Upon hearing this, Lin Ze shook his head decisively.
"No, you're overthinking it."
Wang Jianping nodded. "True. Your looks are pretty much on par with mine, and your abilities aren't as good as mine either."
With that, he vainly ran a hand through his hair,
striking the standard pose currently popular among ordinary guys.
Bai Weiwei, sitting opposite them, didn't believe a word of Lin Ze's explanation.
Good-looking man, gorgeous woman.
The two of them looked so well-matched standing together.
Their looks were far superior to the actors in the short dramas she'd been binge-watching lately.
Suddenly, the paid short drama on her phone felt completely dull.
Shipping real-life couples was so much better.
……
Lin Ze let out a silent sigh of relief.
Right at that moment, the System's voice rang out in his mind:
[Task successfully unlocked.]
[Today, student Su Qingqing was delayed for a long time by cleaning duty and missed the last bus home.]
[A dim alleyway, flickering streetlights, and occasional harassing punks pose a huge challenge to the pretty and pure student Su Qingqing...]
[At this time, you can quietly follow her. When the young woman feels helpless, kindly reach out and take her hand; you might reap an unexpected surprise.]
[Task: Accompany student Su Qingqing on her night walk home.]
[Reward: Strength +1]
Lin Ze: "!!!"
The freezing glare Su Qingqing had given him earlier could have scraped off three layers of ice!
How was he supposed to complete this task?
The difficulty level was simply hellish!
Outside the president's office.
Lin Ze paced back and forth anxiously outside Su Qingqing's office door,
checking to see if she had left yet,
attempting to manufacture a chance encounter.
Su Qingqing stared at the monitor, watching Lin Ze's nervous and fidgety appearance.
Her mood improved inexplicably.
Her thoughts drifted back to the past.
Before she met Lin Ze, she was terrified of walking home alone at night.
Back then, she had just finished working overtime at her part-time job, and it was already 11:30 PM.
The moment she closed up the milk tea shop, she saw Lin Ze standing under a streetlight, hugging a basketball and stamping his feet to keep warm, the tip of his nose frozen red. "What a coincidence! I just happened to come around here to play basketball!"
From that day on, every evening after work, she would always "run into" Lin Ze.
The corners of her lips curved into a smile without her realizing it.
She stood up.
Just as Lin Ze was making his seventh pretended pass by,
the door suddenly opened.
Caught completely off guard, Lin Ze almost crashed into Su Qingqing as she walked out.
Lin Ze hurriedly took a step back.
Recognizing who it was,
his eyes lit up, and he quickly smiled. "President Su."
She suddenly tossed her keys toward him.
The silver keys traced a bright arc through the air, and Lin Ze caught them clumsily.
"Drive me home," Su Qingqing said, walking straight toward the elevator.
Her high heels clicked crisply against the marble floor.
It took Lin Ze two seconds to snap out of it, and he hurriedly jogged to catch up.
"You got it!"
He tried hard to control the corners of his mouth, which kept wanting to turn up,
unaware that his eyes were already shining like stars.
The car drove out of the underground parking garage and merged into the city's neon lights.
A red light came on, and the car slowly stopped.
Lin Ze's gaze involuntarily drifted to Su Qingqing's hands resting on her lap—white and slender, with neatly trimmed, clean nails and no nail polish whatsoever. He suddenly remembered the winter of their junior year in college, when Su Qingqing had used those exact hands to clumsily knit a crooked scarf for him.
"Beep, beep..."
The car horn behind them urged them on.
Lin Ze snapped back to reality,
realizing the light had turned green.
Just as he was about retracting his gaze,
he suddenly caught sight of Su Qingqing's gentle smile.
!!!
Oh no!
His heart took a hit.
When Su Qingqing smiled, her eyes curved into crescents.
Her cold demeanor instantly melted away, sweet as a midsummer peach.
She smiled so sweetly.
Lin Ze chanted inwardly to himself:
Wake up!
Even if she's sweet, she's not yours.
If Su Qingqing ever found out you liked her,
she would undoubtedly mock you mercilessly.
The nightmare from a few days ago resurfaced in his mind:
Su Qingqing's high heel grinding into his face, the sound of a whip cutting through the air mixed with a sneer: "A bankrupt stray dog like you thinks he's worthy of liking me?"
