I suspected that Zhong Yuan’s eyes had a problem. The whole situation really affected my mental condition before the competition. Not only wasn’t he ashamed, he arrogantly said, “Lu Zijian thinks the same.”
I turned to Lu Zijian pitifully. No, no, it can’t be. Lu Zijian is my idol. He would never act that way! (What does this have to do with him being your idol?)
Lu Zijian looked at me a bit embarrassed. He laughed it off and said, “That… Your… Your hairstyle is really something, haha.”
I wanted to cry, but there were no tears. Senior Lu, must you be so honest? You can’t even tell a white lie…?
Just then, Zhong Yuan said, “Hairstyle? She doesn’t even have hair. What kind of style could there be?”
I… If not for maintaining my poise in front of Lu Zijian, I’d have socked him already!
—
After Zhong Yuan’s disturbance, I performed really poorly during the morning preliminaries. I only just barely slipped my way into the finals. I realized though that most of the girls who were participating had never even touched a basketball before. There were only a couple who showed some skills.
In the afternoon, my girls actually came to cheer me on. I was touched.
As the women’s’ finals proceeded, the boys rested on the sidelines. My turn came, and I held the basketball in my hands and looked over at Lu Zijian, hoping to gain some loving encouragement. Then I saw Zhong Yuan jog over and sit down next to Lu Zijian. He looked over to the court with a smile, as if he was going to watch me make a fool of myself.
I glared at him and then turned to make my shot. The basketball gave me much face. After it circled the rim, it fell into the hoop.
Plucky Miss Fourth laughed and even gave a whistle. She shouted, “Blockhead Third, not bad!”
Her shout wasn’t super loud, but definitely loud enough for me to hear. Because she stood closer to the judges though, I suspected… Lu Zijian probably heard as well?
So embarrassing! Miss Fourth, how am I supposed to endure this now…?
I picked up my messy emotions and continued with my shots. The rest of my performance was passable. I was unable to put forth my best, but it wasn’t horrible.
When I finished, I didn’t dare look at Lu Zijian. I hardened my skin and dragged my roommates out for ice cream. We sat near the sports field and waited for the results.
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I licked at the chocolate on my ice cream while I idiotically stared at Lu Zijian in the distance. He was seriously watching each competitor and giving them points… A man working seriously is so handsome!
Boss waved her hand in front of my face. With less than kind intentions, she asked, “What are you looking at?”
Before I could answer, Miss Fourth cut in, “A blockhead is looking at another blockhead.”
Upset, I grabbed her ice cream from her hand and shouted, “I’m warning you! Don’t ever call me Blockhead in front of Lu Zijian! And you, you guys!”
Lil’ Second stared into the distance towards Lu Zijian…’s friend at his side, Zhong Yuan. She said, “Blockhead Third, forget it. Lu Zijian belongs to Zhong Yuan. Look how close they are. You don’t stand a chance!
I snatched Lil’ Second’s ice cream away from her as well. “Are you sure you guys came to cheer me on today?” Then I remembered there was still Boss. I turned to give her a warning glare. She didn’t say much, but when she did say something, I could rarely refute it.
Just then, Boss raised her ice cream in the air. She looked up and gave an exasperated sigh. Then she looked back at her ice cream and said, “I don’t talk when I’m eating.”
Second, Third, and Fourth all made a face at her.
—
It was nearly evening when the competition finished. Tallying the points didn’t require any special techniques, so the results were released shortly after the conclusion of the competition. The award ceremony was approaching. The ceremony was very simple and happened right on the athletics field.
First place wasn’t me. Second place… wasn’t me either…
I only got third place. The prize was a single Grandpa Mao.1
OK, well, third place it is then. It seemed my abilities weren’t up to first and second place. I was sad that I didn’t get the 500 yuan, but at least I got 100. People, you know, should be happy with what they have.
The important part is that Lu Zijian personally handed out the prizes…
When he handed the certificate and prize to me, I latched onto his hand and gave it a firm shake.
My breathing felt hurried, and my heart beat faster as the adrenaline rush came…
After the award ceremony concluded, I ran over to Lu Zijian and thanked him.
As always, he smiled back. Beside him, however, Zhong Yuan said, “If you’re so thankful to Lu Zijian, why don’t you treat him to a meal?”
