Chapter 56 I Have an Ordinary Heart

  Three people were on the same bus, and Cheng Shuiying, who lived closer to home, got off first. Before getting off, she smiled and winked at Su Yifan, making him feel slightly uneasy in his heart.

  Nell sat elegantly beside Su Yifan, the evening bus was almost empty and dimly lit. The light from outside the window shone on Nell's face, illuminating her pale complexion to a dazzling brightness.

  Sitting with a girl who is flawless in both appearance and figure, Su Yifan felt even more uneasy.

  The bus broadcasted the station names in both Chinese and English. Niel listened for a while with her ear tilted, then puckered up her mouth and said, "The pronunciation is too awful."

  Su Yifan also didn't know how to respond and could only continue being silent.

  Nell said with a smile, staring at Su Yifan, and suddenly asked: "Did I make you feel uncomfortable?"

  "There is one thing," Su Yifan admitted, "you are the first foreign friend I have ever known."

  Nina said with a puzzled expression, "Why would foreigners make you uneasy? Does having different nationalities mean we can't be friends?"

  Su Yifan had to admit that Nier's questions were all very sharp.

  For Su Yifan now, answering such a question is somewhat difficult.

  "Is it also the way I'm asking questions now that makes you feel uneasy?" Nier asked as if she could sense Su Yifan's mind.

  Su Yifan subconsciously shook his head: "No."

  Su Yifan nodded again after some thought.

  "Chinese people are more reserved and have some difficulties adapting."

  Nier looked at Su Yifan with very clear eyes.

  "Then I won't ask again."

  "No, sticking to one's own attitude is the best," Su Yifan said. "There's no need to change oneself for anyone."

  Nell's azure eyes sparkled in the light, and she spoke to Su Yifan in a very slow tone: "No, I think it's good to change for someone occasionally, just like you now."

  Su Yifan didn't have time to ponder the deeper meaning of Niel's words, as the blonde girl continued: "Su, I think you're a charming person."

  So Su Yifan didn't dare speak again.

  The night bus sped from one stop to another, and Su Yifan almost escaped as he stood up: "I'm almost there, where do you want to get off?"

  Nell pointed at the loudspeaker on the bus.

  "Don't worry about me, I have English."

  Su Yifan shook his head in disagreement: "We encountered danger again tonight, I won't let you go home alone."

  "But you didn't send Cheng home either." Nier's face broke into a smile again, "If you're worried about me, I'll get off with you?"

  "No, I'll take you back," Su Yifan said. "You've just arrived in this city and I'm not at ease with you going back by yourself."

  Nina didn't refuse again, she exaggeratedly opened her arms to Su Yifan: "Thank you, Su, you're really a good person."

  Su Yifan was really angry this time: "Don't send cards randomly!"

  Nell blinked innocently, her face a picture of innocence, as if she didn't understand what was going on.

  …………

  …………

  Nier's home was not too far from Su Yifan's house, and in the end they got off the bus together.

  Su Yifan looked at the luxurious decoration of the community gate and couldn't help but feel a little sentimental.

  The residential area where Niel lives is not cheap either, with excellent security measures and a large number of foreigners living there. Across from the residential area, there's a bar called "Moonlight" that exudes a sense of petit-bourgeois elegance, often staying open until late at night. Now, in the evening hours, the singing voice of the resident singer is drifting out, making it seem very lively.

  "Sue, why don't we go sit in a bar for a bit?" Niel suggested as soon as they got out of the car. "Are you going to turn down your classmate's invitation?"

  Su Yifan frowned and looked at the bar.

  "It's very late, you should go home now."

  "Sue, I'm not a kid anymore." Nell scrunched up her cute little nose in protest. "You think I'm still a twelve-year-old girl who should be tucked into bed at night?"

  "...I think it's about the same." Su Yifan was very honest, "In our place, many girls are like that at seventeen or eighteen too."

  "Don't you think that kind of life is too boring?" Niel grasped one of Su Yifan's hands, "Keep me company for a bit, Su."

  Su Yifan wanted to shake off Niel's hand on his arm, but felt that would be too heartless, and before he could hesitate any further, Niel had already pulled him into the bar.

  Two young people who looked like students walked into the bar, one of whom was a foreign girl. The eyes of many people in the bar immediately turned to the two.

  Nier didn't mind those gazes at all and pulled Su Yifan to sit down on a double chair.

  Su Yifan found that most of the people sitting in the bar were young and fashionably dressed, with a few foreigners sitting at a corner table surrounded by several six-packs of Heineken.

  There were several resident singers in the bar, and the one singing on stage was a slender young girl with light makeup, wearing a short skirt and an off-white silk top in this cold weather, with only thin black stockings and a pair of shallow high-heeled shoes on her legs.

  Next to the stage, two young men dressed as if they were easily recognizable as bar singers sat at a small table, flipping through songs on their laptop.

  Su Yifan and Niel had just sat down when the male singer, who was lowering his head to select a song, looked over this way and quickly glanced at Niel.

  "Sue, what would you like to drink?" Niel picked up the bilingual menu, on which some words were translated in a confusing way that would give anyone a headache.

