Visa On Arrival Chapter 17
byI’ll Take You Home with Me Tomorrow
The midday sun was a bit intense, with visible heat waves rising from the asphalt road.
Xu Xingci held an umbrella in one hand and linked arms with Qi Ranyue with the other as they strolled toward a restaurant on the corner.
A cheerful ringtone sounded from a phone.
Qi Ranyue pulled her phone out of her pocket. The sunlight hit the screen, illuminating the caller ID.
She pressed the phone to her ear, her voice still carrying a hint of the laziness from their previous joking: “Hello, Mom, what’s up?”
“Baby, Mom is just calling to tell you that tomorrow is the 15th. Don’t be late, okay? Remember to come back for dinner! It’s the rule, so remember!” The voice on the other end rambled on, carrying a touch of domestic warmth through the signal.
“Don’t be late. Last time we waited for ages, and your father’s expression… don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Listening to this, the corners of Qi Ranyue’s mouth slowly curled up, but she didn’t respond immediately.
The voice on the other end continued: “Did you hear me?”
“I heard you, I heard you,” she finally spoke, her voice soft. “I promise to be on time tomorrow and won’t be late again. Is that okay, dear Mother?”
“Mhm, alright, as long as you know.” Her mother’s voice paused. “Eh, baby, what are you doing right now?”
Qi Ranyue instinctively looked up at the person beside her.
“Going to eat, Mom.” she drawled, her voice trailing off like she was coaxing a worrying child. “I’m on my way to the tea restaurant.”
Her mother added another question, “With whom? Is it with Rongrong?”
Qi Ranyue’s movements stiffened, and a faint blush crept onto her ears. She instinctively glanced at the person beside her before quickly lowering her eyelids.
“It’s not Rongrong… uh… it’s…” Her voice dropped, becoming vague.
“It’s just…” She switched the phone to her other ear and lowered her voice even more. “Oh, Mom, stop asking.”
There was a second of silence on the other end, followed by a meaningful “Oh my, baby, you have little secrets from Mom now? Are you in a relationship? Mom isn’t some feudal parent. If you like them, just bring them home for Mom and Dad to see!”
“Oh, Mom, I know, I know… I’m hanging up now, bye-bye, bye-bye, mua, a kiss for you, I’m really hanging up, bye.” Qi Ranyue hurriedly ended the call and stuffed the phone back into her pocket.
Xu Xingci looked down at her and saw that even her earlobes were flushed.
Before the blush on Qi Ranyue’s face could fade, she heard him speak leisurely: “What, you don’t want to take me back to meet the parents?”
Xu Xingci tilted his head slightly, a faint blush on his own face and a hint of a smile on his lips. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the plane tree leaves, casting dappled spots of light across his face.
“Don’t they say…” He took a slow step forward. “An ugly daughter-in-law has to meet the in-laws eventually?”
Qi Ranyue’s mouth dropped open. “Huh?”
He leaned in a bit closer, lowering his voice, though a smile he couldn’t hide sparkled in his eyes: “Besides, I’m so handsome. Taking me out won’t embarrass you. Just give me an official status.”
“…”
Qi Ranyue stared at him blankly for two seconds before bursting into laughter: “Have you no shame!”
“Fine, fine, fine!” Qi Ranyue interrupted him with a red face, grabbing his wrist and pulling him forward. “Let’s eat, I’m hungry!”
Xu Xingci let her pull him along. Watching her bright red ears from behind her, the smile on his lips deepened.
After walking for a bit.
Qi Ranyue suddenly muttered without turning her head:
“I’ll take you home with me tomorrow.”
In that instant, his heartbeat felt like someone had pressed the fast-forward button—thump, thump, thump, pounding against his chest like a drum.
It was only a few words, and they had just been joking about it, yet she had said it while her back was turned to him.
Xu Xingci suddenly felt his throat go dry, and his face began to heat up. Starting from his ears, the heat burned upward bit by bit, leaving him feeling a little flustered.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something romantic, wanting to say he had been ready for a long time, wanting to say it was no problem and to leave it to him.
But when the words reached his lips, they all got stuck in his throat. In the end, they only turned into a muffled “Mhm.”
