“Shut up.” Qian Wei felt like her whole body was on fire. “Why are you saying so much? I am a girl. Aren’t you ashamed to say that in front of a girl.”
“Forget it. The last time I flipped through one of your romance novels, it was even more explicit. The hero even went at it seven times in a night. Didn’t you read that with relish?”
Because of Qian Chuan, Qian Wei’s mind was filled with words that were not suitable for children, such as ‘amazing size’ and ‘giant’. When she thought about what happened with Lu Xun just now, she immediately felt extremely uncomfortable. Without saying anything else, she quickly fled before Lu Xun could come back to the room.
Qian Wei ran back to her room, closed the door, and began to hide. But just as she had managed to adjust her mood and regain her calm, she heard Qian Chuan knocking at the door.
“Come out Qian Wei, come play cards with us.” His voice was loud as always, “Lu Xun, Mo Zixin, and I are all ready but three people aren’t enough. Come join us, ah~, it’s best to have four people for cards.”
In 2009, the era of mobile games like Arena of Valor or Onmyoji had not yet arrived, so card games were popular on campus. Qian Wei remembered that Qian Chuan had been obsessed for a while in college, and sure enough, he seemed determined to play cards tonight. Qian Wei didn’t want to go out but her brother kept knocking on the door.
In the midst of the piercing knocking, Qian Wei thought things through and finally decided to grit her teeth and face things head-on. After all, even if she could avoid Lu Xun today, they would have to meet each other at some point, and ultimately he would be her boss in the future. Besides, no matter how embarrassing something was, wouldn’t it be solved as long as you were thick-skinned enough?
When Qian Wei finally went downstairs, Lu Xun, Qian Chuan, and Mo Zixin were all already waiting around a table. While Mo Zixin sat at the small coffee table, Qian Chuan was naturally pouring tea for her from the side, while Lu Xun seemed content to stay out of it. Lu Xun had changed out of his pajamas and was now wearing casual clothes. His skin was still snowy-white and he looked calm and indifferent, as if the person who had viciously pressed Qian Wei down just now did not exist. Qian Wei wasn’t sure if it was just her illusion but she felt that when she looked at him she always felt that Lu Xun’s eyelashes would tremble slightly, and he seemed no longer as calm and tranquil as before.
“Come on!”
Qian Chuan warmly called Qian Wei to sit down, and they all began to play cards.
By the end of a game, Mo Zixin ducked out to go to the restroom and Qian Chuan took the opportunity to run outside to buy a milk tea for Mo Zixin, leaving only Lu Xun and Qian Wei in the room.
Qian Wei had just taken a sip of water but for some reason her throat was dry and her eye was twitching. She had never before felt so awkward being along with Lu Xun as she did now. Meanwhile, Lu Xun, even though only he and Qian Wei were left in the room, he kept his head down and did not look at Qian Wei at all.
“Just now, that was an accident.”
While feeling mortally embarrassed, Qian Wei opened her mouth to speak. But as soon as she opened her mouth she felt so mortified that she wanted to kill herself. Qian Wei didn’t know why but whenever she was facing Lu Xun she always seemed to lose her ability to think clearly and control her emotions. Honestly, she felt a little confused. If you added it all up then she was close to her thirties while Lu Xun was still in his twenties, but why was she the one always making careless mistakes? Was she trembling because she knew that he was her future boss?
Lu Xun’s lips flattened into a line and he said nothing. He did look up at Qian Wei though, then picked up one of the bottles of beer from the table and briskly popped the can’s tab.
After all, he was her future boss so she couldn’t just let things sit in such an awkward state.
Qian Wei, who finished making the necessary mental adjustments, explained, “Really, that was not my fault. The quilt you were using was obviously Qian Chuan’s. I know because that quilt is exactly the same as my quilt. It’s the kind we both usually carry when we go out, so I thought it was Qian Chuan under the quilt. I didn’t know it was you.”
“So you’re saying it was not your fault. Does that mean it was my fault?”
Lu Xun gave Qian Wei a superficial glance before quickly turning his head away again.
“That… that’s not what I meant. I just don’t understand why you were using Qian Chaun’s quilt.”