  The female singer on stage is singing "If This Is Love", a very resentful song, the voice and expression are both touching.

  After being influenced by Zhang Yao, Su Yifan had no interest in singers of this level. He looked down at the menu in Niel's hand and estimated the cash in his pocket, suggesting: "Let's choose the cheapest one."

  The little sister at the bar had already walked over to take their order and upon hearing Su Yifan's words, she stopped in her tracks, almost rolling her eyes.

  Nina smiled and stared at Su Yifan: "You are the first person to say choose the cheapest in front of me. Su, you are really special."

  "I'm just a bit petty." Su Yifan didn't take it to heart at all, "I'll send you home later."

  Nina pouted: "Su, you should act like a young person, don't be like an old man."

  In the bar, not a few tables were men's tables. Those piercing eyes in the dim light shot straight at Niel. Su Yifan looked at the young singer who kept turning his head back and forth with a bad temper and asked: "Like them?"

  Nier also noticed the gaze of the male singer and smiled as she shook her head: "Su, you're not that kind of person."

  Su Yifan knew he wouldn't be leaving soon, so he pushed the table and said: "Are you really going to drink?"

  "Am I supposed to come here and drink Coke?" Niel asked with wide eyes, staring at Su Yifan, "Su, you choose one thing, whatever you choose, I'll drink."

  "Then let's not have beer." Su Yifan actually didn't like that taste, "How about we drink red wine?"

  "Okay," Nell said with a smile, "as long as you don't add any weird drinks."

  Su Yifan recalled a joke about Sprite mixed with red wine and burst out laughing, shouting for someone to order a bottle of over 100 yuan red wine and a plate of dried fruit.

  The red wine arrived, and Niel clinked glasses with Su Yifan.

  "This is the worst red wine I've ever had, but I'm happy."

  "No matter how expensive it is, I still can't afford it." Su Yifan said honestly.

  Nina's cheeks immediately flushed with two red clouds after drinking, and she looked even more charming under the bar lights. She narrowed her eyes at Su Yifan, smiling and saying: "I dragged you here, this time let me treat."

  "In our country, it's very impolite to let a lady pay the bill." Su Yifan said this with a blush, but Su Xiaqing didn't mind helping him out with the bill.

  Nell shook her head stubbornly: "No way, this time I have to pay the bill. When you really want to come here next time, then invite me."

  Su Yifan didn't continue to pester Nier about the topic, he thought that since they were already at a bar and had opened wine, it was better to ask more questions about Nier.

  "Tell me about yourself." Su Yifan poured Nier a drink, his movements somewhat amateurish. "I really know nothing about you."

  Nell added ice cubes to her glass and said with a bit of distress, "These days I've been talking about myself the most. Almost everyone has been asking me all sorts of questions."

  "Are you annoyed?"

  "Yes." Nell pouted again, her lips a deep red and somewhat thin, making her look even younger than she actually was.

  The lamplight shone on Niel's red lips, causing Su Yifan to lose his mind in an instant.

  "I won't ask then." Su Yifan actually didn't care, "Do you like China?"

  "I've always liked China." Niel's smile reappeared, "Su, you're really different from others. All the Chinese people I've met so far only ask me how good Britain is, don't they think their own country is good?"

  Nell's personality is very straightforward, this kind of European-style blunt and direct personality often makes her ask questions that others don't want to answer. Just like this question now, Su Yifan also doesn't know how to respond positively.

  "They are just more curious." Su Yifan still put it somewhat euphemistically, "Going abroad is not very convenient for Chinese people yet."

  "But I think China is so big, even bigger than many European countries combined. Shouldn't you be more curious about the places in your own country that you haven't been to?"

  "It's because more distant places are more attractive." Su Yifan felt that he couldn't find a good excuse, so he just made something up, "One can gradually become familiar with their own country, but it's the distant foreign lands that they want to learn more about, and TV shows and movies aren't realistic anyway."

  Nell nodded, seeming to understand and yet not understand at all.

  Su Yi Fan let out a sigh of relief, thinking that the British girl in front of him was about to give up on asking why he didn't like her. But Nell continued: "Su, I've been praised by many people since I was little, saying that I'm very beautiful. Gradually, I believed it myself and thought I was indeed very pretty. The boys around me always tried to curry favor with me, hoping to talk to me more and be friends with me. You're different from them, you seem to not like talking to me, why?"

  Su Yifan thought for a moment and said: "Probably because I have an ordinary heart."

  The meaning of the sentence was a bit complicated for Niel, and she couldn't understand anything beyond the literal meaning, but that didn't stop her from using her imagination: "Su, do you think you're too ordinary?"

  Before Su Yifan could respond, the young singer who had been constantly looking back at Niel earlier walked up to them with a glass of wine in hand.

  Su Yifan had never been to a bar before, and he was completely unaware of the concept of resident singers finding customers to chat up, so he looked up at this young man with hair that shone like diamonds in surprise.

  "Is it your first time here for both of you?"

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  As for the set problem, I can only say that if you accept it and look at it, you'll find it's actually quite interesting...

  There is still a temple fair today, want to go and take a stroll?