Jiang Wenshu said anxiously, “Lu Huan, you can’t act impulsively. Changing your major is a big decision. You can’t switch to art just because of those rumors.”
Lu Huan replied seriously, “But I like art.”
Jiang Wenshu said, “Then why did you choose business in the first place,” As she spoke, she suddenly remembered how she had bragged to her friends back then, saying her girlfriend was going to apply for the same major just for her, subtly hinting that Lu Huan should choose business.
Thinking of this, she felt a little guilty.
Seeing that she had finally recalled the matter, Lu Huan didn’t press further. “I have something to do, so I’ll be leaving now.”
Jiang Wenshu didn’t dare call out to her again as she walked away.
There were only two classes in the morning. Lu Huan spent the rest of her time studying in the library. At noon, she was planning to go to the cafeteria when her sister messaged her to come home for lunch.
By the time she arrived at the apartment, Lou Qing had just finished cooking.
“Wash your hands and eat,” Lou Qing said.
“Okay.”
During the meal, Lou Qing mentioned, “Tomorrow is Tao Hai’s girlfriend’s birthday. She invited you to come along.”
“Is it tomorrow evening?” Lu Huan asked.
“Yes,” Lou Qing replied. “I checked your schedule, and you don’t have evening self-study tomorrow.”
So it was settled.
The next afternoon after school, Lou Qing drove directly to the school gate to pick her up.
As she drove, Lou Qing said, “Tao Hai and the others are already there. We can head straight over.”
Tao Hai had reserved a private room at a large hotel. Not many people were invited just their close friends.
By the time Lou Qing and Lu Huan arrived, more than half of the guests were already seated in the private room. When they saw them, they immediately stood up to greet them.
“Xiao Qing, long time no see!” A woman with long hair came over and hugged her, a warm smile on her face.
“Sister Lan,” Lou Qing smiled and hugged her back, then introduced her, “This is Lu Huan, my girlfriend.”
Sister Lan looked at Lou Qing in surprise, then turned to Lu Huan, warmly taking her hand. “Hello there, little one.”
“Hello,” Lu Huan replied, a bit shy.
Sister Lan noticed her nervousness and said with a laugh, “Don’t be scared. We’re all longtime friends of Xiao Qing. Today is just a gathering of friends nothing to be nervous about.”
Over on the other side, Cui Lin spotted them and immediately waved. “Come over here, little Huan Huan!”
Others asked who she was.
Cui Lin quickly explained, “This is Lou Qing’s girlfriend. She’s a good kid, so don’t bully her.”
The others teased, “What are you saying? Do we look like bad people?”
“Hard to say,” Cui Lin rolled her eyes. “Back when I first met you all, you were all acting like animals.”
“Damn,” the others laughed.
Lou Qing led Lu Huan to sit next to Cui Lin and the others. Since Lu Huan already knew Cui Lin and Song Meixi, she wouldn’t feel as nervous.
Watching Cui Lin joke around with the others, Lu Huan smiled from the sidelines. Song Meixi chatted with her from time to time, making sure she wasn’t left out.
Soon, the rest of the guests arrived.
Tao Hai stood up and said, “Thank you all for coming today to celebrate our Xiao Tu’s twentieth birthday. Eat, drink, and make yourselves at home. If you need anything, just ask, don’t be shy.”
Cui Lin shouted, “Of course we won’t be shy! Whoever acts shy is a coward!”
Everyone burst into laughter.
Lu Huan was also swept up in the cheerful atmosphere, her eyes and brows curved into a smile.
Lou Qing leaned over and whispered, “What would you like to drink?”
Lu Huan glanced at the red wine in her cup and blinked.
Lou Qing firmly refused, “You can’t drink.” The memory of the girl’s state after drinking last time was still vivid in her mind.
“Then I’ll have juice,” Lu Huan said, a little disappointed as she withdrew her gaze.
Cui Lin, noticing the situation, took Lu Huan’s glass and poured half a cup of red wine. “Little Huanhuan is already an adult. What’s wrong with having a little wine? Don’t think you can control her just because you’re her girlfriend.”
