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Became a National Couple with My Ex Side Story · Ye Cheng CP (Part 8): Stop Flirting With Me

That night, in the early hours of the morning, Cheng Nuo had a dream that felt incredibly realistic.

In the dream, it was Christmas Eve morning. She woke up in her bedroom as usual, opened the door, and saw Duan Ye standing outside, looking pitiful as he said, "Sis, I waited for you all night. Still haven’t remembered who seduced me?"

Startled, she immediately tried to shut the door. Just as there was only a sliver left to close it completely, she suddenly felt resistance—Duan Ye was outside, holding the door to stop her.

Then the two of them started a long tug-of-war.

The door, caught between two opposing forces, didn’t budge an inch.

She pushed with all her strength, using every bit of energy she had. She was gasping for air, but the door still wouldn’t close that final sliver.

……

The next morning, Cheng Nuo woke up drenched in sweat, her body sore all over. She squinted at the light behind the curtains and let out a long breath.

Thankfully, it was actually Christmas Eve morning.

No wonder she was exhausted, she had fallen asleep while writing her script the night before, with her laptop resting heavily on her body. No surprise she felt like she’d fought a battle all night.

She struggled to sit up in bed and opened the laptop to glance at her document, then sighed.

She had been on a roll after rehearsing the kitchen scene with Duan Ye the night before, ideas flowing nonstop. But after returning to her room, she got distracted "being nosy," trying to figure out which woman had seduced Duan Ye. That backfired—she ended up dragging herself down with the gossip and collapsed in bed, mentally stuck, mumbling in dialect: What now, huh?

Should she pretend to forget it ever happened and never bring it up again, or should she talk to him directly and explain that, hey, sometimes coincidences really do happen?

She glanced at the clock. It was already past the time Duan Ye usually left for the repair shop. With drooping eyelids, she got out of bed and sluggishly opened the door.

And saw a pair of men’s slippers right in front of her.

Cheng Nuo slowly looked up and there was Duan Ye, standing straight as a rod, one hand raised mid-air, clearly about to knock.

Before he could say a word like in her dream, Cheng Nuo slammed the door shut.

Bang. Outside, Duan Ye seemed stunned. He didn’t make a sound for a long moment. Then, after a pause, he knocked three times: knock knock knock. "Jiejie, I just wanted to ask if you’re going out to celebrate today."

"..."

Cheng Nuo’s eyelid twitched.

Was he asking her out for the holiday?

Did he think what she said last night was a confession—that she admitted to seducing him and was hinting that she liked him, urging him to make a move?

She nervously swallowed, then raised her voice to yell through the door, "Go... go where? Your sister’s busy working!"

"Got it."

Duan Ye responded casually and shuffled away in his slippers.

Cheng Nuo pressed her ear to the door, listening intently. She heard the apartment door open, then close again. Cautiously, she opened her door just a crack and peeked out.

Only to meet Duan Ye’s eyes, he was still standing at the entryway, clearly waiting to catch her sneaking a look.

"..." Why the fake-out!?

"Jiejie, what are you, a thief?" Duan Ye raised an eyebrow.

Cheng Nuo straightened up and stared him down. "I’m just practicing a scene at home. Got a problem with that?"

Duan Ye shrugged like he didn’t. He changed his shoes, opened the door, and this time actually left.

*

After Duan Ye left, Cheng Nuo slowly went through her morning routine, washing up and eating breakfast. She snapped herself out of her daydream and decided to finish the leftover work from the night before.

After breakfast, she brought her laptop into the living room. Thinking about the inspiration she had gotten the night before, she regained her momentum and began typing away furiously.

She wrote straight through until lunchtime and finally finished revising the tricky script for that episode. Cheng Nuo sent the draft to the project editor’s email, rubbed her growling stomach, and started thinking about what takeout to order.

Just then, a fellow screenwriter from the project messaged her on WeChat.

Xiao Hu, Xiao Hu Never Goes Flop:「Did you turn in your script? I pulled an all-nighter and just woke up. I really want hotpot right now qaq.」

Cheng Nuo wasn’t a local of Nanhuai, and she didn’t have many friends in the city. She and Xiao Hu had become rare soul sisters.

But because Hu Wen had a very loving boyfriend, Cheng Nuo usually knew to step back during holidays and wouldn’t ask her out.

Xiao Cheng, Xiao Cheng Wish Come True:「What a coincidence!」

Xiao Hu, Xiao Hu Never Goes Flop:「Dong’an Plaza?」

Xiao Cheng, Xiao Cheng Wish Come True:「Lao Wang?」

Xiao Hu, Xiao Hu Never Goes Flop:「Let’s go!」

*

To add a little festive spirit, Cheng Nuo did a full face of makeup for the first time since her last livestream and put on a new outfit she hadn’t worn out yet. She and Hu Wen had a proper girls' day: hotpot, then manicures, then a movie, then dessert.

