Chapter 51: A Couple Spies on a "Date"
The underground garage of the Golden Courtyard housed many of Eden's luxury cars. As a minor director of Schicksal, Ya Qing also had his own McLaren parked in the garage in the Far East. When Mobius told him to pick anywhere, he randomly chose a large department store.
"After you, Senior."
This massive department store had jewelry and gold on the first floor, furniture and appliances on the second through fourth floors, clothing on the fifth through seventh, and restaurants on the seventh and eighth floors.
Ya Qing and Mobius wandered around the first floor.
Mobius was holding a cup of bubble tea that Ya Qing had pushed on her. At first, she had stubbornly insisted that only Klein liked such sweet things, but after a single sip, she was conquered. Now, she followed beside Ya Qing, taking small sips from her cup.
"Senior Mobius, is there really nowhere you want to go?" Ya Qing asked helplessly. They had already been wandering aimlessly in the mall for half an hour. Aside from a few small snacks they'd bought, they looked like a pair of loiterers just there to enjoy the free air conditioning.
"I don't know. Whatever. Let's just go eat," Mobius delivered the classic uninterested-girlfriend trifecta, leaving Ya Qing completely baffled.
Ya Qing had been shopping with girls before, but only once or twice, and he'd always been dragged along without having to make any decisions. Now, Mobius's "whatever" had thrown him for a loop.
"Senior, are you hungry?" Ya Qing asked.
Mobius nodded. It was already nearing evening, and her last meal had been a bowl of instant noodles in the lab the previous night.
"Then let's go."
As Ya Qing and Mobius waited for the elevator, they failed to notice Kevin and Mei emerging from a clothing store nearby.
Mei, who had just bought Kevin a few shirts, suddenly spotted the two of them. She tapped Kevin on the shoulder and pulled him behind a wall to hide.
Though confused, Kevin followed his girlfriend's lead. He then saw Ya Qing and, beside him, Mobius, who exuded a completely different aura from her usual self at the lab—she looked entirely like a doting girlfriend.
Kevin took out his phone, switched it to silent mode, and secretly snapped a photo, sending it to Su.
Su replied almost instantly.
[A Healer's Benevolence]: Where did you find them? I just checked Ya Qing's room; he's not there.
[COOL~]: At the XX Plaza Shopping Center, first floor. Su, look at the person next to him. Doesn't her silhouette look like Senior Mobius?
[A Healer's Benevolence]: It's not that it looks like her. It is her.
As someone who had sat in the same row as Mobius during a movie, Su had gotten a clear look at her outfit. He recognized her instantly from the photo Kevin sent.
"Kevin, they're getting on the elevator," Mei whispered.
Kevin ended his chat with Su, quickly grabbed Mei's hand, and rushed to another elevator. He watched to see which floor their elevator stopped at. The moment his elevator doors opened, he darted inside.
"Mei, are you sure they went to the eighth floor?" Kevin asked, puzzled, as Mei decisively pressed the button for the 8th floor.
"Silly," Mei playfully swatted Kevin, as if to ward off his foolishness. "Ya Qing and Mobius were the only ones in that elevator. It stopped briefly on the eighth floor and then went straight down to the basement level. Unless they've already driven off, they have to be there."
"Besides," Mei continued, very confident she'd find them on the eighth floor, "is that likely? It's dinnertime. Why come all the way to a mall just to head back to the Courtyard to eat?"
With a ding, Kevin and Mei arrived on the eighth floor. It was the weekend, and the floor was bustling with couples on dates. After dinner, they could conveniently catch a movie, and after the movie, they could...
Kevin and Mei exchanged a look, a silent understanding passing between them. They both reached into their pockets and put on face masks.
A few minutes earlier, Ya Qing and Mobius had arrived on the eighth floor and chosen a barbecue restaurant with a relatively short queue. Sitting on the waiting bench, Ya Qing found it surreal that he was actually out shopping and eating with Mobius.
"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?" Mobius paused, her hand holding the bubble tea frozen mid-air. The feeling was familiar, like a certain pink-haired glutton was spying on her.
"What's wrong, Senior?" Ya Qing asked, seeing her shudder and assuming she was cold.
"It's nothing. Maybe it's just because Klein is still working overtime," Mobius said, dismissing the feeling as her overthinking.
Ya Qing wore a strange expression. What did that have to with Klein? Klein working overtime was perfectly normal; she could stay in the lab seven days a week, to the point where someone might almost call the police out of concern.
The wait wasn't long. Soon, their number was called. The barbecue restaurant's decor wasn't extravagant, but it had a distinct atmosphere—the kind of intimate, romantic ambiance perfect for couples. In fact, nearly every table was occupied by a couple, and at the table next to them, a pair was affectionately feeding each other.
Ya Qing and Mobius both felt a wave of discomfort, but they had already been seated and felt it would be rude to leave.
"Ahem, Senior, what would you like to order?" Ya Qing passed the menu to Mobius while asking the waiter to bring the grill and charcoal first.
"I'll order? Fine, this one..." Mobius showed no restraint with Ya Qing's wallet, proceeding to order a portion of nearly every type of meat on the menu.
Ya Qing watched with a gentle smile. "Senior, I don't care what you order. But there's one rule: no wasting food."
Mobius's lovely face stiffened. "You don't need to worry about that," she retorted stubbornly. "I can definitely finish it all. This is just a fraction of my appetite."
Ya Qing simply raised an eyebrow.
Just as the deluxe platter of meat arrived at their table, two shady figures finally entered the restaurant. Wearing masks and baseball caps, they looked like they were either celebrities or wanted criminals.
"Look at them, so lovey-dovey," Kevin whispered.
"Do you think... you might have caused this?" Mei whispered back.
"Huh?" Kevin was confused.
"Have you forgotten? This afternoon in the Courtyard, you called him a 'single dog.' You probably provoked him, and that's why he finally asked Mobius out on a date," Mei said, her eyes suddenly gleaming with insight.
"No way..." Kevin wasn't so sure.
"Excuse me!" A waiter approached them. Seeing the two just standing there, furtively watching the "couple" at another table without ordering, he had been on the verge of calling security. He forced a polite smile. "Are you ready to order?"
"Ah, oh, right," Kevin quickly ordered a few barbecue platters and handed the menu to Mei. "Do you think we should tell everyone back at the Courtyard?"
"Let's not. If they didn't announce it themselves, why should we butt in?" Mei rejected Kevin's suggestion.
Kevin whispered, "Back in our academy days, everyone knew Senior Mobius had a thing for Ya Qing. But who knows if he was genuinely oblivious or just pretending not to know."
"Kevin," Mei asked curiously, "do you think they'll go back to the Courtyard tonight?"
"I don't know," Kevin replied. "Let's just keep following them and find out."
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