When A Snail Loves - Chapter 43

Lights in the city were turned on.

Xu Jun was sitting in the quiet restaurant that was lit up by the soft light. Then he saw Xu Xu carrying a shoebox with white earbuds in her ears, walking in relaxingly.  

It seemed that this little girl was in a good mood today.

After eating for a while, Xu Jun asked: “What kind of person are you after?”  Xu Xu only said a little and kept silent about it.

Xu Xu: “I’ll tell you after there’re results.” Xu Xu thought since the situation was still unclear, there was no need to disturb others.

Xu Jun glanced at her and smiled: “To be honest, I don’t think it’s good to have that kind of relationship with colleagues. Not mentioning whether a police officer is suitable or not, the biggest problem with office romance is that you see them whether you look up or down. If there are no results in the future, it’s very problematic.”

Xu Xu nodded: “I also thought about this, that’s why before I’m confident that he will accept me, I won’t let other colleagues know about this,” she paused then continued,  “I won’t let him know either.”

Hearing Xu Xu say this, Xu Jun felt concerned. Silent for a moment and asked: “What’s your plan? Shall I teach you?”

Xu Xu put down the spoon: “Say it.” Although she disagreed with Xu Jun’s personal life, in terms of relationships between men and women, he’s more experienced.

Xu Jun didn’t immediately voice his opinions, but carefully observed his sister from head to toe: “First of all, men are visual creatures and that little righteous police officer of yours is no exception unless he’s not a man. My sister is quite attracting, but …” He glanced at Xu Xu’s shirt: “An office lady look can’t bring out your attractive qualities.”

Xu Xu: “What are my qualities?”

“Youthful, soft, and pure. It can easily arouse men’s protective nature.” Xu Xu leisurely replied: “You should dress in between matured women and young girls, go for the pure and delicate look. You’ll definitely destroy countless men.”

Xu Xu imagined in her head for a moment, frowned.

Xu Jun continued: “Clothes is the first step. Second step, you should never chase after men. You will lose your value. You’re so good at analysis; you should analyze what kind of woman he likes and his hobbies. After that you silently cater to his interests to attract his attention. Men appreciate what isn’t readily available, that’s the nature of men. The most important is that you have to learn to show your weakness, no men like a woman who’s stronger than them.”

Xu Xu was silent, Xu Jun glanced at her solemn face, added: “I can go show you the way and it’s surely affective. How to do it depends on your understanding, you figure it out.”

Xu Xu looked up: “You have a point, but I won’t do it as you said.”

Xu Jun was stunned, she said firmly: “I have my own way. ”

That night at home, Xu Xu went to sleep early. Got up very early the next day and cooked up a small pot of beef congee. This is Ji Bai’s favorite dish as well as hers.

The way Ji Bai pursue women is first he would manage their activities and have the person under his wings. After that, he would step by step charm and step by step get a hold of… until “water becomes river”. In love, he’s like a wolf, a little arrogant, a little scheming, and very blunt, even though it doesn’t seem like it.

The way Xu Xu likes to pursue someone is very very simple, that’s to treat that person well.

Sincerely and treat them well with her abilities, that’s enough.

Pretend to be weak and cater to hobbies like what Xu Jun said, she doesn’t want to learn.

Early in the morning, the two of them jogged and ate her porridge, Ji Bai slightly raised his eyebrows: “It tastes very good.”

A touch of joy rose in her heart, she answered: “Thank you.”

Every day after would be so.

Whenever there is no case, the work of the squad was easy. The morning quickly passed.

When Xu Xu and Yao Meng came to the dining hall, there were many people there and was very noisy. After she bought lunch, Xu Xu quickly searched around. She pointed toward the empty table across from Ji Bai, that old Wu and other colleagues were sitting at: “Let’s sit there.”

“Alright.”

After being seated, Yao Meng smiled to greet the crowd, Xu Xu also smiled and nodded, coincidence met eyes with Ji Bai. After that, the two subtly looked away.

The men talked about a police officer with the nickname “Bull” in some other section that have a tower like physique and a strong alcohol tolerance. Yao Meng every now and then said some words then turned to talk to Xu Xu. Her voice was melodious like a bell. Xu Xu looked at old Wu and Yao Meng, listened very attentively. But in fact, her eyes looked toward Ji Bai’s plate. He ate a lot of meat; he had two buns and a bowl of rice. He doesn’t eat chili and he taken all of garlic and ginger from his plate.

So his eating habits are like this.

Ji Bai calmingly ate his foods, occasionally glanced at Xu Xu. He silently thought: Why is she so interested in the men’s topic? Perhaps she knows the “bull” police officer.

