“690!”
The landlady thought of the crate of canned fruit her best friend had given her. “I’ve got a few cans of yellow peaches. Come get them.”
“When you’re tired from studying later, have them as a midnight snack!”
She had to give him a little something sweet, or he wouldn’t be so easy to order around next time.
If Lu Jiuling had been the honest, obedient type tonight, and had simply gone to check the hallway when Su Xiangrong asked instead of refusing, then even if the landlady forgot about those cans until they expired, she still wouldn’t have given them to him.
So a well-timed refusal could raise one’s own value, rather than making one seem cheap.
“No need!”
Lu Jiuling politely declined.
“Are you planning to make me bring them up to you? Do I have to feed them to you by hand too?”
The landlady urged impatiently, “There are several cans. I can’t carry them!”
“Hurry up!”
“Thank you, Sister Rong!”
Lu Jiuling gave a courteous reply and followed her downstairs.
He had eaten instant noodles for half a month; his mouth was so bland it felt like birds could fly out of it. It was about time he supplemented some fruit—otherwise, what if he got constipated?
Su Xiangrong walked ahead, her flip-flops slapping against the floor with a patter.
Lu Jiuling followed behind, looking at the landlady’s back, and couldn’t help raising his brows.
Tsk!
He hadn’t noticed before—Su Xiangrong was quite the ripe peach.
If she put on yoga pants, she could absolutely kill any man on sight.
Lu Jiuling couldn’t help thinking of the yoga-pants proprietress he had seen yesterday. Her figure had been pretty good too, but compared with the landlady, she wasn’t enough to look at.
Su Xiangrong opened the door and went home.
Lu Jiuling didn’t go in. He stopped at the doorway and even closed the door behind her, leaving only a crack.
“The cans are in the storage room…”
Su Xiangrong had originally wanted to say, Wait here while I find a bag to put them in, but when she turned around and saw that Lu Jiuling hadn’t come in, for no reason, a trace of trust toward him arose in her heart.
Because in the more than two years Lu Jiuling had lived upstairs, he had been too shy, too introverted, and had never even dared to meet Su Xiangrong’s eyes. As a result, Su Xiangrong had never regarded him as a man at all. Otherwise, how could this flower-age young married woman living alone possibly let Lu Jiuling into her home late at night?
It wasn’t that Su Xiangrong had no guard up. Rather, she had the confidence that Lu Jiuling was like a little milk puppy—if he dared touch her, she could send him flying with one kick.
About six or seven minutes later, Su Xiangrong came out carrying a plastic bag.
“Here.”
Su Xiangrong handed the bag to Lu Jiuling. Inside were four cans: two yellow peach and two hawthorn.
“Thank you, Sister Rong. Good night!”
Lu Jiuling thanked her again and carried the bag upstairs.
“Hey!”
Su Xiangrong called out.
“Mm?”
Lu Jiuling turned back.
“Eat more. Look how skinny you are!”
Su Xiangrong thought to herself, What a waste of that face.
Lu Jiuling had a tall, upright figure and very handsome features. There was only one flaw: he was on the thin side, with not much flesh on him. To put it plainly, he had the air of a frail scholar.
This kind of aesthetic was popular in the entertainment industry nowadays—little puppy pretty boys everywhere.
Su Xiangrong didn’t like it. She felt men like that gave no sense of security. She preferred the more burly and strong type, preferably with eight-pack abs. That way, they’d have a better texture when bitten!
Watching the landlady close the door, Lu Jiuling thought, I’d love to eat something better too, but who’s going to pay for my living expenses?
But things would get better from now on.
Once he became a Transcendent, he could go make money, improve his meals, and then strengthen his training. Getting eight-pack abs would be easy.
That refined old man from Libra Palace had said that a Transcendent’s physical constitution was far superior to an ordinary person’s.
After returning home, Lu Jiuling ate a can of yellow peaches, watched videos for a while, then went to sleep!
……
The next morning, Lu Jiuling got up at six. After jogging two laps around the neighborhood, he went home to wash up and pack his luggage.
This time, they were going to Fanshi Ancient Town for two days and one night. It wouldn’t be long.
Lu Jiuling stuffed a change of clothes and a few toiletries into his backpack, then brought two books. After hesitating for a moment, he also brought the Headless Buddha Mask and Buddha-Gut Sword.
If he left them at home, the chance of them being stolen wasn’t high, but what if?
Better to keep them with him!
After organizing his backpack, Lu Jiuling rode his bike to school, buying a steamer of buns along the way.
The gathering time was eight o’clock on Saturday morning. This had been decided after discussion during Monday’s class meeting.
When Lu Jiuling arrived, there were already about a dozen classmates in front of the school gate. They weren’t idle; all of them were holding palm-sized vocabulary notebooks and memorizing words.
“Brother 69!”
When Tang Lei saw Lu Jiuling, he waved.
Lu Jiuling parked his bicycle and walked over, stuffing a bun into his mouth as he teased his friend, who was muttering through a text. “Do you have to be this intense?”
“You think I want to memorize? Look at them!”
Tang Lei jerked his chin toward the girls. There were twelve of them in total, and not a single one was chatting. “Jiang Shan is that pretty and still works that hard. What reason do I have to slack off?”
Lu Jiuling swept a glance over them.
Xu Shaowei was wearing denim shorts today, paired with black over-the-knee socks and white sneakers. On top, she had on an orange hooded sweatshirt. It was extremely loose, yet still couldn’t hide the pair of big bombs on her chest.
But some students passing by didn’t look at her. Instead, they glanced at Jiang Shan, who stood by the flowerbed on the left.
