Chapter 40: This Is Also My Way of Showing I Like You  

To stay away from Mia, the two of them took the elevator down to the basement level. This floor usually sold little things girls liked.  

Even on the weekend, there weren’t many people shopping in the morning.  

Ji Lianxing pulled Jiang Shu into a boutique store. It sold lots of little items, stationery for young people, blind boxes, pillows, hair ties, eyeliner pens, and so on.  

Jiang Shu rarely came to stores like this. Maybe a few times in college with her roommates, but after starting work she stopped. One, because she didn’t need it, and two, because work kept her too busy.  

“Jiang Shu, can I buy a Pop Mart* for you?” Ji Lianxing asked with a smile.  

*Chinese toy company that sells toys in a blind box format. A blind box aka gashapon is a type of product packaging where you don’t know which item you will get until you open it. Usually, it’s used for toys, figurines, or collectibles, e.g. Labubu, capsule toys, etc.

“What’s a Pop Mart?” Jiang Shu felt a bit old, she really didn’t keep up with this stuff.  

“A blind box.”  

Ji Lianxing led Jiang Shu to a row of blind boxes. There were “Candy Monster Town” series, “Ancient Castle” series, and “Hirono” series.  

Jiang Shu stood in front of the boxes like a kid, facing so many little dolls, suddenly feeling a bit overwhelmed by choices.  

Ji Lianxing gently tapped her, “Pick one~”

Jiang Shu held her hands in the air, feeling a bit lost, and turned to Ji Lianxing, “Uh, Little Hedgehog, which one do you think looks better?”  

“It’s up to you. Pick whichever series you like,” Ji Lianxing said.  

Jiang Shu’s fingers hovered over the boxes, gliding past the row, and finally stopped on the “Hirono” series.  

“Let’s go with this one. It’s random, right?”  

“Mm, yeah. Before you open it, you can check which ones you like,” Ji Lianxing squatted, pointing at the illustrations on the box, “See, there are 12 in total, actually 13, one’s a hidden version, it's really hard to get.”  

Jiang Shu squatted too, looking over the chart. Her finger paused on a doll draped in white cloth, called the ‘The Ghost.’  

“This one,” Jiang Shu suddenly found it interesting.  

“Then pick this one!”  

Ji Lianxing told her to just grab one quickly, maybe she would get the one she liked.  

Before opening it, Jiang Shu took a deep breath, like she was about to do something very serious.  

“Do you think I’ll get the one I like?”  

“Of course! If your heart is sincere, it will work!”  

Jiang Shu closed her eyes, picked a box, then handed it to Ji Lianxing.  

“Pfft, why are you giving it to me?”

“Open it for me,” Jiang Shu said expressionless.  

Ji Lianxing unconsciously curved her lips. She didn’t know why, but looking at Jiang Shu right now, she felt like Jiang Shu really seemed like a little girl.

Her tone softened too, sounding spoiled, “Okay, okay~ I’ll open it for you.”  

She first opened the box and peeked inside.  

Jiang Shu couldn’t stay calm, craning her neck to see, “What is it? Is it the one I like?”  

Ji Lianxing covered the box, showing a mysterious smile, “It seems so~”  

She took out a little white ghost from the box, a streak of blue hair showing. It looked extremely cute. “You’really lucky!”  

“Ah! I actually got it!” Jiang Shu’s voice sounded genuinely surprised. The one-in-twelve chance had seemed slim just a moment ago.  

The little ghost with the blue streak in white cloth rested in Jiang Shu’s hands, it's really easy on the eyes.  

“You like it?”  

“Mm, I like it.”  

Ji Lianxing saw Jiang Shu’s eyes soften noticeably, she really liked it.  

“Then let’s keep looking around.”  

Ji Lianxing led Jiang Shu to the second floor. Whenever she saw something fun, she would ask Jiang Shu if she liked it. This kind of girlish tenderness made Jiang Shu feel warm inside.

Ji Lianxing saw Jiang Shu’s eyes soften noticeably. Looks like she really liked it.  

“You like it? Then let’s keep looking.”  

Ji Lianxing pulled Jiang Shu up to the second floor, always asking her if she liked the fun things they saw. The little attentions between girls made Jiang Shu feel warm inside.  

