"Xiao Bei?" Lin Shaochi felt his heart beating like a drum.
"You..."
"I've thought about it——we can try." Su Bei's voice was very small.
But Lin Shaochi still heard it.
Without waiting for the other party to speak, Su Bei continued: "I don't know if my feeling for you is considered to be romantic, um, I mean, the same kind of liking you have for me."
After all, Lin Shaochi was the person she always regarded as an elder brother. Su Bei herself didn't know for sure whether her liking for him was that of a brother figure or something else.
"But I don't hate you." At least, after Su Bei knew Lin Shaochi's feelings, she only felt surprised, not disgusted.
"So, let's have a try."
Su Bei could probably understand why Lin Shaochi developed romantic feelings towards her. After all, her soul had lived in another world for four years. Although Su Bei at that time spent most of her time lying in a hospital bed, her mentality still grew with her age. Four years ago, when Lin Shaochi was 20 years old, it wasn't impossible for him to have a good impression of '18-year-old' her.
After Su Bei spoke, she didn't hear a reply from the other side, and began to feel a bit nervous.
"Brother Lin?"
"Good." Lin Shaochi's voice was a little hoarse. If Su Bei listened carefully, she probably would know that the young man was suppressing his excitement.
Su Bei: "Um, but let me say this clearly. We are only trying it first. I don't know what it is to fall in love with somebody, so let's take it easy, okay? Give me a little time to adapt."
Lin Shaochi: "Okay."
Su Bei: "I still have to study, so I may not be able to accompany you every day like other girlfriends."
Lin Shaochi: "It's okay." He could go to her place.
Su Bei: "Also, don't let my Dad know."
Lin Shaochi: "Okay."
At this moment, Lin Shaochi's excitement was beyond words. No matter what Su Bei said, he would agree without thinking.
"Is there any more?" Lin Shaochi's gentle voice rang again, but it was filled with excitement that was hard to ignore.
"Yes." After a pause, Su Bei said again: "If, I mean, if I still can't change my previous impression towards you, or if in the end, I can only treat you as a brother, please don't..."
"Don't worry." Lin Shaochi hurriedly said. "If you want our relationship to return to the way it was before, I will. You can ask me anytime." To make his beloved feel at ease, Lin Shaochi made this promise promptly. However, he definitely wouldn't let the 'if' scenario happened.
Fortunately, Su Bei couldn't see the light in Lin Shaochi's eyes at this moment. Otherwise, she probably would regret her decision on the spot.
"Xiaobei." Lin Shaochi's voice was low and magnetic.
Su Bei's ears suddenly felt hot: "I'm going to class. You can call me later." She quickly hung up.
At the other end, Lin Shaochi smiled while holding the phone. If any of his subordinates were present, they would find their Chairman looked so happy while smiling stupidly at his phone.
—
In the end, Su Bei didn't receive any phone call from Lin Shaochi. Instead, the young man directly came to her campus and brought her a pile of gifts.
"What are these?"
"Gifts, for you." Lin Shaochi chuckled lightly.
Su Bei: "..."
She knew these were gifts. She could see that each one was packed very exquisitely. What she wanted to ask was why there were so many of them! She wondered whether Lin Shaochi was going to open a wholesale gift store or whether sending 'a pile of gifts' was currently popular on the internet.
However, this 'surprise' actually alleviated Su Bei's tension and nervousness when meeting Lin Shaochi again.
Without waiting for Su Bei to ask again, Lin Shaochi already spoke: "These are four years' worth of gifts."
In these four years, every birthday or other festival, Lin Shaochi would choose gifts suitable of his 'elder brother' identity for Su Bei and Su Xiaobao. However, he secretly couldn't help but prepare another gift, a gift for the girl he liked, a gift he thought would be buried in his heart forever and could never be given out. Not only birthdays but also Chinese Valentine Days, Western Valentine Days—Lin Shaochi never forgot. This was his secret. Even Wang Chen, his former psychologist, didn't know about it.
Of course Lin Shaochi knew that it was quite silly to give Su Bei all of these at once. But he couldn't help but want her to know his feelings.
Su Bei stared at Lin Shaochi in surprise.
"Do you want to have a look?" Lin Shaochi asked a little nervously.
"Okay." Su Bei casually opened a box and saw a beautiful bracelet with a blue-purple lisianthus flower pendant.
"So beautiful!" Her eyes lit up.
"Why didn't you give it to me before?"
Lin Shaochi smiled: "Are you sure you dare to receive it if I send it before?"
Su Bei: "..." This was indeed the case——the meaning of this kind of gift was too obvious to see.
"Do you like it?" Lin Shaochi asked. But from the smile on Su Bei's face, he already knew the answer.
~
"Do you like it?" Lin Shaochi asked. But from the smile on Su Bei's face, he already knew the answer.
"Thank you, Brother Lin."
"Still calling Brother Lin?"
Su Bei: "..." She couldn't change it so suddenly.
Seeing Su Bei's nervousness, Lin Shaochi, who was no better than her, smiled and gave her a calming look. "If you want to thank me, how about going to dinner together?" After a pause, he added: "I have a reserved table at Shangwei Restaurant."
After four years of acquaintance, Lin Shaochi's understanding of Su Bei was no less than Su Bei herself.
Sure enough, her eyes lit up instantly: "Okay~!"
