Qian Wei spent the entire financial literacy class thoroughly distracted. Because of Wu Jun’s dramatic confession scene, plenty of curious, probing gazes were still fixed on her in the classroom. She could only be grateful that the room had been noisy right before class started, so aside from Wu Jun, no one else seemed to have caught Lu Xun’s declaration. She didn’t even dare imagine how worked up those nosy girls in class would get if they learned Lu Xun had actually claimed her as his girlfriend.
But compared to Lu Xun’s current expression, Qian Wei felt those outsiders’ reactions were nothing. He sat beside her with a stony face, clearly in full “here to settle accounts” mode, only holding back because class was in session.
When the class finally ended, Lu Xun predictably began packing up his things with deliberate slowness. He’d chosen a seat that happened to block Qian Wei’s only path out—as long as he stood there, she couldn’t leave.
“Qian Wei, didn’t you tell me back then you had no interest in dating?” Lu Xun’s tone carried a note of sarcasm as he glanced at her. “Hm? Two days ago? So right after saying that, you went straight off to a mixer?”
“I went with Liu Shiyun! I swear!” Qian Wei felt close to tears. “It was that bourgeois menace Liu Shiyun who lured me into sin with her family’s chain hotel VVIP room card!”
Lu Xun raised an eyebrow. “So she gave you her family’s hotel VVIP card?”
Qian Wei nodded, looking thoroughly aggrieved. “I was blinded by greed in that moment! If I’d known it would land me someone like Wu Jun, I’d never have gone even if it killed me! Maybe I should just give her card back!”
Lu Xun thought it over for a moment. “Keep it.” He cleared his throat. “It’ll come in handy eventually.”
Qian Wei thought, what could it possibly be useful for? She was such a homebody, never traveled, didn’t even leave the city, and had no real occasion to stay in hotels. But if Lu Xun said to keep it, she’d keep it.
“Qian Wei, I need to go visit my sister at the hospital later. Let’s reschedule today’s criminal law study group.”
Just as Qian Wei’s mind was wandering, Li Chongwen’s voice interrupted her thoughts. He still looked as refined as ever, and even though he’d just witnessed Wu Jun’s whole spectacle, he didn’t come over to awkwardly ask about it. He simply smiled at Qian Wei. “Also, thanks for the snacks, as always.” With that, he waved and picked up his bag to leave.
Li Chongwen was gone, but the aftermath of his presence clearly wasn’t. A storm was visibly brewing on Lu Xun’s face, yet strangely, he said nothing about it, managing to talk to Qian Wei with surprising calm—just with rather erratic topic changes.
“What are we eating tonight?”
“Huh? Let’s just get the stone-pot bibimbap at the cafeteria!”
“What flavor bibimbap are you getting?”
Qian Wei found this odd but answered anyway. “Grilled beef, I guess!”
“Did you finish tomorrow’s Marxist philosophy paper?”
“Yeah, just the usual boilerplate stuff.” As she answered, Qian Wei couldn’t help thinking the topic shifts were coming way too fast!
But Lu Xun’s thoughts seemed to be scattering everywhere tonight. After a moment of silence, he spoke again as if searching for something to say. “Has the student union had any events lately, through Liu Shiyun?”
Qian Wei scratched her head. “She’s been too absorbed in her relationship lately, I can barely catch her these days, haven’t had a chance to ask about any events.”
And so Lu Xun kept jumping from topic to topic, with Qian Wei doing her best to keep up.
After a while of this awkward small talk, Lu Xun finally fell quiet. Then he stopped walking and grabbed Qian Wei’s hand.
“I can’t hold it in anymore.”
“Hm?”
Lu Xun’s voice came out dry. Though he was clearly trying to suppress his emotions, Qian Wei could still sense the undercurrent beneath his seemingly calm tone. He stared straight into her eyes. “I tried.” He held his breath. “I just can’t do it.”
“Huh?”
Lu Xun looked at her intently. “Li Chongwen gets snacks.”
“…”
“Why don’t I?”
