Chapter 297: University Life
As May arrived, Shion-sensei’s sales were still very low. Actually, it wasn’t to say they were low, just that they couldn’t reach the glorious days of the past. After Ballad of the Enchantress ended, her novel sales could no longer reach their previous standard. Only the long-discontinued novel Zixuan and the Paper Airplane had more people buying it. Few people bought the short story Bitter Love. Most of those who did were loyal fans.
She had been contemplating, thinking about how to create a new story, sign a new contract, and build a brand new long-form novel. But it was still too difficult to do. For the first time, she tasted the bitterness of her inspiration drying up. She forced herself to sit at her desk every day and think of a story, but she couldn’t come up with anything.
One day, after pulling an all-nighter, Yu Linna, who had slept from morning until six in the evening, got out of bed, her eyes sleepy, her face pale, her hair messy. Wearing her pajamas, she looked petite. After a period of “decadence,” she had become even thinner.
“Linna, you’ve been getting more and more depressed lately.”
Lan Ranyan was doing her homework below and glanced up at her.
“Yeah, always working at night and sleeping during the day. You’ll die of exhaustion sooner or later.”
Even Fang Jiangning couldn’t stand it anymore. The Yu Linna of the past was so well-behaved, going to bed on time, never being ambiguous. She would wake up early every day, sleep on time, and live a quality life. And now? She was getting more and more “decadent,” just like Zhao Yuyan.
Yu Linna yawned, didn’t say a word, went to the bathroom to rinse her mouth, and then she had to find something to eat and come back to continue working. As for tomorrow’s class, she could only skip it…
“Shion-sensei, if you keep skipping class like this, the counselor will definitely be angry.”
Xiao Yanhan had already foreseen the scene of Yu Linna being invited to the office for a cup of tea. Although Yu Linna’s academic performance was very good, and her scores on last semester’s final exams were among the top, even though she often went out for business, her grades had not fallen behind.
Yu Linna brushed her teeth, her mind thinking about the development of the story, thinking about how to create a male and female protagonist different from Ballad of the Enchantress, a brand new story. But to write it out was still too difficult. What on earth should she do?
She washed her face, wiped it clean with a towel. She looked in the mirror and found that she had more pimples, and she looked more and more haggard.
What would Zhiyun do if she were here at this time…
After the New Year, Ye Zhiyun had gone out again. She heard that she was going to chase her dream. She would occasionally go to school, but most of the time she was running around outside, and she didn’t know what she was doing.
The days without her were a little empty.
I want to see her.
She hung up the towel and went to the bathroom to change with her clothes.
…
When they were eating, it was originally just the few of them from the dorm, but Bai Ya from the dorm next door also came along. She said that her roommates had ordered takeout, and she wanted to eat out. When Bai Ya saw Yu Linna, she couldn’t help but be startled.
“Little Linna, what’s wrong with this? Too much fun with your boyfriend?”
“I don’t have that kind of thing as a boyfriend.”
“No way, that’s so low. I even have a boyfriend. You guys in your dorm are all so good-looking. Don’t tell me none of you have a boyfriend?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Bai Ya was met with the hostility of the entire 383 dorm. Yu Linna and Xiao Yanhan were fine, but Fang Jiangning’s hostility was serious. It wasn’t that she couldn’t find a boyfriend, it was that she didn’t want to, okay!
“Little sister Bai, I hear you have a problem with us single ladies, hmm?”
“No, no, how could I dare…”
“Then please explain what you meant by that sentence just now, okay?”
“Wuwuwu, I’m sorry, I was wrong, help…”
Bai Ya indicated that if she had a chance to do it over, she would absolutely not have said those words, absolutely not.
They had eaten almost all the food in the school, and no one wanted to go to the cafeteria. So they found a beef noodle shop, sat down, and ordered their favorite noodles. As a Beijing girl, Lan Ranyan was quite fond of noodles. People in the south liked to eat rice as their staple food. Although she wasn’t unable to accept it, after being away from home for so long, she still liked the taste of her hometown. Plus, the owner of this shop was also from Beijing, so she was even more satisfied with the noodles here.
Bai Ya sat next to Yu Linna, looking at her increasingly haggard face and her increasingly listless expression. She couldn’t help but wonder what this kid had been up to, how she had gotten into this state.
“Little Linna, you really don’t have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Then what have you been doing these past few days? You haven’t been coming to class either. When I go to your dorm to find you, you’re also sleeping.”
“…”
Yu Linna wanted to say, Why can’t all this delicious food shut your mouth?
“Little Linna, the results of the film review competition you participated in last time are out. You represented the school in the provincial competition and won first place! The whole province! Now it’s hard for you not to be famous. You’ve brought glory to the school!”
After hearing this, Yu Linna didn’t have much of a reaction, just replied that she knew. Clearly, she wasn’t very surprised by this result. This made Bai Ya very puzzled. Why wasn’t she very happy even after winning first place?
“There’s a prize for first place, a whole 5,000 yuan.”
“I’ll treat you all to a meal in a few days.”
“You’re already on the school’s honor roll.”
“Mmm.”
