Zero—: [Asleep?]
Zero—: [You didn’t say goodnight today.]
Qiao Shutang knew that Ling Heng was studying in the UK and that there was a seven-hour time difference; it was currently afternoon there.
If she didn’t reply to his messages for too long, he would blow a fuse.
She decided to send a voice note to soothe him.
Cat-Ear Xiao Qiao: “Ugh, Grandma just left, she scared the life out of me.”
Cat-Ear Xiao Qiao: “Stop transferring money to me! I’m afraid people will call me a gold digger.”
Cat-Ear Xiao Qiao: “I’m exhausted, I’m going to sleep now. Good night!”
Then, with a heavy heart, she clicked “Reject” on the transfer.
Internally, she silently cursed the product manager. Why on earth did they design a function to reject payments?
Purely anti-human!
Zero—: [Good night! Sweet dreams!]
After replying, Ling Heng played those voice notes on repeat.
The girl’s voice was soft, sweet, and carried a hint of flirtatiousness, like a cat’s paw scratching at the very tip of one’s heart.
What a tease!
Originally, he hadn’t been very serious about this online relationship, but now he felt himself getting genuinely hooked.
How could a girl with such a lovely voice be a gold digger?
It must be that idiot Ji Ran’s big mouth; he probably said something in the guild chat that made Xiao Qiao sensitive.
He swiped open the guild management interface and kicked Ji Ran out.
Ji Ran panted as he ran up from downstairs.
“Ling Heng, what the hell is wrong with you?”
A mischievous, wicked smile curled at the corners of Ling Heng’s lips.
“Ah, I just thought about how you’ll be livestreaming yourself eating shit in the future. I was afraid it would stink up the guild, so I’m taking preemptive defensive measures.”
Ji Ran jumped up in rage.
“I was in the middle of picking up girls in the chat! You’re cutting off my peach blossoms! Hey, where are you going?”
“To pee.”
Ling Heng walked into the restroom, and Ji Ran followed to close the door for him.
Tsk, he really couldn’t tell if this guy was guarded around him or not.
Ling Heng relieved himself in contentment. While washing his hands, he saw the person in the mirror sporting a head of yellow hair.
He suddenly remembered what Xiao Qiao’s grandma had said: Don’t be fooled by blondes.
It seemed that Chinese people had a very poor impression of young people with yellow hair.
He was half-Chinese and half-British; his father was Chinese and his mother was British.
His natural hair color was black.
As a child, he felt that yellow hair suited his handsome Western features better, so he had developed a habit of dyeing it.
Now, no matter how he looked at it, it seemed too eye-catching.
He opened the door and walked out.
He reached out and touched Ji Ran’s black hair. “Nice color.”
Ji Ran: Σ(°△°|||)︴
Was he possessed by an evil spirit?
Holy crap, he couldn’t have suddenly turned gay, right?
No wonder he sabotaged his flirting ヽ(*.(＞Д＜)o゜
“Ahem, buddy, I think Xiao Qiao isn’t a bad choice for dating. At least her gender is excellent.”
At the same time, Ling Heng called the butler.
“Book me a hair dyeing appointment. Black. Now.”
Grandma’s house was too far from C University, so Qiao Shutang returned to school for classes on Monday.
Having been reborn, she actually found it a bit difficult to adjust to university life.
Especially having to rush for 8:00 AM classes.
She didn’t know if it was a lingering effect of falling into the river, but she was incredibly sleepy every morning and simply couldn’t get out of bed.
At noon, while queuing for food in the cafeteria with her best friend Liang Jiaxin, she clung to Liang Jiaxin’s arm and complained.
“Honey, tell me, if justice can be late, why can’t we be late for class?”
Liang Jiaxin was amused and pinched her smooth, tender cheek.
“If you don’t want to be late, I can call you to wake you up.”
Then, she covered her mouth with her hand and said in a husky voice, “Your sister provides free ‘wake-up’ services in bed.”
Qiao Shutang quickly glanced at the boy queuing behind her. Once she was sure he hadn’t heard, she whispered in Liang Jiaxin’s ear.
“What about Lv Boyuan? Is that a paid service?”
Liang Jiaxin’s face instantly turned bright red.
She gave the soft flesh of Qiao Shutang’s waist a hard pinch.
At the same time, she spat at her, “You little hussy!”
After getting their food, they carried their trays to an empty table.
Qiao Shutang then noticed that her three roommates—Jian Chu, Ning Zhenzhen, and Zong Muli—happened to be sitting at the next table.
She used to be a bit pampered; during her freshman year, she rented a place off-campus to live alone. She only moved back into the dormitory after the Qiao family went bankrupt. However, she usually had many extracurricular activities and went back to her grandma’s on weekends.
