Getting Caught Up In His Cycle Of Passionate Love - Chapter 28

Please, please stay with me

“After that, Xu Tao Yue just kept following me, and I never brought up that other girl.”

“What about Xu Tao Yue’s identity?”

Xu Wen knew what Lu Que was thinking and showed him what she had discovered. “That’s the strangest part.”

“Xu Tao Yue’s identity has been restored.”

In other words, the Xu Tao Yue who had supposedly passed away was, in everyone else’s eyes, still alive and well. Only Xu Wen knew that her own Xu Tao Yue was long gone.

Lu Que wasn’t too shocked. Xu Tao Yue had been acting unusually for a while, but he never expected it to be this. Xu Wen composed herself. “She’s a good person. I just want you to be good to her.”

Lu Que nodded. “I will.”

Lu Que came back to his senses, holding Xu Tao Yue’s clothes on the sofa. The lingering scent on them slowly calmed his heart.

It’s okay.

No matter what.

Lu Que will protect Xu Tao Yue.

The new semester started early at Nanyu University. As much as she didn’t want to, Xu Tao Yue had to reluctantly leave her cozy bed and head back to school. Lu Que went with her this time. Xu Tao Yue saved herself the trouble and just handed all her luggage to Lu Que. “Lu Que, I’m so sleepy.”

Lu Que sat in the aisle seat of the high-speed train, blocking the light for her. “Go to sleep. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”

Xu Tao Yue put on her hat, buried her head in his shoulder, and fell into a deep sleep. She wasn’t a very still sleeper. One moment her leg would be on Lu Que’s, the next she would complain that the position was making her leg numb. She kept moving around, completely restless. Lu Que flicked her forehead and whispered softly to soothe her. “Don’t move.”

Xu Tao Yue was now fully awake. She sat up straight and started to figure out what was bothering her. “Lu Que, you’re… hard.”

Lu Que: “?”

“Your shoulder. It’s digging into my neck and making it hurt.”

Lu Que rubbed his own shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “I can’t help it. I have a good physique.”

Xu Tao Yue boldly asked, “Oh… let me see?”

Lu Que: “…”

I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.

Ye Wan and Xia Xiangyang had been waiting for them at school for a long time. They were finally getting impatient when they saw the couple’s heads appear in the distance. Ye Wan looked exasperated. “Xu Tao Yue, you made me wait here for two hours in this cold weather!”

Xu Tao Yue giggled awkwardly and put her arm around Ye Wan’s shoulder. “We missed the train, didn’t we? Wanwan, please forgive me.”

Ye Wan waved her hand. “Forget it, forget it. I’m a grown-up, I’m too generous to hold it against you.”

Xu Tao Yue had a fawning expression. “My great friend is mighty!”

After school started, the group’s schedules were misaligned again. This semester, Xu Tao Yue was the queen. Her schedule was the complete opposite of Lu Que’s last semester. Now, Lu Que had a full day of classes. Xu Tao Yue had been showing off to Lu Que for a long time about this. A whole week after getting her schedule, she was still gloating.

Lu Que wrapped his arms around Xu Tao Yue. “Stop being so smug. Last semester, I went to so many classes with you. This semester, it’s your turn, right?”

Xu Tao Yue sat next to him. “Then you have to beg me.”

It was clear she was being deliberately annoying again. It turns out that when a person gets too smug, they will be punished. Lu Que pulled her waist toward him. He whispered into Xu Tao Yue’s ear. His gentle breath traveled from her ear all the way to her body.

“I’m begging you.” Lu Que started to kiss Xu Tao Yue’s cheek. He kissed her, moved down a little, and repeated, “Will you please stay with me?”

After a kiss like that, Xu Tao Yue was so dizzy and disoriented she was ready to agree to anything. “Yes, yes, yes, I’ll go with you. I’ll go with you.”

Lu Que smirked in triumph, but he didn’t let her go. He gave her a muffled hum and gently kissed her lips. “You have to go with me.”

One should never speak too soon. The very first day Xu Tao Yue was supposed to go with Lu Que, she overslept and missed it. When she finally remembered, it was almost noon. She shot up and rushed to the front of Lu Que’s classroom to wait for him to finish class. Five minutes later, Lu Que walked out of the classroom with a blank expression on his face, not even giving Xu Tao Yue a glance. Xu Tao Yue, knowing she was in the wrong, followed behind Lu Que, pulling on his shirt and gently shaking it. Lu Que ignored her, but his pace gradually slowed down, and he began to listen to her excuses.

“I’m sorry!” Xu Tao Yue never expected she could sleep until noon. “I was so tired last night, and I was afraid of disturbing the girls in my dorm, so I didn’t set my alarm.”

Lu Que sighed and stopped. He reached behind him and took Xu Tao Yue’s hand. “It’s fine. I didn’t really expect you to remember to go with me anyway.”

Xu Tao Yue scratched her head sheepishly. “I swear I’ll go with you this afternoon.”

“What do you want to eat?”

“Sweet and sour fish.” Xu Tao Yue replied instinctively and then threw herself into Lu Que’s arms. “Lu Que, why are you so nice?”

