The two held hands and meandered around without a straight path, with Qin Guanglin intentionally taking a longer route before they slowly arrived at the dormitory building.
They wanted to spend every possible extra moment together.
"Fang Fang!" A tall girl carrying takeout came over from not far away.
As she approached and noticed their intertwined hands, she asked, "Is this your... boyfriend?"
"Yes, that’s right." He Fang introduced them, "This is my roommate Zhou Nan, and he’s Qin Guanglin."
"Hello." Qin Guanglin nodded politely.
Zhou Nan sized up Qin Guanglin with a not-so-friendly expression, "So it’s you who lured our Fang Fang away."
Qin Guanglin felt awkward and turned to look at He Fang.
She was secretly smiling, and when she saw Qin Guanglin looking at her, she straightened her face and cleared her throat, "Yes, it’s him who lured me away."
"..."
Zhou Nan rolled her eyes at He Fang, "You’re so smitten with him—I thought he’d be as handsome as Louis Koo, really."
"Nonsense!" He Fang spat.
"Come on, let’s go upstairs and eat something delicious," Zhou Nan said, linking her arm with He Fang’s other arm and giving Qin Guanglin a glance, "You’re here now and still don’t want to let go?"
"Um..." Qin Guanglin hesitated, looking at He Fang without saying anything.
"You go ahead." He Fang turned to push Zhou Nan, "I have a few more words to say to him."
Zhou Nan looked back and forth between them, with the disdainful face of a singleton, "Hurry up, the food will get cold."
"Yeah, soon."
Waiting until Zhou Nan entered the dorm building, He Fang then turned her head and squinted at Qin Guanglin, "Thinking of being naughty again?"
"It was you who told me to be conscious of it." Qin Guanglin pulled her in for a hug, not wanting to waste any more time, he kissed her passionately, breathed a sigh of satisfaction, "Go on up."
"You’re allowed to kiss but not to hug, always trying to take advantage of me." He Fang hummed, "Be careful on the way."
"Got it." Qin Guanglin held onto her half-turned body and leaned in for another kiss, "That’s your reward, no need to thank me."
"Pervert!" He Fang wiped her mouth and glared at him, "I’m leaving."
"Go ahead."
"Not another one?"
"That... another one?"
"Dream on!" He Fang shook him off and hopped forward two steps, "No more for you, hurry up and go."
"You go up first, then I’ll leave."
"Hmph, not bad being spoilt by you, bye."
"Bye."
He Fang entered the dorm building and before climbing the stairs, she turned back for one look. Qin Guanglin was still standing in his spot, waving at her. Only then did she turn and go upstairs with a smile.
"Yo yo yo yo yo–"
Pushing open the dorm room door, Zhou Nan and the others exaggeratedly teased, "One’s not enough, she needs two!"
"You guys..." He Fang’s eyes widened as she exclaimed, "Keep your eyes to yourself! Have you forgotten the words of Confucius?!"
"But he needs to ’take liberties’ with you for that, and we’ll definitely cover our eyes when that happens," Chen Yan from the bunk below He Fang gave a different meaning to ’taking liberties.’
"Eh, how could he ’take liberties’ with you while you let us sit by?" Zhou Nan laughed teasingly.
Zhang Mengmeng wiggled her eyebrows, "No wonder there’s been such a big change recently—it seems you’ve already become a mature woman."
She deliberately emphasized the words mature and woman.
"I swore I wouldn’t date anyone during my four years in college," Chen Yan pinched her nose and imitated, "I wonder who was the one who said it so adamantly, now look who’s getting smacked in the face?"
"Stop being sour, I think that boy is tall and thin, quite nice actually, no wonder he can make our Fang Fang head over heels," Wu Yunyun leaned against the window, watching the scene below, "You came upstairs and still can’t bear to leave, you stood there looking up for quite a while."
"Hmph, you’re all just jealous!" He Fang threw her bag onto her bed and grabbed a large-sized band-aid from the corner before heading out the door again.
She had only needed one to start with, but that idiot insisted on holding her and running around, now she had to change to a new one because he jostled her so much.
