Chapter 149 - It’s Your Birthday Tomorrow
Chapter 149: It’s Your Birthday Tomorrow
Before the ‘meeting’ even started, Old Zhou’s daughter showed off her hostility by staring at her father impatiently. She said in a less-than-friendly tone, “Dad, why did you bring me here? Why am I meeting your students?!”
She then sized Su Yang and Chu Xia up with a disgusted look. “And why should I talk to an old lady and a—”
Right before she could attack Su Yang with her words, Su Yang turned on the [Ally Halo].
Old Zhou’s daughter softened right away, “—hottie?”
Old Zhou and Chu Xia were both instantly stunned.
‘What the…? What just happened?’
Question marks filled their heads. They looked at Su Yang and saw his confident smile, but there was nothing strange about his expression as if he knew that Old Zhou’s daughter would call him a hottie.
Su Yang noticed how Old Zhou and Chu Xia were looking at him, so he replied with a playful gaze, “What are you guys looking at? Have you never seen a hottie before?”
Old Zhou was silenced whereas Chu Xia clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes at him.
Nevertheless, Su Yang was not bothered by their jealousy. He stood up and put his hand out for a shake. “Hi, I’m Su Yang.”
Old Zhou’s daughter sized him up before shaking his hand. “I’m Zhou Yueting.”
Su Yang praised her, “What a great name. Did Mr. Zhou name you after the poet from the Ming Dynasty, Lin Hong[1]? The goblet in the pavilion is filled with wine under the night sky and bright moon; the autumn whistle from the ancient tree resonates with the sorrow from the flute.[2]‘
Su Yang was impressed by his quick wit. He showed off his cultured side and it matched his image as a student from the Faculty of Literature.
On top of that, he even flattered Old Zhou’s rich literature background and praised Zhou Yueting[3]’s name together. Perfect!
However, Zhou Yueting shook her head. “Nope, my grandfather gave me that name.”
Confused, Su Yang asked, “Did your grandfather give you the name based on that poem?”
She shook her head again. “No. My grandfather said everyone was scratching their heads about my name, and when they went to register my name, he looked up into the sky and saw the moon hanging there. So, he named me Yueting[4], meaning ‘the moon stops in the sky’.”
Su Yang was silenced.
‘So, the character in her name is ‘stop’ rather than ‘pavilion’? Zhou Yueting (Moon Stop). Hmm…it’s really boyish.’ [5]
Chu Xia giggled when Su Yang embarrassed himself. She stood up and wanted to shake Zhou Yueting’s hand. “Hi, I’m Chu Xia.”
Zhou Yueting sized her up plainly and said, “I don’t like beautiful girls. Thanks, but no thanks.” She did not shake Chu Xia’s hand, as if the latter was invisible to her.
However, Chu Xia was not mad at all. Instead, she smiled so happily that her eyes curved into crescent moons.
Su Yang rolled his eyes at Chu Xia. ‘Girl, can you be any more shallow? The little girl praises you and you lose yourself?’
He then looked at Zhou Yueting.
‘Anyway, this girl might look a little boyish and even her name sounds boyish, but I can see her EQ is quite high. She can praise people so subtly, so she’s an expert, I see…’
What happened next proved to Su Yang and Chu Xia that they were both overthinking.
Zhou Yueting was no expert that had a high EQ. She was also not praising Chu Xia as she really disliked beautiful girls. Ever since they sat down, she treated Chu Xia like she was thin air. No matter what Chu Xia asked or said, she did not respond at all.
‘This girl is poison itself!’
Su Yang scrutinized her dull and stiff face and only had one thought in his mind: ‘System, can I reject the mission now? I don’t want to do this anymore. Can I quit?’
Since the two of them were not making progress, Old Zhou sighed. He called Su Yang and Chu Xia aside and asked, “Do you guys have any more ideas?”
Chu Xia said helplessly, “I’m totally defeated. She doesn’t even speak to me.”
Su Yang touched the hourglass in his pocket. He could solve this problem, but he did not have fresh blood to reactivate the hourglass.
‘Where should I get some blood now? Should I ask the coffee shop whether or not they can slay a chicken for me? Why do I feel like that question would be a joke?’
Su Yang did not want to cut his hand for this little girl.
‘I guess I’ll have to keep a few chickens at the villa from now on.’
He ultimately decided to use the [Verbal Canon] and the [Ally Halo] on the girl first. Therefore, a quick thought later, he said, “Why don’t I talk to her alone? She seems okay around me.”
Having all their options run dry, Old Zhou and Chu Xia could only nod. Su Yang returned to Zhou Yueting.
The girl looked at him when he came back and asked, “Where are they?”
“They are going to get some coffee for us.”
