As Zhai Jiajing left and the rumors gradually died down, the dust finally settled on the principal’s recommendation list.
Winter came quietly to Xingcheng.
In December, the trees were sparse, and the cold wind was biting.
At six-thirty every morning when getting up, the sky outside was always gloomy, with very faint light.
Even at seven-fifteen when leaving, it wasn’t much brighter, with only a few pedestrians on the road, and a thin layer of frost on the leaves of the green belt.
The southern wind was damp and cold, blowing fiercely as if it carried ice and snow, making the cheeks sting.
After a few more blows, the pain turned numb, and only when touching with fingertips could one feel the icy chill.
The fact that Shen Xingruo and Lu Xingyan were living together was already public knowledge, so they no longer bothered to avoid suspicion and went out together every day.
“Are we going or not?” At seven-fifteen, Lu Xingyan leaned against the door of Shen Xingruo’s room with his backpack slung over one shoulder, urging, “We’ll be late if we don’t go now.”
“Coming.” Shen Xingruo responded while grabbing a scarf.
Lu Xingyan couldn’t wait and picked up her backpack, heading out first.
Just before getting into the elevator, Aunt Zhou handed Shen Xingruo a cup of ginger tea with brown sugar.
Shen Xingruo was having her period again, feeling particularly sensitive to the cold these days.
Plus, the classroom Mingli didn’t have air conditioning, making it especially difficult to endure during class.
She wore a tight-fitting down jacket under her winter uniform, and two pairs of socks, and brought along a series of equipment such as hats, gloves, and scarves.
When they reached downstairs, Lu Xingyan saw Shen Xingruo taking out a hot water bottle from her backpack and asked, “Another new one?”
“No, the class monitor gave it to me.” Shen Xingruo held the hot water bottle in one hand and adjusted her scarf with the other.
Lu Xingyan was puzzled.
“When did he give it to you? I sit next to him, how come I didn’t know he secretly gave you gifts?”
“It’s not like it’s a holiday or your birthday, why would he randomly give you gifts? And you accepted it?”
Lu Xingyan snatched the hot water bottle and also adjusted her scarf.
“Why are you making such a fuss?”
Shen Xingruo pulled back her scarf and tied it securely.
She didn’t think much of it at first, but Lu Xingyan kept pestering her the whole way, making her feel dizzy, so she had to explain.
Yesterday at noon, she went to the boutique with Shi Qin and Ruan Wen to look at gloves, coincidentally, He Siyue was also there buying water-based pens.
Shi Qin teased He Siyue, saying he should treat them since he was recommended by the principal.
Then Siyue readily agreed and bought each of them a hot water bottle.
After confirming that the three hot water bottles were the same color, size, and price, Lu Xingyan finally believed that this was a very innocent act of paying.
But he still reached his cold hand into Shen Xingruo’s scarf, chilling her neck.
Shen Xingruo exclaimed, “Take it off!”
Lu Xingyan obediently took his hand away and casually said, “This hot water bottle is of poor quality. Look, I’ve been warming it for so long, but my hands are still cold. I won’t take it. I’ll buy you a new one later.”
“…,”
Lu Xingyan continued, “By the way, don’t let boys pay for you casually in the future. You know you’ll owe them a favor, right?”
“…,”
Shen Xingruo thought for a moment and said seriously, “You’re not wrong. Then I’ll give the class monitor a gift for Christmas. What do you guys like?”
“… No, I haven’t finished yet. We indeed owe them a favor, but not all favors need to be repaid.”
“No, need.”
“Yes, need.”
“In that case, I’ll buy a hot water bottle later to repay the favor for you. You can consider this favor owed to me, and just give me the Christmas gift.”
Finding such an excellent solution, Lu Xingyan suddenly felt like a genius.
Shen Xingruo thought for a moment, “Then I won’t repay it.”
With that, she glanced at the time and briskly walked ahead.
“Hey, Shen Xingruo, why are you like this?”