Lu Xun seemed to have made up his mind to ignore Qian Wei so she had no choice but to sit quietly and bask in the awkward atmosphere.
Qian Wei looked at Lu Xun’s profile and was once again struck by how beautiful the lines of his face really were. Her thoughts began to scatter randomly as she was mesmerized by Lu Xun’s profile, and she said: “Are you… do you admire Qian Chuan? Is that why you were using his quilt?”
Lu Xun finally turned around and faced Qian Wei. Although Qian Wei tried to control herself, she couldn’t help glancing down at Lu Xun’s lower body. With this glance, memories of the scene she had just seen surged up and Qian Wei felt even more embarrassed.
“Didn’t you see very clearly just now whether I like women or men?”
Lu Xun spoke through gritted teeth and put special emphasis on the two words ‘very clearly’.
Qian Wei blushed and pretended not to understand: “I don’t know what you’re talking about, how would I know whether you like men and women? Actually, it’s very hard to say, because there are some people, called bisexuals, who like women as well as men. There are also some people who are convinced that they absolutely only like women, they think that they are straight as a steel beam, but in fact, they just hadn’t met the right man. Once they meet the right man, they will bend faster than anyone else. Especially for a good-looking man like you, it’s even harder to say for sure. I mean, you know, 100% pure gold is soft and easy to bend and, in the same way, men who are extremely good-looking or have especially high quality can also easily bend. When something is excellent and pure to the extreme, it’s more malleable…” Qian Wei spread her hands helplessly. “Otherwise, it’s really hard for me to understand why you wanted to use Qian Chuan’s quilt.”
“He had a soda that exploded and soiled the sheets on both beds, so when I wanted to sleep, he lent me his sheets first.” Lu Xun was silent for a long time before finally giving that answer. Then he glanced at Qian Wei and said, “Why are you so hopeful that I like men? What’s in it for you if I like men?”
“No, it makes perfect sense when you explain it like that. How could I be hopeful that you would like men? If you didn’t like women, it would be a loss to all women!” Qian Wei quickly began spouting flattery, “Now the truth finally came out, it seems that this thing can’t be blamed on me at all. It’s not my fault and it’s not your fault. It’s all that son of a bitch, Qian Chuans’s, fault! It was a total accident and this was all just a beautiful and terrible misunderstanding.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Lu Xun frowned and looked a little embarrassed. But as if to cover that up he took a hard sip of his beer, “This never happened.”
“Hey guys, two cups of hot milk tea for the two ladies!”
Just when she was feeling awkward, Qian Chuan came back. Just as he stepped through the door, Mo Zixin also came back. After that, the four people played several games of cards while the rest of the group trickled back from watching the fireflies one after another. Finally, Qian Wei was able to use Liu Shiyun as an excuse to run away.
“That firefly forest was really great. It’s really a pity that you didn’t come out and see. I’ll show you the picture I took. It’s super beautiful.”
“By the way, when we went to the firefly forest, Li Zhiqiang, the one who started the game of truth or dare before, confessed his love. It was really romantic. But just when that was happening a couple from the liberal arts college quarreled over something and ended up breaking up when they came back. Hey, Qian Wei, are you listening? Give me a reaction here!”
“These mosquito bites itch too much, I can’t think straight right now.”
Liu Shiyun mumbled: “Where were there any mosquitoes?”
Qian Wei absent-mindedly listened to Liu Shiyun gossiping. Although Lu Xun told her to act as if it had never happened, she felt like the more she wanted to forget about it, the more she could not forget at all. All the way until Qian Wei fell asleep, her mind was still full of Lu Xun’s vicious eyes as he pressed her down on the bed.
This night, Qian Wei woke up with a nightmare where Lu Xun threatened not to send her year-end bonus. She felt itchy all over her body. She didn’t know what was going on, if the mosquitoes in this forest park were especially poisonous or something, but Qian Wei had never felt so itchy in her life. The worst part was that her whole body seemed to itch and scratching only made it even itchier.
Qian Wei blearily wandered to the bathroom and turned on the light. As soon as she saw her reflection, she completely woke up.
It was obviously not from mosquito bites, she clearly had a skin allergy. Qian Wei saw blotchy red patches on her arms and neck. She couldn’t help itching and scratching a bit but immediately the rash became more serious.
