Chapter 15, Chapter 15: A Beauty...

Jiang Luo was still in a daze when Gu Shiyue took a plush keychain out of his coat pocket and handed it to him.

Jiang Luo was taken aback; it was a charm on his backpack.

The people around were unaware of the situation and assumed that the pendant was a gift from Gu Shiyue to Jiang Luo. The sight of a boy handing something to another boy in public, especially a plush pendant, was both strange and intriguing. The two girls next to them exchanged glances with subtle smiles in their eyes.

"Is it yours?" Gu Shiyue asked him to confirm.

"Yes, yes." Jiang Luo quickly took the pendant and looked at it, then looked up and asked Gu Shiyue, "Senior, where did you find it?"

"I left it at the restaurant. Someone from the restaurant just called me."

Not long after Gu Shiyue left the academy, he received a call from a staff member at the barbecue restaurant. He had paid the bill for the meal, and the restaurant had his contact information. The pendant was probably pulled off when Jiang Luo got up and got stuck on the wooden back of the chair. The waiter found it under the chair while clearing the table, put it on the counter, and waited for a while until the customer returned to retrieve it, then contacted Gu Shiyue.

The barbecue restaurant wasn't far, so Gu Shiyue went straight back to get the pendant. He had originally planned to return it to Jiang Luo in a few days, but since Xiang Qin had just asked him if he wanted to play basketball, he agreed and came over. Xiang Qin and the others were originally going to play on the outdoor court, but they came to the gymnasium because of Gu Shiyue.

"You went back to the barbecue restaurant to get it for me?" Jiang Luo was a little surprised. Gu Shiyue hadn't contacted him, but he had actually made the trip himself. "Ah... thank you, senior."

Gu Shiyue didn't say anything, but Cheng Jiashu greeted him from the side: "Hello, Brother Yue."

Gu Shiyue looked at him.

"You still remember me, don't you?" Cheng Jiashu smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Remember."

"Alright, alright, good that you remember." Cheng Jiashu said cheekily, deliberately bringing up what Jiang Luo had just said, "Hey, we can't call you 'Brother Yue' anymore, we should change how we address you."

Gu Shiyue, puzzled, raised an eyebrow: "What's your name?"

Jiang Luo immediately sensed something was wrong, and before she could stop him, Cheng Jiashu had already spoken: "My beauty..."

Gu Shiyue still didn't understand and thought it referred to that "family member." Cheng Jiashu grinned mischievously and continued to cause trouble for Jiang Luo: "Someone said it, it's about your beauty—"

Before Cheng Jiashu could finish speaking, Jiang Luo covered his mouth.

Jiang Luo glared at him, her eyes questioning: Are you going to destroy me?

Cheng Jiashu was overjoyed, but he never expected Jiang Luo to react so strongly.

Gu Shiyue had already guessed what Cheng Jiashu had left unsaid, but he still asked Jiang Luo, "Why are you covering his mouth? Is there something you can't let me hear?"

Jiang Luo turned to look at him, her hand still covering Cheng Jiashu's mouth, and said with a dry laugh, "What good things could he possibly say? Don't listen to him."

Jiang Luo covered Cheng Jiashu's mouth; the two of them were actually quite intimate. Cheng Jiashu made two "mmm" sounds, pretending, but he could easily push Jiang Luo's hand away. He was just playing with Jiang Luo and seemed to be enjoying it. Gu Shiyue saw all this, but his face remained expressionless.

"Take his hand down." Gu Shiyue looked at Jiang Luo, his tone unhurried. "Let him finish what he has to say."

Jiang Luo pursed his lips and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I'll tell you later, okay? You don't need to listen to him."

It wasn't that he was afraid Gu Shiyue would find out about the joke he had just made; it was just that there were other people around. He didn't want outsiders to hear it and think he was making fun of Gu Shiyue.

Gu Shiyue didn't say anything, just looked at him. Jiang Luo finally took his hand away, standing there with a droopy face and a little guilty.

Cheng Jiashu quieted down now, his mouth freed but no longer babbling: "Should I say more? I won't."

Gu Shiyue didn't press him further, but looked at Jiang Luo and said, "I'll wait for you to tell me yourself when you turn back."

Jiang Luo was taken aback at first, then nodded quickly.

Xiang Qin came over and greeted Jiang Luo: "Good evening, junior."

Jiang Luo smiled and said, "Good evening."

Xiang Qin glanced at Gu Shiyue and said to Jiang Luo, "So that's why he came over. It's you here."

