Chapter 70: I like you, it's not against the law
That was careless.
Xu Qing deeply regretted it now.
The action wasn't much in itself, but for Jiang He, it was too sudden.
Why couldn’t he keep his hands to himself?!
"Don’t worry, I..."
He scratched his head after a mont of thought and decided, "Forget it, I’ll just be honest."
"Honest about what?" Jiang He stared at him, a sense of dread creeping up on her.
"I..."
Xu Qing froze, suddenly realizing that a confession of honesty was basically a confession of feelings.
This wasn't right...
eting Jiang He’s gaze, he steeled himself. "I planned this."
"Huh?"
"Look, we’ve known each other for so long, living under the sa roof for months now. We talk, we hang out..." Xu Qing gestured with his hands, thought for a mont, then explained in terms she could understand, "There’s a saying: 'affection grows over ti.' It’s just feelings. After spending so much ti together these past months, it’s natural for to develop feelings for you... You know what feelings are, right?"
"A... a good feeling?" Jiang He’s sense of foreboding grew stronger.
"Close enough. Basically, it starts with not disliking soone, and then it turns into liking them a little—liking soone is normal, right?"
"... Right?" Jiang He was stunned. Could liking soone really be considered abnormal?
Of course not.
"So... so it just happened, totally subconsciously, without any ulterior motives." Xu Qing ran a hand through his hair to emphasize his point.
"..."
"..."
Jiang He widened her eyes slightly as she looked at him.
"Don’t you have anything to say?" Xu Qing was puzzled. What kind of reaction was this?
Blushing a little would be fine.
Or maybe clenching her fists and shouting: No! You’re my benefactor, we can’t! — anything would be better than this silent stare.
"..." Jiang He thought seriously for a mont. "So you’re saying... you like ?"
"Yeah, I like you now," Xu Qing admitted straightforwardly.
Jiang He hesitated for a mont, then asked, "Can you... can you not like ?"
??
Xu Qing was stunned. "Why shouldn’t I like you?"
"We’re clear and innocent, with a clear conscience. This... this is wrong!"
"No, it’s not. My liking you is clear and innocent, too. Why can’t I like soone? Or are you secretly married or sothing?"
"No!" Jiang He shook her head instinctively.
"Well, I’m not married either. A single man and a single woman—this isn’t shady at all. I’m openly and honestly liking soone; what’s wrong with that?"
"…"
"You can reject , and I’ll still help you. That’s called being a simp." Xu Qing said seriously, "Jiang He, I want to simp for you."
Jiang He was dumbfounded, instinctively leaning back and eyeing him warily. "Don’t... don’t you dare! If you touch , I’ll hit you!"
After a pause, she suddenly stood up. "No, I have to leave."
"Our debt is settled."
Xu Qing didn’t move and called to her back, "Over the past six months, I helped you get familiar with this place, and you taught martial arts... and cooking, and other stuff. We’re even."
Jiang He froze in her tracks and shook her head. "Teaching stance training... isn’t worth ntioning."
"That’s not up to you. You can’t imagine how valuable martial arts are here. If you want to leave, that’s fine—how about this: you teach another martial arts form, and I’ll help you rent another place. This is fair trade; no need to worry about debts."
"... Why?"
"Because I like you."
"If you hadn’t said all that just now, you could’ve tricked into being your girlfriend," Jiang He turned back to look at him.
"Can feelings be tricked?"
Xu Qing smiled and shook his head. "Even if I didn’t say it, you’d eventually feel it... Then what would you do? Offer yourself in marriage out of gratitude? Or sneak away?"
"…"
"There’s always been an imbalance between us. You feel grateful to —that’s fine; repaying a favor is normal. But since I started liking you, it’s unfair to you and to ."
"Feelings aren’t sothing you can control. I like you, and that has nothing to do with favors or debts. You’re pretty, you’re cute, you’re a little silly. That’s what I like. And liking soone ans expressing it."
"But you’re saying that because I helped you, I can’t like you. Is that reasonable?"
Jiang He was stunned; she couldn’t untangle this logic.
"It’s not reasonable," Xu Qing answered his own question. "Why should helping you an I can’t like you? That’s not fair—to either of us. So if you want to leave, I won’t stop you. Our debt is settled. You teach another martial art, I help you find a place, and we’re still even. Then we can talk about liking or not liking."
"Of course, you don’t have to like . You might not like my face, or that I’m a hobody, or maybe you just don’t feel a spark. That’s fine. But you can’t say it’s because I helped you—that’s not fair, to either of us."
He spread his hands. "We’re clear and innocent, with a clear conscience... Liking you doesn’t break any laws. Does it?"
"I never thought about it that way," Jiang He stood in the living room, flustered.
"By the ti you think it through, it’ll be too late," Xu Qing said. "You’ve been resisting this whole ti... trying to leave the mont you sense it. That’s not right. Liking is just liking, whether it’s affection over ti or love at first sight. There’s no logic to it. We live to make ourselves happy. If liking makes you happy, then embrace it. If not liking makes you happy, then leave openly. What does that have to do with debts?"
"But... but..."
"No buts. Second Boss said you shouldn’t offer yourself in marriage—that’s when there’s no affection involved. But unless you plan to live alone forever, you’ll need soone by your side. Why should helping you disqualify ?"
"I didn’t disqualify you!" Jiang He’s face turned red.
"Then why are you leaving?"
"…"
Jiang He froze. Yeah, why was she leaving?
"You said you’d simp for !"
"I..." Xu Qing opened his mouth, "I just ant I’d be good to you, not actually simp for you."
"Really?"
"Really."
"I don’t believe you."
"You’ll hit ."
"Because it’s gross."
"I’m scared of you hitting , so I won’t simp. No grossness involved."
"…"
Jiang He was out of words.
"Co sit down. Let’s talk more about this ‘I like you’ thing," Xu Qing patted the couch.
"No!"
Jiang He snapped back to her senses. Even though he made a lot of sense, things shouldn’t be like this.
She’d just been planning to leave, and this guy was trying to trick—no, not trick.
Sothing wasn’t right.
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