Lu Xingyan shouted from where he stood, then quickly caught up with her.
Christmas was approaching, and as they entered Mingli campus, they could see a big Christmas tree in front of the library, still green and without any gifts or bells hanging on it yet.
Many doors and windows of the teaching building were also decorated with snowflakes and stickers of Santa Claus.
As they walked towards the teaching building, Lu Xingyan was still bargaining with Shen Xingruo about the Christmas gift.
Shen Xingruo was too lazy to argue with him. She had planned to just say a few words to brush him off, but suddenly, she paused and looked up at the sky, “It’s snowing.”
Lu Xingyan followed her gaze, “Where? It usually snows in Xingcheng around the Chinese New Year, and you just got hit by bird poop.”
Shen Xingruo “…”
Took two more steps forward, this time it was Lu Xingyan who stopped and looked up at the sky, “It’s snowing.”
He touched the snowflakes on his bangs, and they melted instantly.
Soon, a few more flakes fell on him, and he brushed them off, “I’ve got a lot of snow on me.”
Shen Xingruo turned to look at him, indifferently saying, “No, you got hit by bird poop, a lot of bird poop.”
“…”
“You hold a grudge.”
Shen Xingruo corrected, “Grudge, it’s spelled with a ‘z’, not a ‘c’.”
“…”
The two of them entered the classroom bickering.
Because of this sudden snowfall, the seniors who were previously frozen and mentally confused suddenly became excited. They were absent-minded during self-study in the morning.
In the first two classes, the snow was not heavy, but by noon, the ground was finally covered with a layer of white. Looking out from the window, it was all pure white.
A few years ago, there was a popular Korean drama called “My Love from the Star”, which sparked a trend of confessing love during the first snow and eating fried chicken and drinking beer on snowy days.
In a few days, it would be Christmas, which happened to be Xu Chengzhou’s birthday. Originally, they planned to go for a barbecue, but with this snow, their group of friends suddenly changed their minds and said they wanted to eat fried chicken and drink beer.
During the break between classes, Lu Xingyan saw Shen Xingruo sitting at her desk, so he went over and asked with his phone in hand, “Xu Chengzhou’s birthday on Christmas, do you want to go eat something together?”
“I’m not feeling well, so I’m not going.”
Shen Xingruo was filling out the classmate record and didn’t even lift her head.
Knowing that she was on her period these days, Lu Xingyan didn’t insist and just glanced at her classmate’s record—
Her favorite TV show: “girl”.
Although he hadn’t heard of it, Lu Xingyan silently repeated “IRL” three times in his mind before returning to his seat.
“…A Korean drama?”
No, Shen Xingruo’s favorite must not be some Korean drama. It’s probably some obscure American or British TV series with a similar name.
Yet, no matter how much he searched, the only show he found was this Korean drama titled “IRL.”
For most of the self-study class, he couldn’t focus on his test paper. So, he decided to send a WeChat message to Shen Xingruo. However, there was no sign of Shen Xingruo even glancing at her phone.
He then wrote a small note and tucked it into his book, passing it along to her.
This time, Shen Xingruo noticed his note, but within two or three minutes, the book was back in his hands.
“You couldn’t find the TV show you like the most. Is there another name for it? Let me take a look and learn from it.”
“Mine is called ‘My Girl,’ also known as ‘Brother-Sister Pact.'”
Lu Xingyan “…”
He couldn’t tell that Shen Xingruo, this young girl, also liked taboo love stories.
So, while looking down on Korean dramas, Lu Xingyan managed to find time to finish watching “IRL.”
Staying up late watching the show, he found himself genuinely feeling sad for the male lead one moment and sympathizing with the unrequited love of the second male lead the next.
If he had known from the start that this was a romantic drama, he definitely wouldn’t have watched it so seriously. But since he thought Shen Xingruo liked it the most, it couldn’t be as simple as it seemed on the surface. He needed to pay attention to see if there were any profound philosophical insights. Otherwise, if they couldn’t find a common topic later, he would be mocked relentlessly by Shen Xingruo.