—
After that day, as long as he didn't have a particularly important job, Lin Shaochi would come to Su Bei's university almost every day. And facts had proved that how mature and stable a person was, they all would be the same once falling in love: clinging and passionate. However, Su Bei seemed to have adapted quite well—she was also very happy to spend time with Lin Shaochi.
As a roommate, Li Fei finally saw the clue.
"Eldest Miss Qin! Speak the truth, are you in a relationship?" Li Fei grabbed Su Bei with the face of 'quickly tell me the gossip.'
Su Bei was stunned—was she so obvious?
Seeing Su Bei's stunned face, Li Fei raised her eyebrows and smiled with an expression of 'don't you dare to deny.'
"You went out after class every day, kept checking the time, and dressed up before going out. If you weren't going to a date, then what? It's too obvious. Moreover, you also began smiling stupidly while holding your mobile phone."
Su Bei: Did she? She didn't notice the 'stupid smile' part Li Fei said, but she was probably messaging Lin Shaochi.
"Tell me quickly. Are you dating Chairman Lin? You agreed to his confession, right?"
"Well, more or less."
Seeing Su Bei admitted, Li Fei smiled: "Haha, I guess so."
"So obvious?" Su Bei finally couldn't help asking.
"Not obvious, but super obvious. You may not find it yourself, but your appearance right now basically screams 'I'm in love' from top to bottom."
"We are just getting started. How can it be so exaggerated." Su Bei rolled her eyes.
Li Fei smiled and didn't retort—Su Bei could pretend as much as she wanted. But based on her years of theoretical experience, Su Bei was clearly in love. Without even noticing it, Su Bei was actually being moved by Lin Shaochi.
Although Su Bei didn't want to admit it, Li Fei's words still made her fall into a thought subconsciously: Although Li Fei's words were too exaggerated, she indeed had crossed the barrier of 'siblings affection' with Lin Shaochi. When she was with him, she enjoyed the feeling of carefully being taken care of, and began to look forward to their dates.
—
Su Bei also found another surprise:
With Xu Yangyang as the first example, it seemed that all their old school friends liked to run all the way to B University anytime they had nothing to do. They would use Su Bei and Su Xiaobao's meal card to eat at the cafeteria and strolled around the campus to enjoy the sight of beautiful and handsome students.
Today, Dong Wenqi came to visit, bringing Su Bei's favorite ice cream as a gift. "After seeing your Moments post, I also want to try it. But this shop is so popular, and the line is very long. I waited for a long time to buy it. Afterward, I still have to bring it all the way to your campus. Just asking for extra dry ice is cost a lot more."
"Here, your favorite matcha flavor." Dong Wenqi passed the ice cream to Su Bei: "How? Are you feeling touched?"
If you felt touched, quickly introduce a handsome guy from your university to me.
Su Bei: "I'm so touched. I will invite you to eat the best food in our cafeteria today."
Su Bei took the ice cream, but found something wrong when she opened the lid.
"What's the matter? Don't tell me that your period is here today."
"No, are you sure you bought this in the store on Dongshan Road?" Why it seemed something was wrong.
"Of course. I checked the storefront you posted. What's wrong?"
"It looks different from what I ate before." Su Bei frowned. The ice cream was still the same flavor, but the presentation was completely different from what she used to eat.
"What do you mean?"
"The ice cream I used to eat has a lot of fruits, peanuts, and other toppings." But the one Dong Wenqi bought was all ice cream.
Su Bei didn't care much, but Dong Wenqi's temper was more fiery. When she heard Su Bei said that her usual ice cream mostly had peanuts and fruits, she suddenly thought the shop employee had cheated Su Bei's order.
So Dong Wenqi pulled Su Bei into her supercar and drove back to the shop.
"The ice cream in our shop has always been full ice cream." The one who received their complaint was an old-time employee. When she saw Su Bei, the employee suddenly remembered something, and her eyes brightened: "You are..."
"I remember. The ice cream in our shop is always ice cream only with no filler. But there is one regular, a handsome guy. Every time he comes, he will order most of the ice cream to be replaced with fruits and peanuts, leaving only a small bite of ice cream." The reason must be because the handsome guy didn't want this girl to eat too much ice cream. For so many years, he kept doing this little action. The man must love this girl very much.
Out of curiosity, the employee had peeped into the parking lot several times, but unfortunately, could only see a girl's figure in the man's car from afar.
The employee looked at Su Bei with some envy. So this is the girl in the car? She is really beautiful.
Su Bei, who unknowingly had eaten 'fake' ice cream for many years, was even more surprised. It seemed to be so. Lin Shaochi would help them sneak behind Mr. Qin's back and took them to eat outside, but never let them eat too much.
Even the ice cream was 'custom-ordered.'
Also, there was a period when Su Bei was crazy with milk tea during her senior year in high school. After seeing her Moments posts, Lin Shaochi frequently bought milk tea for her. But for some reason, the milk tea Lin Shaochi gave her tasted different than usual. Now she thought about it carefully, did Lin Shaochi also specially ordered the milk tea and only used real tea and milk?
And these were only the things Su Bei could remember. But what else? Did Lin Shaochi also silently do other things for her in the dark?
—
Su Bei dialed Lin Shaochi's phone. At this time, Lin Shaochi's name on Su Bei's phone contact was still unchanged: [Brother Lin].
The call was connected instantly.
"Xiaobei?"
"Lin Shaochi."