“Come with me to return the clothes.”
More than ten days had passed, and Jiang Minglang’s memory of Li Xu gradually faded.
But whenever Li Xu messaged him, he would instantly recall the incident at the milk tea shop.
The whole thing about the checkered shirt had long slipped his mind.
Jiang Minglang: [Send location]
Li Xu: [Location] @Infinite Good Stories, all at Jinjiang Literature City
Jiang Minglang headed to the place marked on the location.
On the way, he felt a flicker of anticipation.
Although Jiang Minglang had never thought his life was boring, people like Li Xu were rare to him.
Thinking again of how calm and steady Li Xu appeared before him, he deliberately dressed in all black.
When he looked in the mirror, his mood was a bit strange, but after stepping outside and receiving a high rate of glances from the opposite sex, Jiang Minglang suppressed the odd feeling in his heart.
But when he arrived at the meeting point, Jiang Minglang didn’t see Li Xu at all.
He sent her a message: [Where are you? I’m here]
Just after he sent it, a cold voice came from behind him: “Jiang Minglang?”
Jiang Minglang turned around and saw a girl dressed simply but with an elegant aura walking toward him, carrying a bag.
Beside her was a familiar face—Xie Tingting.
Jiang Minglang stared at the girl for a few seconds, and suddenly an absurd guess rose in his mind.
“You are…?”
“Li Xu?”
Jiang Minglang’s pupils dilated, and his eyes showed disbelief.
Li Xu handed him the bag and said, “Thanks for the jacket. I just finished military training.”
It was dusk, and the streetlights were already on.
Li Xu’s features were striking, not in a coquettish way, but with a kind of androgynous beauty.
She showed a faint smile, her tone as calm as ever. The oversized T-shirt made her slender frame appear even more delicate; the neckline slipped down slightly, revealing a segment of her collarbone.
Facing her pitch-black eyes, the memories that had seemed dead began to assault Jiang Minglang— the milk tea shop incident felt vivid again.
At that moment, all the impolite replies he had sent on Wechat surged back into Jiang Minglang’s mind.
Li Xu’s appearance now seemed perfectly matched to her abilities and character. Jiang Minglang, who had once felt somewhat superior based on her looks, suddenly felt a pang of self-deprecation.
For some reason, he felt awkward and embarrassed all at once.
Perhaps it was because Li Xu dressed so casually, while he had gone to some trouble to coordinate his outfit for their meeting.
Besides, Xie Tingting beside Li Xu was also makeup-free and wore a simple, comfortable cotton T-shirt just like Li Xu.
This reminded Jiang Minglang of a time a girl had invited him to watch a movie, dressed to the nines with carefully chosen perfume, while he only wore a plain white T-shirt.
The more casual he was, the more deliberately reserved and distant the girl became.
But now, Jiang Minglang felt their roles reversed. He was the one who couldn’t relax.
Even his speech became awkward, as if some incoherent force controlled his mouth, and he blurted out some cliché words: “Why have you lost so much weight? Looks good. Did anyone ask for your Wechat during training?”
After saying that, Jiang Minglang felt like he had spilled a bottle of super glue—sticky and miserable.
Li Xu: “No.” She didn’t seem to care what he said.
Pointing at Xie Tingting, she added, “You said meeting in person might cause misunderstandings? Now that there’s no misunderstanding, there are three of us. People can only guess we’re friends.”
Jiang Minglang felt even more embarrassed hearing this, thinking how arrogant he had been before.
“I was joking.”
Xie Tingting smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Jiang Minglang. We’re both good people. We have no improper intentions toward you.”
Maybe after chatting a bit with Li Xu in the dorm, Xie Tingting relaxed. Li Xu told her that although Jiang Minglang was a bit of a Prince Syndrome case, he was after all a senior from the Business School.
Befriending him would bring only benefits—as long as she didn’t let her libido run wild.
Hearing this, Xie Tingting viewed Jiang Minglang as a dazzling “diamond bachelor.”
If there were any activities or competitions involving mixed-grade teams, getting on good terms with Jiang Minglang would make those spots a cinch.
But the girlish feelings she had at their first meeting completely disappeared. Now when she looked Jiang Minglang straight in the eye, she was clear and open, without any lingering romantic thoughts.
Jiang Minglang sensed this too. The two girls standing before him seemed not to regard him as an attractive male at all.
Men, whether online or in real life, liked to be admired. When that usual treatment disappeared, the first reaction was to doubt if the other party had a problem.
But as Jiang Minglang saw no problem with Li Xu and Xie Tingting’s straightforwardness, he began to suspect the problem lay with himself.
- Had he driven Li Xu off with his Wechat messages last time?
- Was his outfit today too deliberate, failing to catch their eyes?
- Was it something he said that ruined his charm?
- Or had the two girls talked about him back in the dorm and found faults?
The more Jiang Minglang thought about it, the more it felt like ants were crawling all over him, making him increasingly uneasy.
This made his conversation with the two girls awkward and stiff.
Xie Tingting: “By the way, senior, how about I treat you to milk tea? Consider it a thank you.”
