0031 friends
Song Ning was still late.
Before entering the classroom, Song Ning tied her hair into a low ponytail, took off her long coat and draped it over her hand, then slowly pushed open the door and entered.
Professor Zhang is a smiling, rehired professor who never takes attendance, but everyone knows that he likes to fail students. The criteria for failing a course, besides grades, are the number of students who are absent during class.
Song Ning strongly suspects that the old professor is preventing Alzheimer's disease by memorizing every student.
Because in universities, not every professor can remember students, but this old professor can not only remember them, but also clearly record their absences in class this semester—not by taking attendance, but by his facial recognition ability, which is comparable to AI.
When Song Ning entered, the class had only just begun.
"So, who can answer the question about the relationship between surface traits and source traits in Cattell's personality theory, which we discussed in the last class?" Professor Zhang held a small piece of chalk in his hand, smiled, and fixed his gaze on Song Ning, who had just entered the room. He raised his hand and said, "Song Ning, who just came in, you answer this question."
Before Song Ning's buttocks even touched the seat, she was touched and could only slowly straighten her knees, which were bent halfway.
In the front row, a yellow-covered book of "General Psychology" was secretly passed around like a relay race and landed on Song Ning's desk.
Song Ning had never experienced such childish behavior before, and found it somewhat novel.
Song Ning glanced at Lin Qianqian, the initiator of the "relay race," who was lip-reading the answer page numbers. Seeing that Song Ning hadn't touched the book, she hurriedly pulled out her messy hair.
Professor Zhang placed his hands in front of him, his smile still warm: "What, don't you remember?"
“Surface traits are the root traits, which are the manifestations. Root traits are the causes of surface traits. For example, in daily life, when people are nervous, they blush and become incoherent. Nervousness is the root trait, while blushing and incoherent speech are…” Song Ning slowed down his speech, using examples to buy time while flipping through the book.
After turning to the answer, Song Ning continued mechanically reading the notes in the book: "Every surface characteristic..."
"It seems you were taking notes during class, but psychology is all about understanding and application. You need to keep up the good work and not miss out on any more of my excellent lectures. Sit down." Professor Zhang waved his hand, indicating that Song Ning could sit down, and then continued the lecture after a bit of self-praise.
During class, Song Ning's phone lit up silently. When she saw the message followed by a string of colorful emojis, she knew it was a message from Lin Qianqian.
[Did nothing happen to you last night?]
[Worried.jpg]
Song Ning: [It's okay, I'm fine.]
[I was terrified when I received your message last night, thankfully you're okay.]
[crying.jpg]
Song Ning opened her phone and sent Lin Qianqian a meaningful smiling emoji.
[Where did you find this emoji? I want one too!]
[Rolling around.jpg]
Song Ning replied: [Is there something you need to explain to me first?]
[What's up? ]
[Confused.jpg]
Song Ning lazily rested her chin on her hand, setting a trap for Lin Qianqian: [Besides Chen Yue and what happened last night, what else have you told Shen Yuxiu about me?]
Lin Qianqian turned around, looked through the crowd at Song Ning, and seemed to be making a brave sacrifice, ready to die for her cause.
Perhaps feeling guilty, Lin Qianqian mistakenly thought that Shen Yuxiu had told Song Ning everything when Song Ning asked her this question, so she sent a bunch of apologetic emojis.
[Apology for forgiveness.jpg]
[Admitting Mistake.jpg]
[I was wrong.jpg]
...
Among a bunch of emojis, the words "sorry" are particularly inconspicuous.
Then, before Song Ning could even interrogate her, Lin Qianqian had already recounted the whole story in detail, complete with pictures and text.
Aside from not knowing that sharing a room with Song Ning was intentionally arranged by Shen Yuxiu, she explained in detail how she met Shen Yuxiu, when she mentioned Chen Yue, and how she received a text message from Shen Yuxiu last night asking for help.
Her confession lasted until the end of get out of class.
As soon as get out of class ended, Lin Qianqian waved goodbye to the two girls beside her, then squeezed through the crowd to Song Ning's side, and said confidently, "I promise, I only talked about Chen Yue and what happened last night, I really didn't say anything else. I didn't lie to you on purpose that day. I was looking for you, and when I was looking for you, I saw Cheng Yanchu standing at the door, and I was curious about what he was doing. Then I saw you come out. Not long after you left, I saw Chen Yue come out angrily, so I deliberately brought up Chen Yue in front of you. I was just worried about you, so I mentioned Chen Yue to Professor Shen."
Song Ning put away her book, picked up her coat from the back of the chair and held it in her hand: "Let's go, let's go eat first."
"Does this mean you've forgiven me?" Lin Qianqian stepped back a little to make it easier for Song Ning to come out.
"I'm hungry. If I don't leave soon, the grilled fish will be gone again."
The grilled fish in Changqing is famously good; if you go too late, you basically have no chance of getting any.
Song Ning got out of her seat and told Lin Qianqian to hurry up and follow.
Inside the noisy restaurant, Song Ning, carrying a plate of grilled fish, sat down with Lin Qianqian at a two-person table in a corner.
