The Art of Exaggerated Affection

“Are you dating anyone?”

Zhou Yi was caught off guard by the intrusive, almost interrogative question. She shook her head even more vigorously. “N-no, I’m not!”

“Oh, well that’s just wonderful!” Auntie slapped her thigh, her smile growing even wider. “Let me tell you about my grandson. He’s such a spirited young man, and he has a great temper. He just started working this year, right at…”

Zhou Yi’s scalp tingled with dread. Auntie’s increasingly bright eyes and overly enthusiastic demeanor were too much for her to handle. She could only look at Jiang Chen, silently pleading for help.

“Auntie,” Jiang Chen’s voice cut in at just the right moment. He cleared his throat, and before Zhou Yi could even fully react, he reached out and took her hand, which was resting on the table.

‘??? Not again?!’

Zhou Yi was utterly bewildered by his sudden action, her gaze fixed on him with a puzzled expression.

Jiang Chen, however, remained completely unfazed. He turned to Auntie and offered a slightly helpless smile. “Auntie, don’t listen to her nonsense. She’s just having a spat with me, pouting. I’ll make sure to coax her properly later.”

As he spoke, he even gave their clasped hands an affectionate little shake.

Zhou Yi’s mind went blank with a loud ‘buzz’.

Her hand was firmly enveloped in his warm palm, and that familiar sense of oppression washed over her once more. She tried to pull her hand away, but it wouldn’t budge.

Shame and fury instantly overwhelmed her reason. Incensed, she lifted her foot and stomped it down hard onto Jiang Chen’s foot.

“Aow—!” Jiang Chen cried out in pain, but instead of letting go, he swayed slightly, pulling Zhou Yi directly into his embrace with one arm. He then spoke in a cloyingly sweet tone that could make someone nauseous. “Baby, I was wrong, I was really wrong! Please don’t be angry anymore. When we get home, I’ll kneel on the keyboard for you, okay? Durian works too!”

Zhou Yi: “!!!”

She simply couldn’t believe someone could be so utterly shameless, reaching such an extreme level of audacity!

‘He’s addicted to acting, isn’t he?! And ‘baby’?!’

Auntie watched the couple’s playful antics, first stunned, then a knowing smile spread across her face as she chuckled twice. “Oh my! Look at me, with my old, blurry eyes! You two are just having a lovers’ quarrel, aren’t you? No wonder the young lady kept denying it!”

“Alright, alright, Auntie won’t say another word. You two sort things out yourselves! Young man, put in some effort!”

She even leaned closer, lowering her voice to impart some wisdom to Jiang Chen. “Auntie tells you, buying milk tea works, but it’s best to add a small cake too. Double the sweetness, guaranteed to work!”

Zhou Yi: “…” ‘Auntie, isn’t your reading comprehension a bit too advanced?!’

Her face darkened completely, her resentful gaze shooting towards Jiang Chen like sharp daggers. If looks could kill, Jiang Chen would likely be riddled with holes by now.

“Thank you for the advice, Auntie.” Jiang Chen seemed completely immune to her death glare. After calmly responding, he casually released his embrace and even smoothed out her wrinkled collar.

The warm aura and oppressive feeling that had enveloped Zhou Yi abruptly receded.

Just then, the Boss brought over two steaming bowls of beef noodles. “Please enjoy, both of you. Be careful, it’s hot.”

Coincidentally, someone else pushed the door open and entered. Auntie recognized the familiar face, greeted them with a smile, and then moved to another table to chat.

Only then did Jiang Chen slowly pick up his chopsticks and begin to mix his noodles. “The noodles are here. Eat them while they’re hot. We still have several more spots to visit this afternoon.”

Zhou Yi stared at the bowl of noodles before her, her appetite completely gone. She felt utterly exhausted, mentally drained.

****

The moment they stepped out of the noodle shop, a gust of cold wind hit them. All the pent-up anger and embarrassment Zhou Yi had been suppressing instantly erupted. She quickly caught up to Jiang Chen, who was walking ahead, and grabbed his sleeve.

