Heart-Warming Youth - Chapter 28

Chapter 28: She Brings it to Herself

Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
Xu Ai widened her eyes and looked at Su Xuan in disbelief.
He looked back at her and chuckled. “You look as if I’ve done something unforgivable.”
You did something unforgivable!
Xu Ai glared at him and demanded, “Why did you answer the call for me?”
Su Xuan looked helpless. “I didn’t want to, but it kept ringing. I had no choice but to answer it. Your roommate is so talkative, and it wasn’t polite to stop her. My ears were finally freed from her babbling when your cell phone battery died.”
Xu Ai’s mouth twitched. “You mean she talked my cellphone to death?”
Su Xuan nodded.
“And you just listened?” Xu Ai asked.
Su Xuan nodded. “She didn’t stop talking. To show my good manners, I didn’t hang up.”
Xu Ai didn’t know what to say.
He gestured at her to sit. “Sit down and wait a moment. My work is delayed by her call. After I finish it, we’ll go and have lunch.”
“I’m not going to wait for you?” Xu Ai turned to leave.
“Your roommate said if I didn’t go as I promised, you’d face severe consequences after you go back to school.” Seeing she was about to leave, Su Xuan said slowly.
Xu Ai paused and looked back at him.
Su Xuan nodded at her in confirmation. “If you don’t believe me, you can call her. She indeed said those words.”
Vexed, Xu Ai glared at him.
Su Xuan turned back and continued typing.
Ever since Autumn and Violet knew that Su Xuan was her boyfriend, they had been extremely excited and highly curious about him. Now that Su Xuan answered the call for her and even agreed to have dinner with them, how could they give up this rare opportunity?
What would happen if she didn’t bring the despicable guy to the dinner?
She guessed Autumn and Violet might strangle her for it.
She still had one year to go in the school and couldn’t afford to offend these two gossips.
Debating with herself for a long time, she walked back in resignation. Plunking down on the bed, she glared at Su Xuan and said in resentment, “Hurry up then. I’m hungry.”
“Just a moment.” Su Yu nodded.
Xu Ai lifted her cellphone. “Where can I recharge it?”
“Over there on the counter.” Su Xuan pointed.
Xu Ai put her cellphone on charge and turned it on, seeing dozens of messages popping out. They were all warning messages from Autumn and Violet. Putting it down, she plopped down on the bed in defeat.
Su Xuan looked back at her and his lips curved up in delight.
A moment later, he closed his laptop and stood up, saying, “It’s done. Get up.”
Xu Ai sat up and asked, “Where do we eat?”
“You’re hungry, right? Let’s eat in the hotel.” Su Xuan looked at her and suggested, “If you’re not very hungry and don’t want to eat here, we can drive out and find a restaurant.”
“Let’s eat here.” Xu Ai stood up listlessly. “My cell phone needs to be charged.”
Su Xuan nodded and walked out with her.
In the dining room, a waiter ushered them to a table with a beaming face.
Su Xuan asked Xu Ai to order the dishes. She glanced at him and ordered dishes with parsley.
Su Xuan chuckled as she named the dishes to the waiter. “You are good.”
Xu Ai snorted. “If you don’t like them, you can order other dishes.”
“Since you like parsley, I’ll eat it with you.” Su Xuan shook his head.
Who likes parsley?
Xu Ai’s face fell, thinking it was a bad deal to force herself to eat parsley just to make him suffer. She stopped the waiter. “Give me the menu. I need to change the order.”
The waiter brought the menu back to her.
After the waiter left with the new order, she looked up and saw Su Yu was looking at her with amusement and his handsome face was a delight to the eye. She rolled her eyes at him and asked, “Autumn talked my cellphone to death. What did she say?”
Su Xuan poured water for her and himself and then said with a chuckle, “She talked about you.”
Xu Ai’s heart sank. “What did she say about me?”
Su Yu thought for a moment and said, “A lot. She told me almost everything about you in the three years after you entered the university.”
