Huayu93: From Selling Magnetic Cards to Entertainment Tycoon

Chapter 15 Maxim's Dinner, The First Kiss at the School Gate

When I stepped out of the hotel, it was still light. In late May, the evening breeze in Beijing was neither too hot nor too cold, just right for my face.

"Let's go eat," Li Si'an said. "It's a promise, my treat."

"Where to?"

"Maxim".

Tang Yun was taken aback: "That place... I heard it's quite expensive."

"It's not like I'm asking you to pay."

Li Si'an flagged down a car on the roadside, opened the door, and let Tang Yun get in first. He then got in himself, closed the door, and immediately put his arm around Tang Yun's shoulder.

"Chongwenmen, Maxim," he said to the driver.

The car headed towards Chongwenmen. Maxim's is a French restaurant next to the Chongwenmen Hotel, opened in the 1980s, and is said to be owned by Pierre Cardin. It's one of the most expensive Western restaurants in Beijing.

Li Si'an had heard of it in her past life, but had never been inside. Now that she was rich, she had to try it at least once.

Tang Yun leaned on his shoulder without saying a word. The streetlights outside the car window rushed past, casting shadows on her face.

Upon arrival, the two got out of the car. Maxim's storefront wasn't large, but the signboard and decorations exuded an old-fashioned luxury.

Pushing open the door, they entered a dimly lit room with snow-white tablecloths and silver cutlery gleaming in the candlelight. A waiter in a black vest greeted them and led them to a seat by the window.

After Tang Yun sat down, she looked around and said in a low voice, "This place... is too high-class."

"That's how it is at French restaurants." Li Si'an opened the menu, glanced at it, and handed it to Tang Yun. "Take a look and see what you want to eat."

Tang Yun took the menu, glanced at the price, frowned, and then closed it again.

"Too expensive."

"I said it's on me." Li Si'an took the menu back, flipped through it, and said to the waiter, "Two steaks, medium-rare. One escargot, one salad, and two bowls of soup."

"What kind of soup?"

French onion soup.

The waiter wrote it down and took the menu away.

While waiting for her food, Tang Yun lowered her head and drew circles on the tablecloth with her fork.

Li Si'an leaned back in his chair and watched her for a while.

Are you nervous?

"No," she said, but the fork didn't stop.

"So you feel this place is too high-class, and you don't know how to behave?"

The fork stopped. She looked up at him briefly, then looked down again.

How did you know?

"When you came in just now, you looked around, and then when you sat down, you even moved your chair forward a little so as not to block people from passing by. That chair didn't need to be moved in the first place."

Tang Yun didn't speak, her fingers pinching the fork, then loosening it again.

"Don't be nervous," Li Si'an said. "I won't eat it either."

"...You don't know how either?"

"This is my first time here too." He smiled. "French food is just about eating with a knife and fork, anyone can do that."

Tang Yun glanced at him, her lips twitching as if she wanted to laugh but didn't.

"What if you make a mistake?"

"So what if I made a mistake? Who even knows me?"

She lowered her head, and the fork started making circles again, this time a little slower and less forceful.

"You ordered that snail... how do you eat it?"

"I don't know. I'll teach you when we get on."

"You can?"

"I'll just learn it on the spot. How bad can that stuff taste?"

Tang Yun smiled genuinely this time, a small smile that quickly faded as the corners of her mouth curved, but her eyes were brighter than before.

The food arrived. The snails were served in a grooved metal dish, steaming hot. Li Si'an tried to grab them with the small tongs, but failed; the snails slipped out and rolled around in the dish.

Tang Yun looked at the snail and finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Weren't you going to lecture me?"

"This thing won't listen to me." Li Si'an picked up the meat again, this time successfully, and used a small fork to remove it from her plate. "Try it."

Tang Yun stared at the snail meat for a second, then put it in her mouth, chewed it, and her eyes lit up.

"tasty."

"Of course. It costs over four hundred yuan a meal, how could it not be delicious?"

"More than four hundred?!" Tang Yun's fork stopped in mid-air.

"It's my treat, what are you afraid of?"

Tang Yun didn't reply, lowering her head to continue eating her snails. After a while, she whispered, "I just wanted to ask... how much do you earn a month writing those things?"

"Not necessarily. Combining royalties with the magnetic card business, it averages out to a little over ten thousand."

She looked up at him, her lips moved slightly, but she didn't say anything before looking down again.

"You're different from other people."

"What's different?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it," she thought for a moment, "it's just different."

Li Si'an smiled but didn't reply.

When we came out of Maxim's, it was already completely dark. The streetlights on Chongwenmen Street were on, casting long shadows of the two of us.

Li Si'an hailed a taxi by the roadside, opened the door, and let Tang Yun get in first. He then got in himself, closed the door, and put his arm around her shoulder. This time, she didn't even flinch; she leaned right in.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"Baishiqiao, the affiliated high school of Beijing Dance Academy."

