Chapter 132: Refusing to Live with a Boy
On the way home, Ye Ziming briefly explained to Lin Muqing how he knew about the situation.
“What?! That project is from your family?”
(⊙_⊙)?
Lin Muqing was shocked the whole day. She had never imagined that behind the demolition project was her good buddy’s family.
This was way too crazy. She had thought he was just a slightly rich young master from a well-off family, but turns out he was that rich.
“Yeah.” Ye Ziming calmly nodded and admitted it directly.
He wasn’t the same person he used to be. From now on, he didn’t plan to hide anything. As long as Lin Muqing wanted to know, he’d tell her everything.
“Phew…”
Lin Muqing took a deep breath. This was too shocking. She felt like she needed to look at her buddy in a completely new light. Since he was that rich, then that tiny little favor she wanted to ask shouldn’t be a big deal, right?
“Ahem, hey boss… I heard you’ve been living alone, right?”
She tried to compose herself, coughed twice to calm her excitement, took a deep breath, and asked.
“Yeah.” He nodded again, with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile on his face.
“If someone was willing to pay rent, cook, clean, and do housework… would you be willing to share the place with her?”
She looked at her buddy with hopeful eyes. Her big, beautiful eyes wide open like she could stare a hole right through him. That “someone,” of course, was herself.
She thought it was a great idea. After all, his place was mostly empty. Why not let her stay there? That way, they could save resources.
Besides, she was cute and helpful, surely he wouldn’t say no, right?
“Well, that depends on who the person is.”
Ye Ziming laughed. He didn’t even have to bring it up. She offered the idea herself and even made the request directly. It saved him so much effort and even gave him the upper hand. Perfect.
“But let me be clear first. I’m straight. So I refuse to live with any guy. Any guy at all.”
Just as Lin Muqing was about to say “It’s me,” Ye Ziming cut her off and said that line first. At that moment, he dropped his smile and looked at her seriously.
“Uh…”
Lin Muqing froze again. She was clearly surprised by that unexpected condition. Her eyes widened, she didn’t quite get what Ye Ziming meant.
Seeing this, Ye Ziming added, “If it’s a girl, I might consider it.”
“Huh? Then you—”
“And if it’s a girl like you, I wouldn’t just waive the rent… I’d even help with the chores.”
As he said that, he reached over and gently pulled Lin Muqing closer by her shoulder, holding her in a half-embrace. Right then, Ye Ziming looked just like a sly fox, the smile on his face definitely wasn’t simple.
And as he suddenly hugged her, Lin Muqing couldn’t help but blush and feel her heart race.
She almost tripped and fell right there on the way home.
This whole thing felt way too strange, Ye Ziming’s expression was strange, the situation was strange, she didn’t even know what she was doing anymore!
“So? What do you think?”
Seeing that Lin Muqing was staring at him in a daze, Ye Ziming smiled and asked again.
If possible, he wanted to take a photo of the absent-minded look on Lin Muqing’s face and set it as his phone wallpaper. She looked adorably dazed.
“Ah, but I’m a guy!”
Suddenly snapping out of it, Lin Muqing quickly turned her head away in a panic and spoke in an extremely soft voice. She must’ve gone crazy, just now she had actually gotten lost in thought while staring at her good buddy’s face. That was way too embarrassing.
“If you take this off, wouldn’t you be a girl again?”
As he said this, they had already arrived at the floor where Ye Ziming lived. Just a few more steps and they’d reach the corner where his apartment was. Since they were almost home, he reached out and gently lifted the red string around Lin Muqing’s neck, casually taking the jade pendant.
“But… but…”
Lin Muqing now understood what her good buddy meant, but it felt really strange.
He had clearly said he’d treat her like a guy, and now he was saying things like wanting to live together with a girl. She couldn’t keep up. Her face felt hot, and she was completely flustered.
“There’s no rush with this. You can take your time to think about it. Let’s eat first.”
Seeing how embarrassed she looked, Ye Ziming chuckled softly. Then he turned and walked with her toward his apartment door.
Uncle Liu saw this scene, his young master came back home holding someone close like that.
If you looked carefully, you’d notice that the person being held had a very red face, which actually looked pretty cute. But in Uncle Liu’s eyes, the surprise and confusion outweighed the cuteness.
Watching the two of them, he almost forgot to stand up and go to the kitchen to bring out the cooked food.
Uncle Liu: Sigh~ Looks like I’m getting old. I really don’t understand what young people these days are doing anymore. Better to pretend I didn’t see anything.
With that in mind, Uncle Liu calmly had his lunch like nothing had happened. He ate quietly by himself, then tidied up the table and went back to his room next door without even looking back.
“Rent and utilities are all free. You just need to help with a bit of housework.”
After the meal, Ye Ziming sat on the sofa, resting as usual. Once he saw that Uncle Liu had closed his door and left, he brought up the topic again. As he spoke, he turned to look at Lin Muqing sitting next to him, his gaze full of meaning.
“I-I’ll accept it…”
Hearing him bring it up again, Lin Muqing felt overwhelmed. But what else could she do? The offer was too good to refuse.
If she rented a place outside, it would cost a lot every month. And the place might not even have a kitchen or a balcony. Sigh… honestly, she didn’t even need to think about it.
After she agreed, the room suddenly went quiet. Her good buddy didn’t say anything for a long time and just stared into her eyes.
“Uh? Is something wrong?”
Being stared at like that made Lin Muqing feel uneasy. She started looking down and checking herself.
“…Since you’ve agreed to live with me, then you—”
Ye Ziming didn’t finish the sentence. He simply raised a hand and pointed at her chest. His meaning was very clear.
“D-Do you mean now…?”
Lin Muqing held her chest and asked in a small voice.
“Didn’t I make myself clear enough?”
Ye Ziming smiled kindly and asked in return.
“Ehhh…”
After making eye contact with her good buddy for a few seconds, Lin Muqing shyly looked away. Then, she slowly lifted her hand, took hold of her jade pendant, and gently removed it.