An 80s female translator was spoiled rotten by a rough and jealous man.

Chapter 342 "Come or don't come, it's up to you!"

Meng Youyou hooked her fingertips on the doorknob, gently turned it open a crack, and peeked out half of her head.

The first thing that catches the eye is a long strip ceiling light hanging down from the ceiling, its warm white light spilling down and just illuminating the light gray shelves embedded in the opposite wall—the shelves are filled with several boxes of green chalk and a few military and sports magazines with curled corners. Next to it stands a black upright cue holder, its mouth open, revealing half of the rubber grip of a billiard cue.

Her gaze followed the light downwards, about to fall on the pool table in the center of the room, when a sharp "snap" suddenly rang out, instantly drawing her attention.

The cue stick, propelled with steady force, was pushed straight out, the tip striking the center of the cue ball precisely. The milky-white ball shot out along a straight line, first hitting a blue ball close to the cushion, then rebounding and striking a yellow ball diagonally to the side.

On the dark green cloth, colorful balls were scattered like stars. Two balls that had been hit hit the cushion one after the other, bouncing out two tricky zigzag lines, and then fell steadily into the bottom pocket on the same side with two "clang" sounds.

Upon seeing this, Meng Youyou couldn't help but whistle: "Good shot!"

The club froze in mid-air. The man holding the club turned around at the sound. His pure black T-shirt made him look even more aloof. He had lost some of the righteousness he had when he wore his military uniform and gained a touch of unruly casualness. Meng Youyou had observed that he often wore this during his rest time after training.

The light from the overhead lamp cast a soft glow on his short, dry hair. The man's gaze pierced through the warm light, which was shrouded in a light haze, and met the girl peeking out from behind the door.

Meng Youyou tilted her head and smiled at the man, then slid in through the crack in the door, skipping and hopping as she approached, saying, "Commander Huo, what's the point of playing alone?" She casually picked up a cue stick, played with it for a moment, and raised an eyebrow with a smile, "Want to play a game?"

The man seemed oblivious, leaning forward on the table, his dark eyes narrowed as he aimed, then decisively struck the ball, followed by a crisp, clean shot. He then straightened up and asked, "How do you play?" He then shifted his position, bending low to aim at the next ball, his posture focused intently.

"Nine-ball, please." Meng Youyou thought for a moment, then raised her voice to emphasize, "Just so you know, there's a prize involved~" As she spoke, the girl playfully stretched out her cue and poked the man's lower back.

Just as he was about to make another move, "thud!" Oh no! The tip of the stick went astray! Meng Youyou chuckled to herself, her eyes darting around, but she didn't take it seriously.

Huo Qingshan glanced back at the cue stick still pressed against his waist, then looked up and traced its length, meeting her confident gaze. The man slowly straightened up, his eyes showing no annoyance, and across the width of the pool table, he questioned the meaning behind her words with his eyes.

The girl looked at him too, her eyes clear and unwavering. They stood on opposite sides of the pool table, a chandelier hanging between them, its warm light illuminating every detail of their faces. The man had thin stubble on his chin and a very faint scratch on the left corner of his lip, looking fresh, as if it had been done with a razor blade within half an hour.

The man felt uncomfortable being stared at for a few seconds. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the girl opposite him suddenly put down the wooden cue stick in her hand and casually place it on the table.

Immediately afterward, Meng Youyou braced herself on the edge of the table tennis table with both hands, and without warning, she leaned forward, instantly shortening the distance between them by half. She leaned closer to him and said with a grin, "If I win, you'll give me a pair of earrings. If you win, then I'll..." The girl paused deliberately, "...as a reward of a kiss, okay?" she asked in a coquettish tone, her eyes crinkling as she gave him a flirtatious wink.

As the girl said this, the man's gaze unconsciously swept over her lips, then quickly shifted away as if he had been electrocuted, looking elsewhere.

She must have worn lipstick tonight; her lips looked bright and full, like ripe cherries in spring. A quick glance made one imagine the juicy, plump red cherry, instantly giving rise to a dry, parched feeling.

The man's expression remained unchanged, and he did not respond verbally. He simply bent down silently to pick up the ball and set it up, his ambiguous attitude making him truly unpredictable.

