Chapter 24: Su Qinghe’s Other Side? Han Ning Got Excited
After all, in Dragon Country, no matter the city, local taxi drivers are notorious daredevils who drive their cabs like race cars!
Especially in Mountain City!
The taxi drivers here wish they were flying airplanes!
So, Gu Yifan was long since unfazed by the antics of Mountain City’s taxi drivers.
Su Qinghe, however, was startled out of her daze!
While she was still stunned,
Gu Yifan lowered the car window, smiled slightly, and said, "Get in!"
...
"Oh, oh... okay."
Su Qinghe seemed a little dazed. She glanced at the taxi, then at Gu Yifan, and finally gave a silent nod.
"Driver, Qingyun Snack Street!"
Once Su Qinghe was settled in the car, Gu Yifan called out to the driver in front.
"You got it!"
"You two, hold on tight!"
With that, the driver slammed the gas pedal, and the car shot onto the road like an arrow.
...
「Over ten minutes later.」
Gu Yifan and Su Qinghe got out of the car.
The taxi then vanished from sight with a roar, leaving only clouds of dust kicked up by its screeching tires.
Uh...
Gu Yifan and Su Qinghe glanced at each other, a bit dumbfounded.
Ahem.
Gu Yifan cleared his throat and said, "Um, Classmate Su, let’s go. I’ll treat you to something to eat!"
"Okay."
Su Qinghe nodded gently.
「Two minutes later,」
They ended up in a small, hole-in-the-wall noodle shop specializing in Mountain City’s signature hot and sour noodles.
As he looked at Su Qinghe sitting across from him, Gu Yifan felt a bit awkward.
This was because Su Qinghe was taking small bites of her hot and sour noodles, her little tongue occasionally darting out when the spiciness became too much.
Her little tongue looked pink, tender, and very cute.
’To be honest, the sight was alluring in its own way...’
Su Qinghe suddenly looked up and caught Gu Yifan staring at her.
Their eyes met.
WHOOSH. Su Qinghe’s face instantly turned a light shade of red.
She quickly averted her gaze, her eyes darting away, unable to meet his, like a frightened little rabbit.
Seeing this, Gu Yifan felt a bit awkward himself.
Ahem.
"Sorry, I didn’t know you couldn’t handle spicy food."
He cleared his throat and said apologetically.
"It’s... it’s okay."
Su Qinghe said in a small voice, her head lowered.
After a moment’s thought, she added, "I can actually handle spicy food, I just didn’t expect this to be *so* spicy..."
"Don’t worry about it, this place’s noodles really are a bit on the spicy side!"
"How about I order you another bowl?"
Gu Yifan offered.
As he spoke, he started to get up to order a new one for her.
But just as he stood up, Su Qinghe grabbed his hand.
"Uh..."
Gu Yifan froze for a second and turned to look at Su Qinghe.
Su Qinghe realized what she’d done and quickly let go of his hand, the blush on her cheeks deepening even more.
"N-No, you don’t have to..."
"I’ll be fine if I just eat slowly."
She kept her head down, not daring to look at Gu Yifan, her voice a mixture of embarrassment and shyness.
Seeing her overwhelming shyness, the corners of Gu Yifan’s mouth curled up slightly, but he didn’t press the issue.
"Alright, then. If you really can’t eat it, don’t force yourself!"
"This snack street is long, so you should save some room for other things later."
Gu Yifan said with a smile.
"Huh?"
Su Qinghe was stunned. "Th-That’s not necessary, is it?"
"Pfft, it’s nothing!"
"Today, we’re going to eat our way from one end of this street to the other!"
"We’ll eat to our hearts’ content!"
Gu Yifan said, waving his hand.
"But..."
Indecision was written all over Su Qinghe’s face.
"Hey!"
"That settles it!"
"To be honest, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time!"
"So you’ll have to help me out and eat with me. Otherwise, I can’t eat all this by myself!"
"Hehehe..."
Seeing her hesitation, Gu Yifan made the final decision.
Su Qinghe’s mouth opened slightly as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.
After all, Gu Yifan had put it that way, and she didn’t want to spoil his fun.
The two then lowered their heads and ate their noodles in silence.
...
「A few minutes later.」
"Let’s go, on to the next place!"
Gu Yifan pulled a napkin from the dispenser, wiped his mouth, and said to Su Qinghe.
"Mhm."
Su Qinghe nodded.
After Gu Yifan paid the bill, the two walked out of the noodle shop.
The two walked side-by-side down the snack street, stopping to buy any snacks that caught their interest.
Before long, Gu Yifan’s hands were laden with all sorts of snacks.
Even Su Qinghe was holding two sticks of sugar figurines.
Just as the two were strolling through the snack street.
In a plaza not far from the snack street, a beautiful, middle-aged woman in light makeup was leading a young girl by the hand towards a shopping mall. The girl wore a white gauze dress with a small black blazer.
Judging by their similar appearances, they were likely mother and daughter.
What a beautiful mother-daughter pair!
One older, one younger, both were stunningly beautiful and attracted the attention of many passersby as they walked.
"Xiaoning’er, I remember Yifan’s birthday is coming up soon, right? In a little while, you can pick out a gift he’d like."
Ye Wanqing said to a listless Han Ning.
That’s right!
You guessed it!
This beautiful mother-daughter pair was none other than Ye Wanqing and Han Ning!
After learning what had happened, Ye Wanqing felt that her daughter had indeed handled Gu Yifan’s confession poorly. She believed this was what ultimately led to Gu Yifan’s moment of despair, causing him to jump off a building!
Luckily, Gu Yifan wasn’t injured; otherwise, the situation would have been truly unmanageable.
Still, she felt it was necessary to buy a gift and visit Gu Yifan at his home.
After all, even though Gu Yifan had been the one to confess, her daughter still bore some of the responsibility.
"Xiaoning’er, after we finish shopping, you’re coming with me to your Aunt Dongmei’s house later!"
When her daughter didn’t respond, Ye Wanqing continued.
"Oh."
"I know, I know!"
Han Ning pouted and said sullenly.
"Oh, right!"
"And another thing, you need to properly apologize to Yifan."
Ye Wanqing added after a moment of thought.
"Hmm?"
The moment she heard her mom tell her to apologize to Gu Yifan, Han Ning’s eyes went wide.
"What?!"
"You want me to apologize to Gu Yifan?"
"Why should I?!"
Han Ning bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She looked at her mom, agitated, and said, "I didn’t do anything wrong!"
"Besides!"
"It’s his business if he likes me, and it’s my right to reject him!"
"Don’t I even have the right to reject him?!!!"
...