Chapter 11: Gratitude of an Ungrateful Female Lead 11 – Acting Cute Is a Skill Too

Fang Ya asked carefully, “So… what’s actually going on here?”

Zhou He sat down and slowly began, “Actually, it’s exactly the opposite of what you said. My family’s circumstances are especially bad. My boyfriend’s family isn’t really all that wealthy either, just better off than mine. I don’t get along with my family, so after we got engaged, I moved in with his family pretty early on. They’ve treated me very well. Everything you mentioned just now was bought by him… If you hadn’t brought it up, I wouldn’t even have realized it had cost that much.”

Fang Ya said, “I don’t even know what to say… Let me process this, let me process this… No, what I really want to ask now is, does the family that produced a god-tier boyfriend like this have any single men left? We’ve gotten along so well as roommates all these years. It wouldn’t be bad if we became sisters-in-law in the future too, right?”

Zhou He said, “Uh… actually, he does have a cousin.”

Fang Ya immediately pointed at herself.

“But he’s several years younger than us. He’s still in college.”

Fang Ya said, “If he’s handsome, then dating a younger guy isn’t out of the question~ Younger man, older woman romances are all the rage right now.”

Zhou He said, “Oh, give it a rest. I don’t think he’s even had his awakening yet. Let’s spare the poor kid.”

Fang Ya slumped over the table and let out a long sigh. “How come I never run into a god-tier boyfriend like that? Hearing you talk about it like this, I feel like Xiao Qifeng is complete trash… Ah, listen to my mouth… Don’t mind me. Back then everyone was just egging things on because they thought he wanted to pursue you. If there’s ever a chance, you have to let me meet your boyfriend.”

“I know. When I get married, I’ll definitely send you an invitation.”

–

Zhou He didn’t tell Xie Qingjia she was going to see him. He had said he’d been working overtime every night lately, and she didn’t want to distract him.

The city where Xie Qingjia worked was only a little over an hour away by high-speed rail. After finishing up on Friday, Zhou He headed straight over there, and by the time she arrived, it was only 7:00 p.m.

This time, she had even made a point of dressing up.

The weather in March was neither too cold nor too warm. She wore straight-leg jeans in a washed blue shade and a gray cashmere cardigan, refined without looking try-hard, and light and easy to move in. She also put on light makeup and wore a necklace Xie Qingjia had given her before.

Zhou He went straight to the building where Xie Qingjia’s company was located.

After messaging him to make sure he was still at the office working overtime and hadn’t left yet, she sat down on a sofa in the reception area on the first floor to wait for him. That way, when he got off work and saw her, he’d definitely be surprised and delighted.

After settling in, she messaged him again.

Zhou He: Have you had dinner yet?

Xie Qingjia: Yeah, we all ordered takeout together.

Zhou He: Oh.

Xie Qingjia: What did you eat?

Zhou He: Haven’t eaten yet. Probably takeout too.

Zhou He: How much longer until you get off work?

Xie Qingjia: Not sure. Nine or ten, probably.

Zhou He: Then send me a message when you’re getting ready to leave work.

Xie Qingjia: ???

Zhou He: Just send it. I want to see how long the capitalist class is going to keep exploiting my corporate slave. All right, enough chatting. Go work hard.

Xie Qingjia sent her a pitiful little emoji, and that ended the conversation.

After eating her takeout, Zhou He had nothing to do. She played games for a while out of sheer boredom, but it felt pointless. Then she pulled out a novel Fang Ya had recommended to her earlier and started reading.

To her surprise, the novel was pretty gripping, but unfortunately it was still ongoing and she had already caught up. She browsed through some of the other top-ranked stories in the same section of the site. Then she noticed that in a lot of love stories, the male lead’s character setup was incredibly good.

That made Zhou He think of Xie Qingjia again. If they were talking about boyfriend material, who could compare to hers? It might sound a little like a melon seller praising her own melons¹, but Xie Qingjia really was wonderful. Good-looking, capable of making money, gentle in temperament, and good to her!

With that in mind, she felt like she could write one too!

Zhou He wasn’t writing a story for the sake of writing a story. She simply wanted to record the story between herself and Xie Qingjia. Right, that was it. She just wanted to show off a little that she had such a wonderful man.

Once the thought took root, it became impossible to stop. So she clicked the button to register as an author. The registration and review process went incredibly smoothly. Very soon, the site notified her that she was now an author and could publish her work.

She came up with the title on a whim: Qingjia All the Way.

Yes, Zhou He planned to use Xie Qingjia’s real name. Just look at it, didn’t his name sound exactly like the kind of name a male lead in an idol drama would have? There was no need to change it at all.

Jia meant beauty and goodness, and the title was also a kind of blessing for their relationship.

Zhou He didn’t know anything about writing formulas, nor did she know how to write in a way that would attract readers. But that hadn’t been her purpose in the first place. She only wanted to record things. So she chose the simplest possible way to tell it, following the timeline directly.

She began with:

【When she was born, her father heard it was a girl and casually said they might as well call her Little Grass.

After her one-month celebration², her mother took her to register the household record and gave her the official name³ “He.”

He was also a kind of grass, but not the kind of weed that could be pulled up and discarded at will. It was grain, something that could grow and bring people the joy of a harvest. It was a mother’s simplest wish for her child, and her protection.

…】

She wrote about the hardships of her childhood, and about her first impression of Xie Qingjia.

Writing in the third person let her step outside herself and look on, feel on, from an omniscient perspective. So many details she had never noticed before suddenly became clear. So many scenes abandoned in the corners of her memory were picked up again.

