Chapter 184

Five women and two men; each lady present had a bottle of beer.

Li Heng and Liu Li each ordered three bottles.

Listening to them chat for a while, Li Heng clinked his beer bottle with Liu Li's and asked, "How is Ren University? Are you used to it yet?"

"The school is not bad, but I feel like I can't quite fit in," Liu Li said listlessly.

Li Heng asked, "Why can't you fit in?"

Liu Li scratched his head, "I can't really describe the feeling, maybe it's because I'm a country boy. Coming to a big place like the capital for the first time, I'm not used to a lot of things. I find that all my classmates are eloquent, while I'm just a bumpkin huddled in the corner with no presence."

This reminded Li Heng of his past life, "That's a sensory bias you have; you only notice those classmates who are active. Actually, as long as you come from the countryside, you basically all have this adaptation process."

Liu Li recalled the country boys in his class and grinned, "I guess so. You saying that makes me feel a lot better."

Li Heng glanced at Chen Lijun and asked in a low voice, "How is your relationship with Chen Lijun now?"

Mentioning Chen Lijun, Liu Li said listlessly and weakly, "Didn't the English teacher say she's a little beauty? There are quite a few boys who are close to her. I secretly compared myself in the mirror, sigh, my looks aren't as good as theirs."

Li Heng asked, "Among these people, does Chen Lijun have anyone she likes?"

Liu Li peeked and lowered his voice again, "I don't know, I'm not comfortable asking. But our relationship is okay now, at least it's an improvement over high school; we're good friends. When she has dinner with your partner, she occasionally calls me too. You know me, I don't have big ambitions, and I'm already very satisfied with this."

This actually fit Liu Li's character; he had self-awareness regarding his own abilities and charm, and wouldn't force himself to be like Liu Yejiang.

A new dish of iron-plate squid was served. Chen Zijin tasted it and felt the flavor was particularly good, then picked up a piece and sent it to Li Heng's mouth, saying, "Darling, try this, this dish is delicious."

The word "darling" and the intimate feeding action made the previously lively private room instantly silent.

Xiao Feng, Yang Yingwen, Chen Lijun, and Liu Li—everyone present—had their hearts in their throats. They looked at Song Yu for a moment, then at Chen Zijin, not knowing what to do.

Everyone wasn't stupid; they all knew about Li Heng pursuing Song Yu in the second semester of his senior year. But facing Chen Zijin's natural and aggressive strike, they all broke into a cold sweat for Li Heng.

Song Yu didn't seem to have any reaction, looking at Li Heng and Chen Zijin with a faint smile in her eyes.

Chen Zijin, who had taken in her best friend's expression with her peripheral vision, immediately had alarm bells ringing. Either Song Yu really didn't care as she appeared, or there was something fishy!

For example, had he already been in private contact with Song Yu?

But didn't she know her own man? He had secretly liked Song Yu since his freshman year of high school. Don't think he could hide it from her just because he hid it well; she knew it all clearly.

It was just that with a strong rival like Xiao Han on the side, she didn't want to expose it, otherwise it would just benefit that little vixen Xiao Han.

However, this round of probing wasn't without its gains.

From the expressions of Xiao Feng and the others, one could draw a conclusion by inference: after she left Shaodong, this man definitely had some dishonest behavior, otherwise Lijun and the others wouldn't have suddenly quieted down and wouldn't be so concerned about her and Song Yu.

She didn't know what kind of moves Li Heng had made during his senior year, but analyzing it based on the fact that he dared to take advantage of her back in junior high, timidity had nothing to do with him; perhaps "audacious" was more suitable for him.

With a thousand thoughts, Chen Zijin secretly took a deep breath, but the smile on her face remained undiminished, and she very thoughtfully fed the iron-plate squid into his mouth.

Afraid of ruining the atmosphere, Xiao Feng stood up to change the subject and asked Chen Zijin, "Zijin, after we finish eating, we're planning to go roller skating. Are you going?"

The reason she asked this was because she knew Chen Zijin was going home for the Mid-Autumn Festival today, and she wanted to ask if she still had time.

Chen Zijin pondered for a moment, then asked Li Heng with a smile, "Do you want me to keep you company tonight?"

What she meant was: if Li Heng needed her company, she would go home in the afternoon and come out at night; if he didn't need company, she would go roller skating with everyone in the afternoon and go home at night.

Hearing this, Xiao Feng patted her forehead with her right hand, regretting asking that question; she had intended to help, but didn't expect to make things worse.

Li Heng understood what his wife was up to almost instantly.

If the feeding just now was the first move against him and Song Yu, then this was the second move. Each move was more ruthless than the last, and she didn't even allow him to refuse.

Keep him company at night?

A man and a woman with mutual affection in the same room, what else could they do to keep each other company late at night?

Of course, it was to offer herself to the tiger, right?

