Chapter 94 What’s the Matter with You?
Han Meimei was active in gaining levels. She always got online on time and never goofed off. She even prepared pills used to refill blood and magical force for the team. Landscape Painter was very pleased with her performance. After discussing with Bluegreen-Clad, he agreed to train the team on the coming weekend and charged them 500,000 taels of sliver per hour.
Landscape Painter: Are you sure that all of you will be online this weekend?
Han Meimei thought that he was worried that they would waste time and would not pay him well. She hurriedly replied: “No problem, we’ve agreed that we’ll gain levels together this weekend. Even if we don’t have time to play, we’ll log onto the game. If you don’t want to sleep tonight. We’ll stay online and let you be the team captain and continue to gain levels.
Landscape Painter: No, I want to sleep tonight. Let’s start tomorrow.
Han Meimei: Okay. Hey, everyone, remember to log onto the game at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning.
Nevertheless, when Zheng Xiaoguang woke up the next morning, it was already 9:30 am. She saw a text message on her cellphone. It was sent to her by Bluegreen-Clad at 7:50 this morning.
A message from Bluegreen-Clad: I have to attend an emergency meeting this morning. You can play with the others first. I’ll come back in the afternoon.
“Although he’s busy today, he still remembers our appointment. He does care about me.” With this in mind, she could not help but smile. She quickly replied to his message: Okay, I’ll wait for you.
After waking up, she immediately got out of her bed and hurriedly gulped some breakfast food down. Just as she had expected, Bluegreen-Clad was still not online when she logged onto the game. When she was about to contact Han Meimei, she received a team invitation from her. The moment she joined the team, she saw the angry shouts of Han Meimei.
Han Meimei: What are you and your husband doing? It’s a Saturday morning. Why can’t you get online on time? We’ve agreed on the time last night. Look at Landscape Painter. He has been waiting for you for a long time!
Flowing Light: l’m really sorry. Bluegreen-Clad is working overtime. And I was too tired from work and overslept accidentally.
Zheng Xiaoguang felt somewhat guilty as if she had been caught goofing off at work by her boss.
Han Meimei: [Stares] What a well-matched couple. Okay, I surrender.
Flowing Light: Uhm, where’s Li Lei?
Han Meimei: He’s working overtime this weekend. I’ll run both of our accounts on my computer at the same time．
Flowing Light: Are you saying that there are only the two of us on our team today?
Han Meimei: What are you talking about? Do you forget about Landscape Painter? I told him that we would get started when you got online. Now, go to log into Bluegreen-Clad’s account and join the team.
When Zheng Xiaoguang hurriedly logged into Bluegreen-Clad’s game account, Han Meimei pulled Landscape Painter into the team. They kept gaining levels together until noon. At noon, Han Meimei made Landscape Painter the Team Captain and went to have lunch, leaving only Zheng Xiaoguang and Landscape Painter on the team.
Flowing Light: Don’t you need to have lunch?
Landscape Painter: I’m eating lunch now.
Zheng Xiaoguang thought in surprise, “What? He continues helping us to gain levels while eating lunch. What a hardworking trainer. He should win an award for that.”
Landscape Painter: Come to the Snow Peak.
The Snow Peak was a PVP region. As they had finished playing team instances, they could only gain levels there.
Zheng Xiaoguang put Bluegreen-Clad’s character in a safe zone in the north of the region and then went down to pull and fight monsters on the map.
During the process, she ran into Landscape Painter, and he stopped and took the initiative to talk to her.
Landscape Painter: It’s already 12 o’clock. You should go to have lunch while letting your character stay online. If you don’t eat lunch on time, your stomach will hurt．
Flowing Light: Hehe, that’s alright. I’ll order takeout later.
Landscape Painter: Do you eat alone?
Flowing Light: Yes, I’m alone at home today.
As she was alone at home, she did not want to cook and decided to eat takeout for lunch.
Landscape Painter: I’ll be away from the keyboard for a moment.
Zheng Xiaoguang thought that he was going to have lunch, so she immediately replied: Alright, give me the team, I’ll take care of it.
Now that Zheng Xiaoguang was alone on the team, she listlessly fought the monsters while listening to music. About half an hour later, she heard a knock on the door.
She was surprised. She listened attentively and made sure that someone was knocking on her door. She went to the door while wondering, “Who’s it? I haven’t ordered takeout yet.”
She opened the door with a confused look on her face. When she saw the man standing at her door, her eyes widened in surprise. “Tong Xiangyang?”
Tong Xiangyang took out a lunch box and said, “Here’s your lunch.”
Zheng Xiaoguang was astonished. It took her quite a long time to recover from the shock. She stuttered, “Why, Why do you come here?”
Tong Xiangyang did not answer her question. Instead, he asked, “Are you playing games again?”
Considering that they had once said that they would have played games “together” someday, Zheng Xiaoguang guiltily replied, “No.”
Tong Xiangyang smiled and said, “You haven’t eaten lunch yet, so I bought some food for you. You can eat first.”
“Well, thank you very much, but I think that I’m not convenient now.” Zheng Xiaoguang did not invite him to come in. Instead, she stood at the door together with him, planning to persuade him to leave.
Tong Xiangyang knew what she meant, but he pretended not to understand it. He said, “Do you plan to stand at the door together with me all the time? Don’t you want to invite me into your home?”
