“These are new spring tea pastries we’ve been experimenting with. We only made a small batch, so they haven’t officially been added to the menu yet.”
“Wow, Boss Lin, you’re amazing. I can really smell the orchid fragrance! Did you use spring orchids that just started blooming? They’re so fresh.”
“Yes. I grow all the flowers at the teahouse myself, in the little greenhouse out back. You’re welcome to have a look anytime if you’re interested.” Lin Shi Yu smiled gently. “Thank you both for coming here so often. Today’s tea pastries are on the house. Help me taste-test them and tell me what you think.”
Looking at the two plates of exquisitely shaped pastries before him, Qin Shu enthusiastically played his part. He carefully picked up another snow-white piece of soft cake, took a small bite, and his eyes immediately lit up again.
“Zhaozhao, try this one. It’s really good! Mm… I can taste magnolia, and there’s white tea too. It’s especially light and sweet. I don’t think it would get cloying even without tea.”
For a conscientious cook, there was nothing luckier than having a diner with a discerning palate. Lin Shi Yu’s smile deepened. “Yulania mirifolia. It’s difficult to grow—the most delicate little master in my greenhouse.”
Elio’s Notes: 奇叶玉兰 is Yulania mirifolia, a species of magnolia. Lin Shi Yu is referring to the flower used to flavor the pastry.
Qin Shu genuinely thought it was delicious and even wanted to try baking something similar at home. After all… Pei Zhao liked sweets and was fairly picky about food, yet even he had given today’s pastries a very positive evaluation.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Qin Shu pulled Lin Shi Yu into a long conversation about desserts. Just as he was getting carried away, however, the soft flesh at his waist was suddenly poked.
Pei Zhao had done it.
There was the faintest curve at the corner of Pei Zhao’s lips as he looked at Qin Shu with an expression somewhere between a smile and not a smile, then subtly lifted his chin.
“…Mm.”
Qin Shu abruptly understood and hurriedly stopped himself from asking anything else.
If he got carried away talking about this subject, he could easily keep going for half the day, but this was not a conversation he should be dominating.
Especially when, at that very moment, there was still a bull yao lying on the roof of Qingfeng Teahouse, unable to find an opportunity to join them…
Huang Yuyuan’s aggrieved aura felt almost tangible, as though it were about to seep strand by strand through the reinforced concrete and into the room.
Qin Shu genuinely wanted to laugh. He forced himself through another round of expression management and moved slightly farther away from Lin Shi Yu.
The lively conversation finally began to quiet down. Pretending to bury himself in his food, Qin Shu kept his ears open in every direction. He heard Huang Yuyuan furtively climb down from the roof, followed by the faint sound of tires rolling over dry branches, drawing closer and closer.
A black Maybach pulled up discreetly outside the teahouse. One of its doors opened with extraordinary smoothness, closed gently, then opened again.
Silky black hair swayed in the cold wind. A handmade suit outlined a tall, straight waist, while perfectly draped trousers of exactly the right length fell over black dress shoes made from faux cowhide.
Huang Yuyuan calmly stepped out of the back seat as though he had only just arrived. His handsome face was perfectly composed, his steps steady and dignified, his bearing outstanding. “Boss Lin, I’ve come to meet two friends.”
At the same time as he spoke, the driver pressed a remote control button from the front seat, and the trunk slowly opened.
A rich yet elegant tea fragrance spilled from the trunk. Even the bare maple branches lining the alley seemed to sense it, suddenly sprouting broad patches of tender green buds in unison.
The overwhelming surge of spiritual energy had brought spring to Jiangcheng ahead of schedule, but only around Qingfeng Teahouse.
Lin Shi Yu stood at the entrance looking at him, momentarily dazed. After a long silence, he adjusted his expression, stepped slightly aside, raised a hand in invitation, and smiled gently. “Senior Huang, it’s been a long time. Are you here to see Student Qin? Please come in.”
“Boss Lin, there’s no need for such formality. I hardly deserve to be called Senior. Please just call me Nian Ci.”
Huang Yuyuan hurriedly answered as he followed him into the teahouse, then could not stop himself from continuing to explain, “After Black Mountain manifested, the elders of my clan gave me a courtesy name so that it would be more convenient for me to move among humans. Unfortunately, times are different now, and fellow cultivators rarely address one another by courtesy names anymore… even as a sign of closeness.”
