There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 42.1

Seeing Huo Jun’s apparent stance of not letting her leave without an answer, Qin Ke could only say helplessly,

“Let me think about it a bit more.”

Huo Jun didn’t pause at all. “Sure, how long?”

Qin Ke: “…”

Qin Ke: “A month?”

Huo Jun’s lips curled into a smile, and he nodded.

Just as Qin Ke was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she heard the nodding young man say. “The time of one lunch, no more than that.”

Qin Ke: “……”

Qin Ke thought to herself, if it’s just one lunch, so be it. She could still think it over on her way back. Then Qin Ke discovered that this lunch was also arranged to be in the villa.

“…”

Two minutes later, Qin Ke found herself sitting in the dining room on the first floor of the villa, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Directly across from her was Huo Jun, who had changed into casual clothes.

“Lunch is Western cuisine,” the middle-aged woman, who was the housekeeper of the villa, Gu Qin, gently introduced to Qin Ke, “Last time, young master Zhonglou heard that Miss Qin Ke prefers French cuisine, so he specially invited a chef from the family in the capital. Miss Qin Ke can try if it suits her taste.”

“…”

Qin Ke was slightly stunned, looking at Huo Jun with surprise.

Reminded by Gu Qin’s way of addressing Huo Jun, she thought back to her previous life — at that time, living in the villa in Sijiu City, Huo Zhonglou never dined with her.

And he didn’t allow others to dine with her either.

Qin Ke clearly remembered that she once invited a life assistant arranged by Huo Zhonglou to dine at the same table, but the next day, that lovely fresh graduate was driven out by Huo Zhonglou with tears all over her face…

Qin Ke’s consciousness returned, and she sighed lightly in her heart.

She suddenly felt that compared to her previous life, being able to eat a meal face to face like this in harmony seemed to be a nice thing.

While Qin Ke was lost in thought, the first appetizer had already been served by the villa’s servants.

The appetizer was the common foie gras, with very appropriate texture and cooking, and in a very small portion.

Noticing that Huo Jun had the same appetizer as her, Qin Ke was a bit surprised.

“Don’t you dislike foie gras…?”

“.”

Across the table, Huo Jun, who had just slightly frowned, raised his eyelids. After a moment, he chuckled softly, looking at Qin Ke. “How do you know?”

“…”

Qin Ke regretted it as soon as she spoke.

It must have been because Gu Qin’s words had triggered memories of her previous life, so she unconsciously attributed Huo Zhonglou’s habits and preferences from that time to Huo Jun.

——

She remembered clearly that back then, Huo Jingyan had told her that foie gras was one of the foods Huo Zhonglou despised the most, and coincidentally, it was Qin Ke’s favorite appetizer.

Qin Ke felt guilty inside, but her expression didn’t change much. She just picked up the newly wiped knife and fork, lightly cutting the foie gras, while saying as naturally as possible.

“Teacher Huo told me.”

“He pays such close attention.”

Huo Jun snorted lightly, not doubting her words.

Qin Ke: “……”

I’m sorry, Teacher Huo.

“Because you like it.”

“?” Qin Ke was stunned, instinctively looking up at Huo Jun, “What…”

Huo Jun lightly pressed his fork against a small piece of cut foie gras.

“The things you like, I want to try to like them too.”

Qin Ke was stunned.

After a long while, she lowered her head and began eating quietly, without saying another word.

After the appetizer was finished, the servants replaced it with a new set of soup spoons and cutlery, and the second course of soup was served.

In the previous questionnaire, Qin Ke had expressed that she didn’t like cream, so instead of the cream of mushroom soup in front of Huo Jun, a Provençal seafood soup was placed before her, with lustrous red shrimp filling the depression of the straw hat-shaped soup plate. The chef in charge was clearly very professional and stylish, as even the circular edge of the straw hat plate was adorned with exquisite plating effects.

In the center of the table, a plate of thinly sliced bread was also placed.

“The seafood soup is this chef’s specialty. You can try it, and if you don’t like it, we can change to something else,” Huo Jun said.

Qin Ke nodded, “It looks quite good.”

“…”

After the main course was also finished and the servants had cleared away the tableware, Huo Jun lowered his eyes to look at Qin Ke.

As if casually plucking a sentence from the sky, he asked,

“How’s your consideration going?”

“…”

Qin Ke almost choked on herself.

A few dozen seconds later, Qin Ke put down the napkin she had used to wipe the corners of her mouth and spoke quietly,

“I can stay in the villa.”

A flash of various emotions passed through Huo Jun’s eyes.

After a moment, he still couldn’t suppress a laugh, “Although I know you probably have a ‘but’ following that, I’m still very happy.”

“…” Qin Ke looked at him helplessly, “But, I can’t accept the money stipulated in the contract anymore.”

Huo Jun: “Why?”

