Chapter 47 Do you have a balloon? ~

Meeting Xie Li’s gaze, Tang Man raised their interlocked hands slightly and said with a smile, “Courtesy demands reciprocity, the guest follows the host’s wishes, how about it?”

“It seems you haven’t been to my house on this side much.”

Xie Li made an affirmative sound. He had been to Tang Man’s place near the school, but he didn’t come to the Shanhu house often. Almost every time, he would leave after dropping her off downstairs.

However, the car couldn’t be parked here like this. Xie Li pulled Tang Man back into the car and drove straight into the parking garage, taking the elevator up from the basement level.

In the elevator, Xie Li looked at the shadows of the two reflected on the wall. After a moment of consideration, he said, “I’m planning to buy an apartment in Xin’an for the two of us to live in together in the future. What do you think?”

Tang Man couldn’t help but look at Xie Li upon hearing this.

Xie Li said, “If you want to live here, that’s fine too. Tang previously said to have you move back home. I figured you probably wouldn’t be too used to that, so I told Tang that before we get engaged, we’ll live together outside.”

The elevator arrived then. Tang Man held Xie Li’s hand as they walked out together. While using her fingerprint to unlock the door, she said, “Isn’t the apartment you’re living in now quite nice? Why do you want to change? Xin’an might be a bit inconvenient for you to get to work.”

Xie Li said, “The apartment near the company might be a little cramped for the two of us.”

Although his apartment was in a decent residential building in the city center, around 70-80 square meters, which was perhaps enough for him, it would be a bit inadequate if Tang Man moved in with him.

Letting Tang Man suffer living with him like that would make him feel guilty. He couldn’t possibly let Tang Man’s standard of living decrease from being with him. It would make him feel that if he couldn’t even ensure Tang Man’s previous lifestyle in material terms, he would be even more incomparable to others in other aspects.

“Although it takes longer to get to work from Xin’an, it’s quite convenient for me since I drive. Plus, Xin’an is close to here, so it’ll be convenient for you to get to work too.”

This was his decision after full consideration.

Tang Man didn’t reply. She opened the door to let Xie Li in first, then turned on the light in the entryway.

Bending down, she took out a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet on the side and placed them at Xie Li’s feet, casually saying, “They’re clean, no one has worn them before.”

Xie Li made an affirmative sound.

After he changed shoes, Tang Man led him inside, turning on all the lights in the living room as she went.

When she reached the living room and saw the dining room not far away, she remembered to play the host. So she asked, “What would you like to drink?”

Meeting Xie Li’s gaze, she walked towards the fridge and explained to him, “I bought some tea before and kept it here. I haven’t really touched it. Or if you want something else…”

She hesitated for a moment. “If you want coffee, that’ll be difficult. You know I don’t like drinking coffee.”

Xie Li made an affirmative sound, not paying too much attention to this. He said softly, “Just prepare whatever you’re having.”

“Plain water then?” For the sake of feeling better in the next few days, she tried to behave and watch her diet as much as possible recently.

Xie Li nodded. “That’s fine.”

Tang Man went to boil water. Xie Li followed behind her. He tried his best to restrain his gaze. Although Tang Man proposed having him come to her house, Xie Li still knew this didn’t really signify anything. No, perhaps it had some symbolic meaning. At least to him, it meant he had gotten a bit closer to her.

However, he also knew Tang Man was someone with a strong sense of boundaries. She disliked others acting presumptuously in her territory, disliked people getting familiar and chatting with her in an overly-friendly way, and disliked unconstrained overstepping, even if it was someone close to her.

He glanced at the kitchenware in Tang Man’s kitchen. As expected, they looked very new. Undoubtedly, these utensils had probably not been used more than a few times. From what he remembered, Tang Man wasn’t someone who enjoyed cooking either.

In high school, Tang Man insisted on moving into the school dormitory. But sometimes she wasn’t used to the cafeteria food and felt bad about having the housekeeper from home send her meals. She often ordered takeout. Although she had a cold, unapproachable face at the time, those who interacted with her knew the Tang Man back then was just a fussy, troublesome prima donna.

At least when Xie Li first came to Tang Man’s side, her attitude towards him was not as friendly as it was now.

One night, this fussy girl got a stomachache from eating something bad. It hurt so much she had no choice but to go to the hospital. But leaving the school in the middle of the night, she didn’t know who to find. She could only call to bother him, naturally putting on the airs of a spoiled young miss.

Sometimes Xie Li couldn’t help thinking, it was a good thing this girl had a pretty face. Otherwise, most people wouldn’t be able to tolerate this personality. But later, Tang Man dated a boy in college and seemed to change personalities. That cold, somewhat harsh temperament actually softened a bit.

The person who could watch boys fight over her with a cold eye in high school actually learned to show weakness when faced with Si Jiahe’s tears.

He watched as their relationship got better and better, stepping into a passionate romance. Tang Man called him less and less frequently, eventually hardly contacting him even once a month.

Therefore, on countless nights after that, Xie Li always felt it was Si Jiahe who taught Tang Man what it was like to truly like someone, how to be in a real relationship, not just playing house with those boys like in high school.

He knew the Tang Man back then was actually quite calm when facing any boy. So when faced with those boys’ shouting and crying, she could even watch coldly from the side, then secretly call him for help.

Tang Man’s first love was that boy named Si Jiahe. Just this first love was enough to make him jealous.

While waiting for the water to boil, Tang Man pulled Xie Li further inside to introduce him to the layout of her house.

“If you want to stay overnight here in the future, you can. But you need to prepare a few changes of clothes here in advance,” Tang Man said to Xie Li, pushing open a door.

“This is the guest room. I already had the housekeeper clean it. If you feel it’s not clean enough, you can have all the furniture in here replaced. But the condition is the furniture style has to be consistent. I can’t stand having disharmonious elements in my house, even if it’s not the room I’m staying in.”

Xie Li smiled. “There’s no need for that. I’m not so much of a clean freak.”