Chapter 2: Wen Yu
Seeing Tang Tang’s gloating expression, Ye Qizhen felt helpless. It would be one thing if others said it, but Tang Tang knew her situation best.
“Just kidding.” Tang Tang’s expression changed rapidly, and she stepped forward to affectionately wrap her arm around Ye Qizhen’s shoulder.
It was only then that Ye Qizhen greeted the tall boy standing beside Tang Tang. “Long time no see.”
The boy’s attention was elsewhere; he was looking around intently, completely absorbed, as if he hadn’t heard a thing.
“She’s talking to you, Dog Tang!” Tang Tang nudged Tang Xiao with her elbow.
“Hahaha… long time no see, you’re getting prettier and prettier.” Only then did Tang Xiao withdraw his gaze. He smiled at Ye Qizhen with a delayed reaction, then turned his face to yell at Tang Tang, “Can you change how you address me? ‘Dog Tang’ all day long, don’t I have any dignity?”
“Look at you.” Tang Tang’s face was full of disdain. “Isn’t that always your nickname?”
“Little Zhen’er, let me tell you, I was carrying luggage for a female classmate in our department today. Tang ‘Sweetie’ here rushed up and shouted ‘Dog Tang’. I consider myself somewhat of a male god, but she scared the girl away by calling me that.” Tang Xiao was full of grievances and wouldn’t stop complaining.
“You? A male god?” Tang Tang’s verbal skills weren’t lacking either. “Ye Qizhen, if I let Tang Xiao be your boyfriend, would you want him?”
Tang Xiao immediately said, “Please don’t tarnish the pure sibling friendship between us, okay?”
Ye Qizhen watched the two clowns bicker cheerfully from the side. This mode of interaction still had that familiar flavor.
She, Tang Tang, and Tang Xiao were childhood friends who grew up together. Tang Xiao was Tang Tang’s cousin. Later, Tang Xiao went to high school in another city, so they contacted each other less. Now Ye Qizhen was in the Journalism Department at Z University, Tang Xiao was in the Fine Arts Department at Z University, and Tang Tang was also studying in Nancheng, so the three of them were together again.
Among the three, Tang Tang was two months older than Tang Xiao, and Tang Xiao was one month older than Ye Qizhen. Although Ye Qizhen was the youngest, she was the one among them who was best at taking care of others.
“Alright, let’s go eat,” Ye Qizhen urged the two who were still cursing at each other.
“Eat, eat.” Tang Tang was hungry too, and specifically emphasized to Tang Xiao, “Dog Tang is treating.”
“Fine, you two beauties can swipe my meal card as much as you want. Satisfied now?” Tang Xiao said with a grin.
Since it was past mealtime, there wasn’t much food left at the windows on the first and second floors, so everyone headed straight for the restaurant on the third floor of the cafeteria.
Ye Qizhen naturally didn’t let Tang Xiao swipe his meal card alone. She never thought it was right for a boy to pay for everything when boys and girls ate together, no matter how good their relationship was. Tang Tang and Tang Xiao were cousins, so they didn’t need to care too much, but she did.
After getting their food, they found a table for four and sat down. With over a dozen dishes, small plates almost filled the table, looking quite sumptuous and tempting.
“I’m crying, your cafeteria is so much better than ours.” Tang Tang wailed while stuffing food into her mouth. “They’re both cafeterias, how can the difference be so huge?”
“Eat more, if it’s not enough we can order more.” Ye Qizhen moved the plates, shifting the ribs in front of Tang Tang. Tang Tang loved sweet and sour pork ribs, and Tang Xiao liked braised fish chunks; she always remembered other people’s preferences.
There weren’t many people on the third floor either; most were freshmen bringing their parents to eat.
Ye Qizhen put a mouthful of rice into her mouth. When she looked up, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure at a small table by the window. The person was eating alone, her long hair tucked behind her ears. Even from her profile, one could see her exquisite and beautiful features.
Coming and going alone—that was Wen Yu’s style.
Looking at her like this, Ye Qizhen’s thoughts were suddenly brought back to her second year of high school. At that time, after dinner, she would sit alone by the flowerbed in the back playground to memorize texts. The flowerbed faced the window of an art studio, and she could often see a girl inside painting, so focused that she wouldn’t move for half an hour.
The girl had cool, pale skin and was very beautiful. Later, she learned that the girl was the “famous” Wen Yu of the school. And even later, she inexplicably became rivals in love with Wen Yu.
Ye Qizhen admitted that Wen Yu left a deep impression on her, not because of the rival identity. It was funny to say, but compared to looking at handsome guys, she seemed to pay more attention to beautiful girls. And Wen Yu was definitely the type one would remember at a glance.
Just then, the person by the window turned her head.
Ye Qizhen didn’t know why she felt guilty, but her eyes dodged away. She lowered her head to pick up some vegetables and shoveled a mouthful of rice.
Wen Yu didn’t turn back immediately. Her gaze paused on Ye Qizhen’s slightly bulging cheeks, and slowly, she couldn’t help but smile.
Ye Qizhen had her head buried and didn’t see it. But Tang Xiao, sitting on the side, was completely dazzled by that smile. His heart instantly started racing like a deer in headlights, thumping wildly.
After eating quietly for a while, Tang Xiao couldn’t hold back and whispered, “Little Zhen’er.”
Ye Qizhen and Tang Tang, sitting opposite him, looked up at him in unison.
