10、
That evening, Anning chatted with her mother for a while when Qiangwei messaged her online. Mrs. Li was getting sleepy too, yawning as she told her daughter to rest early before heading back to her room.
Qiangwei: Reading weird occult stuff again?
Anning: Eating snacks.
Qiangwei: Get fat, work hard at getting fat!
Anning: I’m eating bee pollen. Supposedly it helps with weight loss.
Qiangwei: Why are you eating that kind of thing?! Be good, go eat some meat. Go, go!
Anning: This afternoon I saw an old lady carrying a huge bag of honey and bee pollen around our neighborhood. It was raining heavily and the stuff looked really heavy, so I bought a jar of honey and a jar of bee pollen from her. Since I bought them, I should eat them. It’d be wasteful otherwise.
Qiangwei: Tsk. Back to the main topic—Jiang Xu told me something today. He said he saw you having dinner with some guy last night.
Anning: ^_^ Senior Brother has sharp eyes.
Qiangwei: He said the guy’s from another department, some mysterious figure who’s hardly ever seen around campus. Since when did you provoke someone like that?
Anning: Mm, I’ve been wondering too… since when…
Qiangwei: …
Qiangwei: Forget it. The competition’s next Tuesday. What song do you think I should sing?
Anning: “Two Butterflies”?
Qiangwei: Along with doing a Yangko dance? Can you make a serious suggestion for once?!
Anning smiled at the fierce-looking emoji that popped up in the chat window. Then her eyes drifted to the phone on her desk, and after hesitating, she picked it up…
“What songs do you like listening to?”
Only after sending it did Anning realize… did this count as fishing for information from a judge?
Just as she was deciding to ignore what she’d done, the other party directly called her. After hesitating, Anning answered, “…Hello.”
“Still not asleep?” His voice over the phone sounded low and deep, yet carried a gentle softness.
Anning: “Mm, I was just about to sleep.”
A soft female voice came from the other end. He said, “Wait a moment.” Anning thought that actually, “goodbye” would also have worked…
While waiting, she looked at the group chat where Qiangwei and Mao Mao were talking.
Qiangwei: “spicegirlshot, spicegirlshot, spicegirlsspicegirlshothothot!!”
Mao Mao: ==!
Qiangwei: Oh? You understood that? I thought I’d need to translate for you.
Mao Mao: ==! This symbol means I don’t understand.
Qiangwei: You don’t understand?
Qiangwei: “Hot girls are spicy, hot girls are spicy, hot girls are spicy spicy spicy!!”
Mao Mao: ==!
Qiangwei: Damn it, you don’t even understand the Chinese version?!
Anning laughed out loud. Just then, his voice came through the phone again.
“Did you apply for the school’s special academic research project?”
Anning was slightly surprised. How did he know? She’d only filled out the application form with her advisor yesterday… Her goal was to earn two extra credits, learn a little more, gain more experience… In short, it was mainly to skip one class.
Feeling guilty while maintaining a righteous tone, Anning replied, “Mm… I wanted to learn more things…”
“Have you found partners yet?” he interrupted.
Anning: “Two classmates are doing it with me…”
Moting paused thoughtfully. “I see.”
“…” See what? Anning was utterly clueless…
Later, while chatting with her cousin, Anning asked:
“Is it possible that there’s someone who’s really good-looking and extremely smart who… likes me?”
Cousin: Not very likely.
Anning: …
Cousin: Unless he got too clever for his own good.
Anning: …………
On Sunday afternoon, after returning to school, Anning had barely stepped into the dorm before Qiangwei dragged her out shopping for clothes.
Among their group, the least capable shopper was Li Anning. She’d complain about being tired after half an hour, couldn’t bargain, and often gave coins to beggars until they themselves no longer had bus fare. Yet Qiangwei helplessly admitted that Anning was still her favorite shopping companion…
Because she was just too lovable.
Qiangwei: “Do you think this one looks better on me, or that one?”
Anning: “Both…”
“Both look good?” What a lovable child, Qiangwei thought.
They both look about the same… Anning thought.
Anning: “Qiangwei, my feet are really sore. Can I sit down for a bit first?”
Qiangwei happened to be in a good mood today, so she generously granted permission. “Go ahead.”
Anning had just sat down on the little sofa in the store when someone pushed open the door. Coincidentally, they were students from X University too. Anning recognized them because they’d spoken to her once in the library before…
The two girls immediately spotted Qiangwei swaying back and forth in front of the mirror.
“What a small world.”
Qiangwei turned around. “Oh? So it’s Jiang Xu’s junior schoolmates.”
After exchanging mutual looks of dislike, they each resumed browsing clothes.
Girl A said to Girl B, “Honestly, clothes still depend on the person wearing them.”
Girl B replied, “Ugly people look like they’re wearing sacks no matter what.”
A: “Seriously, someone that old still entering the campus ambassador competition? Sophomores and juniors like us joining for fun is one thing.”
B: “Some people just don’t know what ‘self-awareness’ means.”
Qiangwei turned around. “Who are you talking about?”
A: “Did I mention anyone by name? But if you want to assume I’m talking about you, we don’t mind.”
Anning stood up and walked over beside Qiangwei, then asked in confusion, “Qiangwei, aren’t they the same age as us? I thought they were seniors.”
Qiangwei froze for a second, then burst into loud laughter!
The expressions on A and B’s faces alternated between pale and red. Then they recognized Anning.
“You’re the one—”
What A had meant to say was: Aren’t you the girl who humiliated us last time?
What B had meant to say was: Aren’t you the girl I saw leaning together with the head of the Foreign Languages Department when I went to sign up last time?!