Upon returning to the dorm, Bai Lu still felt dazed. Li Ting went to the staircase classroom for rehearsal before her speech, while Chen Mengmeng went out shopping with the seniors from the Student Union. Bai Lu was left alone in the dorm, her mind in a whirl.
Many people at school witnessed the face-to-face encounter between the little white flower and the legitimate girlfriend, and news quickly spread in various group chats. Unfortunately, when Professor Shen started her class, she didn’t use a microphone, so everyone didn’t know how brilliant her lecture was.
In the staircase classroom, Li Ting went through her part according to the plan and was about to call another girl to take over. But the girl was engrossed in her phone. Li Ting called out a couple of times, and when she finally looked up, she excitedly waved and said, “Come over here, come and see! Bai Lu is in trouble!”
Li Ting’s eyes widened. She hurried down from the platform and leaned in to look at the phone. The girl continued, “I always felt that Bai Lu in your dorm was particularly restless. Didn’t she hook up with one of the instructors from the third company during military training?”
“At that time, I heard that the instructor from the third company already had a girlfriend. They even showed off their love on social media. Later, he and Bai Lu somehow got together, and he just shut down his social media. Bai Lu has met her match this time!”
Li Ting listened and watched attentively. After understanding what happened, she fell silent with mixed feelings. After a while, she said, “Let’s call it a day for today’s rehearsal. I’ll go back to the dorm and check on something.”
The girl nodded understandingly and gossiped, “If there’s any news about Bai Lu, remember to tell me first!”
“Okay.”
Li Ting hurried back to the dorm. Bai Lu was there, but to her disappointment, Bai Lu was curled up under the blanket, facing the wall, unmoving. Li Ting called out a couple of times, but there was no response from Bai Lu.
It wasn’t until nine o’clock in the evening when Chen Mengmeng returned to the dorm and comforted Bai Lu, that Li Ting finally had the chance to hear the firsthand account from the person involved. Bai Lu was comforted by Chen Mengmeng, unable to stop her tears of grievance, her eyes swollen from crying. Her speech was fragmented and incoherent, “Lu… Lu Xingyan, Lu Xingyan and his… his girlfriend, wuwuwu… I’ve… I’ve never… seen such a girl in my life!”
Chen Mengmeng frowned, patting Bai Lu’s back anxiously as she asked, “What exactly happened? What’s wrong with his girlfriend?”
“She scolded me, she… she bought a bottle of green tea… wuwuwu… she said green tea, green tea suits me so well, isn’t that… isn’t that calling me a green tea b****?”
“Before men are married and women are unmarried, what’s wrong with me expressing myself?” Bai Lu protested, her voice trembling with tears. “That girl is mean, so uncouth! I’ve never seen someone like her before…”
Li Ting couldn’t help but laugh at this.
Bai Lu, with her fragile ego, heard the laughter and suddenly erupted like an angry rooster, her voice choked as she shouted at Li Ting, “What are you laughing at! What’s so funny! Have you ever had a roommate like you?”
Li Ting turned around, still twirling her pen, and responded nonchalantly, “What’s wrong with me laughing? You knew he had a girlfriend but still went to confess, isn’t that asking for trouble? Did you think I wanted to be roommates with you? You can rest assured, that my request to change dormitories has been approved, I’ll be moving next semester.”
“And, I’ve told you before, Lu Xingyan’s girlfriend is not someone to mess with. If you don’t listen, who’s to blame?”
Bai Lu was furious, yanking out her charger and throwing it at Li Ting.
Li Ting dodged it, but being provoked like this, the anger that had been building up inside her also burst out. She stood up abruptly, throwing the charger back onto Bai Lu’s bed. “You’ve gone too far! I’ve tolerated you for a long time. You flirt shamelessly everywhere and still won’t let people laugh? You won’t let me laugh, can you stop the whole school from laughing? Do you think you have the face of a queen or princess?”
“You!” Bai Lu was furious, wanting to rush forward and fight Li Ting.
Chen Mengmeng intervened to stop her.
But Li Ting wasn’t afraid at all. She opened the door wide and shouted, “What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong? Can’t you see the difference between you and Shen Xingruo? She’s a standard beauty with a prestigious family background. She lived with Lu Xingyan since high school. Even without all that, just being the top student in the province’s liberal arts is enough for you to chase after for thirty years. I doubt you can achieve that even after studying for thirty more years.”