“…”
“You even snuck them to him behind my back before I got to class.”
“…”
If he hadn’t brought it up, it might have stayed buried, but now that he had, Lu Xun launched into a full accounting of past grievances. “And you used to buy him breakfast too, and bring him fruit.”
“…”
Lu Xun’s expression was thoroughly unpleasant. He held back for a moment, but his usually prized self-control finally gave way. “And I heard you once boasted to someone that in the future you’d have both me and Li Chongwen at once—with Li Chongwen as your primary and me as your mistress.”
Qian Wei broke into a cold sweat but tried to stay composed and deny everything outright. “Who told you that?! That kind of ‘I heard’ stuff is total rumor—you know how bored college students are these days, things get twisted the more they get passed around! Whoever said that clearly doesn’t know me well and was just spreading gossip. I’m someone who’s completely devoted in love!”
Lu Xun said flatly, “Qian Chuan told me himself, and you two are thick as thieves.”
“…”
Qian Chuan, you traitor! Our sibling bond ends here!!!
Qian Wei cleared her throat. “Well… um…” Then it hit her. “I brought a snack for you too! Imported, even!!”
Lu Xun’s expression remained grave. “Never mind the snacks. There’s something I still can’t wrap my head around.”
Qian Wei was about to explain that she hadn’t meant anything by it, but instead heard Lu Xun continue, voice full of resentment. “Why does Li Chongwen get to be the primary? I only qualify as the mistress? Am I not good enough to be the primary?!”
Um, Lu Xun, are you focusing on the wrong thing here??? The point isn’t the ranking of primary versus mistress…
Once Lu Xun’s competitive streak was triggered, he absolutely would not stop until things were settled once and for all. He’d clearly latched onto this whole primary-versus-mistress business, wearing an expression that said “you’re not leaving until you give me a satisfactory explanation.”
Qian Wei had no choice but to think fast. “You know how it is—the primary wife usually isn’t the favored one, the proper, dignified, not-very-fun type gets stuck being the primary. But the mistress—the mistress is the one who’s truly adored! The mistress is spoiled and doesn’t always behave, but he still can’t bring himself to let her go. Why? Because of love! The mistress is the one closest to his heart. What I said was actually a compliment to you. You’ve watched TV dramas too—aren’t the primary wives in those shows always portrayed as cold and passionless, while the mistresses are all seductive, adorable, and irresistibly sexy, basically every man’s dream woman? To me, you’re exactly like that mistress figure!”
Lu Xun’s expression, though still a bit reluctant, softened considerably. Qian Wei broke into a sweat of relief—that explanation had finally scraped by…
Wait, hold on! This isn’t right, Qian Wei thought. I can’t just let Lu Xun lead me around like this! He’s the one pursuing me here! Why am I groveling like this? This is the new socialist era, the serfs have risen up and are singing their freedom songs!
Qian Wei cleared her throat. “Lu Xun, do you remember, I said I wanted a boyfriend who’s understanding and reasonable, who doesn’t get unreasonably jealous?” She looked at him. “You’re really not living up to my ideal boyfriend profile right now. Don’t forget you’re still on a two-month probation.”
“I already said, I tried.” Lu Xun’s voice was stiff. “I just can’t do it.”
“…”
“And besides, you yourself just said that being understanding and reasonable only gets you stuck as an unloved, nominal primary wife. I refuse to be that kind of primary.”
Qian Wei: “…”
Lu Xun said with total conviction, “So I’ve decided—I want to be the pampered, seductive little vixen. I’m going to be jealous, and that’s final.”
“…” Someone actually managing to describe jealousy so casually—Qian Wei could only tip her hat in admiration!
“I can’t manage the ‘understanding and reasonable’ part, but I’ll keep working on the cooking.” After a brief silence, Lu Xun spoke again.
Qian Wei blinked, startled. Lu Xun’s eyes were fixed unblinkingly on her now, those beautiful dark pupils holding nothing but her reflection. Something in Qian Wei’s heart gave a small jolt—she hadn’t expected him to take her offhand comment from before so seriously. She looked up, carefully pressing a hand to her chest, and studied him. “You’ve been learning to cook?”
