Beauty and the Bodyguard

Tang Yin froze slightly. Xiaoxiao was with Lin Yi!

Lin Yi had explained things yesterday, but she still couldn’t help but worry.

She found it absolutely unbelievable how she was worried over losing a boy like this. She rubbed her temples and decided that facts were facts. She recalled her mindset from half a year ago, how she’d looked down on girls in the situation she was in now, worried that they’d lose their boyfriends. Didn’t that just show that the girl wasn’t confident in her attractiveness? Tang Yin always thought that she’d never end up like them, worrying over stuff like this day and night.

But that was how she was now, and the karma made Tang Yin regret mocking people like that in the past. So old proverbs really were true. You were less than someone if you laughed and mocked them.

“Lin Yi, did you wait long?” Tang Yin tried her best to look as natural as possible. She turned her eyes to Xiaoxiao. “You’re the new student, right?”

“Hi, I’m Feng Xiaoxiao.” Xiaoxiao put her hand out. “I’m Lin Yi’s admirer.”

“Ehhh?” Tang Yin paused before shaking Xiaoxiao’s hand, confused. “Admirer?”

“Yeah. He’s really cool when he drives. I wanna learn from him but he still hasn’t taught me anything yet.” Xiaoxiao nodded to Tang Yin generously.

“I see.” Tang Yin frowned subconsciously. _Admirer. What does that mean?_

“Let’s go. Ignore her.” Lin Yi had no words to describe Xiaoxiao anymore. She was definitely up to something.

And since Lin Yi couldn’t bring himself to hit her, he decided that he’d ignore her.

“Okay.” Tang Yin felt a lot more comfortable after hearing what Lin Yi said. She didn’t feel that hostile towards the new girl anymore. “We’re going for lunch. See you next time!”

“There’s no need for next time. I’m going to the cafeteria now, too! Let’s go together.” Xiaoxiao didn’t care one whit about how much of a third wheel she was being. Her tone still quite passionate.1

Tang Yin wanted to say something, but didn’t. She walked on Lin Yi’s right side while Xiaoxiao walked on his left, the two of them sandwiching him. There was an indescribable awkwardness to it.

“Tang Yin, have you seen hubby drive before? He’s so cool when he does!” Xiaoxiao looked at Tang Yin.

“Hubby?” Tang Yin froze before she started getting a little angry, not because Xiaoxiao had called Lin Yi her hubby, but because she’d said it in such an ambiguous way! She straight out said the word without adding “you” in front of it, so anyone who didn’t know would assume Lin Yi was her husband, or that she shared a husband with her! But Tang Yin didn’t correct her. What if Xiaoxiao had misspoken? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing if she pointed it out? “Yeah, but if you want to learn how to drive, it’s better to do so at a driving school.”

“I have a license. What I want to learn is street racing!” Xiaoxiao said.

Lin Yi found a two-person table upon reaching the cafeteria in an attempt to ditch Xiaoxiao. There was no way she’d be able to eat with them this way.

As expected, Xiaoxiao went to line up for her food without sitting with them.

“Lin Yi, what is up with that Feng Xiaoxiao? I feel like she’s very clingy,” Tang Yin asked in an offhand manner.

“What, you’re jealous?” Lin Yi hit the bullseye with one look at Tang Yin’s expression.

“Juh—! Jealous? Of course not!” Tang Yin, naturally, wouldn’t admit to it. “I just think she’s weird, that’s all.”

“Heh.” Lin Yi smiled. “What do you wanna eat? I’ll go buy it.”

“Anything’s fine. One meat dish and one veggie dish is good.” Tang Yin wasn’t picky, and usually settled for a plain meal with Lin Yi during lunch, the two of them sharing two dishes without wasting anything.

Lin Yi wasn’t picky himself either, so he usually went to the stall windows with the least amount of people lining up. As a result, what they ate during lunch was always random.

There weren’t a lot of people lining up for the garlic fried meat and steamed ribs, so Lin Yi walked over to buy some.

The two were about to start eating when Xiaoxiao dragged a chair along as she walked over, a tray filled with food in her hands. She placed it right onto the table before placing the chair at the table!

There were always some spare folding chairs available during the busiest and most crowded hours so that people could use them to join other tables. Lin Yi wasn’t expecting that move from Xiaoxiao at all.

“Lin Yi, I got you some red braised chicken! Here, it’s really good.” Xiaoxiao moved the chicken drumstick to Lin Yi’s bowl as she spoke.

“Wha?!” Lin Yi didn’t think Xiaoxiao would go and do something like this. Wasn’t she just trying to make things awkward for him at this point? Tang Yin was starting to get jealous too, so what the hell was this woman planning?”

“Why aren’t you eating? It’s really good!” Xiaoxiao said with a smile as she looked into Lin Yi’s eyes. “I heard from Zhong Pinliang that the red braised drumsticks and barbecued mutton ribs are really good, but the ribs need to be made upon order. I ordered it, but it’ll take a while. Eat the drumstick first!”

Lin Yi was at his boiling point. He didn’t do anything to her because she was a girl, but she kept on coming with her weird antics again and again! He couldn’t take it anymore.

“Feng Xiaoxiao, are you done or not?” Lin Yi glared.

“Wh-Why’re you so mean to me?” Xiaoxiao jumped in shock, her eyes reddening as a tear rolled down her very misunderstood face. She started sobbing. “Why’re you like that? I just wanted to make you happy so you’d teach me driving. I just admire you, that’s all…. What’s wrong with that?”

Lin Yi stared at that misunderstood and sad, wronged look on Xiaoxiao’s face in complete disbelief. Was this really the same Xiaoxiao who sneaked up on him in the men’s bathroom with a freaking camera, the same Xiaoxiao who tried to blast his ass with firecrackers?

She didn’t even cry after she got _her_ ass blasted, so why was she sobbing because he said something mean to her?

Tang Yin herself was getting rather frustrated at Xiaoxiao’s lack of self-awareness. She finally got to have some alone time with Lin Yi, and here she was, a huge third wheel! Now that Xiaoxiao was sobbing so sadly, however, Tang Yin’s heart softened up again.

Did she really just admire Lin Yi purely for his driving skills? Was that really all there was to it?

But the thing with admiration was that it was a tricky emotion. It didn’t take much for it to turn into good feelings for the person, which was why Tang Yin felt hostile towards Xiaoxiao at first. She couldn’t help but feel a little pity for her now. “Lin Yi, maybe you can teach her? Don’t let her cry like that.”

“Don’t fall for it. The girl’s an actress.” Lin Yi grimaced and hardened his heart to ignore Xiaoxiao.

Tang Yin couldn’t really say anything to that. Fortunately for them, Xiaoxiao was only quietly wiping her tears away, and hadn’t been sobbing too loud. Nobody saw what had happened.

Who knew what they’d think if they had.

* * *

1. Term here used was light bulb instead of third wheel. Not sure if it works in English.