Chapter 73: Take a Guess
Of course he was curious. Lin Muqing suddenly inviting him to watch a movie and have dinner. If you think about it another way, wasn’t that basically asking him out on a date?
So no matter what her real reason was, Ye Ziming had no plans to turn her down. He accepted right away without hesitation.
As for his curiosity? He preferred to let Lin Muqing tell him on her own, instead of pushing her to explain or trying to guess himself.
“Ah… um…”
Standing at the classroom door and looking into his eyes, Lin Muqing suddenly froze. She had a strange feeling, like she had just walked into a trap.
Something felt off with the script in her hands. Wasn’t this supposed to go differently? Why isn’t he playing along!?
Ye Ziming, meanwhile, wasn’t in any rush. He just casually walked over to his seat and sat down, waiting quietly for her to speak.
Soon after, Lin Muqing also walked to her desk. After putting down her schoolbag, their eyes met again.
“I just… wanted to say thanks.”
Sitting in her chair, she stared at the blackboard as she spoke, but kept sneaking little sideways glances at Ye Ziming, trying to see his reaction without being too obvious.
She peeked a few times, trying hard not to let him catch her looking.
“For what?” Ye Ziming asked with a calm smile on his face.
The more they talked, the more Lin Muqing felt that something was wrong. But she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.
It felt like the more she explained, the more it seemed like she was throwing herself at him. Like he had predicted every move she’d make before she made it.
So she quickly changed her tone.
“You guess.”
Lifting her chin in a proud little huff, she didn’t want to let him control the conversation anymore. Even if he did guess right, she wasn’t going to confirm it.
After that move, she felt like the upper hand had finally shifted to her. She looked at him with a bright, smug smile, playful and full of mischief.
As they chatted, both of them began organizing their desks and bags, which had been untouched for two days.
Hearing her response, Ye Ziming suddenly turned to look at her, eyes wide with slight surprise. Clearly not expecting her to play it like that.
But that surprise didn’t last long. Just a moment later, it faded into a quiet, knowing smile.
“I recently bought a bicycle. It’s custom-made for you.”
Without looking at her again, Ye Ziming said it casually while continuing to tidy up his desk.
Rather than following her lead and guessing, he shifted the topic entirely, and just like he planned, it grabbed her attention immediately.
Just as he expected, the second she heard that, Lin Muqing turned her head to look at him, her eyes filled with curiosity.
“For me?”
She was both curious and confused, even starting to wonder if he was talking to the right person. She had no clue what was going on.
“Yep.”
Ye Ziming nodded lightly, confirming it.
“…Why?”
The question slipped out of her mouth without a second thought. She didn’t stop to wonder if he was playing a game, or if she’d just walked into another trap.
And then he smiled and replied.
“You guess.”
As he spoke, Ye Ziming also turned to look at Lin Muqing, his eyes narrowing slightly with a mischievous glint, locking eyes with her directly.
This move? Classic "same trick, used again."
“I…”
At that moment, Lin Muqing finally realized what was going on. Wasn’t this exactly what she did to him earlier?
She was shocked. She hadn’t even finished playing out her plan yet, and her good buddy had already turned it around on her, using her own trick against her!
So scary. Are people from the city always this tricky?
Right then, Lin Muqing realized that if she kept playing this game, she would definitely be the one getting tricked in the end.
So she decided to stop talking altogether. As long as she didn’t say anything, she couldn’t mess up, and she definitely couldn’t fall into his trap.
Lin Muqing: Hehe~ I’m such a clever little fox.
She quickly took out her weekend homework and placed it on her desk, then grabbed her water bottle and shook it. She figured she could go refill it while there was still time.
“Ahem, boss, want me to get water for you too?”
A very smooth change of topic. At least in her mind. No way could they keep talking about that previous topic.
Standing at her seat, Lin Muqing turned her head to look at her good buddy and asked with a smile.
“Sure.”
Ye Ziming didn’t hesitate at all. He casually pulled out his own water bottle and handed it to Lin Muqing.
As he passed the bottle over, he gave her a meaningful smile. Then quickly looked away like nothing had happened.
“Emmm.”
It should’ve been nothing… but when Lin Muqing saw that look in his eyes, she suddenly had a bad feeling.
Now that she thought about it, her good buddy custom-ordered a bicycle just for her. That kind of sounds like a gift, doesn’t it?
He did say it was specially made just for her.
She couldn’t help but wonder, why would he do that? When would he give it to her? What does the new bike even look like?
The more she thought about it, the more curious she became. She even started to feel a bit excited, eager to see the new bicycle.
It was like a kitten was scratching at her heart, itchy and restless. She really wanted to ask him about it.
But for the sake of her pride, there was no way she could just ask directly. Even if she did ask, she’d have to go about it in a roundabout way!
“Whoa! Did you see the school forum? Something big just happened!”
As she walked to the water dispenser, Lin Muqing saw two boys also getting water while chatting loudly.
When she got closer, one of them suddenly let out a gasp. It was clear from his face that he was totally shocked.
“What happened?”
The other boy had no idea, so he frowned and looked over, waiting for an answer.
Boy A: “A photo of school hunk Ye Ziming’s girlfriend just got leaked!”
Boy B: “So what? What’s that got to do with me?”
Boy A: “That’s not the point! That girl is super cute. The school beauty’s a total joke compared to her!”
Boy B: “No way. Are you serious?”
Boy A: “I swear, dude! Go check the forum yourself if you don’t believe me. The hottest post right now is all about Ye Ziming’s girlfriend…”
Boy B: “Alright, I’ll go take a look later.”
The two boys kept chatting while they packed up their bottles, then walked off toward their classroom.
They happened to pass right by Lin Muqing, so she clearly saw the shocked, and slightly disbelieving, looks on their faces.
They were so into their conversation, they didn’t even notice how strange Lin Muqing’s expression became when she heard what they were saying.
If her guess was right, those photos on the forum were probably of her, dressed in the cat-ear maid outfit at the weekend cosplay convention.
She had thought about the chance someone from their school might recognize her through Ye Ziming and figure out that the girl in the photos was his girlfriend.
But she didn’t expect the impact to be that big. A post about her actually became the most popular one on the entire school forum?
Well, even though everyone has a phone these days, hardly anyone actually browses the school forum anyway…
“There probably won’t be any big problems… right?”
Standing next to the water dispenser, Lin Muqing twisted open her bottle and muttered to herself.