Chapter 67 Chapter 67 Four People Fighting Landlord
"Midterm exams are coming up, but as per school tradition, there will be several lectures in the next few days. The invited speakers are all academic leaders from various disciplines. Do you want to go?"
Tao Ning paused his calculations and looked up from his exercise book. A boy with a bright smile was standing in front of him, holding a basketball in his right hand. When he saw him looking at him, he scratched his hair shyly.
Worried that Tao Ning might refuse, Lu Jue continued, "Those lectures will give out a lot of classic books, and you can also meet a lot of celebrities, many of whom are compiling our textbooks..."
"Move aside."
A cold voice sounded from behind. Tao Ning looked over and saw Xu Jun standing behind Lu Jue with an indifferent expression.
Lu Jue instinctively turned aside. Xu Jun walked past him expressionlessly, never once glancing at Tao Ning, as if he were simply passing by and had been blocked. Lu Jue, however, felt somewhat annoyed. "I'm afraid his myopia has worsened. This road is clearly wide; he could have walked along the side."
Oxent only allows classrooms to accommodate about thirty students, and each classroom is spacious and bright. Students have independent seats and there is no need to walk crowdedly between two desks.
Tao Ning knew Xu Jun was doing this on purpose, though he didn't understand why. Ever since the last incident in the dormitory, Xu Jun had barely spoken to him in the past two days, his attitude as cold as if he were a stranger, not even a roommate.
Even though Tao Ning followed Xu Jun closely, like a true secret admirer, Xu Jun rarely looked at him.
As a result, there was no news of the mission being completed. Instead, there were rumors that he was "Xu Jun's little follower", "liked Xu Jun", "wanted to rely on Xu Jun's connections in school to seek protection", etc.
These rumors were beneficial to Tao Ning's mission, so he didn't explain them. Strangely, neither did Xu Jun. Tao Ning had always been unable to guess what Xu Jun was thinking, and now that the atmosphere between them had become awkward and cold, it was even harder to guess.
So Tao Ning was unsure of Xu Jun's attitude towards these rumors after their relationship cooled.
Until yesterday, Tao Ning still kept her head down, silently following behind Xu Jun. Someone from the student union saw her and jokingly asked, "President Xu, your roommate and henchman is behind you. Do you want to invite him in for a drink of water?"
Tao Ning stopped and quietly raised his head. The man's back was handsome and tall. After a moment, he heard Xu Jun say, "I don't know him well."
This statement caused a huge stir, and soon the rumor that "Tao Ning hooked up with Xu Jun but was rejected" spread. On the Oxent forum, someone even asked sincerely: "I remember Tao Ning was having an affair with that guy, so why is Xu involved now?"
The replies to the follow-up posts are a mess.
From "What's there that Song Yucong can't say? His family has been screwed over" to "Ahhh, you don't know how cute and beautiful Tao Ning is, she's simply an Omega O in anime", "Is it a threesome? I love reading it", "The person above made a mistake, it's a four-player Landlord game. Last time I saw him get out of a Mercedes Benz, followed by a gangster (suspected)", "Can you cut off all feelings and love? I'll continue to bet on Xu Jun to be first in this midterm."
......
This question post was blocked within an hour, and the poster was even banned for ninety-nine years. As everyone knows, the school forum is managed by the Student Union. As for who in the Student Union banned it, no one knows.
Thinking of Xu Jun saying that he was not familiar with him, Tao Ning still felt a little sad even though he knew it was just said in anger, but he was not a person who gave up easily, so he continued to follow Xu Jun.
Even when the midterm exam was approaching, Tao Ning took out a booklet from his pocket, lowered his head to recite the book while following Xu Jun. It can be said that he was able to do both study tasks and even did three sets of papers that were somewhat biased when he returned to the dormitory in the evening.
The familiar mechanical voice in my mind was indescribably ironic: [It seems you've adapted well.]
Tao Ning almost ignored this "new system", and he felt that these words did not have even one percent of Song Yucong's offensive power, so he was immune to this harmless sarcasm.
"Tao Ning?" Lu Jue waved his hand before his eyes. Tao Ning came back to her senses and agreed, "Yes."
Lu Jue was very excited: "Okay, it's a deal, I'll take you there tomorrow."
When he returned to the dormitory in the evening, Xu Jun was very busy because the lecture was also arranged by the student union.
Tao Ning replied to Zhao Jingqun's text message while he was still in a meeting in the office. He didn't carry his mobile phone during the day and only replied to messages at night. He spent most of his time replying Zhao Jingqun's calls and text messages, and some of the time he was taking pictures.
Because Zhao Jingqun said she missed him very much and photos could ease her longing.
[Baby, you're so good. I'll pick you up tomorrow.]
Tao Ning hesitated. "I have an exam this week, so I might have to stay a few more days."
The other party replied: [>-<]
Tao Ning didn't understand what this expression meant, so she sent a [? Sorry]
There was silence for a moment on the other side. Even though I couldn't see the person, I could see a hint of helplessness and pampering between the lines.
[Okay, Daibao, it seems I have to stay alone in the empty room TT. ]
Tao Ning researched the Green Message chat app and discovered it even had an emoticon feature. After carefully selecting one, she sent: [(standard yellow face smile.jpg)]
After the chat, Xu Jun happened to come back. He had a cold expression on his face and seemed not to notice Tao Ning putting away her phone. He went straight to the bathroom and came out to sit at the desk reading a book. He didn't say a word during the whole process, so the only sound in the whole dormitory was the rustling of pens.
