DFLB – Chapter 56

After Lu Xun left, Qian Wei briefly covered her hot face before finally beginning to work without distraction.

She first sorted out the books sent over by the main library, and then put some of the recently returned books back onto the shelves where they belonged. After that, she sat down behind the table people went to when they wanted to borrow a book. Then Qian Wei casually took out a collection of poems and skimmed through them in an effort to regain some peace of mind. The recent emotional ups and downs had been so great that Qian Wei had been feeling that she needed a moment of silence and reflection. 

However, she had only been reading the poems for a few minutes when someone came to the borrowing counter.

“Classmate, I’d like to borrow this book.”

Qian Wei put down the book and looked up and saw a tall boy with thick eyebrows and big eyes.

Then she looked at the book he handed over, it was Yang Jiang’s ‘The Three of Us’*.

Qian Wei swiftly went through the borrowing procedures for the boy and said: “Here you go.”

The boy smiled and said, “Thank you.”

Qian Wei looked down at the collection of poems again but, after a while, the same boy came back again. This time he had another book in his hand: “I’d like to borrow this one, too.”

It was Yi Shu’s ‘Xi Bao’*, and Qian Wei was a little surprised. After all, it wasn’t too often that she met a boy who read Yi Shu’s work, so she couldn’t help but look at the boy curiously.

Sensing her gaze, the boy quickly looked away. When she noticed his awkwardness, Qian Wei also hurriedly looked away. After all, whatever kind of book a person wanted to read was their personal freedom, and Qian Wei didn’t want to embarrass anyone because of their choice of book.

Not many people were borrowing books that day, so Qian Wei should have been pretty free. However, Qian Wei had only flipped through a few more pages of poems before someone came to borrow again.

She looked up, and it was the same boy again.

“I’ll bother you for this one too.”

Qian Wei took a look and saw it was Feng Tang’s ‘Joy’*. She thought that this boy really had mixed tastes. To read works by Yang Jiang, Yi Shu, and Feng Tang, it was a really wide range.

Then, not too much later the boy came again.

This time the book he brought was very different. ‘How to Sell Your Products Well’, it seemed to be a marketing book written by a foreigner.

This time, the boy finally talked to Qian Wei. The borrowing table was some distance from the self-study sections of the library so, as long as you weren’t too loud, speaking here wouldn’t really affect the people trying to read or study within the library, so people would occasionally chat with her.

“You like Tagore?”

Qian Wei was at a loss because of the sudden question, but she smiled to cover it up. Eventually, she realized that the boy was referring to ‘Stray Birds’**, the book that was in front of her.

The boy smiled back at her and then quoted: “‘YOU smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long.’” 

After reciting that line, he looked at Qian Wei shyly and said. “That’s my favorite line from ‘Stray Birds’.”

“By the way, your name is Qian Wei, isn’t it?” The boy’s tone was a little unnatural. “I’m always here reading in this library so I’ve heard the librarian call your name before. I see you all the time, so I wonder if I could…”

“I want to borrow a book.”

Before the boy could finish, a voice suddenly cut in and interrupted him.

Qian Wei looked up and saw Lu Xun standing in front of her. His face was indifferent and he had several books in his hands.

Because someone was waiting behind him to borrow a book, it was difficult for the boy to just stand there and chat with Qian Wei. However, he seemed to really want to discuss ‘Stray Birds’ because, while he moved to the side, he did not leave.

Lu Xun put the books in his hands on the table, and then deliberately picked some of them up and began to flip through them. It was as if he weren’t interested in reading them at all, but rather as if he were deliberately showing them off.

‘Hilary and Jackie’, ‘Don’t be afraid if you’re a man’, ‘I have become a fire-breathing dragon’, and ‘The Origin of Word’…**

When Qian Wei saw that she could only think, what the hell were these books Lu Xun wanted to borrow? Obviously, according to Qian Wei’s knowledge of him, Lu Xun would only ever read professional books or case studies. In short, he only ever read things that would be useful for making money. She had never heard that he had any sort of interest in messy books like these.

However, the boy just now probably saw how many books Lu Xun wanted to borrow and didn’t want to wait because, by the time Qian Wei realized it, he had already left.

“Do you really want to borrow these books?” Qian Wei looked up and asked Lu Xun.

“En, I need to borrow these.”

“You really read these kinds of books?”

Lu Xun snorted: “I won’t read them, I’ll lend them to someone else.”