“What was that just now?!”

Jiang Chen stopped, turned around, and with his hands still in his jacket pockets, regarded her leisurely.

“The literal meaning. I was helping you fend off admirers.” He raised an eyebrow. “What else?”

“Did you want Auntie to enthusiastically push her grandson’s photos, WeChat, and birth charts on you, then arrange a blind date?”

‘Even if that were the case, he didn’t have to… he didn’t have to act so…’ Zhou Yi recalled his sudden embrace, and her face began to flush uncontrollably again. The rest of her words caught in her throat, a mix of anger and mortification. “…So exaggerated!”

“Exaggerated?” Jiang Chen feigned thoughtfulness, his deep gaze falling upon her eyes, which shone with unusual brightness due to her embarrassment and anger, and her flushed cheeks. Those eyes, usually filled with panic or evasion, now appeared remarkably vibrant with genuine fury.

“I thought it was just right. Full of emotion, strong conviction. The Oscars owe me a little golden man.”

‘He’s actually showing off now?’

Zhou Yi was so infuriated by his roguish attitude that a surge of anger flared within her. “No, seriously, if you’re going to act, do you have to… do you have to make it seem like some idol drama?!”

The word ‘baby’ still made her toes curl in embarrassment whenever she recalled it.

“Idol drama?” Jiang Chen tilted his head, a hint of mischief in his innocent expression. “It wasn’t bad, was it? Don’t you think my performance was quite sincere? Besides, if I didn’t make it convincing, how could I fool an experienced viewer like Auntie, who’s probably watched eight hundred episodes of family dramas?”

“Moreover…” He suddenly leaned half a step closer, his breath once again brushing past her ear, making Zhou Yi instinctively want to recoil.

“We’re… buddies, aren’t we? Two brothers, arm-in-arm, calling each other ‘baby’—isn’t that the purest form of male friendship? Your reaction is so strong…” He deliberately drew out his words. “Could it be that you… have something on your mind?”

“Who, who has something on their mind?! This is a serious critique of your exaggerated acting!”

“Oh? Is that so?” Jiang Chen’s eyes curved into crescents. “I thought it was…”

“Thought what?” Zhou Yi’s heart grew even more flustered by his deliberately mysterious demeanor.

‘He thought… I was secretly hoping for his advanced version? Like, *Baby, I was wrong, please forgive me, okay?*’

A shiver ran uncontrollably through Zhou Yi’s entire body, and her scalp instantly prickled.

‘This is beyond endurance, I can’t take it anymore! Jiang Chen, that’s enough! If you keep acting so disgustingly, I’m really calling the police!’

She couldn’t listen anymore. Without waiting for Jiang Chen’s reaction, she spun around and hurried away, tossing a frustrated remark over her shoulder. “Let’s go, stop dawdling! We still have so many places to see!”

Jiang Chen slowly followed behind her, watching her figure, which was almost a desperate retreat. The smile in his eyes finally became undisguised, clearly spreading across his face.

‘Buddies?’

He weighed the word in his mind.

It was true, once.

But now…

****

Three in the afternoon, at a convenience store outside the neighborhood.

The store’s heating was turned up high, completely shutting out the winter chill.

Zhou Yi held a cup of hot milk, sipping it slowly. The warm liquid allowed her nerves, taut all day, to relax slightly.

It had been quite a grueling day. First, Jiang Chen had half-coaxed, half-tricked her into spending two hours at a café for a “couple’s store review” live show. Then, they had relentlessly toured surrounding neighborhoods, taking photos, observing the environment, and recording data.

Finally, they visited the noodle shop, where she had to engage in a battle of wits with the aunties and uncles for interviews. After completing this entire process, Zhou Yi was so exhausted she felt her soul was about to float away.

Her hat had long been taken off and tossed onto an empty seat beside her.

The thick scarf was also pulled from her neck, hanging loosely.

As for the mask that was supposed to be “welded” to her face that day… it had long since vanished to some unknown parallel universe.