“I’m a light sleeper. I can’t sleep if I drink coffee at night.”
Su Yang subtly moved the topic to Old Zhou. “I think Mr. Zhou knows that, so he won’t order coffee for you.”
Zhou Yueting chuckled. “He doesn’t know sh*t!”
‘Yeap, there’s something between them…’ Su Yang then used his [Verbal Canon] ability and the [Charms of Talking] talent to initiate a conversation with Zhou Yueting.
Further away, at the counter of the coffee shop, Old Zhou and Chu Xia were watching Su Yang talking to Zhou Yueting. Both of them were holding a cup of coffee with their respective thoughts in their heads.
The more Su Yang talked to Zhou Yueting, the better the conversation went and it struck worry in Chu Xia’s heart. “Should I bring them the coffee?”
Old Zhou shook his head. “They are having a good time. Let’s not disturb them.”
Chu Xia pouted. ‘That’s why I want to step in!’
Girls were never only jealous of other beautiful girls. They were able to sense the threat even from some other girls that they had never met regardless of how they looked. Some might even be jealous of other men for being too close to the person they cared about.
Similar to Chu Xia, even though she knew that Su Yang and Old Zhou meant well, she was still worried.
She would think at times, ‘Being a girl is really pitiful. A girl can only get a husband older than her, but her rival can be older than her by more than five years old or younger than her by more than a decade. The difference in age is really scary…
‘Besides, guys usually say that getting an older wife means securing a rich future, but they always take younger girls as wives. It seems like only their peers are never considered…’
Chu Xia was a little carried away as she stared at Su Yang.
It was then that Su Yang noticed a gaze on him, so he looked up and turned to Chu Xia. Both of them locked eyes and Chu Xia blushed. She unconsciously averted his gaze but nervously peeked at him after that.
She saw Su Yang smiling at her. His smile was like the sun that shone brightly at night.
For whatever reason, at that very moment, her heart skipped a few beats.
On the other hand, Su Yang made great progress with Zhou Yueting. After half an hour of chit-chat, Zhou Yueting finally viewed him as a friend. It was only expected since Su Yang’s mouth was blessed with the special ability and talent. Maybe only less than a handful of people would not have fallen for his sweet words.
However, he was not able to understand the problem between Old Zhou and Zhou Yueting within half an hour. After all, no one would reveal their problems to a stranger after talking to them for half an hour.
This was not related to Su Yang’s abilities anymore. It was more about Zhou Yueting’s EQ. Therefore, he asked her out for another meeting privately the following afternoon.
Su Yang then called Chu Xia and Old Zhou over. The four of them sat down for coffee with their minds filled with their respective problems.
After the meeting, Su Yang habitually sent Chu Xia back to her dorm since they were walking in the same direction.
Along the way, Chu Xia looked at him and asked, “Are you free tomorrow?”
Su Yang shook his head. “I don’t think so. I just promised her to meet up.”
“Her? Who?”
“Old Zhou’s daughter. I should finish what I started, so I plan to talk to her more and persuade her.”
Chu Xia looked into Su Yang’s eyes. “Can you change it to another day?”
Su Yang frowned. The girl before him did not act or behave like the Chu Xia he knew. Ever since she wanted to tag along to the meeting with Old Zhou’s daughter, something had been troubling her mind and she had been acting weird the whole day.
Just when Su Yang was pondering about the problem, Chu Xia said softly, “It’s your birthday tomorrow.”
Shocked, Su Yang widened his eyes. “My birthday?!”
‘Right…It is my birthday…’
[1] Lin Hong is a famous poet in the early Ming Dynasty, whose poetry was treated as the genuine echo of Tang poetry, has been hailed as the founder of Min-Zhong poetry school by many scholars in the Ming Dynasty. Lin didn’t achieve great fame in Fujian in the early Ming Dynasty based on my investigation. However, he turned out to be an outstanding poet with the emergence and expansion of the Min-Zhong poetry school. With his excellent reputation in the poetic world, Lin’s biographies were added fabrication. The name “Lin Hong” was eventually viewed as a label with his poems and thoughts forgotten.
[2] 浮亭夜月樽前满,古树秋声笛里哀
[3] 周月亭
[4] 周月停
[5] Su Yang thought Zhou Yueting’s Chinese characters are 周月亭, which literally means Moon Pavilion. 月 means “moon” and symbolizes purity and love; 亭 means “pavilion” and symbolizes the beauty of a girl and straightforwardness. Both characters 月 and 亭 are taken from the poem 浮亭夜月樽前满,古树秋声笛里哀, which modern people use to name their daughters. However, Zhou Yueting revealed that her Chinese characters are 月停, which literally means “Moon Stop”. 停 has an extra Chinese radical compared to 亭, so it means stop rather than pavilion.