Qian Wei became vigilant: “Who?”

“Some people who are having some strange ideas.”

“Ah? Which one? What’s going on?”

Lu Xun said angrily, “For instance, the one who just left.”

“Ah?”

“Couldn’t you tell what was going on? He came up four times to borrow four books.” Lu Xun’s voice was irritated, “Borrowing one book at a time like that, isn’t he just trying to get your attention? It’s so childish.”

Qian Wei lowered her voice and retorted, “That’s not necessarily the case, ah. Maybe after borrowing one, he suddenly found another one was quite good and realized he wanted to borrow it as well.”

“Read the first word of the four titles together.”

“Huh?” Qian Wei was stupefied, but then she was skeptical and tried to sound it out, “Wo? Xi? Huan? Ni?”

Lu Xun looked at Qian Wei silently, but after looking at her struggling for a while, his unhappy face disappeared and he smiled helplessly: “Forget it, since your head is so thick, I have nothing to be worried about. Anyway, it seems that no matter how much someone likes you, you won’t ever notice it, so trying to hint about it in such a roundabout and childish way is completely useless. But aren’t we all told old for this kind of thing? It’s so old-fashioned and childish.”

Qian Wei really hadn’t noticed anything but, after Lu Xun reminded her, she realized there must be something there. She lowered her head and pondered on it. Suddenly she looked up at the four books that Lu Xun had said he wanted to borrow, and felt enlightened.

If you put the first character in the titles of the four books and read them out it would say: She’s mine. 

Now it was Qian Wei’s turn to smile mischievously. She looked up at Lu Xun and said: “Didn’t you say that this kind of roundabout hint is too childish? Old-fashioned?”

Lu Xun didn’t even blink as he confidently lied: “I just like to occasionally borrow some miscellaneous books to read…”

“But didn’t you just leave?” Qian Wei had been briefly distracted by their digression, but she didn’t let go of the main point and asked, “Why are you still here in the library?” 

Since Lu Xun was so clear about the fact that the boy had come to borrow books four times in a row, it showed that he hadn’t been ‘just passing by’ at all, rather he had obviously been secretly staying in the library the whole time.

Finally, it was Lu Xun’s turn for his expression to turn a little cramped, but soon his face regained its usual composure and calmness and he said: “I should be the one asking you about this. How come I only walked away for a little while but immediately someone else showed up and started trying to pry into my corner?” Lu Xun sighed. “You’re just too attractive and always attracting all sorts of bees and butterflies, so I have no choice but to keep an eye on you. In the future, whenever you come to work in the library, I’ll come and stay in the library with you.”

Qian Wei: ??? Excuse me, this friend, the person who attracts bees and butterflies most between the two of us seems to be you! I may have one or two people become interested in me over the course of an entire year, whereas you get chocolates and love letters every Valentine’s Day by the hundreds, okay?

However, with that excuse, Lu Xun simply found a place in the library where Qian Wei worked and plopped himself down.

Although he did take a book to pretend to read, Qian Wei didn’t see Lu Xun turn a single page even though a whole hour passed. The reason why she knew he hadn’t turned even a single page was because Qian Wei could sense him looking at her unblinkingly the whole time so, naturally, he had no time to read.

Qian Wei, who was watched like this for a whole hour, didn’t manage to turn a single page of ‘Stray Birds’ the entire time. 

“THE world puts off its mask of vastness to its lover.

It becomes small as one song, as one kiss of the eternal.”

After staring at this poem for a whole hour, Qian Wei finally stood up and closed her book.

It seemed that she wouldn’t be able to read this book today.

She stood up and walked over to Lu Xun and said coldly, “Come with me.”

Before Lu Xun realized it, she had dragged him out of the library by his sleeve.

There was a small grove outside the library and Qian Wei dragged Lu Xun into the grove without saying a word. When they arrived she finally let go of Lu Xun’s hand, met Lu Xun’s puzzled eyes, and then pushed him against a tree trunk behind him.

Qian Wei kept a straight face, leaned forward to look at Lu Xun, pulled his collar, and then said with a chilly tone: “If you affect my studies like this again, I will kiss you.”