“Do you like this one?” Ji Lianxing held up a hedgehog pillow. The pillow had a tiny hedgehog grinning foolishly, soft and small.  

Jiang Shu took it and hugged it to her chest. Somehow, holding it felt like holding Ji Lianxing.  

“It looks a lot like you.”

Seeing the hedgehog pillow’s silly, blank expression, Ji Lianxing felt a question mark in her heart.  

After going around, they only bought three things in total: two for Jiang Shu, and Ji Lianxing only bought eyeliner for herself.  

Jiang Shu held the Pop Mart in one hand and the little hedgehog pillow in the other, feeling awkward, so she shoved them all to Ji Lianxing.  

At checkout, Ji Lianxing insisted on paying. Jiang Shu saw the total wasn’t very much, so she let her.  

After leaving the collection store, the mall started getting busier. Ji Lianxing pulled Jiang Shu further in, not seeming to want to leave.  

“Where are we going?”  

“The arcade, do you want to go?”  

Jiang Shu thought, this really is a place young people like. Compared to them, she felt like a very very old person.  

“Not too crowded now. Usually afternoons are busier. Back in college, I often came with Yu Meng, she loved the dance machines.” Ji Lianxing knew the place well, leading Jiang Shu inside. It really wasn’t crowded, just a few scattered people.  

Ji Lianxing entered her membership number, got 30 game tokens in a small basket, then turned to see Jiang Shu standing obediently behind her, holding all the bags, a bit blank on her face. From her dazed eyes, it was clear she didn’t come here often.  

Help, why is she so cute?! That expression is way too silly!

Before getting close to Jiang Shu, Ji Lianxing thought she was really cold, the kind of chill that could scare people off.  

But now the contrast was huge. Ji Lianxing realized Jiang Shu wasn’t much different from other girls. She gets curious about things she didn’t know or hadn’t tried, and when she did stuff she didn’t normally do, she would unconsciously show a slightly dazed expression that didn’t match her appearance at all.  

“President Jiang~” Ji Lianxing waved the coin box in front of her, smiling, “The front desk can store your stuff.”  

“Okay.” Jiang Shu finally reacted. Alright, Ji Lianxing must think she’s silly. “Wait here, I’ll go store my things.”  

Ji Lianxing pointed at the dance machine behind her. “Then I’ll put in coins and pick a song while you’re gone.”  

“Dance?” Just hearing it made Jiang Shu show a helpless expression. She didn’t know how to play, and not knowing meant she would embarrass herself later. That was not allowed.  

So she refused without thinking. “I’ve never done it before. You go ahead. I’ll watch you.”  

Ji Lianxing’s lips curved into a smile. Perfect, she’s flustered. There’s no way she would let Jiang Shu stop being so cute.

“That won’t do. We have to dance together. I’ll wait for you~”  

Jiang Shu: “...” Speechless.

She should’ve just come buy clothes alone today. She already felt that Ji Lianxing had a little dark side hidden in her heart.  

After dawdling and finally storing the stuff, Jiang Shu came back and found Ji Lianxing picking songs. While picking, she explained the rules:  

“President Jiang, you probably don’t play this much. Let me tell you the rules, it’s simple. Whatever arrows show up on the screen, you step on that arrow with your foot. The pink and blue arrows are with your feet. The green arrows are with your hands, same thing, just wave your hand.”  

Jiang Shu listened carefully. After hearing it, she felt it didn’t sound too hard, so she stepped onto the dance machine and let Ji Lianxing choose an easier mode.  

Soon the intro music started. What sounded easy in theory turned out hard in practice. Jiang Shu stood there, unwilling to move.  

On her screen, “Miss” kept flashing nonstop, while beside her, Ji Lianxing’s screen kept showing “Perfect” one after another.  

Seeing that, Jiang Shu lazily stomped a few more times. Out of a hundred notes, maybe she hit only ten.  

In the end, Jiang Shu got the lowest grade, “F.” Ji Lianxing got “SSS+.”  

Jiang Shu had never failed at anything in her life. Getting an “F” was unacceptable.  

