DFLB – Chapter 54

Inside her financial management class, Qian Wei was feeling terrified. Because of Wu Jun’s exaggerated love confession just now, there were still a lot of inquisitive and curious eyes in the classroom staring at Qian Wei which was more than enough for her to feel uncomfortable, but she was more worried that someone might have heard what Lu Xun had just said. However, since it had all happened just before class started, the classroom was very noisy and most people, except Wu Jun of course, hadn’t heard Lu Xun’s words. She really didn’t dare to imagine how all those girls would react if they had. How emotional they would become if they learned that Lu Xun had found himself as a girlfriend.

However, compared to the atmosphere around Lu Xun at the moment, the reactions of those outsiders didn’t matter to her at all. After he finished speaking, Lu Xun had sat down beside her with an expression like he was desperately struggling to contain his surging emotions. And for the whole class after that he very deliberately only looked up at the teacher and sometimes answered the teacher’s questions, but it was clear that he was only doing so because he had to hold back while they were in front of so many people.

Because of the tense atmosphere, Qian Wei really struggled to get through to the end of class, but eventually she did. However, when class was finally over, Lu Xun began to pack his things with deliberate slowness. And, as it happened, the seat he was in happened to be directly in Qian Wei’s only path to exit the room so, as long as he didn’t move, Qian Wei couldn’t leave.

“Qian Wei, didn’t you tell me back then that you didn’t want to fall in love?” Lu Xun’s voice was a little stilted as he glanced over at Qian Wei, “Hmm? Wasn’t it about two days ago? But then you went to a party as soon as you finished saying that?”

“I went with Liu Shiyun! It’s true!” Qian Wei wanted to cry but had no tears. “It was all Liu Shiyun, that bourgeois cancer, who seduced me to commit the crime using the VVIP card of her family’s hotel chain as bait.”

Lu Xun raised an eyebrow: “So she gave you a VVIP card for her family’s hotel in exchange?”

Qian Wei nodded with a look of grief and resentment: “I was blinded in a moment of greed! If I had known I would meet someone like Wu Jun, I wouldn’t have gone even if you killed me! I know, why don’t I give the VVIP card back?!”

Lu Xun pondered for a moment before coughing and saying: “Keep it, it will be useful in the future.”

Qian Wei nodded along but inside she couldn’t help but think: What kind of use did it have? She was a homebody and she didn’t usually travel at all, not even out of City A, so she pretty much never had any reason to stay in a hotel. But since Lu Xun said it would be useful, she would keep it.

“Qian Wei, I have to go to the hospital to see my sister later. Let’s have our usual study session on criminal law another time.”

Just as Qian Wei was daydreaming, Li Chongwen’s voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. He was as handsome as ever and, even though he witnessed the farce put on by Wu Jun just now, he didn’t embarrass Qian Wei by asking about it. He just smiled at her and said, “Oh, and thanks again for the snacks today.” With that, he waved to Qian Wei, picked up his bag, and left.

With that, Li Chongwen was gone, however, the words he left behind lingered uncomfortably in the air. Lu Xun’s face looked very stormy but, strangely, he didn’t say anything about what had just happened. Instead, he talked to Qian Wei quite peacefully, though the topics jumped around a little bit.

“What are you planning to eat now?”

“Oh? I wanted to eat the steamed rice meal at the cafeteria!”

“Which variety of the steamed rice are you planning to eat?”

Qian Wei was a little baffled, but she replied honestly, “Roast beef!”

“Have you written tomorrow’s paper on Ma Zhe?”

“Yeah, I finished it. It was just a bunch of platitudes anyway.” Qian Wei answered honestly again, but she really felt that the topic kept changing too quickly.

However, Lu Xun seemed to be in the midst of a strange fit because, even though that answer seemed to stump him and he was silent for a moment, he quickly recovered and began asking more seemingly random questions: “Will Liu Shiyun’s side be organizing any more activities these next few days?”

Qian Wei scratched her head: “Well, she’s been busy with love recently so it’s hard for me to find a spare moment with her. I haven’t really had a chance to ask her about that.”

In this way, Lu Xun changed the topic over and over again, and Qian Wei worked hard to follow along. 

After they chatted like this for a while, Lu Xun’s questions slowed and then finally stopped. At the same time, he stopped moving and grabbed Qian Wei’s hand.

“I really can’t do it.”

“Hmm?”

Lu Xun’s voice was dry and, although he was trying to suppress his emotions, Qian Wei could still sense the dark undercurrent in his calm tone. He stared into Qian Wei’s eyes and murmured: “I tried, but I can’t do it.”

“Huh?”

Lu Xun looked directly into Qian Wei’s eyes and said: “Li Chongwen got snacks.”

“…”

“Why didn’t I?”

