Getting Caught Up In His Cycle Of Passionate Love - Chapter 3
“Falling ‘Mandarin Ducks'”
Xu Tao Yue insisted on dragging Lu Que to the tropical rainforest exhibit. Her reasoning was simple: if they had to write something anyway, might as well do it here. Lu Que didn’t bother arguing—he wasn’t keen on going anywhere else either, so he just let her have her way.
Xu Tao Yue had checked some online travel guides beforehand. According to what she read, the rainforest zone had a waterfall, and just a few meters away, there were blooming cacti.
Recently, the cacti had been flowering in large clusters. She genuinely thought cactus blossoms were more to her taste than other flowers. With that in mind, she grabbed Lu Que and headed straight there.
“Slow down, the cacti aren’t going to grow legs and run away,” Lu Que reminded her, unable to hold back a comment at her excitement.
Xu Tao Yue ignored him and gave a completely nonsensical excuse: “What if the flowers wither? Hurry up! You’re so tall but your steps are so short!”
Lu Que: “…”
She didn’t realize her sentence could have another meaning. Instead, she picked up her pace, finally arriving at the long-awaited spot and started snapping photos enthusiastically.
Aside from being hot, the scenery here was indeed better than elsewhere. A waterfall poured down from about three meters high, sending up a spray of mist.
A bit further ahead, behind a fence, clusters of blooming cacti stood proudly. Just as Xu Tao Yue was bouncing forward excitedly, Lu Que stopped her and handed her a form.
“This is yours.”
“What?” she asked, frozen mid-motion, still in the stance he’d stopped her in.
“You like cacti, right? Once you’ve picked one, go handle it yourself.” Lu Que rolled up his own sheet and tapped it lightly against her forehead. “Don’t think I’ll help you.”
“?!”
Failed to hug the thigh.
Xu Tao Yue protested, unconvinced: “Aren’t you our team leader? Why won’t you help your teammate?”
Lu Que smirked, as if he had anticipated her playing the pity card. He pulled out his phone and hit play on a recording. A cool voice came through the speaker:
“Three ground rules: One, don’t bring your so-called bestie to bother me. Two, handle your own tasks—I won’t help, so your part must be completed on your own. Three…”
Then, her own foolish voice chimed in: “What’s the third?”
“I haven’t decided yet. To be determined.”
“Okay, it’s a deal!”
Xu Tao Yue: “…”
Lu Que raised his brow and slowly dragged the progress bar to her last line, looping it.
“Okay, it’s a deal!”
“Okay, it’s a deal!”
“Okay, it’s a deal!”
With a forced smile, Xu Tao Yue clung dramatically to his arm, trying to snatch his phone and shut it off. Who knew he’d even record something like that? How little did he trust her?
Seeing the range of expressions on her face, Lu Que lowered his head, barely holding back laughter, and mercifully let her grab the phone, delete the recording, and wipe the slate clean.
“Hehehe, I’ll be serious from now on.”
That night, back at the hotel, Xu Tao Yue collapsed on the bed, exhausted. Ye Wan had been waiting on the bed and jumped up when she saw her return, exclaiming:
“Taozi, what happened to you? Why are you back so late? Even later than me. And your clothes—what happened?”
Xu Tao Yue rolled over to face Ye Wan, eyes full of fatigue and world-weariness. After a long rant, she summed it up with one sentence:
“Lu Que is seriously not human… I get it now, old fox!”
Ye Wan seemed to understand a bit from her tone. Without saying a word, she silently handed over a gummy candy.
“Eat something sweet, ignore him.”
“No way!” Xu Tao Yue immediately rejected the idea. “How can I ignore Lu Que baby?!”
Ye Wan: “…”
That was… generous of her.
Xu Tao Yue unwrapped the candy and took a huge bite. “By the way, what were you and that Xia Xiangyang doing all afternoon?”
“We were studying flowers, even asked the staff for some slices to examine.”
“You spent the whole afternoon doing that? You guys didn’t do anything exciting?” Xu Tao Yue’s eyes lit up, full of juicy gossip vibes.
In the original novel, these two had no interaction at all.
In fact, Ye Wan’s name didn’t even appear, and Xia Xiangyang was just a minor side character.
Xia Xiangyang, in the book, was a playboy who’d even clashed with Lu Que before—a loner with a fearless attitude.
