Chu Zhi didn’t use much force, merely intending to push him away, but the resulting slap made quite a crisp sound. She attributed it to his good skin. She let out a small “oh,” her brief flash of anger dissipating as quickly as it had come. She quickly withdrew her hand and looked up at his forehead. It wasn’t red and seemed fine. Only then did Chu Zhi breathe a sigh of relief.
She had acted rashly and wasn’t sure how much force she’d used. If she had accidentally hurt him, that would have been terrible—getting scolded by his father during the day and then getting slapped on the forehead at night…
Thinking this, she carefully studied his expression. Since he was bending down to look at her, the man was at her eye level. He didn’t appear angry; instead, he seemed slightly dazed.
He showed no signs of standing up straight, so Chu Zhi automatically stepped back while apologizing.
Lu Jiaheng snapped out of it and finally slowly straightened up.
Chu Zhi watched him stand up straight and wondered if his waist was sore from bending down for so long.
As she wondered, she ended up asking, “Is your waist sore?”
Lu Jiaheng: “…”
Lu Jiaheng smiled ambiguously: “No.”
Chu Zhi nodded, wanting to change the subject to avoid reminding anyone of the slap incident, so she sincerely marveled, “Your waist must be really good. Sometimes when I wash dishes at home and bend over for too long, I get a bit sore.”
Lu Jiaheng looked her up and down, appearing somewhat surprised: “You have to bend over to wash dishes?”
“…”
Chu Zhi started glaring at him again, her expression like a small puppy baring its teeth after having its tail stepped on, trying to look fierce.
Lu Jiaheng chuckled softly and stopped teasing her, finally handing over the bag he was holding.
Inside the semi-transparent plastic bag was a Cornetto ice cream, blue-colored, vanilla flavored.
Chu Zhi pressed her lips together, not taking it immediately.
Lu Jiaheng shook his hand: “Hurry up, it’s going to melt.”
She finally took it, her face still slightly flushed, and thanked him softly.
He had come to treat her to ice cream, specially delivering it to the dormitory building, and didn’t mind that she had slapped him.
Plus, earlier when she kept his oil dish, he hadn’t gotten angry or upset, and he hadn’t rushed her about the clothes she’d owed for over half a month, later saying she didn’t need to worry about it.
Although he had done some odd things, like inexplicably taking her water cup, it wasn’t really anything serious.
Chu Zhi finally defined him in her heart—a good person who, although quite attractive to girls, had a good temper and a kind heart.
She was unwrapping the outer packaging while thinking about various things. She easily got lost in thought, often falling into her own mental scenarios at random triggers, thinking about all sorts of things messily, sometimes even making herself laugh.
During this time, Lu Jiaheng hadn’t said anything, just standing in front of the young girl, head lowered, watching her unhurriedly unwrap the ice cream cone.
Although the temperature wasn’t high in the evening, they had been standing outside for a while, plus the time it took him to walk over, the ice cream inside had indeed started to melt a bit. When Chu Zhi had unwrapped half, one side of the vanilla ice cream had begun to drip slightly.
Afraid it would drip down, she quickly leaned in to lick off the melted ice cream.
Lu Jiaheng suddenly turned his head away, stepping to the side to lean against the nearby wall, using one hand to cover his right eye.
Chu Zhi looked up: “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he rubbed his brow bone, not looking at her, his voice low, “go up and eat, it’s cold at night.”
It hadn’t felt cold before, but eating ice cream did make it seem chilly now. Chu Zhi shrunk her neck a bit and nodded: “Then I’ll head up. Good night, senior.”
She turned towards the dormitory building. Only then did Lu Jiaheng look up, watching through his fingers as the small girl entered the dormitory building eating her ice cream.
For a moment just now, some inappropriate images had flashed through his mind almost uncontrollably.
He lowered his hand, sighed, his expression a bit flustered.
Lu Jiaheng, be a human.
—
The freshman course load was relatively light, with many activities.
As formal classes began, Xue Niannan was promoted from temporary class monitor during military training to official class monitor, while among the boys, Xiao Yi became class monitor without much competition.
These two had probably been class monitors from kindergarten until now, extremely proficient in their duties, excellent in both studies and character, very reliable, with their only blemish in life probably being the fighting incident during military training.
Actually, Chu Zhi felt that Monitor Xue Niannan was quite wronged, because she barely fought that time, maybe just threw a few kicks below the belt.
Xue Niannan and Lin Tong both joined the student union. Gu Han had also planned to join, giving a grand three-thousand-word speech in the dormitory themed “When I Become Student Union President,” but upon hearing she needed to write formal materials, she immediately lost all fighting spirit and climbed into bed for an afternoon nap.