Therefore, her relationship with her roommates wasn’t exactly warm, nor even particularly familiar.
She smiled and nodded to them as a greeting.
The three roommates returned the gesture in kind and then buried their heads in their food, eating ravenously.
Just then, the boy who had been queuing behind Qiao Shutang stood beside her with his tray.
“Classmate, may I sit next to you?”
One look at his expression and Qiao Shutang knew he wasn’t looking to share a table, but was trying to hit on her.
Having encountered this many times since childhood, Qiao Shutang handled it with ease.
“Sorry, this seat is taken.”
This was a very polite way of rejecting someone.
Unexpectedly, the boy gave a mysterious smile. “You were peeking at me just now, weren’t you?”
The implication was that she had actively seduced him, so she shouldn’t play hard to get.
Having said that, he prepared to place his tray on the table.
Liang Jiaxin quickly stood up to apologize.
“Sorry, my friend and I were just saying that your lips look purple; you might have a heart condition. We didn’t mean anything by it.”
The boy choked for a moment and instinctively retorted, “Nonsense.”
Jian Chu immediately pulled out a makeup mirror she carried with her and shoved it in his face.
“Classmate, they really are a bit purple. You should find time to go to the hospital for a check-up.”
Then, she took the opportunity to push him aside and sat in the seat next to Qiao Shutang.
Ning Zhenzhen sat next to Liang Jiaxin, occupying the last seat at the table.
She nodded earnestly at the boy.
“Getting angry easily leads to myocardial infarction.”
This left the guy’s face turning red and white in turns, unable to save face for a long while.
He left a parting shot: “A real man doesn’t argue with women.”
And walked away.
Jian Chu intentionally spoke in a volume that wasn’t loud, but loud enough for him to hear: “He looks like a Terracotta Warrior; how can he be so narcissistic?”
Ning Zhenzhen chimed in, “It’s delusional. He actually imagined the campus belle would be interested in him.”
Zong Muli, who considered herself the most beautiful girl in the dorm, didn’t say anything, but she gave the boy’s retreating back a magnificent eye-roll.
This little episode instantly closed the distance between Qiao Shutang and her roommates.
“Thank you for standing up for me. I’ll treat you all to milk tea.” Qiao Shutang opened the HeyTea mini-program and handed it to them.
“Don’t,” Ning Zhenzhen waved her hands repeatedly. “The young miss really doesn’t know how to manage money.”
Qiao Shutang thought she meant HeyTea was too expensive, so she smiled and said, “A little luxury once in a while; I’m usually quite frugal.”
Ning Zhenzhen showed her phone to her.
“Look, order through the delivery platforms, collect coupons first… then compare prices across three platforms to see which one has the highest subsidy.”
Qiao Shutang: (●˙˙●)
“After hearing your words, I’ve saved sixty-eight yuan!”
The girls happily chatted while drinking their milk tea.
Qiao Shutang finally swallowed her pride and weakly requested, “Could you guys wake me up in the morning? I have a hard time getting out of bed.”
Ning Zhenzhen said, “I leave every day at 6:00 AM. Do you want me to wake you?”
Qiao Shutang gave a bitter smile.
Zong Muli said, “I sleep in for my beauty rest every day. Someone always marks me present for the 8:00 AM classes.”
The last roommate, Jian Chu, replied with only four words: “Fellow sufferers.”
Qiao Shutang fell silent.
Before bed, she sent a message reminding Liang Jiaxin to wake her up.
She got into bed and closed her eyes.
She felt like she had forgotten something.
Oh, she forgot to say goodnight to Ling Heng.
Cat-Ear Xiao Qiao: [Just finished evening self-study, my brain is fried from studying. Going to sleep now.]
Cat-Ear Xiao Qiao: [Good night! See, I remembered to say goodnight.]
She tossed the phone aside and fell asleep.
Zero—: [Studying this late? Will you be able to get up tomorrow?]
The next morning at 6:00 AM, Qiao Shutang’s phone rang.
Her body told her to get up, but her soul felt as if it were being pinned down by a ghost.
Ning Zhenzhen, who was packing her bag to leave, saw that the phone kept ringing and half-climbed up the bunk bed.
“Qiao Shutang, someone is calling you.”
“Mm,” Qiao Shutang murmured, her eyes bleary.
Ning Zhenzhen answered it for her and placed it by her ear.
Qiao Shutang said in a soft, coquettish voice, “Honey, I really can’t get up. Could you help me mark me present?”
Ling Heng’s voice exploded in her ear.
“Do high school students need to be marked present for class?”
Qiao Shutang felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head; she woke up instantly.
She had let it slip. What should she do? What should she do?
“Alright, I’ll come clean…”