Ye Wan had no idea what Xu Tao Yue was imagining, so she shot back with a question of her own: “Like what?”
Xu Tao Yue was caught off guard by the counter. After thinking it through, she confidently said, “Like… maybe competing over something and accidentally falling into the waterfall together?”
Ye Wan: “?”
Who could cause that big of a mess?
At the mention, Xu Tao Yue got mad all over again. Her calm mood from earlier was gone in a flash. “I mean, what was he even trying to compete for? I’m a girl, can’t he cut me a little slack?!”
Ye Wan gave her a look of disbelief, grabbed a bag of chips, and got ready to listen to the story.
Earlier, Xu Tao Yue had been sketching the blooming cacti seriously. Since the waterfall was only a few meters away, she could feel a cool breeze.
Lu Que walked over from behind her. Seeing her abstract drawing, he couldn’t help commenting, “What… is this supposed to be?”
“Cactus, obviously!” Xu Tao Yue held up her drawing next to the actual plant, then looked up at him.
Lu Que seemed speechless, the words stuck on the tip of his tongue, before coldly commenting in a tone that sounded less hurtful than it should’ve: “If the cactus saw this portrait, it’d start wilting in under three seconds.”
“??”
As if worried that her brain was too smooth to understand, he kindly clarified: “It can’t bear to look directly at it.”
Xu Tao Yue refused to let him talk her down. She immediately flared up. “What’s wrong with this drawing? It’s super realistic!”
Lu Que didn’t back down: “A three-year-old could do better.”
Xu Tao Yue stared at her drawing, then at the real thing, and got even more confident. “I don’t believe you. Find me a three-year-old who can draw this well!”
Lu Que suddenly felt childish, arguing with someone who might have less artistic sense than a toddler.
Xu Tao Yue stood up and tossed her sketchbook to him. “Come on then, Lu Que, let’s see what you’ve got!”
Lu Que couldn’t resist the challenge. He sat down, gave her a sideways glance, and said, “Fine. Watch me destroy you.”
Xu Tao Yue didn’t believe for a second that he could beat her. Sure, in the original book he was some cold, proud business mogul—but that didn’t mean he had any artistic talent.
She wasn’t afraid at all.
Ten minutes later, Lu Que stared at the sketchbook, deep in thought.
His drawing ended up looking pretty much like Xu Tao Yue’s—or maybe even worse. She burst out laughing. “Face it, Lu Three-Year-Old, you’re just as abstract as me!”
Lu Que: “…”
He still wanted to argue. Looking her straight in the eye, he blatantly lied: “Clearly mine’s more vivid!”
“You even know what vivid means?” Xu Tao Yue gave him a finishing blow: “Mine is clearly better! Yours would make the cactus shrivel up in one second flat!”
Lu Que’s competitiveness couldn’t be suppressed anymore: “How is that nonsense?! Mine has more life! You just don’t understand art!”
Xu Tao Yue laughed out loud: “I don’t understand art? Maybe. But I do understand you! Lu Three-Year-Old! Admit it! You can’t draw for beans!”
She stormed off toward the waterfall, trying to calm herself down. Lu Que got up, ready for round two, and as he grabbed her, his foot slipped. He tripped and dragged Xu Tao Yue down into the water with him.
Xu Tao Yue: “…”
“Was this revenge?!”
Lu Que: “…”
When Xiang Baijie heard from staff that two students had fallen into the waterfall, she screamed in shock. These two were both someone’s precious children!
By the time she rushed over, the staff had already given the two a stern lecture. The soaked pair were now drying their hair with towels. She hurried over, checking them for injuries.
After confirming they were fine, she scolded them harshly.
“How could you two fall into the water?! Are you blind? That pool’s huge—you couldn’t see it?!”
Lu Que grinned cheekily. “Teacher Xiang, that’s where you’re wrong. You said we’re blind. How could we see it if we’re blind?”
Xu Tao Yue: “…”
Xiang Baijie took a deep breath, trying to maintain composure in public. Swallowing her rage, she shoved a folder into his arms.
With a kind smile, she said, “If you’re fine, then go. I’ll handle things here. Help me deliver this file to Teacher Liao.”
As soon as she heard that, Xu Tao Yue pushed Lu Que to leave quickly.