18

"It's raining so hard, why didn't you bring an umbrella?" Li Muqing poured Xiao Jian a glass of water and handed it to him.

Xiao Jian picked up his water glass and took a big gulp, but choked and coughed for a while. Then, he put down the glass, placed the clothes on the sofa in Xiao Jian's living room, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "I... I was in a hurry to bring you these clothes, and I was afraid you'd be angry with me..." Xiao Jian's voice trailed off. Li Muqing couldn't help but think that Xiao Jian was being a bit silly. She sat on the sofa, picked up the clothes Xiao Jian had just put down, and threw them at him: "Go take a shower first. Look at you, all soaking wet. You'll catch a cold. You don't even take care of yourself. You're a junior in college! I just can't do anything with you. Go on!"

Li Muqing pushed Xiao Jian into the bathroom and sat on the sofa by herself to watch TV.

A short while later, Xiao Jian finished washing up. As he dried his hair, he saw Li Muqing sitting in the living room, walked over with a smile, stood in front of her, and asked, "Li Muqing, are you still angry with me?"

"Idiot! You're blocking my view of the TV! Get out of the way!" Li Muqing kicked Xiao Jian aside, and Xiao Jian sat down next to her. He looked at Li Muqing but remained silent for a long time.

"Why are you looking at me? Haven't you seen me before?" Li Muqing's face flushed slightly under Xiao Jian's gaze, and she couldn't help but exclaim.

“I’m waiting for your answer…” Xiao Jian said with a smile.

"Xiao Jian, I'm not trying to be mean, but when will you ever stop being so dense? You got played by those two women, and you're still defending them? What? You've got your eye on them?" Li Muqing rolled her eyes at Xiao Jian and continued watching TV.

"How could I... I'm way too good for her." Xiao Jian answered sincerely, which angered Li Muqing, who grabbed a cushion from the sofa and smashed it over his head: "Idiot! What makes you so unworthy of her? What's wrong with you? Don't look down on yourself. If I hear you again, I'll cripple you!"

Xiao Jian clutched his head, howling as Li Muqing hit him. Taking advantage of a moment when Li Muqing was catching her breath, he grabbed her hand and said, "Stop it, stop it. My hair is still wet. It wouldn't be good if I got your things dirty, would it?"

When Xiao Jian said this, his nose almost touched Li Muqing's nose. Looking into Xiao Jian's clear eyes, Li Muqing suddenly felt a little hot. He kicked Xiao Jian hard and cursed, "If you haven't left before I come out of the shower, I'll do you tonight." Then he went into the bathroom.

Li Muqing had been washing for a short while when he heard Xiao Jian standing outside the door say, "Then I'll go back first. I'll wash these clothes and return them to you later. Thank you for today... I... I'm leaving."

Li Muqing suddenly remembered that it was still raining outside, so she quickly opened the bathroom door and called out to Xiao Jian at the door, "The umbrella is in the closet next to the shoe cabinet, take one yourself."

Xiao Jian turned around and saw Li Muqing peeking out of the bathroom door, her clean upper body naked and covered in water droplets. Suddenly, he felt a surge of blood rushing through his body. Without daring to look at Li Muqing again, he found an umbrella and quickly ran out.

Seeing Xiao Jian run away in a panic, Li Muqing felt that Xiao Jian was probably still traumatized by what happened last time. He felt a tightness in his chest, and at the same time, he recalled the various scenes from last time, and the face-to-face confrontation with Xiao Jian just now. Even though he had just finished showering and was taking a cold shower, he couldn't extinguish the burning desire within him. His hand slowly moved to his genitals, beginning a kind of stimulating yet lonely activity that almost every man occasionally engages in.

Xiao Jian never imagined that after that fleeting glimpse, he would be unable to find Li Muqing again. He had already been to Li Muqing's dormitory three times, each time finding her empty. Xiao Jian had no choice but to return dejectedly, carrying his clothes. He couldn't find Li Muqing during his general education classes either. He asked Wang Youai, who only said that Li Muqing was busy lately, but didn't know what she was busy with. Xiao Jian was puzzled. Last time, Li Muqing seemed to have stopped being angry, so why was she avoiding him now? Had he misunderstood? That shouldn't be the case; although Li Muqing was a bit stubborn, she wasn't the petty type. Xiao Jian couldn't figure it out, so he decided to continue searching. He refused to believe that Li Muqing had simply vanished into thin air!

During the few days Xiao Jian searched for Li Muqing, he suddenly and unknowingly became the envy and jealous enemy of many boys. Because a strikingly beautiful woman—Wang Ting—had appeared beside him.

Wang Ting and Xiao Jian are from the same hometown. She felt guilty towards Xiao Jian for the time she and Xining teamed up to tease him. So now that she knows Xiao Jian through Qiu Jie, she often asks him to have lunch with her in the cafeteria. She also frequently recommends her classmates to buy pancakes from Xiao Jian's stall. It's not that she's deliberately making long pancakes for him; she genuinely enjoys his pancakes. With Qiu Jie's promotion, Xiao Jian's business has been booming lately.

Ever since Xiao Jian took off his mask while selling pancakes, many young girls who came to buy them started having impure thoughts. They would often ask him all sorts of questions while he was making pancakes, some of which were quite direct. This made Xiao Jian's clean, dark face turn red, which made the girls even happier and more infatuated.

Xiao Jian spent a lot of his savings on a haircut at that barbershop last time, but it wasn't a waste of time. Now, Xiao Jian has risen from obscurity to become a legendary figure, like a dark horse. Coupled with his honest personality, he has won the favor of many girls. Xiao Jian really hopes that Li Muqing can see him now, so that his little vanity can be completely satisfied.

In other words, Xiao Jian now only needs the affirmation of one person, and that is Li Muqing.

Xiao Jian never expected that he would see Li Muqing again under such circumstances.

After class that day, Xiao Jian went back to his dormitory to change into his white coat. Under Wang Youai's increasingly admiring gaze, he went downstairs, pushed his pancake cart, and arrived at his old turf, the school gate.

"That's strange... why are there so many people at the school gate today?" Xiao Jian wondered as he set up his stall, observing the crowd gathered around the fruit stall across the street. Was there some fresh fruit that he couldn't usually buy?

"Bananas are one dollar a pound, and lychees are fifty cents a pound. First come, first served, while supplies last. Come and take a look!"

This voice sounds so familiar!

Xiao Jian rushed forward and stared intently: "Li Muqing!!??"

"Hey buddy, wanna buy some fruit?"

On that somewhat sultry evening, at the gate of a university, a spirited and energetic young man was exchanging these words with a dumbfounded giant. Xiao Jian's mind was imprinted with this image for a long time, and he couldn't shake it off.

Li Muqing's smile was like the afternoon sun in autumn—warm and dazzling.