Evening, the Library.
Liu Xia sprinted over right after class to claim a seat. Without stopping to catch her breath, she rushed to the main hall to grab some hot coffee.
Gu Lingluo was punctual, arriving right on the dot, timed to the second.
18:00:00
“You’re amazing! I could never be that precise! Truly worthy of being a top student, my idol!”
Hearing the awkward flattery, Gu Lingluo felt her blood pressure rise. What to do about the urge to hit her?
Liu Xia solicitously pulled out a chair for her, pushed the coffee toward her, and then eagerly pulled out garlic ham, corn bread, spicy strips, braised eggs, and squid slices from her bag.
“Eat first! You need to be full to have the energy to tutor.”
Gu Lingluo swept the snacks aside, took a pen and paper, and quickly wrote a line.
【Eating is prohibited in the library.】
Her flattery had backfired. Liu Xia salvaged the situation in a low voice. “But I’ll feel distressed if you’re hungry…”
A light bulb immediately went off. “Or, let’s go to the staircase area, eat quickly, and come back!”
Gu Lingluo pressed her forehead and wrote another line.
【Loud talking is prohibited in the library.】
“I’m not being loud! My voice is so quiet!”
Gu Lingluo crossed out “loud talking” and changed it to “talking.”
“But if we don’t talk, how are you going to teach me?”
【Memorize vocabulary silently.】
“But…” (What kind of tutoring is that?)
Before she could finish, Gu Lingluo wrote another sentence.
【Say one more word, and the agreement is void.】
Liu Xia instantly clamped her hand over her mouth.
She sat down dejectedly to memorize vocabulary. Gu Lingluo opened a thick, original-language book—it wasn’t English or German, but seemed to be… French.
Being a top student is a big deal, is it?! Hmph!
With Patron Mom sitting right beside her, Liu Xia had no mind for vocabulary. Before she could finish one word, she had an idea.
Swish, swish, swish, a line of writing was pushed in front of Gu Lingluo.
【How do you pronounce this word?】
Gu Lingluo: 【Listening is not tested.】
Liu Xia: 【That’s not good enough. Do you want me to learn dumb German?】
Gu Lingluo: 【You can find someone else to tutor you.】
Patron Mom was too mean. She was rendered speechless.
After memorizing two more words, swish, swish, swish, another line of text appeared.
Liu Xia: 【Please answer your favorite food in German.】
Using studying as an excuse to probe Patron Mom’s preferences! She’s brilliant!
Gu Lingluo glanced at the question and ignored it.
Liu Xia pulled her chair closer, leaning half her body against Gu Lingluo’s arm, and tapped the paper.
Gu Lingluo shifted away, and Liu Xia followed, pressing against her. Since there were other students nearby, the space to move was limited. Fearing she’d disturb others, Gu Lingluo had to push her away, her eyes signaling: Stay away from me!
Liu Xia fluttered her long lashes, pretending not to understand. She smiled up at her from below, then pointed at the written question again.
Liu Xia’s eyes were captivating, perpetually alight with spring warmth. The alluring gaze made it seem like she held deep affection for anyone she looked at.
Gu Lingluo only met her gaze for a second before looking away. Her heart raced, and she felt a faint, peculiar pang in her chest. This strange feeling was very similar to being tempted by dark energy.
Dark energy is mainly formed by the entanglement of resentment, obsession, and attachment, and it includes all negative energies like charm, evil temptation, and everything that lures people toward the abyss of sin.
If she hadn’t just checked her pulse, confirming she was merely an ordinary person, she might have suspected Liu Xia had been corrupted by dark energy.
Gu Lingluo pressed against her chest. Her heartbeat gradually slowed, but the strange, sharp pang didn’t disappear.
Under her nostrils was a faint scent—Liu Xia’s hair fragrance.
Liu Xia was too close, truly too close. The sharp pain became increasingly obvious, and Gu Lingluo grew more and more irritated. If not for her ninety thousand years of cultivation, she would have wanted to ignore everything, storm out, and leave.
Fortunately, she held back.
She picked up her pen and wrote a random food to appease her, just wanting her to get away from her quickly.
Gu Lingluo: 【Die Schokoladentorte.】
Liu Xia didn’t understand.
Liu Xia: 【What is this?】
Gu Lingluo: 【Chocolate cake.】
So Patron Mom likes sweets~
Liu Xia finally was willing to sit back in her original seat to continue questioning.
Liu Xia: 【Please answer your favorite color in German.】
Gu Lingluo: 【Schwarz.】 (Black)
Liu Xia: 【Please answer your favorite song in German.】
Gu Lingluo: 【Hat nicht.】 (Does not have)
Liu Xia: 【What about movies?】
Gu Lingluo: 【Hat nicht.】 (Does not have)
Liu Xia: 【How can you not have one? There are so many great songs and movies. How can you not like any of them?】
Gu Lingluo was expressionless: 【No means no.】
Liu Xia vaguely recalled Gai Gai saying that Gu Lingluo didn’t watch movies or listen to music and was an old fossil.
