It was true. Chen Luzhou took his hand off the back of Xu Zhi’s chair and casually slipped it into his pocket, pretending nothing had happened. When he looked at her again, she had quietly started reading her book, no longer leaning against him. Sometimes Xu Zhi gave him the feeling of being like a robot – the kind that could tease him at any moment but immediately calm down afterward. He still remembered their first kiss at his house; she sat on his lap kissing him, and afterward still knew what was happening in the movie.
Still the same old tricks, just messing with his mind for no reason.
Li Ke hadn’t heard anything else, but just hearing the words “girlfriend” made his brain stop functioning. Being in the library at that moment was like swallowing a muffled thunderclap, exploding over and over in his heart. All he could manage to ask calmly was, “You… you’ve made it official?”
Chen Luzhou gave a soft “Mm,” with a book on Marxist philosophy open in front of him. He was flipping through it carelessly, realizing he had already read the first few chapters. He relaxed a bit, then put his hand back on Xu Zhi’s chair backrest. It looked casual but had a strangely possessive air that kept others from approaching. He even put on an act of sighing, “Yeah, she’s quite clingy. Insists on coming to the library with me to study.”
Before Li Ke could respond, Xu Zhi, who was working on calculus problems, spoke up without looking up, her pen moving non-stop: “Chen Luzhou.”
“Hm?” He turned to her.
Xu Zhi said, “Stop bragging. Midterms are coming up. If you keep talking big, how am I supposed to help you catch up?”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
Li Ke had been about to get up and leave – studying with a couple was always a test of willpower. But hearing Xu Zhi say this, he sat back down firmly and whispered in Chen Luzhou’s ear, “Why is the dark horse a dark horse? She’s just more awesome than you. But am I the first to know about this?”
Chen Luzhou let out a disinterested “Mm,” but then remembered, “Oh, no, you’re the second. I called Zhu Yangqi right after we made it official yesterday.”
Li Ke immediately thought of something and looked at him with a sly expression. “Hm? Wasn’t Zhu Yangqi staying at the hotel with you? Why did you need to call him?”
“What, I can’t spend money on phone calls?” Chen Luzhou gave him a sidelong glance.
Li Ke let out a meaningful “Oh,” knowing that if he kept pushing, the young master might get annoyed. But thinking about it made him feel a bit melancholy. His good friend was off the market now, and there’d be no one to compete with him anymore. Feeling dejected, he couldn’t help but remind him, “But don’t let it affect your studies. It’s easy to get into A University but hard to graduate. Everyone’s still working hard. That top student from H Province asked me yesterday what your math score was in the college entrance exam. He said he’d seen your name on the award list for the national math and science competition before. People are keeping an eye on you.”
Chen Luzhou sighed, then smugly nodded his chin towards the other side. In just this short time, her draft paper was already filled with calculus formulas. “Haven’t you noticed? My girlfriend is even more intense about studying.”
At that moment, Li Ke had only one thought: there was a reason Xu Zhi had won over Chen Luzhou. What guy wouldn’t be smitten by a girl like this?
Monday and Tuesday were packed with classes. With midterms coming up on Wednesday, the campus atmosphere became more tense than usual. Students hurried about, rarely stopping to admire the scenery. There was an artificial lake on A University’s campus where students usually liked to take walks, but these days it was rather deserted, with only a few fat white geese lounging by the poolside, basking in the sun.
After the midterms, while everyone was anxiously waiting for their results, a piece of gossip began spreading like wildfire across campus.
“Huge news! Looks like the king of self-restraint and the beauty of the Architecture Department are dating!”
“Where? Where?”
“At the library! Lu Cao is accompanying his girlfriend to study again.”
“You’ve got it backward. Xu Zhi is being made to accompany Lu Cao at the library again.”
“I’m already used to it. In Professor Wang’s class, they sit together every day. Lu Cao has been pursuing Xu Zhi for a while now.”
“How come Jiang Yu is so useless? He’s been chasing her for so long, but Lu Cao comes along for just a month and easily wins her over.”
“Well, you can’t say that. After all, it’s Lu Cao. If Lu Cao wanted to pursue me… never mind, I shouldn’t even dream about it.”
“Damn, we’ve lost Lu Cao.”
“Damn, we’ve lost a beauty.”
“Lu Cao is such a dog. In Professor Wang’s class, he put a hair clip on Xu Zhi that was shaped like a blade of grass – himself. Haha!”
“Latest news: Lu Cao and Xu Zhi fought because Xu Zhi glanced at a handsome guy from the Art Academy while eating in the cafeteria.”
“Can’t they behave? Is the whole campus not enough for them to show off? How come no one has seen them kissing yet?”