Chapter 501 - 500: What If: Did the Big Shot Vie for Favor Today? 69

Chapter 501: Chapter 500: What If: Did the Big Shot Vie for Favor Today? 69

He shook off his thoughts. "Thanks, bro. I’ll treat you next time."

Wang Biao chuckled happily. "No problem, no problem. Anything for Brother Jiang."

"But, Brother Jiang, you only moved out a few days ago. Have you already met a girl you’re into?"

He couldn’t help but gossip, and the other two roommates stared at him as well.

Thinking of Shi Lan, Jiang Xia couldn’t help but feel the stirrings of first love, his cheeks turning slightly red. "Yeah."

"Whoa, not bad. Well, I wish you success in advance, Brother Jiang."

Wang Biao let out a whistle. Jiang Xia ignored them, just glanced again at his phone, which still had no reply. A little dejected, he flopped back onto his bed and started checking his bank account balance.

On the other side, Shi Lan, of course, had no time to reply to him. She was busy trying to snag tickets. To prevent any distractions from notifications, she had muted all her messages and calls beforehand and was staring intently at the ticketing page.

Unfortunately, she still couldn’t get tickets for the evening show. The fans were too passionate, and with the star power of the top-tier celebrity Yan Huoshui, plus the fact that it was his first-ever concert, she couldn’t even find anyone reselling tickets on any resale apps.

Trending topics about how hard it was to get tickets popped up one after another online. Some people even flocked to Yan Huoshui’s Weibo, begging him to release more tickets. But the number of tickets issued was already calculated to be the stadium’s maximum capacity. Any more would affect the concert experience, and Yan Huoshui’s team could do nothing about it.

The next day, Chen Xinyi cried in Shi Lan’s arms for half the day before she could finally, temporarily, forget about this heartbreaking matter.

How could she have known? She had asked several people to help her get tickets, but all their attempts had failed.

There was nothing to be done. It seemed she could only wait for Teacher Yan’s next concert, or perhaps just go listen from outside the stadium.

Shi Lan kept comforting her, but she was at a loss, too. At this point, you couldn’t even find tickets from scalpers.

However, she knew her best friend was still hung up on it, so she continued to keep an eye on online news for the next few days.

That night, Shi Lan was scrolling through a resale app. She finally saw someone selling a ticket, but when she clicked to inquire, she found it had already been sold. From the time it was posted to the time she saw it, no more than five minutes had passed.

The power of Yan Huoshui’s fans was terrifying.

She regretfully closed the app just as another message from Jiang Xia came in. For the past few days, Jiang Xia had sent her a few messages every day, never missing a "good night."

Shi Lan had replied once, but had ignored him since. She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea.

Jiang Xia sent a pitiful message: [I’m sorry, miss. I hope you don’t hate me. You might think my feelings developed too quickly, but you might not believe this—the first time I saw you, you felt so familiar, like we’d met a long, long time ago.]

If any other guy had told her in person that she looked familiar, Shi Lan would have been rendered speechless by such a cliché pickup line. But in her impression, Jiang Xia wasn’t the type to lie. He was always straightforward and upright, didn’t usually interact with girls, and spoke his mind. He had no reason to make up a story like that.

She stared at the message in silence for a while. Jiang Xia had probably gotten used to her not replying these past few days. Besides, he hadn’t dared to send too many messages, afraid of being annoying.

Tonight, however, he couldn’t resist saying a little more: [Miss, the weather has been great lately, you should go out and have some fun. I had someone help me buy two tickets. It’s the weekend tomorrow, so I’ll bring them to you. You can go with your friend.]

[Miss, good night~]

After sending that, Jiang Xia closed WeChat as usual.

Shi Lan had thought he was trying to ask her out, but she didn’t expect that even after buying tickets, he was just suggesting she go with a friend.

’He’s so adorably foolish.’

She gave a rare, helpless smile. After a moment of hesitation, she replied: [No need, thank you. I’ve been busy with my shop lately and don’t have any plans to go out.]

She still didn’t want to get too entangled with Jiang Xia. Accepting things from him would only make it harder to sort out later.

Jiang Xia hadn’t expected a reply. Although he didn’t quite like her response, it meant he could talk to her a little more.

He replied almost instantly: [You must have been working hard then, miss. All the more reason you need to relax. The tickets I bought are for a concert. I think you’ll like it.]

[Oh? Yan Huoshui’s?]

Shi Lan’s interest was piqued. She asked back, amused, since Yan Huoshui’s concert was the only thing on her mind lately; she had no idea who else was even performing.

But she was just saying it casually, not getting her hopes up. She knew very well how hard it was to get tickets for Yan Huoshui.

But then, Jiang Xia replied: [Yes, miss.]

Jiang Xia knew that a gift should suit the recipient’s tastes. He hadn’t made any big moves lately, precisely because he was thinking about what to give Shi Lan.

Unfortunately, after that one time he fell asleep, he had never again been able to turn into Shi Lan’s cat, which prevented him from researching her other interests. Finally, he remembered the Yan Huoshui drama she had been watching.

Even if Jiang Xia didn’t pay attention on purpose, his male and female classmates were always discussing the fact that Yan Huoshui was holding a concert in L City.

Although he felt jealous of Shi Lan watching another man, he respected her interests and had specially asked a family connection to get him two insider tickets.

And yet, Shi Lan had rejected him again.

Jiang Xia wasn’t discouraged, just a little heartbroken that his first attempt at giving a gift had failed. But just then, his phone chimed again. He looked down and saw Shi Lan’s reply: [Really? That’s wonderful! Thank you! In that case, come over tomorrow.]

At that, his eyes lit up instantly. [Okay, miss.]

「The next day」

Jiang Xia couldn’t wait to get dressed up and head out.

He had woken up unusually early that day, but spent far too long getting ready. He showered, washed and styled his hair, and groomed his beard. After fussing about for so long, it was past eleven by the time he left the house. He arrived at Shi Lan’s place around noon.

Shi Lan had just finished making lunch. She hadn’t expected Jiang Xia to arrive at this hour.

In fact, Jiang Xia had his own little plan, hoping to find a chance to ask Shi Lan out to eat. But when he saw the apron she was wearing, he could only dejectedly dismiss the thought. The disappointment, however, was quickly replaced by the joy of seeing the girl he liked.

"Good afternoon, Shi Lan."

His ears were slightly red. He had styled his hair with gel into soft, deliberate curls, which was neatly defined, but this also happened to perfectly expose his ears, leaving them with nowhere to hide.

Shi Lan’s gaze couldn’t help but flick to his ears. A little amused, she thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Have you had lunch?"

Jiang Xia shook his head. "Not yet, but don’t worry. After I drop off the tickets for you, I’ll go eat with my roommates."

"Well, in that case, your timing is perfect. Why don’t you join me? I just finished cooking."

Shi Lan went ahead and graciously invited him, because she was truly grateful for the tickets. They solved her most pressing problem.

"Really? Can I?"

Jiang Xia stared at her excitedly, his throat bobbing as his face turned red.

He had already given up on the idea of eating with Shi Lan, never expecting such a pleasant surprise.

"Really."

Shi Lan stepped aside to let him in, then found a pair of shoe covers for him in the entryway.

She gave an embarrassed smile. "I don’t have any men’s slippers at home, so I’ll have to trouble you with these shoe covers for now."