Love, Gun, Cupid

"That's 'shoot,' but I prefer its other interpretation: to shoot on goal."

"It's up to you, whether you shoot or shoot at a goal, whether you shoot a bullet or a football, whether you take the opponent's heart as your soul or the goal..." Du Juan gently nudged Lin Jiade: "Take action, for yourself and for me."

The two looked at each other, and Du Juan's electric shock sent a shiver down Lin Jiade's spine. He whispered, "Okay, I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work out this time, I'll just consider it experience in dealing with women."

But isn't it going too far for me to approach people with such utilitarian motives?

Du Juan replied, "Even if you asked me, I'd still be on your side. Love is inherently the embodiment of desire, and morality keeps you away from desire. You can have moral expectations of love, but if you completely practice morality..."

"Will this become a legendary tale?"

Du Juan's voice turned cold: "No, in the end, nothing will be left."

"It sounds like you're encouraging me to use any means necessary."

“Isn’t that what I’m trying to convey? I am Vautrin, and you are Rastignac.”

"And who is that?" Lin Jiade asked.

"You don't need to know who they are, because you will experience it for yourself."

Cupid sat back on the sofa, twirling his hair with his fingers, and looked up at Lin Jiade, saying, "Although I saved you, don't think too highly of me."

"Do you have some bad intentions?"

"Not for now. I have a contract with you, and it is my duty to care for you, guide you, and protect you. But I have no contracts with other people, so I am not involved in their affairs."

“As long as you don’t do evil, it’s fine,” Lin Jiade said.

He had been talking to Du Juan for so long that his throat was a little dry, so he went to get himself a glass of water, gulped it down, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

The young man reluctantly convinced himself: "Okay, I will try to overcome my guilt and get closer to her. Whether it works out or not, I don't want to hurt her, and I will try my best to make it up to her... if I can."

Finally, how did you meet her and get a high school senior to agree to a blind date with a complete stranger?

This was so outrageous that Lin Jiade thought Du Juan had used magic to tamper with the other party's will. However, he did not expect that things would develop in an even more outrageous way.

Du Juan looked a little embarrassed: "I'm sorry, I didn't get a chance to talk to her."

"Ok?"

“I was quite confident in my communication skills,” Du Juan said, feeling very frustrated. “But she was like a classic popsicle, cold and unfriendly, and wouldn’t even talk to me… It was just too much!”

"So, does this count as a blind date?" Lin Jiade asked.

Du Juan was even more embarrassed: "Blind dates are just a formality. Let's reach a consensus first: a blind date is when a man and a woman meet at a certain place with the help of a matchmaker to get to know each other, interact, and develop feelings, right?"

Lin Jiade nodded: "Yes."

"If I can arrange for you and her to meet somewhere, would that count as a blind date?"

"Yes, but you didn't even get a chance to speak with them, so how can you make any arrangements?"

Du Juan revealed a mysterious smile: "Don't try to bind me with your common sense. Just because I didn't get a word in edgewise doesn't mean I can't arrange for her to meet you."

Lin Jiade said nervously, "Criminal behavior is unacceptable."

"It's a dream. I'm Cupid. I used magic to pull people with high marriage compatibility into the same dream, so you two get to know each other. Isn't this just like a blind date?"

Look how novel this is! A blind date in a dream, just like daydreaming.

Lin Jiade trembled at first, then couldn't help but burst out laughing. He pounded the back of the sofa while laughing, and it took him a while to stop laughing.

He said to Du Juan, "I was just imagining it. If someone seriously told me that he went on a blind date in his dream last night, I would... pfft, I really couldn't help it, it would be like seeing the famous scene of Shu Ouma losing his hand."

Cupid bristled—this is a description based on objective facts. Her long hair shed its disguise, turned pink, and then grew exponentially longer. A pink web wove around Lin Jiade, binding his hands and feet like prey caught in a spider's web.

Lin Jiade struggled for a moment and found that Du Juan's long hair was as tough as spider silk. At the same time, a strand of hair wrapped around his neck and slowly tightened.

"Miss Dujuan?"

Cupid walked over, stroked his cheek, and said with a smile, "Some things may seem insignificant to you, but they are sacred to others. For example, you love football. If I insulted football and belittled it, would you be angry?"

When Du Juan spoke, she opened her lips, revealing a row of fine, white teeth with a cold luster. Lin Jiade felt a sense of dread, fearing that these predator's teeth would stain his blood.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

"I accept it. We're not familiar with each other yet, and life is bound to have its ups and downs."