“…”

“You secretly gave them to him behind my back before I got to the classroom.”

“…”

Now that the topic had been broached, Lu Xun seemed to be unable to stop himself and continued: “Also, back then, you were buying him breakfast and giving him fruit.”

“…”

Lu Xun’s face was contorted as if he was desperately enduring but, in the end, it was obvious that his self-control completely collapsed: “And I heard that you used to boast to other people that, in the future, you would have both me and Li Chongwen. And that Li Chongwen would be the main wife, while I would be the concubine.”

Qian Wei felt cold sweat on her forehead, but she still calmly denied it: “Who said that? Those kinds of ‘I heard’ are all just rumors. As you know, modern college students really have too much time on their hands, they’ll randomly talk about anything! But someone who would say something like that must be an outsider that doesn’t know me at all because, as a human, I am very loyal in love!”

Lu Xun’s face was expressionless as he said: “Qian Chuan, who claims to be so close to you that you two practically wear the same pair of pants, personally said it.”

“…”

Internally, Qian Wei raged: Qian Chuan, you son of a bitch! Our relationship as siblings ends here!

But out loud she just coughed and said, “This…” A thought suddenly occurred to her, “But I bought snacks for you too! They were imported!”

Lu Xun’s face was still dignified: “Let’s not talk about the snacks, I have a more important question that I can’t figure out the answer to no matter how hard I think about it.”

Qian Wei was about to explain that she might have said some things carelessly in the past as a joke, when she suddenly heard Lu Xun’s ask with great resentment: “Why is Li Chongwen the main wife? Do I only deserve to be a concubine? Aren’t I, Lu Xun, qualified to be the main wife?”

Ah, hello, Lu Xun, isn’t your focus a little wrong? The key point shouldn’t be the ranking of who is the main wife and who is the concubine…

But Lu Xun was someone who, once he was inspired, would become very competitive, and he would never stop until he clearly distinguished who won and who lost, or died trying. Once the topic was broached, he obviously became more energetic about determining who should be the main wife and who should be the concubine, and he had a look on his face that said: ‘You won’t be able to leave today without giving me a reasonable explanation’.

Qian Wei thought quickly and replied: “Well, as you know, the main wife generally isn’t favored, right? The main wife is usually someone who isn’t very interesting but who is dignified and noble, meanwhile, the concubine is the one who is really spoiled! The concubine will always act spoiled and ignorant, but the man never has the heart to separate from her. Do you know why? It’s because of love! The concubine is always the one who’s really in his heart, right? So I said that as a compliment to you. You’ve also seen it in those TV dramas, haven’t you? Aren’t all those main wives in TV dramas always just glaring with a frigid expression? Meanwhile, the concubines are always flirtatious and sexy. They’re purposefully set up to be the man’s dream lover, right? That’s why, in my mind, you are more like a concubine!”

Although Lu Xun still looked a little unreconciled, his face had eased a lot at least. Qian Wei felt cold sweat running down her back, but it seemed that this answer narrowly passed…

Huh? Wait! This wasn’t right, Qian Wei thought. She couldn’t let herself be led around by Lu Xun so easily! Lu Xun should be the one who’s chasing her! Why should she act so humble? This was already a new era of socialism, and the serfs had already overturned the lords!

Qian Wei coughed and said, “Lu Xun, do you remember when I said that I hoped that my boyfriend would be sensible and not jealous?” She looked at Lu Xun and said, “If you’re like this, it’s very unlike my ideal boyfriend. Don’t forget that you still have two months’ on your probationary period.”

“I told you, I tried.” Lu Xun’s voice was stiff. “But I couldn’t do it.”

“…”

“Plus, like you said just now, a sensible man can only be the main wife that exists in name only and isn’t favored at all. I don’t want to end up like that.”

Qian Wei: “…”

Lu Xun said confidently, “I’ve figured it out. I want to be the spoiled concubine, and if I feel jealous I want to be able to just say so.”

“…” Unexpectedly, there were some people in this world who could proudly declare their jealousy out loud like that. Qian Wei could only say that she was full of awe and admiration, in a different kind of meaning.

“Unfortunately, I really couldn’t do that, but I will continue to work hard on my cooking.” After a brief silence, Lu Xun spoke again.

Qian Wei was stunned. Lu Xun’s beautiful black eyes were staring at her without blinking, and she was the only one reflected there. Qian Wei’s heart throbbed and she secretly felt very moved, she hadn’t expected that Lu Xun had really taken her casual words seriously. Her hands idly clasped together in front of her chest as she looked up at Lu Xun and asked: “You’ve started learning to cook?”

“Mhm.” Lu Xun’s expression was a little embarrassed as he continued. “Well, I borrowed a book, but it seems that cooking is a little more difficult than I expected.” He paused and then emphasized, “Just a little.”