The moment those final words left his mouth, Huang Yuyuan himself panicked first. He immediately shut his mouth, lowered his head in embarrassment, and secretly adjusted his breathing, not daring to look at Lin Shi Yu’s face.
Lin Shi Yu’s steps paused slightly before returning to normal without a trace. When his voice drifted back, it was soft and gentle. “…Mm. Brother Nian Ci.”
The subtle atmosphere between them instantly became even thicker. Their hesitant glances, increasingly slow walking pace, even where they placed their hands—somehow, every little thing seemed meaningful.
As they gradually approached the private tea room, Qin Shu, who had been peeking through the crack in the door, hurriedly sat back in his original position. By then, however, he was already staring in amazement.
He lowered his voice and whispered to Pei Zhao, “Zhaozhao, did you see that? Even the weeds outside the window are blooming… With romance like this, why does he need my help? Boss Lin definitely doesn’t act this way with us.”
Pei Zhao was not particularly interested in other people’s romances, but he was somewhat interested in Qin Shu’s thoughts.
He picked up the final piece of magnolia cake and turned his head to study Qin Shu’s expression. “You like romantic things? I’m not very good at them.”
“?”
Qin Shu froze for a moment, then immediately clarified, “No, no, no. Zhaozhao, you don’t need to be good at that. I just enjoy watching other people’s drama.”
“Okay.”
Pei Zhao withdrew his searching gaze and resumed carefully savoring the smooth, delicate magnolia cake, displaying a rare and obvious look of appreciation.
Its appearance, fragrance, and taste were all excellent.
Pei Zhao had never paid much attention to Qingfeng Teahouse’s vegetarian food before, but now he suddenly realized that Lin Shi Yu possessed considerable skill when it came to food.
If this had been a thousand years ago and ordinary people had offered this plate of pastries to a river god, then after eating them… the river god probably would not even have been interested in consuming another pair of virgin boys and girls.
That praise seemed a little too exaggerated to say aloud, so Pei Zhao lowered his head, picked up his phone, and leisurely typed it out to Qin Shu instead.
Qin Shu looked at the message, then looked at Pei Zhao’s utterly serious expression, and finally could not hold back his laughter.
“Young Qin, wh-what is it?”
Huang Yuyuan had already been invited to sit on one side of the dining table, extremely close to Lin Shi Yu. But perhaps because he was too nervous, he had been keeping his head down and devouring pastries with the ferocity of an outlaw hero at a feast.
Only when he heard Qin Shu laughing did Huang Yuyuan snap back to reality and straighten up again. He looked toward Qin Shu with obvious uncertainty, the word “HELP” practically written across his eyes.
“Nothing. Our Zhaozhao is a little shy around strangers, so he was secretly telling me that Boss Lin’s tea pastries are especially delicious.” Qin Shu’s smile widened as he lied effortlessly without the slightest blush. “Even if these were served at the Dragon Mother’s birthday banquet, they’d definitely hold their own and outshine the competition.”
Now that was the art of speaking.
Pei Zhao gave a slight nod, indicating that this was exactly what he had meant.
Lin Shi Yu paused at the compliment, and an irrepressible curve appeared at the corner of his lips before he turned toward Huang Yuyuan. “Brother Nian Ci, what do you think of the taste?”
“Young Pei put it perfectly. At this birthday banquet, Qingfeng Teahouse will undoubtedly make a tremendous impression and draw the Dragon Mother’s attention to your talent! Even if Boss Lin wished to expand his business into Black Mountain, it certainly wouldn’t be difficult…”
Huang Yuyuan’s entire body remained tense as he launched into an endless discussion of the food-service industry among yao cultivators. Only toward the end did he secretly pull out his business card with trembling hands and reveal his real objective.
“Boss Lin, this is my business card. We never had an opportunity to exchange contact information before, so please accept it this time. If you’re ever interested in Black Mountain’s customs and local culture, whether you wish to travel there or open a few branches, you can contact me anytime.”
Lin Shi Yu remained extraordinarily patient. After quietly listening to the entire speech, he smiled warmly and carefully accepted the card. “All right. Then I’ll keep it.”
The atmosphere cooled for just an instant before Qin Shu immediately coughed and hurried to add, “WeChat. Add each other on WeChat. Come to think of it, I don’t have Brother A-Yuan’s WeChat either. We should all add one another so it’s easier to get in touch later, whether we’re arranging meals or buying tea. Right, Boss Lin?”
“Mm. Student Qin is right.”
