19、
Because she’d mentioned having a cold, Chaoyang naturally dragged her to buy medicine in the end…
Now staring at the several boxes of cold and fever medicine in her hands, Anning had a headache.
Having a plan was one thing. Actually carrying it out was obviously much harder.
Was she really supposed to run over there and hand him these medicines as an apology?
In the end, after hesitating indecisively… she returned to the dormitory with Chaoyang.
Anning felt rather dejected. But when they reached downstairs of the dormitory building, she saw a fairly familiar figure.
Jiang Xu had his back toward her. Standing in front of him was Mao Mao, whose familiar voice floated over:
“How about you just submit to me? Otherwise I can submit to you instead.”
Anning rubbed her forehead.
Recently she’d been mentally exhausted. Better to take a detour…
Unfortunately, she forgot there was still a Chaoyang behind her.
“A-Mao?!”
Mao Mao let out an “Ah!” and bounced over laughing.
“The handsome guy came looking for Qiangwei. I asked if he wanted me to keep him company and chat a bit, and he said sure.”
“……”
By then Jiang Xu had already walked over to Anning.
“Long time no see.”
Anning also replied, “Long time no see.” Then it seemed she was expected to continue the conversation.
“You came looking for Qiangwei?”
“Sort of.”
His answer carried a somewhat meaningful undertone.
Anning gave an “oh,” lowered her head—and her phone rang again.
After apologizing, she stepped aside to answer.
“Hello?”
“You were looking for me?”
The sparse tone, the unmistakable voice.
Anning’s first reaction was mourning her own reckless behavior earlier, so she instinctively denied it.
“No…”
There was a brief pause on the other end.
“Is that so.”
The brief, cold response left the person holding the phone stunned.
Mao Mao called over from nearby, “A-Miao, who is it? Is it Qiangwei? Tell her to hurry back, someone’s waiting!”
Anning had originally wanted to act calm and say something else, but she’d never been good at this sort of thing. At that moment Jiang Xu leaned closer and said quietly:
“Done talking? I need to discuss something with you.”
Anning frowned and instinctively stepped back. The person on the phone seemed to say “Forget it” and was about to hang up.
“Wait.”
Only after calling out did she realize she had no reason to stop him.
“I bought cold medicine.”
She still said it aloud, feeling nervous…
If the other person weren’t Xu Moting, she would’ve behaved much more steadily. But no matter what, Anning hoped she could at least be honest.
“Mm… where are you?”
“Dormitory.”
“I’ll come over. Wait for me.”
He answered with a simple acknowledgment and hung up without wasting words.
His indifferent attitude made Anning feel she was making a fuss over nothing. He’d already gone to the hospital—how could he possibly not have medicine already…?
The moment she turned around, she found three pairs of eyes staring at her.
“What?”
“It’s that person?!” Mao Mao grinned, seeming to hold firsthand insider information. “What did the handsome guy say to you?”
Chaoyang suddenly understood too.
“Wow, A-Miao! So when you said someone had a cold earlier, it was actually someone else, huh?”
A rare trace of embarrassment appeared on Anning’s face.
Then she decisively turned and headed out without lingering.
“I’m going out for a bit.”
Only after running outside that day did she realize she didn’t even know his dorm room number. Considering his poor health, she carefully thought it over before calling his roommate.
The moment the roommate answered, he transferred the phone over while loudly announcing:
“Moting, your girlfriend’s calling.”
Anning: “……”
“Building 4, room 217.”
His originally cold tone had already softened somewhat now.
Still… wasn’t he a little too all-knowing? She hadn’t even asked yet.
This was Anning’s first time entering a boys’ dormitory building, so she couldn’t help feeling nervous.
Before she could knock on the door, someone opened it first.
Zhang Qi’s smiling face appeared.
“You’re quick. Boss even told me to go downstairs and pick you up. Come in!”
Anning smiled gently, trying her best to appear composed.
“Sorry to bother you.”
“Heh, the honor’s ours.”
“Old Zhang!” someone inside shouted impatiently toward the doorway. “Hurry up and let the beauty in already!”
Anning was genuinely surprised.
There were actually two other unfamiliar people inside.
Meanwhile, Xu Moting had just washed his face and come out of the bathroom, so the two of them met eyes directly…
His complexion looked slightly pale, his lips somewhat dry, yet his gaze remained deep and sharp as ever.
One slightly more mature-looking boy came over with an arm draped over Zhang Qi’s shoulder to greet Anning, and she responded politely.
Moting glanced at her before walking over to the coffee table to pour himself water.
The boys’ dormitory was noticeably bigger than the girls’—especially this Foreign Affairs Department building…
The university was clearly biased toward certain departments. There was even a small living room.
“The medicine?”
Once Anning sat down beside him, he softly asked the question.
That immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
Zhang Qi grinned.
“Boss, shouldn’t you explain things to us already?”
“Do you want the official statement or the internal announcement?”
He had already finished reading the dosage instructions on the medicine boxes Anning handed him. He popped out two pills and swallowed them with water.
“Could we perhaps hear the truth?”
Xu Moting replied calmly, “I thought the evidence before your eyes was already obvious enough.”
The mature-looking boy sighed repeatedly.
“This is incredible, absolutely incredible.”
Anning sat properly to the side, only half-understanding their conversation. Still, with her level of composure, she could basically remain expressionless even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of her.
Originally she had planned to leave after delivering the medicine and expressing some concern.
Instead, the three boys dragged her into chatting about daily life.
Gossip truly knew no gender boundaries…
And Xu Moting actually leaned against her shoulder and closed his eyes to rest.
She’d initially wanted to quietly shift away a little, but after seeing the obvious exhaustion between his brows, she didn’t dare move at all.
Meanwhile, the three observers gradually lowered their voices more and more…
Until finally, with remarkable tact, they got up and left.
Anning stared at the suddenly empty dormitory, the occasional figures passing through the hallway outside, and felt like crying without tears.
At the very least, could they close the door behind them?!