After a while, Huo Qingshan stood at the end of the pool table and looked at her, then suddenly spoke calmly, "You go first?"

If this drags on and on, with a girl constantly chasing after him, and he, a grown man, knowing her feelings but remaining ambiguous in his attitude, what kind of situation is that?

It's time to make a clean break. Should we stretch our necks out or shrink them back? We can't keep swaying back and forth like that forever; what kind of image would that make?

Either reject her decisively and without hesitation, or show the initiative and responsibility a man should have towards a girl he likes.

Huo Qingshan had long been disgusted with his own hesitant and timid demeanor. From childhood to adulthood, he was truly not an indecisive person, and he rarely had anything he particularly liked or wanted. Some people had described him as having a detached nature, and Huo Qingshan didn't think that was an exaggeration. Those closer to him, like his grandparents and comrades-in-arms, knew that he was actually a loyal and affectionate person, just not good at expressing himself.

Along the way, he wasn't without temptations. In childhood and adolescence, no boy is immune to playfulness, and no one is born with a love for reading and studying. But once he set a study plan and goals, he would put them into action, demanding strict adherence to each step, demonstrating a self-control he was proud of. He didn't get everything he wanted either. No child doesn't crave their father's love, but after much serious consideration, he still couldn't forgive his father, so he chose to ruthlessly sever ties. He was also able to ensure that he would never step into that house again after becoming an adult.

Having lived for nearly thirty years, he has always been self-consistent: if he wants something, he strives to achieve it; if he decides to give up something, he cuts off the relationship cleanly and decisively.

In Huo Qingshan's conventional understanding, everything should be done in an orderly manner: one is one, two is two, east is east, west is west, the Jing River is the Jing River, and the Wei River is the Wei River. But when facing her, he always becomes a tangled mess, with no coherent or clear behavioral logic whatsoever, which Huo Qingshan finds extremely unfamiliar.

Since meeting her, Huo Qingshan felt he had been facing all sorts of choices and tests, repeatedly breaking with convention. For the first time in his life, he deeply realized that people could be so chaotic. He also had the privilege of experiencing it firsthand. Perhaps... people are inherently contradictory beings, and not everything can be clearly understood and then proceeded step by step.

So the man proposed his own betting rules. He said to the girl in front of him, "If you win, I'll give you a pair of earrings. If I win, you..." He then shifted his focus to someone else.

But when it came to the point of saying it, he changed it to: "Don't waste too much time on me."

As soon as he finished speaking, the girl's smile seemed to freeze instantly in his peripheral vision. He lowered his eyes and didn't bother to confirm.

From the moment she said she wanted to "kiss him," the man's heartbeat never slowed down. But he couldn't completely ignore the foreseeable risks and costs. Worry and resentment rose and fell, growing wildly in his heart, refusing to yield. Huo Qingshan really didn't know what the right choice was, what the most correct one was, so he simply left it to fate and saw how it would vie for his affections.

Meng Youyou chose a seat near the corner and said calmly, "You go first." She sat quietly in the corner, watching him skillfully score one ball after another, gradually approaching victory, the room filled with the sound of clattering.

She never wanted to win against him, and naturally, she didn't care about having one more or one less earring. This was supposed to be a sweet test, with ambiguity flowing between them. She threw out a hook, and he knowingly took it, creating a hazy yet beautiful atmosphere.

But she understands his heart less and less now.

Soon, he cleared the table down to just two balls, one red and one white. The game was about to end when Meng Youyou suddenly smiled, a cold smile playing on her lips. The man glanced at her, but the girl just stared intently at the table, her eyes dark and unfocused, not giving him a single glance.

Huo Qingshan immediately looked away and focused on the tip of his cue. The angle of the ball on the table wasn't particularly tricky; with his skill level, he could easily sink it in one shot.

But just as he aimed and prepared to unleash his power, Huo Qingshan's right hand inexplicably trembled, causing the white ball to roll forward and miss the red ball at an absurdly off-target angle.

Huo Qingshan stared blankly at the two balls on the table, which had only changed position but not number. Faced with the situation he had created himself, the man's feelings were quite complicated, a jumble of emotions that he couldn't quite put his finger on. But he could tell that there was little element of surprise in it; he was even somewhat used to it.

