DFLB – Chapter 16

Time flew and that Saturday, Qian Wei followed Liu Shiyun to the school gate.

Qian Chuan was showing off an unusual level of enthusiasm. When Qian Wei and Liu Shiyun arrived at the rendezvous point, he had already arrived ahead of them and was pacing around like an eager puppy, carrying steaming milk tea and egg tarts in his hands. From time to time he would scan up and down the street outside the school gate to look for Mo Zixin. He did not pay any attention to Qian Wei as she passed by, or at least he didn’t until Qian Wei snatched away the food in his hand.

“As it turns out, you really are my brother. You are so sweet. Since you went out of your way to prepare so much delicious food for your sister this early in the morning, I’ll have to accept it with a smile.”

“Qian Wei! Give that back! It’s not for you!” Qian Chuan sounded a little angry and he hurriedly tried to snatch back the food from Qian Wei’s hands.

Qian Wei naturally knew that Qian Chaun had prepared these things for Mo Zixin, so she absolutely couldn’t let Qian Chuan keep them. That was why, regardless of her image, she quickly stuffed all four egg tarts into her mouth and took a sip of the milk tea.

When Lu Xun arrived, this was the scene he first saw: Qian Wei stuffing her face. He seemed slightly shocked seeing this kind of Qian Wei, and it took him a moment to recover. By then, Qian Wei finally managed to choke down all the egg tarts and Qian Chuan had no time to quarrel with Qian Wei because Mo Zixin had also arrived.

“Alright guys, get on the bus.”

At the appointed time, all of the students filed onto the chartered bus one after another. Qian Wei originally wanted to get on the bus, but what she had done just now was the classic example of hurting the enemy for a thousand while hurting herself for eight-hundred, eating so much so fast was really a bit uncomfortable. So she really wanted to take a moment alone to digest, but Qian Wei did not forget her goal, that was to say, she needed to intercept Qian Chuan. First, she had to make sure Lu Xun and Mo Zixin could get on the bus and sit together and not let Qian Chuan interfere.

Unfortunately, dreams were beautiful but the reality was cruel. When Lu Xun was passing Qian Wei, for some reason he stopped and stooped down. Qian Wei saw that he was unhurriedly tying his shoelaces. Although Mo Zixin had deliberately slowed her pace and seemed to want to get on the bus with Lu Xun, in the end, she was a girl and could make her pursuit too obvious. Even though Lu Xun stopped, Mo Zixin could not also stop, so she could only get onto the bus while feeling a little reluctant. As soon as she got on the bus, Qian Chuan hurriedly got on the bus behind her. It seemed Qian Chuan wanted the seat next to Mo Zixin no matter what.

Qian Wei looked down at the relaxed Lu Xun, and she really hated that iron could not become steel. It was obvious that his shoelace was not that loose, so why would he choose such a bad time to squat down and tie it?

Qian Wei felt depressed. Qian Chuan was able to get in close contact with Mo Zixin right away, so she felt half of her fighting spirit dissipating. When she got on the bus, she saw unhappily that Mo Zixin was sitting beside Qian Chuan, who was acting like a warm spring breeze, and meanwhile, Lu Xun sat alone in the seat behind them next to an empty seat.

“Qian Wei! Over here!” Liu Shiyun waved at Qian Wei and enthusiastically patted the empty seat next to her. “There’s a seat here!”

Qian Wei paused. At the moment, Qian Chuan was talking and laughing excitedly to Mo Zixin, while Lu Xun had already put on his headphones and was looking out of the window indifferently. He seemed to have no intention of joining Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin’s conversation.

How could she let things go on like this? If Lu Xun did not take the initiative to attack, wouldn’t he just be giving Mo Zixin’s heart away? If he hadn’t been sitting there, Qian Chuan would have been behaving even more unscrupulously! With Lu Xun like this, how could he be Qian Chuan’s opponent?

Qian Wei struggled internally for a moment, but finally, she waved off Liu Shiyun and mumbled: “Hey, I’m going to sit over there, closer to Qian Chuan.” And with that, she brazenly sat down next to Lu Xun.

Because of Qian Wei’s arrival, Lu Xun deigned to turn around and took a little bit of his precious time to look at Qian Wei, but his face was still indifferent and he showed no enthusiasm. After a short glance, he turned back to look out the window again.

However, aside from Lu Xun, most of the other students had very hot gazes. Over the years, the activities created by the student union had never had as much participation as there was today, and now, excluding the couples, 80% of the people in the bus were girls. It was self-evident who those girls were aiming for.

After Qian Wei sat beside Lu Xun, she felt the tangled eyes of many girls falling on her body, and she really felt like she was on pins and needles.

