Chapter 161
Chapter 161
Then should we take a couple photo? Then should we take a couple photo? Then should we take a couple photo…
The moment the words left Xie Lanchen’s mouth, his ears began to ring.
What had he just said?
Although he knew he would say those words sooner or later, in the version he had imagined, it absolutely would not have been in such a casual setting.
And Ning Xi-would she think he was joking?
Would she think he was frivolous?
Xie Lanchen looked as calm as ever on the surface, but inside, everything had already descended into utter chaos.
…Ning Xi was the person he had longed for so many years before finally mustering the courage to meet.
He did not want to leave even the slightest bad impression on her.
That was why he had cast aside every flaw, thrown away that dark past, and become the Xie Lanchen Ning Xi might possibly like, so he could stand before her cleanly and openly, with nothing to hide.
Even if it was only as a friend, he would accept it gladly. He would be overjoyed.
But now… was this relationship about to end? Would she hate him?
Xie Lanchen pressed his lips together, the light in his eyes dimming little by little.
Ning Xi, on the other hand, completely calmed down after Xie Lanchen said those words.
She stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly broke into a grin. “Sure. Of course we should take one if it’s half off!”
The person at a total loss was now Xie Lanchen.
His voice came out awkwardly. “Only couples can take this kind…”
By the end, his voice had nearly faded into a breath.
Because from Ning Xi’s expression, he realized that she knew the rule for this photo.
She knew, and she still wanted to take a couple photo.
In an instant, disbelief, wild joy, incredulity, and all sorts of emotions flooded Xie Lanchen’s chest.
Was it… what he thought it meant?
Ning Xi had already skillfully opened the default camera app and switched it to front-facing selfie mode.
Click.
When Ning Xi saw the photo, she frowned, somewhat dissatisfied.
In the picture, she and Xie Lanchen sat facing each other. Although both of them were looking at the camera, the distance created by the table between them looked like an uncrossable chasm, making it nothing like a couple photo at all.
After thinking for a moment, Ning Xi stood up, sat down beside Xie Lanchen, and raised her phone to take another picture.
But-
“? Xiao Xie, look at the camera.”
“The camera’s the other way…”
“Smile a little. Don’t look so serious.”
And just like that, their very first couple photo was freshly released.
Mm. Although Xiao Xie’s expression was a little stiff, anyone who didn’t know Xie Lanchen definitely wouldn’t be able to tell from the photo!
Ning Xi was very satisfied.
As for Xie Lanchen, his ears were still roaring, as if he had fallen into a dream.
From the moment Ning Xi sat down beside him, his brain had already stopped thinking amid a buzzing haze.
He was afraid this was only a dream.
Only after Ning Xi returned to the seat across from him did Xie Lanchen finally speak with difficulty.
“Do you really know what this photo means? Only a real couple…”
“Xie Lanchen.”
Ning Xi looked at him and suddenly curved her lips into a smile. Laughter flowed through her bright almond eyes, like the clear glow of a new moon, shimmering softly.
“Xie Lanchen, are you the only person who doesn’t know how obvious it is that you like me?”
His earlobes that reddened from time to time, the way his entire body stiffened whenever the two of them got close…
Ning Xi simply had not thought in that direction before. But as soon as she caught on even a little, she realized that every look, every gesture, every movement of Xie Lanchen’s was telling her just how much he liked her.
Xie Lanchen froze, the flush on his earlobes spreading until they looked as if they might drip blood.
Was… was it that obvious?
When it came to feelings, there was always someone who could render another utterly helpless.
Ning Xi might have had zero experience herself, but when the other person in the relationship had even less experience than she did, her habit of teasing people slipped out again without her noticing.
She blinked and put on a wounded, self-pitying look. “You keep not saying anything. Is it because I misunderstood? Fine, so you don’t like me after all. I was just flattering myself. I thought I had a chance, but it turns out the circus came to town tonight and I’m the whole act…”
“I like you!” Xie Lanchen said, his voice a little rushed.
As if he couldn’t bear to hear Ning Xi talk about herself like that for even one more second.
But the moment the words left his mouth, he met Ning Xi’s smiling almond eyes.
He knew he had been “tricked” by her again.
Xie Lanchen didn’t mind. Right now, he only wanted to know one thing.
“Then do you… like me?”
Ning Xi had been about to say something to lighten the mood, but when her gaze fell into Xie Lanchen’s eyes, the smile on her lips faded on its own, and her expression turned serious.
Because Xie Lanchen’s eyes told her this answer mattered very much.
Ning Xi tilted her head up to look at Xie Lanchen. “I do.”
“Xiao Xie, we both feel the same way.”
For an instant, Xie Lanchen’s expression went blank, as if his heart had been struck.
He had once thought that place had already rotted away.
But Ning Xi just had to love planting flowers.
Just like all those years ago, when they had first met.
…
That family had always treated him like a dog they could beat and scold whenever they pleased, and he had believed he was a dog too-without dignity, without hope.
The best ending he could imagine was that one day, when he was no longer useful to that family, they would beat him and throw him onto the back mountain, leaving him to wait for death bit by bit until he finally stopped breathing.
But one day, that family brought back two more children around his age.
“What’s your name? Why do they only call you ‘hey’? Don’t you have a name?”
“Are you this family’s child? Probably not, right? Otherwise they wouldn’t make you live in the shed in the yard.”
“Do all the kids around here know how to cook? I saw the Eight-Treasure Porridge you made for them today. It looked so good. I haven’t eaten in ages. I’m so hungry.”
“…”
He knew that, at first, Little Ning Xi only talked to him because she wanted to find a way to escape.
He didn’t care.
After all, as long as Little Ning Xi stayed a few more days, she would realize he had no value at all. He was only that family’s servant and punching bag.
By then, Little Ning Xi would definitely stop talking to him. She might even become like that family and treat him as a dog she could order around, beat, and scold as she pleased.
He was already used to it.
But she didn’t.
Not only did Little Ning Xi’s attitude not change, she even took the blame for him when a porcelain bowl was broken.
“They won’t really do anything to me. Even if they hit me, they’ll only dare to slap me lightly a few times. It doesn’t hurt at all. Hiss-
Fine, I lied. It does hurt a little. But they still want to sell me, so no matter what, they’ll be careful.
But you’re different… I don’t want to see them hit you like that…”
Xie Lanchen, still very young back then, heard those words and, for the first time, felt the urge not to see someone, not to hear her speak.
He only threw out the words, “I’ll save you half a bowl of Eight-Treasure Porridge tomorrow. Don’t let them find out,” then hurried away.
Little Xie Lanchen thought it meant he disliked her.
Only later did he understand. That had been the moment when a small young boy had been stripped of his last covering in front of his only “friend,” his dignity struck until it shattered to pieces.
Before he even knew what dignity meant, he had already wanted to live with dignity in front of Ning Xi.