Xu Ai scowled. “Really?”
Su Xuan nodded with a smile. “She’d say more if the cellphone didn’t die.”
Xu Ai had the urge to strangle Autumn.
Su Xuan enjoyed the look on her face and smiled. “Your roommate is very interesting. If I wasn’t busy, I’d have recharged your cell phone and let her continue.”
It seemed she should be grateful that her cell phone went dead.
Xu Ai suddenly felt uncomfortable all over sitting before a person who knew all her secrets.
She had the urge to splash the water onto his face. But the hot water would ruin this handsome face and she’d be stuck with an ugly boyfriend.
After all, the only good thing about him was his face; she just couldn’t see enough of it.
She glared at his face for a long while and said in resentment, “When I see Wu Xiting, I’ll tell him all the humiliating things about Autumn.”
“Who’s Wu Xiting?” Su Xuan asked with a smile.
“Autumn’s boyfriend,” Xu Ai said in a huff.
Su Xuan’s smile deepened. “Well, she talked about you for half an hour. You must double it. Compared with him, I can’t be on the short end of the stick as your boyfriend.”
Xu Ai was about to nod when she realized what he meant. She glared at him and said, “How come you’re on the short end of the stick?”
She was the person on the short end of the stick, okay?
“Your roommate…” Su Yu thought for a moment and continued, “has a devilishly piercing voice.”
Xu Ai laughed uncontrollably.
This description was quite vivid.
Violet and Autumn indeed had devilishly piercing voices when they annoyed people with gossips.
She wondered if Wu Xiting would still want Autumn after he knew about her real personality.
She debated with herself, wondering if she should expose her roommate’s real side to her boyfriend to get back to her or keep it from him to protect her roommate.
Obviously, her expression betrayed her thoughts. Su Yu advised, “If you talk about your roommate to Wu Xiting for one hour, he won’t think your roommate is a gossip.”
Xu Ai was about to laugh when the understanding dawned on her. She asked angrily, “Then he’d think I’m a gossip.”
Su Yu shrugged. “You’re my girlfriend. It’s not his business that you’re a gossip.”
Xu Ai was speechless as she glared at this despicable man.
The waiter brought dishes to the table.
Su Xuan handed her chopsticks. “Eat now. The dinner is scheduled at five o’clock in the afternoon. The restaurant is a bit far from here and it’ll take one hour to drive there. Eat as much as you can, so you’ll have energy to pierce Wu Xiting’s ears with your devilish voice.”
Xu Ai took the chopsticks and picked up food from a dish, asking, “Why did they set such an early time?”
“It’s not very early. She said we can have more time to get to know each other. When I invite them to dinner, we’ll all know each other well,” said Su Xuan.
Xu Ai looked at him. “You’ll invite them to dinner?”
“Yeah.” Su Xuan nodded. “You don’t like it?”
She frowned. “I haven’t agreed to be your girlfriend.”
Su Xuan looked at her with a faint smile. “Do you need to agree?”
Xu Ai didn’t want to talk about this topic, or she’d not be able to finish the meal.
Seeing she didn’t reply, he remained silent.
In contrast to her lousy mood, he was light-hearted.
After lunch, they returned to Su Xuan’s room.
The cellphone was almost fully charged. As she unplugged it, Su Xuan took out a suit from the wardrobe to change clothes. Immediately, she said, “Don’t tell me that you’ll go to the dinner with me wearing a suit.”
“What shall I wear?” he asked with a smile.
“Casual.” She gestured at the clothes he was wearing and said, “This outfit is good enough. Don’t change.”
“Are you sure?” Su Xuan asked.
“Of course.” Xu Ai looked displeased. “Don’t waste time on dressing, peacock. Let’s go.” She walked out of the room.
Su Xuan said “Okay”, put the suit back into the wardrobe and walked out of the room after her.
Glancing at the laptop in his hand, she pursed her lips but didn’t speak.
