“Isn’t that more exciting?”
The gathering was set for Saturday.
That night, Zhou Anran and Chen Luobai had asked around, and everyone was fine with a larger group gathering. Perhaps it was because whether it was Zhou Anran’s roommates, Chen Luobai’s roommates, or the seniors from the club, they all had good relationships with each other. It wasn’t a social event among strangers, but more like meeting friends of friends.
When Yan Xingxi and her group came last time, they had also visited her dormitory and met Xie Jingyi and the others. Bringing Chen Luobai’s roommates was Sheng Xiaowen’s initiative. The girls in her dormitory had long been curious about Yu Bingqin’s band, and hearing that the seniors from the club were also coming, even Yu Xinyue planned to set aside a whole afternoon.
Zhang Shuxian and Tang Jianrui’s group wouldn’t be returning that day, and on Sunday, the high school classmates could have another small gathering.
Because there would be many people at Saturday’s gathering, and not everyone was entirely familiar with each other, sitting at one table just to eat might not be comfortable. So Chen Luobai didn’t book a restaurant but instead reserved a large private room at his father’s friend’s club.
The room was fully equipped with KTV and board games, with food and drinks provided throughout. They could stay from afternoon until evening.
On the day of the gathering, Zhou Anran went with Chen Luobai to open the private room at the club.
After the staff delivered the food, they all left, leaving only Zhou Anran and Chen Luobai in the spacious room.
Chen Luobai casually reached into his pocket and found a piece of candy. He unwrapped it and fed it to her mouth.
The room was dimly lit, and Zhou Anran didn’t see the candy wrapper. After putting it in her mouth, her eyes lit up slightly: “It’s lemon flavored.”
This candy was a mixed fruit flavor package, with only a few lemon-flavored pieces in each pack.
“Is it?” Chen Luobai lowered his gaze, looking at her slightly puffed right cheek, her eyes bright and looking at him, both obedient and beautiful. “Let me taste it too.”
Zhou Anran thought he had brought a few more pieces.
The next second, Chen Luobai had already lowered his head and kissed her.
Zhou Anran hurriedly pushed him away, turning her head slightly: “They’ll be here soon.”
Chen Luobai pinched her chin lightly, his eyebrows seeming to raise slightly: “Isn’t that more exciting?”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
Chen Luobai saw her eyes widen slightly, with an incredulous look, and laughed again, resting his head on her shoulder.
“I’m just teasing you. I haven’t sent them the room number yet, no one will come.” He raised his head, pinching her chin again, his voice softening, “Seems like we haven’t kissed like this before.”
Zhou Anran’s hand on his shoulder loosened its grip.
Chen Luobai leaned in again.
This soda-flavored candy indeed lived up to its name.
As their lips and tongues intertwined, it felt like tiny bubbles were constantly bursting in their mouths, indistinguishable from who was whose. When the kiss ended, both of their mouths were filled with the same sweet lemon flavor.
The first to arrive were Chen Luobai’s two roommates.
Their dormitory was also a four-person room, originally fully occupied. But one of the guys, a week after the official start of classes, felt that the law wasn’t suitable for him. He also took a liking to a flagship program at a neighboring school, and then carefree and unrestrained, directly withdrew from school to retake the college entrance exam.
Afterward, no new person was assigned to their dormitory, so now only three people were living there.
Zhou Qingsui was still a man of few words. He came in, nodded slightly to them in greeting, and then chose a corner seat to sit down and take out his phone to review.
Yuan Song was exactly the opposite of him.
He came in and sat directly next to Chen Luobai, first using a fork to spear a piece of watermelon and eat it, then smiled and greeted Zhou Anran: “Little sister Zhou.”
Chen Luobai kicked him lightly: “Who are you calling little sister?”
“Alright, alright, I won’t call her little sister, okay?” Chen Luobai obviously hadn’t used much force, but Yuan Song still exaggeratedly clutched his leg and complained to Zhou Anran, “Zhou classmate, did you see that? Your boyfriend looks generous and handsome on the surface, but in private, he’s petty and likes to bully people. He just did this to me, it wouldn’t be too much if I revealed some dirt on him to you, right?”
