The Beautiful Time With You

Their food had already been served on the table by the time Lin Jiage got off the phone.

Shi Yao had been stuffing some food into her mouth when she heard Lin Jiage’s words. Not in a convenient state to speak, she could only shake her head in response.

While she was taking her phone from Lin Jiage’s hands, she noticed the deep look of guilt in Lin Jiage’s eyes. She quickly swallowed whatever she was chewing and looked at Lin Jiage with her large, earnest eyes, “It’s fine.”

Perhaps it was her sincere expression that convinced Lin Jiage, but the latter finally retracted his gaze and picked up his chopsticks.

…

After the meal, Shi Yao called over the waitress for the bill.

Unlike before, Lin Jiage didn’t argue with her for the bill this time around. Instead, he leisurely leaned back on his seat, watching as the waitress delivered the bill into Shi Yao’s hands.

Shi Yao took a look at the total price before asking, “Can I pay by WeChat Pay?”

The waitress replied, “Sure.”

So, Shi Yao reached out for her phone, but when the screen refused to light up after she pressed the power button, she suddenly remembered that Lin Jiage had used up her battery earlier. Thus, she flashed an apologetic smile to the waitress and said, “I just remembered that my phone is out of battery. I’ll pay by card instead.”

“Sure, Miss.” As she spoke, the waitress began typing in the sum on the card reader.

Shi Yao rummaged through her bag, but perhaps she discovered that she couldn’t feel her wallet, but she brought the bag closer and lowered her head, searching through it seriously.

Time slowly ticked by, and when Shi Yao’s hands whipped out a certain greenish, flowery packaging for the second time, Lin Jiage suddenly recalled how he’d touched that packaging earlier as well and blushed in embarrassment. He cleared his throat and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Having rummaged through her bag three times, Shi Yao turned to Lin Jiage with a distressed look and said, “I think… I might have forgotten to bring my purse…”

Ah? I assumed you would anxiously say that you lost your purse, but instead, you’re saying that you forgot to bring it… This memory span… Is everything else not as important as food?

Lin Jiage was silent for a moment before he whipped out his wallet from his pocket, “It’s fine, I’ll pay.”

After swiping his card and signing on the receipt, Lin Jiage and Shi Yao rose to their feet and walked out of the restaurant, one after another.

A second after getting in the car, Shi Yao spoke up with a reddened face, “About that… I wasn’t trying to get out of paying for the meal. I really forgot to bring my purse…”

And as if Lin Jiage wouldn’t believe her, Shi Yao even opened up her bag and passed it over to him.

Since she had messed up the contents of her bag after rummaging through it, a certain greenish, flowery packaging happened to be at the very top. Catching sight of it, Lin Jiage face burned a little as he replied with an unfathomable “Mm” and then averted his gaze.

On the other hand, Shi Yao noticed Lin Jiage’s reaction and didn’t know what to make of his response.

He’s the one who called her and asked her to pay back the meal she owed him, but it ended up with him paying the tab. Does he really think that I did it intentionally?

This thought left Shi Yao feeling uneasy inside. Thus, she spoke up softly once more, “I’m really not trying to avoid buying you a meal. Why don’t we do this instead? I’ll pay you back for the meal just now, so treat it like I borrowed some money from you. Or maybe I can write an IOU and sign it right here for you?”

Lin Jiage’s eyes remained firmly fixated on the road ahead of him as he replied, “There’s no need for that.”

“If that won’t work, why don’t I treat you to two meals, no, I mean three…” Before Shi Yao could finish her words, she caught sight of something through the car windows and abruptly fell silent.