“And she’s beautiful, elegant, plays the piano and violin, and can do anything. What about you? You only know how to flirt shamelessly, pretend to be innocent, and steal other people’s boyfriends. Do you only covet what others have? Did your family not give you enough food when you were little?”
“I feel suffocated being with someone shameless like you in the same dorm. Yet you still have the nerve to cry and say men are unmarried and women are unmarried. With your looks and conditions, I bet Lu Xingyan wouldn’t even be with you if he became a monk. Do you think you’re as beautiful as Wang Zhaojun and more talented than Li Qingzhao? Your face is as big as a basin!”
After the scolding, Li Ting grabbed her backpack and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
Her temper had never been good, and she had only slightly restrained it after being reprimanded by Shen Xingruo once. In the university dorm, she had been trying to endure, but why should she keep enduring someone like Bai Lu?
Might as well give her a piece of her mind today. Anyway, there were only a few days left in this semester, and she could go home during this time. Next semester, she would change dorms. Out of sight, out of mind.
Bai Lu had been scolded sharply twice in a row and was now crying so hard in bed that she was almost voiceless. She had never been scolded like this before. She understood girls too well; most of them, if their boyfriends were stolen, would at most complain and cry to their friends.
The most someone might do is post something vague on social media, but not outright call someone out like that.
Bai Lu really couldn’t handle it; she felt utterly humiliated and angry at this moment. Chen Mengmeng absentmindedly comforted her, but her thoughts were entirely on Shen Xingruo.
On the other side, after giving the little white flower a piece of her mind, Shen Xingruo greeted Lu Xingyan’s roommate, who had specially come down, and then took a taxi to Falling Star Lake.
Every time she returned to the city this semester, she would visit Pei Yue and Lu Shan at Falling Star Lake. She could feel Pei Yue’s care for her far exceeding the care one would give to a friend’s child. During her semester in the capital, Pei Yue would call her at least twice a week and send her packages of things she found nice or delicious. Even with the weather changes and rainstorms in the capital, Pei Yue was more aware of them than she was, always sending her messages to remind her.
People aren’t plants; you can tell who is being polite and who is genuinely caring for you.
She called Pei Yue when she got into the taxi to let her know she had arrived in the city. Pei Yue listened and shouted to Mrs. Zhou on the phone to quickly add a few more dishes.
After arriving at Falling Star Lake, there was the expected warmth and concern.
After dinner, Pei Yue felt that something wasn’t quite right. After thinking for a while, she finally remembered, “Oh right, the New Year’s holiday starts tomorrow. Why hasn’t Lu Xingyan sent a message?”
She called Lu Xingyan. The phone on the other end indicated that the user you’re trying to reach is switched off.
Pei Yue muttered to herself, “Nine out of ten times he won’t pick up his phone. What kind of phone does he have? Is he using it as a decoration?”
“Going to university is becoming more and more unruly. He often doesn’t come home on weekends, always busy with this and that. I reckon he’s out there having a wild time!”
“Hey Ruo Ruo, do you think… Lu Xingyan might be in a relationship?”
Shen Xingruo paused briefly, then nodded honestly, “It’s very possible.”
With Shen Xingruo’s agreement, Pei Yue became more convinced of her speculation.
She came up with an idea and discussed it with Shen Xingruo, “How about this, Ruo Ruo, can you help me ask around with our former classmates? If Lu Xingyan is in a relationship, he should have posted something on social media, but he must have blocked us both.”
Shen Xingruo “…”
She thought to herself, indeed, Lu Xingyan has probably blocked you, but he wouldn’t dare to block me; the grass on his grave might have grown three inches by now.
Pei Yue continued her speculative detective work.
Shen Xingruo sat beside her, wanting to speak several times, but unusually didn’t know where to start.
After their relationship had gradually stabilized, she had been wanting to find an opportunity to tell Pei Yue. But Lu Xingyan had stopped her and kept delaying until now.
As for the reason why Lu Xingyan didn’t want to tell his parents, Shen Xingruo could guess it. It was probably because he didn’t want to date under their watchful eyes. Besides, he had always wanted to do something, and with parental supervision, it might not be easy to do anything.
Lu Xingyan had a roundabout journey back, and it was after 10 PM when he arrived at the Star City Airport. By the time he returned to Falling Star Lake, it was already midnight. The house was quiet.
He climbed up to the second floor, deliberately passing by Pei Yue and Lu Shan’s bedroom, and turned the doorknob. —— It was locked. They must be sleeping in the room.