“Liu Shiyun!”
Qian Wei hurriedly ran back to her room and tried to wake up Liu Shiyun for help. But as a result, her best friend only rolled over and murmured, “Leave me the last rib!” Then she fell deeply asleep again and began to snore and no matter how much Qian Wei shouted there was no further response.
Qian Wei had no choice but to go downstairs and knock on Qian Chuan’s door.
“Qian Chuan open the door!”
Unfortunately, there was no answer from the room, both people inside seemed to be sleeping soundly. Qian Wei shouted a few more times but there was no response. At the same time, her body itched unbearably and Qian Wei scratched at it while raising her voice.
“Open the door! This is the police! Urgent crackdown on pornography and other illegal activities!”
The door still did not open.
Qian Wei took another deep breath and shouted: “Special massage service! Full night package! 888*! Don’t miss it!”
Finally, the door opened vigorously with a click.
“Qian Chuan, are you kidding me? You only wake up for a massage service? How can your mind be full of such thoughts** at such a young age?”
But when Qian Wei looked up she instantly regretted it. Because it was not Qian Chuan who was standing in front of her, instead it was a bleary-eyed Lu Xun in his pajamas.
“Where’s Qian Chuan?” Facing Lu Xun, Qian Wei instinctively became submissive, “I-I’m looking for Qian Chuan…”
Lu Xun had been awakened in the middle of the night so his face was naturally not very happy. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door: “Qian Wei, you’d better have a good reason for pounding on my door in the middle of the night.”
“I had an allergic reaction! I can’t stand the itching! ” Qian Wei strove to prove her innocence and hurriedly rolled up one of the legs of her pants. “You see, I have a rash so I came to get Qian Chuan to take me to the hospital. Liu Shiyun drank last night so now she won’t wake up. I don’t know any of the forest park staff so, in the middle of the night, I thought it would be safer to find a man to bring me to the hospital.” She poked her head forward and looked behind Lu Xun. “So could you call Qian Chuan for me?”
“Wait a minute.” Lu Xun finished listening to her and slammed the door shut again.
After a while, the door reopened. When Qian Wei looked up and saw who it was, she was stupefied.
“Lu Xun?”
It wasn’t Qian Chuan in the doorway, it was still Lu Xun. But he had changed out of his pajamas and was wearing a simple T-shirt with a pair of jeans. His eyes no longer looked bleary and he looked at Qian Wei calmly: “Didn’t you want to go to the hospital? Aren’t you itching so much that you can’t stand it?”
“It itches, but…”
“Then what are you waiting for? Let’s go, I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Qian Wei subconsciously followed Lu Xun, but she was still confused: “You could have just woke Qian Chuan up for me. You don’t have to take me yourself.”
“Last night Qian Chuan drank five bottles of beer alone. Then he sang and danced for half an hour before collapsing in bed, and now he is completely asleep.”
“It’s fine, you don’t have to pity him. You could just kick him until he wakes up.”
“Qian Wei.”
“Hmm?”
Lu Xun glanced at her and said, “If you talk any more, I’ll go back.”
“I’m shutting up, I’m shutting up.”
Before she knew it, Qian Wei had followed Lu Xun out of the cabin area. Then she watched Lu Xun call a taxi and followed him into the car. The nearest hospital was three kilometers away and after the taxi arrived, Lu Xun had Qian Wei wait in the hospital lobby while he paid for her trip to the emergency room. Then he accompanied Qian Wei inside. Fortunately, this hospital was famous for its dermatology and hematology departments, so it’s emergency department had skilled dermatologists on staff.
It was the middle of the night so, although she was having an allergic reaction, Qian Wei was also tired and confused. Especially after she arrived at the hospital, she was overwhelmed by the crowd of sick and weary people coming and going in the hospital lobby. But by looking at Lu Xun following him Qian Wei felt relieved. Lu Xun was Lu Xun, someone she could always trust, so she didn’t have to use her brain as long as she just followed him. That was probably just one of his characteristics. Whether it was now or in her past life, Qian Wei always couldn’t help but want to rely on him whenever she was with him.