"Hey hey hey, no wonder you came back tonight, it’s because your ’aunt’ won’t let you stay out," the girls in the dorm burst into laughter again.
"Hey, do you think she... you know?" Chen Yan winked and joined in the gossip.
"Definite. Otherwise, how could she act all matronly?" Zhang Mengmeng snickered.
"Yeah, I think so too," Wu Yunyun nodded, "If it weren’t for her period, she would have for sure stayed out like Wang Siqing and not have come back tonight."
"Once she’s back, just ask and you’ll know," Zhou Nan said while eating her takeout spicy hot pot, "You guys, having experienced nothing, yet you act like you know everything."
"As if you aren’t a perennial singleton yourself," Chen Yan retorted and sighed in frustration, "Do you think our dorm is cursed or something? It’s been four years, and only two of us have started dating, I want a boyfriend too—"
"It’s summer, girl; stop pining for love," Zhou Nan tapped the table, "You might fail your exams, but the men won’t come."
"Ptui, ptui, ptui, pass the exams and get a man!" Chen Yan grumbled, "If only I knew, I wouldn’t have chosen this major; it’s all full of ridiculous jerks, not a single down-to-earth science guy."
"My fair lady doth pine for spring love—saddled with springtime sorrow," Wu Yunyun swayed her head and raised her eyebrows at Chen Yan.
...
When He Fang came back, Zhou Nan was looking up at the ceiling with a forlorn expression, while Zhang Mengmeng watched Wu Yunyun and Chen Yan go back and forth with glee.
"Stop it, stop it!" He Fang hurriedly interjected, "Aren’t exams almost here, have you all given up on passing?"
"You don’t understand the suffering of us poor souls—"
Wu Yunyun, the drama queen, assumed a self-pitying pose, which at first glance had a touch of the sentiments found in Dream of the Red Chamber.
"Ptui!" He Fang spat, "Keep up that behavior, and I’ll see who dares to marry you."
"Pretending." Chen Yan rolled her eyes, "Keep pretending."
This girls’ dorm was full of filthy monsters, especially those two always reading salacious historical tales—so filthy it was hard to watch... He Fang sighed in despair, "The six ministries: Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, Works."
Zhou Nan perked up, "The six arts: Music, Archery, Charioteering, Calligraphy, Mathematics, Rites."
He Fang continued, "The six old women: matchmakers, witches, tooth pullers, beggars, apothecaries, midwives."
Zhou Nan chuckled, "The six grains: rice, millet, beans, wheat, broomcorn, and sorghum."
"One nibble, one pleasure; one pull, one heartache..." Chen Yan continued the banter with Wu Yunyun.
"The seven emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred, desire."
"The Seven States: Qin, Yan, Han, Zhao, Chu, Wei, Qi."
"The Heptacodium in Jian’an: Chen Lin, Xu Gan, Kong Rong..." He Fang babbled on, her mouth non-stop.
"The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove: Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Ji Kang..." Zhou Nan pointed to her chin and kept up.
"Alright, alright, we surrender, we’ve had enough studying for the day, stop it!" Chen Yan and Wu Yunyun couldn’t take it anymore, "We’ve memorized enough during the day; we don’t want to hear any more, just stop!"
"Study well, if you fail to graduate, I’d like to see where you’d find your ideal suitor," He Fang didn’t continue, but picked a meatball from the spicy hot pot and popped it into her mouth, savoring it with her eyes closed in pleasure.
"If worse comes to worst, I’ll spend my life with Yunyun," Chen Yan teased, lifting Wu Yunyun’s chin with her finger, "Right?"
"Yep, we’ll live our lives together," Wu Yunyun smiled proudly, "We’ll not be cheap for some stinky men."
"The Seven States—" He Fang threatened, and the two hastily separated.
"Hmph, you’ll realize the value of stinky men when the time comes," He Fang gave them a look and then, seemingly thinking of something, her face suddenly reddened.
"Slurrrp—my cheeks hurt from all the sourness," Chen Yan pleaded with her hands on her face, "Sis, my dear sister, please stop talking."
"You really have turned wicked!" Zhou Nan lamented, "The girl really has turned into a lady."