“No thanks, no need.” Jiang Minglang hesitated, wondering if he sounded too cold.
Li Xu: “Want to take a walk? You and Tingting are both in the Business School. She just became the class monitor; if you have any questions, you can ask her.”
Jiang Minglang: “Sure, or you can just ask in the group later.”
Xie Tingting blinked and asked Jiang Minglang, “Only in the group? Can I add you as a friend to ask questions directly?”
Without any libido burdening her, Xie Tingting joked naturally. Jiang Minglang heard this and stammered, “Add, adding’s fine… I didn’t mean it’s only convenient in the group, but you can add me too…”
He feared saying the wrong thing and embarrassing himself in front of the two girls, especially Li Xu.
The group wandered around beneath the dorm building. The weather was still a bit warm. Xie Tingting asked some questions related to their major.
After she was done, Li Xu suggested they return to their dorms separately.
During the walk, Jiang Minglang kept sneaking glances at Li Xu. When Xie Tingting talked to him, Li Xu was holding her phone, seemingly chatting with someone on Wechat.
Jiang Minglang caught a glimpse of the chat and noticed the other party’s avatar appeared to be male.
Curious about who could captivate Li Xu so much, Jiang Minglang’s gossiping heart peaked, setting aside all competitiveness.
Yes, Li Xu was chatting with vidong.
Because vidong asked her why she wasn’t streaming yet. @Infinite Good Stories, all at Jinjiang Literature City
Li Xu: [Just finished military training, can start streaming in a couple of days]
vidong: [Great! Message me when you do]
Li Xu: [Okay, but probably won’t stream Werewolf Kill. If I’m free tonight, we can play a few rounds, but I most likely won’t broadcast]
vidong: [!!! Awesome]
Sensing Jiang Minglang’s gaze, Li Xu turned off the screen and stopped walking. She looked up at Jiang Minglang and caught him nearly squinting his eyes like a rooster.
She curved her lips into a half-smile and looked at Jiang Minglang: “What? Jiang the Superstar, so curious about my private life?”
They met each other’s gaze completely. Her eyes were far deeper than ordinary people’s—dark brows, thick lashes, black irises shining faintly. Looking at Jiang Minglang like this made his heart race.
@Infinite Good Stories, all at Jinjiang Literature City
“……”
Jiang Minglang’s face gradually flushed red.
After a while, he realized the teasing meaning behind the words “Jiang the Superstar.” He sighed and said, “You’re still holding a grudge about the Wechat message I sent last time, aren’t you? Can’t I apologize?”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have spoken that way.”
“My emotional intelligence is low.”
This string of apologies left Xie Tingting dumbfounded. She looked at Li Xu, who remained calm, and felt as if Li Xu had baited out a big move with just a slight provocation.
And that was indeed the case.
Li Xu accepted the apology without much fuss and said, “Holding a grudge? Not really. But you do have some Prince Syndrome. Still, since you lent us clothes, you can say anything, and we won’t blame you.”
“No need to apologize, we’re all alumni.”
“If you really want to apologize, help my roommate more in the future.”
“There will be plenty of things I’ll bother you with.”
Hearing this, Xie Tingting felt touched.
She said, “Hey, why say things like that? Senior’s going to cry.”
***
After speaking, she suddenly realized she had poisoned her own words.
She looked up at Jiang Minglang and saw he was indeed looking at the two of them with a sorrowful expression.
“Okay, okay.” To escape this suffocating topic, Jiang Minglang nodded rapidly like a pestle pounding mortar.
“If you don’t understand something later, just ask. I’ll definitely help if I can.”
It was the first time Jiang Minglang had heard someone say he had Prince Syndrome. Half annoyed, half amused, he looked at Li Xu’s expression, which seemed maddeningly confident.
He thought that if he could make a friend like Li Xu, it might really be a good thing… Her roommate, Xie Tingting, now seemed pretty interesting too—probably influenced by her.
“But who exactly were you texting just now?”
“Looking so serious, boyfriend?”
Li Xu: “My little brother.”
She replied half-jokingly.
Jiang Minglang was speechless.
Back at the dorm, his roommates immediately asked if he had gone on a date with the junior girl. Jiang Minglang recalled the scene from the walk and sighed deeply.
The roommates didn’t understand: “What’s wrong with you? I’ve never seen you this down before.”
Jiang Minglang: “Remember the junior from the milk tea shop?”
“From Class Z?”
“Yeah. Last time I said she was ordinary, but after meeting her today, I feel like I’m the one who doesn’t deserve her… If I can be friends with her, I consider myself lucky.”
The roommates seemed to have had a thought.
They scrolled through posts about the military training at Z University, found some candid photos of Li Xu standing alone in formation during the late training days, then showed the photos to Jiang Minglang.
They asked, “Is this the junior you mean? There are tons of people begging for her contact info under those posts.”
“Also, I heard she became the honorary class monitor of Class Z, and everyone there calls her ‘Sister.’”
“Sure enough, she’s no ordinary girl.”
Jiang Minglang shook his head, feeling like a former top cultivator crushed by a top prodigy on the shore in a xianxia novel.