Lou Qing took Lu Huan out until a little past 8 p.m. before returning to the dorm. By the time they got back, Lu Huan’s hands were full of shopping bags, and she had to ask Wei Jia to open the door for her.
“Why did you buy so much stuff?” Wei Jia exclaimed in surprise, quickly taking the bags from her hands.
“There’s a lot of food in here,” Lu Huan said, pulling out still-warm snacks to share with them. “Sister bought these for you.”
“That girlfriend of yours?” Wei Jia asked as she accepted the food.
“Mm-hmm,” Lu Huan replied with a smile.
Wei Jia dug in without hesitation, teasing her as she ate, “Is your sister trying to win us over?”
Lu Huan just smiled without answering.
Wu Xinyu, however, felt conflicted. On one hand, she didn’t want Lu Huan to have a girlfriend; on the other, she knew that no matter how much she liked Lu Huan, the other girl would never be hers.
So, she channeled her frustration into eating, devouring most of what Lu Huan had handed over until she was completely stuffed.
Both Lu Huan and Wei Jia stared at her in astonishment.
“Why did you eat so much today?” Wei Jia blurted out, unable to hide her confusion.
“I was hungry,” Wu Xinyu lied without batting an eye.
Just then, the door swung open from the outside. The person who had been absent since last night and all day today had finally returned. Seeing them gathered together, eating and chatting, Dong Sisi paused mid-step before entering as if nothing was amiss.
“Well, if it isn’t Sisi. You didn’t come back last night, and the dorm supervisor already noted you down,” Wei Jia said sarcastically.
Dong Sisi glared at them. “Why didn’t you cover for me? Two more marks like this, and I’ll lose credits.”
Wu Xinyu laughed in disbelief. “What obligation do we have to cover for you? Are we your mom or dad?”
Wei Jia gave her a thumbs-up. “Well said.”
Dong Sisi always acted high and mighty, as if she were some kind of princess. At the start of the semester, they hadn’t interacted much, so they didn’t think much of it. But the more they got to know her, the more they regretted the foolish things they’d done during those early days.
Dong Sisi’s face flushed red with anger. Her gaze shifted to Lu Huan, and she sneered, “Lu Huan, did it feel good under An Ke?”
Provoked once or twice already, Dong Sisi truly thought Lu Huan was an easy target. Though Lu Huan felt that arguing was beneath her, Dong Sisi’s words infuriated her. Enraged, she charged forward and headbutted Dong Sisi in the stomach.
Dong Sisi hadn’t expected this, and neither had Wei Jia or Wu Xinyu.
The impact was forceful, and Dong Sisi fell to the ground, clutching her stomach and moaning in pain.
Wei Jia scoffed and spat, “Serves you right. I’ve had enough of you. Did you think we didn’t know you were spreading rumors about Lu Huan in the group chat? Idiot!”
Wu Xinyu added, “Spreading baseless rumors like that, do you really think everyone’s a fool?”
But Dong Sisi couldn’t respond to their accusations. She was in too much pain.
In the end, Dong Sisi was taken to the hospital.
Lu Huan stood frozen in place, bewildered and unsure of what to do.
When Lou Qing called, her mind went blank. The first thing she said after answering was, “Sister, I sent someone to the hospital.”
Lou Qing had just finished washing up and was in her pajamas, ready to sleep, when she heard this. Startled, she got out of bed and asked, “What exactly happened?”
Upon learning that the girl had headbutted someone into the hospital, Lou Qing was both incredulous and amused. She pulled clothes from the wardrobe, changing as she said, “I’ll come to your school now and go with you to the hospital.”
“Mm.” Lu Huan’s panicked heart instantly settled.
Wei Jia and Wu Xinyu had already taken Dong Sisi to the hospital. Lu Huan had been too shaken earlier, so the two of them had told her to rest in the dorm.
By the time Lou Qing arrived, Lu Huan had already composed herself.
The hospital Dong Sisi was taken to wasn’t far from the school. When Lu Huan and Lou Qing arrived, Dong Sisi was already lying on a hospital bed.
Lu Huan was frightened and asked Wei Jia and the others, “Did I hit her that hard? Why is she hospitalized?”
The girl’s eyes welled up with tears. Lou Qing wrapped an arm around her shoulders in silent comfort and asked Wei Jia, “What’s the specific situation now?”
Wei Jia’s expression was complicated. Wu Xinyu said with a hint of sarcasm, “What else? Someone’s pregnant.”
“Ah?” Lu Huan said blankly, “How did my headbutt make her pregnant?”
Wei Jia, Wu Xinyu, and Lou Qing: “…”
“Pfft.” The three of them exchanged glances and laughed.
Lu Huan blinked in confusion.
“It’s not that you made her pregnant. It’s because of your headbutt that someone found out she was pregnant,” Wu Xinyu explained.
“What about the baby in her belly, ” Lu Huan snapped back to reality, her first thought being the other person’s unborn child. After all, she had hit her in the stomach. If her headbutt had caused a miscarriage, her guilt would be immense.
“It’s fine,” Wu Xinyu said. “If it weren’t for your headbutt, that person wouldn’t have known she was pregnant. She’s in there crying right now.”
Just then, a middle-aged man in his forties rushed over. Seeing them, he asked, “Are you Dong Sisi’s roommates?”
Wei Jia and Wu Xinyu looked at him blankly and asked, “Are you Dong Sisi’s father?”
The man’s expression stiffened, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.
Lu Huan recognized the man as the one from the car that day and replied, “She’s in this room.”
