Heart-Warming Youth - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: She’s Not at That Level Yet

Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
Xu Ai lowered her head. At this moment, she suddenly realized how histrionic life can be at any time, anywhere.
In the past, she painstakingly tried to run into Lin Shen. She had to prepare so much and really do her homework just to have the slightest chance to meet him.
Now, she no longer did those things, but she could still run into him at this giant campus.
If the very first time she ran into him had been a cruel joke pulled by the Universe, then now, after three years and at a time she should’ve stopped, the Universe pulled an even bigger joke, almost as if testing her limits.
All other noises on the campus seemed to be fading away at this very moment, all that’s left was the old lady’s amiable giggling sound.
After a while, Lin Shen said calmly, “I thought you were Xu Ai’s grandmother, I didn’t think that…” He paused, then almost smiled as he asked Xu Ai, “Did you bring the cellphone?”
Xu Ai raised her head slowly. Lin Shen’s expression was as calm as his voice, just as usual. Her heart sank and shook her head “I didn’t.”
“Then give it back to me another time!” The smile disappeared from Lin Shen’s face. He told the old lady, “My name is Lin Shen. And you were right, I am Xu Ai’s classmate. I’ve met her since the first day she entered this campus.”
The old lady smiled and nodded, then carefully checked Lin Shen out one more time.
“Are you heading to your dorm?” Lin Shen asked.
Xu Ai didn’t answer.
The old lady laughed and said, “Yes, it wasn’t easy for me to come here, so I have to see Aiai’s dorm.”
“Well, then I won’t hold you here for any longer.” Lin Shen gave the old lady a polite bow before he left.
“So, that young man’s name is Lin Shen.” The old lady nudged at Xu Ai after Lin Shen walked away and whispered, “According to the internet, is that the one where people said was your boyfriend? The same Lin Shen that later broke up with you?”
That scared Xu Ai a little bit and swept away all her emotions, “You know how to use the internet?”
“Ever since Su Xuan’s auntie learned that he’s got a girlfriend, she’s been scavenging all sorts of news information online. That’s how I remembered that name.” The old lady smiled at Xu Ai.
Xu Ai was speechless for a second. Talk about how gossipy Su Xuan’s auntie was! She shook her head, “Don’t trust what you read on the news and what people say on the internet. They’re not all real.”
“They’re not all real?” The old lady stared at her.
Xu Ai’s heart plummeted. She hesitated before telling her the truth, “No, I had feelings for him and pursued him for three years. He isn’t into me, he’s into someone else.”
This time it was the old lady’s eyes that were widened with shock, “He doesn’t think you’re good enough for him?”
Xu Ai nodded.
The old lady was a little grumpy, “He looks like a bright young man, how come he doesn’t have good taste?”
Xu Ai was a little stunned.
The old lady turned from grumpy to happy again. She patted Xu Ai’s shoulder and grinned, “If he’s not into you, then that means he’s got no taste. Who wouldn’t like a great girl like you? You have Su Xuan’s affection now. My Little Xuan’s got a great taste in women. Lin Shen can drown in regret.”
Xu Ai burst out in laughter, “You think I’m a great girl in what ways?”
“I think you’re a great girl in every way.” The old lady laughed and held her hand, “Come on, let’s go to your dorm.”
Now the old lady was dragging Xu Ai. Even though she thought of Su Xuan as a nuisance, this lovely old lady is very funny and interesting, kind of like her grandmother, Grandma Wang, Grandma Li, and Grandma zhang. She was reluctant to take her to the dorm, but now she was willing to do so.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive at her dorm building. Xu Ai went ahead and talked to the supervisor lady. The lady knew Xu Ai and told her to not stay for too long, to which Xu Ai agreed. Then, she took the old lady upstairs.
Violet and Autumn were still in class, thus nobody was in the dorm room.
