Chapter 3: Casual Chat and Preferences
Although I wasn’t entirely sure of the reason, Lianbing’s finger-sucking gesture seemed to be deliberately for Jiang Xueqing’s benefit.
Suddenly, I remembered what happened last Friday at noon. These two seem to know each other already, and judging by the tense atmosphere between them, it looks like they have some past grievance?
I’m so over this. If you have some grudges, can you please settle them privately? Why do you have to drag me into it?
I glanced at my poor finger, a distinct bite mark remaining on it, which lingered for a long time. If you didn’t look closely, you’d think I was wearing a ring.
My finger still lacks sensation, and writing feels quite awkward. Just a moment ago, I really thought my finger had been bitten off… Is this guy a dog!
Complaining in my mind, I decided it would be better to keep some distance from her for now, to avoid her biting me again…
So, during the break after the second class, I didn’t go to the pavilion behind the science building. Instead, I went to the restroom with Yingliang and then leaned against the window by the corridor to chat.
“You have such a beautiful girlfriend, yet you’re here chatting with a loser like me… Juncheng, you don’t have a problem with your sexual orientation, do you?”
“Stop joking. Only stupid couples are together all day. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder; couples should have some personal space.”
Of course, these are just excuses. The truth is, Lianbing and I are just a fake couple, and we don’t have the tacit understanding of real couples. It would be bad if someone noticed something strange.
Eighty percent of the topics we discuss when we’re together are her teasing me with dirty jokes, and the other twenty percent are very boring academic discussions, mostly about why she likes corpses. It’s knowledge I really don’t want to know.
If anyone were to deliberately pay attention to our conversations, they would definitely find something strange because it doesn’t sound like a couple talking at all. Especially with someone like Yingnuo Gao, a super eavesdropper, we have to be careful with our words and actions.
If we were truly exposed, it wouldn’t affect Lianbing at all; she would simply regain her goddess status. But I would be in trouble… Without the protection of being watched, my situation would be quite dangerous.
At least, until the red tint in Lianbing’s pink title completely disappears, I have to play the role of her boyfriend well.
I shrugged helplessly and said.
“We’re just a normal couple.”
“A couple that engages in finger-sucking play in front of everyone is not normal at all.”
“Uh? You saw that?”
“Mmm… I didn’t mean to peek, I just happened to see it.”
“How should I put it? Ever since before, I often see rather unusual things at very opportune moments… So I hope you don’t mind, I really didn’t intend to peek.”
Oh? So Yingliang, that peeping Tom, has a passive ability?
I knew it. Although Yingliang is a bit reserved, he wouldn’t do something as vulgar as peeping. So he didn’t want to see it on purpose.
As he spoke, Yingliang, who had been looking out the window, suddenly winced as if he had seen something unpleasant. Then he turned and slung an arm around my shoulder, acting like a good buddy.
He must have a reason for suddenly acting like this. I wanted to turn and look out the window, but he firmly grabbed my shoulder, preventing me from turning. So I asked him, puzzled.
“What? Did you see something again?”
“Don’t worry about it… it’s nothing interesting. Let’s not talk about that. By the way, Juncheng, you’re wearing glasses too. Are you nearsighted?”
“No, these are just plain glasses. I wear them to block out things I don’t want to see.”
“Mmm… indeed. Glasses can indeed filter out a lot of things we don’t want to see sometimes. And if the lenses are big enough, they can even hide one’s face.”
Yingliang echoed my words with a tone of deep understanding.
It seems that what he has seen so far has also caused him considerable distress.
And just now, he seems to have seen something else, piquing his curiosity.
“But, your glasses are quite fashionable. Your fashion score is A+.”
“Really? I think they all look the same…”
I took off my glasses and looked at them. They seemed like ordinary black-rimmed glasses, and I didn’t find anything special about them.
I picked these glasses out when I went shopping with Ji Lianbing in her soft-ice state.
At the optical shop, Ruansui chatted a lot with the clerk and had me try on many frames. Finally, she happily decided, “After all, this one suits you best, Cheng-jun~” She even paid for them.
Um, it’s not that I didn’t want to pay, it’s that I couldn’t afford it… Because these frames are super expensive! It’s just a pair of frames, why are they so expensive? I thought the lenses should be much more expensive than the frames. Since I was just getting plain lenses, I thought I could get them for under two hundred yuan… Who would have thought…
Anyway, the most valuable thing I own now might be these glasses.
“You didn’t pick them yourself, did you? Different frames have different effects on everyone. These glasses really suit your type. Did your girlfriend pick them for you?”
“Mmm… she picked them for me.”