Zhou Anran knew they had a good relationship and didn’t take it seriously. She smiled and asked, “What dirt?”
Yuan Song: “Just when we had just started school not long ago, when his leg wasn’t fully healed, one day—”
Chen Luobai cast a cool glance at him.
Yuan Song paused slightly.
Zhou Anran blinked: “What happened one day?”
Yuan Song looked at her.
One day, he went to have a meal with a classmate from his Biological Sciences department and learned that there was a new freshman girl in their department who was pure and beautiful and was already recognized as the little beauty of their department.
Coincidentally, after finishing the meal that day, he and that classmate happened to run into that “little department beauty.”
Yuan Song took the opportunity to secretly take a photo.
When he returned to the dormitory, Zhou Qingsui, who had gone out to work, hadn’t returned yet, and only Chen Luobai was sitting in his seat reading.
Yuan Song went over to show off to him: “I just ran into that department beauty from Biological Sciences. I have to say, she’s really pretty. I’m even thinking about pursuing her. Oh right, I even took a photo. Do you want to take a look?”
In the last sentence, Yuan Song just asked casually.
Who didn’t know that their newly crowned campus heartthrob had no interest in girls? No matter who came to show interest, they would only hit a wall. He was as indifferent as a reincarnated monk.
However, their indifferent campus heartthrob turned around that day, glancing at him coolly, with a hint of warning similar to when he just stopped him: “Don’t bother her.”
Yuan Song didn’t immediately understand at that moment.
But Chen Luobai reached out his hand again: “Where’s the photo?”
Yuan Song finally caught on to something, and he smiled, pretending to be clueless: “What photo?”
Chen Luobai, being as smart as he was, didn’t bother with his little tricks and reached out his hand again: “Send me the photo and delete the data from your phone.”
Yuan Song finally had a sudden realization.
Someone wasn’t a reincarnated monk of indifference after all but had someone in his heart.
“Why should I?”
Chen Luobai nodded toward the shoe cabinet: “How about those shoes?”
Yuan Song looked in the direction he pointed and his eyes immediately lit up.
His roommate was generous, but he also had a bit of a cleanliness obsession. No matter how expensive his sneakers were, you could look at them and touch them casually, but you weren’t allowed to wear them.
“You’re willing to lend them to me?”
“Dream on.” Chen Luobai glanced at him, “I’ll buy you a new pair.”
Yuan Song immediately gave in: “The photo, right? I’ll send it to you now and delete it completely in front of you. If you want, I can even go take more photos for you.”
Chen Luobai: “No need. You get the shoes, and you stay away from her in the future.”
Yuan Song had taken a photo and got a free pair of shoes. He was so happy he went back to his seat to brag to his friends.
After bragging, he slowly came to his senses and felt that this didn’t seem quite right.
The sneakers Chen Luobai was buying for him weren’t the limited edition ones – those were long gone – but even the regular version was hard to get, with prices already inflated to over ten thousand yuan a pair.
Trading a photo for a pair of shoes worth over ten thousand yuan made him feel a bit uneasy.
Yuan Song stood up and walked back to Chen Luobai’s seat: “Chen Luobai, those sneakers—”
His words suddenly stopped because the person who usually sat reading was now quietly looking at the slightly blurry photo he had just sent to his phone.
Chen Luobai heard his words and turned his head: “What about the sneakers? If you want to change to another style, that’s fine too.”
“It’s not that.” Yuan Song bit his lip, steeled his heart, and said, “It feels like you’re getting too raw a deal, trading a pair of shoes for that blurry photo I took. The photo is yours, you should return the shoes.”
Chen Luobai’s gaze turned back, still staring at his phone: “It’s not a bad deal. It’s worth it. If you feel uneasy, just consider it as my birthday gift to you this year.”
Yuan Song’s curiosity was completely piqued by the words “not a bad deal” and “worth it”. He leaned in and asked nosily: “What’s your relationship with this little department beauty from Biological Sciences? Ex-girlfriend?”