The old lady glanced around and smiled. She asked Xu Ai, “Ai-Ai, I heard there are single-person dorm rooms at your school, why didn’t you live in one of those? Isn’t it a little inconvenient to have four people living in one room?”
Xu Ai shook her head, “It’s not as fun living by yourself. Four people living together can take care of each other.”
“Mm-hmm, that’s true!” The old lady nodded, “Little Xuan crammed in a dorm room like this before, and that’s exactly what he told me. You two sure have the same temperament.”
Xu Ai rubbed her head.
“I went to Little Xuan’s dorm room when he was still studying in China. The dorm rooms you have nowadays are much nicer than the ones at that time. So much had improved.” The old lady kept on talking.
Xu Ai didn’t want to talk about Su Xuan so she didn’t reply. She took out some fruits, washed them, cut them into pieces, arranged them on a plate, and put toothpicks on them before placing it in front of the old lady.
The old lady sat down. She didn’t excuse herself and started eating the fruits and chatting, “Little Xuan has always been a smart boy. He never studied for more than two years at every school because he skipped a few grades. So much that when he graduated from university, he was a few grades ahead of his peers. All the people who graduated with him were a few years older than him.”
Xu Ai still didn’t reply.
The old lady asked suddenly, “Ai-Ai, how old is your grandmother?”
“She’s sixty-nine years old.”
“Oh my, she’s two years younger than me. I am seventy-one.” The old lady told her.
Xu Ai took a serious look at the old lady and laughed, “You are just like my grandmother. You both look very young, you don’t look your age at all.”
“You sure are one smooth talker!” The old lady had the biggest smile on her face.
They kept on chatting for a while. The cellphone in the old lady’s hand started ringing, she looked at it and gave it to Xu Ai, “You can pick it up, it’s probably the driver that is about to pick me up. You can tell him where he should wait for me.”
Xu Ai nodded and took over the phone, “Hello.”
“Is that Ai-Ai? I’m Auntie.” A woman’s voice came to her ear.
Xu Ai was so frightened that she almost threw the cellphone away. Was that the gossipy auntie that Su Xuan’s grandmother just told her about? She asked Su Xuan to send a driver here, but why did it have to be his auntie? Is there no one available at his company?
She held the phone in her hand and didn’t know what to say.
“Hello?” The other caller didn’t hear anything so she asked again, “Is that Ai-Ai?”
Xu Ai looked at the old lady.
“What’s wrong?” The old lady stared at her and asked
Xu Ai covered the phone and breathed in, “It’s Su Xuan’s auntie.”
That cracked the old lady up right away, “So she’s picking me up! That’s great, she can take the chance to meet you,” Then, she gestured at her, “Keep talking to her, auntie has a short temper, she’s very impatient and won’t wait for anyone…”
Xu Ai put the phone to her ear again. Not surprisingly, the other caller kept on saying “hello?” She opened her mouth painstakingly, “Hello, I am Xu Ai.”
The irritated tone came to a stop. A cheerful woman’s voice asked, “Did I scare you off? Don’t be scared, I’m not going to eat you. Little Xuan called me and said he didn’t have time so he asked me to pick her up. Tell me where you are and I’ll go find you two.”
Xu Ai told her the dorm building’s address, “Did you drive here? Just park at the front. Ask someone if you can’t find it, it’s not hard to locate.”
“Okay!” She hung up immediately.
Xu Ai passed the cellphone to the old lady.
The old lady wiped her hands with a tissue and took over the phone. “Let’s go! With her temper, she’d rather have us waiting for her than have her waiting for us.”
Xu Ai nodded and took her out of the dorm room.
They waited a little while at the front of the building. A car came towards them, slowed down as it approached, then stopped. A middle-aged woman wearing high-fashion couture exited the car. By the looks of it, it was very hard to associate her with the irritated, jumpy woman on the phone earlier.
“You must be Ai-Ai?” The woman closed the car door and came up to her to check her out. She had the most gleeful laugh on her face, “I’m Su Jing, Little Xuan’s auntie. You can just call me auntie like Little Xuan does.”
