Chapter 54: Be Her Boyfriend for a Month

Seeing that she missed me, Shuyan actually hopped to my side on just one leg, swinging her fists to beat me up. I dodged her repeatedly until I caught both her hands before she finally calmed down, roaring at me as if she wanted to eat me alive: "Who would ever offer themselves to a bastard like you? If you dare talk nonsense again, I’ll break your legs!"

Releasing her hands, I crossed my arms and said nonchalantly, "Fine then, I won’t say another word. Go back to wherever you came from!"

"You... do you believe I can make it so you can’t sleep every single day from now on?" Unable to think of any good way to deal with me at the moment, Shuyan could only utter a threat that didn’t sound much like a threat at all!

"I’d really love to know how you plan on keeping me awake!" Saying that, my eyes deliberately swept over her body a few times.

I clearly saw Shuyan’s body shrink back a bit—what a stubborn woman. "What on earth will it take for you to help me?" With her threat proving useless, Shuyan finally lowered her head and stooped to begging me.

"Easy. As long as you can offer a benefit that satisfies me, I wouldn’t mind helping you with this minor favor!"

A single sentence made Shuyan roll her eyes repeatedly. Tugging my hand, she said, "At most, I won’t trouble you anymore in the future. If you don’t come to class, I won’t care either, and I won’t hit or scold you anymore. Is that enough?"

"How do any of those count as benefits? Doesn’t count—unless you let me..." Reaching this point, I paused, looking at Shuyan as the corners of my mouth began to tug upward again, revealing a mischievous smirk.

Shuyan didn’t notice, only eager to know my condition. Leaning toward her ear, I whispered softly, "Unless you let me kiss you, only then will I help you!"

With that, I leaped three yards away, watching her reaction. To my surprise, she had no intention of hitting me at all. She just stood there with a blushing face, her watery eyes fixed on me. Biting her lip for a long moment, she tilted her head slightly forward, closing her eyes halfway in an attitude of letting me harvest her as I pleased.

A shudder ran through my body—acting this obedient definitely meant something was wrong! Honestly, I was just making a joke; how could I have expected this wild girl to actually agree? Seeing her like this made me hesitate instead, not daring to charge in rashly and fall into her trap. After all, I had experienced the lethal power of her crotch kick before!

Seeing that I hadn’t made any move for a long time, Shuyan opened her eyes again. Catching sight of me standing nearby with no reaction, her face turned red first before quickly switching to a look of outrage. Disregarding the stares of everyone else in the cafeteria, she yelled at me in an extremely unladylike manner: "Didn’t I close my eyes already? You said you were going to kiss, so why haven’t you? Are you playing with me?"

My mouth gaped into an ’O’ shape as I asked cautiously, "You really intended to let me kiss you?"

"Do you take me for someone who doesn’t keep her word? My first kiss was taken by you anyway; kissing once is a kiss, and kissing twice is a kiss all the same. But after the kiss, you better keep your word and help me get past my mom!"

Cold sweat poured down my forehead, and I frantically waved my hands, laughing awkwardly: "Haha, I was just joking! Don’t take it seriously!"

"What do you mean? Are you trying to back out and not help me?" Shuyan put her hands on her hips, looking like a shrew scolding the street.

I quickly waved my hands to explain: "Of course not! Can’t I just help you? Forget the benefits—I’ll even pay out of my own pocket to help you, alright?"

Seeing my comical appearance, Shuyan couldn’t hold back a chuckle: "Turns out you’re all talk and no action—brave enough to speak, but coward enough not to do it! It’s a deal then, no backing out!"

Damn it all! I’m not stupid enough to take advantage of you on my own initiative. Once I do, my mouth won’t be clean anymore. Thinking this in my mind, I kept nodding my head to make a guarantee.

Since I agreed, I had to deliver. The moment we stepped out of the cafeteria, she dragged me onto the street, saying we needed to buy some meeting gifts for her family. She said she’d pay for them herself and have me present them in my name. Could I really do something so embarrassing? Of course not! No matter how you looked at it, I came from a prominent family, so I knew a thing or two about traditional etiquette—naturally, I had to bring something when meeting elders for the first time.