“I’m not nice. My girlfriend won’t even hang out with me.” Lu Que pouted. “You don’t know this, but in class today, everyone had their girlfriends with them, and I was all alone.”

“That’s terrible,” Lu Que said thoughtfully, intentionally acting wronged. “I told them I had a girlfriend, and they said… ‘Well, then your girlfriend must not like you anymore.'”

The more Xu Tao Yue listened, the more guilty she felt. She slapped her hand on the table. “What?! How bold! How dare they question my feelings for you?!” “Don’t they know I’ve liked you since you were a little kid?!”

Lu Que smiled, not paying attention to what Xu Tao Yue had just said. He pulled her down to sit next to him. “It’s okay, it’s okay. We won’t pay attention to them.”

Ye Wan got out of class a little late. By the time she arrived, Xu Tao Yue was so absorbed in eating that she didn’t know what was happening. Ye Wan didn’t want to say much and just sighed as she lay on the table. Xu Tao Yue pushed the plates on the table to the side. “What’s wrong? You’re sighing as soon as you get out of class.”

“The Cultural and Arts Festival is coming up. Our advisor told us to participate to get extra credits. This year, we’re collaborating with the Fashion Design department to design the stage effects. I have no idea what to do.”

Xu Tao Yue didn’t know how to help her. The real story in the book started in the third year, and anything before that was just mentioned in passing. Xu Tao Yue looked at the flyer. “Has this year’s theme been decided?”

“Not yet…” Ye Wan said with a listless expression.

“It’s ‘Cultural Heritage’. The problem is that the people we’re working with don’t listen to our ideas and just make decisions on their own. Sometimes we don’t have time to coordinate, and if there are any mistakes, they blame us immediately.”

Xia Xiangyang comforted her. “It’s okay. How’s the progress now? We’ll help you think of something.”

Ye Wan took out two ideas from her backpack. “We came up with two scenarios: Chinese intangible cultural heritage, and a combination of some of the other three ethnic groups. But if we do that, we’d have to scrap everything we’ve already decided on.”

Xu Tao Yue took a closer look. “Since the theme of the Cultural and Arts Festival is ‘Cultural Heritage’, why don’t we ask students from other ethnic groups for their ideas?”

“Where am I supposed to find them?” Ye Wan put away her things and continued to brainstorm.

“So there are things that can make our top student Ye Wan worry,” Xia Xiangyang said, trying to lighten the mood.

Xu Tao Yue raised an eyebrow. “My roommate. I’ll go ask her for you.”

Ye Wan’s eyes immediately lit up. “!!” “Thank you, Taozi!!” “When it really matters, we can always count on our Taozi.”

Xu Tao Yue gave her a reassuring look, and Ye Wan sat down, waiting for her to come back with news.

In truth, there wasn’t much communication in the dorm. Besides Xu Tao Yue and another girl who were in the Chinese Language and Literature major, everyone else was from a different major. There was a girl who was very fair-skinned, like a little princess. She had deep eyes, and when Xu Tao Yue asked, she found out that the girl was from the Uyghur ethnicity and was transferred into this major.

Xu Tao Yue slinked into the dorm and went to her roommate to ask for her opinion. “Luo Luo, can I ask you a question?”

The girl seemed surprised that Xu Tao Yue was talking to her. She nodded. “Sure, ask away.”

Xu Tao Yue told her about Ye Wan’s idea. Luo Luo nodded. “I see. You can actually combine customs and intangible cultural heritage into a new section.”

“The problem is… if we combine them, the process will be greatly reduced.”

Luo Luo smiled. “Actually, in China’s five-thousand-year cultural heritage, the Han ethnic group is the root of the culture.” “I understand your idea of ethnic unity, but the Han ethnic group cannot be absent at this important time.”

Xu Tao Yue nodded and thanked her with a smile, then quickly told Ye Wan about the idea. After getting the approval, Ye Wan immediately started preparing.

Lu Que rubbed Xu Tao Yue’s shoulders. “So, what did you end up deciding on?”

Xu Tao Yue mysteriously motioned for him to come closer. “Do you want to know?”

“Not really,” Lu Que answered honestly.

Xu Tao Yue didn’t care. She sat up and glared at Lu Que. “No! You can’t say that!”

“Then what should I say?” Lu Que asked with a smile. It was clear he already knew the answer, but he had to ask her anyway to be happy.

And every time, it made Xu Tao Yue blush. Over time, Xu Tao Yue started to recognize Lu Que’s way of teasing people. She immediately changed her approach. “If you don’t know, then forget it. You’re not getting any answers from me.”

Lu Que didn’t play by Xu Tao Yue’s rules. He moved in and kissed the corner of her lips. “Tell me.”

Ever since their first kiss, Lu Que would seize any opportunity to get closer to her. And the thing was, Xu Tao Yue fell for it every time. She gave in and told him and Ye Wan’s idea.

“Mmm, that’s great.”

Xu Tao Yue’s lips were curled into a pout again. She laughed. “Lu Que, why are you so nice?”

“Of course I am.” Lu Que didn’t deny what Xu Tao Yue said. Instead, he affirmed her.

“…And shameless,” Xu Tao Yue added, gently patting his shoulder.

Lu Que laughed and nodded. “Mmm, you’re right about everything.”