Xu Ai could sense the blazing enthusiasm in her aura, so she forced herself to greet her, “Auntie.”
“Oh my, what a well-behaved little girl, nothing like what they said in the news and on the internet,” Su Jing laughed and said to the old lady, “Mother, this is the type of girl that Little Xuan likes.”
The old lady hit her and laughed, “You are an elder but you don’t act like an elder. Careful, Ai-Ai will laugh at you.”
“We’ll all be family members in the future, do you think I’m afraid of her laughing at me?” Su Jing looked at the dorm building in front of her eyes and asked the old lady, “You just came down from Ai-Ai’s dorm?”
“Yes,” The old lady nodded, “I would’ve stayed longer if you hadn’t come so fast.”
“Come up, take me upstairs, I want to take a look as well.” Su Jing grabbed Xu Ai’s hand.
Xu Ai felt a little nauseous, “Auntie, it’s not early in the day anymore. My dorm room is just your typical university dorm room, nothing special to see. Grandma here traveled a long way to my school. She’s exhausted and absolutely needs to rest, so take her back for now! In the future…” She gritted her teeth, “In the future, there will be other chances for you to visit.”
Su Jing paused before looking at the old lady, “Mother, are you exhausted?”
“I am a little tired.” The old lady said.
Su Jing’s lips flattened, “Come on, you. You didn’t even tell me before you came here. I could’ve given you a ride here! That way, you could’ve stayed a little longer with Ai-Ai. You wanted to meet your granddaughter-in-law, I also wanted to meet my niece-in-law.”
Xu Ai was speechless.
The old lady giggled, “Choose a weekend and have Little Xuan invite Ai-Ai to our house. We have plenty of time in the future.”
“That’s true!” Su Jing nodded, “Fine, I won’t go up then.”
Xu Ai was relieved.
Su Jing still held Xu Ai’s hand as she scrutinized her face for a bit longer. She told her, “How about this weekend, I’ll ask Little Xuan to take you to our place.”
Xu Ai shook her head immediately, “I have made plans already. I have to visit a granny at the hospital this weekend. She’s sick.”
“I see, so next weekend then.” Su Jing did not wait for Xu Ai to shake her head and made a decision, “Come over next weekend then. You don’t have other plans, right? You can’t reject my offer again.”
Xu Ai almost choked. Just as she was about to shake her head, Su Jing stopped talking to her and let go of her hand. She dragged the old lady, “Mother, let’s go!”
The old lady nodded and reminded Xu Ai, “Ai-Ai, you must pay us a visit next weekend. Grandma will be waiting for you. I’ll come to your school to see you again if you don’t show up.”
Xu Ai almost stopped breathing. She stared at her numbly.
Su Jing opened the car door to let the old lady in, then she got into the driver’s seat and rolled down the window. She told Xu Ai, “Ai-Ai, we’re leaving now. You better go back to class!” Before Xu Ai could reply, she started the car and turned it around, and drove off quickly.
Xu Ai watched as the car disappeared out of her sight at the corner in the blink of an eye. She felt a little blue as well as a sense of helplessness.
It was almost time for classes to be dismissed, she didn’t even have to go back to class!
How come Su Xuan’s family members have the exact same logic as him, so weird and unusual?
She banged her head and realized how serious this whole thing has escalated, so much that it was way off her comfort zone. She stood there for a while and still couldn’t fathom how the heck everything became like this. Almost everyone knew that she was Su Xuan’s girlfriend now.
Su Xuan had met her grannies, and now she had met his grandmother and auntie…
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She took out her phone and dialed Su Xuan’s number that he left her earlier quickly.
The sound was a tell-tale sign that the other caller was busy.
She called him for another two times but the line was still busy. She finally hung up begrudgingly and went upstairs.
What she didn’t know was, Su Xuan was talking to Su Jing at that time.