Chen Luobai was silent for a few seconds before replying: “No, she’s my high school classmate.”
Yuan Song came back to his senses.
He happened to see Chen Luobai turn his head to look at the little department beauty he had photographed back then, his voice lower than when he was talking to him earlier.
“Don’t mind him. He’s like Zhu Ran and likes to exaggerate everything. If you want to know anything, just ask me when we get back tonight.”
The girl didn’t look in his direction again, obediently nodding to Chen Luobai: “Okay.”
Yuan Song suddenly understood a bit why Chen Luobai had fallen for her.
Who could resist this?
Compared to this wave of dog food, the gossip in his hands wasn’t sweet enough.
Yuan Song clapped his hands: “Alright, you two continue being lovey-dovey. I’m going to pick a song to sing.”
Zhu Ran, Tang Jianrui, and Huang Shujie were the second wave to arrive.
As soon as the private room door opened, Huang Shujie heard a demonic sound coming through. He covered his ears and turned his head to smile at Tang Jianrui: “Which brother is singing? The level of off-key is on par with Ruirui. Ruirui, I feel like you should get to know him later.”
Tang Jianrui pushed him: “Stop dawdling, let’s go in and see what our sister-in-law looks like now.”
Zhou Anran was eating grapes.
Seeing the three of them come in, she put down her fork and was about to greet them when she heard Tang Jianrui and Huang Shujie call out to her together—
“Hello, sister-in-law.”
Zhou Anran: “…”
Maybe it’s better not to greet them after all.
Tang Jianrui curiously looked her over a few times: “Zhou Anran, you’ve changed a bit from high school. If you were walking alone on the street, I might not even recognize you.”
Chen Luobai lazily picked up a tangerine and threw it at him: “What business is it of yours whether my girlfriend has changed from high school or not?”
Tang Jianrui caught the tangerine and started peeling it while saying: “Luoge, don’t be so petty. We’re just getting to know her.”
“Done getting to know her?” Chen Luobai nodded towards the seats nearby, “If you’re done, go sit down. Didn’t you say you were hungry on the way here? There’s a menu over there, call the waiter in to order whatever you want to eat.”
Tang Jianrui and his group’s flight had been delayed. They had eaten a few bites of unpalatable airplane food on the plane around 11 o’clock, and now it was almost 2 o’clock. They were indeed starving.
He stuffed the tangerine in his mouth and mumbled: “Thanks, Luoge.”
“Damn it.” Huang Shujie kicked his butt from behind, “You could at least share some with me.”
Tang Jianrui: “There’s so much, can’t you get your own?”
Huang Shujie: “I’m just too lazy to peel it.”
“Why aren’t you too lazy to eat?” Tang Jianrui kicked back.
Zhu Ran walked towards the karaoke machine: “I’m going over there to pick a song.”
He had been to A University many times before and had met Yuan Song several times. Without any hesitation, after sitting down at the karaoke machine, he looked at Yuan Song sitting nearby: “Bro, after you finish this song, can I cut in?”
Yuan Song had already heard Tang Jianrui and the others ordering food, and suddenly didn’t feel like singing any more: “You can cut in now if you want. I’m going to order some more food too.”
Zhu Ran quickly selected the song “Imagine” and cut in.
Zhou Anran was surprised to find that he could sing quite well.
Zhang Shuxian and Tang Jianrui had come on the same flight. Yan Xingxi and Sheng Xiaowen had gone to the airport to pick her up. The three girls hadn’t seen each other for a while, so they chatted animatedly as they entered the subway, and amid their conversation, they got separated from Tang Jianrui and the others, missing the same subway train.
So Tang Jianrui and his group arrived before them.
However, just as Zhu Ran finished his song, Zhang Shuxian and the others arrived.
As soon as the private room door opened, Zhang Shuxian, who was walking in front, excitedly waved to Zhou Anran: “Anran!”
Zhou Anran hadn’t seen her for a long time and immediately stood up from her seat.