Her inspiration exploded, and the words poured out in a torrent. On the blank document, one square character⁴ after another piled up into her past, into the story of her and him.

By the time Xie Qingjia finally messaged to say he was getting ready to leave work, she had already written more than ten thousand words. When she checked the time, she realized it was somehow already eleven o’clock.

Zhou He quickly split what she had written into three chapters and uploaded them to the site. Then she packed up her laptop and focused on waiting for him to come out.

She stood directly by the elevator, so that the moment he stepped out, he would see her right away.

The floor numbers above the elevator showed the distance between her and Xie Qingjia growing smaller and smaller.

Just as she had expected, the elevator doors opened. The moment Xie Qingjia saw her, surprise flashed across his face, and then his eyes lit up. In an instant, all the exhaustion seemed to peel away from him, and he practically glowed.

“Xiao He, what are you doing here?”

With her hands behind her back, Zhou He looked at him and smiled softly.

“Because I missed you.”

–

There were also two of Xie Qingjia’s coworkers with him. As he walked toward Zhou He, he said to them, “My girlfriend’s here. You two go ahead.”

Zhou He greeted his coworkers openly and cheerfully. “Hi~ Nice to meet you.”

Then she handed over the gifts she had prepared.

“It’s our first time meeting, so please try some specialties from my hometown. They’re all late-night snacks for when you’re craving something, and they can give you a little energy when you’re working overtime.”

The coworkers all looked at Xie Qingjia. “Isn’t this a bit much?”

Zhou He said, “It’s just a way to get acquainted. Thanks for taking care of Xie Qingjia all this time. It’d be even better if you could help me keep an eye on him while you’re at it.”

“Then we won’t stand on ceremony.” The coworkers accepted the gifts happily and said, “Your Old Xie⁵ doesn’t need anyone keeping tabs on him. He acts like he wants to tell every single person he meets that he has an especially outstanding girlfriend. We’ve wanted to meet this mysterious woman forever.”

Zhou He said, “Well, now you’ve met me. Do I live up to expectations?”

The coworkers started hooting and teasing. “More than live up to them. You’re way beyond what we imagined.”

Xie Qingjia listened to them talking at the side, and finally couldn’t help saying, “All right, enough. You should get going. It’s almost midnight.”

“Hahaha, all right, all right. We won’t interrupt your private time together.” Then they said goodbye to Zhou He as well. “Beautiful lady, thanks for the snacks. We’ll definitely help you keep a close eye on Old Xie.”

Only after they had left did Xie Qingjia ask, “Have you been waiting a long time? Why didn’t you tell me when you got here? Or you could’ve just come upstairs to wait. Did you eat anything?”

Zhou He wrapped her arms around him. “Xie Qingjia, you’re so naggy. We haven’t seen each other for three whole weeks. Don’t you want to hug me at all? Won’t you even say you missed me?”

Xie Qingjia stopped lecturing and finally put his arms around her, rubbing gently against her hair.

“I did. I missed you every single day. Just now I thought I was seeing things. Didn’t I say I’d go back to see you during the May Day holiday⁶?”

Zhou He’s voice turned soft and fluffy. “But I couldn’t wait any longer.” Then she tipped her head up and demanded, “Now that I’ve come this week, does that mean you won’t come see me on May Day?”

“You’re being this fierce, how would I dare not go?” Xie Qingjia couldn’t help pecking her lightly on those moist lips.

The two of them held each other for a while, easing a little of the longing from their long separation. Then Zhou He remembered something. “I brought ten little gifts in total. You said there are seven people in your department, so that’s just right, one for each person, and you can keep a few extras to hand out however you want.”

“Whose girlfriend is this considerate?”

“Xie Qingjia’s.”

At that moment, Zhou He felt like the way Xie Qingjia looked at her could melt into water.

Xie Qingjia couldn’t help lowering his head, his breath turning hot as he tried to kiss her.

But Zhou He turned her head and dodged, and she clearly felt Xie Qingjia go still for a beat. Even the expression on his face tightened and withdrew.

Crap, he misunderstood.

Heaven knew she only dodged because they were still downstairs at his company, with surveillance cameras everywhere.

She couldn’t really blame Xie Qingjia for being too sensitive. It was because she used to resist his closeness so strongly that even the smallest movement from her now could be mistaken for rejection.

She sighed inwardly.

This was a sickness. It needed treatment!

And it was a sickness of the heart. Luckily, Zhou He was still very confident that she herself was the cure.

A thousand thoughts spun through her mind, though in reality it all happened in just an instant.

Using a cutesy, syrupy tone that even she found unbearably mushy, Zhou He whined, “Oh, stop it, we’re still downstairs at your company. There are cameras everywhere. Do you want us to end up in someone else’s little video~~~ Hmph~ Can’t you show a little self-control~~~”

Her final syllables wavered and trembled so much that by the end she was almost unable to continue.

Ah, what a complete failure at acting spoiled. How did other girls manage to sound so naturally sweet and soft and adorably cute? Zhou He pondered it and concluded that this sort of thing really did need practice. Jumping straight in was way too demanding on natural talent.

Xie Qingjia stood there looking at her without moving.

So… had she shocked him speechless?

But just as Zhou He was about to cover her face and flee, she saw Xie Qingjia slowly lower his head. A faint blush crept up his cheeks and the tips of his ears, and he gave a soft “Mm.”

Mm what? What had she just said? Oh right, she told him to control himself?

And that was all it took? A grown man like him was actually getting shy?

Seriously, was Xie Qingjia way too easy to coax?

Translator’s Notes