IMGH Chapter 27

The Art of Persistent Pursuit

Jiang Yi felt a little uneasy. He had wanted to ask this question for a long time — if Qiu Rui truly already had a lover, as Jiang Mingxuan had said, what should he do? Stop at nothing to break them apart, or gracefully step back and wish them well?

Though he had spoken with conviction, Jiang Yi couldn’t bring himself to forcibly separate them. But letting go gracefully — he wasn’t willing to do that either.

The angel and the devil in his heart were still wrestling with each other when Qiu Rui’s words drifted out slowly: “Love is too boring. It’s only for idiots like you.”

Qiu Rui’s words carried an icy finality. Jiang Yi was momentarily stunned, then after a brief pause, the corner of his lips curved into a roguish arc. “How could it be boring? If you were with me, I’d guarantee I wouldn’t let you get bored! We could take turns with all eighteen positions—”

Qiu Rui’s eyes went wide. He had never expected that such shameless, explicit words could come out of Jiang Yi’s mouth so naturally, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world.

Jiang Yi clearly hadn’t noticed the murderous look Qiu Rui was sending his way, and continued on blithely. “So? Not a bad proposal, right? Aren’t you excited? Aren’t you thrilled?”

The small flicker of goodwill Qiu Rui had just started to feel toward Jiang Yi was instantly obliterated by the naked, lecherous expression plastered across his face. Qiu Rui’s complexion turned a stormy shade of iron-grey. He clenched his teeth and fixed his gaze on Jiang Yi — who was still lost in his own fantasy — with a stare so glacially sharp it could have bored a hundred and eighty holes straight through the man.

It was only belatedly that Jiang Yi sensed Qiu Rui’s fury, and realized he had gone too far.

His Rui’er had thin skin. A joke pushed this far was no good at all.

Jiang Yi clasped his hands together and began apologizing profusely. “Rui’er, I was joking — don’t take it seriously!”

Qiu Rui simply shot him a cold sidelong glance. That single look was like ten thousand feet of glacial ice, and it sent a chill straight through Jiang Yi.

“Rui… Rui’er… I was talking nonsense! Please don’t be angry!”

Qiu Rui ignored him, turned, and walked into the bedroom. Jiang Yi moved to follow, but the look Qiu Rui flung back at him froze him in place and he didn’t dare take another step forward.

Jiang Yi rubbed his nose sheepishly and retreated from the room.

Jiang Yi sat in the living room typing away, while Qiu Rui stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows watching the city lights gradually brighten outside.

No matter how he looked at it, this man was both an idiot and an annoyance — rotten to the core and utterly shameless.

Qiu Rui turned away irritably, completely unaware that the once calm and indifferent him had, once again, been driven to a fuming rage by Jiang Yi.

****

The next morning, Jiang Yi got up early. Given that he had offended Qiu Rui the night before, he decided to make peace with food.

He cracked several eggs, added flour, scattered in some chopped green onion, and mixed it all together, then spread it into thin, even crepes in a flat pan. He spread sweet sauce over the surface, laid down some lettuce and sliced ham strips, sprinkled on pork floss, and rolled it all into small rolls. Worried the egg rolls might be too large for Qiu Rui to eat comfortably, he sliced them into small pieces with a knife and arranged them neatly on a plate, then prepared a bowl of sweet fermented rice balls as well. From his observations, Jiang Yi had noticed that Qiu Rui had a preference for sweet foods, and lately he had been tailoring all his cooking to suit his tastes.

Jiang Yi carried the food out to find that Qiu Rui was already awake. He was standing beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, lost in thought, his expression still sour — the anger from last night had clearly not yet dissipated.

Jiang Yi had spent last night reflecting on himself, too. If he wanted to move someone as cold and proud as Qiu Rui, his only option was probably to wear him down through sheer persistence. But how exactly should he go about it? That really required a careful sense of measure.

Too relentless, and he would only provoke resentment. Too loose, and there would be no progress at all. Jiang Yi had spent the whole night thinking and still hadn’t come up with any real answer.

He sighed and set breakfast on the coffee table, scrubbed his face with both hands to wipe away the weariness, then raised his voice and called out, “Rui’er, breakfast is ready!”