Later, they changed the topic, Xu X still attentively listened, Ji Bai lowered his eyes.

At lunch break, some colleagues went for a walk, some smoked in the corridor, and others laid down on the table to sleep. The office was quiet. When Xu Xu saw that nobody was around, she turned on the computer to go into the internal system, and searched for Ji Bai’s profile.

180cm tall and weighs 81 kg…

Championship holder of shooting, steeplechase, and martial art in the southwest district tournaments, was awarded the second merit two times and the third merit three times.*

* levels of merits* equivalent to levels of medals. 

Scrolling the mouse down, Xu Xu read over lines of text that she immediately memorized. After that, Xu Xu inadvertently glimpsed over the 3×4 photo of a calm and stern man on the right.

Xu Xu recalled the first time she saw this picture, she only felt that his face had “good features”. Looking at the same stiff ID photo now, no matter whether it’s the hair, eyes, nose, or chin, they’re all lively and handsome.

After staring for a moment, Xu Xu right-clicked and chose “save picture” to your computer and set up an encrypted folder. Thought about it for a moment then renamed the folder to “Private files do not touch”.

After looking for a moment, everyone started coming back, Xu Xu turned off the computer and conveniently picked up a piece of paper on the table. When memorizing things, she has the habit of writing and drawing with a pen. At this time, there were bits of numbers scattered on the paper: “180, 81, 995, 10000m…”

“What are you writing? What’s with the strange numbers?” Zhao Han’s head leaned over, curiously looking at the paper.

Without batting an eye: “Planck’s constant.”

Zhao Han never heard of astronomical figures but still nodded.

Xu Xu was about to fold up the paper, heard a deep voice from behind: “You’re talking about astronomical figures?” Ji Bai was coming from outside, slowly walked toward her table.

“Yes.” Xu Xu tore the paper and threw it in the trash.

The next two weeks, Xu Xu’s life and work were peaceful; affections were progressing.

Everyday she exercised with Ji Bai in the morning and made breakfast for him.

The two said very little during the days. She was focused on work, but whenever resting or chatting, she always tried to learn everything related to him.

She didn’t understand why Zhao Han always had something over the weekend, and most of the time asked Ji Bai to teach her. But that was also okay; they can eat lunch together and sometimes shop in the afternoon. But when he was teaching her how to shoot, her heart would beat faster. At times, it’s inevitably that he touched her shoulders and waist. At first she didn’t care too much but after several times, she noticed that the skin would faintly burn and did not fade for a long time.

Xu Xu wasn’t used to such a state. His scent and his little touch could disturb her calm mind, make her nervous, impetuous, and appear in a distress that was difficult to control. However, she didn’t hate those tormenting feelings, after the ordeal, the satisfaction as if tasted something delicious, she craved for more and felt it wasn’t enough.

So her moods had become sensitive and abnormal, yet afraid that Ji Bai would notice, she would pretend to be calmer. She always politely called him “master”. Whenever she blushed, she immediately lowered her head to avoid his eyes.  Whenever she wanted him to touch her more, she would try to control and keep her distance. She thought this was the right attitude; she was slowly entering into his life in a natural and pleasant way.  

Ji Bai’s feelings were similar to Xu Xu. Because Xu Xu was always acting really calm and looked at him no difference from the way she looked at Zhao Han, old Wu, passer-by so he wasn’t sure she was into him or not. But he could see that this little girl had become used to staying beside him. Whenever he accidentally touched or came closer, she blushed and looked away. Ji Bai thought she should already have feelings for him, but she was too pure and candid to notice her feelings.

However, this much feeling wasn’t enough. If he was to confess now, maybe she would “feel weird and automatically reject” after all she claimed, “He’s suitable* for her”. He also didn’t want to be abruptive, and hoped that their feelings would deepen with time. He would define their relationship when she could naturally accept him.

So he still would continue to give his all.  

At this time, Ji Bai had discovered that Xu Xu had a lot of good points. She’s quite picky so she made breakfast every day. She had good cooking skills so his taste buds were also satisfied. Even though she seemed dense, she was actually observant. She said that she would help him quit smoking. Whenever craved a cigarette, he would touch his pocket so she would know and always immediately handed him gum. She’s really fit to be a wife.

One night, Xu Xu was eating with Xu Jun as usual. Xu Jun was naturally concerned about his sister’s relationship progress: “With “him”, how is it going?”

Xu Xu replied, “Everything is under control.”

Watching the faintly smiling eyes of his sister, simply would not say whom it was, Xu Jun was a bit unwilling but changed the subject and said: “Oh! James* is playing a game next week and I can get the tickets. Do you need them?”

*LeBron James: US basketball star