Upon hearing that, Zheng Xiaoguang had no choice but to invite him in.
Tong Xiangyang entered her home and went directly into her kitchen. He took out the food he brought here and put it on dishes. There were dry fried shrimp, Beijing roast duck, fried fish meat, steamed buns with crab roe and dumpling of glutinous rice flour with osmanthus blossoms.
Zheng Xiaoguang felt somewhat awkward instead of feeling pleased. She did not understand why he did this thing for her as he had not yet answered her question.
Upon seeing the confused look on Zheng Xiaoguang’s face, Tong Xiangyang urged. “Come on, try it.”
“You…” Zheng Xiaoguang opened her mouth but got stuck for words.
She thought, “This is not about the food. I really don’t understand what’s going on now. How can I eat the food?
“Tong Xiangyang never seemed to be interested in me before, no matter how hard Yang Sisi tried to bring us together. I was even forced by my parents to ask him out, but he refused me on the excuse of being busy with his work. I felt so awkward back then, since I had never taken the initiative to ask any guy out before that day.
“Given this, when Yang Sisi asked me if I had contacted him, I was so embarrassed to tell her the truth. I pretended that I had never taken the initiative to contact him.
“When we went on a picnic together, Yang Sisi tried her best to give us a chance to spend some time together, but he always kept me at a distance. I didn’t try to get close to him either. We kept avoiding each other all the time.
“After that picnic, Yang Sisi realized something and stopped urging us to be together, and I decided to treat him as a friend.
“Nevertheless, his attitude toward me suddenly changed. Yesterday, he called me and asked me to watch a movie together. Today, he even came to my home and bought so much lunch food for me.”
With this in mind, she nearly blurted out, “What’s the matter with you, Mr. Tong?”
Tong Xiangyang did not seem to notice Zheng Xiaoguang’s hesitation. He looked encouragingly at her and said, “Try the food when it’s still warm. I bought it in the best Chinese restaurant in this city. If you like these dishes, I can often deliver them to you in the future.”
Upon hearing that, Zheng Xiaoguang realized something. She frowned and asked, “Did Sisi force you to do something, Mr. Tong?”
In the meantime, she wondered, “Did Yang Sisi force him to chase after me and take the initiative to ask me out? But I’ve refused him many times. He should’ve stopped trying by now. Nevertheless, he did not get upset and continue to try.
“Does he suddenly get attracted by me? Oh, that’s impossible.”
Zheng Xiaoguang could not help but mock herself inwardly. “He can’t be suddenly attracted by me. Most good guys at his age in this city are married now. He must’ve gone on many blind dates by far. He probably has met too many girls and thus becomes somewhat picky now. How can he suddenly get attracted by me?”
“If it was really Yang Sisi that asked you to do this for me, I want to say that I’m sorry. Please don’t worry. I promise that I’ll talk this matter through with her,” she said politely.
The next moment, Tong Xiangyang said something that went totally beyond her expectations.
He said smilingly, “No, this has nothing to do with Yang Sisi. It’s my own decision. I decide to chase after you.”
Zheng Xiaoguang was dumbfounded.
She managed to speak in a calm voice. “I don’t think that this joke is funny, Mr. Tong.”
Tong Xiangyang seriously looked at Zheng Xiaoguang and said, “I’m not joking. I really want to date you. I hope that you can give me an opportunity.”
At this moment, Zheng Xiaoguang was pretty sure that Tong Xiangyang was not joking, so she replied seriously, “Thank you for your kindness, but no.”
The smile froze on his face, as he asked, “Why?”
“Nothing. I just don’t think that we’re suitable for each other,” replied Zheng Xiaoguang. She did not want to tell anyone else about her relationship with Bluegreen-Clad since she was not confident that she would be able to persuade her parents to approve of this relationship.
To her surprise, Tong Xiangyang asked, “Do you refuse me in such a hurry because of the god-like Bluegreen-Clad in the game?”
“How do you know…” Zheng Xiaoguang was stunned and got stuck for words again. She wondered, “Why does Tong Xiangyang know Bluegreen-Clad? Did Yang Sisi tell him about my relationship with Bluegreen-Clad?
Tong Xiangyang continued, “A god-like player like Bluegreen-Clad looks awesome and attractive in a game, but a game is a game. He can’t become real.”
“Calm down, calm down.” Zheng Xiaoguang thought to herself and tried her best to maintain the calm look on her face. “Well, that’s my own choice. It has nothing to do with you.”
Tong Xiangyang shook his head and said, “Chose to be together with me, Xiaoguang. We’re not young anymore. We can’t waste time on such meaningless things. You should know it.”
“Why did you come here to find me?” Zheng Xiaoguang looked into Tong Xiangyang’s eyes. She noticed that he looked very confident, but she really did not like this guy. She was still confused about why he suddenly came to her home.
Just now she had thought that it was because of Yang Sisi, but at this moment, she realized that it was not just because of her.
Tong Xiangyang raised his eyebrows and said, “It’s because I like you.”
“What? Like me?” Zheng Xiaoguang could hardly believe what she had just heard.
“I don’t remember that you like me.” Zheng Xiaoguang said self-deprecatingly. Since meeting her for the first time, Tong Xiangyang had always kept her at a distance. After their first blind date, they seldom met each other.