Chapter 81: No Chance at Romance

In the Architecture Department male dormitory, room 503, the bathroom door was flung open with a bang from inside; a male student walked out shirtless, wearing only black boxer shorts, holding his phone, looking at it while shaking his shoulders with laughter, his laughter accompanied by continuous inhaling sounds, like a goose being choked by the throat.

Xu Yanfeng sat at the desk reading, his brow barely furrowing as he glanced at the hysterical laugher: 'Chen Mian.'

His clear tone carried a hint of warning.

Chen Mian forced his mouth shut, stopped laughing, held it for three seconds, then couldn't contain himself and burst out laughing with a 'pfft': 'Just now when I was on the toilet, I saw a girl in the Architecture Department's big group asking for your contact info; guess what? Nobody in the group spoke—everyone must have been thinking, "Well, Xu Yanfeng just gained another fangirl."'

Xu Yanfeng simply couldn't understand why he would laugh for so long at such a boring matter.

Chen Mian dragged a chair from opposite over to his side, long legs straddling it, casually snatched a sheet of drawing paper from the desk, rolled it into a tube, and held it to Xu Yanfeng's lips like a microphone: 'May I ask, this girl named Xia Xi—where did you pick her up again?'

Xu Yanfeng waved away the paper tube, his eyes returning to the book: 'I don't know her.'

Chen Mian didn't doubt his words at all, stroked his chin, and said: 'I guess after seeing you, this girl can't stop thinking about you, so she's been asking around about you.'

Xu Yanfeng turned a page, his voice flat and emotionless: 'You're not bored at all.'

Chen Mian wore a frustrated expression, unwilling to concede, trying to regain some ground, and threatened: 'Do you believe I'll send your contact info to her?'

Xu Yanfeng read quickly, turned another page, and in the brief gap of flipping, he lifted his eyes to glance at him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, revealing something that couldn't be called a smile: 'Go ahead and try.'

Chen Mian silently picked up his stool, retreated backward without making a sound, returned to his own little plot of land, kept playing with his phone, and dared not pluck hairs from the tiger's mouth again.

The Architecture Department group stayed silent for a long while, then someone chimed in: 'Xu Yanfeng isn't in this group; no matter how you search, you won't find him.'

Xia Xi asked again: 'Does nobody know his contact information?'

The group members: '……'

After another long silence, a kind soul came forward to tell Xia Xi, the newcomer: 'Xu Yanfeng's contact info isn't easy to find unless you're someone close to him—like his classmates; others probably can't get it. But he seems to have instructed that his classmates won't just hand his contact info to anyone.'

Xia Xi slumped her shoulders, feeling a bit deflated, but she wasn't empty-handed; at least from the other's words she drew a conclusion: Xu Yanfeng is hard to approach, and many people want to get close to him.

Otherwise, why would Xu Yanfeng have told his classmates not to give his contact info to others?

Someone in the group pinged Xia Xi, asking: 'What do you want with Xu Yanfeng? Could it be that you've taken a liking to him and want to pursue him?'

Xia Xi hesitated only a second before openly admitting: 'Isn't that allowed? He doesn't have a girlfriend, does he?'

The group fell silent again.

Xia Xi stared at her phone screen, her finger repeatedly swiping up to refresh, suspecting the network had dropped—otherwise how could she not see any new messages? She switched to mobile data, refreshed a few times, but still no new messages appeared.

What's going on with these people? Did they all go offline?

Xia Xi typed a few characters and sent them to the group: 'Why isn't anyone talking?'

As soon as she sent that, the group of several hundred people exploded, and new messages burst forth like a geyser.

'As far as I know, Xu Yanfeng has no girlfriend; you can try to pursue him, but if you can't catch him, don't waste your effort.'

'Those chasing him could lap the track several times; you'll need to take a number, miss.'

'I advise you to be clear-headed; liking Xu Yanfeng leads nowhere—you'd be better off looking at others.'

'Sigh, there are always people who can't let go, thinking they can melt that ten-thousand-year iceberg.'

'How did Xu Yanfeng become a ten-thousand-year iceberg? He's not that aloof, is it? I heard girls from other departments have approached him for help with problems, and he answered them seriously, not turning anyone away.'

'That's right—he's not cold; he just has no feelings. Talking about studies is fine, but when it comes to romance, there's nothing.'

'Hahaha, there are loads chasing him openly, and even more secretly crushing on him.'