Lin Jiade let her hair down, her expression unchanged, but a warmth appeared in her smile. Lin Jiade felt as weak as if she had just played a football match, and a little sleepy.

Du Juan's humble demeanor gave him a false impression, but he forgot that she possessed power and status, and was not someone he could joke around with recklessly and unrestrainedly like on a baseball field.

"How exactly do you go on a blind date in your dreams?" Lin Jiade asked.

"I will cast a spell on you, so that you will remain awake in your dreams after you fall asleep, and the other person will enter your dreams after they fall asleep."

At that time, her common sense will be distorted, and she will think that it is natural for her to appear in your dreams and talk to you in your dreams.

I will provide you with all sorts of support without her noticing... Oh, I forgot to ask, have you had more than ten conversations with any woman other than me, family, relatives, friends, classmates, or teachers?

"Of course I am," Lin Jiade said helplessly. "I'm not that pathetic."

"Have you ever held hands with a woman, assuming all other conditions remain the same?"

"Yes, I helped her up. In college, I took soccer as an elective in physical education. I was on the attacking side, and a female student on the defending side fell in the penalty area."

"Well... let's just say we can count it," Dujuan pressed, "How did it feel?"

Lin Jiade immediately became furious: "Yes, she deliberately handled the ball in the penalty area. The referee should have given her a yellow card and awarded our team a penalty!"

Chapter Nine: Memories of the Setting Sun

"It's hopeless," Du Juan said, covering her face. "Why is soccer more important than girls?"

Lin Jiade looked completely innocent: "That's just my value system. Besides, you're the one who wanted to challenge the hard mode."

"This difficulty is not the kind of difficulty I imagined. How am I supposed to explain it to you... Never mind, I won't explain!"

Du Juan put on a serious expression: "First of all, I can set up a dream-like dating scene so that you can date in the most comfortable environment."

Secondly, in terms of human age, I'm about two years older than you and have more experience, so I can offer guidance on your romantic experiences.

Third, I have special methods that will allow you to quickly take down your target.

Lin Jiade was taken aback: "You've seen 'Operation Date'?"

"what is that?"

"If you haven't seen it, that's fine, but as I said, the background of that girl you mentioned is really unsuitable. My family does want me to date, but if they hear that I'm trying to ruin some high school girl, they'll break my legs."

However, another thought surfaced in Lin Jiade's mind. He had lied to Du Juan about the girl named Jasmine, whom Cupid had chosen—he knew more about her than he had made it out to be.

That was his first unrequited love...

Jasmine's family were immigrants from the western province of the Universal Empire. Specifically, she came from Swansea, but the people there knew nothing about Swansea and vaguely understood that she came from a rural place.

Jasmine was not her original name as an immigrant from the Western Province. It was just that her real name was too difficult to pronounce, so Jasmine was the new name she adopted locally. As people called her Jasmine more often, they began to take it as her real name.

Jasmine comes from the West. Her hair is fiery red like coral, her blue eyes are as clear as gemstones, and her skin is as white as if it were painted with cream. Her face exudes exotic charm, her hands and feet are slender, and her voice is melodious, like a finely sculpted doll.

This unique atmosphere has attracted the attention of the community residents. Most of the buildings where Lin Jiade lives are occupied by resettled residents, some of whom are from three generations and have a decades-long friendship, making their relationship closer than that of residents in a normal commercial housing community.

The advantage of this kind of relationship is that it is easy to get help from neighbors and have someone to look after you when you need it. The disadvantage is that interpersonal interactions take up a lot of energy. Lin Jiade, who is still a "child" in school, does not need to socialize like this.

For outsiders like Jasmine, one disadvantage is that they find it difficult to integrate into the modern urban village; culture and time present two huge barriers. However, Jasmine's family didn't intend to integrate into the environment.

The tall patriarch of the family and Jasmine's mother often leave Jasmine behind to travel. They are away from home for about nine months of the year, and disappear with their daughter for the other three months.

Such irresponsible parents deserve to be called "despicable" according to the values ​​here.

So, while everyone looked at Jasmine, who seemed to live alone, with sympathy, they kept a close eye on their own children. Based on their instinct to avoid harm and seek benefit, they prevented them from associating with Jasmine, lest they be dragged into trouble by outsiders.

Perhaps there are also some hypocrites who secretly keep an eye on her, and Lin Jiade considers herself one of them.