Feeling nervous, Qian Wei took another sip of milk tea, but accidentally sucked it down the wrong pipe and almost choked. In order to ease her embarrassment, Qian Wei pretended to complain: “It’s too sweet! Actually, I prefer drinks that are only three points of sweetness, for example oolong tea, haha…”

But the only thing that answered her was the back of Lu Xun’s disgusted head.

The bus started and, covered by the noise of the engine, Qian Wei glanced at Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin before poking Lu Xun very lightly.

Lu Xun looked over at Qian Wei, but his expression was very sluggish.

Qian Wei looked around, leaned over toward Lu Xun and lowered her voice: “Lu Xun, now is not the time for you to show your strange temper, the horn of battle has already been sounded! We of the Chinese nation have already reached a moment of life and death. Qian Chuan is a man who will never look back. When he says he wants to chase Mo Zixin, he will never give up. Moreover, the level of his moral character is very low. Even if Mo Zixin is with you, he will still be willing to be the third party! So now you must fight and make an effort to catch Mo Zixin’s heart, of course, once you’ve caught it, you can’t take things lightly if you don’t want your corner pried up. But you can rest assured, I can help you because I know all of Qian Chaun’s weaknesses. As long as you have my help, and you try to cooperate a little more, we will be able to defeat Qian Chuan! We can defeat the forces of evil!”

Qian Wei spoke so much that her throat was dry: “As for the specific method, I will do everything I can to help you by destroying any opportunities for Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin to get along alone! During this operation, if it is not convenient to speak directly, I will send you a text message, so you must pay close attention to your phone.”

“Also, some of Mo Zixin’s good friends are here today, so you should try to form a good relationship with them so that you can get more information about Mo Zixin. I think that Qian Chuan has already begun to kiss up to Mo Zixin’s friends. So you have to be careful and sway them to your side first so that, at critical moments, our people will occupy all the key positions!”

Qian Wei said a lot of things in a low voice, and her mood was very high. She looked at Lu Xun, and her heart was filled with a surging sense of purpose. She felt very wonderful at this moment because it seemed Lu Xun was finally listening to her today! Lu Xun did not refute or interrupt Qian Wei this time! He didn’t interject any clever words, he just looked at Qian Wei very obediently. He seemed almost too quiet actually.

“Hah, look at you, you are finally willing to stop putting on airs and properly listen to my advice this time.” Qian Wei spoke with emotion, “This is really the power of love…”

But then, before she could finish everything she wanted to say, she saw Lu Xun finally began to move. Qian Wei sat up straight, ready to listen to any of Lu Xun’s feedback after listening to her words.

Lu Xun took off his headphones under her eager gaze. Qian Wei could vaguely hear the fierce sound of heavy metal rock blasting from his headphones. Lu Xun smiled at Qian Wei and said, “What did you just say?” He shook his head and said insincerely, “My headphones were a little loud just now.”

“…”

Lu Xun! She really hoped this man would go deaf at a young age!

“Do you know how much risk I took to sit next to you?” Qian Wei finally endured the evil fire in her heart and persevered with speaking reason. “In this bus, if it isn’t ten then there are at least eight women targeting you. Originally, everyone tacitly maintained a delicate balance. Although they all stared covetously at it, no one took the initiative to sit in the empty seat next you. But I sat next to you, breaking the checks and balances between women, and by doing so it is almost like risking the condemnation of the whole world, and who am I doing it for? Can’t you show some consideration?”

“If you want to sit next to me, you should just say it. There’s no need to make so many excuses.”

“…” Lu Xun, could he try to be on her wavelength, even a little bit? She didn’t want to sit next to him, okay!

“Is the air conditioner on this bus broken? It’s so hot. ” Lu Xun did not care about Qian Wei’s reaction at all. He unbuttoned his shirt indifferently, revealing a sexy collarbone.

Although Qian Wei did not want to admit it, Lu Xun was really in good shape. Although he had only unfastened a single button, and it was clear he wasn’t intending to expose himself at all, but there was a saying that went “to contain much but reveal little*”. Sometimes a girl holding her pipa and half-covering her face shyly was more attractive because it created a desire to continue to explore. A good example would be Lu Xun right now. Qian Wei’s line of sight was fixed on his graceful white neck. Maybe he suddenly felt thirsty because Lu Xun took out a bottle of mineral water and drank a mouthful. But the road the bus was driving on was a bit uneven and the shaking caused Lu Xun’s hand to shake gently which made the bottle of mineral water go a bit askew. Then a single translucent drop of water leaked out of his beautifully shaped lips and wound its way down along his chin and then across his slender neck. Then it followed the outline of his collarbone and slowly disappeared deeper into his collar. There were many handsome boys, but few had Lu Xun’s frosty and noble temperament that was somehow still full of primitive masculine hormones.