“Ling Ling doesn’t need tutoring at all, her foundation and grades have no problems whatsoever — you should know this better than I do.”

Huo Jun didn’t deny it, only slightly raising the end of his eyebrow.

“Striving for perfection?”

Qin Ke: “…”

Qin Ke: “Even if it’s striving for perfection, what I can do is minimal, so I can’t in good conscience accept that salary — knowing it’s just an excuse for you to give me money.”

Huo Jun frowned slightly.

“You’ve already moved out of your family home — I guess the Qin family won’t cover your expenses, so what do you want to do?”

Qin Ke sighed lightly in her heart.

After a moment, she looked up, her gaze serious and clear, “Huo Jun, I admit that I’ve been moved by you and have started to like you, but even if I truly fall in love with you, I still don’t want to lose my freedom.”

“…”

Huo Jun remained silent, looking down at her.

Qin Ke: “So I need to have my own space, my own right to consider and decide — I hope this is something you can give me.”

Huo Jun still didn’t speak up.

Qin Ke had no choice but to compromise and take a “half step” back.

“I’ll tell you when I’ve really made up my mind,” she said.

“…”

“Huo Jun.”

“…” The young man finally turned his gaze away, somewhat unwillingly yet inevitably, and repeated her words, “Tell me when you’ve decided.”

Qin Ke’s eyes curved slightly.

“Mm, I promise you.”

****

Tuesday, during P.E. class.

As they were strolling along the outermost lane of the plastic running track around the field, Gu Xinqing stopped abruptly upon hearing Qin Ke’s words

“Huh? Ke Ke, are you really going to contact that person?”

Qin Ke nodded, “I do have that intention.”

Gu Xinqing said, “…But why? Haven’t you already found a tutoring job? And the pay is so high, it’s like manna from heaven!”

Qin Ke sighed helplessly, “Yes, manna from heaven. Why didn’t it fall on someone else, but only on me?”

“…”

Gu Xinqing blinked, sensitively feeling that there was more to Qin Ke’s words. After thinking for two seconds, she couldn’t help but ask directly, “What’s wrong? Is there something fishy about that job? But when I went with you that day, it didn’t seem like there was any problem.”

Qin Ke was silent for a few seconds.

After a moment, she sighed softly, looked up to meet Gu Xinqing’s gaze, and told the truth, “The employer for that tutoring job is actually Huo Jun.”

Gu Xinqing: “??”

Gu Xinqing: “……”

The silence between the two continued eerily for a long time before Gu Xinqing finally found her voice again, “Senior Huo Jun really is… deeply in love with you. Come to think of it, I was the one who connected you two in this matter, but Ke Ke, believe me, I absolutely had no idea about this!”

“I know.”

Qin Ke smiled lightly at Gu Xinqing, then said helplessly, “It’s just that whatever he wants to do, he always manages to do it. Even without your involvement, it would have been the same for him.”

“…”

Seeing that Qin Ke truly didn’t blame her, Gu Xinqing breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, “So what are you planning to do, Ke Ke? Are you not going to take that tutoring job?”

Qin Ke said, “Knowing full well that he just made up an excuse to give me money, I really can’t accept it with a clear conscience. Now it seems that finding another tutoring job would indeed be difficult, so as I mentioned to you earlier, I’ve already started considering contacting that talent agency yesterday.”

“I guess that’s the only option,” Gu Xinqing nodded, then smiled and said, “But don’t be discouraged, Ke Ke. Although the tutoring path is closed, who knows, maybe by taking this agency path, you might become a big star in the future!”

Gu Xinqing proudly puffed out her chest.

“When that time comes, I’ll be the best friend of a big star!”

“How could it be that simple?”

Qin Ke looked at her amusedly.

Gu Xinqing didn’t care, giggling stupidly at Qin Ke while describing the “big star” future she was envisioning in her mind.

Qin Ke had originally planned to contact the talent agency this weekend, but she didn’t expect that before that, a coincidence would disrupt her plans.

It was Friday afternoon, and the last two periods were self-study sessions. As the class monitor of the elite freshman class, Qin Ke was responsible for maintaining discipline during these sessions.

Most of the time, the freshmen were quite self-disciplined—but this afternoon was an exception. Someone had heard some gossip from somewhere, and the students’ enthusiasm for discussion was still high as class time approached.

“Have you heard? A show from our provincial TV station is coming to our school to select people.”

“Is that true?”

“That’s impossible, right? We’re just an ordinary private high school—not to mention other cities, even in Qian City there’s an arts high school. They’d go to that kind of school to select people.”

“It’s true! My uncle works at the city TV station, and I confirmed it with him specifically.”

“But why are they coming to our school to select people?”

“Our school is still a key provincial high school after all. Even though our ranking is low, it’s not that hard to understand why they’d come here, right?”