Lisianthus
When Hu Tong returned to her dormitory, her heart was still pounding and her cheeks were burning.
She did something stupid.
Cheng Zhou had only grabbed her hand to stop her from poking around, so why did she react so strongly? How could she suddenly pull her hand back, knock over the water glass, and loudly call him a pervert!
She shouted so loudly and fiercely, and then had to shamelessly explain to the waiter, "Hehe, I was just joking around with my classmate!"
What on earth is she doing?!
When Mingming was in kindergarten, she and Cheng Zhou held hands many times—the two families were close and always picked up their children from school together. For convenience, the kindergarten teachers often put Hu Tong and Cheng Zhou together.
The two little ones, who didn't like each other, often held hands, turned their faces away, and followed the group. From a distance, they looked like a mutated giant crab, with their small round heads and white necks facing to the sides, which were the crab's eyes and eye stalks.
Now, Hu Tong and Cheng Zhou were so embarrassed they were speechless.
The two walked silently side by side to the foot of the girls' dormitory, one looking at the sky, the other at his heels.
Looking down at the sky, Hu Tong said through his nostrils, "They're gone."
Cheng Zhou, looking at his heels, nodded almost imperceptibly, his words muffled, "Mm."
Hu Tong got angry just looking at his short, white hair, turned around and walked away quickly, swinging her arm in a half-circle.
Now, looking at the several individually packaged milk teas hanging in her hand, Hu Tong couldn't help but feel fortunate: thankfully they were sealed with plastic wrap, and not a drop spilled.
It was during the sports meet, so there were no classes. All the competitions would end before 6 p.m. that day, and people gradually left.
Hu Tong handed out milk tea to Zhang Xianyu and Zhou Min in turn, and then took the last cup and went to Jiao Yuhong.
"Please have a drink, red—"
Hu Tong bit her lip, her face turning bright red.
She had heard Zhang Xianyu call Jiao Yuhong "Honghong" in a coquettish way, and it sounded natural and pleasant to Jiao Yuhong, which Jiao Yuhong enjoyed very much. But when it came to her own words, she couldn't say them at all.
"Red—Jiao, with red lips and white teeth."
That damn mouth of hers!
Jiao Yuhong had just taken a shower and was holding a Prussian blue hairdryer, her half-dry hair draped over her left shoulder like seaweed. She tilted her head to look at Hu Tong, didn't take the milk tea, and continued drying her hair, her lips moving as she spoke, her voice drifting out from the noise of the airflow.
"It's a miracle that someone with your level of Chinese language skills could get into Peking University, Hu Tong."
"I know that 'red lips and white teeth' is a derogatory term, but now, can we just use its literal meaning and refer to Jiao Yuhong, who has bright red lips and white teeth?"
Hu Tong retorted, not to be outdone, and pulled up a chair to sit down in front of her.
Zhou Min and Zhang Xianyu were surprised by the historic reconciliation between the two tyrants in their dormitory. They leaned back lazily in their chairs, but their fingers flew through the air as they typed.
Jiao Yuhong gestured to Hu Tong with her eyes to put the milk tea on the desk, then turned up the hairdryer's setting, making the sound of the airflow even louder.
She calmly stated, "I don't drink this kind of stuff."
Hu Tong chuckled, as if to say, "Just as I thought" or "I knew it."
With a smug look on her face, she unzipped her clothes and pulled out a small bunch of deep purple and light pink lisianthus. The flowers were full and the petals were layered. The inside was lined with soft pearly white paper, and the outside was wrapped with cellophane. It was delicate and fresh.
"So, you can keep the flowers, right? I don't need you to eat them, drink them, or take pictures of them," Hu Tong said with a grin. "Or are you allergic to pollen?"
Jiao Yuhong then turned off the hairdryer, letting out a snort through her nose. She accepted the flowers, feigning ignorance, and asked, "Why did you send me flowers for no reason?"
"Thank you."
Hu Tong blinked and said.
If it weren't for the video Jiao Yuhong posted on her WeChat Moments, things wouldn't have been resolved so easily today.
Wearing headphones, Hu Tong heard Guo Lin's words in the background, casually saved the video, and then, having nothing better to do, extracted the audio.
Sigh, everything just happened by chance.
Hu Tong mentally praised his own keen insight a hundred times over, his mouth agape in a wide grin. Only then did Jiao Yuhong accept the flowers and place them on the table.