At the dessert shop, she found out Hu Wen’s boyfriend was on a business trip and couldn’t spend Christmas Eve with her, so Cheng Nuo helped her decide what to eat for dinner. They ended up booking a table at a barbecue restaurant.

While making the reservation, Cheng Nuo glanced at the top-right corner of her phone. It was around the usual time Duan Ye would be bringing dinner, and she suddenly thought of him.

Hu Wen’s boyfriend was away.

But she had a male housekeeper in the city.

So she sent Duan Ye a message:「No need to bring me dinner today. I’m eating out with a friend.」

A few minutes later, Duan Ye replied:「……Oh.」

Cheng Nuo stared at that ellipsis, biting her lip.

Was Master Duan… a little upset?

*

Because of that ellipsis, the barbecue that night somehow didn’t taste as good. She kept chewing, but her mind was on what to do when she got home.

Living under the same roof, and with Duan Ye’s sleeping setup right along her path back to her room, it would be impossible not to run into him.

But now, it wasn’t even about whether Duan Ye would bring up what happened last night—she would definitely think about it the second she saw him.

It felt like just looking at him too long was some kind of intentional seduction on her part, and it made her feel guilty. Though, she wasn’t even sure what she felt guilty about. She didn’t think she had that kind of charm anyway.

Didn’t Duan Ye once say that among the four female contestants, Liang Yixuan was the prettiest?

By the time they finished dinner, it was already late. Hu Wen took the subway home.

Cheng Nuo figured: sure, you can avoid the first day of the month, but you can’t avoid the fifteenth but if it’s something you can face on the fifteenth, why do it on the first? Better to wait until Duan Ye was asleep before going home. Deal with it tomorrow.

She wandered around on her own for a bit, and didn’t take a cab back to the apartment until after 10 p.m.

She unlocked the door and quietly pushed it open. The living room was dark, but the bathroom light was on. She heard the sound of running water—Duan Ye was showering.

So much for dodging him. Despite her careful planning, she was still home too early.

Just as she was wondering if she should sneak back downstairs for a bit before he noticed she was back, she smelled a strong aroma—roast chicken.

She turned toward the dining table, using the light from the frosted bathroom door, and vaguely saw two food bags.

Surprised, she turned on the living room light, shut the door, and walked over. She opened the bags to take a look.

The food was from a well-known Western restaurant in Nanhuai. The receipt listed a full spread: roast turkey, gingerbread, pudding, smoked bacon pizza… It looked like a full Christmas Eve dinner set.

Judging by the amount, it was meant for two. But all the food was untouched, none of the packaging had even been opened.

Cheng Nuo moved her hand from the receipt and checked the timestamp. Then she hesitated, pulled out her phone, and checked the time she had messaged Duan Ye, she had told him not to bring her dinner after he had already picked it up.

So it wasn’t that she messaged him too late, he had just gotten back early that day.

She thought back to the question Duan Ye had asked her that morning before leaving: I just wanted to ask if you’re going out for the holiday today.

She had overreacted and assumed he was asking her out.

But maybe what he really meant was much simpler, he just wanted to know whether she needed dinner that night.

She had said she’d be working, so of course he figured she didn’t have anything special planned. He probably thought since she wouldn’t be celebrating, he’d get off work early and bring home something festive for her.

Maybe he didn’t ask what she wanted because he wanted it to be a surprise.

And the result…

Her message—"I'm eating out with a friend"—ended up pouring cold water straight over his head.

Cheng Nuo frowned. Suddenly, her chest felt tight and sour.

Click.

Just then, the bathroom door opened. Duan Ye walked out in pajamas, drying his wet hair with a towel.

Their eyes met, and Cheng Nuo suddenly didn’t know what kind of expression to make. Her face stiffened into a blank look.

Duan Ye looked like he was about to say something at first, but when he saw her indifferent expression, he looked away and continued drying his hair as he walked toward the sofa.

"Um…" Cheng Nuo followed him, pointing to the food on the table. "Did you buy that… for me?"

Duan Ye stopped and turned to look at her. "Who else would it be for?"

"...Then if I hadn’t come back, why didn’t you just eat it yourself?"

"Can’t afford it," Duan Ye said, lifting his eyelids a bit.

"……"

Cheng Nuo cleared her throat awkwardly. "I’ll pay you back."

The look on Duan Ye’s face faded. He stared at her for a moment, then gave a quiet "Mm" and turned back toward the sofa.

Cheng Nuo froze, realizing she’d probably said the wrong thing.

He had gone out of his way to prepare a surprise, and she responded by saying she'd pay him back.

She lightly smacked her own mouth and quickly chased after him, tugging at his sleeve. "Wait, that’s not what I meant—don’t get the wrong idea…"

Duan Ye turned around, lowered his eyes to look at her hand gripping his sleeve, and said calmly: "Jiejie, if it’s not what you meant… then please don’t flirt with me."