“Mm.” Lu Xun’s expression looked a little flustered. “I borrowed some books, but cooking turned out to be slightly harder than I expected.” He paused, then emphasized again, “Just slightly. A very small amount.”
Before Qian Wei could react, Lu Xun added, “But it won’t beat me. I’ll master it soon enough.”
Qian Wei nodded, fully convinced. If Lu Xun said he could do anything, she believed it—for some reason, she held this blind, unwavering faith in him.
The two of them kept walking. Though they were now technically boyfriend and girlfriend, this was, after all, a first relationship for both of them, and there was a certain awkward inexperience to it all.
Walking beside Lu Xun had never felt strange before, but now that she’d actually developed real feelings for him, walking together like this suddenly felt completely different. Her cheeks burned, her palms sweated, and she even became self-conscious of how she walked. Though her hair hung neatly by her ears, she kept reflexively brushing back nonexistent strands from her face. For the first time in her life, Qian Wei felt utterly flustered.
They were passing through a tree-lined path when, before Qian Wei even registered it, a group of bicycles suddenly came around the bend ahead. Several young guys, clearly close friends, were riding erratically, chasing and horsing around with each other. They apparently hadn’t noticed anyone on the path and didn’t slow down in time.
Before Qian Wei could react, a pair of hands reached over, pulled her hand, and with one smooth motion, drew her into an embrace—the bicycles swerved past, grazing dangerously close to Lu Xun’s body.
“Sorry, sorry about that!”
Amid a string of apologies, the bicycles vanished at the end of the path.
Qian Wei, blushing, finally extracted herself from Lu Xun’s arms.
Lu Xun’s ears had turned a little red too, though his face remained composed. He glanced at her. “Be more careful next time.”
Just as Qian Wei let go of his hand and nodded, Lu Xun reached over and grabbed it again.
“Never mind, you’re always half a beat too slow to react. I’d better hold onto you myself.”
Having said that, he kept hold of her hand and guided her to walk on the inside, away from the road. “Walk on this side.”
The sunlight was lovely that day, filtering through the tree canopy in scattered patches across the path, a light breeze drifting by. In the distance, the sound of a basketball bouncing and boys chatting carried over from the court. But Qian Wei felt like none of it registered—all her senses seemed concentrated entirely on the hand intertwined with hers. At first, Lu Xun had simply wrapped his hand loosely around hers, but at some point the grip had shifted, his long, slender, pale fingers now laced fully between her own.
The walk took only ten minutes, yet to Qian Wei it felt both impossibly short and impossibly long.
“If I hadn’t been there just now, you would have gotten hit.”
Qian Wei lowered her head slightly. “Yeah… thanks.”
“Nothing besides a thank-you?” Lu Xun tilted his chin up, his voice carrying a hint of awkwardness.
“So… should I present you with a banner of gratitude?”
“Qian Wei!” Lu Xun finally lost his composure, his voice coming out through gritted teeth. “Who wants your banner!”
“Then what do you want?” Qian Wei asked carefully. “Can I even afford it?”
Lu Xun shot her a look, then finally broke into a helpless smile. “Of course you can afford it.”
Almost the moment he finished speaking, Qian Wei felt the same warm, soft sensation against her lips.
“This is the thanks I want.”
Qian Wei’s face turned completely red. She looked up at Lu Xun’s face, so close to hers. “You can’t just do that in the middle of the path! That’s way too bold!”
Lu Xun complied readily enough—he pulled Qian Wei toward the shade of a tree by the path. Her back pressed against the trunk, and before she could fully process what was happening, his lips found hers again. He leaned in, pressing her against the tree, greedily seeking more of this “thanks” from her.
Qian Wei’s back felt the rough texture of the bark, while her lips felt the feather-light touch of Lu Xun’s kiss—the stark contrast between these two sensations only heightened everything she felt.
She didn’t want to admit it, but honestly, it was a little thrilling…