Chen Luobai’s hand, which had been resting on her shoulder, suddenly fell empty. He watched as his girlfriend ran to the door and affectionately hugged the three girls there.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
Zhu Ran, who had finished singing a song and was already sitting back next to him, smiled mischievously: “Looks like your status as a boyfriend in Zhou Anran’s heart can’t compare to her girlfriends.”
Chen Luobai gave him a cool glance: “That’s still better than you, who doesn’t dare to confess and is still single.”
Zhu Ran: “…”
Huang Shujie laughed out loud: “You said it yourself that Luoge is always petty when it comes to matters concerning sister-in-law. Yet you still tried to provoke him with your sister-in-law. Aren’t you just asking to be scolded?”
Zhu Ran: “Aren’t you single too? What are you laughing at?”
“My apologies.” Huang Shujie stuffed a piece of watermelon into his mouth. “I’ll soon no longer be one.”
Tang Jianrui, who was preparing to sing nearby, was startled. Not realizing he was still holding the microphone, his voice instantly echoed throughout the private room: “Damn, when did you get involved with someone?”
Huang Shujie gestured downwards with his hand: “Calm down, calm down. I’m pursuing a senior at school, but I haven’t completely won her over yet. Don’t shout so loudly.”
Zhou Anran was pulled by her girlfriends to sit on the sofa on the other side.
She took the menu and handed it to Zhang Shuxian: “Haven’t you not eaten much either? Do you want to order something?”
Zhang Shuxian took the menu and winked at her first: “Anran, you look like the hostess now.”
“Isn’t she the hostess?” Yan Xingxi popped a strawberry into her mouth.
Zhou Anran’s face flushed: “…”
“It’s been over a month, haven’t you teased enough?”
Zhang Shuxian chuckled: “Of course not. Who told you to get embarrassed every time we tease you?”
Zhou Anran ignored them and turned to look at Sheng Xiaowen: “Zhou Qingsui has work in the afternoon. He’ll probably stay for less than two hours before leaving. If you have something to say to him, it’s best to do it early.”
Sheng Xiaowen nodded, opened a bottle of beer, took a couple of sips, and walked over to the young man sitting quietly in the corner: “Zhou Qingsui, let’s add each other on WeChat.”
Zhou Qingsui looked up at her and smiled helplessly: “I don’t have time.”
Sheng Xiaowen: “Just add me on WeChat as a friend and we can chat casually. I don’t have much time either. I won’t bother you too much. I’m preparing for the Foreign Ministry exam.”
As she said the last sentence, there seemed to be a certain gleam in the eyes of the girl next to her. Zhou Qingsui’s fingertips twitched slightly.
A few seconds later, he nodded: “Alright.”
Soon after, Dong Chen and He Mingyu arrived as well.
He Mingyu still didn’t talk much, but as soon as Dong Chen came in, he glanced at Yan Xingxi and tactlessly said: “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Yan Xingxi. How did you get fatter again?”
Yan Xingxi immediately exploded, grabbing a bag of chips and throwing it at him: “Dong Chen, do you want to die? You’re the one who’s gotten fat, your whole family has gotten fat!”
Zhou Anran: “…”
Dong Chen certainly deserved it.
Probably realizing he had said the wrong thing, Dong Chen dodged the chip attack and rubbed his nose: “No, I meant it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, and you’ve become more beautiful.”
But Yan Xingxi didn’t believe him anymore: “Do you think I’m stupid?”
The two started arguing again.
Soon after, the girls from Zhou Anran’s dormitory arrived, followed by Yu Bingqin who brought some seniors from the student association into the private room.
Zhou Anran saw Xie Jingyi and others go over to chat with Yu Bingqin and the other seniors.
Once everyone had arrived, the private room became particularly lively.
Some were singing, some were chatting, and others were playing games.
Zhou Anran chatted with her girlfriends for a while longer.
Then Zhang Shuxian nudged her: “Anran, go back and sit with Chen Luobai. He’s been looking over here many times.”
Zhou Anran turned her head to look in that direction. The young man was talking to Zhu Ran, with a lazy smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
She turned back: “Let me chat with you guys a bit more.”
