360. The Gift
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“What delivery? It wouldn’t be some scam to trick you into paying for shipping, right?”
When Lin Nan returned to her rental apartment, Chen Yao was already lounging on the sofa, glued to his phone.
“Still playing dumb, huh?”
Chen Yao looked up, his expression as lost as a puppy. But then he noticed the rosy blush on Lin Nan’s face and the sweet smile that could melt winter, clearly indicating she had something exciting happen while she was out.
But all she did was pick up a package.
He scratched his head and asked, “Huh?”
“Quit pretending!” Lin Nan tossed the lip gloss box onto the table, her voice loud but eyes sparkling with delight. “Why did you buy such an expensive lip gloss? I don’t even need it! What a waste of money!”
“???”
Chen Yao was more confused than ever. He picked up the lip gloss box, stared at it in shock, then pulled out his phone to snap a picture of the packaging before searching it online.
A box of lip gloss cost over thirteen hundred!
He was stunned, eyebrows lifted in terror as he asked, “You bought this? So expensive? That’s not like you.”
“Isn’t it from you?”
Chen Yao shook his head but then suddenly nodded emphatically, “Right! I bought it!”
“Eh?” Lin Nan was thrown for a loop, staring at him in confusion.
Then Chen Yao explained, looking completely earnest, “During the New Year, I was helping out at the family restaurant, learning to cook. When the kitchen was swamped, I helped my parents and they gave me a pittance as salary, so I got you the lip gloss.”
“Really?” With such wildly different reactions, Lin Nan didn’t know how to react.
Chen Yao grinned at her, mind racing with thoughts of who was trying to woo his girlfriend.
Zheng Qian? That guy hadn’t surfaced in a while—who knows if he’s given up or what. But he’d definitely splurge on a gift over a thousand.
What about that junior of Lin Nan’s? Though they’d only met a few times, the kid dressed smartly but was still using an old Xiaomi phone. Sure didn’t look like the type who’d gift anything.
It seemed only those two were openly interested in Lin Nan. As for any secret admirer, it could just be some lovesick coward too timid to even sign their name.
“So, what do you think? I’m nice to you, right?” Chen Yao, lost in thought, ended up looking awfully smug. “Wait until I have more money—I’ll get you something better!”
Lin Nan’s smile returned as she happily plopped down next to him, yet still scolded, “But you should run big purchases like this by me first!”
“You didn’t consult me before getting that game console.”
Seeing the grin on her face, Chen Yao panicked a bit; what if she found out this gift wasn’t actually from him? He could be eating instant noodles for three days!
He quickly pondered what he could buy for Lin Nan.
“Oh, and while I was picking up the delivery, I ran into that junior!” Lin Nan suddenly remembered, “He said the anime club is holding a cosplay recruitment event, and if you go, you can get paid.”
“You bumped into him while grabbing a package?” Chen Yao started to suspect that the gift-giver might just be that junior; what a coincidence!
Worried Chen Yao would feel jealous, Lin Nan quickly clarified, “He was probably just there for his package too! The school isn’t that big; it’s normal to run into each other every few weeks. But I didn’t really pay him any attention.”
“Not paying him attention is the right call; we’re not short on cash.”
While Chen Yao’s girlfriend probably wouldn’t get scammed, other areas were risky—anything not money could be a trap.
Although the junior looked like a bookish type, Chen Yao could see the hidden layers behind that polite facade. They both had the same intent, and he recognized that lurking beneath that civility was a predator.
“Hmm.” Lin Nan nodded happily, then grabbed the lip gloss box from the coffee table and dashed towards the bedroom.
Chen Yao watched her excitedly run off, shifting from a smile to a sour expression.
What should he get her?
Lin Nan’s favorite things were mostly money and food. If he could take her somewhere fancy, like a Michelin-star restaurant, even if the food was mediocre, she’d probably be thrilled.
Or maybe some shiny jewelry? But with a lip gloss costing over a thousand, whatever he got her couldn’t be less than that.
But Chen Yao was broke!
Before he could brood long, Lin Nan peeked out, her face flushed with excitement.
He glanced up and immediately noticed a change in her lip color.
“Looks great!” he praised without hesitation, “Just a hint of lip gloss, and you’re on a whole new level of beauty! If you learn to do makeup, the title of campus beauty will be all yours!”
“Of course!” Lin Nan’s nose practically lifted into the air.
Chen Yao couldn’t help but chuckle. If it was the old Lin Nan, she would have cringed at such flattery. Just half a year ago, a little boy had completely evolved into a girl.
This change was more than skin deep; her inner self was just as girlie!
“I’m going to switch colors; you tell me which looks better!”
With that, Lin Nan darted back into the bedroom.
Chen Yao frantically started searching online for tips on how to compliment a girlfriend. His vocabulary was limited, and if he ran out of compliments, he’d be in trouble!
Before long, Lin Nan popped out again, still beaming. Chen Yao looked up, slightly dazed and instinctively asked, “Did you change your lip gloss?”
“Yep! Can’t tell?”
Without thinking, Chen Yao shook his head, “Feels pretty much the same as the last one, right?”
But before he could finish his sentence, it suddenly hit him, and he quickly added, “Actually, it looks way better than the last one! It gives off a mature and…”
Watching Lin Nan’s face go from flattered to mildly skeptical, Chen Yao started feeling guilty, eventually resorting to a goofy grin to dodge the situation.
“Ah, whatever. I can’t really tell the difference, it just seems a little lighter than the last one.” Lin Nan muttered; she hadn’t studied lip gloss all that much anyway.
As she was speaking to herself, she put the lip gloss back in its box, slipped it into a bag, and made to leave.
Chen Yao watched her in confusion. “Where are you taking the lip gloss?”
“Gonna ask Liu Xuefei for her opinion on which looks better!” Lin Nan had already wiped her lips clean and replied, hurriedly darting out the door.
As Lin Nan shut the door behind her, Chen Yao, glancing down, noticed her phone left on the sofa. He quickly grabbed it and rushed outside, shouting, “Your phone!”
But Lin Nan didn’t seem to hear. After waiting at the door for a moment with no sign of her returning, he glanced at the phone, suddenly feeling a pang of curiosity.
After all, she had snooped through his phone and computer and even deleted his study materials.
So, checking Lin Nan’s phone should be a green light, right?
Slightly guilt-ridden, he didn’t hesitate to unlock her screen. Just as he clicked on QQ, he noticed a message from someone named “Chen Jiang” sent half an hour ago.
“Did you get the lip gloss I sent you?”
Who the heck was this?