Qian Wei coughed unnaturally. She moved her eyes and suddenly felt that what Lu Xun said before was true. The bus really was a bit hot.

The journey from University A to the theme park was not short but the ride didn’t feel long. That was because everyone on the bus was very excited, they were all chatting and planning out how they would spend their day after arriving at the theme park. It was said that the theme park had been built by City A at great cost this year, and they had built it imitating the style of Disneyland.

“I heard that there is 4D movie theatre, which sounds exciting. But normally there are many people who queue up to watch. So, as soon as we get in, we’ll have to line up right away to get a head start.” Qian Wei pricked up her ears and pressed her face against the back of the seat in front of her, trying to hear what Qian Chuan was talking about among all the babble in the background.

“4D movie? What’s that? ” Mo Zixin was really curious.

In 2009, 4D movies were not very popular in China, and seeing one was a very rare thing. But Qian Chuan had obviously done his homework on the topic. He explained very knowledgeably: “It is a movie theater with many effects to improve the simulation of ‘being there’. It uses things like vibration, spraying water, wind from fans, special scents, and even physical scenery. For example, in the movie, when the protagonist is galloping about on his horse, the chair we are sitting on will jolt up and down like we were sitting on horseback. Or if it happens to be drizzling in the movie, there will be some special equipment to spray mist inside the cinema, so that we can be immersed as if we were really in the movie.”

“That does sound exciting.”

The two people ahead of her were only casually chatting and saying one sentence at a time, so Qian Wei could only listen intermittently, but she could at least grasp the main point.

After getting off the bus, Qian Chuan wanted to take Mo Zixin to line up for the 4D movie theater first!

How could she let that happen? Qian Wei felt very seriously that Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin should never be allowed to sit together and watch a movie. Otherwise, various things could happen, for instance, he might ‘accidentally’ touch her small hand in the dark theater, or they would end up whispering close to each other’s ears in order to avoid disturbing their neighbors, or perhaps, after sharing the sense of wonder from seeing a 4D movie for the first time, it could easily lead to a mood that would breed some sort of ambiguity!

“Lu Xun, as soon as we get off the bus, we need to go to the 4D movie!”

Lu Xun looked over at Qian Wei but seemed reluctant to open his mouth and answer. But then Mo Zixin’s voice rang out: “Lu Xun, Qian Chuan said that 4D movies are very fun, you should also come together with us.”

Perhaps because Mo Zixin’s invitation carried more weight in his heart, because Lu Xun paused and said slowly, “Oh, sounds good.”

Qian Wei felt as if a big stone was pressing on her heart. But, whatever, as long as Lu Xun was willing to go, with her help, Qian Chuan would not have a chance!

The bus was getting closer and closer to the theme park. Qian Wei was ready to get out of the bus and pull Lu Xun to follow Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin. She had already planned ahead, she could stall Qian Chuan and let Mo Zixin and Lu Xun enter ahead of them and then sit together smoothly. In short, Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin could not be together. Qian Wei had to sandwich herself between them even if she had to transform into a light bulb.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know if it was because she was too nervous but the closer the got to the destination, the more upset her stomach began to feel. Just before getting on the bus, in order to ruin Qian Chuan’s plan to fawn on Mo Zixin, she had desperately eaten four egg tarts and a cup of milk tea. Along the way, she was in a panic so she didn’t feel much, but after a long time riding the bus over bumpy roads, plus the traffic jams that caused a lot of sudden starting and stopping. It all made Qian Wei feel very sick.

Just hold on, victory is right around the corner! Qian Wei kept trying to encourage herself in her mind, but maybe no one could escape from Murphy’s Law. If you were worried that something would happen, it would definitely happen.

When she finally saw the big advertisement sign announcing they were entering the theme park outside the bus window, Qian Wei felt a surge of happiness. As a result, Qian Wei was overwhelmed by her alternating feelings of happiness and stress and she could not contain the tumbling of her stomach and ended up spitting it all out.

When she vomited, at almost the same time, Lu Xun’s angry voice sounded: “Qian Wei!” There was a tremor at the end of the voice, as if he had encountered something truly unbelievable, and his usual aura of elegance and calm was ruined.

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*the Chinese here is ‘含而不露’ (contain much and reveal little) and as far as I can tell the idiom is more frequently used to the context of a person ‘hiding their strength’ or similar. But I guess it works in the context of a person’s appearance as well?