My Midlife Comeback System Comes 16 Years Early

“HAHAHA…”

Zhang Yan laughed until tears came to his eyes. He had never seen anyone tie a simple shoelace so dreadfully.

Since he didn’t have any particular fetish for feet, he had never really paid attention to how Xia Xiqing tied her shoelaces before today. Today was certainly an eye-opener.

Xia Xiqing, who was handy enough to make her own handicrafts, tied a knot that wasn’t just the clumsy and ugly attempt of a beginner. It was “abstract.” Zhang Yan couldn’t quite describe its exact shape, but if he had to put it into words, it looked like a drunkard dancing upside down on the ground.

Honestly, to be able to tie a simple shoelace into such a vivid form, one had to admit she was truly a talented person. It was just that her aesthetic tastes were a bit too avant-garde for the average person to appreciate.

Noticing Xia Xiqing’s increasingly dangerous gaze, Zhang Yan sensibly reined in his laughter.

“Have you always tied your shoelaces like this?”

“Yes.”

“Have your classmates or friends ever said anything about it?”

“…” Xia Xiqing pursed her lips in frustration. “I was laughed at when I was little. After that, someone else always tied them for me.”

“Can’t you just give up on that complicated method and tie a simple bow?”

“I’ve tried, but whenever I snap out of it, it always ends up looking like this.”

It seemed that in her subconscious, Xia Xiqing genuinely found this kind of shoelace beautiful and held a certain stubborn attachment to it. Zhang Yan didn’t ask why no one had been helping her recently, which had caused her shoelaces to revert to this state.

He simply crouched down and reached out his hands. “Give me your foot. I’ll tie a standard bow for you.”

In ancient Huaxia, a woman’s feet were considered an incredibly private body part. Other than her husband, no one was casually allowed to see or touch them. Even though modern mindsets had completely transformed, the inherent sensitivity of feet meant they remained one of the areas women did not allow to be touched casually.

But Zhang Yan was acting out of good intentions, after all. Xia Xiqing hesitated for a moment before tentatively extending her foot toward him.

Zhang Yan genuinely didn’t have any ulterior motives at first. However, because of her abstract tying method, he had to completely unlace the shoe and re-thread it, making some physical contact inevitable.

Xia Xiqing felt as if she were being tickled on her softest, most sensitive spot. An intense ticklish sensation shot out from the depths of her heart and spread through her entire body. It was her first time having her foot touched by the opposite sex, and she never expected the feeling to be so vastly different from being touched by a woman. She instinctively tried to pull her foot back.

Zhang Yan could feel the delicate foot squirming restlessly in his hands. His heart skipped a beat, and instead of letting go, he increased his grip to hold it firmly in place.

“Don’t move. It’ll be done in a second.”

Hearing Zhang Yan’s righteous and stern tone, and remembering that he was kindly helping her, Xia Xiqing felt a bit embarrassed and forced herself to endure it. It was just that the intense tickling felt like it was scratching right at her heart, evoking a sensation she had never experienced before. Her heart beat faster and faster, and her breathing grew erratic.

Fortunately, a shoelace was only so long. No matter how much Zhang Yan dawdled, he eventually finished tying it.

“Take a look. It’s nothing fancy, but at least it’s neat and proper.”

Xia Xiqing quickly took a few steps back. She calmed her racing heart before looking down at the foot Zhang Yan had just been fiddling with. Although it looked a bit too ordinary, Xia Xiqing knew this was basically how everyone else tied them. The only problem was that her two shoes were now tied differently, making them even more conspicuous.

Zhang Yan clearly noticed this issue as well. His eyes lit up. “Give me the other foot too!”

To his surprise, Xia Xiqing shook her head vehemently this time. She took another step back, refusing no matter what to let her foot fall into his Demon Claws again.

Zhang Yan tried to persuade her to no avail and had to settle for the next best thing. “Are your feet highly sensitive? I felt you trembling the whole time just now.”

She nodded.

“How about this: you go sit on those stone steps over there and take off your shoe. I’ll fix it for you, and then you can put it back on.”

Zhang Yan’s proposal was perfectly reasonable and appropriate, and his ultimate goal was to help her. Xia Xiqing really couldn’t find a reason to refuse. After hesitating for a long while, she silently sat down on the stone steps and removed her shoe. She handed the shoe to Zhang Yan as he walked over. With nowhere to rest her shoeless foot, she had to keep it suspended in the air.

Zhang Yan inexplicably felt his saliva production increase a bit.

Xia Xiqing was wearing white, silk-like athletic socks today. The sheer material perfectly displayed her exquisite foot right before Zhang Yan’s eyes. It was delicate and petite, with neat, slender toes and rounded nails as crystal clear as white jade. The arch formed a beautiful curve, tipping up slightly with a sense of agility. The skin was fair and fine, with faint blue veins visibly tracing beneath the surface.

It was truly a masterpiece of nature’s artistry, making him almost unable to resist reaching out to fondle it. For the first time, Zhang Yan seemed to finally understand the fetishes of certain niche groups. Perfect. It was absolutely perfect!

As if stung by his burning gaze, Xia Xiqing’s suspended foot flinched. She quickly lowered it, pressing it against the top of her other foot.

Zhang Yan awkwardly retracted his gaze and focused on unlacing and retying the shoe in his hands. “Here, put it on yourself.”

“Thank you.”

Once she put on her shoe and stood up, neither of them was in the mood to resume their interrupted morning jog.

“Let’s just stroll for a bit. We aren’t far from the main road anyway,” he suggested.

“Mm.”

Bathed in the morning light, the beautiful couple looked just like a painting.

As time passed, the number of corporate wage slaves waking up and heading to work gradually increased. Watching the bustling masses who didn’t even have the time to appreciate the roadside scenery, Zhang Yan couldn’t help but kowtow to Brother Tongzi once again in his heart.

“Have things been getting better with your friends lately?” he asked.

Xia Xiqing nodded. “They often share what they’re having for lunch with me now.”

Recalling Brother Gan’s words, Zhang Yan couldn’t help but feel a wave of exasperation. “Well, you can’t always just ask your friends what they’re eating.”

Xia Xiqing tilted her head. “But that’s the only phrase I learned.”

Zhang Yan was a bit speechless. He thought, “Alright, it’s my fault. Are you happy now?”

“You can try finding out what your friends have been busy with lately as an opening. Then, you can extract a keyword from their response and use it as an entry point for your next question…”

Although Zhang Yan was no master conversationalist himself, he was more than qualified to teach Xia Xiqing—the Master of Conversation Depletion, the Interaction Extinguisher, the Social Cold Wave, and the Island of Friendship.

Xia Xiqing listened very attentively. Zhang Yan could tell that she actually really wanted to make some friends. However, her unusually high guard, aloof temperament, intimidating aura, and abysmal social skills made it extremely difficult for her to forge any genuine friendships.

He thought, “I really don’t know what she went through to become the way she is now. I have a feeling this might involve her deepest secret.”