The midday breeze blew through the street, carrying the hot sweetness unique to summer.
They sat down at a window seat in an old-fashioned tea restaurant.
The ceiling fan overhead spun lazily, thinning out the cold air from the air conditioner.
桌上是兩份剛上來的碟頭飯，他的叉燒油雞，她的滑蛋牛肉。
On the table were two freshly served rice plates: his was char siu and soy sauce chicken, hers was scrambled eggs with beef.
Before they even picked up their chopsticks, a thin layer of condensation had formed on the walls of their milk tea cups.
Qi Ranyue had her head down, poking at the eggs in her bowl with a spoon, a smile still lingering on her lips.
Ever since that “Mhm” earlier, her smile hadn’t fully faded.
“Eh, it’s you!”
A voice interrupted from the side.
She looked up.
The newcomer wore a beige linen shirt with the sleeves casually rolled up to his forearms, revealing lean wrists. He wore white trousers, making him look clean and gentle.
Sunlight slanted in through the glass window, casting a soft glow around him.
The man’s eyes held a smile—not flashy, but one that made people feel close to him.
“It really is you!” The man looked at her, his eyes lighting up. “Long time no see. What are you doing here?”
She froze for a moment before recognizing him.
“Ah… it’s you, Ran Jin, long time no see!” Qi Ranyue sat up straight and smiled. “Are you here to eat too? Do you want to join us?”
After hearing the invitation, Ran Jin’s gaze swept gently between the two of them, and the curve of his lips softened and deepened.
“Sure.” His voice wasn’t loud, but he responded naturally. After speaking, he pulled out the chair beside them, the white fabric of his trousers lifting in a clean arc as he sat.
The beige shirt sleeves swayed slightly as he raised his arms. His movements as he took his seat carried an indescribable composure.
He sat down, his gaze falling on her across the table with a faint smile. “I’m not interrupting you two, am I?”
She quickly waved her hands. “No, not at all!” As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt she had been too hasty. She paused and then added, “I haven’t… thanked you in person yet.”
Qi Ranyue’s voice was lower than before, but much more serious. Her fingers unconsciously gripped her chopsticks, her knuckles turning slightly white.
“About what happened last time, thank you so much.”
She looked up at Ran Jin. “And…”
She paused, as if gathering her courage:
“I’m sorry!”
Those two words fell softly into the air. For a moment, the noisy bustle of the tea restaurant seemed to fade away.
Ran Jin upon hearing this simply looked at her quietly. There was no surprise or questioning in his gaze; he just waited silently for her to finish.
But she didn’t say anything more.
Silence lasted for two seconds.
Qi Ranyue heard a light chuckle from across the table, soft like the wind blowing through the pages of a book.
“It’s fine.”
She looked up.
Ran Jin sat there, his beige shirt softened by the sunlight. That faint smile remained on his face, but his eyes seemed deeper than before.
“Seeing you so happy now,” Ran Jin said, shifting his gaze from her face with a gentle understanding, “I believe Neo is happy too.”
Ran Jin chuckled softly, his gaze falling on the person beside her whose ears had quietly turned bright red.
“And this is—”
Only then did she react, quickly putting down her chopsticks. “Oh right, I haven’t introduced him yet…”
“I’m her boyfriend.”
Someone beat her to it.
Qi Ranyue turned her head and saw that the redness on his face hadn’t faded, yet he was trying his best to look serious. She couldn’t help but want to laugh.
Ran Jin looked at the person across from him. When his gaze fell upon the other’s features, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
So familiar.
It was as if he had seen him somewhere a long time ago.
The feeling was thin, like a mist shrouding his heart, but when he reached out to grasp it, he found nothing.
He lowered his eyes and took a sip of his iced lemon tea, gently suppressing that bit of doubt.
When he looked up again, his expression was as gentle as ever, wearing a faint smile that perfectly caught every word the other person said.
Late at night.
He stood in front of the villa’s floor-to-ceiling window, holding a glass of water that had long since gone cold.
The face from the tea restaurant flashed repeatedly through his mind.
Suddenly, it was as if a string snapped tight in his brain.
He froze.
Setting the water glass on the windowsill, he turned and grabbed his phone, his fingertips swiping quickly across the screen to dial a number.