As soon as the owner finished speaking, Yu Rui immediately felt the deep and meaningful gaze of the one across the table.
Yu Rui pretended not to see him and smiled, “His name is Xie Li, he is my classmate. He helped me today, so I invited him to dinner as a thank you.”
“Oh, so that’s it.” The owner nodded, “Then eat, I won’t bother you anymore.”
As soon as the owner left, Xie Li played with the chopsticks in his hand and smiled, “So…the Class President and I are still just classmates?”
Yu Rui looked at him and said nothing.
Sitting next to Yu Rui, Yu Li’s gaze switched between them. She jumped out of her chair and ran to Xie Li’s side, and whispered, “Brother Xie Li, don’t be sad. My brother never took a classmate home before, he must treat you as a friend.”
“… Xiao Li.”
Across the table, the loudness of that whisper was no different from a public execution. Mainly, that person’s gaze made Yu Rui almost unable to keep the aloofness on his face.
Yu Li, hearing her brother’s warning, stuck out her tongue and ran back to her chair.
Xie Li let out a low laugh, “Does the Class President already consider me a friend?”
Yu Rui glanced at him, “If you don’t eat, the noodles will get bland.”
The corners of Xie Li’s mouth twitched, but in the end, he didn’t force Yu Rui to say anything else, he obediently took his chopsticks and ate.
The rest of dinner passed in silence. After finishing, Yu Rui went to pay for it and said goodbye to the owner. The three of them left together.
On the way home, Yu Li, whose hand was held by Yu Rui, looked around, curious about everything.
Yu Rui’s eyes were doubtful.
Yu Li had been with him since she was little and spent most of her time at home, at school, or in the study hall. Yu Rui rarely had time to take her out to play and hang out, and as the girl grew older, it was clear that her entertainment and leisure needs had increased. It’s just that Yu Li is obedient and understanding, and never asks Yu Rui for anything in this regard.
Perhaps, he should take Yu Li…
“This week there is a food fair at the Culture Square, Xiao Li, do you want to go?”
Xie Li’s words interrupted Yu Rui’s thoughts, who looked back and saw Xie Li squatting in front of Yu Li after asking the question.
Yu Li’s eyes were bright and full of longing, but she turned her head to look at Yu Rui, “Brother, can we go?”
When Yu Rui was about to answer, Xie Li cut off the conversation first. He half crouched in front of Yu Li with one knee slightly bent, and Yu Rui looked at him.
The smile in those dark eyes fluctuated deeply, “For inviting me to dinner, this time it’s on me. Class President, will you let me?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The back seats were meant to fit three people, but someone’s long legs wouldn’t work, which took up a lot of space.
Yu Rui hugged Yu Li to his side, frowning slightly at Xie Li, “You’re too tall, you should sit in the front.”
Xie Li closed the car door, half-joking and serious: “Aren’t I trying to be closer to you?”
“!!”
Yu Rui unconsciously looked at Yu Li. The girl was waiting for the departure with great anticipation, not even realizing the coquetry of the words. Yu Rui’s conscience also felt guilty.
The driver looked at them hesitantly in the rearview mirror, “Where to?”
Yu Rui hid his discomfort, “Cultural Square.”
The driver merged into traffic.
The cab drove some distance and the driver had already glanced at them several times in the rearview mirror.
Xie Lian didn’t bother to pay attention to anyone but Yu Rui. Even if he noticed, he didn’t care. Yu Rui held back for half a minute and finally couldn’t stand it.
Turning away from the car window, “Sir, we are not kidnappers. This is my sister. Xiao Li, say hello to uncle.”
Yu Li played along cutely, “Hello Uncle, this is my brother and his classmate, they are not bad people. My brother is going to take me to the food fair at the Culture Square.”
“Oh, it’s like that…” The driver didn’t expect a 17 or 18-year-old to know what he was thinking, and smiled awkwardly for a while, “It turns out that she’s your sister, blame me for being nosy. It’s weird seeing two guys your age with a little girl, sorry.”
“It’s okay, you have good intentions.” Yu Rui smiled.
“Are you going to the food fair? Weekends at night are when there are more people. You guys have to take good care of her.”
“Yes.”