“That girl, she’s your high school classmate, right? Should we call her over to join us? I see she’s alone,” Tang Xiao said while stealing glances at Wen Yu. Actually, he had noticed Wen Yu downstairs earlier.
Before Ye Qizhen could speak, Tang Tang seemed to understand something and spoke first: “She’s good-looking, right?”
Tang Xiao nodded like he was pounding garlic.
“That’s the school beauty of our No. 1 High School,” Tang Tang said unhurriedly.
“Sis—” Tang Xiao unscrewed a bottle of drink and diligently offered it to Tang Tang, asking curiously, “What’s her name? Do you know what her major is? Do you have her contact info?”
Tang Xiao only called Tang Tang “Sis” when he needed something from her; most of the time, he called her by her nickname, Tang Sweetie. His motive was obvious.
Ye Qizhen didn’t participate in the topic and silently ate her own meal.
“Are you conducting a census here?” Tang Tang looked at Tang Xiao coldly, thinking that dog men were all the same—seeing a pretty face made their eyes go straight.
“Sis, tell me, and I’ll treat you to milk tea for a month.” Tang Xiao thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, raised his index finger, and corrected himself: “A semester.”
He was really investing heavily; usually, he would nag for ages about buying her a single bottle of soda. Tang Tang raised an eyebrow. “What, fell in love at first sight?”
The smile on Tang Xiao’s face revealed everything, a mix of shyness and eagerness: “You know my biggest wish in college is to find a girlfriend.”
“If you want to chase her, I advise you to give up early,” Tang Tang poured a bucket of cold water on Tang Xiao without hesitation. “That is someone you can’t even dream of getting.”
Ye Qizhen knew why Tang Tang said that.
“Why?” Tang Xiao looked puzzled. He poked the rice in his bowl with his chopsticks, thought seriously for a while, and then said, “She… doesn’t like men?!”
“Pfft—” Ye Qizhen, who had been silent for a long time, couldn’t hold it back hearing Tang Xiao’s words and sprayed a mouthful of water. Fortunately, she turned her head fast enough, so Tang Xiao was spared.
“…” Tang Xiao felt a bit hurt.
Tang Tang rubbed her forehead, also amused by Tang Xiao’s astonishing train of thought. “I’m asking where you get your confidence from? Even her tenth spare tire is on the level of a school hunk.”
Although Tang Xiao looked decent—1.8 meters tall, refined and fair, with a sunny, warm-guy smile that girls liked—compared to the boys around Wen Yu, he was too ordinary and lacked presence.
“Why are you so superficial? You can’t just look at appearance. Besides, I’m not ugly, right?” Tang Xiao turned his face to Ye Qizhen and asked, “Right?”
Ye Qizhen was wiping her mouth and didn’t answer.
“She used to have the nickname ‘Vixen.’ You can figure out what that means yourself. You’d better not provoke her.” Tang Tang only said half of it. She wasn’t one to gossip, but Wen Yu’s reputation at No. 1 High School was really too bad. There’s no smoke without fire. Seeing this silly, sweet boy Tang Xiao getting ideas, she just wanted to remind him not to be too naive, so he wouldn’t get hurt.
“I think you’re prejudiced against beautiful women,” Tang Xiao mumbled, dissatisfied with Tang Tang’s statement.
“Prejudiced my foot, I’m a beauty myself.” Tang Tang got a little angry and said in a hushed, annoyed tone, “If you don’t believe me, ask Ye Qizhen what kind of reputation she had at our school.”
Ye Qizhen fell silent. Speaking of which, Wen Yu could be called a “legend” at No. 1 High School.
Wen Yu was an art student and had won many awards for her work in high school. Generally speaking, girls who were both beautiful and talented would be very popular, but Wen Yu was an exception.
Rumors about Wen Yu were endless at school. For example, that she loved being a mistress just like her mother and liked seducing men; or that she never lived in the dorms because she spent nights off-campus with men; and also, that she changed boyfriends once a month…
Many of these claims had unknown origins. The only thing that could be confirmed was that Wen Yu’s mother had indeed been a mistress, and the man involved was the father of one of Wen Yu’s classmates. A parent-teacher meeting had turned directly into a scene of catching a mistress, causing a huge uproar at the school back then.
Although she had heard many things about Wen Yu, without factual basis, Ye Qizhen wouldn’t easily say anything. She had experienced some things herself and knew very well that this was how rumors started. She wouldn’t judge a person based on hearsay.
“I’m not close to her, I don’t know,” Ye Qizhen lifted her eyes and simply said.
If she had to give an impression, Ye Qizhen felt that Wen Yu was a person so calm it was outrageous. Once, she saw Wen Yu in the art studio being called a bitch to her face by another girl, but Wen Yu just smiled faintly, brushed it off, and continued painting.
It was the first time Ye Qizhen had seen someone like that, as if she didn’t care about anything, as if nothing could fluster her.
Hearing Ye Qizhen say this, Tang Xiao was disappointed. Seeing the other girl buy a drink for Ye Qizhen downstairs earlier, he had assumed their relationship was good.
Seeing that Tang Xiao still hadn’t given up, Tang Tang added another sentence: “If you want to chase her, go ahead. The last thing she lacks is men chasing her.”
Wen Yu definitely didn’t lack boys chasing her; on this point, Ye Qizhen agreed.