Everyone present was either from Tsinghua, Peking University, or Ren University—a proper high-end crowd. How could they not understand?

While understanding, they were astonished at Chen Zijin's boldness, actually daring to ask something like "Do you want me to keep you company tonight" to his face.

However, astonishment aside, they also greatly admired Chen Zijin's purity toward love—single-minded, not hypocritical, not pretentious, not coy, daring to love and hate.

Of course, everyone didn't really think Chen Zijin was a silly simpleton for being so frank; there must have been a purpose.

As for what the purpose was?

Whoa!

Everyone secretly looked toward Song Yu.

Song Yu was no exception; naturally, she understood Zijin's intentions immediately.

She had long seen Li Heng holding hands, hugging, feeding, and even kissing Chen Zijin. But the matter of sleeping together—sleeping together so early—truly exceeded her expectations.

She couldn't help but think of a possibility: Chen Zijin went to the capital during the summer of her sophomore year of high school; could it be related to sleeping together too early?

After all, Chen Zijin used to say repeatedly that she wanted to take the college entrance exam with Li Heng and go to university together, but she suddenly left halfway through.

She left very urgently, without even saying goodbye.

Moreover, after Chen Zijin went to the capital, she lost contact with Li Heng for a long time, the reason being that the Chen family didn't allow it.

Then why didn't they allow it?

Why let her be the messenger in the middle?

Thinking it over, it seemed all the clues pointed subtly to the matter of sleeping together.

Furthermore, if the two hadn't slept together before, Chen Zijin would absolutely not have been able to say this today.

Song Yu squeezed her chopsticks tightly, then sent the iron-plate squid on the tip of her chopsticks into her mouth, chewing it in small bites as if nothing had happened.

He had calculated everything, planned everything, and damn it, he even lost his clothes; he didn't expect Xiao Feng to provide such a big assist. Li Heng felt bitter inside and nearly vomited blood.

However, having been beaten by his past life, his mental fortitude was top-notch. He followed Zijin's meaning and said, "Either is fine, it depends on whether it's convenient at your home today?"

At this point, he didn't want to deny anything, nor did he want to defend himself. After all, whether it was Song Yu or Zijin, both were precious to him, and he wouldn't favor one too much over the other.

The middle part of the meal was eaten with heavy hearts. Fortunately, Chen Zijin played her cards well, and after the second move, she very actively brought the atmosphere back to the theme of Song Yu's birthday, not letting the birthday banquet go off track.

The birthday banquet lasted for an hour and a half. After eating, everyone had cake, and everyone was stuffed. After leaving the restaurant, Chen Zijin didn't follow everyone to go roller skating, but chose to return to the Chen family.

The person driving to pick her up was Chen Xiaomi. The latter originally didn't intend to get out of the car, but when she saw Li Heng, she opened the door and got out, "When did you arrive?"

Li Heng replied, "I arrived at Ren University at noon today."

Chen Xiaomi nodded and asked again, "How is your father's health? How is the effect of the plaster?"

Li Heng said, "At the beginning of the semester, the old man said it was effective. I suppose it should be fine now; I haven't received a reply from home recently."

Chen Xiaomi calculated the days; the plaster would be used up soon. She advised, "If it's effective, have your father come to the capital. This kind of illness is better treated early; if it drags on, it will become more and more troublesome."

Li Heng knew the other party was sincere, said thank you twice, and then said, "Alright, I'll ask home later."

Because there were outsiders present, Chen Xiaomi wasn't in the mood to talk much. Before leaving, she invited him, "Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, we're having a family banquet at home. Do you have time to come sit for a while?"

Hearing this, the group looked at him in unison.

Chen Zijin was no exception, her eyes containing hidden anticipation. Even though she knew the hope wasn't great, she still hoped for a miracle.

Li Heng hardly considered it and shook his head, "No, Aunt, I have something to do in a bit, we'll talk about it later."

Calling her "Aunt" was intentional. First, it showed that his relationship with Zijin was very good; second, it was a disguised way of thanking Chen Xiaomi for her concern for Comrade Li Jianguo.

Being rejected, Chen Xiaomi didn't have much emotional fluctuation, as if she had expected this before she even opened her mouth:

"Alright then, it's already past 4 o'clock, Zijin and I will go first."

"Hey, take care."

Chen Zijin hugged him, pulled open the car door, and sat in. Before long, the Jeep 212 disappeared at the end of the street.

As the host, Song Yu greeted everyone, "It's getting late, let's go too. We'll skate until 6 o'clock and come back."

The group responded one after another.

The skating rink was a bit far, and it took 17 minutes to get there.

On the way, Xiao Feng found a chance to be alone and asked Li Heng, "Did I mess things up?"

Li Heng smiled and said, "No, not at all. Our relationship isn't that fragile."

This "our" referred to him and Song Yu.