Seeing her meddling, Lou Qing wanted to pour out the girl’s wine but couldn’t. Thinking about how happy the girl was today, she had no choice but to relent. “Just this much, then.”
“Okay,” Lu Huan replied, her eyes sparkling as she nodded at her.
Lou Qing affectionately pinched her earlobe.
Lu Huan knew she couldn’t handle alcohol well, but she had her own little scheme. Sneaking a glance at the woman beside her, she smiled secretly to herself.
At the dinner table, everyone chatted and laughed. Lou Qing kept an eye on the girl beside her, worried she might get drunk.
While Lou Qing was talking to others, Lu Huan would occasionally pick up food for her, and Lou Qing would eat it every time she noticed.
The interaction between the two made their friends at the table smile with relief.
It wasn’t for any other reason Lou Qing had been hurt once before, and everyone had been worried she wouldn’t be able to move on from that relationship. Now, seeing her with such an outstanding and caring girlfriend, they were all happy for her.
Noticing how well-behaved the younger girl was, no one teased her. Instead, they chatted among themselves, occasionally bringing up topics everyone could relate to.
“Xiao Qing, how did you spend the New Year?” Sister Lan asked from across the table.
Cui Lin chimed in, “She must have spent it with Little Huanhuan, of course.”
Sister Lan laughed helplessly. “Doesn’t Little Huanhuan need to go home for the New Year?”
Since Cui Lin kept calling her “Little Huanhuan,” everyone at the table had adopted the nickname. After all, Lu Huan was the youngest among them, and she had grown used to it.
Lu Huan asked curiously, “Did you spend the New Year alone, Sister?”
“Yes,” Sister Lan replied. “Your sister has been alone for the past few years. Even when we invited her to celebrate with our family, she refused.”
Lou Qing explained, “The New Year is for family reunions. What would I be doing there?”
Lu Huan suggested, “Then why don’t you come to my house this year, Sister?”
Cui Lin asked curiously, “Have you come out to your family?”
The attention of everyone else shifted to Lu Huan. Half of the people at the table were lesbians, but very few had come out to their families, mostly because their parents weren’t open-minded enough, and they didn’t dare bring it up.
“Yes,” Lu Huan nodded. “My parents are very supportive of my sexuality.”
Hearing this, everyone was filled with envy.
“Your parents are so great. When I mentioned it to my dad, he almost broke my leg.”
“You’re lucky. I was kicked out of the house, and my parents cut ties with me.”
“By the way, Little Huanhuan, what do your parents do?” someone asked curiously.
“My mom is a pianist, and my dad is a painter,” Lu Huan replied.
Everyone looked at her in surprise before understanding dawned on their faces. “No wonder you have such an artistic aura you come from a family of scholars and artists.”
“Old Lou, you’ve hit the jackpot,” someone teased Lou Qing.
Before Lou Qing could respond, Lu Huan spoke up first, “I’m the lucky one for meeting Sister.”
Everyone burst into laughter and started teasing in a friendly manner.
Someone said enviously, “Lou Qing, your girlfriend is really protective of you.”
“Showing off affection like this makes me want to fall in love too.”
“Didn’t you just break up?” Cui Lin exposed her, and everyone laughed.
“Cui Lin, no one would think you’re mute if you kept quiet,” the person glared at her.
“Are you drunk?” Lou Qing bent down to look at the girl’s face. She had noticed earlier that the girl seemed a bit off, and now her face was flushed.
Lu Huan shook her head. “No.”
But her bright yet slightly dazed eyes made Lou Qing both amused and exasperated.
Just then, the meal ended, and she thought about taking the girl back first.
Tao Hai said, “We’re going to sing next. Why are you leaving so early?”
Cui Lin chimed in, “Yeah, yeah, it’s rare for us to get together.”
Lou Qing looked at the girl clinging to her arm, gently pinched her cheek, and asked softly, “Do you want to go?”
