Chapter 52: Tsangyang Gyatso Teaches Me the Art of Flirting

The Guangdong Youth Championship was coming to an end in a day, but the members of the Ningdebao team had already finished all their events.

Apart from Su Shen, who secured a bronze medal with the performance of an absolute dark horse, the rest of the team members, such as Zhou Bing, had been eliminated early on, failing even to reach the semi-finals. Chen Jiang, however, brought a pleasant surprise; aside from finishing at the bottom of the 800-meter race, she unexpectedly fought her way to a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter event.

This left Ningdebao beaming with smiles all the way back, except whenever he looked at Zhou Bing...

That caused Zhou Bing to shrink his neck like a turtle inside its shell throughout the entire journey, not daring to utter a single extra word.

He was terrified of provoking another round of lectures.

Watching this scene, Su Shen found it slightly amusing.

To be fair, Zhou Bing had indeed been far too careless and nervous this time, failing completely to unleash the advantages he should have displayed.

With this competition concluded, Su Shen was about to enjoy a relatively "long" vacation, and he had also earned a considerable amount of money.

True to its status as a provincial-level competition, the prize money was raised to an entirely different tier.

First place received 30,000, second place got 20,000, and third place, in addition to the bronze medal and certificate, came with 5,000 in hand.

For Su Shen at this moment, it truly felt like a liberated serf rising to become the master of the house.

Although, as far as he was concerned, money would never be a problem in the future, the future was the future, and the present was the present.

Right now, 5,000 was still a very, very substantial sum—nearly double the amount from the previous invitational tournament. He was genuinely thrilled.

At the very least, he wouldn't always have to sponge off Ningdebao's special nutritional meals for his daily diet. Perhaps Ningdebao didn't mind, but Su Shen always disliked taking petty advantages of others. With this money in hand, he decided he could properly take care of his own nutritional needs.

And then there was... well, being a man, how could one ever have enough money?

Especially right now, standing before his future queen, that was doubly impossible.

"You mean you actually have a whole day off?" Having heard that Su Shen was coming back, Lin Yanfang had rushed over eagerly, never expecting such a delightful surprise.

"That's right. Call your uncle and auntie, and tell them you're staying here for the night and heading back tomorrow. Every time we're in such a rush, it's way too hurried." As soon as Su Shen finished speaking, Lin Yanfang's face immediately flushed red. A hundred innocent girlish thoughts flashed through her mind before she finally bit her lower lip and said, "Then... what about you? We're still too young..."

Hearing this, Su Shen chuckled. He reached out and lightly flicked Lin Yanfang's cute little nose, shaking his head as he said, "What on earth are you thinking?"

"We're both minors, alright? If we stay over, of course we'll get two separate rooms. I'll be right next door to you. If anything comes up at night, I can take care of you."

Only then did Lin Yanfang realize she had completely misunderstood. It seemed that the plots in romance novels were written by absolute idiots; the books clearly claimed that—hmph! She was never reading that author's books ever again!

That romance novelist was probably sitting innocently at home, wondering why trouble had fallen from the skies, inexplicably "resented" by a young maiden.

Who could they even reason with?

...

"Let me take you around. The night market here is much livelier than the one in our town." Looking at Lin Yanfang, Su Shen laid out several small gifts he had bought on the table and said, "I bought these for you in the provincial capital. See if you like them."

Honestly, back when he was at this age himself, he hadn't understood any of these tricks at all; he was practically an ultimate blockhead when it came to romance.

Clearly, Lin Yanfang hadn't expected Su Shen to do this either. She was momentarily startled, then looked at the gifts with a mix of happiness and slight "annoyance," saying, "Stop spending money recklessly. You already pay for my bus fare whenever I come over. We're still students, we don't need all this."

Wasn't Su Shen familiar with Lin Yanfang's personality by now?

She had been his wife for so many years in his past life; did she really think she could escape the palm of his hand?

"This is a birthday gift for you. I'll be busy training on your actual birthday, so I'm giving it to you early." As soon as those words left his mouth, Lin Yanfang found herself unable to argue anymore...

After all, pretending not to be happy would be a lie.

Every young girl hopes to receive small tokens of affection from the person she fancies. As long as they weren't like those modern "obsessionists of romantic rituals" who spent half the year "celebrating festivals," that was fine.

For normal birthdays and major anniversaries, if a boy truly loved someone, which of them wouldn't be willing to "break the bank" just a little bit on those days?

Lin Yanfang unwrapped the exquisite little gifts one by one, the corners of her mouth curving up in uncontrollable joy.

Although she didn't know why Su Shen had chosen these particular items, but...