She had been first in school as a child, first at work as an adult. She never thought today she would lose to a dance machine. She refused to believe such a little thing could defeat her.

So from the second song on, Jiang Shu started watching how Ji Lianxing danced. She found that it was mainly about controlling the rhythm, stepping with the beat of the music. As long as she caught that trick, it was not too hard.  

With her sharp comprehension and focus, Jiang Shu casually stepped a few times, and on the second song she barely got an “A.” Ji Lianxing was honestly surprised.  

“This is only the second song. You’re sure you never played before?”  

“Yeah.” Jiang Shu smiled. She liked seeing that kind of expression on others, especially when it was on Ji Lianxing’s face. That hidden satisfaction felt very good.  

Ji Lianxing realized Jiang Shu’s talent was too strong. She picked things up so fast that it was hard to see her make a fool of herself.  

After a while, some young people started lining up behind them. A group of high schoolers looked on curiously.  

Several pairs of eyes kept darting between Jiang Shu and Ji Lianxing’s backs. One girl even stared at Ji Lianxing’s legs without blinking.  

The two “aunties” felt embarrassed under the gaze. When the last song ended, they quickly stepped down from the dance machine.  

“Keep dancing, keep dancing!” one girl called out with enthusiasm.  

Ji Lianxing waved shyly and shook her head. “No more, no more, you guys dance.”  

She pulled Jiang Shu along inside, and Jiang Shu cooperated. After all, being watched by a bunch of high schoolers felt too embarrassing.  

“There are six tokens left. Let’s shoot some hoops, President Jiang. After that, we’ll eat.”  

Just now, Jiang Shu seemed unsatisfied from not dancing enough with Ji Lianxing, so for basketball she even wanted a “linked battle.”  

Ji Lianxing laughed at her. “Tsk, your competitive spirit is so strong.”  

Jiang Shu lifted her lips. “No way, I can’t even shoot.”

Naive and simple, Ji Lianxing believed her without hesitation. It wasn’t until the game started and the machine kept shouting “wow~” with every basket that she realized how good Jiang Shu was. Every shot went in. Was this the legendary hundred shots, hundred hits?  

Ji Lianxing panicked. “Ah! And you call this not knowing how to play! You liar!”  

“I really don’t. It's just coincidence.” Jiang Shu could even laugh while saying it.  

Ji Lianxing had already fallen behind by almost twenty points. In the end, of course, she was completely crushed.  

“President Jiang, you’re really too bad! You’re this good, yet pretend to be a rookie!”  

After winning, Jiang Shu was still stubborn. “It was only because of feeling and luck.”  

With Jiang Shu’s character, she would never tell Ji Lianxing that back in high school she was fairly good at sports, had played basketball. She wasn't amazing but definitely not bad either.

Creating that “I don’t know how” feeling was only to lower Ji Lianxing’s expectations.  

Ji Lianxing spread her hands helplessly. “Fine, you win. Since I lost, then I’ll treat you to lunch.” She had actually already decided what to buy Jiang Shu for lunch.  

Jiang Shu didn’t even think. “Lunch is on me.”

“No no, I’ll treat. I don’t think I’ve ever treated you to a meal, right? I just remembered a place with army hotpot that’s pretty good.” She pulled Jiang Shu out. Jiang Shu came back to her senses and said, “Our stuff’s still there.”  

“Just leave it at the front desk. We’ll get it after shopping.”  

After walking a few steps, Jiang Shu still felt it was off. When had she ever seen a canary treat her benefactor? Anyway, she had dated plenty and had never eaten a meal paid by a canary.  

“No, I’ll treat you. You already bought me Pop Mart and a pillow. Now it’s my turn.”  

Ji Lianxing looked at Jiang Shu’s serious face and couldn’t help but smile. She smiled very happily.  

“Why can’t I treat you to a meal?”  

“When we go out, anywhere that needs money, it’s on me.”  

Ji Lianxing raised her eyes and looked at Jiang Shu. “No, me too. I can’t always spend your money. There’re some things I can treat.” She looked at Jiang Shu seriously and said again, “And just now you said buying me stuff is how you show you like me. Then me treating you to a meal is how I show I like you.”

Author's Note:

The first update is here, and the extra update will be in the evening. ^ ^