The dermatology emergency department was on the first floor. When Qian Wei followed Lu Xun there she was startled by all the people waiting in line outside the department. Since it was the middle of the night there were not many people seeing doctors in the general department, but for some reason, outside the dermatology department, there were more than a dozen people. There were some noisy young people who were jostling for position. Three of them obviously knew each other and looked like they were in conflict.
“You tell me, how many green hats have you given me while out there! You! How else could I get this disease?! Why else would I be hanging around the dermatology emergency department of the hospital this late at night?! You must have got it from her while you were out there having sex with her! Is that the kind of woman you wanted to break up with me for?”
“What do you mean, he got it from me?! It was your boyfriend who lied and said that he was single. I dated him aboveground and I was a good person about it. But now I have been infected with this disease brought from some other woman. Why are you talking to me about it? Why don’t you ask your trash man where he got it?”
“You must have seduced him first! He is so honest and sincere so how could he…”
“You can keep your scumbag boyfriend. I don’t want him. I’m going to sue him!”
Qian Wei saw an auntie behind her sighing: “There are so many emergency patients in the middle of the night. Why are the relationships between these young men and women so messy nowadays? It will be years before my turn comes! These young people, how come they don’t know how to stay clean at such a young age? Society’s morals have really degraded. ” She looked at Qian Wei and Lu Xun meaningfully as she spoke.
Qian Wei elbowed Lu Xun impolitely: “Why don’t you go downstairs first. I think there is a 24-hour convenience store outside the hospital. You could go there for a hot drink. There’s no need to stay here.”
Lu Xun was surprised by the jab and he rejected Qian Wei’s proposal without thinking: “No, I’ll just wait here.”
Qian Wei turned and leaned close to Lu Xun’s ear. She whispered, “I think you’d better go to the convenience store and wait. You know, the full name of this dermatology department is the Department of Dermatology and Venereology, that is to say, people who have venereal diseases and people who have skin diseases are all seen together. I’m afraid those people in front are here because of venereal diseases. Even though I’m just here for a skin allergy, some people might not think so. If you stay with me, people might think that you have some kind of illness.”
Hearing her explanation, Lu Xun’s face was cloudy, but he did not leave.
“I don’t care what other people think.” He glanced down at Qian Wei. “I’ll wait for you to finish.”
Qian Wei tried to persuade him several times but Lu Xun remained unmoved. He stood upright and, even in the hospital, his noble temperament seemed as if he were standing under his own personal spotlight. It was not just the patients waiting who quietly took peeks at him, but even the young nurses who occasionally passed by could not help taking a second glance. Even though he said that he did not care about what other people thought, Qian Wei could clearly feel their eyes and every time those eyes fell on her, she felt a little uncomfortable. Although he said he didn’t care, Qian Wei knew that Lu Xun was more arrogant and had more self-esteem than most people so Qian Wei knew that if other people thought he was infected with some kind of disease he would not be very happy. But he stayed with her anyway.
Maybe because it was the middle of the night and she felt a bit dazed but Qian Wei looked up and asked: “Lu Xun, do you like me a little bit?”
Lu Xun’s whole body tensed for a second and he looked away. Qian Wei could not see his expression, she only heard his voice say, “No.”
“Then why did you accompany me to the hospital in the middle of the night?”
“A person should do a good deed every day.”
“…”
Qian Wei thought to herself, she must have been really tired to ask Lu Xun such a question. Sure enough, ‘He looked at me and smiled at me. He must like me’ is one of the three great self-delusions in life. And anyway, Lu Xun already had his white moonlight Mo Zixin in his heart.
But even though he obviously cared about other people possibly misunderstanding things, he had the sense of responsibility to do things to the end, even if it was only for a normal friend, he would accompany them all the way to the hospital and wait with them. Qian Wei thought to herself, that was probably just the kind of person Lu Xun was, someone awkward to death, who was always arrogant and showing a cold look like he didn’t want to pay attention to you, who would occasionally look at you with eyes like he was telling you that you were an idiot, but overall he was not a bad person.
*888 is like a really lucky number in Chinese numerology so I think that’s what this is referencing? Like a sleazy business would talk about how ‘lucky’ they are when advertising? I’m really not sure though sorry.