Chapter 34: State of Mind – I Don’t Dislike It! I Actually Quite Like It!…

Tang Family

As soon as Tang Jiali returned home, he ran to the study. Several women were having a meeting in the study, and his appearance brought the conversation to an abrupt halt, with all eyes turning to him.

Tang Mother naturally had the appearance of a smiling tiger. Even when interrupted during a meeting, she showed no signs of anger, “What is it, Jiajia?”

Tang Jiali didn’t care about so many people looking at him, but it didn’t seem good for so many people to hear such words, so he said, “I’ll talk to you later,” and quickly closed the door.

He returned to his room and took out his phone. After some thought, he sent a message to the girl. After sending it, he waited anxiously for a reply, but as usual, there was no response from the other party.

Tang Jiali angrily threw his phone on the ground. The soft carpet absorbed the impact, preventing the phone from shattering.

He kicked the sofa chair forcefully as if venting his frustration, then sat down on it rather powerlessly, staring blankly at the phone on the ground.

Shortly after, a servant came to knock on the door, telling him that Tang Mother was calling for him.

When Tang Jiali went back to the study, only Tang Mother was inside. She shifted her gaze from her book to him, “You came back today in such a fierce mood, what’s wrong? Something happened at school?”

“Nothing,” Tang Jiali sat down in the chair, his expression sullen.

Tang Jiali was the only child of the Tang family. Tang Father had passed away after his birth, and Tang Mother never remarried, treating this only son as the apple of her eye. As long as it was something he liked or requested, she would try her best to fulfill it.

“You don’t look like nothing’s wrong.”

Tang Mother closed her book, clasped her hands under her chin, and looked at him with a loving expression.

Tang Jiali: “Mom, you should know Fang Hong from the Fang family, right?”

Tang Mother raised an eyebrow: “Of course I know her, I think very few people in the business world wouldn’t know her.”

“That’s not what I meant…” Tang Jiali said somewhat irritably: “I mean, are you familiar with her, Mom?”

Surprised that her son suddenly asked about such matters beyond childish concerns, Tang Mother still answered him: “Quite familiar, we have business cooperation, and occasionally I go to her place for tea.”

Tang Jiali’s face lit up: “Then Mom, could you invite her out?”

Tang Mother leisurely took a sip of tea, looking at him with an amused gaze.

That gaze seemed as if it could see through everything. Tang Jiali felt a bit uncomfortable and pouted, a hint of blush appearing on his handsome, sunny face. His voice dropped a few degrees: “Doesn’t she have a daughter? We could get together and get to know each other.”

Seeing her son’s budding feelings, Tang Mother’s smile deepened: “Oh? Is her daughter in your class?”

“Not in the same class…” His voice sounded a bit disappointed, but the next second he became forceful again: “Will you agree or not?”

“Alright, alright.” Tang Mother nodded amusedly, “But I can’t guarantee that the Fang family’s young lady will agree.”

Tang Jiali had thought about this too, but he still wanted to try. He had tried every means to get to know her better in the game, hoping to naturally step out of the game and meet in person, so that they could develop into a romantic relationship.

But unfortunately, the other party was too dense, or perhaps simply couldn’t develop feelings for people online. He just couldn’t move to the next step.

Tang Jiali wasn’t a patient person. He had endured for almost a year, and now there were rumors that she was dating someone else. It was like a bucket of cold water waking him up. Even if it seemed deliberate, he at least wanted to make her aware of his existence.

…

At night, Fang Chuning was looking at workbook materials in her room, with her phone placed next to the materials. As she was engrossed in reading, the phone screen suddenly lit up with a message.

She glanced at the phone and tapped the screen to open it.

Jiang Luoyu: President, can I invite you to watch a movie on the day off? I heard a recently released movie is very good, I want to watch it but don’t want to go alone.

He added a pleading expression at the end.

Fang Chuning didn’t think much and quickly typed: No, I don’t like going to crowded places.

She had been to a movie theater once, with Gao Qiong, out of curiosity. But whether it was because they chose a poor quality theater for convenience, it was not only crowded but the seats were cramped. She couldn’t even stretch her legs. Worse, some uncivilized people smoked in the theater without anyone stopping them. The experience was terrible, and she never wanted to go again.

She could watch movies comfortably at home, why bother going out?

Jiang Luoyu: We can buy VIP tickets, the seats are spacious and not crowded.

The other party was still persisting, Fang Chuning glanced at it and simply didn’t reply.

Soon after, he sent another message with a photo attached.

The photo was of him with a ragdoll. He was wearing pajamas, holding the ragdoll in his arms, tilting his head and looking pitifully at the camera. Cute text saying “please please” was edited onto the photo.