With that, Qian Wei stood on tiptoe and tried to give Lu Xun a strong kiss. However, she didn’t expect that the atmosphere would be spoiled because the gap between Lu Xun’s height and her own was so great that, even when she stood on her tiptoes, she could only reach Lu Xun’s chin… Qian Wei continued to look at Lu Xun with an aloof expression on her face, while secretly trying to stand on tiptoes and reach his lips. She tried very hard to make the whole motion look effortless so that her image wouldn’t be ruined but, unfortunately… no matter how hard she tried, the height gap between them was reality, and it was all in vain.

Just when Qian Wei, who had thoroughly given up on herself, was ready to completely give up on her image and jump so that she could kiss Lu Xun, Lu Xun suddenly leaned forward and picked Qian Wei up before setting her down so that he feet were standing on top of his feet, giving her a tiny bit of extra height.

“This way you can kiss me.” Lu Xun patted Qian Wei’s head.

Qian Wei’s tough image finally cracked, and she grabbed her hair and muttered, “But now the atmosphere has been ruined!”

“Hmm?”

Qian Wei stepped off of Lu Xun’s feet and said sadly, “I have always wanted to experience what it feels like to be a cold, handsome, and overbearing person. Now, finally, there was a scene that seemed to be quite suitable. I could have pushed you into the grove, then grabbed your hand and said some lines like ‘Boy, you have successfully caught my attention’ or ‘Next time you disturb my studies, this is what I’ll do to you.’ and then began to kiss you domineeringly, and so on.” She sighed and said with regret, “I finally had the opportunity but as a result… Well, actually, I was just curious about how you would react when you were forcibly kissed by the overbearing and cold me…”

Before Qian Wei finished her words, Lu Xun’s kiss suddenly fell.

The two people’s breath intertwined, and Qian Wei could suddenly only feel the warmth of Lu Xun’s lips and tongue. He raised his hand and pulled the back of Qian Wei’s head and forward, deepening the kiss.

It was not a long kiss but, even after Lu Xun let her go, Qian Wei still found it difficult to breathe and she could feel her body temperature rising. Even if a person’s expression could be used to conceal, a kiss couldn’t lie. A man’s thoughts, a man’s most primitive desires, as long as they kissed, all of that information was transmitted clearly. Qian Wei looked up at Lu Xun, who seemed slightly unsteady as he stood in front of her, and she suddenly became extremely shy.

Lu Xun lowered his head and kissed Qian Wei again, then he asked, “Did you suddenly want to kiss me a lot just now?”

But before Qian Wei could answer, Lu Xun bowed his head and kissed her on the cheek: “Alright, I won’t disturb your studies anymore.” However, as soon as he finished speaking, he immediately went back on his promise without seeming to feel guilty at all.

“Actually, I’ll bother you one last time.” He said as he kissed her again.

When Lu Xun spoke again, his tone was somewhat unnatural, but he still managed to maintain his composure. “Anyway, since you wanted to kiss me so much just now, I’m sorry for not giving you a chance.”

“…”

Lu Xun looked at Qian Wei and said seriously, “Go ahead, you can kiss me this time.”

Qian Wei, who was being stared at so wholeheartedly by that pair of beautiful black eyes, could only think, what studying or not studying? Who cared about that. It didn’t matter at all. Instead, no matter how what she was doing, as long as she was with this person in front of her, even if she was just quietly leaning against him and doing nothing, it didn’t feel like a waste of time at all.

Eventually, Qian Wei managed to calm herself down. Suddenly she stiltedly cleared her throat, and pointed to the spot behind Lu Xun while exclaiming in a surprised tone, “Lu Xun look! There’s someone waving at you!”

Lu Xun subconsciously turned his head to look and, at that moment, Qian Wei quickly reached out, grabbed Lu Xun’s hand, and then stepped on tiptoes to peck him on the cheek.

When Lu Xun had come to his senses, Qian Wei had already fled into the distance like a small white rabbit.

Lu Xun was stupefied. He touched his face, and then let out a helpless laugh.

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*the books he’s bringing her are all real books and if you’re curious you can look them up but it’s all just set up for a punchline. To be clear, the first book is 我们仨, the second one is 喜宝, the third one is 欢喜, the fourth one is 你的产品怎样才能畅销, so if you take the first character from all of those books you get ‘我喜欢你’ aka ‘I like you’

**Stray Birds (飞鸟集) Book by Rabindranath Tagore

***Lu Xun’s books are as follows 《她比烟花寂寞》、《是男人就别怕》《我变成一只喷火龙了》《的字的由来》and again if you put all the first characters together you get ‘她是我的’ or ‘she’s mine’