“The teacher said we should be proud of you.”
“Got it.”
Yu Linna really had no feeling at all. How could this be!
And the fact was, Yu Linna had no feeling for these awards at all. She had even bigger awards. Why would she care about this small film review award? Besides, how could a mere 5,000 yuan sway her?
“I’m full. Bai Ya, you can pay for me first. I’ll transfer it to you later.”
Yu Linna put down her bowl and chopsticks and wiped her mouth. Bai Ya saw that she had eaten less than half of her bowl of noodles.
“If you eat so little, you’ll be hungry.”
“I have no appetite recently.”
Yu Linna just said that one sentence. What she said was also the truth. Everyone in the 383 dorm knew that Yu Linna’s appetite was getting smaller and smaller. Xiao Yanhan, who often brought her food back, knew that the frequency of her eating leftovers was getting higher and higher. The little foodie Yu Linna that Fang Jiangning had originally known, her persona was now gradually disappearing.
“The school has opened a small cinema. It’s having a trial screening tonight. Do you want to go and see it together?”
“The film club’s?”
“Yeah, let’s go, let’s go together.”
Bai Ya pulled her arm, begging her to go with her like she was acting spoiled. And the other three were not interested at all. They had to rush their manuscripts, go live, and also had to read books. None of them were interested in going to see a movie with her. Yu Linna had no choice but to go for a walk with her.
Speaking of which, after entering university, there were really a lot of clubs in the school. When she first enrolled, many people came to recruit new members. Among them, there were not a few people from the drama club or the dance club who had taken a liking to Yu Linna and wanted to pull her in. But Yu Linna refused to join any club. Not just her, but everyone in the dorm had not joined any clubs. As for Xiao Yanhan, she had joined a manga club, but according to her, this manga club was not professional at all, and they didn’t do any activities, just sat there drinking tea and chatting every day.
The film club’s cinema started to be used tonight. It was hard to say how many people it would attract for now, but this was a good start. For someone like Yu Linna, who usually liked to watch movies, if the school could open a cinema, she would be very happy. This would save her the trouble of going out.
“Wow, don’t you think the president of the film club is so handsome?!”
“You already have a boyfriend. Aren’t you afraid your boyfriend will get jealous?”
“Please, it’s not a crime to look at handsome guys these days.”
They sat in the cinema seats, watching the staff fiddling with the equipment and the screen. Because it had just opened, this small cinema didn’t have many people. And a newly opened small cinema, after all, couldn’t be considered a cinema on the market, so they could only show movies that had already been taken off the big screens in ordinary cinemas. There was no helping it.
The president of the film club was a third-year senior. He was indeed quite handsome, with permed curly hair, and he dressed well. The important thing was that he had a very cheerful smile. While this senior was arranging for the staff to set up the scene, he happened to see Yu Linna sitting in her seat, drinking a Coke. He was immediately attracted by the blonde girl.
His friends next to him were also egging him on. He gathered his courage, showed a smile, and approached her.
“Junior, do you like our club’s cinema?”
“Hmm? Ah… it’s alright, pretty good.”
“What kind of movies do you like to watch? We can take it as a reference and then show similar types of movies next time based on your opinion.”
“Mmm… superheroes?”
“OK, I’ll arrange for a screening of ‘Avengers 4’ next time.”
This senior, could it be that he has some ulterior motives?
Yu Linna had a bad feeling.
“Junior, are you satisfied with our project?”
“Quite satisfied.”
“By the way, let’s add each other on WeChat, junior. If you have any suggestions in the future, you can come to me. We’ll improve based on your opinion.”
“…”
She knew it was no good.
She immediately pulled Bai Ya’s hand and left the cinema. She felt it was too dangerous and didn’t want to stay here at all. And that senior was also not giving up. He even shouted at her, “I won’t give up. I’ll wait for you to come over.” Thinking back to that scene just now, she felt a little creeped out.
“Junior, you’re very pretty. I haven’t seen you before. Do you want to come and see our drama club?”
“Thank you, no need.”
She would still encounter people trying to chat her up along the way. Yu Linna was not happy at all.
Because she had only been obediently attending classes at school before, and stayed in the dorm after class, and often had her roommates bring her food, she hadn’t gotten to know many people outside. It was normal for people at school to be strangers to her. Plus, she was so pretty. It would be absolutely impossible if not a few people tried to chat her up.
“Little Linna, I didn’t expect you to be so popular with passersby. So many little brothers want your WeChat.”
“Please spare me. I don’t want to add them at all, okay!”
Yu Linna indicated that this was not the university life she wanted.
How could anyone know her face when she hadn’t even participated in any clubs or activities at school? These people were just looking at her because she was good-looking, wanting to chat her up and then get with her. She would absolutely not accept it.
“Since you don’t like to go to clubs, then let’s go sit in the library. There are computers there to play on. We can watch a TV series.”
“Watch a TV series in the electronic reading room? Are you sure?”
“Otherwise, you’ll be bored staying here.”
“…”
Yu Linna and Bai Ya arrived at the library building. Looking at the library building, Yu Linna realized that she had never been to the library since she started university.