The cab stopped at the north entrance of the Cultural Square, Xie Li paid and opened the door, and waited for Yu Li to get out.
The traffic to their left was dense, so Yu Rui hesitated and got out from the right side of the car, where Xie Li was holding the door.
When he peeked out, Xie Li was leaning against the car door, eyes lazily lowered, looking at him with a smirk.
Yu Rui pretended not to notice and reached out to grab hold of the eager Yu Li, “Xiao Li, don’t run. There are too many people here.”
Behind him, Xie Li closed the car door and walked over, extending his left hand towards the girl in a more natural way, “In case you get lost and your brother blames me?”
Yu Li smiled and held out her hand to Xie Li.
Yu Rui’s eyes subtly fluctuated.
Suddenly, he remembered that morning not long ago, when Xie Li came to accompany Yu Li to school.
At that time he was worried that that sick person was plotting against Xiao Li, and this person did not hesitate to mention Kan Qian and lie saying that she was his girlfriend.
Now he thought again, this was indeed a sick person, but the object he coveted was not Xiao Li at all, but… himself.
With a headache, Yu Rui avoided this problem in his heart and turned his attention to the place of the food fair.
The food fair was crowded, the whole Cultural Square was decked from the entrance to the exit with all kinds of food stalls from all over the world.
Xie Li was in charge of shopping and Yu Li was in charge of eating. Yu Rui followed the two around the stalls, witnessing Yu Li being coaxed by Xie Li to laugh all the while, eating like a happy cat, and holding three, four, five, or six snacks that she hadn’t had time to finish.
A few more times like that and his status as a legitimate brother would probably be lost.
Yu Rui was thinking about it when he saw Xie Li and Yu Li returning from a new stall.
“Brother!”
Yu Li had one hand up, clutching two small skewers. It was unknown what was on the skewers fried into golden balls.
Yu Li ran up to Yu Rui, smiling so much that you could barely see her eyes, “Brother, try it!”
Yu Rui had always had an aversion to these overly fried or spicy foods and was rarely willing to try anything in the snack category.
Yu Rui shook his head, “You can eat it, brother won’t.”
“Hmm? It’s delicious.” Yu Li rolled her eyes and suddenly turned around.
Xie Li was coming back from the same direction as her and was two steps behind, so Yu Li hurriedly ran over and grabbed Xie Li.
Xie Li bent down and the girl came closer to whisper in his ear.
This time there were so many people and noises, Yu Rui couldn’t hear what they were saying from two meters away.
He could only see that Xie Li suddenly raised his eyes halfway and looked at him with a smirk.
… obviously, the topic was related to him.
Yu Rui was speculating when he saw Xie Li take some skewers from Yu Li and walked straight toward him. Xie Li stopped a few inches away and handed him the skewers.
“Do you want to try one?”
Yu Rui frowned slightly and shook his head, “I don’t eat this kind of-”
“Xiao Li told me to do so.”
The feeling of brotherly self-crisis surfaced again, and despite knowing that Xie Li had no other intention for Yu Li, the threat to his brotherly status equally made Yu Rui’s heart uncomfortable.
He frowned harder and his tone became a little colder.
“I’m not going to eat it.”
“You don’t want to try some?”
“No.” This time there was only one word. To show the level of inner determination, Yu Rui even deliberately averted his gaze.
Turning his face, Yu Rui ended up facing the central light source on the dimmer side of the square, which had been set up to create an atmosphere, and unconsciously frowned slightly.
The young man’s face was beautifully contoured by light and shadow.
Xie Li’s eyes darkened.
After a while, he slightly lifted his heels and inclined towards Yu Rui with a trembling appearance, relying on his incredible body balance.
“Try one.”
Yu Rui wanted to dodge, “No-”
“Otherwise, I’ll feed you myself and let everyone see?”
“!!”
THE AUTHOR HAS SOMETHING TO SAY:
I imagined Yu Rui’s furrowed brows and deadpan expression, and Xie Hentai staring at him as he chokes.
Aw I thought “Taste One” was going to be the first time Xie Li got to taste Yu Rui! I’m curious if he’ll acknowledge the proximity/touch issue and find a way to be delicate about working around it. It’s cute that Yu Li is enjoying the attention of two big brothers for the evening.
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️