She was a girl with an oval face, wearing a white dress. Her long black hair hung naturally behind her head like a waterfall pouring straight down, making her neck and small face appear even fairer.
“Want one?”
Lu Jiuling held the bag out to Tang Lei. He noticed that his friend wasn’t looking at Jiang Shan’s face, nor her chest, but at the school beauty’s jade-like feet.
Indeed!
White lace-up sandals were bound around skin so fair that the veins could be seen, giving off an indescribable beauty.
“What filling?”
Tang Lei asked while casually taking one and biting into it.
“Pretty, right?”
Lu Jiuling teased.
“Pretty!”
Tang Lei answered instinctively. Only after speaking did he realize something was wrong. He hurriedly shifted his gaze away, his face flushing red.
“A secret crush is also part of youth. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”
Lu Jiuling didn’t say something like, “If you like her, go chase her, don’t leave regrets,” because that was impossible. Jiang Shan not only had outstanding looks, her grades were also first in the entire school. There was a ninety-nine percent chance she would get into a top 985 university in Jinghai or Shangjing. Lu Jiuling and Tang Lei simply weren’t on the same level as her.
“Why don’t you give it a try?”
Tang Lei sighed. “I don’t have a chance, but you might. After all, you’ve got the face of a host!”
“Get lost!”
Lu Jiuling rolled his eyes at his friend.
The face of a host?
Trust you to come up with that!
“I’m serious!”
Jiang Shan stood beside the flowerbed at the school gate, holding a book in one hand as she recited. The golden morning sunlight fell over her, and that quiet poise, that elegance, made her seem like a lily standing aloof from the world!
How could no one like such a pure and beautiful girl?
Tang Lei felt that Lu Jiuling was definitely afraid of being rejected if he confessed, and losing face.
“My friend, you should have a little more confidence. If you succeed, then even if you don’t get into university, these three years of high school will still put you in the winners’ group!”
The more Tang Lei talked, the more he felt that Lu Jiuling should give it a try!
What if Jiang Shan also liked his friend?
That way, even after they graduated high school, he could still often hear news about Jiang Shan because of Lu Jiuling!
Of course,
Tang Lei didn’t have any filthy thoughts. He only wanted to know whether her life in the future would be happy or not.
“It’s not that I lack confidence. I’m just not interested!”
Lu Jiuling glanced at Jiang Shan.
She was pretty, yes, but unfortunately, she wasn’t his type.
Lu Jiuling couldn’t help thinking of the landlady. The way she looked in a silk nightdress—that was what he called beautiful, and to Lu Jiuling, it was far more attractive.
“Then who are you interested in? Someone with a good figure? That’s not right either. You even rejected Xu Shaowei’s confession!”
Whenever this matter came up, Tang Lei was insanely envious.
If Xu Shaowei confessed to him, he could brag about it for the rest of his life.
“Just memorize your text!”
Lu Jiuling noticed that the baby-faced girl beside Jiang Shan was secretly glancing at him.
Around 7:35, a tour bus with the promotional slogan “Anzhou Welcomes You” painted on its side drove up to the school gate. After making a U-turn, it stopped by the roadside.
Through the windshield, one could see a white sign printed with: Anzhou No. 2 High School, Class 287.
This was the bus Tang Weimin had rented from a travel company, booked for two days.
“The bus is here. Let’s get on!”
Tang Lei had long since grown tired of standing. Now that he saw the bus arrive, he immediately tugged Lu Jiuling.
He got carsick, and he wanted to look at the scenery along the way, so he planned to get on first and find a window seat near the front.
Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
People started sending messages in the class group chat.
Ke Xinyi: Is it this bus? Can we get on and sit down first? My legs are sore from standing.
Ning Qian: What is Xu Shuo doing? Why isn’t he here yet?
Xu Shuo was the class monitor. In the girls’ eyes, for this kind of collective outing, certain matters needed him to communicate and coordinate.
Tang Lei: The sign says Anzhou No. 2 High School, Class 287. It’s right. Let’s get on first!
Li Yinuo: I’m already on.
Xu Shuo: @Ning Qian First of all, I’m not late. Secondly, you’re almost eighteen and about to be an adult. Do you still need to rely on others for even this tiny thing???
Xu Shuo used three question marks in a row, and his wording was forceful.
The atmosphere in the class group immediately turned a little unpleasant.
But everyone knew Xu Shuo’s temper. He was rather irritable, domineering, and liked to snap at people. Only when facing Jiang Shan would he become gentle.
Of course, if Xu Shuo had a bad personality, everyone wouldn’t necessarily indulge him. But the problem was that he ranked second in the entire grade, second only to Jiang Shan.
In a place like school, grades determined status.
No one was willing to provoke the homeroom teacher’s favored general.
Ning Qian: @Xu Shuo That’s not what I meant. I was just asking why you hadn’t come yet!
Ning Qian was too embarrassed to send “sorry” in the class group, feeling it would be too humiliating. But the pitiful emoji she sent was enough to show that she had backed down.
Xu Shuo didn’t bother with Ning Qian anymore and instead sent one sentence: Those who are here, get on the bus first. Don’t run around, and don’t be late. If you miss the time, we won’t wait!
When Tang Lei saw Lu Jiuling get on the bus, he immediately waved.
“Here!”
On the left side, fourth row, Tang Lei had already opened the window.
Lu Jiuling didn’t care. Anywhere was fine.
He walked over, stuffed his backpack onto the luggage rack, and sat down.
It was Tang Lei’s first time going on a trip, so he was very excited and wanted to chat with Lu Jiuling. But in the next second, he shut his mouth and sat up straight.
Because the baby-faced girl and Jiang Shan had sat in the row in front of them.