DFLB – Chapter 62

The consultation event was wrapping up as it got late into the afternoon and, after the last person who came for a consultation had been sent away, the students all enthusiastically took down the banners, signs, tables, etc… while chatting about the various legal problems they had encountered today. They were all immersed in talking about the differences and difficulties they had encountered when comparing the laws that they had learned in books with their actual applications in the real world and, with that sort of mood, they all walked to the bus stop together in the sunset.

Because Lu Xun was exchanging thoughts with one of the other boys about their consultations just now, he lagged behind the group, and as a result Qian Wei and the other girls all arrived at the bus stop first.

Several of her female classmates were all still secretly watching Qian Wei and, after a while, a bold one finally plucked up her courage and asked: “Qian Wei, are you dating Lu Xun?”

“Mhm.”

Since one of them had been brave enough to step out and ask, it seemed that the rest of the girls’ gossip switch was flipped, and several of them immediately began speaking with tones of envy. One asked: “Were you the one who chased Lu Xun? Actually, my best friend who is pursuing a business major also tried to chase him. She wrote a love letter to Lu Xun every week for a year but, unfortunately, Lu Xun turned her down…”

“I chased her.”

While they were all chattering away, a familiar low voice suddenly cut in from behind Qian Wei. As the voice fell, a pair of hands reached out wrapped around Qian Wei’s shoulders intimately and naturally.

On normal days, Lu Xin didn’t like to deal with girls, or even speak to them, so for several of the girls present this was the first time they had ever come into close contact with him. Some of them could not hide their surprise, and one exclaimed: “Oh my god! It’s really him!”

“Well, how long have you been chasing Qian Wei?”

“It’s been a long time. She’s a bit too slow.”

Qian Wei looked up at Lu Xun with a trace of surprise in her eyes. Lu Xun seemed the same as usual, with his same cold tone, but shockingly he was actually patiently replying to the gossipy questions asked by the girls.

“Did you guys just get together recently?”

“We’ve been together a while now.”

“You two are so good at keeping secrets! I didn’t notice it at all!”

The girls all took turns asking questions, and Lu Xun answered them one by one with an uncharacteristically good temper. Only when the bus arrived did the barrage of questions come to an end and the girls finally let Lu Xun go. 

It was the rush hour after many office workers got off, so the bus was packed like a can of sardines, and soon the students had no choice but to disperse themselves among the other passengers. However, despite the crowded bus, Lu Xun held Qian Wei’s hand tightly and used his tall body to create a space where Qian Wei couldn’t be pushed or shoved by the other passengers. 

“Why is your temper so good today?” Qian Wei muttered, “I can’t believe you would actually take the time to answer all their questions like that. Don’t you know that acting like that will only make you more and more popular among the other girls, and it will give me a sense of crisis?”

“It’s all for you.” Lu Xun said while gently patting Qian Wei’s head.

“Um?”

“It’s to lay a good foundation so that things will be easier for you in the future.” Lu Xun blinked. “Haven’t you ever heard the stories that get passed around by all you girls? For instance, a year or two ago, there was an upperclassman from our law school called Chen Xun, do you remember him? He was being chased by many girls back then, and later he started dating an underclassman. But, as a result, that underclassman was attacked and isolated by the other girls until, in the end, she dropped out of school because of all the pressure, and broke up with Chen Xun at the same time.” He looked Qian Wei in the eye and said, “I was just afraid that you might also end up isolated if I didn’t offer some explanation.”

Qian Wei felt something sweet in her heart but still retorted: “Then, reading between the lines, I will be the new public enemy of all the women on campus because we are dating? I never knew that you were so confident in your face.”

Lu Xun glared at Qian Wei, but his tone was still gentle: “I just want to give you the best, and I also want everyone else to treat you as well as I do.”

Qian Wei couldn’t help but smile, ah, this foolish man, didn’t he know that he had already given her the best? The best love.

Because it was rush hour, there was a serious traffic jam, and the bus was constantly starting and stopping. At once point, Qian Wei had no time to react and a particularly large and sudden brake made her lose her balance and fall into Lu Xun’s chest directly. Although Lu Xun had created a small open space for her using his body, there were no handrails or handles above or around her, so Qian Wei had to try to be very careful every time the bus braked to avoid staggering forward, but this time she had failed.

Subconsciously, she quickly tried to push herself up from Lu Xin’s chest, but then a hand reached out and landed atop her head, pressing her back down.

“If you don’t have a handrail, just hold onto me.” A low voice murmured.

As if to punctuate Lu Xun’s words, the bus driver slammed on the brakes again as soon as he finished speaked and the whole carriage rocked. Facing the jerky ups and downs of this stop-and-go driving, Qian Wei had no choice but to gently bury her head against Lu Xin’s chest. His heartbeat pounded in her ears, his breath lingered around the nape of her neck, his arm wrapped around her waist, and somehow she only felt warm and comfortable. The surroundings were noisy, filled with the sounds of other people chatting and phones going off, only occasionally briefly broken by the large woosh whenever the bus stopped, which would always inevitably be followed by a chaotic rush of noise and an ambiguous press of bodies as people boarded and disembarked. However, despite all that, Qian Wei felt warm and at ease held against Lu Xun’s chest.

Being on a crowded bus was never a pleasant experience but Qian Wei somehow felt that, as long as this person beside her was around, it wasn’t so bad. In fact, all the things that were usually intolerable somehow became acceptable with him by her side.