On the way here, Lin Qianqian had already impatiently asked Song Ning several times if he would forgive her.
Shen Yuxiu was right; Lin Qianqian wasn't a difficult person to understand. She had a strong curiosity, a warm heart, and excellent social skills, but sometimes she was overly concerned about others' opinions. Occasionally, she would tell harmless little lies for social needs. She was imperfect, but very real.
Just as Lin Qianqian sat down, before even picking up her chopsticks, she asked again, "Song Ning, are you still angry?"
Song Ning took out her own wet wipes, handed one to Lin Qianqian, and asked solemnly, "Qianqian, do you think we are friends?"
Lin Qianqian was stunned, probably because she hadn't thought of how to answer, and remained silent for a moment.
Over the past few months, Lin Qianqian has been the one who's most enthusiastic. Although Song Ning is closer to her than to others, he's always lukewarm towards her. At least in Song Ning's opinion, by Lin Qianqian's standards for making friends, she shouldn't be considered a friend.
Lin Qianqian wiped the chopsticks on her hands and then wiped the table: "I consider you a friend, but I don't know if you consider me a friend too."
"Then I'll ask you a few questions. Think them through before you answer me," Song Ning said earnestly, placing the wiped chopsticks on the lunchbox.
Lin Qianqian rarely saw Song Ning like this. She put the wet wipe aside, sat up straight, and said nervously, "Ask away."
"You took special care of me at first because of Shen Yuxiu, but what about now?" Song Ning felt that she must be just like her high school dean of students right now, serious, earnest, and a little bit hypocritical.
She didn't actually care about Lin Qianqian's leaks and deceptions. She had her own standards for making friends; if someone met them, they were friends, and if not, they were just passersby.
Lin Qianqian carefully chose her words, saying, "I admit that it was indeed because of Professor Shen's request at first. When I was in high school, my essays weren't very good, and Professor Shen helped me guess a few hot topics that might be used as questions on the college entrance exam. I didn't expect him to be right. Because of that essay, I got into Changqing University without any problems, so I've always been very grateful to him. Later, I heard him say that he had a younger sister who was in the same major as me and wanted me to help take care of her, so I agreed. But when the semester first started, I was actually a little afraid of you. I felt that you were not easy to get along with, and you were completely different from what Professor Shen said."
Lin Qianqian stopped and glanced at Song Ning, probably afraid that Song Ning would feel uncomfortable if she heard it.
"It's alright, go on. I prefer the harsh truth to you lying to me," Song Ning said in a serious, pretentious manner.
Lin Qianqian felt slightly embarrassed and awkwardly fiddled with the chopsticks on the table: "Later, I gradually realized that you weren't as cold as you seemed on the surface. You were just a bit unsociable, so I gradually became less afraid of you. Besides, sometimes I felt very relaxed around you, as if I could do anything, so I grew to like being with you more and more..."
"And now?" Song Ning interrupted Lin Qianqian's cringe-worthy words.
"Now?" Lin Qianqian pondered deeply. "I'm with you now mainly because I want to be with you, not just because of Professor Shen's request."
Song Ning then reached for her chopsticks, picked up a piece of fish, took a bite, and casually asked, "Would you still tell Shen Yuxiu about my affairs without my permission?"
"Of course not." Seeing Song Ning start eating, Lin Qianqian also picked up her chopsticks and ate a mouthful of rice. "I'm actually very tight-lipped. If I'm not allowed to say something, I will never tell anyone."
Song Ning smiled and said, "That's fine then."
"So you've forgiven me?" Lin Qianqian put down her chopsticks, looked up at Song Ning, and said in disbelief.
Song Ning hummed in agreement: "You just said that what I said was different from what Shen Yuxiu said. What did he say about me?"
"Ah, well, I didn't mean you have a bad personality. On the contrary, I think you're great. Sometimes I even envy you." Lin Qianqian's relaxed nerves were jolted back into focus.
"I'm asking what Shen Yuxiu said about me?" Song Ning sometimes couldn't stand Lin Qianqian's insensitive nature.
Lin Qianqian then returned to the point: "Professor Shen told me back then that you were easy to get along with, and that we could become friends. Are we friends now?"
"Otherwise, why would I eat with you?" Song Ning was a little disappointed when she didn't hear what she was expecting.
Hearing Song Ning's words, Lin Qianqian's appetite was whetted, and she ate almost all the food on her plate: "But why do you keep calling Professor Shen by his name? Isn't he your brother?"
This gossipy nature of theirs is probably something they can't change.
“He likes me to call him that.” Song Ning looked up and smiled. “Can you keep our relationship a secret? I don’t want other people to know about our relationship, I’m afraid they’ll say I got it through connections.”
"Oh, I understand. Don't worry, I'll definitely get rid of this rotten belly." Lin Qianqian said confidently, as if she knew everything.
Song Ning was actually quite relieved because, after all this time, Lin Qianqian had indeed not revealed her relationship with Shen Yuxiu. She even kept quiet about Lin Qianqian knowing Shen Yuxiu, which showed that what Lin Qianqian had just said about her was indeed true.
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