Chapter 115: Same Old, Same Old Friend

Chapter 115: The Usual, Old Friends

Xu Moxing wasn’t trying to make fun of Su Lichen—mainly because he felt he didn’t understand fashion at all. He dressed quite simply every day, in minimalist style.

On the other hand, in Xu Moxing’s eyes, Su Lichen had always been fashionable, very stylish, and had great taste.

Style required money and a sense of style to cultivate. In the past, Xu Moxing had no money and no means to focus on fashion.

After becoming financially independent, the tightwad that he is, still never cared about these things. His principle for buying clothes was simply good quality and low price.

Becoming stylish wasn’t impossible, but it takes effort, and Xu Moxing had no interest in dressing up.

Xu Moxing walked a little ahead, Su Lichen followed.

They took the escalator directly to the men’s section on the second floor of the mall.

Xu Moxing didn’t know which store to go to, so he stopped and looked back at Su Lichen.

Su Lichen glanced around and headed to a store. Xu Moxing followed him.

At the athletic wear store, Su Lichen looked through clothes, feeling the fabric and looking at the styles.

“What do you think of this one?”

Xu Moxing stood beside him, glanced at the clothes in his hand, and nodded. “Looks pretty good.”

“Then I’ll buy one set.”

Su Lichen held onto the clothes and continued browsing, planning to buy another set.

“Give it to me. You go pick, I’ll hold them for you.”

Whenever he entered a place like this, Xu Moxing started feeling drowsy. Once he took the clothes, he found a spot to sit and rest.

Xu Moxing glanced at the price tags on the clothes and muttered under his breath, “Tsk, so expensive. Brand premium.”

“Mo, what about this one?”

Su Lichen held up a shirt and held it up to himself for Xu Moxing to see.

“Hmm, I personally don’t like this color. Buy it if you like it, but to be honest, it makes your skin look darker than it is.”

Xu Moxing frowned, telling it like it is.

Su Lichen’s lips curled up slightly. “Alright, forget it then. I’ll keep looking.”

Actually, he did it intentionally. He knew the color would make him look darker and wouldn’t look good on him. Plus, Xu Moxing didn’t like clothes with high saturation or too neon colors.

He just wanted to test if Xu Moxing would be honest.

After picking two items, Su Lichen paid and then pulled Xu Moxing to other stores.

Two sets were enough for him, but once he bought them, he would have no excuse to keep Xu Moxing around. So he pretended he still wanted to buy more.

At the second store, nothing caught his eye, so they continued to the next.

When they came out of the third store, Su Lichen saw that Xu Moxing was clearly getting bored and wanted to leave.

“Mo, are you thirsty? Want some milk tea? I haven’t had milk tea in a long time.”

“Let’s go get one.”

Xu Moxing hadn’t had milk tea in a while either. He was already bored to death from shopping, but the mention of milk tea perked him up.

They found a milk tea shop in the mall. There were a few people ahead of them in line.

Su Lichen stood at the end of the line. Xu Moxing waited nearby, looking at the menu on the counter.

He didn’t recognize any of the names—names like “Cheese Grape,” “Strawberry Cheese,” all bright and flashy.

When it was their turn, Su Lichen turned to him.

“What do you want?”

Xu Moxing hesitated for a moment.

“The usual.”

Su Lichen looked at him, suddenly smiled, then quickly returned to normal.

“So, the usual—taro boba, right?”

Xu Moxing nodded, not understanding why Su Lichen laughed.

Actually, Su Lichen was thinking about how long it had been since they had milk tea together. The last time was almost a year ago.

Hearing Xu Moxing say “the usual” as if they’d never been apart, or like old friends who had known each other forever, that made Su Lichen smile.

After Su Lichen placed the order, they stood to the side waiting for their number.

“I didn’t ask you earlier—how have you been lately? Work going well? Need any help from me?”

Xu Moxing shook his head. “Same old, same old. I still run into some rude people occasionally, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“That’s good.”

Su Lichen hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, “Are you single now, or… can I ask?”

Xu Moxing didn’t speak.

Su Lichen gave himself an out: “It’s okay. If you don’t want to say, forget it. I was just curious. If you’re seeing someone, I won’t come between you and your current partner. You can rest assured about that.”

Xu Moxing still said nothing, staring at the floor.

Xu Moxing and Happy Horse were just friends. Happy Horse was basically just an online friend, at most a real-life meetup once.

But it could never go further, not just because of the distance, but mainly because Xu Moxing didn’t have any feelings for Happy Horse. Their relationship was strictly platonic.

Earlier, he had lied to Su Lichen using Xu Jianqing. Now Xu Moxing wondered if he should come clean.

Then he thought it was unnecessary. After all, they had broken up for two years. What’s the point?

They couldn’t go back. You always have to move forward. And he had moved away over six months ago. Surely Su Lichen had moved on by now.

“Number 1029.”

The staff at the milk tea shop called their number. Su Lichen, who hadn’t yet received an answer from Xu Moxing, went to pick up the drinks.

After picking up the milk tea, Su Lichen acted like nothing happened, as if he had never asked the question.

"Mo, want to drink it now? Otherwise the ice will melt and it'll get watery."

"Yeah, let's drink."

Xu Moxing took a big sip of his milk tea, full of taro paste, smooth with little bits of taro—still delicious.

The two shopped while drinking milk tea. Su Lichen deliberately led him toward the hotel, gradually leading them away from the subway station.

Xu Moxing was already tired from walking. After a day of shopping with Su Lichen, his WeChat step count had blown past his limit.

"Mo, I'll buy just these for now, nothing else caught my interest. We're close to the hotel, why don't I drive you back?"

Xu Moxing checked his phone—it was almost five. So they had been shopping for nearly three hours, no wonder he was so tired.

"Uh, no thanks, I'll just take the subway back."

Xu Moxing tried to find a subway station, only to realize he was smack in between two stations, and no matter which one he chose, he'd have a long walk.

He was pretty frustrated.

Su Lichen, holding the shopping bags, said, "Let me take you back. Sit here and wait for me. I'll go back to the hotel to get the car."

Xu Moxing was tempted. He really didn't feel like walking anymore.

Besides, it was National Day, and this was a popular commercial street; the subway would definitely be packed with people, no seats, lots of jostling.

He would have to stand all the way back, and after getting off the subway, he would still have to walk some distance... The mere thought of it was exhausting.

"Okay? Just sit here and wait for me. I'll drive over right away."

Afraid he'd refuse, Su Lichen shoved the shopping bags into his hands and, as he ran off, shouted back at the stunned Xu Moxing, "Hold these! I'll get the car and be right back!"

"..."

Watching the man sprint away, Xu Moxing thought, "Fine, I'll just sit here and wait for him."

Xu Moxing also had something to say, but he'd forgotten to bring it up.