“Oh, that’s nice~ I wish I had a girlfriend to pick glasses for me too~”
“Why don’t you get a new pair… It seems you’ve been wearing the same pair of glasses since freshman year.”
They’ve always been these super thick round lenses, just like Doraemon’s glasses.
“No, glasses are my main body; I can’t just change them! Plus, round lenses are faith!”
“I don’t quite understand what’s so special about it. Ah, I don’t mean to belittle you, I just…”
“I know, no need to explain. I’ve pretty much figured out your personality. You just speak directly. I know you don’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“It’s a great help that you can understand me like this…”
“It’s nothing. Speaking directly is also a good point; it can easily gain others’ trust.”
He patted my shoulder and gave me a thumbs-up, indicating his understanding.
Honestly, I was deeply touched…
“But, I used to think you were quite aloof, always staying alone and not interacting with others.”
“I don’t have social anxiety… I had a few friends in middle school, although I didn’t interact much with girls.”
If people I greeted daily count as friends, then I had a few friends in middle school.
“It’s just that for some reason, after entering high school, I don’t even have friends I can talk to…”
It’s as if the classmates in my class don’t want to interact with me proactively?
And I don’t proactively talk to them, so over time, it has become like this.
“Mmm… this shouldn’t be your fault. The students in our class are indeed different from other classes…”
“Is that so…”
I might understand what he means. The people in our class are more abnormal than me in many ways.
If their titles are true, I can’t imagine them interacting normally with ordinary people.
“Yeah, it’s because Ji Lianbing is in our class that you had a chance to get her. If it were another class, let alone dating her, even getting close to her would be difficult.”
“That seems to be the case…”
Lianbing, who draws attention wherever she goes, is not as conspicuous in class.
“Right, speaking of which, you should thank me.”
“Mmm? How so?”
“When the seating arrangement was made at the beginning of the second year, I suggested that Ji Lianbing sit behind you! As expected, being close to the water, you got the advantage of conquering that unattainable flower. How about it? Am I a good friend?”
So it was you, you bastard!
“Don’t look at me with such burning eyes, you’ll make me shy~”
I wish I could throw you out of the second floor right now! Shy, look at what you’ve done!
“But if Xiaohua knew about this, she might want to kill me… Ah ha ha ha… Please, please don’t tell her!”
“You mean Lanhua?”
“Yes, you must have noticed too… she actually…”
“Mmm… I know. Don’t worry, I won’t say a word.”
I nodded righteously, indicating that as brothers, we understood. In my mind, I was wondering if I should find a time to tell her about this.
“Haha, that’s good… Honestly, I thought you hadn’t figured it out at all.”
“Actually, I didn’t realize it at first, but due to some coincidences… I understood.”
If I didn’t have this ability to see people’s titles and inner thoughts, I really wouldn’t have known that Lanhua is actually a lesbian.
Speaking of which, I couldn’t help but look at Lianbing and Lanhua, who were also talking, through the back door…
Lianbing, facing me, suddenly stared at me and gave me a smiling expression.
I squinted and raised an eyebrow, puckering my lips.
Then she winked at me and blew me a kiss.
Oho…
“Oho~ That’s so sweet, I’m so envious, Juncheng.”
“Envious…”
I guess Yingliang probably doesn’t understand that that ‘smile’ wasn’t sweet.
I used to think that a smile only expressed kindness and goodwill, but after meeting Lianbing, I realized that the same expression could convey completely different emotions.
Like that smile just now, the meaning it contained was probably, ‘You haven’t said anything unnecessary, have you? Juncheng…’, a threatening smile.
I pouted in response, ‘I know, you don’t need to tell me.’ Then her wink meant, ‘Good, you’re a good boy~’, and the kiss was probably a cover, or she was teasing me.
“There’s nothing to be envious of, it’s a hassle…”
After saying this, I secretly added in my mind, ‘And it’s terribly dangerous…’
“If other guys knew you had such thoughts, they might rally together and take you to the woods to eliminate you.”
“Then please don’t tell anyone…”
What can I do? I really can’t be interested in her…
No matter how cute, how beautiful, how rich, or how good her figure is.
If your girlfriend is actually a murderer who wants to kill you, can you still happily accept her?
Don’t talk about dying for a beauty, it’s romantic even as a ghost… It’s completely unreliable.
Call me a coward, call me timid, anyway, I’m afraid of death.
If you’re dead, you have nothing. There’s no point in enjoying anything.
So at all times, my life comes first! Everything else can take a backseat!
However… if it were soft ice… I might be willing to accept it…
“You’re not satisfied with having a girlfriend like this? Then what type of girl do you like, Juncheng?”
Yingliang’s sudden question stunned me on the spot.
What type of girl do I like?
This question… I don’t think I’ve ever considered it.