Her appearance was so sweet and adorable that the man glanced at her a few extra times, his gaze making her uncomfortable. Fortunately, he quickly averted his eyes and said, “Okay, thank you.” With that, he went inside.
After the door closed, Wu Xinyu frowned and asked, “That man isn’t Dong Sisi’s father?” Judging by his expression and his features, which bore no resemblance to Dong Sisi’s.
Lu Huan didn’t feel comfortable discussing someone else’s affairs behind their back, so she shook her head and said nothing.
Lou Qing asked, “Is your roommate okay?”
Wei Jia shook her head. “She’s fine, just a bit shaken. The doctor said she can rest for a couple of days and then be discharged.”
Wu Xinyu pushed herself off the wall and stood up straight. “Since someone’s here, let’s head back too.”
Lu Huan said, “I’ll pay her medical fees. Do you have the bill?”
“We do,” Wu Xinyu said, giving her a complicated look. “Huanhuan, you really don’t need to pay her medical fees. After all the rumors she spread about you in the group and the awful things she said in the dorm earlier, and you’re still paying for her? Are you out of your mind?”
Lu Huan shook her head and said, “One thing at a time. After all, her hospitalization really is my fault.”
“Let me handle it.” Lou Qing took the bill from Wu Xinyu’s hand and said, “We’ll take responsibility where it’s due, but we won’t let her bullying of Huanhuan slide.”
Her words made Wu Xinyu see her in a new light, and much of the hostility she felt toward Lou Qing faded.
After leaving the hospital, Lou Qing asked the girl beside her, “What kind of rumors did she spread about you?”
Lu Huan looked at her, feeling both amused and touched. The other person didn’t even know what Dong Sisi had said about her, yet her first instinct was to stand by her side. This unconditional support made Lu Huan feel a little more reliant on her.
But she wanted to handle this matter herself. Shaking her head, she said, “It’s nothing important.”
“You even headbutted her in the stomach.” Lou Qing still couldn’t picture the scene of the girl ramming into someone’s stomach. Based on what she knew of her, the only time Lu Huan had ever stood up to refute someone was during that incident at Huangshan, and even then, she had been pushed to her limit. But even under those circumstances, she hadn’t resorted to physical violence.
The girl’s upbringing made it impossible for her to argue with others, let alone resort to physical confrontation. And now, not only had she argued, but she had also learned to fight back even sending someone to the hospital, though most of the blame lay with the other party.
Lu Huan felt a belated sense of embarrassment.
“So, what exactly did she say?” Lou Qing asked again.
Lu Huan fidgeted with her fingers and, faced with her girlfriend’s questioning, answered honestly, “She said in the class group chat that I was drugged and assaulted by An Ke. And today,” She paused before continuing, “Today, she said things like that.”
“Things like what?”
Lu Huan shook her head. She couldn’t bring herself to say the words, stammering for a while without getting them out.
Seeing her face flushed, Lou Qing didn’t press further. Instead, she pulled her into an embrace and gently patted her back. “Move out and live with me.”
Lu Huan looked up at her.
Lou Qing lowered her head, gazing at her seriously. “You can stay at my apartment. I’m rarely there, so you can have the place to yourself.”
Lu Huan knew there was a rest area above her studio where the woman usually slept.
Lu Huan shook her head. “That wouldn’t be good.”
“Why not?”
Lu Huan said, “If you’re not there, it wouldn’t be right for me to stay.”
Although they were in a relationship now, it was still very new. Moving into the other person’s home at this stage felt far too presumptuous.
Understanding her concerns, Lou Qing sighed helplessly and ruffled her hair. “I wish you weren’t so well-behaved.”
That way, she could rely on her, live in her home, and seek her help whenever needed.
Lu Huan understood the meaning behind her words, but years of family influence ran deep, and she couldn’t change that overnight.
Lou Qing thought for a moment and said, “How about this? I’ll come home to stay every day after work, okay?” She simply didn’t want the girl to remain in the dormitory anymore. No matter what, she couldn’t let Dong Sisi bully her again.
Lu Huan thought it over and nodded. “Okay.”
Lou Qing breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, gently flicking her forehead with a finger. “I was really afraid you’d refuse again.”
Although it didn’t hurt, Lu Huan reflexively covered her forehead. “I wouldn’t be so ungrateful.” If the other person wanted to protect her and she refused, wouldn’t that be pushing her away?
Rather than making the other person worry endlessly, it was better to accept her kindness.
When Wei Jia and Wu Xinyu heard that she was moving out to live with Lou Qing, they were quite shocked.
“Huaihuan, are you serious?” Wei Jia said. “Is it because of Dong Sisi? She’s being asked to drop out by the school because her pregnancy was exposed. You don’t have to move out of the dorm because of her.”
They had finally managed to improve Lu Huan’s opinion of them, and now she was moving out. They would only be able to see her during classes from now on.
Wu Xinyu, however, was worried about something else. “Is Lou Qing trustworthy? Could she be tricking you into moving in with her? What if she gets tired of you later and kicks you out?”
Hearing this, Wei Jia was alarmed and quickly said, “Then Huaihuan, don’t go. Who knows if Lou Qing might bully you?”
Lu Huan knew they meant well and smiled, saying, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
“Oh, right,” Wei Jia remembered something and added, “Someone has already cleared up those rumors Dong Sisi spread about you.” After saying this, her expression turned somewhat complicated.
Seeing Lu Huan’s puzzled look, Wu Xinyu explained, “It was Jiang Wenshu. Someone added her to the group chat, and she personally explained everything to the class.”