Chapter 8: A Qi’s Spicy Hot Pot

After hearing Lin Anan’s unrestrained words, Jiang Xincheng was stunned. Even though he had already guessed that Lin Anan was taking her anger out on him because she had been dumped by her boyfriend and became a bit extreme, he never expected her to go to such lengths.

Was she planning to give up completely? But in his heart, Lin Anan had always been the untouchable Goddess, the only comfort he had after his parents passed away in his previous life. How could she give up like this? How could she become so irrational?

Jiang Xincheng’s expression changed. He strode over to Lin Anan, grabbed her hand, and started walking.

Lin Anan was startled. “What are you doing?”

“You said you wanted to get a room, right? Let’s go to a hotel now,” Jiang Xincheng said coldly.

“Ah…” Lin Anan froze. “So fast?”

Her earlier statement was mostly an outburst of anger. Deep down, she didn’t really mean it. But she never expected Jiang Xincheng to take it seriously.

Should she kick him away now and tell him it was just something she said in a fit of rage?

Lin Anan hesitated, her footsteps slowing down.

“What, scared now? Or was everything you just said a lie?” Jiang Xincheng sneered.

Lin Anan frowned and glared at Jiang Xincheng. “Is there anything I, Lin Anan, am afraid of? Let’s go then. Do you think I’m scared of you?”

Jiang Xincheng’s provoking words made up Lin Anan’s mind. She was a girl who feared nothing, straightforward and generous, and she despised lying.

Lin Anan’s personality was just like her father’s—she always kept her word. Since she had just said she would go to a hotel with Jiang Xincheng, she would definitely follow through. But was she really going to lose her first time this way?

Lin Anan’s delicate brows tightened, and she looked at Jiang Xincheng with disdain. “You really are a beast. All men in the world are the same.”

“What about your dad?” Jiang Xincheng said.

“You…” Lin Anan’s face flushed red, and for a moment she couldn’t speak. “How can my dad be the same as you?”

Jiang Xincheng smiled slightly and held Lin Anan’s small hand without saying a word.

Lin Anan grew even angrier. She shook off Jiang Xincheng’s hand. “Once we get to the hotel, hurry up. Finish quickly and get lost. I don’t want to spend another second with someone like you.”

“But I like to take my time, especially when I’m getting a room with a beauty like you.” Seeing Lin Anan’s cute, flushed face filled with anger, Jiang Xincheng couldn’t resist teasing her.

Lin Anan couldn’t help but kick him. “You shameless jerk.” She turned her head away and ignored Jiang Xincheng.

Half an hour later, at Shenzhuang Snack Street, A Qi’s Spicy Hot Pot stall.

Lin Anan stared at Jiang Xincheng in disbelief. “Weren’t you taking me to a hotel to get a room? What are we doing here?”

Jiang Xincheng placed a steaming bowl of spicy hot pot in front of Lin Anan. “A Qi’s spicy hot pot is fresh, fragrant, and delicious—top-notch. I love the spicy hot pot here the most. Do you like it?”

How could Lin Anan not like it? In his previous life, it was Lin Anan who often brought Jiang Xincheng here to eat spicy hot pot, which forced him, who originally didn’t care much for it, to develop a liking for the dish.

“I don’t like it. It’s not tasty at all.” Even though she loved it in her heart, Lin Anan gave Jiang Xincheng an angry glare.

Watching Lin Anan stubbornly refuse to admit the truth, a smile appeared at the corner of Jiang Xincheng’s mouth. In his previous life, he had often seen Sister Anan’s bold and unrestrained demeanor, but he rarely saw her acting this petulant.

It was very cute and heartwarming.

Jiang Xincheng pretended to take the spicy hot pot away. “Since you don’t like it, I’ll eat it. You can just watch.”

“Not liking it doesn’t mean I won’t eat it. You already brought it over, and now you won’t let me have it? You stingy jerk.” Lin Anan quickly swatted Jiang Xincheng’s hand away and said angrily.

Jiang Xincheng smiled slightly, took another bowl of spicy hot pot from the shop owner, and bought a few bottles of beer from a nearby store, placing them on the table.

“Look at my face, and you’ll know I’m not the kind of jerk who takes advantage of people. Let’s have a good meal, drink some beer to forget our troubles, and after you go back to sleep, everything will be fine.”

After hearing Jiang Xincheng’s words, Lin Anan really wanted to say, “You are that kind of jerk who takes advantage of people.” But looking at Jiang Xincheng’s handsome face and the concern in his eyes, she suddenly found herself unable to say it.

So Lin Anan lowered her head and ignored Jiang Xincheng, focusing on tackling the delicious spicy hot pot in front of her.

After eating about half of the large bowl of spicy hot pot, Lin Anan finally stopped. She opened a bottle of beer and took a big gulp. “Tell me, what do you mean by all this? If you didn’t want to take me to a hotel, then why did you treat me to a meal? Do you want me to do something for you? Or are we going to the hotel after we eat?”

“Can you tell me what happened now? You went through a breakup, and you were dumped by your boyfriend?” Jiang Xincheng didn’t answer her question but instead asked one of his own.

“You’re the one who got dumped by your boyfriend.” Lin Anan shot Jiang Xincheng a fierce glare.

Jiang Xincheng didn’t mind. “So you were the one who dumped your boyfriend? Can you tell me what happened?”

“This…” Lin Anan hesitated. Even with her straightforward personality, she knew that matters of the heart shouldn’t be casually shared with others, especially with a boy she had just met, and given the awkward situation between them.

But for some reason, she felt that Jiang Xincheng gave her a very familiar feeling, as if they had known each other before.

Jiang Xincheng also seemed to show an unusual concern for her, which made Lin Anan feel that something was off.

“What, afraid to say? You cursed me out for no reason. At least let me know why. Or was it you who was in the wrong in this matter, not your boyfriend?” Jiang Xincheng knew that the best way to deal with Lin Anan was to provoke her.

Lin Anan was straightforward and honest, with nothing she couldn’t say. She was generous and righteous, without any cunning motives, and she didn’t like to overthink things. Sometimes she was a bit single-minded, so she was easily provoked.

“How could I be the one in the wrong?” Sure enough, Lin Anan reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, shouting with dissatisfaction, “Fine, I’ll tell you. It’s not me who should be embarrassed anyway—it’s that jerk.”

“I met that jerk in high school. He was my first love. He was quite good-looking. One time, I saw some malicious girls bullying and robbing another girl, so I stepped in to help. But I was no match for those girls and got beaten up pretty badly.”

“Just then, that jerk showed up. It was a cliché hero-saves-the-beauty scenario. After that, we started dating. That period was really beautiful, and we were very happy. That jerk even said one thing but meant another, telling me he wanted to have my first time on our wedding night, that I should keep myself pure for him, and he would do the same for me.”

“But I never expected that as soon as we started college, he changed. Over the past few months, he kept trying to get me to go to a hotel with him. He had completely forgotten his earlier promise. But I’m not the kind of woman who goes back on her word, so of course I didn’t agree.”

“But I never thought that today, when I passed by Yunhu Hotel, I saw him coming out of the hotel arm in arm with some vixen from the Finance and Economics College. He was actually two-timing me behind my back. I was so angry that I rushed up and slapped that vixen. But instead of helping me, he told me to get lost and not to hit his woman. He even called me a hypocrite, saying that if I refused to go to a hotel with him, it clearly meant I didn’t love him and that I had feelings for another man.”

“All men are jerks, beasts who think with their lower halves. They do wrong and then blame others. I will never pay attention to him again.”

…