'Liking him is fine, but wanting to be with him can only remain a wish.' 'Why do girls keep refusing to believe the odds, thinking they could be the special one, only to regret it after hitting the south wall?'

Xia Xi didn't retreat because of their words; her forte is meeting challenges head-on, conquering something difficult, and the resulting sense of achievement is doubled.

She loves that feeling of accomplishment, like standing on a mountain peak looking back at the path she came from, realizing that the obstacles she once thought were daunting are insignificant in the face of success.

Xia Xi: 'Things happen because of human effort.'

After sending those four characters, Xia Xi tossed her phone aside nonchalantly, regardless of how the group exploded.

'My goodness, Xia Xi, I used to underestimate you—you're too brave!' Zhao Lei was also in the group, naturally seeing the message she'd just sent, her eyes widening in shock: 'You're serious?!'

Xia Xi looked at her, pulled up the corners of her mouth into a sincere smile: 'Do I look like I'm joking?'

Zhao Lei stared for a while, probably unable to find words to describe Xia Xi's feat, held it back for a long time, then blurted out the simplest, crudest two characters: 'Badass.'

*In the evening, Zhou Du said in the three-person group that he wanted to have barbecue, attaching the address of a barbecue restaurant.

Xia Xi had said in the morning that she would treat in the evening, inviting two friends to a big meal; since the friends wanted barbecue, she certainly wouldn't refuse. Liang Yuan had no objection, so they happily decided on that.

It's been over half a month since the start of autumn, yet the temperature shows no sign of dropping; there's no hint of autumn, and once outdoors, sweat clings to the skin like leeches, wiping it clean only to feel sticky again moments later.

Xia Xi couldn't be bothered with makeup; after changing clothes, she put on a pair of tortoiseshell-frame plain glasses, using them as an accessory to slightly shield herself.

To get to the barbecue place one must pass Nan Da; Xia Xi waited at the school gate for the other two, stood a while, grew thirsty, went to the supermarket across the road, bought a bottle of chilled orange soda, had the boss help pop the cap, took a straw, and held it in her mouth as she walked and drank.

It was mealtime; many students, like Xia Xi, had arrived early on campus and now came out to grab food. From afar they spotted this lovely scene, their eyes drawn, unable to resist staring.

Passing by her, some turned back for another look, whispering to their companions; others, bolder, raised their phones to take pictures of her.

Xia Xi dressed simply: a mustard-yellow camisole, white casual long pants; finding a sun shirt too hot, she took it off and tied it around her waist, earbuds in her ears playing music, the two white cords hanging in front of her.

She didn't mind others' gazes at all, or rather, she was used to it.

A bus approached slowly; Nan Da was one of its stops. When the bus arrived, Xia Xi lifted her head anticipatively. Inside, Liang Yuan grabbed a strap and waved at her, then released the strap, stepped off with the other passengers, and ran up to her.

Xia Xi took out one earbud, glanced behind her: 'How come it's just you? Where's Zhou Du?'

Liang Yuan's expression was especially speechless: 'I don't know what's so smelly-beautiful about it; he suddenly ran to the barber shop for a haircut, worried you couldn't wait, so he told me to come over first to meet you.'

Xia Xi: 'Then should we go to the barbecue place first, or wait for him?'

'I'm roasted, let's go to the barbecue place first.' Liang Yuan unceremoniously snatched Xia Xi's unfinished orange soda, gulped it down in two swigs, belched, and said, 'If we're late we'll still have to queue for a number.'

The two waited half an hour at the barbecue place; Zhou Du arrived late, his summer-grown long hair not fully cut—only the sides and back of his head shaved, leaving a tuft on his forehead, which he tied up with a hairband into a ponytail, striding over as many girls watched him.

Liang Yuan spotted him from afar, took a sip of the complimentary chilled plum tea the shop offered, her face showing disdain: 'I can't appreciate that mop of his—it looks like a Daoist monk mixed with a Buddhist monk.'

'Pfft——'

Xia Xi was successfully choked.

Zhou Du pulled a chair from the table's edge and sat down: 'Just looking at your expressions, I know you weren't saying nice things about me.'

'We've both ordered; all that's missing is you.' Xia Xi placed the menu in front of Zhou Du, shifting the topic.

Her seat faced away from the door, so she didn't notice a group of four walk in and sit at a place three tables away from her; one of them was none other than Xu Yanfeng, whom she had been longing for.

Oh wow! (End of chapter)