Seeing Lin Shi Yu readily agree, Qin Shu shot Huang Yuyuan a meaningful look.
What are you standing there for? Get your phone out and add him already!
Huang Yuyuan hurriedly obeyed. As he reached for his phone, however, his hair accidentally caught on his own cufflink. Lin Shi Yu leaned over to help him, their fingertips brushed, and both of them simultaneously froze.
The private tea room was suddenly filled once again with a cheerful, ambiguous atmosphere…
＊
Forty minutes later, the two well-fed students returned to No. 2 High School.
Huang Yuyuan no longer needed Qin Shu’s help, while the spirit tea piled inside the Maybach’s trunk would be delivered by the young bull yao driving the car.
Qin Shu kept one finely packaged box of tea. There was no way he could bring the rest to school, so the driver delivered it directly to his home.
Of course, the tea itself had only ever been an excuse. Now that the real objective had been achieved, there was no reason for Qin Shu to stay. The ambiguous atmosphere between Huang Yuyuan and Boss Lin had become so intense that Qin Shu could no longer bear to watch them directly.
Watching two elders in the ambiguous stage before a relationship felt like watching his own parents fall in love. If he stared for too long, it became painfully awkward.
In short, there was definitely something there. No—way more than something!
Qin Shu suspected that if Huang Yuyuan dared to directly confess his feelings to Boss Lin and sincerely courted him for a while, success was practically guaranteed.
Maybe the Dragon Mother’s birthday would not even arrive before the two of them got to celebrate Qixi—Chinese Valentine’s Day—first.
Qin Shu might not be able to see his own situation clearly, but he had not known Lin Shi Yu for only a day.
The usually mature and refined teahouse owner had looked almost ten years younger today, simply because his expression and manner had been so different—completely different.
“Falling in love can change a person that much? That’s amazing.” Qin Shu shook his head in wonder as he brewed the spirit tea Huang Yuyuan had given them in a thermos. “Zhaozhao, drink some more. Careful, it’s hot.”
“Thank you.”
Pei Zhao accepted the cup and carefully took a small sip before immediately asking, “Qin Shu, do you want to date someone?”
“…Huh?”
Pei Zhao stared at him and shifted his chair slightly closer. “You care a lot about their relationship. Do you want to date someone?”
Lunch break had not yet ended, and they were the only two people in the classroom. It was so quiet that a pin could have been heard falling, making the scrape of chair legs against the floor suddenly sound extraordinarily loud.
The fragrance of tea drifted between them, and Qin Shu could even hear his own heartbeat. The question emptied his mind completely. He did not know what he was thinking or even how he was supposed to think about it, so he could only stumble over his words.
“I-I’m just a little nosy. I like watching the excitement, and I also wanted to build a good relationship with friendly seniors…”
Pei Zhao quietly interrupted him and went straight to the heart of the matter. “You didn’t answer my question at all.”
He moved even closer until the tips of their noses were nearly touching. Their slightly hurried breaths mingled, forming an unmistakable haze in the cold midwinter air.
Qin Shu remained silent for a moment. In his panic, he suddenly remembered what the dorm supervisor had said the night before and immediately grabbed onto it as an excuse. “Before the gaokao is over, I probably won’t consider dating… I think.”
“Okay.”
Pei Zhao was unexpectedly reasonable. Expressionless, he gave a slight nod, apparently perfectly capable of accepting such a hastily borrowed excuse.
But just as he started moving his chair back into place, Qin Shu suddenly caught his wrist.
“Zhaozhao, wait.”
“Mm?”
“Why did you ask me that?”
Pei Zhao allowed Qin Shu to pull him close again. His expression did not change, and his attitude was startlingly direct as he answered clearly and without hesitation, “I don’t want you to date.”
That bluntness, however, gave Qin Shu courage instead.
Not only did he refuse to let go, but his grip on Pei Zhao tightened as he asked quietly, “…Do you just not want me dating right now, or do you never want to see me with anyone else? I can agree to either.”
“‘Never’ is too extreme. Using it as a promise only makes you sound frivolous.” Pei Zhao narrowed his eyes slightly, displaying an unusually unrestrained edge. “Talk about something practical. If you have me, there can’t be anyone else.”
“Okay. No problem. If I ever dare go find someone else, you can hack me to death.” Qin Shu agreed instantly, almost without thinking.
As for what exactly motivated Pei Zhao to make such a demand… at that particular moment, Qin Shu did not really care.
If Pei Zhao wanted it, Qin Shu would make sure he got it.