His car was waiting at the gate. Helping her get into the car, he drove away from the hotel.
After a while, Xu Ai looked around and said, “No, you got the wrong way.”
“No.” Su Xuan said, “It’s still early. I need to run an errand.”
Xu Ai frowned. “If you’re busy, you should have declined Autumn’s invitation.”
“It’s only two o’clock. My business will take one hour at the most. We won’t be late for dinner.” Su Xuan glanced at her with a faint smile. “I could refuse her, but I didn’t want to. I’ve never attended a dinner held by the boyfriend of my girlfriend’s roommate before. It’s quite novel for me.”
Xu Ai didn’t know what to say.
After about half an hour, Su Xuan stopped the car before a teahouse. As she didn’t move, he gestured to her to get out of the car.
Xu Ai said, “Go ahead and do your business. I wait for you in the car.”
“I never leave my girlfriend in the car. What if something happens to you while I’m away?” Su Yu dragged her out of the car.
Xu Ai glared at him. “Whom are you meeting? Is it proper for me to be with you?”
“I’m here to meet some people for business. Since my assistant is not here, you can act as my assistant.” Su Xuan handed her the laptop.
Xu Ai frowned and had the urge to dump it.
Su Xuan turned and walked to the entrance.
Hesitating for a while, she followed him.
A waitress received them at the entrance and asked Su Xuan’s name with a smile; then she ushered them into a private compartment.
In the compartment sat four people, including three middle-aged foreigners and a young man of Su Xuan’s age. All of them were dressed formally in suits and ties.
Suddenly, Xu Ai understood why Su Xuan wanted to change into a suit in the hotel, but she had accused him of being a peacock.
A waitress was pouring tea for the four people; obviously, they had just arrived.
As Su Xuan and Xu Ai entered, four pairs of eyes turned to them immediately.
Su Xuan smiled. “I’m sorry for being late.”
The four people looked him up and down and then glanced at Xu Ai who stood half a step behind him.
Her dress was quite nice but not formal enough for this occasion. She cursed Su Yu silently for not stating the purpose of his errand, or she wouldn’t have stopped him from changing into the business suit.
Seeing them wear such casual clothes, the four businessmen must feel slighted.
Sure enough, one of them stood up, pointed his finger at Su Xuan and gave an indignant speech in English.
Xu Ai’s English was quite good and understood that the guy was berating Su Xuan for his bad manners; by wearing casually on such an occasion, he showed disrespect to them and Billions Sun.
Su Xuan listened to him patiently and apologized to him calmly in English, “If I didn’t respect you, I wouldn’t have come today. I think your partner is Empyrean instead of the person Su Xuan.”
Hearing his words, the guy was even angrier; he said loudly in English, “You’re Empyrean and Empyrean is you! We work with Empyrean because of you. As the rumors say, Su Xuan, you’re indeed arrogant. We’re disappointed in you.” He said something to his colleagues; obviously, they didn’t want to work with him and decided to leave.
Su Xuan had never been accused of being arrogant to his face. His face went dark, but he didn’t say anything. Stepping to one side, he seemed to accept their accusation and was ready to let them leave.
If they left, the cooperation would be over and Su Xuan would be branded with the bad name of being arrogant.
Only a week ago, he had stood up Billions Sun; in this second meeting, he came to see them casually, which was a slap to the face for his partners. These two incidents would reflect badly on him.
After all, the business circle wasn’t big, and Empyrean couldn’t stop the rumors from spreading out.
Without a good reputation, Su Xuan who had just returned from overseas two months ago would have a bad beginning for his business.
Xu Ai nudged Su Xuan.
He turned his head and glanced at her; lowering his eyes, he didn’t speak or try to stop them.
Seeing the four guys were about to leave, she gritted her teeth and stepped up from behind Su Xuan. Standing at the door, she said with great dignity, “Sir, have you ever heard the old saying ‘Close friends don’t stand on ceremony’?”