He felt a little empathy for Jasmine: his parents had given up the opportunity to be promoted in another city for his sake, but they couldn't sacrifice for him forever, and he didn't want them to be bound by him forever.

Therefore, he felt that sooner or later he would become like Jasmine and become a single person.

He was a sophomore in high school then, a sentimental age. Before he was overwhelmed by academic pressure, worries and loneliness gripped him. Walking from the bus stop to home along the road bathed in the golden and red glow of the setting sun was the moment when Lin Jiade's loneliness reached its peak.

Jasmine's appearance changed his life. Every time he came to the vicinity of his building, he would see Jasmine taking a walk. She was dressed in a very simple and plain style, a white cotton slip dress with puff sleeves and long gloves that reached above her elbows.

The soft, graceful drapes flowed from her high waist all the way to the ground, growing longer and longer until she had to lift her skirt with her hands as she walked. To others, it looked like an oversized maternity dress with a hem that dragged on the ground.

As the seasons changed, Jasmine would add a cape or a... high school uniform over her long dress, making her already eccentric style even more out of place.

The school uniforms here, or rather the entire Eastern Province, have two advantages: they are cheap and durable (relative to their price).

So when Lin Jiade and his friends played soccer, they would take advantage of the two sets of clothes the school had bought for them. Before he even graduated from high school, his school uniform was already covered in patches and seams, but he didn't care at all.

Unfortunately, the aesthetic appeal of school uniforms is so strong that it makes people overlook all the advantages. Wearing them directly reduces the attractiveness of both men and women by 75%, effectively reducing the pregnancy rate among high school students.

At the same time, it also reveals a cruel reality: those handsome men and beautiful women at the top of the beauty pageant look good no matter what they wear.

Jasmine was one of the most handsome men and beautiful women, so when Lin Jiade saw her, he thought her outfit was strange, but... strangely pretty.

He, on the other hand, was of average appearance and had excellent but not top-tier academic performance. His only notable feature was his height; he was the tallest student in the class. Therefore, a faint sense of inferiority always lingered in his heart when he was surrounded by handsome men and beautiful women.

The boy's return home coincided with Jasmine's return home. He always followed behind Jasmine, pretending to be nonchalant, but admiring her back with an appreciation for her beauty, watching her blend into the sunset, watching her long hair draped over her back like coral reefs piled on snow.

He was sixteen and Jasmine was fourteen; he was 1.87 meters tall and Jasmine was 1.47 meters tall; he had a beard, while Jasmine's face was smooth and flawless; he had an ordinary appearance, while Jasmine's appearance was unforgettable; he was lost in the crowd, while Jasmine stood above all others.

If the two of them were to get together, it would be a combination of the beast and the beauty. Lin Jiade thought to himself with a sense of inferiority.

Jasmine wasn't afraid to ride in the same elevator with him, but her gaze never lingered on him for even a second. Her mind was always on the go, and her gaze was more mature than that of children her age, and even more so than that of Lin Jiade, who was older than her.

The boy had no romantic feelings for her, but meeting her always healed his weariness, and he would walk home with light steps.

This was her first love, because she couldn't forget him that year; this wasn't her first love, because he was just watching her from behind.

During his senior year of high school, his studies caused him to miss his only encounter with her, and he forgot about her. His subsequent university life further cemented his memory of her.

Chapter Ten: Blind Date in a Dream

It wasn't until the tragedy that struck Jasmine's family in March of this year that Lin Jiade remembered that person, but the feeling was gone. He and she were merely strangers who shared an elevator with each other during the evenings from Monday to Friday in their second year of high school.

However, Du Juan said that his marriage with Jasmine was half and half, so tracing the origins of this relationship, it must have been frozen in this period of time.

Lin Jiade felt that his youth was not bright or passionate, but it contained treasures that he had once overlooked and now found worth remembering.

However, he knew very well that this relationship didn't even qualify as his first love; it was merely a memory of his own unrequited love back then. If Dujuan hadn't brought up the matter of marriage, he might have completely forgotten about it.

Jasmine would never have known that there was a time when her beautiful figure became a panacea, relieving the depression of a high school sophomore.

How could he, an outsider, enter Jasmine's life and try to start a relationship with her? No, before that, he needed to examine his own feelings for Jasmine, and Jasmine's feelings for him.

Thinking this through, he felt relieved. He played a shooting game online with his friends, and Du Juan's presence didn't affect his performance, since his skill level was already quite low. At 11 p.m., he washed up, said goodnight to Du Juan, and went to sleep.