“Okay.”
Pei Zhao considered the word “never” too extreme, yet completely failed to realize that the promise Qin Shu had just made was, in the eyes of any normal person, another kind of extreme altogether.
A tiny curve appeared at the corner of his lips. He nodded, deciding that the subject was settled.
But when Pei Zhao tried once again to move his chair back, Qin Shu still did not let go.
“No.”
Pei Zhao paused in confusion. “What else?”
“Zhaozhao, if I can do it, then you have to do it too.”
“…Mm?”
“You can’t… you can’t have a closer relationship with somebody else either.”
Qin Shu reached out and hugged him. His arms circled the other boy’s slender waist, crushing the loose school jacket helplessly beneath them as he locked Pei Zhao firmly against himself with extraordinary forcefulness.
He buried his slightly overheated face against the crook of Pei Zhao’s neck and rubbed against the cool skin there. Closing his eyes, Qin Shu added quietly, “No matter what other secrets you have or how many things you still can’t tell me, we have to be each other’s number one in the whole world.”
“Mm.”
“That was way too casual! Zhaozhao, hurry up and say we’re each other’s number one in the whole world, or I’m going to make a scene.” Qin Shu stubbornly added another demand.
“Childish. Mm—Qin Shu, you…”
Pei Zhao had not even finished speaking when his pupils abruptly contracted and, in a rare occurrence, obvious shock appeared across his face.
He had barely gotten the word “childish” out when Qin Shu gave his backside a light smack.
It was extremely light, with most of the force actually landing across his lower back and tailbone, but the sound itself was loud enough to be… irritating.
Pei Zhao was very bad at handling this peculiar kind of emotion, so like a startled cat, he instinctively struggled to escape from the burning-hot embrace.
His usually placid golden-amber eyes quietly narrowed into the alert vertical pupils of a wild animal. The emotions hidden within them seemed like transparent gemstones melting beneath blazing sunlight, trembling faintly as they spilled free.
Qin Shu had absolutely no intention of letting him go. He stared fixedly at Pei Zhao and declared with complete justification, “Pei Zhao, I want to hear you say it.”
This was simply what a person who acted according to his desires was like. No matter how friendly and cheerful Qin Shu usually appeared, none of it could conceal the stubbornness buried in his nature.
Slightly dazed, Pei Zhao remembered that fact. It was as though nothing had ever changed: Qin Shu only did what he wanted to do, and he absolutely had to get whatever he wanted. He really was completely unreasonable.
“…You and I are each other’s number one in the whole world.”
Once he had thought it through a little, Pei Zhao simply stopped struggling and relaxed his formerly stiff, tense waist.
He chose a comfortable position and leaned into Qin Shu according to the force of the embrace, softly repeating the words Qin Shu wanted to hear.
If he couldn’t out-stubborn him, he might as well lie back and enjoy it. It wasn’t as though he’d lose a piece of flesh over it.
It was a long-forgotten philosophy of survival.
“So cute.”
The low laugh beside his ear carried heat with it, making Pei Zhao tilt his head involuntarily. “What?”
“I’ve wanted to say this for ages. Zhaozhao, sometimes you’re seriously so cute… you make me want to bite you.”
“You’re not allowed to bite me.”
“Oh.”
This time Qin Shu was decisively refused, but he remained in an excellent mood and experienced a powerful sense of satisfaction he had not felt in a long time.
The problem that had nearly kept him awake the previous night had been solved just like that.
Pei Zhao did not want him dating anyone.
Heh.
As expected, venting to somebody else and talking through his worries was nowhere near as efficient as directly telling Pei Zhao what he wanted.
He could not underestimate the importance of communication in the future. Looking back on it now, Qin Shu suddenly realized that although Pei Zhao genuinely did not talk much… when it came to expressing his own needs, perhaps Pei Zhao was actually better at it than Qin Shu. He rarely kept his desires bottled up indefinitely.
That was healthy behavior. Definitely worth learning from!
Unfortunately, the force Qin Shu had deliberately used to smack Pei Zhao near the waist just now… seemed to have been too light.
Not only had it completely failed to “drive out the evil spirit,” it had instead shaken Pei Zhao’s own emotions.
After enjoying his moment of happiness, Qin Shu gradually fell into thought.
What method and excuse should I use the next time I try to drive out a ghost? If I keep secretly exploiting opportunities like this, that would be way too sleazy.
Should I just say it outright?
Can I really say it outright?
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