Jiang Luoyu: I know the president doesn’t like me, I won’t interfere with the relationship between the president and Xu classmate, I just want to invite the president to watch a movie as friends, is that not allowed either?

Jiang Luoyu: I don’t have any other friends I can invite out, the classmates in our class all dislike me, that’s why I wanted to ask the president…

Fang Chuning suddenly realized that Jiang Luoyu seemed to know how to grasp people’s soft spots, knowing that she was easily softened and always presenting himself as the weakest. But sometimes when you soften too much, you become numb.

After some thought, she still didn’t reply to him, mainly because she really didn’t want to go, but also didn’t want to hear him talk about how pitiful he was.

Her attention returned to the book. About half an hour later, she stretched lazily, and her peripheral vision happened to catch her phone screen lighting up again. Thinking Jiang Luoyu still wouldn’t give up, his persistence almost moved her.

Fang Chuning rubbed her eyes and picked up the phone, only to find that the message was from Xu Muzhou.

He had sent several pictures of fresh meat and vegetables.

Xu Muzhou: What dishes do you want to eat tomorrow?

Fang Chuning carefully observed the photos and found that he seemed to be taking them in a 24-hour vegetable supermarket.

Fang Chuning: Are you at the supermarket now?

Xu Muzhou: Mm.

She looked at the time, it was almost 10 o’clock.

Fang Chuning: Why are you buying vegetables so late?

Xu Muzhou: I just got back from Qin Shaoqing’s place, and happened to pass by the supermarket. I thought I’d buy the vegetables needed for tomorrow’s preparation, so I won’t have to get up so early tomorrow.

Chatting with Xu Muzhou, she found that he almost never used any picture emojis, completely different from Jiang Luoyu. Jiang Luoyu sometimes used pictures to represent a sentence, cute and lively. But Xu Muzhou was pure text, giving a sense of proper, serious, and obedient cuteness.

As if her cute spot had been hit, Fang Chuning suddenly found him adorably irresistible.

Fang Chuning: Do you buy the vegetables yourself every day?

She had thought they were delivered by delivery staff.

Xu Muzhou: Mm, you can’t see the actual products online, I’m afraid they won’t be fresh.

Ah, just thinking about it seemed very troublesome.

Fang Chuning: There’s no need to go to so much trouble, eating in the school cafeteria is fine too.

There was no reply for a long time. Just when she thought she might have said something wrong, a voice message suddenly popped up in the chat box.

After hesitating for a moment, Fang Chuning slowly brought the phone to her ear.

The young man’s gentle and magnetic voice came through the phone: “Fang classmate… don’t you like it?” Fang Chuning’s mind was dizzy from this voice, and in the heat of the moment, she pressed the voice key and hurriedly explained: “I don’t dislike it! I quite like it!” She stared blankly at the phone, her mind buzzing and her heart pounding. It took her a while to realize something was wrong, and her fingers hastily tapped to recall the message, but accidentally hit delete instead. Fang Chuning almost coughed up blood.

That’s not what I meant, I meant your cooking is very good and I quite like it!

The more she tried to explain, the more wrong it sounded. Fang Chuning took a deep breath and threw the phone aside, out of sight, out of mind.

Though her eyes weren’t looking, her mind couldn’t help but drift in that direction. In the end, she still picked up the phone to check the messages.

Xu Muzhou: If you like it, then it’s not troublesome.

Fang Chuning bit her index finger knuckle, carefully reading this sentence over and over. She felt this sentence had a hint of liking and goodwill, but afraid she was overthinking, she took a screenshot of the chat log and sent it to Gao Qiong.

Question: Can you see any signs of his affection for me from the wording?

Gao Qiong, who was partying at a bar, almost spat out the drink in her mouth when she saw this message, her expression quite exasperated.

Reply: Are you forcing me to eat dog food?

Fang Chuning understood, and with a slightly good mood, she went downstairs to prepare a late-night snack.

…

The next morning, only Fang Chuning and Fang Hong were at the dining table in the Fang household. Father Fang had unusually failed to get up early today, while Fang Tianli had left early for a school activity.

Apart from the occasional clinking of knives and forks, there was no other sound at the dining table. Fang Hong looked up at the young girl, her voice more relaxed than usual: “Do you have any activities at school this Saturday?”

Fang Chuning replied without any guard: “No.”

“Mm, I’ve arranged to meet a business friend on Saturday, you’ll come along.” “Why should I go when you adults are gathering?”

Fang Hong wiped her hands with a napkin, saying with a straight face: “To let you familiarize yourself with everything related to the company early on.” “……”

This reason didn’t sound very convincing. Fang Chuning’s instincts told her that for Fang Hong to actively seek her out, it certainly wasn’t for such a simple and boring matter.