Volume 9: The Acidity of the Setting Sun
Chapter 8: Yes or No (Part 1)
Seeing Chen Jianing’s cute appearance on tiptoes, Lu Li couldn’t help but smile knowingly. How long had it been since he had smiled from the bottom of his heart? First, he was made restless by the shooting incident, and then he was bogged down by the matter with Chu Jingyi. It seemed that ever since the trip to the coast, he hadn’t had a single day of peace. The most ironic part was that the sentence he thought most frequently on the beach back then was: “How great would it be if days like this could last forever.”
Lu Li got off the bus with the main group. The volunteers wearing red armbands handed water and took luggage for the campers. Lu Li, pulling his suitcase, walked up to Chen Jianing, who was in the last row. The smile on Chen Jianing’s face was completely irrepressible, but she still deliberately crossed her arms and pouted. “I thought you would have been screened out in the initial review.”
“So you definitely weren’t waiting here for me?” Lu Li stole her line.
Chen Jianing huffed, jumped off the chair with a thump, and reached for the handle of Lu Li’s suitcase. Lu Li stepped to the side to block her. “What are you doing?”
“Helping you with your luggage.” Chen Jianing looked left and right. All the volunteers were helping the future new students with their luggage. Wasn’t that the volunteers’ job?
“Don’t. Senior Chen, with your small frame, you should probably pull something else,” Lu Li teased. He had thought Chen Jianing would get angry, but to his surprise, the girl just said, “Oh.” “Then what should I pull?” Lu Li thought for a moment, not knowing what to have her carry, so he lifted the hem of his own shirt. “You can just pull on me.”
The little tiger’s heart skipped a beat. She raised her hand slightly. “You want me to hold your hand?” It sounded like a casual, joking reply. Lu Li suddenly felt a gaze fall on his cheek, making his face burn. This feeling of being watched was very mysterious. Lu Li turned his head and saw Chu Jingyi watching him from a distance. The look in her eyes was indescribably complex.
A little sad, a little disappointed…
“Chu Jingyi came too?” The little tiger nonchalantly withdrew her hand. “Then let’s not hold hands, so your girlfriend doesn’t get the wrong idea.”
“She might not admit it,” Lu Li said, a sourness in his heart. He pushed his suitcase forward. “Alright, Senior Chen, aren’t you going to take me to where I’m staying?”
“Did you two break up?” Chen Jianing asked as they walked, suddenly rising on her tiptoes as if to make herself look taller.
“Not yet, but it’s coming.”
“It must be you who made Chu Jingyi angry. She has such a good temper, and she likes you so much.” Chen Jianing’s tone was a bit off when she spoke. Lu Li didn’t pay it any mind, just assuming her habit of being passive-aggressive was acting up again.
“You’re wrong about that. This time, I’m the one getting dumped.” Lu Li noticed the little tiger beside him freeze.
“Oh.” She said noncommittally, seeming uninterested in their gossip. Lu Li felt it was best not to publicize this matter, so he gave a dry laugh and didn’t mention Chu Jingyi again.
The new campers were divided by gender and moved into the undergraduate dormitories. Chen Jianing couldn’t enter the male dorm, so she waited downstairs. When Lu Li came out, this senior, who only reached his chest, said magnanimously, “Let’s go, junior. I’ll take you on a tour of Mulan University.” Lu Li looked back at the dormitory building not far away. That was the building Chu Jingyi was staying in. He had actually been hoping to see her figure.
Walking on the university campus with Chen Jianing, she introduced the campus while chattily telling him anecdotes that circulated among the students. For example, which little grove was often used by young couples for trysts, which lake had someone drowned in, which building was haunted at midnight, and also which professor was stricter and which one often failed people. Lu Li listened quietly, rarely offering an opinion.
To him, university was no longer anything new.
Chen Jianing kicked a small stone on the road. “Hey, Lu Li, if you really don’t want to break up with Chu Jingyi, just tell her. Act cute with her, let go of your big-man pride, and she’ll definitely forgive you.”
Lu Li was taken aback. “How did we suddenly get on this topic?”
“‘Unhappy’ is written all over your face,” Chen Jianing huffed. “You weren’t like this before. You, you bad guy, were always teasing me. Now you’re so lifeless, like a zombie that just crawled out of a grave. I’m still counting on you to pay my salary after I graduate. If you’re all depressed, what am I going to do for a job in the future?”