Yan Xingxi: “It’s fine, you can chat with us later tonight. We’re mainly worried that he might get upset and refuse to pay the bill later.”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
Zhou Anran had indeed been sitting here for nearly an hour. Although she knew they were joking, she still nodded: “I’ll come back to keep you company later.”
With that, she walked back and sat down next to Chen Luobai again.
Chen Luobai turned his head, his gaze falling on her, the corners of his mouth still holding that lazy smile, his tone inexplicably cool: “Finally remembered your boyfriend?”
Zhou Anran: “…”
People were sitting next to them, so she couldn’t say anything to coax him, and she wasn’t good at it anyway. So, taking advantage of the dim light, she gently grasped his index finger and shook it slightly.
Chen Luobai grabbed her hand in return, afraid of hurting her, he loosened his grip a bit, leaned down close to her, and said through gritted teeth.
“Zhou Anran, don’t act coy now.”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
She looked at him innocently: “I’m not acting coy.”
She just wanted to appease him a bit.
Chen Luobai was still leaning close to her, looking at her with a familiar spark in his eyes, as if he wanted to kiss her.
Zhou Anran held her breath, feeling a bit nervous.
Zhu Ran’s voice cut in: “Hey, some people shouldn’t be so lovey-dovey in public.”
Chen Luobai finally moved back a bit, giving Zhu Ran another cool glance.
“Mind the impact. You might not care about face, but Zhou Anran does.” Zhu Ran looked at Zhou Anran again, “Zhou Anran, why don’t you sing a song?”
Tang Jianrui immediately chimed in: “Yeah, sister-in-law, why don’t you sing a song? I haven’t heard you sing before.”
Chen Luobai looked at these two: “What are you stirring up? Don’t you know she’s shy?”
Zhu Ran: “How would we know if your wife is shy or not? If you don’t want her to sing, why don’t you sing yourself?”
“Fine,” Chen Luobai was unusually agreeable, “I’ll sing if you want me to.”
As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the girl beside him, his voice lowering again: “What do you want to hear?”
Zhou Anran had only heard him sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” before.
“Anything is fine.”
Whatever he sang, she wanted to hear it.
Chen Luobai lightly kicked Zhu Ran beside him: “Then go help me select Chen Yixun’s ‘Unconditional’.”
Zhou Anran’s heart fluttered slightly.
Zhu Ran was too lazy to move, kicking Tang Jianrui beside him like a big shot: “Did you hear that? Your Brother Luo wants you to help him select ‘Unconditional’.”
Tang Jianrui pushed Huang Shujie.
In the end, it was Yuan Song, sitting near the song selection station, who helped select the song.
After the gentle prelude passed, Chen Luobai’s voice cut in.
This song is not easy to sing. The accompaniment is simple, almost like half acapella. The first few lines don’t have much pitch variation, which tests one’s voice quality and technique. If not sung well, it would sound like talking.
But his voice was low and clear, with just the right amount of emotion, not overly abundant, creating a captivating narrative quality.
Most people in the private room had never heard him sing before. Perhaps moved by his voice, those who were chatting, eating, and playing games all turned their heads to look at him.
Zhou Anran also kept looking at him.
The young man was just looking at the KTV screen with a bland expression, not looking in her direction, but only she knew that the hand not holding the microphone was slowly, gradually separating her fingers, then tightly interlocking them with his.
The changing lights on the screen cast shadows on his face, making his features appear even more strikingly handsome.
“Let me ask, who can decide what things are called perfect and good?”
It wasn’t until he finished singing this line that Chen Luobai turned his head slightly.
Zhou Anran saw that his lips seemed to curl into a smile, and his eyes seemed to be filled with love as he looked at her.
Then Zhou Anran heard him continue to sing the next line.
“I only know how to love you every day”
For the rest of the song, he sang each line looking at her like this, all the way to the lyrics he had asked her to look at that night.
This time, she heard him sing it to her in person—
“I still say I’m grateful, you’re always better than anyone else”