Finishing the series just before Christmas, he thought for a moment and, just to be safe, check out other people’s reviews. It seemed that indeed, it was just a straightforward idol drama.
Christmas arrived as scheduled.
It happened to be a Saturday, with no evening self-study session. Lu Xingyan planned to first have birthday fried chicken with Xu Chengzhou, then go home and spend a romantic Christmas Eve with Shen Xingruo.
In the crucial period of their third year of high school and with limited options, they settled for celebrating Xu Chengzhou’s birthday at the nearest KFC from school. They brought along a case of beer and occupied the central table in the restaurant. When the KFC staff learned it was Xu Chengzhou’s birthday, they even brought him a birthday hat.
The atmosphere was supposed to be cheerful, but recently Xu Chengzhou had been pursuing a girl from the science class. Not only did he fail to win her over, but she also rejected him citing her focus on studying for the third year of high school, and, to everyone’s surprise, she started dating a student from Class 23 who was participating in a chemistry competition.
Xu Chengzhou went to confront her, but all she said was, “Can you even get into college?” Xu Chengzhou fell silent.
Lu Xingyan didn’t know before coming that Xu Chengzhou’s recent enthusiastic pursuit had come to such an abrupt end. Thinking about the birthday gift he had given, he felt like he had stabbed Xu Chengzhou’s heart again.
So, he consolingly said, “It’s okay, none of us are getting into college anyway.”
Perhaps feeling somewhat provoked, Xu Chengzhou looked at Lu Xingyan and sincerely advised, “Young Master Lu, not to criticize you, but Shen Xingruo has already secured her place in a university. I heard that He Siyue from our class is getting very close to her. He just received a formal recommendation from the principal of a prestigious university. If you don’t make a move soon, are you waiting for him to take her to the capital to meet his family?”
“…I’m already pursuing her, aren’t I?”
Li Chengfan almost sprayed beer from his mouth. “You’re pursuing her? I really can’t tell.”
“You’re blind as a bat.”
Lu Xingyan then brought up another Christmas gift he had prepared for Shen Xingruo and showed it to them. Then, casually taking a sip of beer, he gave them a sidelong glance. “I had to binge-watch her favorite Korean drama just to prepare for this Christmas gift. You guys have no clue.”
His tone was dripping with superiority.
His friends fell collectively silent for a few seconds before breaking into laughter again.
“No, wait, don’t you live with Shen Xingruo? Damn, you’re…no, wait, you’re too innocent, my god.”
“Yan ge, I haven’t seen such a sincere way of pursuing someone for many years. If you hadn’t mentioned you were pursuing her, I might have thought you were still secretly admiring her, you know.”
Lu Xingyan was puzzled. “Don’t I look like I’m pursuing someone? I feel like I’m already the type who worships the ground she walks on every day. How else should I pursue her?”
Li Chengfan, getting a bit flushed from drinking, couldn’t hold back his laughter. “No, let me correct you, Yan ge. You don’t just look like it, you’re a loser in front of Shen Xingruo.”
Lu Xingyan gave him a cold glance before kicking at him.
Li Chengfan skillfully dodged, but couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh my god, I can’t believe it. Why don’t you accidentally drop a bathrobe or towel every few days when you live with Shen Xingruo? Pretend to walk into the wrong room at night when you go to the bathroom. Haven’t you heard of ‘proximity breeds affection’? Why are you so innocent? Haha!”
Zhao Langming couldn’t bear it anymore and picked up from Li Chengfan’s words, continuing the lesson. “Yan ge, I think you’ve got it all wrong. It doesn’t matter if you look like a loser or are one. Do you know why?”
“Because goddesses don’t like losers.”
“You have to be like a domineering CEO. Women love domineering CEOs.”
Lu Xingyan frowned. “I think I’m pretty domineering sometimes.”
Like when he snatched her milk, her bubble tea, or her hot water bottle.