The stark reality once again told him that there is no such thing as reason or order in matters of the heart. It's as if he made up his mind one second, but the next second he suddenly and completely lost his composure.

On the other side, the girl involuntarily stood up the moment she saw the red and white balls on the stage, their eyes swirling with emotion, but she didn't utter a single word.

At this point, the right to strike the ball immediately changed hands, turning to Meng Youyou. However, the current situation was not as easy as before, with the white ball in an unfavorable position, which increased the difficulty level several notches.

The girl walked to the table, picked up a box of chalk, and casually smeared the chalk on the tip of a stick with her thumb, leaving chalk dust falling onto the dark green tablecloth.

She bent down, her left arm outstretched into a taut line, her chin lightly touching the club. After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly exerted force in her wrist, and the club shot out like an arrow.

With a crisp "clang," the red ball slammed into the bottom pocket, while the white ball rolled leisurely toward the middle pocket, getting closer and closer until it was almost within reach.

Meng Youyou stared at the white ball that hovered just off the edge, barely missing the pocket, and suddenly smiled. It was a very happy smile. She was quite proud of herself, purely because she had performed exceptionally well despite being a novice.

As the man gazed at the girl's relaxed expression, a smile unconsciously crept onto his lips. Huo Qingshan finally admitted willingly that he had no intention of winning this round at all.

The girl glanced down at the table one last time, then gracefully inserted the cue stick into the tube and walked straight toward the door without saying a word.

She opened the door with one hand, stepped out with one foot, but left the other foot inside. She stood there with her legs crossed, her back to the man. She exhaled and then said in a deep voice, "Huo Qingshan, I don't like your hot-and-cold attitude at all."

"Did you think that the ball you let go of would make me especially happy?" she asked sarcastically.

"You know what? When I was holding the club just now, I had several impulses to throw it away or poke around with it."

She scoffed and said, "Who do you think is a sore loser? You think I'd appreciate your trick of slapping me and then giving me a sweet treat?"

"If a man can't even stand openly in front of me and say he likes me, something as simple as that, then why should I choose him?" The girl was backlit, and the man stood blankly in the room, unable to see her expression at all, but from her voice alone, one could sense that her disappointment was palpable.

"I did play that ball seriously in the end." She paused, as if trying to compose herself.

Meng Youyou knew him too well. She had seen him like this countless times before; it was all too familiar. How to put it? You could clearly feel the affection emanating from him, but he remained hesitant and timid, as if something was holding him back, preventing him from moving forward.

He neither tells you the reasons behind it nor makes it easy for you to make a firm choice. So, she is forced, unable to control herself, to repeatedly ponder questions like "Does he love me or not?", "How much does he love me?", and "Is he really in love with me?" She spends sleepless nights staring at the ceiling, guessing until she wakes up in the morning with her eyes swollen like puffy eyes, constantly exhausting herself in this torment.

But why? Why does her love need to be based on such nonsense? Why, in her previous life, did she have to wait until she was nearing the end of her life to be certain that he deeply loved her?

Yes, Meng Youyou still regrets the time she wasted after their breakup and can't let it go. She resents him, resents his self-righteousness, resents his arbitrary decisions, and resents his lack of appreciation.

It's another vicious cycle. Huo Qingshan, how long are you going to wait this time before I don't have to guess anymore? Three months, a year, or...?

Could it be because of the woman she saw in the office building's rest area last time? Could it be because of his health, family issues, work difficulties, or something else? In short, she didn't know and couldn't guess, and he wouldn't tell her the truth. But Meng Youyou didn't plan to ask. He was always like that, with too many concerns.

Meng Youyou felt that this was cowardice.

After a moment of silence, the girl continued, her voice choked with emotion, "But I'm not trying to give myself a chance; I'm giving you one."

Before leaving, the girl only said: "I don't need to beg or fawn over anyone for anything, including feelings. Saturday morning at 10 a.m., Tonggu Tianjie. Come if you want, or don't!"
Think carefully about what this means before you come. If you don't come, I won't ask you a second time.

As soon as he finished speaking, the door closed, separating the two of them.