Jiao Yuhong touched the outer layer of unfolded petals, feeling their velvety texture and sheen, and said with a half-smile, "They look alright, I'll accept them, but—"
Jiao Yuhong held the hairdryer against Hu Tong's chest to prevent her from getting closer while laughing. Her finely shaped eyebrows furrowed, and her smile vanished. "Don't come any closer. Go take a shower. You stink."
After eating hotpot, Hu Tong felt a breeze on his way back, and the smell of grease and chili peppers hidden in the folds of his clothes rose up, pungent and irritating.
She shrugged, sniffed, and chuckled, "Wait a minute, I have another question to ask you."
None of them specified why Hu Tong thanked Jiao Yuhong, leaving Zhou Min and Zhang Xianyu extremely curious.
When Hu Tong said he was going to ask Jiao Yuhong a question, Zhou and Zhang perked up their ears again.
Jiao Yuhong lazily lifted her eyelids: "Speak."
Hu Tong said seriously, "Well, it's just that I have a friend..."
Jiao Yuhong rolled her eyes: "Old-fashioned, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Hu Tong, in a fit of despair, declared: "That person is me, okay?!"
"I have a friend... Oh, it's true, why are you three looking at me like that!"
Hu Tong slammed his fist on the table before continuing, "I have a very handsome friend—"
Zhang Xianyu exclaimed excitedly, "Oh, I know, Street Lamp Bro!"
"Back during military training, the one where I waited for you under the streetlight, right?"
Hu Tong tried to cover up the truth: "I didn't say it was him."
Zhou Min pushed up her glasses: "That's him."
Hu Tong stood up angrily: "Are you even listening to me anymore?!"
At this moment, Jiao Yuhong tore open the wrapper of the straw and inserted it into the milk tea cup. The tip of the straw pierced the plastic film with a "pop" sound, attracting everyone's attention.
Jiao Yuhong calmly took a sip of her milk tea: "Please speak."
"Didn't you say you wouldn't drink...?"
Hu Tong muttered to himself as he sat back down. "If, and I mean if, someone you've always considered a friend suddenly holds your hand, what would that mean?"
Zhang Xianyu cupped her face and let out a strange cry, "I know!"
"sexual harassment."
As Jiao Yuhong spoke, she spat a pearl into the trash can under the table.
"..." Zhou and Zhang looked at her with a mixture of reproach and helplessness.
Jiao Yuhong raised an eyebrow indifferently.
Hu Tong instinctively spoke up for Cheng Zhou: "If he has a reason for doing this, I can understand... but what does this mean?"
The light shone through Zhou Min's black-rimmed glasses, and she smiled confidently, "I know—"
"A sophisticated form of sexual harassment."
Jiao Yuhong slammed down her milk tea and asked impatiently, "When are you going to take a shower? I'm practically marinated here."
"Tch, never mind."
Hu Tong jumped up and carried the basin to the shower room.
It was peak time for showering, and Hu Tong waited in line for a while.
After rinsing away the sweat, Hu Tong wrapped his hair in a towel and walked back feeling refreshed, thinking he could study for two hours tonight.
I pushed open the door; the lights were already off.
The room was pitch black. The leaves of the Chinese scholar tree outside the window were withered and yellow, and the slightly curled leaves weakly scraped against the transparent glass. Even the most intense colors of the setting sun, as rich as flames and molten gold, looked desolate and cold on it.
Zhang Xianyu lifted the bed curtains, and her phone screen emitted a faint blue light. She put her finger to her lips and shushed her, "Honghong said she wants to sleep, so be quiet."
"oh."
Zhang Xianyu nodded, drew the bed curtains, and the room was plunged into darkness once again.
Hu Tong rubbed his hair as he sat in a chair looking at his phone.
That small bunch of bellflowers stood quietly in the corner of my eye. Darkness swallowed its delicate and bright colors, so it found a way to jump into people's sight.
Hu Tong looked at the photo Jiao Yuhong posted on her WeChat Moments: deep purple and light pink bellflowers standing proudly on a wooden table.
There was only a bouquet of flowers, with no accompanying text.
Swish,
Suddenly, a smug face peeked out from between the bed curtains diagonally above.
"Blow-dry your hair!" Jiao Yuhong glared at her, said with a hint of disdain, and then lay back down, the bed curtains rippling like water.
It's just one sentence, with no further explanation.
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