“No, the point isn’t about being domineering, Yan Ge. Do you have some sort of intellectual deficiency?”
“Hey, do you remember that guy, Sen, the manager at Junyi Hotel? Women love that kind of guy, the one with a bunch of people following behind him, all grand and imposing.”
“Alright, I see you’re not getting it. Let me simplify it for you. Girls like guys who are good-looking and wealthy. Whatever Christmas gift you prepare, it doesn’t matter what it is, just make sure it’s expensive.”
Zhao Langming earnestly lectured for a while, but Lu Xingyan didn’t pay attention. He still believed that Shen Xingruo would like the gift he had prepared.
After some forced celebration, since the birthday boy, Xu Chengzhou wasn’t in the best state, everyone went their separate ways before nine o’clock.
When Lu Xingyan returned home, Shen Xingruo was in her room working on her test paper. Lu Xingyan knocked on the door and entered, then handed her the gift.
Shen Xingruo took it. “What’s this?”
Lu Xingyan scratched his head and shrugged. “You like watching that Korean drama, right? In that drama, the male lead always gives the female lead this thing, so I just bought a similar one online.”
Shen Xingruo immediately knew what it was. She paused.
Actually, that Korean drama was quite old, but she had only watched it last winter and had watched it four or five times repeatedly. There wasn’t any particular reason for it; she just felt betrayed by the whole world and wanted to find solace in the TV series.
At that time, she even thought that she hoped her future boyfriend could also give her a crystal ball music box.
Seeing Shen Xingruo not moving for a while, Lu Xingyan wondered if Zhao Langming’s words were true.
He casually put his hands in his pockets and adopted a nonchalant attitude. “I just bought it randomly. If you don’t like it, you can do whatever you want with it.”
He yawned and turned to leave. “I’ll go take a shower in my room.”
“No.”
“I like it. Thank you.”
With his back turned to her, Lu Xingyan’s lips curled up slightly. Once he was out of the room, Shen Xingruo took off her gloves and started to unwrap the package. But when she opened the gift box, her initial excitement froze instantly. She remained quiet for a few seconds before suddenly rushing into Lu Xingyan’s room, holding the box.
Lu Xingyan had just taken off his coat and hadn’t had a chance to see Shen Xingruo’s expression when he was unexpectedly hit by something electric. Then, a cascade of ultra-thin condoms splattered across his face.
“Lu Xingyan, are you a pervert?”
In a split second, Lu Xingyan realized. “No, wait, Shen Xingruo! Let me explain, it’s a mistake!”
Shen Xingruo, witnessing her first encounter with adult toys, felt her ears burning hot. After scolding Lu Xingyan, she quickly returned to her room, silently deciding to throw away the Christmas gift she had prepared for him.
Lu Xingyan didn’t even have time to put on his shoes. While knocking on Shen Xingruo’s door, he called Xu Chengzhou, “Xu Chengzhou, you damn well return the crystal ball to me! That was supposed to be a gift for Shen Xingruo, but I sent it to her by mistake. Bring it back to me right now, I’m waiting for you at home!”
Xu Chengzhou had received a pile of gifts, but they were all abnormal items. Only Lu Xingyan’s crystal ball, though a bit feminine, seemed somewhat comforting on this cold winter night. But before he could even feel touched, he received this call.
The sorrow of losing before even beginning a relationship and the blow to his self-esteem from not getting into college already made Xu Chengzhou feel miserable. Lu Xingyan’s heartless words pushed him over the edge, and he exploded, addressing him directly:
“Lu Xingyan, have you no shame? It’s my birthday today, and you still want to take back the birthday present!”
“If you want it back, fine, but do you also want me to brave the bleak winds, rain, frost, and snow, and deliver it to your doorstep? Maybe you want me to also serve as your courier and deliver some hotpot and take out, and then take out your trash!”
“Go to hell with your future girlfriend! I damn well hope you never catch up to Shen Xingruo!”