Before Qian Wei could react, she heard Lu Xun add, “But I’m not worried. I’m sure I’ll be able to master it soon.”

Qian Wei nodded along to Lu Xun’s words. She didn’t know why, but she really had a sort of blind faith in Lu Xun’s omnipotence inside her heart. 

The two people walked along together and, although they were nominally boyfriend and girlfriend, after all, it was the first time either of them had fallen in love so, whether it was Lu Xun or Qian Wei they were both acting somewhat awkward.

In the past, whenever Qian Wei had walked with Lu Xun, she had never felt like anything was wrong. However, ever since she found out that he liked her, Qian Wei had felt like something was wrong with her whole body. Her cheeks were on fire, her palms were sweaty, and even the way she walked seemed gawky and awkward. It was obvious that her hair was resting properly on her ear, but she kept subconsciously reaching up to push non-existent hairs out of her eyes. It was the first time in her life that Qian Wei had felt so at a loss.

The two of them were currently walking quietly along one of the campus’ tree-lined paths. Then, while Qian Wei wasn’t paying attention, several bicycles suddenly sprang out in front of them from around a corner. There were several young men riding the bikes who were probably all friends judging from the way they were chasing each other and playing around. It was too late when the bikers realized that there was someone else walking on the path, and they didn’t have time to slow down at all.

However, before Qian Wei even realized what was happening, a pair of hands appeared and grabbed her. She was quickly swept up into a pair of arms, and the bikes narrowly brushed by them.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”

There was a series of shouted apologies and then the bikes disappeared in the other direction.

Once they were gone Qian Wei clambered out of Lu Xun’s arms with a red face.

Lu Xun’s ears were also a little red, but his face was still very serious. He looked at Qian Wei and said: “Be careful next time.”

However, just as Qian Wei nodded and let go of Lu Xun’s hand, Lu Xun suddenly reacted and grabbed her hand again.

“Forget it, your reflexes are so slow. I need to hold on to you to feel at ease.”

As he said that, he took Qian Wei’s hand and then moved her to the other side of his body: “You stay on the inside.*”

It was a sunny day, and the sunshine was a little mottled as it filtered through the branches and leaves of the trees on the path, the breeze was blowing gently, and in the distance there was the sounds of balls bouncing and boys shouting from the basketball court. But to Qian Wei it was as if she couldn’t feel or hear any of that anymore, because all her senses seemed hyperfocused on the contact between her hand and Lu Xun’s. At the beginning, Lu Xun had just gently wrapped Qian Wei’s hand in his own, however, she didn’t know when, but the position of their two hands changed, and Lu Xun’s five slender fingers had interlocked with Qian Wei’s own.

This path only took about ten minutes to walk, and Qian Wei felt that time was both short and long.

“If it hadn’t been for me, you would have been hit just now.”

Qian Wei lowered her head and murmured, “Mhm. Thank you.”

“Is there nothing else but a thank you?” Lu Xun kept his head high, and his voice was a little unnatural.

“Then… shall I get you a banner?”

“Qian Wei!” Lu Xun finally couldn’t take it, he gritted his teeth and asked, “Who wants your banner?!”

“Then what do you want?” Qian Wei asked carefully, “Can I afford it?”

Lu Xun glared at her, but eventually, he just smiled a smile that contained a hint of defeat: “Of course you can afford it.”

Almost as soon as he spoke, Qian Wei felt something warm and soft touch her lips.

“That’s the kind of thanks I want.” Lu Xun murmured.

Qian Wei’s face flushed completely, and she looked up at Lu Xun and said: “This… you can’t do this in the middle of the road! It’s a little too high-profile!”

Lu Xun seemed very receptive when he heard good advice because, when he heard her complaint, he immediately pulled Qian Wei into the shade of the trees by the side of the road. Instantly, Qian Wei’s back was pressed against a tree trunk and then Lu Xun’s kiss fell again. He leaned down and pressed Qian Wei against the tree and spent a while extracting the ‘thanks’ from her.

Qian Wei felt the rough touch of the tree trunk on her back, while at the same time Lu Xun’s feathery kiss was pressing against her lips, and her senses seemed to be greatly heightened by the two contradictory sensations.

Although she didn’t want to admit it, it was a little exciting.

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*I dunno if there’s a better way to word this? But like if two people are walking next to a road then the one that is closer to the cars on the road is ‘outside’ and the one who is further away is ‘inside’.

tl note: little random that Qian Wei suggested giving Lu Xun a ‘banner’? Maybe that’s A Thing in China? Or maybe it’s a reference to the time she got a banner for someone else at that competition and Lu Xun was jealous? I’m not sure. If I was the author I would have made it a card or a bouquet or something, but I’m not, so I’m leaving it as is lol