Anything is fine. Same as you.”
While he lowered his head to place the order,
I quickly messaged my best friend on my phone:
[Babe! This blind date is freakishly good-looking!]
[You mean that glasses guy dressed like an insurance salesman? How good-looking? Send pics, quick, lemme see!]
Tsk.
Last time, after one glance at his ID photo,
she’d said he looked like an insurance salesman.
I typed rapidly.
[Forget it, forget it. I’m afraid he’ll catch me sneaking a photo and think I’m into him.]
[Then are you into him or not?]
Now that was a soul-searching question.
I froze, unsure how to reply.
I was just about to sneak a glance at Li Shuyu
when I realized he had finished ordering at some point.
He was sitting upright, his gaze fixed steadily on me without wavering.
I jumped in fright and hurriedly locked my screen.
“Sorry, I was replying to a friend’s message.”
The second I said it, I regretted it.
Why was I explaining myself to him?
On previous blind dates, I’d even played match-three games right in front of the other person, and I hadn’t felt guilty at all!
Li Shuyu gave a slight nod and said mildly, “It’s all right. You don’t need to be nervous.”
For some inexplicable reason, I felt like the look hidden behind his lenses was very dangerous.
“Is this also Miss Jiang’s first blind date?”
“No, it’s my third.”
He made a small sound of acknowledgment and nodded.
I had no idea what he meant by that.
The atmosphere fell into a stalemate.
Fortunately, the waiter soon brought over two cups of coffee.
Li Shuyu carefully wiped his fingers with an alcohol wipe before picking up his cup and taking a sip.
I glanced up.
And discovered that his hands were very beautiful.
His palms were broad, and his fingers were not excessively slender.
His knuckles and fingertips were tinged with a faint pink.
When he lifted the cup, the blue veins on the back of his hand bulged slightly.
On our first meeting,
Li Shuyu gave me the impression of a mysophobic, wooden, and old-fashioned man.
Though he really was quite good-looking.
But I felt like… he wasn’t really suitable for me.
So, when my coffee was half finished,
I spoke to him frankly.
“Mr. Li, I’m here on this blind date to appease my family. I assume you are too.”
He lifted his eyes and looked at me steadily.
“No. I came of my own free will.”
I froze.
I didn’t understand what he meant.
From the time we’d added each other on WeChat until now, we’d exchanged no more than ten sentences in total.
He couldn’t possibly be interested in me, could he?
I cleared my throat and said solemnly, “Here’s the thing, Mr. Li. Personally, I don’t currently have any plans to get married.”
He nodded.
“That’s all right. I’m not in a hurry to get married either.”
He didn’t seem to have understood what I meant.
So I added, “I’ll be honest. I don’t like overly proper, boring men. Of course, I don’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. It’s just that everyone has different tastes.”
“Someone as outstanding as you, Mr. Li, will definitely find a girl who’s more suitable for you!”
Li Shuyu adjusted his glasses and said seriously, “Miss Jiang makes a good point.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed he was pretty reasonable after all.
I was just about to say that we didn’t need to meet again in the future, and that we could delete each other after going home.
Then his tone changed.
“But… calling me boring without even trying me out first seems rather unfair.”
Me: “?”