Chapter 59

Qiao Xinyi heard footsteps and glanced toward the door. Fu Qingshan walked in, coming through the light. Their eyes met, and Fu Qingshan quickly handed over the lunchbox he was carrying. He explained, “I brought this from the army canteen. They had steamed pork with rice this noon, so I bought some for you to try. There are other dishes too. I was a bit late because I was waiting for the food.”

Qiao Xinyi’s attention shifted. She took the lunchbox, opened it, and saw there was quite a lot of food. She handed the box to Qiao Yunbai, saying, “Take this to Mom and have her heat it up. With these dishes, Mom can just stir-fry some greens for lunch.”

Qiao Yunbai took the lunchbox and ran out. Qiao Xinyi turned back to look at Fu Qingshan, smiled, and suddenly asked, “Fu Qingshan, when are you going to marry me?”

Fu Qingshan froze on the spot. Even Li Jun, who had come running over looking for Fu Qingshan, nearly tripped over the door sill and almost fell to his knees.

“I just submitted the marriage application this morning,” Fu Qingshan replied very seriously. “Once it’s approved, we can get the marriage certificate.”

Li Jun, holding his paper and pen, was dumbfounded. “Wait, aren’t you two being a bit ridiculous? When did you even start dating? How come I didn’t know?”

Li Jun then asked Qiao Xinyi, “Are you in a hurry to get married?”

“I’m not in a hurry to get married. I’m just in a hurry to annoy the He family,” Qiao Xinyi said, rubbing her bald forehead as she told them about the He family coming to pick her up that morning.

“The He family thinks they won’t see us anymore. But when they suddenly find out I married Fu Qingshan, they probably won’t sleep a wink, right?” Qiao Xinyi grinned mischievously. “That’s why I’m really looking forward to going to the family housing compound.”

Fu Qingshan sighed deeply. So she’s eager to marry him just because she’s itching to see the He family’s reaction?

After she finished, Qiao Xinyi walked over to Fu Qingshan and playfully patted his shoulder, teasing him, “I was just asking, but I didn’t expect you to be this eager. You just started dating yesterday, and this morning you already submitted the marriage application. Big brother, you’re moving fast!”

“I’m your boyfriend,” Fu Qingshan corrected her. “Not your big brother.”

Li Jun almost died laughing. He kept looking back and forth between Qiao Xinyi’s expression and Fu Qingshan’s. The more he looked, the harder he laughed, clutching his thigh several times until he finally bent over laughing.

“You two, don’t say anything yet. I need to catch my breath first or I’m going to laugh myself unconscious,” Li Jun quickly turned away, not daring to look at them anymore—one more glance and he’d be laughing for a long time.

Li Xiuying came running over with her wet hands, standing at the door and asked right away, “Sister Xinyi, Brother Qingshan, can I have your wedding candy now?”

Li Xiuying had already sensed something about Fu Qingshan liking Qiao Xinyi—and maybe Qiao Xinyi liking Fu Qingshan—when they were at the zoo. She’d wanted to talk about it since yesterday, and logically, the best person to chat with about this was Qiao Baihe. But Baihe didn’t show any signs, and Li Xiuying saw her eyes were innocent and pure, so she didn’t want to guess wildly.

As for Qiao Yunbai, who spent the entire afternoon babbling nonsense at the zoo, Li Xiuying definitely didn’t want to gossip with a clueless teenager.

Not finding the right person to gossip with, she’d been holding it in until now—and then suddenly, the two of them started dating and even publicly announced it. Fu Qingshan had already submitted the marriage application.

Li Xiuying immediately felt like a wise person, proud that she saw through what others couldn’t.

“Brother, you didn’t see how Brother Qingshan and Sister Xinyi looked yesterday at the zoo, walking together like that. Even the monkeys at the zoo aren’t as good looking as those two.”

Anyway, Li Xiuying spent the entire afternoon just watching those two.

She didn’t understand the state of the animals at the zoo, but when asked how many times Qiao Xinyi and Fu Qingshan made eye contact, she understood perfectly! When asked how many times their hands touched, she knew that too! That kind of tugging and flirtatious feeling was way more interesting than watching animals!

“You really know how to keep your mouth shut,” Li Jun said, clutching his stomach as he barely stopped laughing, raising a finger at his own sister.

Liu Guilan, listening to Li Jun’s laughter from the yard, sighed deeply. It turned out that Li Xiuying’s suspicions were right all along—she really had been worrying for nothing.

Knowing that Qiao Xinyi and Fu Qingshan were officially dating and seeing Li Jun laugh like that, it seemed he truly had no feelings for Qiao Xinyi at all. He really just regarded her as a good friend.

Liu Guilan felt a bit guilty—she really shouldn’t have thought that way, assuming Qiao Xinyi would cling to a good guy like Li Jun.

Now it was Qiao Xinyi quietly asking Fu Qingshan, “Is it really that obvious that I have feelings for you?”

Fu Qingshan nodded.

Qiao Xinyi scratched her head. “I didn’t deliberately hide it, but I thought I was acting pretty normal.”

“Xinyi, you just don’t know. When it comes to feelings like this, eyes don’t lie,” Li Xiuying said. “My eyes never miss a thing. Even when some classmates secretly date, the teachers don’t know, but I can tell.”

“Sister Xiao Ying, what does a loving look look like?” Qiao Yunbai asked curiously. “What kind of look does my sister give Brother Qingshan, and what kind of look does Brother Qingshan give my sister?”

“Xinyi looks at Qingshan like a cat looks at fish—hungry and craving. You get that feeling, right?” Li Xiuying grinned mischievously.

Everyone quickly turned to look at Qiao Xinyi.

Qiao Xinyi’s heart tightened. Li Xiuying’s description was oddly accurate.

“The way Brother Qingshan looks at Sister Xinyi is like a wolf king guarding his territory—dangerous and not giving an inch. Do you guys get what I mean?” Li Xiuying explained. “That day at the zoo, with so many people, didn’t you notice Brother Qingshan didn’t let anyone crowd Sister Xinyi?”

“Didn’t you notice that when we were all walking together, Brother Qingshan would instinctively separate Sister Xinyi from the rest of us, making sure she walked close to him?”

Before Li Xiuying said this, no one had really noticed. But after she pointed it out, everyone suddenly realized it was true.

Li Jun nodded repeatedly. “That’s really how it was. That day when we ate at the state-run restaurant together, even though we were all together, those two gave off the vibe that they were their own little world.”

That day, everyone saw Fu Qingshan pouring tea and serving food for Qiao Xinyi, and no one thought it was strange. They all just assumed those two were inseparable.

Even when Fu Qingshan touched Qiao Xinyi’s head, no one found it inappropriate.

Li Jun had only thought they were close friends back then, but now he realized something was off. He was also close to Qiao Xinyi, yet he never dared to touch her head. Her personality and expression told him clearly that if he did, she’d probably hit him.

Why hadn’t he thought more deeply before about why Fu Qingshan’s actions were so natural? Why hadn’t Qiao Xinyi ever pushed Fu Qingshan away?

Qiao Xinyi tilted her head looking up at Fu Qingshan, who was much taller than her. If she hadn’t heard Li Xiuying say all this, she wouldn’t have realized Fu Qingshan had all these little gestures.

“The look’s pretty good—like your brother’s when he’s a cop,” Fu Qingshan smiled lightly, complimenting Li Xiuying before quickly changing the subject and asking Li Jun, “Why are you coming over with paper and pen?”