When Xiang Qin came in, he was sandwiched among a group of people, and Jiang Luo didn't even notice him.

"You knew your junior was here all along, didn't you?" Xiang Qin looked at Gu Shiyue and raised an eyebrow. "I don't think your eyesight is that good. You saw him as soon as you came in. No wonder you changed locations to come here specifically to find your junior?"

Xiang Qin was unaware that Gu Shiyue had come to deliver a pendant to Jiang Luo, and chuckled, asking, "What's going on? Did you two arrange this?"

Jiang Luo said, "No, my senior brought me something. I just left it at the restaurant, and he brought it back for me."

One sentence led to a whole host of other things, and Xiang Qin reacted quickly: "Eating? You two were eating together just now?"

"Ah." Jiang Luo nodded.

Xiang Qin glanced at Gu Shiyue, somewhat surprised.

"I'm leaving," Gu Shiyue said.

“Then we’ll head over first,” Xiang Qin said to Jiang Luo.

"Okay." Jiang Luo nodded.

Gu Shiyue turned and left without saying anything more, leaving Jiang Luo with only his back view, looking like he had simply come to give him the pendant.

"You know a lot of people, don't you?" Cheng Jiashu draped his arm over Jiang Luo's shoulder. "How come this is another senior I know?"

Jiang Luo slapped his arm away: "You're always stirring up trouble."

Cheng Jiashu laughed: "What trouble did I cause? Isn't this what you called a date with a beautiful woman? I just relayed it and it turned into causing trouble?"

"I know you too well; you love to watch the drama unfold."

"You're the one talking! Why are you reacting so strongly?" Cheng Jiashu never expected Jiang Luo to react so strongly. He was just being cheeky at first, but Jiang Luo's strong reaction made him even more excited. Later, he did seem to be enjoying the show.

"He's a senior, don't make jokes about him in front of so many people."

Later, the group didn't stay there any longer. They went to play basketball for a while, about half an hour, before Jiang Luo and Cheng Jiashu went off to rest. While drinking water, Cheng Jiashu scrolled through his phone. Jiang Luo was going to a comic book convention and autograph session during the National Day holiday, and he saw related posts on his homepage. He clicked on the post, looked at it, and asked Jiang Luo, "Who are you going to be at the comic book convention this time?"

"We'll see," Jiang Luo said.

"Oh, still keeping it a secret."

Cheng Jiashu casually browsed two posts, and the rest were all related to "Luo C" and "comic conventions." He scrolled down and spotted a post with a malicious title—"Waiting for a Luo C to be exposed and die, hehe."

Cheng Jiashu hissed and clicked to take a look.

No matter how perfect someone is, it's impossible for everyone to like them once they appear in the public eye. The comments section is a mixed bag, with all sorts of opinions. This title attracted a lot of haters; a group of people who are usually quiet suddenly came out into the spotlight.

-Are there still people who don't know he's heavily photoshopped? My friend has seen what he looks like in person, hahaha, only those brainless fans believe those heavily photoshopped pictures.

- You idiot, haven't you seen the videos he posted? Show me a Photoshop version.

-Didn't you know that videos can be edited?

-Huh? Offline? You guys don't know that Luo C has never participated in offline events? You're just spreading rumors.

-He took the commission, sister. Of course, some people have met him offline.

What's going on in this comment section? Why are there so many trolls? The person on the first floor said their friend saw him in person? If they really saw him in person, would they really say his photos are heavily photoshopped? Good heavens, spreading rumors doesn't even cost anything...

-Those who have booked with me are here. Haters in the comments section, stop arguing. You'll be crying when you're proven wrong at the autograph session.

Hahahaha, I really find you haters hilarious.

-Don't laugh, you'll behave yourself when your teacher Luo C is exposed to the light of day.

Honestly, I don't really believe he looks as good in person as in the photos. They're overly photoshopped; it looks fake.

...

This is Jiang Luo's first time participating in an offline event. Even before she showed up, she was already generating a lot of buzz online, and some haters came running after her.

Cheng Jiashu scoffed, muttered "idiot," and rolled up his sleeves, ready to passionately chime in and leave his mark in the comments section. Jiang Luo turned to look at him: "What's wrong? Who are you cursing?"

“Call me an idiot.” Cheng Jiashu typed rapidly, his eyebrows dancing with excitement.

Jiang Luo leaned over to take a look and caught a glimpse of the post's title.

Often, malice is without reason. Jiang Luo smiled and didn't take it seriously: "Ignore them. They'll only attract more people and ruin your mood."

