Chapter 8     Schemes [2]

Su Qingtang headed to the café right after the shoot ended. The bell chimed beautifully as she entered, and she looked around for her mother who was strangely nowhere in sight. This was way out of the norm as Jian Shu was always at least 5 minutes early wherever she went. It was strange to not see her there waiting. She headed over to the only empty seat in the waiting area. A small table by the window with two seats facing each other. This café was designed to be a hotspot for dates and so had a very attractive and romantic vibe. To maintain this ambiance the only available seats were couple seats.

"Hello, can I please have this seat." She courteously asks the person opposite the seat she wanted as she didn't know if he was waiting on someone. It would be horrible if a mix-up happened and someone thought she was on a date with this random man.

The man looks up to decline but pauses in shock. Su Qingtang also freezes. What kind of strange coincidence was this? She silently thanked her lucky stars she hadn't offended this man earlier.

"The male lea- I mean Lu Yexuan! What are you doing here?" She was stunned, she suddenly felt like she had fallen for a devious plot. Something didn't quite add up, "…Did your mother ask to meet you here too?"

Lu Yexuan frowned before quickly understanding what she was getting at, then nodding with a sigh. "I suppose they planned all this so we could have a talk and probably work out a favorable resolution to the problem of how to proceed with our engagement."

Wrong. The two scheming mothers had spent their entire evening planning for them to have a romantic date: for a beautiful moment to be had so that the misunderstanding [rather the play directed, starred and edited by Su Qingtang} would be quickly forgotten and for the two to nurture their relationship. Sadly, the EQ total of the pair was too lacking for the two blockheads involved to notice the 'good intentions' of their mothers.

Su Qingtang's expression turns serious as she slides into the seat which was surprisingly comfortable. It seemed like the owner had placed serious thought into the comfort of their customers.

She nods as she speaks in confirmation of his words. "Yes, I have been meaning to talk to you about this for a while as well." She just didn't know how to bring it up.

Lu Yexuan raises an eyebrow as he takes a sip of his coffee. He seemed to like this gesture a lot Su Qingtang comments inwardly.

"I think we should break off our engagement."

The system that had been pretending it was dead: "!!!"

The system: 'Host what are you doing?! I leave you on your own for one second-'

Lu Yexuan keeps the indifferent look on his face but Su Qingtang could see that he was a bit shocked. He hadn't expected such a direct response from her, "Why?"

'Because I won't be caught dead fighting with the female lead over a block of ice. I'd rather spend my time filming. At least I get paid for that!'

"Because we are not compatible."

He raises a perfectly arched eyebrow. Su Qingtang suddenly found it irritating how unfair his existence was. The light always seemed to hit the right angles of his face. Stupid male lead halo. "An issue of compatibility?"

The way he spoke was quite authoritative and quickly succeeded at pulling Su Qingtang from her envy. It was an ingrained authority that seeped out of his pores and was intensified by his indifferent personality and languid charm. Su Qingtang suddenly felt like a student who was caught doing something bad and was asked to explain herself, but quickly shakes off the notion.

"I didn't think you were the type to openly pursue a fickle thing such as love." He comments, his tone held a near imperceptible tone of mocking that slightly angered the ever calm Su Qingtang. It sounded like a direct challenge.

"So what if I am?" In truth, Su Qingtang didn't believe much in the notion of love and all that it entailed but the way the man had the audacity to speak to her as if he understood her grated on her nerves. Don't forget that Su Qingtang was arrogant to the bone under all the cheerful light humor she exudes. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Lu Yexuan puts down his now empty coffee cup and stares at her seriously for a few seconds before he continues. "So, you believe in the notion of wooing someone with dates-" Bothersome. Su Qingtang was way too busy to be going on dates. "-Meaningless conversation-" Troublesome. Su Qingtang could see that getting old pretty fast. "-and the general pursuit of someone's heart?" Human hearts have always been known for its capriciousness. Su Qingtang found the entire process endlessly tiring. All she wanted to do was act. Where would she find time for all of this. Not to mention the possibilities of unwanted scandals-

Su Qingtang gritted her teeth. She forced herself to lie. "...yes." No.

"As you wish."

Su Qingtang choked, "Pardon?" Suddenly her ears seemed to have malfunctioned. She can't possibly have heard right could she?

"If you find these meaningless gestures a necessity, I see no harm conceding to your wishes." Wishes? What wishes?

Su Qingtang: 'I was lying, ok!'

Lu Yexuan gets up to leave. "See you tomorrow, Qingtang."

Su Qingtang's brain stalled and sputtered. What the hell is this development? Since when was I on first name basis with this steel pole? System!

The system was also quite dumfounded with the changes happening in the male lead. 'Why was he actively pursuing the host? But that goes against his character settings! Did the world develop a bug?' The system had never encountered such a situation before.

Su Qingtang watched in dumbfounded silence as Lu Yexuan walked out the cafe leaving her to her thoughts. She somehow felt that she was deliberately lured into following the male leads wishes and she didn't like it one bit. But she couldn't seem to point out which part of their conversation was wrong.