Chapter 33: By Your Side
Chapter 33: By Your Side
Wang Guocheng refused to be discouraged. He wrapped Fan Xiaoyao in his arms, gently kissed her crimson lips, and whispered seductively in her ear, “I’ll wait for you! Even if you reject me a thousand times, I’ll ask you a thousand times more.”
Glancing at the curious looks cast by everyone on the platform, Fan Xiaoyao felt mortified and buried her face in Wang Guocheng’s chest. Wang Guocheng, reacting to her sudden closeness, was uncomfortably aroused.
Fan Xiaoyao noticed the change in Wang Guocheng and quickly drew back, startled. “Um… Let’s just take a taxi. You… like this…”
Wang Guocheng felt as if a flock of crows had flown over his head, his ears burning with embarrassment. He hadn’t expected to be so sensitive upon seeing Fan Xiaoyao. Thankfully, he was wearing a long coat today. Flustered, he explained, “I didn’t mean to.”
Though Fan Xiaoyao was embarrassed herself, she knew his reaction was connected to her pressing against him so closely. Blushing, she tried to comfort him, “It’s fine… I know you didn’t mean it. Let’s just take a cab!”
With that, Fan Xiaoyao moved ahead, always keeping a slight distance between herself and Wang Guocheng.
Wang Guocheng awkwardly tightened his coat, concealing his embarrassment, and hurried to catch up with her.
As they stepped out of the subway station, a taxi happened to pull up. Fan Xiaoyao waved and stopped it. “Driver, please take us to Qinxi Road!”
She glanced at Wang Guocheng behind her. “I’ll sit in the front; you take the back seat.”
Given his current state, Wang Guocheng knew it wasn’t wise to sit beside her, and even less so to share the back seat. His eyes darkened. “Alright.”
The driver sensed an odd atmosphere between the two, as if they were quarreling. “You look like a couple. Why aren’t you sitting together?”
Fan Xiaoyao shot the driver a look. “Just drive, please!”
The driver glanced at the awkward Wang Guocheng in the rearview mirror, then at the irate Fan Xiaoyao beside him, and sighed, “Young people, there’s no grudge worth carrying overnight.”
Wang Guocheng, annoyed by the driver’s meddling, snapped, “Just focus on driving!”
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The taxi driver grinned. “Alright!”
On weekends, Tongcheng’s inner ring slowed to a crawl, with traffic reduced to a mere ten kilometers per hour as vehicles from surrounding counties flooded in.
Fan Xiaoyao, naturally impatient, grumbled at the jam, “Tongcheng is always congested—much worse than our Kangcheng!”
The driver, hearing her mention Kangcheng, warmed up immediately. “Kangcheng is a wonderful place—famous for its three beauties: beautiful women, cuisine, and scenery. Haha… No wonder you’re so lovely, miss, being from Kangcheng.”
Wang Guocheng noticed the driver’s unabashed gaze lingering on Fan Xiaoyao and quickly opened the door, pulling her from the front seat. He barked at the driver, domineeringly, “What are you staring at? Here—this is your fare, keep the change!”
Fan Xiaoyao was bewildered, dragged out of the taxi without understanding Wang Guocheng’s sudden anger. “Guocheng, what are you doing?”
Wang Guocheng, furious, tapped her forehead. “Are you slow? Didn’t you see how lewdly the driver was looking at you?”
Fan Xiaoyao scratched her head, confused, and looked at him innocently. “No, he just mentioned Kangcheng, and glanced at me once. How is that lewd?”
Wang Guocheng, frustrated that she hadn’t sensed the danger, wrapped her protectively in his arms. “From now on, whenever we go out, you’ll walk beside me, sit beside me…”
Fan Xiaoyao glanced nervously at the passing pedestrians, her cheeks aflame as she protested, “Why do I always have to be by your side? Don’t be so overbearing. If you hadn’t embarrassed yourself just now, I wouldn’t have sat in the front in the first place!”
With the main road to Qinxi blocked, and knowing that walking was faster than driving in this traffic, Wang Guocheng took Fan Xiaoyao’s hand and led her ahead. After a while, he glanced at her, embarrassed. “Is this the way to Qinxi Road?”
Fan Xiaoyao rolled her eyes. “Have you ever been to Tongcheng? Have you ever been to Qinxi Road?”
Wang Guocheng shrugged honestly. “Yesterday was my first time in Tongcheng, so, no, I haven’t been to Qinxi Road…”
Fan Xiaoyao felt exasperated. She teased him, “So you don’t even know the way, but you just dragged me along?”
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Wang Guocheng tugged at her sleeve, apologetic. “I was just flustered and forgot, caught up in my anger at that driver for staring at you.”
Fan Xiaoyao looked up at him. “Wang Guocheng, you’re so petty. If you really can’t let it go, chase that cab down and teach the driver a lesson. Otherwise, stop complaining!”
Wang Guocheng nodded. “That sounds good. Xiaoyao, wait for me—I’ll handle him!”
He shrugged off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and actually started walking toward the taxi they’d just left.
Seeing this blockhead actually heading after the cab, Fan Xiaoyao panicked and ran after him. “Wang Guocheng, come back! Wait for me! Wait!”
Wang Guocheng, moving quickly, didn’t hear her call. When he reached the taxi, he pressed against the window and told the driver, “I’m telling you, if you ever look at my girlfriend like that again, next time I’ll punch you.”
A male passenger in the car eyed the driver suspiciously. “Did you really stare at his girlfriend?”
The driver, impatient, replied, “Nonsense, don’t listen to him. He’s crazy. Do I look like a creep?”
The passenger replied candidly, “Can’t say for sure, but with those slanted eyes, you do look a bit shady.”
The driver, hearing yet another comment about his eyes, cursed, “What’s wrong with my eyes? I don’t steal or rob, I work hard driving a taxi. My parents gave me this face—should I just cut it off?”
As the driver and Wang Guocheng argued, Fan Xiaoyao rushed over and shouted, “Enough!”
Without a word, she grabbed Wang Guocheng and pulled him away, ignoring the driver’s curses behind them. “Wang Guocheng, what is this nonsense?”
Wang Guocheng drew her into his arms, holding her tightly and kissing her deeply. “Xiaoyao, I want to be by your side! From now on, whenever we go out, we do it together!”