"You want to marry me?" Lou Xi asked in response.
Feng Qingci replied, "Any relationship not aimed at marriage is just fooling around."
"It's too early to discuss such things. What do you want to eat now?"
Marriage was indeed not something she needed to consider at the moment.
"I'll eat whatever you want to eat."
He felt that a lot of the stuff he read online wasn't very reliable.
"I've already eaten. Choose whatever you want for yourself."
Feng Qingci put down his phone, looked around, and then pointed to a noodle shop.
"Let's go there. The sign at the entrance mentions a challenge - eat a bowl in 30 minutes and it's free. I want to try it!"
"Are you sure you want to go?"
Lou Xi had seen restaurants advertise like this before, but very few people could complete the challenge.
Feng Qingci nodded, "Let's go in and take a look."
Lou Xi was pulled into the noodle shop by Feng Qingci. At this time, there weren't many people inside.
"Shop Owner, I want to take on your 30-minute noodle challenge from outside."
Upon hearing this, the Shop Owner looked Feng Qingci up and down. "Young man, are you sure?"
"If you can't finish it, you'll have to pay the full price, which is 358 yuan."
Although he didn't know why a bowl of noodles would be so expensive, Feng Qingci was confident in himself.
It's just a bowl of noodles, he hadn't eaten breakfast, so he was sure he could finish it in half an hour.
"I'm sure. Please go ahead and make it, Shop Owner!"
A few nearby customers curiously looked over to where Feng Qingci and Lou Xi were sitting.
Feng Qingci didn't know what they were looking at until the Shop Owner brought out the noodles. Only then did Feng Qingci realize he had completely underestimated the portion size.
Forget thirty minutes, he probably couldn't finish it in three hours!
Shop Owner: "Young man, the noodles are ready. You can't back out now."
"Shop Owner, um, I think I'll pay first."
He had never seen such a big bowl before. He could probably wash his hair in it.
The Shop Owner said with a grin: "You haven't even started the challenge yet. Pay after you fail!"
"Alright then! Shop Owner, could you please get me a small bowl?"
He still needed to maintain some dignity in front of Lou Xi.
The Shop Owner looked at Lou Xi sitting across from him, understanding that young people nowadays care about face.
"Sure thing, I'll bring one right away."
After starting the timer, Feng Qingci began eating the noodles.
He had to admit, the noodles were quite authentic, and given the portion size, they were indeed worth over 300 yuan.
Lou Xi sat across from him, alternating between looking at her phone and watching Feng Qingci wolf down the noodles, finding it quite amusing.
"You won't finish it in thirty minutes anyway, so just eat slowly."
Hearing her words, Feng Qingci slowed down his pace.
"There's only ten minutes left, and I haven't even eaten half. What kind of devilish challenge is this?"
"If you can't finish it, that's fine. Don't force yourself."
Thinking about how the bowl of noodles cost over 300 yuan, and adhering to the principle of not wasting food, Feng Qingci forced himself to eat until he was stuffed, but there was still a small half left in the bowl.
After paying the bill, the Shop Owner patted his shoulder, "Young man, come back next time!"
"..."
No thanks, he never wanted to come back again in his life.
One shouldn't try to take advantage of small gains.
Lou Xi was stifling a laugh on the side. She hadn't expected him to spend over an hour eating here.
If the noodles hadn't gone cold, he might have even wanted to take a break and continue!
"Lou Xi, what do your parents like? Come with me to buy something." Now that they had finished eating, it was time to get down to business.
For the first visit, there definitely needed to be gifts. Otherwise, it wouldn't be right at all.
Lou Xi: "My dad likes antiques, and my mom likes diamonds. What do you want to buy?"
"... I don't think I can afford any of those!"
Would he be kicked out as soon as he entered their house?
"Since you can't afford either, just buy some fruit."
She didn't understand why he was so fixated on gifts, or what strange things he had been reading online.
"... Wouldn't that be too cheap?"
"They just want to meet you. The gifts aren't important."
"That won't do. It says online that not bringing gifts on the first visit is very impolite." The first impression had to be perfect.
Lou Xi sighed, "Alright then! Buy whatever you want quickly, and I'll take you there after you're done."
Feng Qingci found a large supermarket and entered a frenzied shopping mode.
He bought everything on the online checklist, filling up two shopping carts.
"They won't use this. There's no need to buy it," Lou Xi advised from the side.
Feng Qingci: "Whether they'll use it or not is one thing, buying it is another. Let's go get some fruit and we'll be done."
Lou Xi: "There's a fruit market downstairs at my place. It's fresher there. I've already called the driver, he's waiting outside now."
After paying, Feng Qingci carried the bags out of the supermarket.
The driver came down to help put everything in the trunk.
The two of them sat in the back seat, and the car set off.
It wasn't far from Lou Xi's home, and they arrived in just a few minutes.
Downstairs, Feng Qingci started buying fruit again, as if he wanted to empty the entire market.
In the end, Lou Xi couldn't bear to watch anymore and stopped him from buying more.
"Lou Xi, I'm nervous."
"They're not going to eat you. What's there to be nervous about?"
Feng Qingci had been walking side by side with Lou Xi, but as they got out of the elevator and were about to reach the door, he suddenly hid behind her.
Lou Xi pressed the doorbell, and someone quickly came to open the door.
It wasn't just one person, but a group.
Feng Qingci guessed these must all be Lou Xi's relatives.
However, their gazes were all focused on him, which made him a bit flustered.
"... Hello everyone!"
"You must be Qingci! I often hear Lou Xi talk about you. Come in quickly," Xu Yunxin said with a smile.
Feng Qingci: "Hello, Auntie! These are gifts I bought for you."
"You're still a student, why did you buy so many things? Don't spend so much in the future."
Xu Yunxin took the gifts from Feng Qingci's hands and welcomed him in.
"Mom, there's more outside. Can you all help bring them in?" Lou Xi said.
Hearing this, everyone looked towards the door.
When they saw the pile of things stacked by the elevator exit, they were all stunned.
"Is Lou Xi's boyfriend in the wholesale business? Why did he buy so many things?"
"Not bad, quite generous. He's quite handsome too. But he looks familiar, as if I've seen him somewhere before."
"..."
Everyone pitched in together, making two trips to move all the belongings inside.
After everything was put away, Lou Xi helped introduce Feng Qingci to the people in the house.
Since it was a holiday today, they had all gathered together.
At first, Feng Qingci was a bit shy, sitting quietly to the side and only answering questions when asked.
But soon enough, he was roped into playing games with the two children.
