Chapter 236

Chapter 236: Of Course You Spoil Your Own Girlfriend Chu Tang found her words rather amusing. She said with a look of exasperation, "Miss Shu, you really don't treat me as an outsider, do you? I'm Jiang Shixu's girlfriend, and you're asking me to bring my boyfriend to his admirer's birthday party?" She wasn't angry, exactly—just found it a bit baffling. Shu Mingyue raised one hand in a vow-to-heaven gesture. "Don't worry, I just want to make up for years of regret. All you need to do is bring him along. You can even show off your relationship in public—I don't mind. I just want him to attend my birthday party once, that's all." "Dear Tangtang, you're the best. Please just say yes." Shu Mingyue actually shook Chu Tang's arm, acting coy. "I really have no ill intentions. Just this once, okay?" Chu Tang frowned, deep in thought. "I promise I won't do anything to him." Shu Mingyue looked earnest. "Consider this birthday gathering as drawing a full stop on my years of unrequited love." After a long moment. Chu Tang sighed. "Fine." Shu Mingyue's face broke into a smile. "Thank you, Tangtang! Let me treat you to lunch!" ...... Inside a private dining room at a restaurant. Chu Tang, Shu Mingyue, and Jiang Shixu sat around the round table. Shu Mingyue handed the menu to Chu Tang, letting her order. Cantonese cuisine. Chu Tang ordered a few of her favorite dishes, one of which was boiled shrimp. Chu Tang had loved shrimp since she was little. Back home, servants would peel them for her. Now, it was just her, Shu Mingyue, and Jiang Shixu at the table. Once the dishes were served, Chu Tang picked up a boiled shrimp and placed it in her bowl, wiping her hands to peel it. Suddenly, a pair of chopsticks reached over from beside her and took the shrimp from her bowl. Chu Tang looked up to see Jiang Shixu already peeling it. His expression was completely natural, his long, fair fingers peeling the shrimp with elegance. Chu Tang was momentarily stunned and instinctively glanced at Shu Mingyue. Shu Mingyue sat frozen, her expression souring. One shrimp was peeled. Jiang Shixu pinched it by the tail, dipped it in sauce, and dropped it into Chu Tang's bowl. Chu Tang murmured a quiet "thank you" and picked it up to eat. Before she'd even finished the first one, Jiang Shixu had already peeled a second. Shu Mingyue's smile was strained. "A Xu, I never would've guessed you'd peel shrimp for someone." The young master of Jiangcheng—he had servants attending to him at every meal. When had he ever peeled his own shrimp? But judging by how practiced he was, this clearly wasn't the first time. Jiang Shixu kept his eyes lowered, focused on peeling. "Of course you spoil your own girlfriend. Can't have her doing it herself." Ouch. That stung. Shu Mingyue's chest felt tight. She didn't respond, simply picking up a bite of food to stuff in her mouth. Serves you right for talking. Now look what happened—not a single word out of that mouth of his was something she wanted to hear. Shu Mingyue regarded Ruan Chutang as her rival. She'd imagined before that after Jiang Shixu and Ruan Chutang reconciled, Ruan Chutang might gloat at her, flaunting how easily she'd won the man Shu Mingyue had pined after for seven years without ever obtaining. She'd even planned how she'd react in that scenario to save face. But what she never expected was that the one shoving their romance in her face would be Jiang Shixu himself. Compared to Jiang Shixu, Chu Tang actually seemed a bit awkward and embarrassed. Soon, the shrimp piled up into a small mountain in Chu Tang's bowl. Seeing that it was about enough, Jiang Shixu picked up a hot towel and wiped his hands leisurely. "Enough to eat?" "Mm." Chu Tang kept her head down, eating the shrimp. Jiang Shixu then picked up a piece of fish, carefully removing every bone, and placed the meat into Chu Tang's bowl. Chu Tang could feel a cold, resentful gaze fixed on her from across the table. Jiang Shixu noticed Shu Mingyue staring at him and said flatly, "Tangtang loves fish, but she often gets small bones stuck in her throat, so I need to pick them out for her." Shu Mingyue: "..." Seriously, who asked you? I don't recall asking this time either. Chu Tang gave an awkward twitch of her lips. She really hadn't meant to show off her relationship in front of Shu Mingyue. But even a fool could tell that Jiang Shixu had done it on purpose. Shu Mingyue was still the one paying for this meal—would she come after Chu Tang afterward? Chu Tang's sense of guilt was simply too strong; she felt like she was sitting on pins and needles throughout the meal. After all, she did consider Shu Mingyue a friend. After the meal, Jiang Shixu drove Chu Tang back to the law firm while Shu Mingyue went her own way. At the entrance of the law firm, Jiang Shixu lowered his head and placed a gentle kiss on Chu Tang's forehead. "Tangtang, I won't go up. There's still work to handle at the company." Chu Tang asked, "Did you do that on purpose just now?" "Do what?" "Showing off in front of Shu Mingyue—peeling shrimp and picking out fish bones." Jiang Shixu replied, "Not exactly on purpose. Even if she weren't there, I'd still peel shrimp and pick out bones for you." Back at the dinner table, when Shu Mingyue had said, "I never would've guessed you'd peel shrimp for someone," Chu Tang suddenly remembered—back when she and Jiang Shixu were dating, whenever they went out to eat and there was shrimp, he would always peel them for her. Removing fish bones wasn't the first time today. Chu Tang wanted to say something, but Jiang Shixu suddenly spoke up: "But I do want her to see clearly that in my heart and eyes, there's only you. I hope she'll give up on me sooner." Chu Tang thought of what Shu Mingyue had asked her to do this morning and asked, "Did you know that next Saturday is Shu Mingyue's birthday?" The man's eyes turned cold. "No, I didn't." In truth, Shu Mingyue had invited him to her birthday every year before, but he had never gone, nor had he ever remembered the date. So he genuinely didn't know. With him answering like that, Chu Tang almost didn't know how to bring it up. Jiang Shixu noticed her hesitant expression. "What's wrong?" Jiang Shixu asked. Chu Tang lowered her gaze to her toes. "She invited me to her birthday party." "Mm, do you want to go?" Jiang Shixu's tone was gentle. "If you don't want to, you don't have to." "It's not that I don't want to go," Chu Tang said. "It's just..." "Just what?" "She wants me to bring you along." Jiang Shixu asked, "And what's your opinion?" "I..." Chu Tang paused. "I agreed to it." "Alright, then I'll go with you." Chu Tang looked up at him. "You're not angry?" "Why would I be angry?" Jiang Shixu's eyes were full of tenderness. Chu Tang bit her lip, a little afraid to meet his eyes. "I know how she feels about you, yet I still agreed to bring you to her birthday party. Would you feel like I don't care about you?" "Then do you care about me?" Jiang Shixu answered with a question instead, his voice low and magnetic. "Of course I do," Chu Tang said without hesitation. "Then that's all that matters." Jiang Shixu's voice was deep and gentle. "As long as you care about me, that's enough. If you want me to go, I'll go. If you don't want me to, I won't." "Let's still go. I already promised her I'd bring you." "Mm." Jiang Shixu said softly, "Then we'll go, and let them all see how in love we are." Chu Tang: "..." It wasn't exactly about showing off their love.