Su Jing dialed Su Xuan’s number as soon as she drove away from Xu Ai’s dormitory building. She said with laughter, “Mission complete. The little girlfriend of yours was so scared when she heard that I was there to pick up your grandmother. She may seek revenge on you.”
Su Xuan’s smiling voice came to the receiver, “She’s not at that level yet.”
Su Jing was laughing hysterically, “You darn brat, how could you bully a little girl like that? First, you sent your grandmother here, and then you sent me here. You’re on a roll here taking turns to conquer her. Do you think you don’t have what it takes to get her? Do you even need us to help?”
“Um,” Su Xuan grunted, perhaps feeling embarrassed, “She’s hard to conquer.”
Su Jing snorted, “Was it because you bullied her too much? Is that why she wouldn’t buy it?”
Su Xuan paused a little bit, “She has a lot in her heart that shouldn’t be there. If I don’t bully her hard enough, how do I clear away her messy past?”
Su Jing rolled her eyes, “Who doesn’t have a past! Do you have to be so petty? They’re not even together?”
“I don’t have a past.” Su Xuan was so self-assured, “Just because they’re not together now doesn’t mean they won’t be together in the future.”
“You don’t have a past because you are too smart. You have skipped so many grades, everyone around you was older than you. They were either a couple of years older or a few years older. You’re not into older women, so of course, you don’t have a past. Who is there to blame!” Su Jing rolled her eyes again, “Don’t you have any self-confidence? What girl wouldn’t want to hang off of you? Why are you so worried about that?”
“I hope she will hang off of me!” Su Xuan sighed.
Su Jing giggled and told the old lady beside her, “Did you hear that, mother? Even Little Xuan has someone he couldn’t conquer and something he couldn’t do. That’s totally new.”
“The girl is honest, lovely, kind, and nice, I think she’s a great catch overall. Even though I came here without giving her a heads up, which made her scared and obviously uneasy, she still came down to meet me because I’m an old woman, and she told me not to leave with anyone because she was afraid of me getting hurt. She also took me to have lunch and ordered everything I like to eat. She’s attentive and considerate, obviously, she knows how to take care of seniors.” The old lady said with glee, “She is very disciplined, too, very polite.”
“Tsk tsk, you only met her once and you already lost your heart. How is this little girl not at that level yet? Your standards had always been so high, I’ve never heard you compliment anyone like this before.” Su Jing then said to Su Xuan, who had been listening to their conversation, “Did you hear that your grandma is extremely satisfied!”
“Mm-hmm.” There was a hint of smile in Su Xuan’s voice.
“I met that young man, too. His name is Lin Shen. A nice-looking guy, very high-spirited. When he walked towards us he probably mistook me for Aiai’s grandmother. But when I introduced myself and told him I am Little Xuan’s grandmother, his expression changed immediately.” The old lady chuckled, “Too bad Aiai was afraid to look at him. She lowered her head when he came to us. That young man must be used to controlling his emotions and acted as if nothing happened very fast. Oh, he really isn’t as clever as our Little Xuan.”
“The boy from Lin Corporation? He used all his cleverness in his company,” Su Jing exclaimed.
The old lady nodded and said to the phone speaker, “Little Xuan, the little girl never said anything whenever I mentioned you. I figured she probably didn’t want to hear your name at all. What exactly did you do to her? Why did you have to bully her that much? Although you had to do something about her, you have to be gentle. Women need to be wooed. That little girl told me with all honesty that she had feelings for that boy for three years. But, by the looks of it, she’s about to give it up. You, on the other hand, don’t push her so hard, if it backfires, then you’d be in trouble.”
Su Xuan listened to his grandmother’s preachings, “You’re absolutely right, grandma. I get everything now.”
“What a good boy. Okay, get on with your day, then! Go find her next Saturday and take her to our home. I will do it myself if she says no.” The old lady added.
Su Xuan agreed to that and hung up the phone.