Chapter 51: Seeing the Ocean

"Lin Ye?"

A somewhat familiar voice sounded beside his ear. Lin Ye turned his body somewhat stiffly to see Su Qing standing not far away by the roadside, her eyes and brows curved in a smile.

For some reason, seeing Su Qing again made Lin Ye feel as though something was stuck in his throat. Look at that, the world was truly like this—everywhere full of unexpected surprises and coincidences of your own making.

"Are you here for coffee too?"

Su Qing stood with her hands behind her back, her light green floral dress swaying gently in the evening breeze.

One-fifth of a second later, Lin Ye nodded and said, "Yeah, I just happened to be passing by and thought I'd grab a cup of coffee. After having one with you last time, I felt that this café's coffee is indeed quite fragrant."

Are you kidding me? If Lin Ye said he had just finished drinking a cup at a time like this, he would be a pure idiot, deserving to be single for the rest of his life.

The last opportunity had been squandered by him, but this time, Lin Ye was determined to seize this hard-earned chance. As for his younger sister sleeping in the passenger seat...

How should he put it? Actually, the seats of the Tank 700 were quite comfortable; his sister sleeping inside would not be a problem at all. Lin Ye had slept in it for a whole night, so he could vouch for that.

The two of them walked into the café one after the other. Lin Ye didn't quite dare to look at the barista behind the counter, afraid she might suddenly blurt out why he was back again, or if there was something wrong with the hot cocoa he had just bought.

Fortunately, all of this was just in Lin Ye's imagination. The barista remained expressionless and said nothing, efficiently completing the ordering process as usual. The two of them sat at the same window seat as last time.

From Lin Ye's seat, he could just see the passenger side of the Tank 700, so he didn't have to worry too much about any accidents befalling his sleeping sister in the car.

From the moment they sat down, the atmosphere grew slightly strange. Neither of them spoke, both simply looking out the window at the bustling traffic on the street.

Lin Ye could clearly perceive his heartbeat accelerating. Now, whenever he saw Su Qing's lips, the scene of him pulling Su Qing into his arms and that kiss on that day would flash through his mind.

It took a great deal of effort for him to calm his emotions slightly. He decided to take the initiative; he needed to find something to talk about.

"Why did you come out for coffee so late?"

As soon as those words left his mouth, Lin Ye wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into out of embarrassment. Listen to that, just listen to what he had just said—people come out for coffee simply because they want a cup, what other reason could there be?

Realizing this, Lin Ye blushed almost to the point of turning red, but little did he know, Su Qing's purpose in coming to the café was far from innocent.

Su Qing's face flushed slightly, and she instinctively recalled Su Qi's instructions. Su Qi had told her that to deal with a young fellow like Lin Ye, one had to play a straightforward game, especially since Lin Ye came from a science and engineering university.

Su Qing gritted her teeth, turned her head to stare intently into Lin Ye's eyes, and gathered the courage to say, "Right, since we don't have each other's contact information, I can only occasionally come to the café and try my luck, you see."

Saying this, Su Qing deliberately paused for a few seconds, gave Lin Ye a suggestive look, and continued, "It seems you really took everything I said to heart that day. I didn't expect the two of us to meet again so soon."

At that instant, Lin Ye felt as though his head had been struck by lightning, leaving him in a dizzy daze. He truly hadn't expected Su Qing to give such a reason.

Come to think of it, all these days, he hadn't been the only one putting in the effort through such a clumsy method? What was he supposed to say at a time like this?

Su Qing looked smilingly at Lin Ye, whose face was mostly flushed, with his mouth slightly open, not knowing what to say. From Lin Ye's reaction, it was not hard to judge that the method Su Qi suggested was indeed exceptionally effective.

It could be said that it utterly crushed Lin Ye, who had zero romantic experience, reducing him to absolute smithereens.

In fact, Su Qing found it rather strange too, because when she was unconscious back then, Lin Ye had been quite articulate—sitting beside her, holding her hand, touching her face, and chattering away nonstop.

It had given her the impression that Lin Ye was the type of person with supreme social confidence, and she never imagined he would act like this in reality.

Yet in other aspects, he didn't seem much different, such as his good looks and the like.

Compared to Su Qing, who had a military advisor plotting behind the scenes, Lin Ye's situation appeared somewhat thin. Hearing Su Qing say she used this method to engineer an accidental encounter with him, he spoke up instinctively.

"Ever since that day, I've come to this café almost every single day, just hoping that when we met again, we could exchange contact information..."

Su Qing was slightly taken aback, not expecting Lin Ye to be so direct. Since matters had progressed to this point, the two of them exchanged contact information.

Lin Ye intended to press his advantage and ask Su Qing out to a movie. After all, since he had already made up his mind, he shouldn't hesitate, lest he regret the outcome in the end.

"How about we go see a movie this weekend?" Lin Ye gazed into Su Qing's eyes and asked somewhat nervously.

"Alright, this Saturday then. Saturday... what time slot?"

Su Qing counted on her fingers, seemingly pondering which time slot would be most suitable for a movie.

"Shall we go in the afternoon? If you still have free time afterwards, we can go grab dinner together."

"Okay, it's a deal then."

Lin Ye hadn't expected everything to go so smoothly—that he would manage to ask Su Qing out on a movie date just like that. Regardless of whether they were husband and wife in name.

When all was said and done, they were merely a young couple who had met only a few times.

Just as the atmosphere seemed to grow quiet again, Su Qing spoke up, "Actually, I originally thought you would ask me whether I wanted to go see the sea with you."

Su Qing's eyes flickered with an inexplicable light, a light that seemed to drag Lin Ye back to that day when he sat beside Su Qing's hospital bed and said in a gentle voice that when she woke up, he would take her to see the sea.

Once upon a time, Lin Ye had thought this was something that could never be realized, yet here it was, placed before him once again.

It seemed so close to him, as if he only needed to speak up once more, and the girl opposite him would truly go to the seaside with him.

"I originally wanted to invite you to see the sea too, but I have to work, so I can only wait for a long holiday."

Lin Ye shook his head somewhat helplessly. He had only just stepped into the position of secretary and hadn't accomplished much yet. If he went to President Su and said he wanted to take a few days off to go see the sea...

Lin Ye felt he had reason to suspect that if he really said that to Su Qi, she definitely wouldn't agree; it was simply too unreasonable.

"I think you could find a time to ask for leave. After all, if we go out to play during public holidays, there will probably be a lot of people."

Su Qing leaned forward, rested her chin in her hands, and blinked playfully at Lin Ye.