Lu Huan nodded with an “Mm-hmm.”
“That’s more like it,” Cui Lin said with a smile.
Sister Lan came over and asked, “Is little Huan-huan drunk?”
Lu Huan shook her head repeatedly. “I’m not drunk. I’m very sober.”
Her appearance clearly suggested otherwise. Sister Lan glanced at Lou Qing with a smile, and the latter sighed helplessly and affectionately. “Cui Lin poured her a drink.”
Hearing her name, Cui Lin leaned over and asked, “What are you saying about me?” After a moment, she looked at Lu Huan and belatedly asked, “Is little Huan-huan drunk?”
“I’m not drunk. I’m very sober,” Lu Huan emphasized again.
Her words were almost identical to before, leaving Sister Lan both amused and exasperated.
Cui Lin blinked. “She got drunk from just a little bit I poured?”
Lou Qing replied, “She can’t handle even a little.”
“It’s fine. She’ll get used to it after drinking a few more times,” Cui Lin said nonchalantly.
Sister Lan playfully punched her shoulder and scolded her with a laugh, “Who encourages drinking like that?”
The group walked out of the private room and headed to the elevator. When the elevator doors opened, two people stood inside, clearly in the middle of an argument.
“Jiang Wenshu, if you don’t like women, why did you agree to meet me? Did you think we came to the hotel to eat instead of sleep?” a woman with heavy smoky eye makeup yelled. She paused when she saw the crowd outside the elevator.
Lou Qing hadn’t expected to run into Jiang Wenshu here, especially in such a situation, and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Jiang Wenshu saw them too, especially noticing Lu Huan clinging to Lou Qing’s arm. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but considering the circumstances and the crowd around her, her pride made her push past the woman and hurry out of the elevator.
“Jiang Wenshu, stop right there!” the smoky-eyed woman chased after her.
“What’s going on?” Cui Lin craned her neck to look in confusion.
Song Meixi pulled her into the elevator. “Mind your own business.”
“Straight girls pretending to be lesbians?” someone muttered under their breath. “I fucking hate straight girls who pretend to be lesbians. If they want to play around, they shouldn’t mess with us.”
“Exactly,” another woman rolled her eyes. “I met one like that before. We chatted for two months, went out for meals multiple times, and when I tried to hold her hand or kiss her, she refused. Then she dumped me and moved on to the next one. I seriously suspect she was just freeloading.”
“Times are tough these days,” Cui Lin sighed. “I still want to fall in love, but I’ve joined nearly twenty chat groups, and the people in them are just a mess.”
“Finding love isn’t that hard. I’ll take you to a bar sometime that’s where I met my wife,” another person said, wrapping an arm around Cui Lin’s neck.
“Get out of here. I can find someone on my own. If I go with you, you and your wife will be all lovey-dovey, and I’ll probably die from the sweetness.”
The other person laughed and cursed, “Damn.”
When they arrived at the KTV, Tao Hai had booked a large private room, big enough for everyone to sit in a row.
Lou Qing went to the service counter and brought back a glass of water for Lu Huan. “Have a sip.”
“Mm,” Lu Huan replied, drinking directly from the glass Lou Qing held for her.
“Don’t drink like this next time,” Lou Qing said. “You’ll have a headache tomorrow morning.”
“I won’t,” Lu Huan murmured, resting her head on Lou Qing’s shoulder.
Lou Qing flicked her forehead playfully and teased, “What if you get drunk and someone takes advantage of you?”
“That won’t happen,” Lu Huan pouted. “I have my sister with me. I only drink when you’re around. If you’re not here, I won’t even touch a drink.”
Lou Qing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but it reminded her of the first time she met the girl. Back then, An Ke had handed her a spiked drink. If Lou Qing hadn’t followed her that night, the girl would have been taken advantage of. The thought still sent a chill down her spine.
The news about Jiang Wenshu pretending to be a lesbian had exploded.
Everyone knew from their class group chats to her circle of friends.
At the same time, Lu Huan’s name was dragged into the spotlight because of it.