After turning off the lights, Tao Ning stared at the ceiling with her eyes open and whispered, "Good night."
Until the sound of shallow breathing was heard, Xu Jun opened his eyes, and a complex expression flashed in his sharp eyes. Finally, he said "hmm" lightly.
"Tao Ning...good night."
The two days before midterm were off, leaving students free to review or attend lectures, clubs, and other activities. After breakfast, Lu Jue excitedly took Tao Ning to the lecture venue. Oxent had three gymnasiums and dozens of conference rooms dedicated to holding lectures. Posters advertised the various lectures, and students could choose freely.
"It's Professor Elizabeth. I bought her new book last time and I just happened to have a few questions for her."
"Oh my god! Senior Li Ya is here too? He's here with so much going on at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He's definitely a true fan of his alma mater..."
"This animal display is interesting. It's from the Beijing Institute of Life Sciences."
"I gave in. I saw my dad."
"Which one do you want to hear?" Lu Jue smiled brightly and gave Tao Ning a cup of room-temperature cola. Tao Ning had never tried this kind of carbonated drink before. After taking a sip, her eyes lit up slightly. "Thank you, it's delicious. Hmm... let's watch this one."
Tao Ning originally wanted to choose a lecture on poetry and songs, but unfortunately there were no such lectures, so she picked a poster that she was most interested in. The poster pointed by her slender hand was full of animals and various insects.
Lu Jue hesitated, "Do you really want to listen to this lecture on biology?"
Tao Ning blinked, "Don't you like it? Then let's change it."
"No, no." The boy with the bright smile now looked a little guilty and scratched his head. "I'm afraid of running into my brother. He's such a nagging guy... Well, it's okay. If you like, let's go."
"Um."
The biology lecture was held in the second main building of Oxent. Many people came to watch, most of whom were attracted by the animals on the posters. During the lecture, people from the student union were arranging the seating order. There was an unwritten rule here that only those with a good family background were qualified to sit in the front.
Tao Ning didn't know about this rule and sat straight in the front row. As soon as she sat down, a boy from the student union called out to her, "Hey, you..."
Someone tugged at the boy's sleeve, and another student union member whispered to him, "The president said Tao Ning's seat is open to anyone. Do you know the word 'anywhere'?"
"But I heard... doesn't the president dislike him?"
"Haha." The man pulled him away, "President, your heart is as deep as the sea. Let's go."
Tao Ning turned back, but the person had already walked away. Unsure of why, he returned his gaze to the podium. Standing in the center of the podium was a young man wearing a blue and white plaid shirt and white trousers. Tao Ning could see him clearly because he was so close.
The young man was very tall, about 1.86 meters, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He was looking down at some information while someone was testing the playback equipment for him. After a moment, he looked up, revealing his handsome features. He was wearing very simple black glasses and pushed the frames with his slender fingers.
Noticing Tao Ning's serious gaze, she smiled at him gently.
The young man's gaze shifted to the person next to Tao Ning. He chuckled and shook his head, but said nothing and continued to organize the things on the table. Tao Ning then realized that Lu Jue's face was full of tension. The moment the young man's gaze fell on her, his body was even more tense, as if facing a great enemy.
"Is that your brother?" Tao Ning had some impression. She seemed to have heard someone say that Lu Jue had a brother named Lu En who studied biology. No wonder the young man looked somewhat similar to Lu Jue.
Lu Jue breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "Don't be fooled by my brother's polite appearance. He's actually full of evil intentions. Just look at the animals he's going to show you later. They're going to be scary."
After the lecture officially began, the young man on the stage briefly introduced himself. "My name is Lu En. I'm currently working at the Beijing Life Science Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. My advisor had something urgent to do today, so he asked me to come."
He casually gave a few words of introduction before launching into a torrent of descriptions of various animals, his explanations progressing from the basics to the advanced, lively and engaging. Tao Ning took copious notes, while Lu Jue beside him began to snore quietly.
Until the last, much-anticipated animal show came. Everyone in the audience held their breath in concentration. Lu En on the stage had an unfathomable expression. The small cage containing the animals on the podium was covered with a red cloth. He smiled and lifted the red cloth.
“Ahhhhhhhhh—”
"It's a toad!!"
"Oh my god! There's a red caterpillar!"
Compared to the others who were shocked and wanted to retreat, only Tao Ning was very calm, because he grew up in the mountains and had seen all kinds of strange insects and small animals.
Lu En laughed and pulled out the bumpy toad with his bare hands. "This is a rough-skinned horned toad. It can grow to the size of an adult man's palm. This one is the one I have in my hand. It often lives in high-altitude areas in Hekou, Jingxi, and other places in my country. This is the larva of the flower-skirted sawfly. It's black and red all over, and the spines on its back are used to protect against predators."
"From the looks of it, everyone seems quite interested. Does anyone want to touch it?"
Huh? Which eye saw their interest? The audience looked horrified, shaking their heads in protest.
Lu En felt a little regretful until he caught a glimpse of the young man in the audience. In fact, he noticed him the first time he came in. Not only because his disappointing younger brother was sitting next to the young man, but also because the young man's eyes sparkled under the lights, like the stars on the seabed, so beautiful.
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