With Chu Ci’s company, Luo Qianqian stopped reading and started snacking, flipping through magazines, and gossiping.
"Qianqian, I think if you keep eating , you’ll definitely get fat by the end of military training." Looking at the trash bag on the ground, Chu Ci frowned and cleaned up, unable to fit everything into one trash bag.
"Oh, put it down, I’ll clean it up myself." Luo Qianqian quickly put down the magazine in her hand, grabbed the trash bag, and started filling it, getting a fierce poke from Chu Ci on her forehead.
"When you clean, will we have to wait until they’re almost done?" Chu Ci turned and glanced at her skeptically while sitting on He Wenyu’s bed.
Luo Qianqian was just speaking offhandedly, and when she was questioned , she instantly felt a bit embarrassed.
"Don’t say that," she protested. "After all, I’m..."
"You’re what?" Chu Ci asked.
"I did share with you..."
Speechless because of what Luo Qianqian said, Chu Ci reluctantly spoke after a moment, "I really don’t know how your family indulges you."
"I’m great, good grades, cute, and most importantly, I have all of you as good friends~~~" She was really feeling herself today; even she thought so.
In the midst of Luo Qianqian’s boasting, Chu Ci helped clean up the trash and even folded the blankets into tofu cubes. When they got out of bed, who would have the mood to fold so neatly? It was all hasty, and while folding her own blanket, Luo Qianqian looked at the fifty-yuan note under her pillow, sighed, and said, "Why can’t people wait a few days to settle scores? My scheming isn’t even useful..."
"Go sit aside and eat something," Chu Ci said as she took out a notebook. Unlike Luo Qianqian, she only brought one notebook and a block of white paper. The notebook was required by the school for writing nightly reflections, while Luo Qianqian also brought magazines, exercise books, and even two sets of test papers.
"Everything is cleaned up; I don’t want to mess up my hard work, otherwise, how can I show off to Xiao Yu and the others later?" Luo Qianqian said cheerfully.
"It seems it’s just like you, being able to boast about anything..." Chu Ci shook her head, full of marvel.
"Do you have your ID card?" Luo Qianqian asked.
Luo Qianqian grinned mischievously, "That’s good."
"Don’t even think about taking it to go online; that needs you to be eighteen," Chu Ci rolled her eyes.
"How could that be..." Luo Qianqian decisively shook her head. "Computers are just that, nothing interesting to draw me in."
"Speaking of which, I’ve been playing a game this vacation, and I even took a master in the game. I added him as a friend on Penguin, right in our Provincial City, a boy who just started his freshman year at university, quite an interesting person," Chu Ci shared enthusiastically.
Luo Qianqian frowned; she wasn’t fond of gaming: "Be careful not to get trafficked."
"That won’t happen," Chu Ci rolled her eyes again. "He’s attending university in our city, even said we should go out for a meal after military training finishes."
"Aren’t you afraid he’ll abduct you to some remote place and make you his child bride..."
"That would be your fault, wouldn’t it? You weren’t around for the entire vacation; I could only play games at home. If we went out together, who would have time for games? If I get trafficked, it’s because of you," Chu Ci rolled her eyes again. "Do you want to come along? I’m really quite scared to go alone, but inviting too many people, I feel like he might misunderstand..."
"Sure," Luo Qianqian nodded.
Military training is tough, boring, and exhausting, but it is also brief.
In the blink of an eye, military training was over.
Luo Qianqian watched her classmates saying goodbye to the instructors, and then saw Luo Yanhai, now dressed in casual wear, driving a car that had already left the base, looking resigned. She hadn’t left yet, but those two had already run off, even sending a message saying they’d meet later.
"It’s finally over," Fu Mingxue wiped the tears from her eyes, still feeling reluctant while sitting in the car.
The three of them sat side by side in the last row, chatting about the past few days, while Zhao Shiyu, eager to please, sat in the next seat, glancing at them now and then.
"By the way, I heard we’re going to have a test at the start of school, it’s a rumor but it’s probably true," Fu Mingxue whispered.
"If there’s a test, so be it, it’s probably just to see where we stand, right?" Chu Ci said, "Anyway, everyone was just playing during the holidays."
"That might not necessarily be the case," Fu Mingxue said mysteriously, glancing at Luo Qianqian, "Have you forgotten our ’big leg’?"
"Big leg, sounds pretty fat..." Luo Qianqian laughed, "I studied high school material, but the test is on middle school stuff, what’s it got to do with me?" She lowered her volume but didn’t hide from the other students around.
Sitting in the row in front, Gu Yanzhi and Qiao Xiyang turned their heads together, "Military training is avoided and you’re not even worried about tests, Luo Qianqian, you really make people itch with envy, you know?"
"Only mediocrities escape envy," Chu Ci said with a smile, "That’s what he says about himself, so just be jealous."
"Do you want to get inside my belly?" Luo Qianqian said nonsensically to Chu Ci.
"Haha, I could," Chu Ci was startled, then burst out laughing.
Upon reaching the school, they spoke for a few minutes before school was dismissed, greeted their friends, and Luo Qianqian pulled He Wenyu, who was already waiting at the entrance, into the school’s car.
"I have a plan later," Luo Qianqian said, looking at the three of them and then at the vegetables, fruits, fish, and meat in the back, realizing where the two had just been.
"How come I didn’t know?" He Wenyu was flabbergasted.
"Chu Ci invited me. Too many people wouldn’t be good, so I didn’t mention it," Luo Qianqian replied.
"Hmph, favoring romance over friendship."
"Stop right there, if I were going out with Gu Yanzhi and Qiao Xiyang and didn’t bring you, that would be one thing, but with Chu Ci... who are you calling romantic?"
Xu Tianyi squinted, glancing at Luo Qianqian’s serene face through the rearview mirror, and sighed softly.
"By the way, Second Brother, Tianyi, you guys can just stay in my brother’s room, they’re not there anyway," Luo Qianqian said, flipping out the keys.
Once the car stopped, Luo Yanhai took the keys and went up first with Luo Qianqian and He Wenyu’s large suitcases, while Xu Tianyi waited for the two to get out, closed the car door tightly, grabbed the groceries from the trunk, and followed behind the two who carried nothing, sparing them the trouble.
"Mom?" Looking at Luo Yanhai awkwardly standing at the door with the suitcases, opposite, An Zilan still had a serious face.
"Luo Qianqian, how dare you bring boys home at your age?" An Zilan was furious, "Getting bolder, aren’t you? Pack your bags and come with me, you’re causing trouble if I don’t keep an eye on you."
"Mom, he’s my brother."
"Where do you find people to randomly call brother! Wait till your brother comes back to beat you up!"
"I still have to call him brother; he’s my cousin."
An Zilan’s face turned embarrassed, "Ah? Why didn’t you say so earlier?"
Luo Qianqian looked aggrieved, she had just come up, had she said anything wrong?
"Come in," Despite being disappointed with the Luo family, An Zilan still thought it was good for someone to take care of Luo Qianqian: "You kid, having guests over and not even calling me in advance."
"How was I supposed to know you were here..." Then she was promptly poked hard on the forehead by An Zilan and quickly corrected herself, "Isn’t it supposed to be a surprise for Mom? What delicious food did you make, I can smell something delicious already."
"May as well die of craving," An Zilan looked at Xu Tianyi behind Luo Qianqian, treating him as just another cousin without much concern.
Xu Tianyi put down the vegetables, touched his nose thinking, weren’t they too trusting of him? He, after all, had ’not so honorable’ intentions towards Luo Qianqian.