Chu Zhi wasn’t interested in these things either. Her personality wasn’t really suited for managing affairs—she was the type who couldn’t even collect all the homework as a class representative. On interview day, she went out with Lin Tong and Xue Niannan but waited for them in the nearby library.
A University had no shortage of top students, and it was common for the library study room to stay lit until late at night. Seating depended on both fighting spirit and luck. Chu Zhi was quite lucky; just as she entered, a male student by the window left.
She hugged her books and walked over, quietly pulling out the chair to sit down. When she looked up, she paused slightly.
Sitting across from her was a boy with a baby face, with red lips and white teeth, looking nothing like a college student’s age, appearing at most sixteen or seventeen years old. He was smiling at her, showing a small pointed tiger tooth.
Chu Zhi thought he might be someone’s younger brother who had come to the university with their older sibling. She blinked and smiled back at him.
The boy didn’t say anything and lowered his head again to write.
Chu Zhi also lowered her head and opened her book to read for a while when suddenly a piece of paper appeared in front of her.
The tiger-toothed youth pushed the paper to her, his handwriting youthful and neat: [Is big sister a new student?]
Chu Zhi took it and wrote back: [Yes.]
[What is big sister studying?]
[Advertising.]
Seeing this, the youth lifted his head to look at her with a smile, his cute tiger tooth showing, smiling beautifully and mischievously.
He lowered his head and continued writing, quickly pushing the paper back to her: [Has big sister joined any clubs? Would you be interested in checking out the drama club with me?]
Chu Zhi was surprised. Recently, clubs had been recruiting new members, almost stuffing flyers into freshmen’s beds. This little brother probably had older siblings in the drama club.
He was quite thoughtful.
Chu Zhi tilted her head to think. She had to join either a club or the student union anyway, so she simply wrote: [Sure.]
The youth seemed very happy, his beautiful big eyes looking at her with a smile, his eyelashes longer than a girl’s, fluttering.
He tucked that note into his book, packed up his things and stood up immediately. Chu Zhi, having barely warmed her chair, stood up as well.
Only after the two left the library study room did the youth speak: “I was worried you wouldn’t pay attention to me, but pretty big sisters really do have good tempers.”
His voice was clear and pleasant, carrying a youthful air. Under the sun, his hair had a yellowish tint, unruly strands sticking up on his head. His whole person gave off a warm feeling, as if carrying sunshine with him.
The youth seemed to visit A University often. While Chu Zhi, after half a month of school, only remembered how to get to places she regularly needed to go, he knew the paths much better than her. His steps were light and quick, yet he maintained a steady pace to accommodate her.
Chu Zhi followed his steps closely, the two chatting as they walked until they reached the activity room, where the youth pushed open the door and walked in.
The sunlight outside was strong, making the activity room seem relatively dim in comparison. Chu Zhi had only briefly scanned the general layout of items inside, not having time to see clearly, when suddenly a black shadow from inside lunged forward at an extremely fast speed.
Chu Zhi was so startled she almost screamed out loud, thinking this might be some kidnapping gang lurking in the school, when she heard a piercing scream: “CLUB PRESIDENT!!!!!!”
Chu Zhi focused her eyes and saw a tall male student hanging onto the tiger-toothed youth walking in front of her, his arms tightly wrapped around him, his whole body clinging on like an octopus refusing to let go: “Club president, you left so early!!!!”
Chu Zhi: “…”
Chu Zhi: “???”
The tiger-toothed youth was being squeezed until his face turned pale, looking like he was about to roll his eyes. When he couldn’t pry the other off with one hand, the octopus finally noticed Chu Zhi standing behind them and let out another piercing scream, suddenly releasing his grip, feet landing on the ground, and running far away with rapid steps.
Chu Zhi was startled by him again, almost instinctively hiding behind the tiger-toothed youth in front of her, leaving only half her head exposed to look at him.
The octopus suddenly raised his arm, index finger pointing at her, just trembling non-stop, his face full of devastation, veins almost popping on his temples.
He pointed at Chu Zhi, then pointed at the tiger-toothed youth in front of her: “Club president, you actually have a girlfriend!!!”
Chu Zhi: “Eh…”
It’s not like that.
The tiger-toothed youth showed a mouthful of brilliant white teeth, happily saying: “Yes! Pretty, right!”
Chu Zhi: “…Um…”
Please listen to me.
The octopus, hearing his confirmation, instantly turned ashen-faced, clutching his heart in unbearable pain, with snot and tears: “Ci Lang!! I waited for you for so long! You clearly promised to stay single with me forever! And now! You actually found a girlfriend behind my back!! I love you so much! Am I not enough for you?!!!”
“Ci Lang” grinned: “Not enough!”
Octopus: “…”
Chu Zhi: “…”
Chu Zhi felt she could finally confirm that she was indeed in the drama club.
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