After spending twice as much time as usual, the bus finally reached the bus stop that let out on the A University campus, and a line of students got off one by one. This stop was the stop all the students of A University used to go to their various destinations, so the flow of people here was always huge, and as soon as Lu Xun appeared he attracted the attention of many girls. However, even under their many pairs of scrutinizing eyes, Lu Xun kept his usual cold and indifferent expression as he walked through the crowd. The thing that was drawing so many eyes was the fact that Qian Wei lay docilely in his arms, having been easily picked up and lifted into a princess carry. Even though it was clear that her legs were perfectly fine, Lu Xun hadn’t seemed to want to break off their physical contact and he had wordlessly swept her up into his arms before stepping off the bus. 

A little while ago when Lu Xun had publicly disclosed their relationship, he had only done so in front of a dozen or so of their classmates from the law school, but now at this bus stop, there were dozens and dozens of eyes all around. Qian Wei suddenly realized that what had happened back in that small community where they had been doing consultations was more like a drill, and this was the real war zone.

And it wasn’t until this moment that Qian Wei finally understood exactly just how popular Lu Xun was with the girls of A University. She felt as if there were countless eyes full of daggers, curiosity, or both trained on her from all directions.

As they arrived at the gate of the campus, Lu Xun set Qian Wei down, and then hugged her casually while saying: “Wait for me here, okay? I need to go to the reception room to receive a delivery.” Then, after speaking, in front of who knew how many other people, he leaned down and kissed Qian Wei on her forehead, completely destroying the idea that ‘She may just be Lu Xun’s little sister’ in the minds of the girls all around.

There were many boys who were ashamed to express their love and show off this kind of intimacy with their girlfriends in public, but Lu Xun always did things at his own pace. He had a kind of magnanimity and arrogance, as if he weren’t afraid to tell the whole world, that, just like his appearance, his relationships were also exquisite, elegant, and free for anyone to look at.

If Lu Xun wasn’t afraid, why did she need to be afraid? Qian Wei thought.

With that bit of courage in her mind, Qian Wei straightened her back, raised her head, and looked straight back into all of those inquiring eyes.

“Qian Wei.”

Among the many pairs of eyes, a voice called out, and Qian Wei looked over to see Li Chongwen standing not far away.

Ever since she and Lu Xun had returned to the community earlier, Li Chongwen had been somewhat reticent. However, at that time, everyone had been very busy dealing with consultations so Qian Wei hadn’t taken it to heart. However, now that the event was over, and she was face to face with Li Chongwen again, Qian Wei could clearly sense that his mood was unusually down.

But when he walked up to her, his tone was still gentle and mild as usual as he asked: “I didn’t have time to ask earlier, but is your foot okay?”

“It was just a minor injury. They disinfected it and bandaged it up, it’s fine now.”

Li Chongwen lowered his head silently before looking back up and smiling at Qian Wei: “If it’s fine, then that’s good. In the future, you should listen to Lu Xun about this sort of matter. He’s a meticulous person, he’ll know what to do.”

Li Chongwen paused and then continued: “But I don’t know whether you want to continue reviewing criminal law with me in the future?”

“You should continue.” Lu Xun’s voice suddenly came from behind Qian Wei. “Qian Wei has always said that you are a very patient and excellent teacher when it comes to criminal law, and that your explanations are simple and easy to understand. Although I occasionally score a few points higher than you in the exam, having a higher score doesn’t necessarily make a person a better teacher. I’ll have to thank you for always taking care of Qian Wei, it’s been a great help to her, and she always tells me that she is very grateful to you, and that she thinks of you as a great mentor and friend. Plus, the two of you have been reviewing criminal law together for so long that it’s already a habit, so if it’s convenient for you, please continue to do so. ” Lu Xun’s voice was calm, without any of the tension it had when facing Li Chongwen before. As he spoke, there was even a slight smile on his face. “However, recently, there have been some new things in our criminal law class that I myself don’t understand very thoroughly, I wonder if you would mind if I joined your review sessions?”

Li Chongwen was stunned by this twist, and he glanced over at Lu Xun. Soon a similarly shallow smile began to play about the corners of his lips and he responded: “If a high achiever like you joins our review sessions we will all only benefit together. As it happens, I recently read about a case involving criminal law and there are some points of confusion for me, and I don’t really understand the verdict. It would be good to be able to discuss it with you.”

“At any rate, Qian Wei’s friend is also my friend. If you ever need any help in the future, just let me know. I’m always happy to help, we’re both classmates in the same college after all.” Lu Xun said smilingly.

Qian Wei back and forth between Lu Xun and Li Chongwen, a bit shocked that their chat had become so friendly and harmonious. Also, she was pretty sure this was the first time she had seen the side of Lu Xun that was so helpful to his fellow classmates….

After Li Chongwen left, Qian Wei looked up, and spoke in a tone that had a bit of gratification: “It seems like you finally aren’t imagining Li Congwen as an enemy anymore. I’m really happy to see you two like this.”

“Who says he’s not an enemy?”

“Ah? If you think so, then why did you let me go continue reviewing with him and even join yourself?”

“This is called joining hands with the enemy.” Lu Xun snorted coldly, “After all, it’s because he is an enemy and a potential rival that this method of joining hands and making friends is so good. In the future, I think he will be too embarrassed to rob his ‘friend’s’ girlfriend.”

“…”

“And besides, now that I’ve taken this job, I need to show off the bearing of a magnanimous main wife once in a while, don’t you think?” Lu Xun mused for a moment, “Besides, as long as I join in on your review sessions in the future, even if he does want to plot something, I’ll make sure it ends as nothing but an unfulfilled dream.”

“…”

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