Me…? I don’t have any money…
OK, I may not have money, but I should at least keep some face. So, I gave a friendly laugh and said, “Senior Lu, I’ll treat you to a meal.”
Lu Zijian shook his head. With a smile, he said, “No, I couldn’t accept.”
I was about to reply that he was being too polite before slipping away, when Zhong Yuan cut in, “Lu Zijian, you’re going to hurt her feelings.”
I glared at him. This is none of your damn business!
Then Lu Zijian replied sincerely, “Then… Then sorry for troubling you. Haha.”
I didn’t know what to say.
I truly wanted to berate Lu Zijian that he was too easily fooled by Zhong Yuan!
But I couldn’t say that. I could only ask him, “So what do you want to eat?”
Lu Zijian looked over to Zhong Yuan, as if asking what he wanted to eat.
To be honest, when I saw the way he looked at him, I started to suspect if maybe Lil Second’s “BL theory”… No, no. That’s not the point. The point it that I invited Lu Zijian to a meal. What’s that got to do with Zhong Yuan?
Without minding his manners, Zhong Yuan spoke up, “How about chicken wings? We can’t let our junior spend too much money.”
Lu Zijian immediately nodded his head.
Zhong Yuan’s words sent a shiver down my spine though. Did that mean he was joining this meal now? Moreover, he was the one who insisted that Lu Zijian accept the meal and spend all my money!
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Just then, my girls walked over impatiently. I put on a forced smile and said, “I’m treating Senior Lu to a meal. Do you guys want to join?”
Lil’ Second quickly shook her head. “Go on and thank your little top. We’ll pass this time.” Boss and Miss Fourth also shook their heads and declined to join.
I really wanted to give them a hug, I was so touched. It’s you guys who understand… If those three wolves went along, I’d definitely end up broke, no doubt about it.
Lu Zijian had been standing beside me, listening to our conversation, when he asked Lil’ Second curiously, “Hey, why did you call me a little top?”
Miss Fourth shot him a look of disdain. She answered for Lil’ Second, “Should we call you husband1then?”
A flock of crows flew past and formed an embarrassed face.
It didn’t appear that Lu Zijian knew Miss Fourth, but Miss Fourth really didn’t like Lu Zijian. We suspected that there was some backstory to it, but Miss Fourth just wouldn’t talk. Suddenly, she rapped our heads, one, two, three… And we let her, without fighting back.
What can you do? It’s not like we could beat Miss Fourth. She learned karate and mixed martial arts. In a 1 v 3, she would still win easily.
—
Zhong Yuan had a big appetite. He twisted and ate the chicken wings delightfully. If looks could kill, I would have turned him into minced meat by then.
I sat next to Lu Zijian, eating as I tried to make friends with him. I realized that he has a very good temperament. And he really doesn’t seem to be able to lie… There aren’t many people like that in this day and age. Stars continued to twinkle in my eyes…
As we chat, I found out that Lu Zijian and Yuan Zhong were roommates. No wonder they always showed up together. I started to sweat a bit. Lil’ Second, you must be mistaken.
Lu Zijian’s dorm room was mixed, so there was Li Zijian, the chemistry student, Zhong Yuan, from business management, and two other boys studying computer science. I wasn’t interested in them, but from the sound of it, they were both bulls.2 I didn’t care much for that descriptor… If we were just looking at hairstyles, I, Mu Er, could also be called a bull.
I seriously suspect that Zhong Yuan’s appetite has some kind of computational function—when the owner was tallying the total, she rounded down because Zhong Yuan and Lu Zijian were frequent customers. The bill came out to be 100 yuan flat.
I angrily ripped open the envelope that hadn’t even gotten warm in my hands yet and reluctantly handed over Grandpa Mao to the owner. All of my efforts ended up wasted.3 Gods above, why is my fate so unfortunate…?
—
I’m running a bit low on cash lately. Usually, even though I’m pretty poor, I have enough to get by. But because I ended up breaking a piece of lab equipment, I had to spend a bit of money to pay for it. Hence my current difficult situation.
Originally, I’d intended to do well at the basketball competition and win some money. But in the end, I only got third place, and… Just the thought of it made me angry. I couldn’t help feeling that Zhong Yuan’s sole reason for existing was to upset other people.
I’m sure you can imagine the teeth-gnashing expression I had when I looked at Zhong Yuan.