So I’m just a boring money-dispensing machine? Lu Li smiled. “Don’t worry. Once June of next year passes, I’ll be able to start a company in my own name and open a bank account. When the time comes, I’ll definitely save a position for you in the company with good pay, little work, and lots of kickbacks.”
“That’s good.” Hearing there was money to be made, Chen Jianing’s face lit up with a smile. “You, you playboy, are still somewhat useful. At least I’ve never heard of a first-year university student who could start their own company.”
As they were talking, two beautiful and youthful female university students suddenly walked toward them. Lu Li had always felt that high school girls were still a bit tender, while university girls were just right, possessing both an unworldly innocence and the figure of an adult.
The little tiger’s shoulders tensed up; she suddenly became nervous.
“Jianing, didn’t you go to be a volunteer?” the taller of the two girls said. Their gazes fell on Lu Li, a trace of surprise in their eyes. “This is…?”
Lu Li turned his head, wanting to see how Chen Jianing would introduce him. To his surprise, the little tiger just pursed her lips, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn’t. Lu Li suddenly understood. He took the little tiger’s hand. “I’m her boyfriend.”
“?”
“?”
“?”
Lu Li’s expression didn’t change, until the two across from them came back to their senses. “Jianing, you found such a handsome guy without making a sound. You really struck it rich quietly.” “No wonder you’ve been so secretive all the time. So that’s how it is…”
Chen Jianing’s face was flushed red. She held it in for a long time before saying, “Alright, don’t go spreading this around. We have something to do, so we’re leaving first!” After speaking, she dragged Lu Li away like a little bull. Lu Li could only awkwardly wave goodbye to the two female university students. Chen Jianing dragged him all the way to the edge of a deserted grove before stammering, “W-what nonsense were you spouting just now… D-do you know who those two people were?”
“I know. They’re your roommates, right?”
“Y-you knew and you still spouted nonsense!” Chen Jianing was so flustered she bit her tongue.
Of course, Lu Li wasn’t just taking advantage of the girl for no reason. He remembered Chen Jianing saying in their previous life that her relationship with her roommates wasn’t very harmonious; they always teased her for not being able to find a boyfriend. At that time, Chen Jianing had lamented how great it would have been if Lu Li could have pretended to be her boyfriend and helped her get back at them. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been treated as inferior in the dorm for all four years of university.
Lu Li was a little pleased with himself. “Aren’t you satisfied? Didn’t you want to show off in front of them for once?”
Chen Jianing pouted. “How did you know I wanted to show off?”
“You said so yourself.”
“Did I?”
“You did.”
“Forget it.” Chen Jianing waved her hand, the blush on her face gradually fading. “Indeed, um, it was indeed quite satisfying.” Just a little? Lu Li saw the smile on the little tiger’s face gradually bloom. This girl’s happiness had always been quite simple.
She stood on her tiptoes and managed to pat Lu Li on the shoulder. “Junior, you did pretty well this time.”
Lu Li played along. “It’s my honor to be of help to you, Senior.”
After saying this, the two of them laughed together, both finding the other’s antics comical. Lu Li suddenly felt that Chen Jianing wasn’t just a girl who only made people feel awkward. Perhaps it was because he had been too depressed recently that even the usually gloomy little tiger seemed full of sunshine.
“Senior, shall we continue the tour?”
Chen Jianing was laughing so hard her stomach hurt. She clutched her abdomen. “No, I’m going back to the dorm. I need to go and gloat properly in front of them. By the way, Lu Li, you have to do your best in this Winter Camp. You have to apply for the same major as me next year, so I can take you under my wing…”
“Don’t worry. Are you still worried I won’t get in?” For Lu Li, most of the aptitude tests at this stage were not a problem. He already possessed the qualities and abilities of this society’s elite class.
It was just that this so-called modern elite was still quite a ways off from the transcendent Aristocratic Families.
Chen Jianing strode back the way they came. Suddenly, she turned her head and shouted, “Go win her back! You’re more handsome when you’re happy!” After speaking, she ran off without looking back.
Lu Li watched the little tiger’s back. This time, he could be certain that she wasn’t being sarcastic.