“I’ll criticize them one by one, and I’ll criticize them all if a bunch of them come.” Cheng Jiashu stared at the screen, typing rapidly. “Don’t you think these people are funny?”

After a burst of intense talking, Cheng Jiashu felt much better and picked up the mineral water next to him, opened it, and took a big gulp.

Jiang Luo almost laughed: "Is it really necessary to get so angry at you?"

"I can't stand people talking about you and spreading rumors. I don't have your patience. You can put up with it, but I can't."

Jiang Luo smiled and said, "Thank you, Big Tree."

Cheng Jiashu hissed, glanced at him sideways, and rubbed his arms: "Can you please not do this? It's giving me goosebumps."

Jiang Luo smiled but didn't say anything.

One of the people Cheng Jiashu had invited to play basketball had to leave early due to other commitments. They were originally playing doubles, but they couldn't play without one player on the court, so Cheng Jiashu went up to fill in. Jiang Luo was still sitting in the stands keeping watch, and as he watched, his gaze drifted towards the basketball court.

Gu Shiyue was on the basketball court. Jiang Luo glanced over there out of curiosity. He was drawn to Gu Shiyue because he played basketball so well and his movements were so beautiful.

Jiang Luo thought Gu Shiyue was refined and cultured during dinner, but he didn't expect him to be completely different when playing basketball. He reacted quickly, moved nimbly, and was obviously aggressive.

The crowd around the basketball court had noticeably increased, and most of them were girls. There hadn't been this many people in the stadium before; it was clear that Gu Shiyue had attracted them after entering the court. Why was Jiang Luo so sure? Because the cheers were the loudest when Gu Shiyue scored, almost turning a casual game into a serious match.

During a break, Gu Shiyue walked to the basketball hoop. Someone threw him a bottle of mineral water, which he caught, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and then suddenly glanced toward the badminton court.

Jiang Luo paused, and their eyes met.

Jiang Luo stood there, oblivious to the badminton shuttlecock flying towards him from the court.

"Hey Jiang Luo!" Cheng Jiashu called out.

Jiang Luo turned his head at the sound, and a badminton shuttlecock came hurtling towards him, whizzing past his nose. If Cheng Jiashu hadn't yelled, the shuttlecock wouldn't have hit Jiang Luo in the face.

"Holy crap!" Cheng Jiashu rushed over.

Jiang Luo covered his nose, his eyes stinging a little. The feathers from the badminton shuttlecock had scratched his eyes, bringing tears to his eyes.

"Are you alright? Damn, I knew I shouldn't have called you. The ball wouldn't have hit your face. Take your hand away so I can see."

Jiang Luo blinked, tears streaming down her face.

Cheng Jiashu thought he was crying from the pain: "Damn, it can't be that bad, can it? Take your hand away, let me see."

Jiang Luo removed his hand and found blood on his palm. There was some redness at the base of his nose, marks from being hit by the ball, and his nose was also scratched by feathers, with several shallow cuts from which blood seeped out.

Gu Shiyue handed the bottled water to Xiang Qin, who took it with a puzzled look. Seeing that Gu Shiyue had turned and left, Xiang Qin quickly asked, "Where are you going?"

"If you need anything, call me." Gu Shiyue said, walking straight towards the badminton court.

The people on the field rushed over. The one who accidentally hit Jiang Luo was Cheng Jiashu's roommate. He was shocked to see blood flowing from Jiang Luo's face and quickly apologized, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"

His girlfriend slapped his arm and complained, "Why did you hit me so hard? Look, you've made me bleed!"

"Oh no...how would I know..."

Jiang Luo quickly said, "It's nothing, it's nothing."

Jiang Luo was fine. He didn't feel much pain; he guessed it was just a minor scrape on his nose.

A girl next to Jiang Luo handed her a tissue: "Quickly press the wound to stop the bleeding. Luckily it didn't hit your eye. Do you want to go back and disinfect it first, so the wound doesn't get infected..."

"Thank you." Jiang Luo took the tissue and wiped his nose. The tissue stung when it touched the wound, and he hissed as he closed his eyes.

"Where did it smash?" Gu Shiyue's voice rang out from the crowd, and Jiang Luo suddenly looked up.

Everyone turned around, and Gu Shiyue walked through them to Jiang Luo. The wound on Jiang Luo's nose was neither big nor deep, but blood was still seeping out of it. When Gu Shiyue came over, the blood was still seeping from his nose.

Jiang Luo blinked and obediently replied, "It hit my nose."

A note from the author:

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