Lin Ze instantly sobered up!
The car stopped downstairs at Su Qingqing's luxury apartment building in the city center.
Lin Ze heard the System's voice:
[Task: Accompany student Su Qingqing on her night walk home, and kindly hold hands twice along the way. (Completed)]
[Reward: Strength +1]
Seeing that the task was complete, Lin Ze spoke up. "President Su, I'll be heading off first."
Su Qingqing suddenly grabbed his wrist.
Lin Ze was dumbfounded.
What was she trying to do?!
"Is your hand hurt?" Su Qingqing's voice suddenly drew close.
There was a small scratch on the web of his right hand, oozing a tiny bead of blood.
"It's nothing, probably got scratched when I caught the keys earlier." Lin Ze tried to pull his hand back, but Su Qingqing dragged him inside the apartment instead.
"Wait for me on the couch."
Su Qingqing let go of him and walked quickly toward the living room.
A moment later, she jogged back, holding rubbing alcohol and band-aids.
Su Qingqing took hold of Lin Ze's hand.
With a cotton swab dipped in iodine, she carefully tended to his wound.
She gently blew on it.
Her warm breath brushed across his skin.
She raised her eyes to look at him. "Does it hurt?"
Lin Ze's Adam's apple bobbed.
Thump-thump, thump-thump—
His heart was beating absurdly fast.
He suspected Su Qingqing could hear it.
This wasn't tending to a wound at all; she was toying with him.
No!
It was late at night, and they were a lone man and woman together.
Su Qingqing's fragrance lingered around the tip of his nose.
If he stayed any longer,
he was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep control!
Lin Ze abruptly pulled his hand back and sprang to his feet,
almost bumping into Su Qingqing's forehead.
"Um, something came up at home, I have to go!"
Without waiting to see Su Qingqing's reaction,
he turned and bolted,
and didn't dare stop to catch his breath until he ran out the gates of the residential complex.
Yet his heart was still pounding wildly.
Meanwhile, back in the living room,
Su Qingqing slowly put away the medical supplies. Her fingertips still retained the warmth of Lin Ze's wrist. She watched the fleeing figure disappear into the distance.
"Why are you running away from me?" she murmured softly.
The light in her eyes faded bit by bit until they returned to the ice-cold expression of the President Su everyone knew.
……
The next day, over the weekend, the morning vegetable market was bustling with noise and excitement.
Lin Ze woke up early and went out to buy groceries.
He carefully selected an old hen,
intending to stew a pot of old hen soup to take to Jiang Wantang.
In the kitchen, the clay pot bubbled merrily, golden chicken soup topped with a few goji berries.
An hour later, the aroma of chicken soup filled the apartment.
He also specially steamed a bowl of white rice.
Only then did he set off for the hospital with the insulated food container.
Inside the hospital room,
Lin Ze took the dishes out of the container.
He ladled out a bowl of soup; it was a clear yellowish-gold, and he had skimmed off all the grease on top.
Jiang Wantang picked up the bowl and took a cautious sip.
The seasoning was just right, rich with the savory flavor of chicken.
She took a bite of the chicken, completely captivated by how delicious it was.
"The soup my son makes is so good."
"With this culinary skill, you could open your own restaurant."
As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something.
"Oh right, I heard your Aunt Liu's daughter is coming back from abroad soon."
"Oh."
"Make sure you take time off to go pick her up when she arrives."
"Got it, Mom."
Jiang Wantang was silent for a moment before saying, "If our family hadn't gone bankrupt, and since the two of you were betrothed since childhood, I reckon you'd be married to her by now, and I'd probably have a grandchild to hold."
Lin Ze almost choked on his own saliva. "Mom! What century is this? Why are you still playing out a cliché childhood-sweethearts matchmaking script?"
Jiang Wantang laughed. "True, I was mostly just joking around with her mother when we said that."
"I'm just worried you'll be all alone after I'm gone."
A sour sting hit the bridge of Lin Ze's nose, and he quickly cut her off.
"Mom, that won't happen. Medical science is very advanced these days."
After finishing the meal,
he paid the extension fee for Jiang Wantang's VIP hospital room, picked up the lunchbox, and headed home.
……