She lowered her head and wrote: 【Let’s study at my place next time? I can introduce some good movies to you.】
Gu Lingluo: 【Not interested.】
Liu Xia: 【They’re really good. I’ve watched one six times and still haven’t gotten tired of it. I cry every time I watch it.】
Gu Lingluo closed her book and stood up: 【Finished.】
“What?”
Loud talking was prohibited in the library. Gu Lingluo silently pushed her chair in and prepared to leave.
Liu Xia quickly grabbed her, lowering her voice. “What’s wrong? What did I do to upset you now? If you don’t want to watch a movie, we won’t. Okay?”
Gu Lingluo turned to glare at her, her icy gaze so cold that dozens of heaters on the entire floor couldn’t cover it.
Liu Xia finally realized what she was doing wrong and quickly covered her mouth. She held onto Gu Lingluo with one hand and scribbled furiously with the other.
【You promised to tutor me! You can’t go back on your word!】
Gu Lingluo narrowed her eyes at her. Her eyes were completely different from Liu Xia’s. Normally they looked as cold as distant stars, but when half-lidded, they were alluring and captivating, like the only blush of crimson in a world of ice and snow—cold yet seductive, discerning of the human heart in the gloom.
Liu Xia couldn’t bear to look at her narrowed eyes. Pretending to be oblivious was impossible now, so she quickly lowered her head and proactively admitted her mistake.
【I was wrong. I promise to memorize my vocabulary properly and never ask random questions again.】
Only then did Gu Lingluo pull her chair back, sit down, and reopen her book.
【Memorize silently until 7:30. I’ll quiz you then. We’ll finish at 8:00.】
So, Patron Mom’s version of tutoring is just supervising her memorizing vocabulary?
She couldn’t talk or pass notes. How was she supposed to nurture their relationship?!
Seeking help: How do I win over a high-mountain flower?
Baidu searches, posting requests for ideas, watching tutorials…
To rope Gu Lingluo into being her good Ji-you, Liu Xia put in more painstaking effort than she had for her college entrance exam.
Hao Yan and Gai Gai also helped brainstorm ideas.
Gai Gai said, “As the saying goes, ‘To capture a woman’s heart, you must first capture her stomach!'”
Liu Xia sweatdropped. “The original saying is, ‘To capture a man’s heart…'”
Gai Gai scoffed. “That’s why you lack adaptability! A woman’s heart is much more subtle than a man’s. If that simple trick works on a coarse man, how much more so on a woman?”
That actually sounded quite reasonable.
Liu Xia said, “But the problem is I don’t know how to cook! It’s too late to learn now, right?”
Hao Yan, who always liked to deliver the punchline, said slowly, “It’s too late to learn to cook, but it’s entirely possible to pretend you can.”
Liu Xia was surprised. “What do you mean?”
Hao Yan tapped her head in contempt. “Would you mind using the few brain cells you have left?”
Regardless of whether she could really cook or just pretended to, the first step was to trick Gu Lingluo into coming to her house—ahem, she meant to invite her.
Given the painful lesson from last time, she had to be fully prepared before making a move.
She thoroughly cleaned her apartment. As long as they didn’t open the drawers or cabinets, it would definitely be tidier than a five-star hotel!
Hot water must be boiled, and she bought Lushan Cloud Mist tea, which Gai Gai claimed was Gu Lingluo’s favorite.
Next, Gai Gai drew up a menu according to Gu Lingluo’s preferences and even specified a restaurant for her to order takeout from and secretly pass off as her own cooking.
Hao Yan especially reminded her, “Alcohol is a good thing. Don’t forget to buy some.”
Gai Gai added mischievously, “Right, right, right! Don’t forget! ‘In wine, there is truth,’ ‘opening up one’s heart,’ ‘getting frisky,’ and so on. In short, alcohol is the best wingman for closing the distance between people! You absolutely cannot forget it!”
Liu Xia really wanted to press Gai Gai’s mouth into a washing machine to clean it thoroughly.
It was one thing for others to joke around, but why was she cheering on such a ridiculous idea?
She was straight! Steel-rod straight!
Gu Lingluo was obviously straight, too.
Besides, Gu Lingluo’s annoyance with her was obvious. If Mr. Seider, whom she and her friends had conspired to involve, hadn’t stepped in, Gu Lingluo would never have agreed to tutor her.
In short, even if the sky collapsed and the whole world turned gay, she and Gu Lingluo would definitely be the straightest ones holding up the sky.
In any case, all preparations were complete. It was time to attack!