He breathed a sigh of relief, quietly backed away, and continued to the third floor.
After putting away his luggage in his room, he went straight into Shen Xingruo’s room.
Shen Xingruo was already lying in bed, but she wasn’t asleep. Seeing Lu Xingyan come in, she silently moved aside to make room.
Lu Xingyan had been shuttling back and forth between the two cities, and now he was so tired he might as well be a dog. He didn’t even bother to take a shower or brush his teeth; he just took off his coat and crawled into bed, then teasingly said, “Little beauty, I’m here!”
Shen Xingruo shivered from the chill he brought in and swatted away the hand he reached out.
He didn’t mind at all. He leaned closer, cupping Shen Xingruo’s face and giving her a couple of kisses. He chuckled softly, “Little beauty, you’re so considerate. You even warm up my bed for me.”
Shen Xingruo’s annoyance was directed at that little white flower. Seeing how exhausted he was but still trying to make her laugh, she couldn’t find any words of reproach. She leaned forward to hug him and help warm him up.
“Alright, stop messing around. You’re tired too. Rest early. I set the alarm for five o’clock; you have to get up and go back to your room by then.”
Lu Xingyan held her warm and soft body a little tighter, closed his eyes, nuzzled against her ear, and continued to smile, “What’s wrong? Don’t you mind me being dirty? You usually won’t let me into bed if I haven’t showered.”
“You talk too much.”
There was a strong sense of satisfaction and exhaustion in Lu Xingyan’s voice. “Shen Xingruo, I finally get to see you. I’m exhausted. I almost felt like throwing up on the plane and in the taxi.”
Shen Xingruo tidied his hair for him and then found a steam eye mask from under the bed. She opened it and helped him put it on, then kissed his cheek. “Sleep.”
Lu Xingyan mumbled an “mm-hmm”.
He wanted to sleep now. Once he lay down in bed with his girlfriend, he felt as sleepy as anything.
Just before falling asleep, his second-to-last thought was, even if I die, I have to exchange to a big city. This long-distance relationship is too damn heartbreaking.
His last thought was about how his girlfriend was such a goddess. She was not only beautiful but also delicate and soft. Holding her in his arms felt amazing, and he couldn’t help but notice that her chest seemed to have grown a bit. Hmm, it shouldn’t be just his imagination.
He slept soundly throughout the night without any dreams. At five o’clock in the morning, the alarm clock rang right on time.
Shen Xingruo woke up first. She nudged Lu Xingyan a couple of times, but he didn’t respond. Remembering how tired Lu Xingyan had been last night, Shen Xingruo felt a bit reluctant to wake him up again. She lay there half-awake, half-asleep, waiting for another half-hour.
At half-past five, the alarm clock rang again. The sky outside was still dim, with a faint light visible in the distance.
Shen Xingruo gently called out his name while nudging his shoulder, “Lu Xingyan, Lu Xingyan?”
After calling him seven or eight times, Lu Xingyan finally frowned and woke up, “What time is it?”
“It’s half past five. Hurry up and go back to your room. You can continue sleeping there.”
Lu Xingyan was very sleepy, and the bed was warm, Shen Xingruo was so comfortable to hug. He didn’t want to move at all and showed no signs of getting up.
“Lu Xingyan, come on, don’t be lazy. Be a good boy.”
“It’s okay. My mom won’t get up until at least nine. Don’t worry.”
He yawned and held Shen Xingruo a little tighter.
But Shen Xingruo kept urging him persistently.
Unable to resist, he lazily promised, “Okay, just wait a bit longer. Let me sleep for ten more minutes, and then I’ll get up, I promise.”
A promise from a bed procrastinator was like farting; these ten minutes dragged on until six o’clock sharp when Lu Xingyan reluctantly pulled himself out of the warm and fragrant bed.
He remembered his ancient literature teacher talking about how the emperors used to get up before dawn to prepare for the early court sessions, and suddenly understood why there were phrases like “the lotus tent is warm, spending the spring night” and “from then on, the king no longer attends the morning court.”
With sluggish steps and his coat in hand, Lu Xingyan closed the door behind Shen Xingruo, yawned tiredly, and walked forward with a wobbly gait.
Then, unexpectedly, at the staircase, he bumped into Pei Yue, who was wearing a red cotton-padded coat embroidered with peony flowers—a narrow encounter.