Not a single thing Su Shen picked out was something she disliked, which was quite a feat.

When boys—especially blockheads—buy gifts, you have to understand that the minefield density rivals that of Normandy.

Yet Su Shen hadn't stepped on a single mine.

Could this be what they called... "hearts beating as one"?

The little girl tried on the necklace and earrings one by one, looking utterly delighted, as if the New Year had arrived early.

Lin Yanfang was about to start high school soon and was gradually growing into a young woman. Seeing her happy made Su Shen happy as well.

Don't even ask; if the wife is happy, this guy is happy.

They always say that when you're in a relationship, you should pamper her like a little princess, but Su Shen found that approach didn't really work with Lin Yanfang.

Because whenever they went out shopping, she wouldn't buy a single thing. She would just look at things, touch them, but firmly refuse to make a purchase.

Even when Su Shen offered, she would shake her head vigorously and simply not allow it.

This一度 made Su Shen realize that dating strategies from twenty years in the future didn't work on his own wife either.

That was because...

The people writing those strategies were basically internet content creators and narrative manipulators, all on the payroll of capitalists.

Their sole purpose was to make you willingly part with your money.

Stuff like "if you love me, you'll spend money on me, and if you don't spend money, you don't love me"—that was the quintessential capitalist merchant scam, with "diamonds are forever" standing out as the ultimate cliché of clichés. To be frank, anyone with even a slight understanding knew it was one of the biggest scams in human history.

Yet Lin Yanfang possessed none of those toxic mindsets.

Her logic was: "If I love you, I want to save money for you, and if you don't save money, you don't love me."

It was precisely this mindset that had made Su Shen willingly surrender his entire salary card in his previous life, never touching a single penny for himself.

However, if Lin Yanfang had been one of those internet "toxins," just try handing over your finances and see what happened—in a few years, you might not even have a single cent left. There were simply too many such examples online. If you start a relationship by treating it like a business negotiation, you shouldn't expect the other person to treat you with any sincerity either.

Women aren't fools, and neither are men. When a man encounters a girl like Lin Yanfang, do you really think he wouldn't go all out for her?

Compared to those "superficial beauties" and "live-stream influencers," any man with a clear head knew who truly deserved a lifetime companionship.

Therefore.

Su Shen had practically struck gold, as if he had saved the Earth in his past life.

Still, if the money couldn't be spent on expensive goods, buying some street snacks was always fine, and showering her with sweet compliments was always an option. Under Su Shen's barrage of ancient-yet-future-proof smooth talk, Lin Yanfang's big eyes curved into little crescent moons the entire time, looking as adorable as one could possibly be.

If there were a live-stream comment section right now, it would definitely be flooded with:

*Scumbag Su, let go of that girl! Let me do it!*

...

While the two of them were eating a bunch of street snacks sitting on a roadside bench, Lin Yanfang suddenly asked, "Xiaotian, how come you've gotten so smooth with your words lately? It feels, it feels like you've completely changed into a different person compared to before."

Well, he had indeed changed.

Su Shen thought to himself: *This is the difference between me as a teenager and me in my thirties.*

Yet you could also say he hadn't changed at all, because both were still him.

"It's very simple," Su Shen said with a smile. "A famous celebrity taught me how to praise a girl."

"A celebrity? Who?" This successfully piqued Lin Yanfang's curiosity. Could Su Shen already be accomplished enough to come into contact with major celebrities now?

"Tsangyang Gyatso."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yanfang wanted to playfully punch Su Shen, but her cheeks quickly flushed red again.

Because Tsangyang Gyatso was a master of ancient romantic poetry. Even though he only lived to be in his twenties, his ability to praise girls and compose love poems was peerless throughout history.

For a Living Buddha to reach that level was truly unprecedented in history.

*A single glance of her smiling eyes, so delicate and charming,*

*Stole my soul and sent it soaring to the azure heavens.*

*I wish for the two of us to find joy together,*

*And I won't stop swearing passionate oaths until you relent.*

Heh, it seemed his reading of Tsangyang Gyatso's poetry collection hadn't gone to waste.

The aura was maximized.

Finishing the poem, Su Shen looked at Lin Yanfang, his gaze filled with utmost tenderness: "Xiaofang."

"From now on, I'll let you keep all my gold medals."

As Lin Yanfang carefully pondered these words, her entire face turned thoroughly crimson, and she lowered her head.

Yet the gentle, girlish smile at the corners of her lips already revealed her true desires.

Though unsaid explicitly, a tacit understanding that both of them deeply grasped quickly took root.

Right there, between the young boy and the young girl.

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