The car started and drove west along Chang'an Avenue. Tang Yun leaned on his shoulder, her hair brushing against his chin, tickling him. Her hand was in his, and she didn't pull away.

"Li Si'an".

"Um."

"Are you really not going to Mount Lu?"

"No, I'm not going. I'll be too busy renovating the house during the summer vacation."

Tang Yun nodded and didn't say anything more.

The car pulled up at the school gate, Li Si'an paid the fare, and the two got out.

The streetlights at the school gate cast long shadows of the two people.

Tang Yun stood in front of him, head down, without saying a word.

Li Si'an looked at her.

The streetlights shone down from above, illuminating half of her face in light and half in shadow. Her mixed-race features appeared even more striking in the twilight.

Her brow bone was more defined than that of Han Chinese girls, her nose was straight and prominent, and she had a slight hump, which made her look particularly three-dimensional.

But what he couldn't take his eyes off were her lips.

He stared at those two lips for a long time.

He noticed her the first time he saw her at the entrance of the rehearsal hall.

It's not the delicate kind of cherry lips, but full and well-defined, with a clear curve in the upper lip and a slightly thicker lower lip. When not speaking, it's slightly pursed, creating a soft, tempting curve.

The color is also beautiful. It's not the kind of red you get from applying lipstick; it's a deep, rose-colored red that shines through your skin, like blood is just beneath that thin layer of skin, ready to seep out at any moment.

Sometimes when he's daydreaming in class, that mouth pops into his head. During rehearsals, with his hand on her waist, he has to control himself from looking at her face.

She sat across from him during the meal, and he had to control himself from staring at her mouth.

He'd been craving it for a long time.

Today, as we left Maxim's, she leaned on his shoulder the whole way, her lips right in front of him, very close.

He was so close that he could see every curve of her upper lip, so close that he could feel her lips moving slightly as she breathed.

He endured it the whole way.

I don't want to put up with it anymore.

"Tang Rhyme".

She didn't look up.

Li Si'an reached out, pinched her chin, and lifted it upwards. The movement was gentle, but brooked no refusal.

Tang Yun was forced to lift her face, meeting his eyes. Her eyelashes trembled, her lips pursed, then relaxed.

He looked at her lips. The streetlights cast their light on them, making the slight curve of her lower lip, which was fuller than her upper lip, particularly clear in the light and shadow.

He kissed her.

There was no probing. The moment his lips touched hers, he tasted them—clean, slightly cool, like the thin layer of moisture on freshly washed fruit peel.

Her lips were softer than he had imagined—elastic, full, and the kind of soft that bounced back when pressed.

The curve of the upper lip's peak fit perfectly into the gap between his lips, like a key inserted into a lock.

Tang Yun froze.

From the point where our lips touched, it felt like I was struck by something; my shoulders tightened abruptly, my back arched, and I shrank back.

Her hands gripped the hem of his clothes tightly, and her whole body began to tremble.

It wasn't the kind of shivering you get from cold; it was a very fine, very dense tremor that traveled from your lips to your chin, from your chin to your shoulders, and from your shoulders to your arms, like someone throwing a pebble into a calm body of water, with ripples spreading outwards in circles.

Li Si'an's hand was still on her waist. He could feel that the skin his palm was touching was hot, even through her clothes.

Her waist shrank back, but only for a moment, and then she stopped moving—not that she stopped trying to avoid him, but that her whole body went limp, as if she couldn't stand up, and she leaned into his arms.

Her eyelashes trembled violently, her eyes were closed, her lips were slightly parted, and her breathing was shallow and rapid, each exhale accompanied by a tremor. This was her body reacting, something she couldn't control.

Li Si'an moved her lips away slightly, her forehead touching hers.

She was still trembling. A small, persistent tremor, spreading from her shoulders to her arms, and from her arms to her fingertips.

Her fingers were still clutching the hem of his clothes, but she had no strength left and was just holding on.

"Tang Rhyme".

She didn't open her eyes; her eyelashes were still trembling. Several seconds later, she slowly opened them. Her eyes were red, her lips were red, and they still held the moisture from the kiss.

Her expression was as if she had been overwhelmed by something; she was frightened by her own body's reaction and couldn't control herself, feeling a little panicked.

"...You..." Her voice trembled, and she could only utter one word before she could no longer continue.

Li Si'an didn't say anything, but slid his hand from her waist to her lower back, gently pulling her into his arms.

She could feel his palm against her back, warm and steady. Her body was still trembling, but it gradually subsided, as if that hand was gently pressing down on her.

She lowered her head and buried her face in his chest.

"You...you in the future..." Her voice was muffled and still trembling, but a little better than before, "Don't suddenly..."

"Um."

"I'm being serious..."

"Um."

She didn't say anything more. Her hands loosened from his clothes and slowly wrapped around his waist. She leaned against him, her trembling subsiding.

After a long while, she finally said in a muffled voice:

"...You really are..."

She didn't finish speaking. But her arms tightened around him a little.