So, rejecting Shuyan’s good intentions, I dug into my own pocket and spent 2000 yen to buy gifts. Hearing that her father owned a company, I bought him some American ginseng, only to be mocked by Shuyan as outdated; I bought her mother some cosmetics, aiming to help her look youthful in her older years; and hearing that her grandfather, Professor Shuji, was a fanatical fan of traditional Sumi-e painting who loved writing and painting in his spare time, I bought a set of calligraphy brushes meant for traditional Sumi-e painting—a small gift, but deep in sentiment!

Compared to the exhaustion of walking the streets, though, this financial bleeding was just a drop in the bucket. By my count, in just half a day, we had walked nearly 25 kilometers! It was truly a high-energy workout, and I finally understood why women loved shopping—even if they didn’t buy anything, at least they could lose weight! Carrying the heap of purchased goods while following this crazy woman Shuyan around was pure torture; my legs felt like they didn’t belong to me anymore.

After buying everything, Shuyan pulled out her phone and made a call to her mom. "Mom, it’s me, Mimi!" Shuyan said in a low voice.

Mimi? I burst out laughing on the spot—who would have thought that the wild Shuyan had such an exaggerated and hilarious nickname?

Seeing me laughing so hard I was practically doubled over, Shuyan glared at me fiercely, turning around to walk far away to continue her call. Since it was her private call after all, I was too embarrassed to lean over and listen, only seeing from afar that Shuyan was explaining something to her mother and nodding repeatedly in promise before hanging up the phone and walking back to me.

"Mimi, how old are you this year?" I asked cheekily.

"You..." Hearing me tease her, Shuyan pretended to fly into a rage at first, but soon couldn’t hold back a laugh herself. "I hate you! You’re not allowed to make fun of me, or I’ll give you what’s coming to you!" Saying that, she shook her small fist at me, her coquettish expression lacking any of her previous wildness, leaving me utterly dazed.

Seeing me not speak and just stare at her continuously, Shuyan rolled her eyes at me and said, "First, I’ll take you out for lunch, and then we’ll head over to my grandfather’s place!"

"My dear Professor, you finally thought about eating lunch? It’s almost 1:00 PM!" I complained.

"Alright, I know you worked hard, so aren’t I rewarding you now?" Shuyan comforted me, pulling me along to a barbecue shop. Adopting the ultimate rule of taking advantage—eating for free whenever possible—I devoured a massive meal, eating in a way that almost made Shuyan want to punch me again.

After a round of fussing and finishing our food, we took a taxi back to the university. Shuyan’s grandfather was an Academician of the Japanese Academy of Sciences and an old professor at Tokyo University, so he lived in the quieter villa area near the northern campus gate.

On the way, Shuyan looked at me and said, "In a moment, your identity will be my boyfriend. You better not let my mom notice anything off!"

I said impatiently, "I’m just going to visit Professor Shuji. Ever since coming to the university, I’ve been wanting to go see him!"

"Be serious for me! My mom is a very shrewd person—if she finds out we’re acting, I’ll be finished!"

"You said it yourself that it’s acting; how could it look completely real? I’ll just speak less!" I shrugged.

Hearing me say this, Shuyan nodded and fell into thought. After thinking for a moment, she raised her head and said, "What you said actually makes a lot of sense. How about this: I officially agree to let you be my boyfriend for one month! After one month, we’ll break up, and after that, bridge to bridge, road to road, we’ll have no relation whatsoever!"

"Boyfriend for a month? Only you could come up with that. No way—what do you take me for? It’s already generous enough of me to help you this time, don’t go getting ideas about me!" I quickly shook my head in refusal.

"Look at you feeling all self-important! You’re getting this young lady’s first love, and you still don’t want it? The people chasing me could fill an ocean, so who’d want a wet-behind-the-ears kid like you? I wouldn’t even take you if you were given to me for free! I said it’s just one month, and I’ve already decided—you have to agree whether you want to or not. Didn’t you say you couldn’t get into character if it was fake? Now it’s real, so perform well for me, do you hear?" Shuyan spoke with a matter-of-fact expression, even looping her arm through mine as she finished.

Hearing this, I rolled my eyes straight to the heavens. I had heard of forced marriage and forced gambling, but I had never heard of forced boyfriend acceptance! What kind of mess was this even supposed to be?