Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I ate the fried chicken in my hand.

Like an idiot, I arranged the nuggets into a heart too.

Looking at that painfully tacky heart, I couldn’t help snorting with laughter.

Yep. Truly tacky.

I took out my phone, wanting to snap a picture and post it to Moments: What kind of heart do you like? A loving heart, a heart that misses you, or KFC’s crazy heart!

I was still editing when someone stopped beside me.

“For me?”

That voice!

I looked up and met a pair of familiar, cool eyes.

Oh boy. I was done for. The man himself had come knocking.

Flustered, I put my phone away. “Teacher Xie, what are you doing here?”

Xie Yi pulled out the chair across from me.

He stared at my nugget heart and raised a brow.

Then he asked again, “For me?”

I swallowed. “No. I was just playing around.”

Xie Yi leisurely picked up a nugget, his tone casual. “Then who is it for?”

I looked at the now-destroyed heart and seriously suspected he’d done it on purpose.

“No one. It wasn’t for anyone. I was just playing around.”

He braced both hands on the table, his gentle gaze fixed on me, amusement in his eyes. “Didn’t you say you’d spend Qixi Festival in my arms? Why are you here keeping KFC Grandpa company instead?”

The lovestruck smile on my face vanished instantly. I leaned back in disbelief.

“That person was really you?”

He smiled and lifted a brow. “What, you dared to say it but don’t dare admit it?”

I panicked even harder. “No, I was just running my mouth. I randomly thought of a name.”

The smile on Xie Yi’s face froze there, and his dark eyes narrowed slightly.

Still smiling, he said, “Randomly? Then who were you originally thinking of? Whose arms did you want to be in?”

The smile on his face scared me so much that I blurted out, “No, it was you. I’ve been fantasizing about you for ages.”

Only after the words tumbled out did my brain finally catch up.

Annoyed, I lightly smacked this mouth of mine that was apparently faster than my brain.

Then I helplessly closed my eyes.

I was done for. Xie Yi was definitely going to think I was shameless.

There was no sound from across the table.

He hadn’t left, had he?

I cautiously opened one eye a crack.

And saw that Xie Yi’s model-perfect face was as warm as a spring breeze, even the corners of his mouth curved in a smile.

Seeing my careful little expression, the smile on his face deepened.

“Didn’t you say you’d spend it in my arms?” His voice rose lightly at the end, his brows and eyes effortlessly handsome.

I was so frightened I didn’t dare move at all.

But Xie Yi stood up and walked right up to me.

He reached out, as if he were about to pull me into his arms.

Then my phone was taken away.

The Moments post I hadn’t had time to send was still on the screen.

He couldn’t help letting out a low laugh, and it went straight into my heart.

He took out his own phone and added me on WeChat.

Then he returned my phone to me.

I looked at him in confusion.

He lowered his head and fiddled with his phone.

I stared dreamily at his long, elegant neck.

Like some little demon seduced by Tang Sanzang.

A moment later, my phone chimed.

As if waking from a dream, I picked it up.

It was a transfer red packet from Xie Yi.

I looked at him in confusion.

He smiled and tapped the table. “Didn’t you say, ‘Venmo me 50’?”

I laughed awkwardly, wishing I could rush back in time and bash in the head of my self from an hour ago.

I really, really shouldn’t have tried to be clever.

Now it wasn’t me surfing the internet anymore. The internet had buried me.

I opened his message.

And found that he’d transferred 5,000 directly.

Shocked, I looked up at him and said shakily, “Teacher Xie, are you trying to buy out the whole KFC? I can’t eat that much.”

Xie Yi took a nugget from the box. “No. I need your help with something.”

I was just about to politely say it was only a favor and he didn’t need to transfer money.

Then he spoke in a quiet, unhurried voice. “I want you to be my girlfriend.”

Me:!!!

This wasn’t helping. This was making my fantasy come true.

Um, Teacher Xie, take this transfer back. I’ll transfer you one instead.

I’m not short that 5,000.

Secretly delighted, I was just about to ask why.

He explained directly, “My mom has been setting me up on blind dates lately, and I don’t really want to go. So I’d like to ask you for help.”

The smile at the corner of my mouth froze, and I silently lowered my head.

So he meant pretending to be his girlfriend.

But didn’t that mean I could take advantage of being close to him and win him over first, while also getting on good terms with his parents?

Suppressing the maniacal laughter in my heart, I pretended to be calm and asked him, “Why did you pick me?”

I thought he would say I was cute, pretty, or exactly his type.

His lips curved faintly. “Because my mom saw it.”

I was confused. Huh? Saw what? My outstanding and admirable qualities?

Xie Yi took out his phone. On it was a screenshot of me being clever on the forum.

I prayed silently in my heart: Please don’t let it be what I think it is. Let me keep just a shred of dignity in front of Auntie.

“This. My mom saw it and sent me a screenshot.”

Me: …

With a tiny crack, I heard the sound of my heart shattering.