Xiao Feng breathed a sigh of relief and said apologetically, "I did a bad thing with good intentions, I still feel a bit bad about it."

Speaking of this, she paused, scanned the group in front, and said, "But Li Heng, aren't you too bold? You caused such a big scene with Song Yu last night, and today you actually dare to stroll around near Peking University with Chen Zijin. Aren't you afraid of being recognized?"

Li Heng sighed and explained, "That's why I waited for you at the school gate, and I kept my head down the whole time."

Xiao Feng was stunned, "Was your foot sprained on purpose?"

Li Heng tacitly agreed.

Xiao Feng was speechless. She looked at him for a while and said, "You're really insidious."

Li Heng widened his eyes.

Xiao Feng covered her mouth and laughed, hurriedly changing her words, "Sorry, my mouth was too fast. Scheming, scheming is fine."

Li Heng rolled his eyes.

Then he asked, "Did my affair with Song Yu yesterday really cause such a big scene at your Peking University?"

Xiao Feng asked, "What? Are you afraid? I thought you weren't afraid of anything."

Li Heng said, "If I were afraid, I wouldn't have gone to your school so openly."

"That's true."

Xiao Feng felt it made sense, then said, "Was the scene big? I don't know, but I reckon several nearby departments have heard about it.

If you ask me, it's really that your taste is too good; the women you choose are more beautiful than the last. You don't know how famous Song Yu's beauty is at Peking University, right?

Let me tell you, just at the beginning of the semester, she received no less than 10 love letters, and that's just from those who were bold; there are countless others who have a secret crush on her.

But having said that, I actually envy you quite a bit, and I'm even more impressed by you; Song Yu actually told people outside that she has a partner.

Moreover, now she's not just saying it, she's put it into practice, spending the night outside school with you. I think those boys should have given up by now."

As she spoke, she swallowed her saliva and continued, "Honestly, Song Yu spending the night out with you last night was something I didn't expect. This greatly exceeded my understanding of her; it's truly incredible.

What kind of methods did you use? To make such a great beauty disregard her reputation and go out with you?"

Li Heng stretched and touched his face, joking, "If I said it was based on charm, would you believe me?"

Xiao Feng found it funny, then spoke seriously, "I'd believe half of it."

Li Heng asked, "How do you explain the half?"

Xiao Feng looked again at Song Yu, who was chatting and laughing with Chen Lijun and the others in front, "Song Yu being able to disregard everything and come out with you, you must be attractive to her. And the attraction isn't small.

I've even thought that if it weren't for Chen Zijin and Xiao Han, you might already be officially together by now."

Li Heng asked, "And the other half?"

Xiao Feng said, "The other half is that your charm isn't yet great enough to make Song Yu your underground mistress. After all, she is Song Yu; even I, as a woman, envy her intensely."

Walking forward about 100 meters, Li Heng thanked her, "Thank you for that question at noon, otherwise Zijin would have suspected whether I arrived last night."

Xiao Feng shook her head, "I did ask that question on purpose, but I think it's better if you don't be too optimistic. Chen Zijin might already be suspicious in her heart, otherwise she wouldn't have put on a show for Song Yu to see."

Li Heng had this damn feeling too, "Regardless, I still thank you. You're the only friend who stands on my side."

Xiao Feng slapped him down directly, "How so? Don't gild your own face. I stand on your side because Xiao Han, Zijin, and Song Yu are all my good friends. I don't know who to help, so I instinctively think it's better if you all don't get into trouble."

Li Heng smiled and praised, "You're a kind-hearted girl."

Xiao Feng asked, "The one near the water gets the moon first; is your relationship with Xiao Han progressing by leaps and bounds?"

Things had reached this point, so Li Heng didn't pretend, "There's progress, but you know Xiao Han's temperament; it won't be that fast."

"Indeed." Xiao Feng nodded in agreement.

Everyone was from the south, so they didn't have many days to play in the snow. They knew how to skate, but their level was very average, let alone fancy tricks.

But Li Heng was different. He had played many times with Zijin in his past life. Not to say his level was how high, but showing off in front of them was more than enough.

"Li Heng, have you played before?" Chen Lijun asked from the side.

"No, I often skied when I was a kid," Li Heng replied.

"Skiing? I also skied a lot since I was little, I even wore out several pairs of pants, why am I not as smooth as you?" Liu Li asked.

Li Heng laughed, "There are differences between people. Alright, I won't brag to you guys anymore. I'll teach Song Yu, you guys play yourselves."

Saying this, he ignored the strange looks from several people and pulled Song Yu away, going from one end of the skating rink to the other.

Finally, there was a chance to be together. Li Heng stood in front of her, face to face, and said, "How about you beat me up?"

Hearing this nonsensical remark, Song Yu smiled gently, gazing at him quietly. After a long while, she shook her head lightly.

PS: Please subscribe! Please vote!

(End of chapter)