The guy who had berated Su Xuan looked at her in puzzlement.
Xu Ai continued, “In China, relatives and friends wear casual clothes when they gather together. Today we met in a teahouse instead of a meeting room in a skyscraper; why should we wear formal clothes? Formal suits are a sign of aloofness. Su Xuan wears casual clothes because he came to meet you as a friend. But you guys misunderstand him and accuse him of being arrogant. But from my stand of view, you don’t understand the difference between our cultures; if you don’t understand our culture and the related manners, you are not fit to do business in our country.”
Stupefied, the guy looked at her in confusion.
Desperate to clear the misunderstanding, Xu Ai had spoken in Chinese. Seeing the guy was stunned, she didn’t explain her words in English. She just said, “If your accusation gets out, Su Xuan’s character will be questioned. He just wanted to meet the important foreign guests as his close friends but got misunderstood. If the rumor gets out, it would ruin his reputation. The business is not important, but please withdraw your accusation and apologize to him.”
The guy didn’t understand Xu Ai’s indignant speech but knew that she wouldn’t allow them to leave. Puzzled, he looked at the young colleague.
The young man glanced at Xu Ai and translated her words into English.
Hearing the translation, the guy looked at Xu Ai in stupefaction.
Blocking the door with the laptop in her arms, Xu Ai stared at the guy with indignation on her face as she waited for his apology.
The guy looked at Xu Ai for a while and then glanced at the other two foreigners.
The two foreigners exchanged a look and one of them said, “This lady has a point.” The other nodded in agreement.
The guy turned his eyes to Su Xuan and saw him stood there casually with a calm expression on his face. His casual clothes made him look accessible and easygoing. Maybe just as Xu Ai had said, he had dressed like this because he took them as his friends. Looking away, he took one step back and apologized to Su Xuan, “I’m sorry. I misunderstood you, Mr. Su. Please forgive me.”
Su Xuan glanced at Xu Ai with a glint in his eyes; then he smiled at the guy and said, “She’s my girlfriend and tries to defend me. It’s truly my fault that I’m dressed like this for our first meeting.”
“So, the lady is Xu Ai; you stood us up to keep her company.” The guy looked at her in surprise.
Xu Ai had the feeling that she did something stupid again.
Was she so famous now?
Yeah. Su Xuan had given up a deal costing billions of yuan with Billion Suns because of his girlfriend; how could people from Billion Suns not know about her?
She wanted to hit her head with the laptop for her stupidity. Why did she help Su Xuan? He didn’t even explain to her why he needed to wear a suit and remained silent as she misunderstood him. He deserved to be called an arrogant bastard.
For all the despicable things that he had done to her, she should be pleased that he was berated and lost the deal. She had lost her mind to help him.
She was stupid.
The more she thought about it, the sulkier she was.
The guy stared at Xu Ai for a while and laughed. “Xu Ai is pretty, cute, determined and smart. No wonder you gave up Billion Suns for her.” He asked the other two foreigners, “It’s understandable, right?”
The two foreigners nodded.
Xu Ai didn’t want to stay here anymore and made to leave.
Su Xuan caught her hand and pulled her to his side. He said with a smile, “I can find more business but if I hurt my girlfriend, she’d never come back. I’m sorry for standing you up last time and what happened today. I apologize.”
“You’re right.” The guy waved his hand with a smile. “It’s a misunderstanding. Come, let’s sit down and have a good talk. I appreciate Mr. Su’s thinking mode and Xu Ai’s way of talking. If not for her, we’d miss this good opportunity to know each other.”
Su Xuan, of course, was happy to oblige. Nodding at him with a smile, he pulled Xu Ai to sit next to him.
Now that the misunderstanding was cleared, the four guys talked animatedly with Su Xuan, taking him as a close friend even though this was their first meeting.
Xu Ai watched as they talked animatedly about the business cooperation between Billions Sun and Empyrean and then cultures of different countries; silently, she berated herself for what she had done. She brought all this to herself.